A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Bottée de Toulmon

by George Grove

BOTTÉE DE TOULMON, an amateur, who was Librarian to the Conservatoire of Paris from Aug. 1831 till his death; born at Paris May 15, 1797, died there, from an attack brought on by the Revolution of 1848, March 22, 1850. His merits appear to have been chiefly those of devotion and perseverance. According to Fétis' account (Biogr. Univ.) he was incompetent and inaccurate, and his works—treatises on musical history and archæology, of which Fétis gives a list—appear not to be trustworthy. But he deserves the gratitude of all students of music for having published the catalogue of the compositions of Cherubini, which was kept up year by year by that master, and published after his death under the title of 'Notice des Manuscrits Autographes de Musique composée par feu M. L. C. Z. S. Cherubini, exsurintendant de la musique du roi, Directeur du Conservatoire de musique, Commandeur de l'ordre royale de la legion d'honneur, Membre de l'Institut de France, etc., etc., etc. Paris, chez les principaux editeurs de musique, 1843.' It is an 8vo. pamphlet of 36 pages, with a short preface by M. Bottée de Toulmon, and a notice to intending purchasers, for whom it was made public. It is now very rare.

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