Jump to content

List of chief music critics

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Leading critics of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, clockwise, from left to right:

Western classical music has a substantial history of music criticism, and many individuals have established careers as music critics. However, concert reviews are not always credited in the daily and weekly newspapers, especially those in the early to mid-20th century. This selective list of chief music critics (or equivalent title, influence or status) aims to make it easier to find the likely author of a review, or at least the influence of the chief music critic on what was covered and how.

Journalistic newspaper criticism of Western music did not properly emerge until the 1840s. Before then, in England, Joseph Addison had contributed essays on music to The Spectator in Handel's era. Former opera impresario Willian Ayrton began writing occasional musical criticism for The Morning Chronicle (1813–26) and The Examiner (1837–51) and founded the monthly music journal The Harmonicon in 1823.[1] Arts and literary magazines such as The Athenæum (and its critic H F Chorley, writing from 1830 to 1868) sometimes covered musical topics. Specialist music paper The Musical World began publication in 1836 and The Musical Times in 1844. In France, the composer Hector Berlioz wrote reviews and criticisms for the Paris press of the 1830s and 1840s,[2] as did other French writers such as Gérard de Nerval and François-Joseph Fétis.[3] In Germany, Robert Schumann began giving influential reviews for the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik in the 1830s.[4] In Austria, Ludwig Rellstab established himself as (according to Max Graf) "the first great music critic".[5]

But The Morning Post in England was the first daily newspaper to regularly publish concert reports, while The Times is generally recognised as being the first to appoint a professionally competent music critic, J W Davidson, in 1846.[6] It has been suggested that critic and librettist Joseph Bennett, writing for The Daily Telegraph from 1870 (then claimed to have the largest circulation in the world), held back the progress of English music due to his antipathy to Wagner, leaving Bernard Shaw as the only modern critic in the UK in the late eighties and early nineties.[7] Throughout the mid-to-late 1800s Eduard Hanslick became a leading figure in Austria, writing for the Neue Freie Presse.[8]

The presence of music criticism continued to grow, and by the 20th century numerous major newspapers had joined The Morning Post and Times in establishing permanent music critic posts, including The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Observer and The Sunday Times in Britain, and the Chicago Tribune, New York Herald Tribune and The New York Times in America. The late 19th and early 20th century saw the development of a uniquely American school of criticism, inaugurated by an informal group of New York-based, termed the 'Old Guard', which included Richard Aldrich, Henry Theophilus Finck, William James Henderson, James Huneker and Henry Edward Krehbiel.[9][10] Other leading critics of this time included John Alexander Fuller Maitland, Samuel Langford and Ernest Newman in Britain, and Paul Bekker in Germany.

After World War II, leading critics included Eric Blom, Neville Cardus, Martin Cooper, Olin Downes, Harold C. Schonberg and Virgil Thomson. Influential music critics from the late 20th century include Martin Bernheimer, Robert Commanday, Richard Dyer, Michael Kennedy and Michael Steinberg. In the 21st century fewer newspapers have dedicated critics for classical music, but writers have still been active, such as Alex Ross at The New Yorker, Anthony Tommasini at The New York Times and both Tim Page and Anne Midgette at The Washington Post.

List by publication

[edit]

Aftonbladet (Sweden)

  • Adolf Lindgren, 1874–1905.[11]

The Atlas (UK)

Berliner Tageblatt (Germany)

Berliner Zeitung am Mittag (Germany)

Birmingham Post (UK)

Boston Evening Transcript (USA)

The Boston Globe (USA)

The Boston Herald (USA)

Chicago Daily News (USA)

  • Donal J Henahan (1957-67)
  • Bernard Jacobson (1967-1973)
George Putnam Upton, critic of the Chicago Tribune

Chicago Tribune (USA)

Le Correspondant (France)

Daily Express (UK)

Daily Graphic (UK)

Daily Herald (UK)

Daily Mail (UK)

Daily News (UK)

Joseph Bennett in 1910

The Daily Telegraph (UK)

Evening News (UK)

Evening Standard (known as The Standard, 1827–1904) (UK)

Financial Times (UK)

Paul Bekker in c. 1925–27

Frankfurter Zeitung (Germany)

Glasgow Herald (UK)

  • Malcolm Rayment, until 1983.
  • Michael Turnelty, 1983–2011.

The Guardian (until 1959 The Manchester Guardian) (UK)

The Independent (UK)

Los Angeles Daily News (USA)

  • Richard Ginell, 1978–1990.

Los Angeles Times (USA)

The Morning Chronicle (UK)

The Morning Post (UK)

Münchner Neueste Nachrichten (Germany)

Neue Freie Presse (Austria)

Portrait of Eduard Hanslick, 40 years old

Neues Wiener Tagblatt (Austria)

News Chronicle (UK)

  • Scott Goddard, 1938–1955.
  • George Dannatt, 1944–1956.[72]

New Statesman (UK)

The New Yorker (USA)[76]

New York Daily News (USA)

New York Globe (after 1923 The New York Sun) (USA)

New York Herald Tribune (USA)

New York Post (USA)

The New York Sun (USA)

The New York Times (USA)

Richard Aldrich, c. 1918

The New York World (USA)

The Observer (UK)

Philadelphia Inquirer (USA)

  • Daniel Webster, 1963-1999.[103]
  • David Patrick Stearns, from 2000.[104]

The Plain Dealer (USA)

San Francisco Chronicle (USA)

San Francisco Examiner (USA)

William Barclay Squire in 1904

Saturday Review (UK)

The Scotsman (UK)

Sheffield Telegraph (UK)

La Stampa (Italy)

The Star (UK)

Sunday Express (UK)

The Sunday Telegraph (UK)

The Sunday Times (UK)

The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)

Der Tagesspiegel (Germany)

Le Temps (France)

James William Davison – Pencil sketch of a daguerrotype, c. 1857

The Times (UK)

Toronto Star (Canada)

  • John Terauds, 2005–2012.
  • William Littler (current).[135]

The Yorkshire Post (UK)

  • Cyril Dunn (until 1947)
  • Ernest Bradbury, 1947–1984.[136]
  • David Denton, 2000s–2020s.
Anne Midgette in 2020

The Washington Post (USA)

Wiener Zeitung (Austria)

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians
  2. ^ Bujić, Bojan (n.d.), "Criticism of Music" in The Oxford Companion to Music, Oxford Music Online.
  3. ^ Josephson 1972–1973, p. 84.
  4. ^ Daverio, John; Sams, Eric (2001). "Schumann, Robert". Grove Music Online. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.40704. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
  5. ^ Graf, Max. Composer and Critic: 200 Years of Musical Criticism (1948)
  6. ^ Howes 1966, p. 347.
  7. ^ 'G.S': Review of 'British Music of Our Time', in Music and Letters July 1946, Vol. 27 No 3, pp.188-189
  8. ^ Grey, Thomas S. (2001). "Hanslick, Eduard". Grove Music Online. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.12341. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
  9. ^ Mueser 1975, p. 43.
  10. ^ Horowtiz 2012, p. 100.
  11. ^ Davidsson & Heintz 1986, p. 207.
  12. ^ Theodore Baker (1919). Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians. G. Schirmer Inc. pp. 13–14.
  13. ^ Who's who in music, Henry Saxe Wyndham, 1915
  14. ^ a b c d Scaife, Nigel, "Newman, Ernest (1868–1959)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
  15. ^ a b Westrop, Jack. 'Blom, Eric (Walter)' in Grove Music Online (2001)
  16. ^ Midlands Classical Music Making
  17. ^ Christopher Morley. Confessions of a Music Critic (2021)
  18. ^ Tommasini, Anthony (29 July 2009). "Michael Steinberg, Music Critic, Teacher and Program Annotator, Is Dead at 80". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  19. ^ Smith, Patrick J. (2009) [2001]. "Steinberg, (Carl) Michael". Grove Music Online. Revised by Maureen Buja. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.26641. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
  20. ^ Greene, Jayson (2015) [2013]. "Dyer, Richard". Grove Music Online. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.A2282714. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
  21. ^ Bohlman, Andrea F. (2015) [2013]. "Eichler, Jeremy". Grove Music Online. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.A2282740. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
  22. ^ Walsh, Colleen (6 March 2017). "Life in wartime, etched in sound". The Harvard Gazette. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  23. ^ '40 years on the Chicago aisle', in The Chicago Tribune, 27 June 2018
  24. ^ Toye, Francis. 'The Cinderella of Fleet Street', in Music & Letters, Vol. 5, No. 1 (January 1924), pp. 79-84
  25. ^ Encyclopedia.com
  26. ^ "Noël Goodwin". The Times. 3 April 2013. Retrieved 8 April 2022. Published in print on 8 April 2013, p. 49
  27. ^ Kennedy, Michael; Kennedy, Joyce Bourne (2013) [2007]. "Noël Goodwin". The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music (5th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-920383-3.
  28. ^ a b "Obituary, 'Mr. Richard Capell', in The Times, 22 June 1954, p.10
  29. ^ Obituary, The Musical Times Vol. 86, No. 1226 (April 1945), pp. 105–108
  30. ^ a b The Penguin Music Magazine (1946–1949) and Music (1950–1952), RIPM.org
  31. ^ a b 'Music Critics and Criticism Today', in The Musical Times, Vol. 101, No. 1406, April 1960
  32. ^ a b Hughes 2002, p. [page needed].
  33. ^ a b Hughes 2002, p. 193.
  34. ^ Hughes 2002, p. 72.
  35. ^ "Joseph Bennett", The Musical Times, Vol. 51, No. 814, 1 December 1910, pp. 769–772
  36. ^ 'Robin Humphrey Legge', obituary, The Times, 7 April, 1933, p. 18
  37. ^ Byers, David. "Herbert Hughes – A Centenary Note", in: Soundpost 2 (March 1982) p. 6.
  38. ^ a b Obituary, The Musical Times, Vol. 91, No. 1285 (March 1950), pp. 101-102
  39. ^ Obituary, The Musical Times, Vol. 127, No. 1718 (May, 1986), p 291
  40. ^ Norris, Geoffrey. 'Tribute to a critic with a true musician's understanding' in The Daily Telegraph, 7 December 1996
  41. ^ a b "Michael Kennedy – obituary". The Daily Telegraph. 31 December 2014. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
  42. ^ Kennedy, Michal; Kennedy, Joyce Bourne, eds. (2013) [2007]. "Geoffrey Norris". The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-920383-3. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
  43. ^ "Ivan Hewett - Telegraph". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 18 July 2012. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
  44. ^ Margalit Fox (31 March 2015). "Andrew Porter, New Yorker Classical Music Critic, Dies at 86". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
  45. ^ The Times obituary, 18 November 2005, p 69
  46. ^ Blackwells
  47. ^ Hughes 2002, p. 192.
  48. ^ Johnstone, Arthur. Musical Criticisms (1905), with a memoir by Henry Reece and Oliver Elton
  49. ^ Obituary, The Manchester Guardian, 9 May 1927, p. 7 and p.9
  50. ^ Anderson, Robert. 'Cardus, Sir (John Frederick) Neville' in Grove Music Online (2001)
  51. ^ 'Colin Mason', Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music
  52. ^ Williamson, Rosemary. 'Greenfield, Edward', in Grove Music Online (2001)
  53. ^ Andrew Clements, The Guardian
  54. ^ Williamson, Rosemary. 'Northcott, Bayan (Peter)' in Grove Music Online (2001)
  55. ^ Edward Seckerson, biography
  56. ^ Sholes, Jacquelyn (2015) [2013]. "Goldberg, Albert". Grove Music Online. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.A2282980. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
  57. ^ "Pulitzer Prize winner and former L.A. Times music critic Martin Bernheimer dies at 83". Los Angeles Times. 29 September 2019. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
  58. ^ Westover, Jonas (2001). "Swed, Mark". Grove Music Online. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.A2289537. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
  59. ^ "Mark Swed". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
  60. ^ Highfill, Philip and others. A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers & Other Stage Personnel in London, 1660–1800 (1973), p.187
  61. ^ Hall-Witt, Jennifer. Fashionable Acts: Opera and Elite Culture in London, 1780-1880 (2007), p. 235
  62. ^ Stephen, Leslie; Lee, Sidney, eds. (1890). "Gruneisen, Charles Lewis" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 23. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  63. ^ Colin Eatock. Mendelssohn and Victorian England (2009)
  64. ^ Middleton, Louisa Mary (1890). "Glover, William Howard" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 22. p. 9.
  65. ^ a b Zicari, Massimo. 'Music Journalism in London: The Late 1870s and 1880s', Ch. 18 of Verdi in Victorian London (2016)
  66. ^ Colles, H.C. 'Toye, (John) Francis' in Grove Music Online (2001)
  67. ^ Musical Times, September 1960, p. 547
  68. ^ "Julius Korngold". Oxford Reference. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  69. ^ Haas, Michael (2013). "Mahler and His Chronicler Julius Korngold". Forbidden Music: The Jewish Composers Banned by the Nazis. New Haven: Yale University Press. doi:10.12987/9780300154313. ISBN 978-0-300-15431-3.
  70. ^ The Year in American Music: 1948
  71. ^ Rudolf Klein. 'Ullrich, Hermann', in Grove Music Online (2001)
  72. ^ Obituary, The Guardian, 10 December, 2009
  73. ^ 'W.J. Turner', Australian Dictionary of National Biography)
  74. ^ a b Obituary, The Independent, 22 October, 2011
  75. ^ Sadie, Stanley. 'David Drew', in Grove Music Online (2001)
  76. ^ Ross, Alex. "Musical events". therestisnoise.com. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  77. ^ Aldrich, Richard. 'Henry Edward Krehbiel', in Music & Letters, Vol. 4, No. 3 (Jul. 1923), pp. 266-268
  78. ^ Obituary, The New York Times, 10 September, 1939
  79. ^ Tommasini, Anthony. 'A Critic's Creed: Plug Yourself And Your Fellow Americans', in The New York Times, 21 August 1994
  80. ^ Obituary, The Times, 8 October 1991, p. 18
  81. ^ Lowens, Margery Morgan (2001). "Finck, Henry T(heophilus)". Grove Music Online. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.09659. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
  82. ^ Reiko ISHII. The Pianistic Legacy of Olga Samaroff: Her Contributions to the Musical World (2014)
  83. ^ a b Ramona H. Matthews. 'Thompson, Oscar', in Grove Music Online (2001
  84. ^ Obituary, The New York Times, 2 July 1987
  85. ^ 'Seymour, Charles Bailey (1829–1869)', Lehigh University
  86. ^ "Richard Aldrich Dies in Rome at 73; Times Music Critic Emeritus, Retired in 1924, Is Stricken on Visit to Brother". The New York Times. 3 June 1937. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
  87. ^ Newsom, Jon. "Downes, Olin", Grove Music Online, Oxford Music Online, accessed 24 August 2021
  88. ^ Severo, Richard. "Howard Taubman, 88, a Times Music Critic", The New York Times, 9 January 1996. Accessed 24 August 2021.
  89. ^ Kozinn, Allan (24 August 2021). "Harold C. Schonberg, 87, Dies; Won Pulitzer Prize as Music Critic for The Times". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
  90. ^ [Music Department] (10 July 1991). "Times Names a Chief Critic". The New York Times.
  91. ^ Morgan, Paula. 'Rothstein, Edward', in Grove Music Online (2001)
  92. ^ Bernard Holland at topics.nytimes.com
  93. ^ Ceriani, Davide (2016) [2013]. "Tommasini, Anthony". Grove Music Online. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.A2289585. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0. Retrieved 3 December 2021. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
  94. ^ Cruz, Gilbert; Cooper, Michael (15 November 2021). "A Coda, and Many Bravos, for Anthony Tommasini". The New York Times Company. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  95. ^ Cruz, Gilbert; Michel, Sia (5 April 2022). "Zachary Woolfe Named Classical Music Critic". The New York Times Company. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  96. ^ Obituary, Minneapolis Star Tribune, 10 Feb 1921, p.1
  97. ^ a b Wilson, Steuart, rev. John Warrack. "Strangways, Arthur Henry Fox (1859–1948)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 24 August 2021
  98. ^ Stephen Plaistow (29 June 2000). "Sir William Glock". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
  99. ^ "An outward-looking clarity of vision", The Observer, 6 October 1991, p. 57
  100. ^ Nicholas Kenyon biography, Faber
  101. ^ a b "Fiona Maddocks". Embassy of the United Kingdom, Moscow. Archived from the original on 13 February 2022. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
  102. ^ a b Maddocks, Fiona (7 July 2019). "Fiona Maddocks" (Interview). Interviewed by Anonymous. SWAP'ra. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
  103. ^ Obituary, The Philadelphia Inquiry 14 May, 2018
  104. ^ Inquirer.com
  105. ^ 'Elwell, Herbert', in Encyclopedia of Cleveland History
  106. ^ 'Critic Robert Finn shared his love of music, bold opinions with readers: An appreciation', in The Plain Dealer, 31 July 2011
  107. ^ Wakin, Daniel J. (24 September 2008). "Music Critic vs. Maestro: One Loses His Beat". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
  108. ^ 'Cleveland loses its last music critic', from Slipped Disc, 7 April, 2020
  109. ^ Smith, Patrick J. (2015) [2013]. "Frankenstein, Alfred". Grove Music Online. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.A2284355. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
  110. ^ Smith, Patrick J. (2001). "Commanday, Robert". Grove Music Online. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.47667. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
  111. ^ Kosman, Joshua (5 September 2015). "Robert Commanday, longtime Chronicle music critic, dies". SFGate. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
  112. ^ Greene, Jayson (2001). "Kosman, Joshua". Grove Music Online. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.A2285014. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0. Retrieved 21 July 2022. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
  113. ^ 'Tales of a critic: A celebration of retiring Classical Musical Critic Joshua Kosman', San Francisco Chronicle, 8 April 2024
  114. ^ Hughes 2002, p. 194.
  115. ^ Hughes 2002, pp. 83, 194.
  116. ^ Obituary, The Scotsman, 30 November, 2017
  117. ^ Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Under the Spotlight: Mary Miller
  118. ^ Stephen Johnson, biography
  119. ^ A.M.Gibbs. A Bernard Shaw Chronology (2001), p. 342
  120. ^ Shaw, Bernard (1981). Shaw's music : the complete musical criticism in three volumes. Vol. 1. London: Max Reinhardt, the Bodley Head. pp. 16–17. ISBN 0-370-30247-8.
  121. ^ Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music
  122. ^ 'Malcolm Hayes', British Music Collection
  123. ^ David Cairns biography at The Hector Berlioz website
  124. ^ Tunley, David. 'Covell, Roger David', in Grove Music Online (2001)
  125. ^ .Brigitte Massin. 'Weber, Johannès', in Grove Music Online (2001)
  126. ^ Porter, Dilwyn. "Alsager, Thomas Massa". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/41071. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  127. ^ Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1888). "Davison, James William" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 14. London: Smith, Elder & Co. .
  128. ^ Maitland, J.A.F. 'Hueffer, Francis', in The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
  129. ^ Obituary, The Times, 31 March 1936, p. 11
  130. ^ Music and Letters; Obituary of Colles by A H Fox Strangways
  131. ^ "Mr Frank Howes", The Times, 30 September 1974, p. 17
  132. ^ "William Mann – Obituary", The Times, 6 September 1989
  133. ^ Cummings, Paul (ed.), "Griffths, Paul", International Who's Who in Classical Music (2003), p. 299
  134. ^ "Richard Morrison". BBC. Archived from the original on 21 April 2020. Retrieved 21 July 2022.
  135. ^ Biography, Dundurn Press
  136. ^ University of Leeds, Special Collections
  137. ^ Obituary, Washington Post, 28 December, 2005
  138. ^ "Tim Page | USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism". annenberg.usc.edu. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  139. ^ Schenbeck, Lawrence (2013). "Midgette, Anne". Grove Music Online. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.A2289104. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
  140. ^ "Michael Brodeur will become The Post's classical music critic". The Washington Post.

Sources

[edit]