René Dumesnil (19 June 1879 – 24 December 1967) was a French physician,

literary critic Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods. Th ...

and musicologist. Dumesnil studied literature at the Sorbonne and became a literary critic. Then he was

music critic ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of mus ...

for ''

Le Mercure de France The was originally a French gazette and literary magazine first published in the 17th century, but after several incarnations has evolved as a publisher, and is now part of the Éditions Gallimard publishing group. The gazette was published f ...

'' and '' Le Monde''. He was elected a member of the Académie des beaux-arts in 1965. In addition to his publications in literature (numerous studies on

Flaubert Gustave Flaubert ( , , ; 12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) was a French novelist. Highly influential, he has been considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country. According to the literary theorist Kornelije Kvas, "in Flaube ...

, Maupassant and realism, he has written a number of books on music. Dumesnil wo
four prizes awarded by the Académie française

Publications

His writings were published in Paris (unless otherwise stated).

Critics and literary history

*1912: ''Autour de Flaubert'', (in collaboration with René Descharmes) *1928: ''En marge de Flaubert'' *1928: ''La publication de Madame Bovary'' *1931: ''La publication d'En Route, by J.-K. Huysmans'' *1932: ''Gustave Flaubert, l'homme et l'œuvre'' *1933: ''La publication des Soirées de Médan'' *1936: ''L'Éducation Sentimentale de Gustave Flaubert'' *1939: ''Bibliographie de Gustave Flaubert'', (in collaboration with D.-L. Demorest) *1945: ''La Vie littéraire et l'Époque réaliste et naturaliste'' *1945: ''Le grand amour de Flaubert'' *1947: ''Guy de Maupassant, l'homme et l'œuvre'' *1955: ''Le Réalisme et le Naturalisme''

Musical critic

*1921: ''Le Rythme musical''; 2nd ed. augmented, 1949 *1924: ''Le Monde des musiciens'' *1927: ''Le Don Juan de Mozart'' ; 2nd ed. augmented, 1955 *1928: ''Musiciens romantiques'' *1929: ''Richard Wagner'' *1930: ''La Musique contemporaine en France'' ; 2nd ed. augmented 1949 *1931: ''Le Livre du disque'' — with P. Hemarinquer *1934: ''Histoire illustrée de la musique'' *1936: ''Portraits de musiciens français'' *1945: ''La Musique romantique en France'' *1946: ''La Musique en France entre les deux guerres'' — Geneva *1949: ''L'Envers de la musique'' *1953: ''Histoire illustrée du théâtre lyrique'' ; Grand prix de la littérature musicale *1954: ''Richard Wagner'', a more important work than the one published in 1929 *1964: ''L'Opéra'' *1965: ''Mozart présent dans ses œuvres lyriques'' — Brussels * ''Histoire de la musique des origines à nos jours'' — with

Jules Combarieu Jules Léon-Jean Combarieu (4 February 1859 – 4 February 1916) was a French musicologist and music critic. Life Like his elder brother, (born 30 January 1856 in Cahors) who was to become the Private Secretary of Président de la République ...

— 5 volumes,

Armand Colin Armand Colin is a French publishing house founded in 1870 by Auguste Armand Colin. It specializes in publishing works concerning human sciences, economics and education. Among its best-known publications are the "U" collection begun in 1968, an ...

Essays, history

*1929: ''Supplément aux Ridicules du Temps, de Barbey d'Aurevilly'' *1935: ''La Seine normande'' *1936: ''Histoire illustrée de la Médecine'' *1938: ''L'Âme du Médecin''

Novels and tales

*1919: ''L'Absence'' *1924: ''Quatre histoires couleur des saisons''

Bibliography

* ''Dictionnaire bibliographique des musiciens'' —

Éditions Robert Laffont Éditions Robert Laffont is a book publishing company in France founded in 1941 by Robert Laffont. Its publications are distributed in almost all francophone countries, but mainly in France, Canada and in Belgium. It is considered one of the most ...

* G. Van der Kemp: ''Notice sur la vie et les travaux de René Dumesnil'' (1970)

External links

René Dumesnil
on Encyclopédie Larousse
''Une lettre inédite de René Dumesnil à Marcel Proust du 19 janvier 1920''

Obituary of René Dumesnil

Guy de Maupassant : René Dumesnil (compte rendu)
on Persée
René Dumesnil
on the site of the Académie française {{DEFAULTSORT:Dumesnil, Rene 1879 births 1967 deaths 20th-century French musicologists French literary critics French music critics Physicians from Rouen Writers from Rouen Winners of the Prix Broquette-Gonin (literature)