DECHEVRENS, ANTOINE. - Jesuit, musician, b. at Chêne (Geneva) on 3 Nov. 1840, d. at Geneva on 17 Jan. 1912. He was choirmaster in churches of the Society, then professor of philosophy and theology at the Catholic University of Angers.

Having returned to Switzerland, he was able to continue his studies on neumatic notation and Gregorian chant, and was among the first to attempt a systematization of Gregorian rhythm in a mensuralist sense. The apriorism of the attempt is evident in the scarcity of paleographic documentation and, above all, in the arbitrary complication of the "progressive transcriptions" and in the assignment of strictness in the rhythmic translation of the neumes. Rather than an oratorical rhythm, D. considered the Gregorian one a musical rhythm, but based on metrical accentuation. His theories were never applied in practice.

Didactic works: Du rythme dans l'hymnographie latine, Paris 1895; Composition musicale et composition littéraire (ibid. 1910); but the most important work is Études de science musicale (3 vols., ibid. 1898; an appendix to the study forms the De la musique arabe (ibid. 1899).

Bibliography

BIBL.: J. Kreitmaier, s. v. in L. Koch, Jesuiten-Lexikon, Paderborn 1934, col. 382.

Pietro Thomas

@incollection{ec4_dechevrens_antoine, author = {Thomas, Pietro}, title = {Dechevrens, antoine}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {IV}, pages = {1269}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1950}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/dechevrens-antoine} }

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Dechevrens, Antoine

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