Wadī‘ Ṣabrā et le modernisme musical au Liban durant la période du mandat français.

This article aims to trace the impact of Wadī‘ Ṣabrā’s (1876-1952) activity and ideas on Beirut’s musical life during the French Mandate period (1919-1943). This francophone musician and composer is considered to be the founder of the Lebanese music modernism. He played a major role in the westernisation of Beirut’s music scene, contributing to the identity construction of the new state of Greater Lebanon. Its local and Western-style music institute became a public space of music production where the institutionalisation and the professionalisation of the modern music scene started in Beirut. It was also a place of political and social controversy reflecting the contradictions of its time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]