Yves-René-Jean Gérard (6 January 1932 – 6 October 2020) was a French

musicologist Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, f ...

Life and career

Born on 6 January 1932 in Châlons-sur-Marne, Yves Gérard studied

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

at the

Nancy-Université Nancy-Université was a French federal university which federated the three principal institutes of higher education in Nancy, Lorraine before their merger into the University of Lorraine: * Henri Poincaré University (UHP, also known as Na ...

from 1949 to 1955. Following his graduation, he studied the

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

for three years at the Nancy Conservatory. From 1955 to 1956 he studied at the Sorbonne under composer, musicologist and theoretician

Jacques Chailley Jacques Chailley (24 March 1910 – 21 January 1999) was a French musicologist and composer. Alain Lompech, "Jacques Chailley, musicologue-praticien et infatigable chercheur", ''Consociatio internationalis musicæ sacræ, Musicæ sacræ ministeriu ...

. At the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), or the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (; CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue Jean Ja ...

he studied music history, musicology and aesthetics. In 1956, he won first prize for music history, and in 1958 for aesthetics. He succeeded his teacher,

Norbert Dufourcq Norbert Stéphane Jean-Marie Dufourcq (21 September 1904 – 19 December 1990) was a French organist, music educator, musicologist and musicographer. Biography Norbert Dufourcq was born in 1904 in Saint-Jean-de-Braye in the Loiret department ...

, as professor of

music history Music history, sometimes called historical musicology, is a highly diverse subfield of the broader discipline of musicology that studies music from a historical point of view. In theory, "music history" could refer to the study of the history of ...

and musicology at the Conservatoire in 1975, and retained this post until he retired in 1997. (subscription access) From 1979 to 1982, Gérard served as president of the French association of musicologists ''

Société Française de Musicologie Groupe Lactalis S.A. (doing business as Lactalis) is a French multinational dairy products corporation, owned by the Besnier family and based in Laval, Mayenne, France. The company's former name was Besnier S.A. Lactalis is the largest dairy pr ...

'', and he was the French representative to the International Musicological Society from 1982 until 1992. Gérard taught at

Laval University Laval means ''The Valley'' in old French and is the name of: People * House of Laval, a French noble family originating from the town of Laval, Mayenne * Laval (surname) Places Belgium * Laval, a village in the municipality of Sainte-Ode, Luxe ...

as visiting professor from 1984 to 1986, and the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

in 1987. Gérard is known especially for his scholarly works on the composers

Luigi Boccherini Ridolfo Luigi Boccherini (, also , ; 19 February 1743 – 28 May 1805) was an Italian composer and cellist of the Classical era whose music retained a courtly and '' galante'' style even while he matured somewhat apart from the major classi ...

and

Camille Saint-Saëns Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (, , 9October 183516 December 1921) was a French composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic music, Romantic era. His best-known works include Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (1863), the Piano ...

. He has also made significant contributions to the study of the

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...

of late-18th century

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, and

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, and to

French music ''French music'' may refer to: *Music of France, music of the French people in France ''French music'' may also refer to the music of French-speaking countries: * Music of Quebec, music of the French-Canadians in Canada, most often Québécois or ...

of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. The ''

Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language '' Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and th ...

'' writes that his major work has been on the writings of

Hector Berlioz Louis-Hector Berlioz (11 December 1803 – 8 March 1869) was a French Romantic music, Romantic composer and conductor. His output includes orchestral works such as the ''Symphonie fantastique'' and ''Harold en Italie, Harold in Italy'' ...

. In 1983 he co-edited volume 4 of Berlioz's ''Correspondance générale'', and in 1996 he co-edited Volume 1 of the composer's ''Critique musicale''. Gérard died of cancer on 6 October 2020, aged 88.

Selected writings

Writings

* "L'Art pour la beauté: Samson et Dalila de Saint-Saëns", ''La Musique française, de Berlioz à Debussy'' (Paris, 1991), 25–32 * "La Bibliothèque musicale d'un amateur éclairé de Madrid: la duchesse-comtesse de Benavente, duchesse d'Osuna (1752–1834)", ''RMFC'', iii (1963), 179–8. * "Luigi Boccherini", ''Einzeldrucke vor 1800'', RISM, A/I/i (1971), pp. 322–349. * "Luigi Boccherini and Madame Sophie Gail", ''The Consort'', xxiv (1967), 294–309 * "Notes sur la fabrication de la viole de gambe et la manière d'en jouer d'après une correspondance inédite de Jean-Baptiste Forqueray au Prince Frédéric-Guillaume de Prusse", ''RMFC'', ii (1961–2), pp. 165–172. * "L'œuvre de Saint-Saëns: éclats et ombres de la célébrité", ''150 ans de musique française'': Lyons 1991, 97–103 * "Le Rossignol: le paradoxe des codes détournés", ''Stravinsky-Schoenberg'' (Paris, 1997), pp. 52–58. * "Saint-Saëns et l'Opéra de Monte-Carlo", ''L'Opéra de Monte-Carlo au temps du prince Albert Ier de Monaco'', ed. J.M. Nectoux (Paris, 1990), pp. 29–36. * ''Thematic, Bibliographical and Critical Catalogue of the Works of Luigi Boccherini'' (London, 1969).

As editor

* ''C. Saint-Saëns: regards sur mes contemporains'' (Arles, 1990) * ''Le Conservatoire de Paris, 1795–1995: des Menus-Plaisirs à la Cité de la Musique'' (Paris, 1996), (with A. Bongrain and M.-H. Coudroy-Saghai) * ''Hector Berlioz: correspondance générale'', iv (Paris, 1983), (with P. Citron and H. Macdonald) * ''Hector Berlioz: la critique musicale, 1823–1863'' (Paris, 1996–), (with H.R. Cohen) * ''Lettres de Henri Duparc à Ernest Chausson'', RdM, xxxviii (1956), pp. 125–146. * ''Lettres de compositeurs à Camille Saint-Saëns'' (Lyon, 2009), (with Eurydice Jousse)

Musical editions

* ''Luigi Boccherini: Sei Quintetti con Chitarra'' (Paris, 1974)

References

Bibliography

* Blay, P. and R. Legrand (editors). ''Sillages musicologiques: hommages à Yves Gérard'' (Paris, 1997) * Mussat, M.-C., J. Mongrédien and J.-M. Nectoux (editors). ''Echos de France et d’Italie: liber amicorum Yves Gérard'' (Paris, 1997) * (subscription access) {{DEFAULTSORT:Gerard, Yves 1932 births People from Marne (department) 20th-century French musicologists 2020 deaths Nancy-Université alumni 21st-century French musicologists Deaths from cancer in France Presidents of the Société française de musicologie