Paul-Gilbert Langevin

Paul-Gilbert Langevin
Born (1933-07-05)5 July 1933
Boulogne-Billancourt, France
Died 4 July 1986(1986-07-04) (aged 52)
Paris, France
Residence France
Nationality French
Fields Musicology, Ethnomusicology, Classical music, Symphonic music, Physical Chemistry
Institutions Sorbonne, Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie, Société française Anton Bruckner
Alma mater ESPCI, Sorbonne, Centre Universitaire de Vincennes

Paul-Gilbert Langevin (5 July 1933, Boulogne-Billancourt – 4 July 1986, Paris) was a French musicologist, critique musical and physicist who wrote several books on 19th century classical music.

Life

He was the son of French physicist Paul Langevin (1872-1946) and Eliane Montel (1898-1992), teacher at the Sorbonne science departement.

Paul-Gilbert Langevin is first of all student at ESPCI, which director was his father from 1925 to 1946. Then he completes his scientific formation at the Sorbonne and Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie with a degree in physical chemistry under the supervision of René Freymann, who became one of his close friends. He was also a friend of physicist Herbert Überall who mastered a thesis under the supervision of Hans Bethe, and his wife.

But very soon, he became in love with classical music, listening to Anton Bruckner's symphonies on radio recordings in his early years, and meeting young prodigy conductor Roberto Benzi. After his scientific degrees, he decides to write a thesis under the supervision of Daniel Charles at the Centre Universitaire de Vincennes about XIXth century Austrian music and especially about Anton Bruckner and the so-called "ethnoromantic" period.

Then, he becomes a physics teacher at the Sorbonne science departement and at the Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie which was created in the sixties, and writes books on classical music. He meets his musicologist colleagues: Harry Halbreich, Gustave Kars, Jacques Feschotte, Pierre Vidal, Marc Vignal, Jean-Luc Caron...

He becomes a close friend of director Eric-Paul Stekel, son of psychoanalyst Wilhelm Stekel, and a close friend of director Florian Hollard, son of French resistant Michel Hollard, the so-called "man who save London". He is a friend from childhood with painter and engraver Nicolas Eekman's daughter, Luce Eekman. He is very close too with socialist Louis Mermaz, one of his high school friends, and meets radical socialist Pierre Mendès-France.

He creates the Anton Bruckner French society, writes a lot of books on XIXth century symphonic music, edited in Musical Review and by l'Age d'Homme editions. He is a musical critique in The World of Music, edited by his friend Anne Rey.

From the fifties, his passion is classical music and symphonic music and he writes articles, monographs and books about Anton Bruckner, Franz Schubert, Guillaume Lekeu, Albéric Magnard, Joseph-Guy Ropartz and Charles Koechlin and is interested also by works by Hugo Wolf, Gustav Mahler, Arnold Schoenberg, Franz Schmidt, Ferruccio Busoni, Leoš Janáček or Carl Nielsen.

His niece Noémie Langevin married Yves Koechlin, the son of French composer Charles Koechlin, so he often visited them to write on the famous composer's works, writing studies and catalogs.

In the seventies, he married Anne-Marie Desbat. He became the father of two children, Paul-Eric Langevin, born in 1979, who graduated in mathematics and linguistics, and Isabelle Langevin, born in 1983, who is a kinesitherapy specialist.

In 1986, he died from kidney cancer.

See also

Works

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