Classical Music Criticism

Robert D. Schick

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781135586256
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Music

The first new survey of the field in more than 60 years, this study concentrates on the basics of music criticism. Because it focuses on core issues and proven principles, the book is likely to become the standard work on the subject. It is written for the audience that reads music criticism in newspapers and popular journals: professional and amateur musicians, scholars, teachers, researchers, librarians, students, music lovers, journalists, and critics. The topics are covered in depth and observations are thoroughly documented, yet the material is enjoyable to read because the writing is easy to understand and special terminology is held to an absolute minimum.
The commentary addresses the function of music criticism, the qualifications and training of a critic, the relationship between music criticism and other aspects of journalism, and the principles behind value judgments. Three chapters are devoted to the concert and opera review, one to reviewing recordings, another to radio and television criticism, and one to reviewing ethnic music. Thirty-eight reviews are quoted and analyzed, and 13 are presented in their entirety, along with critical commentary. Index. Appendix. Bibliography

Index

The index begins with chapter one and covers all that follows except for the postscript to chapter seven, the appendix, and the bibliography.

Abbado, Claudio, 55

academic scholarly criticism, 3, 4, 58

accompanist, evaluation of, 107

accreditation for critics, 52

Ackerman, James S., 78

active camera, 186

actualité (timeliness), 4–5, 58, 176

adjectives, use of, 111, 118

Adler, Peter Herman, 188

advertisers

interference by, 5, 54

quotations by, 34

aesthetic experience, 82, 93

aesthetic value, 82

logic behind judgments, 83–84

originality, contribution to, 99–101

Aïda (Verdi), 183–185

Albéniz, Isaac, 89

amateurs, criticism by, 6

anonymous music criticism, 60–61

anti-intellectualism, 194

applause, 134, 194–195

Ardoin, John, 37–38

Aristotle, 90

art

influence on behavior, 11, 12

Soviet control of, 11

Art in the Third Reich (Hinz), 10

audience, 3. See also public

for classical music on radio, 177

inspiring performers, 158, 189

for music criticism, 3, 23–24

for opera, 135–136, 189

response, 134, 194–195

survey of, 33

Augustine, Saint, 12

authenticity

in ethnic music, 169–171

in performance practices, 137–138

autobiography, musical work as, 150

Bach, Johann Sebastian, 24, 86, 96, 99, 112, 113, 138

bad reviews destroying major talent, 35

Balzac, Honoré de, 66

Bartók, Béla, 97, 108, 109

Baumol, Hilda, 33

Baumol, William J., 33

Beardsley, Monroe C., 80, 88–89, 94–95, 233, 234, 235, 238

instrumentalist theory, 82

on intentionali...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• I: The Background
• II: The Criticism
• Writing the Concert and Opera Review
• Intentions, Program Music, and the Expression Theory
• Reviewing Recordings
• Reviewing Ethnic Concerts and Recordings
• Radio and Television Criticism
• Epilogue: Coping with the 1990s: The Public and the Press in a Time of Change
• Appendix
• Notes
• Bibliography
• About the Author
• Index