A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Blaze de Bury, Henri

BLAZE DE BURY, Baron Henri, born in 1813, the son of the foregoing, is too much like him in all essential points to require detailed notice. In literary skill he surpasses his father; in musical knowledge he is decidedly his inferior. Blaze de Bury is indeed the prototype of the accomplished littérateur of the second empire. He is able to write well on most topics, and excellently on many. His style is refined and pleasing, but his attempts at depth are strangely mingled with the flippancy of the feuilletoniste. Amongst his works on music, which alone concern us here, the most remarkable are 'La Vie de Rossini' (1854); 'Musiciens contemporains'—short essays on leading musicians, such as Weber, Mendelssohn, Verdi, and many others (1856); and 'Meyerbeer et son temps' (1865). All these are reprints of articles contributed to the 'Revue des deux Mondes' and other periodicals. Another connection of Blaze de Bury with the history of music may be seen in the following circumstance. He wrote a comedy called 'La jeunesse de Goethe,' for which Meyerbeer supplied the incidental music. The score was unpublished when the master died, and will remain so, along with other MSS., till thirty years after his decease, in accordance with his own arrangement. In 1868 Blaze de Bury attempted to set aside the portion of the will referring to the MS. in question, but the action brought against the family was unsuccessful.

[ F. H. ]