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 he was among the first to attempt an arrangement of Gregorian rhythm in a mensuralist sense. The a priori character of the attempt is apparent in the scantiness of paleographical documentation and, above all, in the arbitrary complication of the “progressive transcriptions” and in the assignment of strictness in the rhythmic rendering of the neumes. More than an oratorical rhythm, D. regarded Gregorian rhythm as a musical rhythm, but one 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 his most important work is Études de science musicale (3 vols., ibid. 1898); an appendix to this study is De la musique arabe (ibid. 1899).