Herbert Thompson (1856-1945) was chief music critic at The Yorkshire Post from 1886 until 1936, as well as being the Yorkshire correspondent for the Musical Times. This volume includes a critical edition of his Reminiscences, and a substantial selection of his published music criticism. Thompson offers a fascinating commentary on the nature of music criticism and the value of programme notes, along with his views on a plethora of composers (including J. S. Bach, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Meyerbeer, Stanford, Sullivan, and Wagner), performers (such as Leonard Borwick, Joachim, Clara Schumann, and Sivori, plus a range of operatic and concert vocalists), and conductors (Buths, Costa, Nikisch, Richter, von Bülow, amongst others). In addition to charting his concert-going in London (with reference to institutions such as the Philharmonic Society, the Bach Choir and the Crystal Palace concerts) and documenting a range of performance timings, Thompson also discusses programming at provincial festivals (including Bridlington, Gloucester and Hovingham, but especially Leeds) and the variety of music-making in Yorkshire. Not only does Thompson highlight the rich detail of British musical life, but his description of his musical tour of Europe in 1889 represents a significant contribution to nineteenth-century travel writing and the nature of music-making abroad.
Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements Abbreviations
Introduction
Michael Allis: Thompson’s Reminiscences
Paul Watt: Thompson’s Music Criticism
Herbert Thompson’s Reminiscences, ed. by Michael Allis
Editorial Notes
Reminiscences Text
Herbert Thompson’s Music Criticism: A Selection, ed. by Paul Watt
Note on the Text *Preparatory Method of Musical Instruction * Roubiliac’s Sculpture of Handel; Handel Festivals
Leeds Festival
“Music for Children”
“Saxophone Recital in Leeds”
The Music and Musical Instruments of Southern India; Wagner’s Prose Writings
Opening of New Buildings at the Royal College of Music
Hereford Festival
New Quarterly Musical Review
The Leeds Musical Festival Conductorship
Church Music; The Chord Magazine
National and Local Orchestras; Carl Rosa Opera Company
Annual Conference of Musicians; Expertise of Vocalists
W. H. Hadow’s Leeds Lecture
Cowen’s Concertstück for Piano
Music for the Unscientific
The Oxford History of Music
Leeds Festival Finances Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius in Düsseldorf
Leeds Musicians
Old English Ballads
Covent Garden Opera Season
British Musicians Studying Abroad; Municipal Theatres
Death of A. E. Rodewald; Music in Liverpool and Leeds
Hector Berlioz Centenary
International Musical Society; Design of Auditoriums
Music in Elementary Schools
Speech by Henry Coward on British Composers; Savoy Operas
“Living Masters of Music” Essays; Henry Wood as a Conductor
Conference on the Incorporated Society of Musicians, Manchester; Municipal Orchestras
German Music Critics
Tyranny of the Choir
Elgar’s Professorship at the University of Birmingham
Gregorian Chant
National Opera; Musical Technique
Music Festival Proposed for Newcastle
W. J. Galloway’s Musical England
“Wagner’s Ring at Leeds”
Covent Garden Opera: English Translations of Libretti; French Grand Opera
Finances
Analytical Programme
Notes
Music in Wartime
Music in Wartime Committee
Music Competition Festivals
British Music Society
The Ban on German Music
Colour and Music
The Trials of the Concert Promoter; A New Bishop at Oxford
Programme Music
Music in Public Schools
“Bradford Permanent Orchestra. Women as Violinists”
The Efficient Training of Conductors
Jazz
“Notes on Concert-Hall Acoustics”
The Dolmetsch Foundation
Opera’s Fate in the North; Poor Support in Leeds and Bradford; Carl Rosa Company
“Writing the History of Music”
Some Commentators on Berlioz; A Diversity of Opinions
“Handel’s Music in England”
Appendix: Thompson’s timings for performances of Bach’s B minor Mass
