Lalo was born in
Puteaux, west of central Paris. His father,
Edouard Lalo, was a composer; his mother, Julie de Maligny, was a professional singer of
Breton origin. He studied at the
École polytechnique in Paris. He was a fine scholar, excelling in the study of literature, classics, philosophy and modern languages. From 1896 Lalo contributed articles to the
Journal des débats, and two years later he began a career as a music critic with an article in the
Revue de Paris about
Vincent d'Indy's new opera
Fervaal. On the strength of that article he was appointed music critic of
Le Temps, remaining in the post from 1898 to 1914. Collections of his articles were published in volume form in 1920 (
La musique: 1898–1899), 1933 (
Richard Wagner ou le Nibelung), and posthumously in 1947 (
De Rameau à Ravel: portraits et souvenirs). Lalo gave poor notices to the young composer's early works, and continued to disparage him throughout his career. Lalo was less hostile to the music of
Debussy, whose style of musical
impressionism he preferred to Ravel's. When he detected what he thought was the influence of Ravel on Debussy's music, Lalo wrote, "By a strange phenomenon, the music of M. Debussy today reflects that of his own imitators. M. Ravel has been reproached (more than he should) for resembling M. Debussy, and now it's M. Debussy who starts to resemble M. Ravel." Lalo added that nonetheless he still preferred Debussy's music to Ravel's. His article "Maurice Ravel et le Debussysme" in
Le temps in 1907 so stirred up factional opinion in the musical public that the harmonious relations between the two composers became strained. and later served on the board of the national broadcasting station
Radiodiffusion. He died in Paris at the age of 76. ==Notes, references and sources==