ROLLAND, ROMAIN (1866— ), French man of let ters, was born at Clamecy, Nievre, on Jan. 29, 1866. He was edu cated at Clamecy, and later in Paris, where he had a distinguished academic career. From 1889-91 he was a member of the French School in Rome, and in 1895 became professor of art history at the Ecole Normale Superieure. Later he was appointed profes sor at the Sorbonne, where he introduced the study of the history of music. He produced many critical and historical works, among them Les origines du theatre lyrique modern, Histoire de l'opera en Europe avant Lulli et Scarlatti (1895) ; Des causes de la decad ence de la peinture italienne (1895) ; Le theatre du people (iwl); besides studies on Millet (1902) ; Beethoven (1903) and Michel Ange (1906), Les Tragedies de la foi, Saint Louis, Aert, Le Tri omphe de la raison (1913). His most famous work, however, is the romance of Jean-Christophe (1904-12), the biography of a German musician. It is in three series, Jean-Christophe, Jean Christophe a Paris and La Fin du Voyage, and appeared in io volumes, the first L'aube, in 1904, and the last La Nouvelle Jour nee, in 1912.
When the World War broke out Rolland was in Switzerland, and although his open letter to Hauptmann expressed his horror of the burning of Louvain, he became extremely unpopular in France owing to a series of articles published in the Journal de Geneve during Sept. and Oct. 1914. These articles were sub
sequently published in book form under the title Au-dessus de la melee, of which the ninth edition appeared in 1915. Although his reputation in France suffered from his political views, it increased abroad, and the performances of Danton and Le juillet, which with Les Loups and Le Jeu de l'amour et de la mort belong to his Theatre de la Revolution (19°9), caused a furore in Berlin. His work Mahatma Gandhi (1924) is an impassioned defence of the Indian leader. His later works include : Colas Breugnon (1918) ; Les precurseurs (1919) ; Clerambault, Pierre et Luce ( 919) ; Voyage musical aux pays du passé (1919) ; Liluli ( 919) . In 1922 appeared the first volume of a series entitled L'Ame En chantee. To this series belong Annette et Sylvie (1922), L'Ete (1924), Mere et Fils (1927), Beethoven the Creator (1929). Rol land received the Nobel prize for literature in 1915.
See Jan Romein, Romain Rolland (1918) ; I. Debran, M. R. Rol land, initiateur de defaitisme (1918) ; W. Kuechler, Romain Rolland (1919).