MÚSICA

A CRITICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE PUBLISHED WRITINGS OF ROMAIN ROLLAND – William Thomas Starr, 1950.

“A musician at heart, M. Rolland was trained for an academic career in history, and combines the 2 fields of interest in his lectures on the history of musical forms and of the arts, and in his critical articles on contemporary art and music.”

“Very few critical articles seem to have been written about his thesis on the history of the opera before Lully and Scarlatti, and there has been little more than enthusiastic recognition of his work in musicology. His influence in the development of this field yet remains to be studied.”

“On the other hand, Rolland the musician, the critic of music, has been more frequently and more thoroughly studied. Several articles have appeared on the various volumes dealing with musicians, Musiciens d’au-jourd’hui, Musiciens d’autrefois, Voyage musical aux pays du passé, and the volumes on Beethoven.”

“One of the favorite subjects is the relation of music and his musical criticism to the novels, especially of course to Jean-Christrophe.”

“Proust, whose works, he seems to feel, are closer to Rolland’s than to those of any other novelist.”

“Occupying a place in his work between the novels and the dramas on the one hand and his work as a historian and musicologist on the other, are Rolland’s biographies, the lives of Tolstoy, Michael-Angelo, Beethoven, and Millet.”

“His break with society at that time eventually led him to extend an enthusiastic greeting to the Russian revolution. He later became an ardent defender of the U.S.S.R., in whose efforts towards a new society he saw the sole hope for the future”

“Almost all the German critics who have written about Rolland and music agree that he has an exceptionally deep and sympathetic understanding of German music and German musicians. But disagreement has been complete about his knowledge and portrayal of other aspects of Germany. Indeed one critic accuses him of making grave or ridiculous errors in his portrayal of Vienna in his work on Beethoven. The same writer speculates that this may possibly be because of Rolland’s intense admiration for Wagner, who so disliked Vienna.”

“Rolland also admired Nietzche’s writings and ideas (in some of his letters to Malwida his remarks about Nietzsche are extremely interesting). Lerch has discussed the probable influence of the German philosopher on Rolland, and has insisted on the importance of this influence.”

“Rolland’s interests were not limited to Europe, to Germany, Italy, and France; early in his career the voice of Asia, especially of India, had attracted him. (…) ‘Jai, depuis, regretted de n’avoir pas suivi cet appel vers l’Asie, mere des arts et des religions; j’en ai été détourné par les voix de 2 sirènes: Musique et Italie.’ (…) His interest and contacts led him to write in 1923-24 his Mahamtma Gandhi, and some 5 years later the Vie de Ramakrishna, and the Vie de Vivekananda et l’Evangile universel.”

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