Born on January 6, 1932, Yves Gérard studied philosophy at the Nancy-Université from 1949 to 1955. Following his graduation, he studied piano for three years at the Nancy Conservatory. From 1955 to 1956 he studied at the Sorbonne under composer, musicologist and theoretician Jacques Chailley. At the Conservatoire de Paris he studied music history, musicology and aesthetics winning first prize in each of these subjects. He succeeded his teacher, Norbert Dufourcq, as professor of music history and musicology at the Conservatoire in 1975, and retained this post until he retired in 1997. From 1980 to 1983, Gérard served as president of the Société française de musicologie, and he was the French representative to the International Musicological Society from 1982 until 1992.
Gérard is known especially for his scholarly works on the composers Luigi Boccherini and Camille Saint-Saëns. He has also made significant contributions to the study of the chamber music of late-18th century Italy, Spain, and Austria, and to French music of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians writes that his major work has been on the writings of Hector Berlioz. In 1983 he co-edited volume 4 of Berlioz's Correspondance générale, and in 1996 he co-edited Volume 1 of the composer's Critique musicale.
Writings
"L'Art pour la beauté: Samson et Dalila de Saint-Saëns", La Musique française, de Berlioz à Debussy (Paris, 1991), 25–32
"La Bibliothèque musicale d'un amateur éclairé de Madrid: la duchesse-comtesse de Benavente, duchesse d'Osuna (1752–1834)", RMFC, iii (1963), 179–8.
"Luigi Boccherini", Einzeldrucke vor 1800, RISM, A/I/i (1971), pp. 322–349.
"Luigi Boccherini and Madame Sophie Gail", The Consort, xxiv (1967), 294–309
"Notes sur la fabrication de la viole de gambe et la manière d'en jouer d'après une correspondance inédite de Jean-Baptiste Forqueray au Prince Frédéric-Guillaume de Prusse", RMFC, ii (1961–2), pp. 165–172.
"L'œuvre de Saint-Saëns: éclats et ombres de la célébrité", 150 ans de musique française: Lyons 1991, 97–103
"Le Rossignol: le paradoxe des codes détournés", Stravinsky-Schoenberg (Paris, 1997), pp. 52–58.
"Saint-Saëns et l'Opéra de Monte-Carlo", L'Opéra de Monte-Carlo au temps du prince Albert Ier de Monaco, ed. J.M. Nectoux (Paris, 1990), pp. 29–36.
Thematic, Bibliographical and Critical Catalogue of the Works of Luigi Boccherini (London, 1969).
As editor
C. Saint-Saëns: regards sur mes contemporains (Arles, 1990)
Le Conservatoire de Paris, 1795–1995: des Menus-Plaisirs à la Cité de la Musique (Paris, 1996), (with A. Bongrain and M.-H. Coudroy-Saghai)
Hector Berlioz: correspondance générale, iv (Paris, 1983), (with P. Citron and H. Macdonald)
