Henry Prunières

Henri Prunières, said Henry Prunières, pseudonym of Henry Debusne in his youth (24 May 1861, Paris – 11 April 1942 Nanterre) was a French musicologist,^[1] and international propagandist of contemporary art in various forms: music, dance, painting etc... He occupies, especially in music, an important place in the art world between the wars. His major contribution La Revue musicale,^[2] a monthly musical periodical which he founded in 1920 and left in 1939,^[3] is still a reference in the Western musical world.^[4]

Prunières received his doctorate at the Sorbonne in 1913, where he wrote his dissertations on Italian music in France before Jean-Baptiste Lully and the ballet de cour in France before Lully. Between 1924-1935, he worked as a New York Times's Paris music correspondent. He was also secretary and chairman of the International Music Society. Prunières was an important figure in the early 20th-century renewal of interest in Lully and his music.^[5]

Major works

• Lully. Paris, 1910
• La musique de la chambre et l'ecurie. Paris, 1912
• Claudio Monteverdi. Paris, 1924
• La vie et l'oeuvre de Claudio Monteverdi. Paris, 1924
• Le vie illustre et libertine de Jean-Baptiste Lully. Paris, 1929
• Cavalli et l'opera venitien au XVIIe siecle. Paris, 1931
• Nouvelle histoire de la musique. Paris, 1934-6
• J-B. Lully: Oeuvres completes. Paris, 1930-39, 10 vols.

References

1. Wheeldon, Marianne (2009). Debussy's Late Style: Musical Meaning and Interpretation. Paris: Indiana University Press. p. 114. ISBN 0253352398.
2. Prunières, Henry (1920). La Revue musicale. Editions de la Nouvelle revue française. p. 57. ISSN 0768-1593
3. Schmidt, Carl B. (2001). Entrancing Muse: A Documented Biography of Francis Poulenc. Pendragon Press. p. 484. ISBN 1576470261.
4. André Danican Philidor, David Joseph Buch (1993). Dance Music from the "Ballets de Cour" 1575-1651 [Música Impresa]: Historical Commentary, Source Study, and Transcriptions from the Philidor Manuscripts. Pendragon Press. p. 41. ISBN 0945193335.
5. Howard, Patricia. "Prunières, Henry." Grove Music Online. Accessed 12.10.14

Attribution

• This article is based on the translation of the corresponding article of the French Wikipedia. A list of contributors can be found there in the History section.