La Revue musicale

La Revue musicale was a French music magazine established in 1920 by the musicologist and editor Henry Prunières. It was created during a period of major change in European musical culture, when composers, performers, critics, and audiences were negotiating the relationship between established classical traditions and newer musical languages. Rather than treating contemporary music as a wholly separate field, the magazine sought to support the transformation of music while retaining an active interest in the past. The publication distinguished itself through the care given to editing, visual presentation, iconography, and illustration. It was not simply a periodical devoted to reviews or concert reporting. Each issue combined discussion of musical and choreographic life with a broader cultural presentation of music in different countries. The magazine appeared on an approximately eleven-issue annual schedule and covered developments beyond France, giving it a European scope during the interwar period. A central feature of the La Revue musicale enterprise was its publishing program. Between 1920 and 1939, the magazine issued 81 supplements containing more than 160 musical works by various composers, most of them French. Some of these pieces were written specifically for publication through the review. Because the compositions were released irregularly and outside the magazine's regular issues, several have subsequently been overlooked in attempts to catalogue the complete output of their composers. The supplements therefore gave the brand a role not only as a journalistic publication but also as a vehicle for disseminating new music. The magazine's editorial outlook rejected the uncompromising nationalism that had marked parts of French classical-music culture before the First World War. Its international orientation and interest in contemporary composition made it a reference point for a segment of European musical life during the interwar years. At the same time, its commitment to musical continuity meant that modernism was presented in dialogue with historical styles rather than as a complete repudiation of them. The publication's approach has been described as building a new music on an adherence to Classicism. La Revue musicale continued its work for roughly two decades. The outbreak and consequences of the Second World War disrupted the cultural and publishing environment in which it operated, and the magazine ceased publication in 1940. Its surviving issues and supplements remain relevant to research on twentieth-century music, French musical publishing, interwar cultural exchange, and the reception of composers whose works circulated through the review. The Bibliothèque nationale de France preserves a digitized run through its Gallica intramuros service.

La Revue musicale was founded in France in 1920 by Henry Prunières. Its creation coincided with a period in which European music was experiencing significant aesthetic and institutional change after the First World War. The magazine was designed to document and encourage that change, but it did not define musical progress as a rejection of historical practice. Its editorial purpose combined support for contemporary developments with an evident respect for earlier music and for the classical tradition. The publication's distinctive character lay partly in the standard it applied to magazine production. It placed considerable emphasis on editorial quality, iconography, and illustration, making the visual and material form of the periodical part of its cultural identity. Its regular issues provided information about musical and choreographic activity in numerous countries. Published at a rate of approximately eleven issues per year, it functioned as an ongoing record of international musical life rather than as a narrowly national French review. Prunières's project also extended beyond the periodical itself. From 1920 to 1939, La Revue musicale issued 81 supplements on an irregular basis. Together these supplements contained more than 160 musical pieces by different composers, most of them French. Some works were commissioned or composed specifically for the magazine's publishing program. This activity gave the review a direct role in the circulation of new compositions and means that its archive includes material not always represented in standard bibliographies of individual composers. In cultural terms, the magazine moved away from the rigid nationalism that had characterized some French classical-music discourse before the First World War. By presenting music from different countries and engaging with contemporary composition in a broader European context, it became an important reference for part of the interwar musical world. Its preferred balance was neither a simple defense of the past nor an unconditional embrace of novelty: the magazine promoted the formation of new music while grounding that project in a relationship with Classicism. The publication survived for approximately twenty years. The conditions created by the Second World War led to its closure in 1940. No later operating period is established in the supplied reference material. Today, the periodical is chiefly encountered as an archival and bibliographic resource. Its issues and supplements are preserved in library collections, including a digitized archive made available by the Bibliothèque nationale de France. The archive is valuable for studying interwar music criticism, performance and choreographic reporting, publishing history, visual presentation, and the early circulation of works by twentieth-century composers.

1. 1940Publication ends

   The magazine closes during the disruption caused by the Second World War.

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2. 1939Supplement series reaches its final documented year

   By 1939, the magazine's irregular supplements had presented more than 160 musical works, many by French composers and some written expressly for the publication.

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3. 1920La Revue musicale is founded

   Henry Prunières establishes the French music magazine with an editorial program supporting contemporary musical change while maintaining engagement with the musical past.

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4. 1920Supplement publishing program begins

   The magazine begins issuing musical supplements alongside its regular periodical, eventually producing 81 supplements through 1939.

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An internationally oriented French music periodical combining criticism, reporting, visual culture, and the publication of contemporary musical works, while connecting new music with the classical tradition.

• La Revue musicale periodicalMusic magazine1920

  The core product was a French music magazine published on an approximately eleven-issue annual schedule. It reported on musical and choreographic life in France and other countries, combining criticism and cultural information with a carefully edited and illustrated presentation. Its international coverage and attention to both contemporary developments and historical music gave it a distinct interwar editorial position.

• La Revue musicale supplementsMusical scores and publishing supplements1920

  Between 1920 and 1939, the magazine published 81 irregular supplements containing more than 160 musical works. Most of the represented composers were French, and several works were created specifically for the review's publishing program. The supplements expanded the publication from a journal about music into a channel for issuing and preserving new compositions.

• 1920Adopt an international and historically connected editorial programStrategy

  The magazine was launched amid major changes in European music and against the background of the strongly national orientation found in some earlier French classical-music culture.

  What changed. La Revue musicale supported new music, covered musical and choreographic activity in multiple countries, and continued to engage with the musical past and Classicism.

  Aftermath. This approach helped the magazine become a reference point for part of interwar European musical life.

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• 1920Add a dedicated score-supplement publishing programProduct launch

  A conventional periodical alone would not provide a direct means of circulating new musical compositions.

  What changed. The publication issued irregular supplements containing musical works, including pieces composed specifically for the magazine.

  Aftermath. The program produced 81 supplements and more than 160 documented works by 1939, although some later became overlooked in composer work lists.

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• 1940La Revue musicale ceases publication during the Second World War

  The magazine was shut down in 1940 as the Second World War brought its interwar publishing period to an end.

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1. La Revue musicale
2. La Revue musicale archive, Bibliothèque nationale de France