Fétis, François Joseph

Fétis, François Joseph (fräNswä` zhôzĕf` fātēs`), 1784–1871, Belgian music theorist, historian, and composer. A teacher and librarian at the Paris Conservatory, he became (1833) director of the conservatory at Brussels. He wrote two theoretical works (1824, 1844). His Biographie universelle des musiciens (8 vol., 1835–44) and Histoire général de la musique (1869–76), despite inaccuracies, are of great value to music historians. In Paris in 1827 he founded Revue musicale. He wrote biographies of Paganini and Stradivarius and composed two symphonies, four operas, piano music, chamber music, and some church music.