André Cœuroy, born Jean Bélime on 24 February 1891 in Dijon, and passing away on 8 November 1976 in Chaumont-en-Bassigny, Haute-Marne, was a notable yet contentious figure in the realm of French musicology. He was a music critic, translator, editor, journalist, and academic researcher. Renowned as a distinguished scholar, Cœuroy emerged as a prominent advocate for the reintegration of German musical traditions into the Francophone world during the interwar period. He is particularly recognized for his early and enthusiastic support of Edgard Varèse and the Jeune France group, which he described as the union of "four little spiritualist brothers": Yves Baudrier, André Jolivet, Olivier Messiaen, and Jean-Yves Daniel-Lesur. However, during the 1930s, Cœuroy adopted a radical far-right political stance, aligning himself with the collaborationist movement during World War II. His controversial works include the books La Musique et le peuple en France ("Music and the People in France"), published in 1940, and Histoire générale du jazz ("General History of Jazz") in 1942 by Éditions Denoël; both were met with criticism from Philippe Gumplowicz in his article "Reactionary Musicographers of the 1930s" (Le Mouvement Social, No. 208, July–September 2004), which labeled Cœuroy as a "caricatured reactionary" with a nationalist and identitarian impulse. In 1943, he took over as chief editor of the notorious anti-Semitic collaborationist newspaper Je suis partout, succeeding French fascist Lucien Rebatet (1903–1972).
Cœuroy began his musical education at the Regional Conservatory in Dijon before moving to Paris as a teenager, where he became better known by his professional name, "André Cœuroy." After completing his studies at Lycée Louis-le-Grand in central Paris, he enrolled in the École Normale Supérieure in 1911, achieving his agrégation in German by 1914. His studies included philology at the University of Munich and composition under Max Reger in Leipzig. During World War I, Cœuroy was captured by German forces, yet he managed to mitigate his treatment by organizing musical lectures, including discussions on Wagner.
Following World War II, Cœuroy returned to Paris and collaborated with Henry Pruniéres (1886–1942) to co-found La Revue Musicale in 1920, a respected monthly music journal where he served as editor-in-chief for the first 17 years. He also contributed as a columnist for other prominent French newspapers, such as Paris-Midi (1925–1939) and Gringoire (1927–1939). His academic endeavors included extensive teaching in Paris and a visiting lecturer role at Harvard University during 1931-1932, alongside serving as the musical director for the League of Nations from 1929 to 1939.
As a translator, Cœuroy worked with major publishing houses in Paris, including Gallimard, translating significant works by authors such as Heinrich Heine, Goethe, Friedrich de La Motte-Fouqué, Theodor Fontane, Max Frisch, Eduard Mörike, and Friedrich Sieburg. His notable translations included Richard Ellmann's biography of James Joyce, Bruno Walter's memoirs, and Heinrich Strobel's acclaimed 1940 work on Claude Debussy. He also translated musical works, including a French libretto for Carl Maria von Weber's 1821 opera Der Freischütz, Op. 77. Additionally, Cœuroy published articles and treatises on contemporary French music, playing a key role in popularizing the Groupe des six, an informal collective of celebrated Montparnasse composers: Louis Durey (1888–1979), Georges Auric (1899–1983), Arthur Honegger (1892–1955), Darius Milhaud (1892–1974), Germaine Tailleferre (1892–1983), and Francis Poulenc (1899–1963). His scholarly focus included the works of César Franck, Hector Berlioz, and Georges Bizet, along with extensive studies of composers such as Weber, Richard Wagner, Robert Schumann, Frédéric Chopin, and Franz Schubert.
