Boschot, Adolphe

Boschot, Adolphe, French music critic; b. Fonte-nay-sous-Bois, near Paris, May 4, 1871; d. Paris, June 1, 1955. He was music critic of Echo de Paris from 1910, and of Revue Bleue from 1919; founded, with Théodore de Wyzewa, the Paris Mozart Soc; was elected to the Institut de France in 1926, succeeding Widor as permanent secretary of the Académie des Beaux-Arts. His greatest work is an exhaustive biography of Berlioz in three vols.: La Jeunesse d’un romantique, Hector Berlioz, 1803-31 (Paris, 1906; rev. éd., 1946), Un Romantique sous Louis- Philippe, Hector Berlioz, 1831-42 (Paris, 1908; rev. ed., 1948), and Le Crépuscule d’un romantique, Hector Berlioz, 1842-69 (Paris, 1913; rev. ed., 1950). Other books are Le Faust de Berlioz (1910; new ed., 1945); Carnet d’art (1911); Une Vie romantique, Hector Berlioz (an abridgement of his three-vol. work, 1919; 27^th ed., 1951; also in Eng.; definitive ed., 1965); Chez les musiciens (3 vols., 1922-26); Entretiens sur la beauté (1927); La Lumière de Mozart (1928); Le Mystère musical (1929); La Musique et la vie (2 vols., 1931-33); Théophile Gautier (1933); Mozart (1935); La Vie et les oeuvres d’Alfred Bruneau (1937); Musiciens-Poètes (1937); Maîtres d’hier et de jadis (1944); Portraits de musiciens (3 vols., 1946-50); Souvenirs d’un autre siècle (1947). Boschot tr. into French the librettos of several of Mozart’s operas. He was also prominent as a poet; publ. the collections Poèmes dialogues (1901) and Chez nos poètes (1925).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire