Paul-Gilbert Langevin was the son of French physicist
Paul Langevin (1872–1946) and
Eliane Montel (1898–1993), a private teacher at the
Sorbonne science department. He started his scientific education at the
Sorbonne and then completed it at the
Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie, obtaining a degree in
physical chemistry under the supervision of professor René Freymann. From a young age, Langevin had a deep interest in classical music, listening to
Anton Bruckner's symphonies on radio recordings during his youth and meeting conductor
Roberto Benzi. Having completed his scientific degrees, he decided to write a thesis under the supervision of
Daniel Charles at the
Centre Universitaire de Vincennes about 19th century Austrian music, focusing on composer
Anton Bruckner and the so-called
ethnoromantic period. He became a physics teacher at the Sorbonne science department, and then, at the
Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie, which was created in 1971. During this time, he met musicologists
Harry Halbreich, Gustav Kars (father of
Jean-Rodolphe Kars), Jacques Feschotte,
Pierre Vidal,
Marc Vignal and
Jean-Luc Caron. Langevin went on to create the Anton Bruckner French society, wrote books on 19th-century symphonic music, edited in
La Revue Musicale and ''L'Age d'Homme
, and became a music critic in Le Monde de la musique'', edited by
Anne Rey. From the 1950s, Langevin focused on classical music, symphonic music, and writing. Specifically, he wrote articles, monographs and books about Anton Bruckner,
Franz Schubert,
Guillaume Lekeu,
Albéric Magnard,
Joseph-Guy Ropartz and
Charles Koechlin. He was also interested in works by
Hugo Wolf,
Gustav Mahler,
Arnold Schoenberg,
Franz Schmidt,
Ferruccio Busoni,
Leoš Janáček and
Carl Nielsen. Paul-Gilbert Langevin died in Paris on 4 July 1986. == Bibliography ==