Arthur Pougin ( 6 August 1834 – 8 August 1921) was a French musical and dramatic critic and writer. He was born at

Châteauroux Châteauroux ( ; ; ) is the capital city of the French department of Indre, central France and the second-largest town in the province of Berry, after Bourges. Its residents are called ''Castelroussins'' () in French. Climate Châteauroux te ...

(

Indre Indre (); is a department in central France named after the river Indre. The inhabitants of the department are known as the ''Indriens'' (masculine; ) and ''Indriennes'' (feminine; ). Indre is part of the current administrative region of Cent ...

) and studied music 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 ...

under Alard (

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

) and Reber (

harmony In music, harmony is the concept of combining different sounds in order to create new, distinct musical ideas. Theories of harmony seek to describe or explain the effects created by distinct pitches or tones coinciding with one another; harm ...

). In 1855 he became conductor at the Théâtre Beaumarchais, and afterward leader at Musard's concerts, subconductor at the Folies-Nouvelles, and from 1860 to 1863 he was first violin at the

Opéra-Comique The Opéra-Comique () is a Paris opera company which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular Théâtre de la foire, theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with – and for a time took the name of – its chief riva ...

. He was in turn '' feuilletoniste'' to ''

Le Soir ''Le Soir'' (, ) is a French-language Belgian daily newspaper. Founded in 1887 by Émile Rossel, it was intended as a politically independent source of news. Together with '' La Libre Belgique'', it is one of the most popular Francophone newsp ...

'', ''

La Tribune () is a French weekly financial newspaper founded in 1985 by Bruno Bertez. Its main competitor is the French newspaper '' Les Échos'', which is currently owned by LVMH. From 1993 to 2007, was part of LVMH. In 2010, Alain Weill, the chair ...

'', '' L'Événement'' and '' Le Journal Officiel'', besides being a frequent contributor to all the important French musical periodicals. His work in connection with Fétis's '' Biographie universelle'', for which he prepared a supplement (two volumes, 1878–80), has, however, been found to be lacking in thoroughness. He edited the new edition of Clément and Larousse's '' Dictionnaire lyrique''. Pougin died in Paris at age 87.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pougin, Arthur 1834 births 1921 deaths People from Châteauroux French music critics French literary critics 19th-century French journalists 20th-century French journalists French male non-fiction writers Conservatoire de Paris alumni French music historians 19th-century French violinists 19th-century French male musicians French male classical violinists