Castil-Blaze is mostly known as a music critic. Beginning 7 December 1820, he published Musical Chronicles in the Journal des débats, signing his articles, which were often very controversial, 'XXX'.[1] In these irregularly-published chronicles (about 30 per year), Castil-Blaze seemed to take certain liberties. Most of the chronicles criticized the lyric works, but others were dedicated to thoughts about music, to composers' necrologies (Weber in 1826, Beethoven in 1828), or to concert reviews. Castil-Blaze wrote for the Journal des Débats until 1832, when he joined le Constitutionnel; he also collaborated in Fétis's Revue musicale (Paris, 1827), as well as other periodicals or reviews. He is without a doubt, in France, the first music critic to have studied music.
