Book contents
- The Cambridge History of Music Criticism
- The Cambridge History of Music
- The Cambridge History of Music Criticism
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Music Examples, Figures and Tables
- Notes on Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Part I The Early History of Music Criticism
- Part II The Rise of the Press
- Part III Critical Influence and Influences
- Part IV Entering the Twentieth Century
- Part V New Areas
- Part VI Developments since the Second World War
- 29 Music Criticism in the USSR from Asafyev to Cherednichenko
- 30 The Feuilleton and Beyond: Criticism in the Federal Republic of Germany and Austria after the Second World War
- 31 Music Criticism in Italy in the Twentieth Century
- 32 Wider Still and Wider: British Music Criticism since the Second World War
- 33 Music Criticism in France since the Second World War
- 34 Old Divisions and New Debates: Music Criticism in Post-War America
- Postlude
- Bibliography
- Index
32 - Wider Still and Wider: British Music Criticism since the Second World War
from Part VI - Developments since the Second World War
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 August 2019
- The Cambridge History of Music Criticism
- The Cambridge History of Music
- The Cambridge History of Music Criticism
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Music Examples, Figures and Tables
- Notes on Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Part I The Early History of Music Criticism
- Part II The Rise of the Press
- Part III Critical Influence and Influences
- Part IV Entering the Twentieth Century
- Part V New Areas
- Part VI Developments since the Second World War
- 29 Music Criticism in the USSR from Asafyev to Cherednichenko
- 30 The Feuilleton and Beyond: Criticism in the Federal Republic of Germany and Austria after the Second World War
- 31 Music Criticism in Italy in the Twentieth Century
- 32 Wider Still and Wider: British Music Criticism since the Second World War
- 33 Music Criticism in France since the Second World War
- 34 Old Divisions and New Debates: Music Criticism in Post-War America
- Postlude
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The story of British music criticism since the Second World War is straightforward and disheartening. At least, it is straightforward to the various fellow academics, critics, musicians, promoters and assorted music cognoscenti who have kindly (and sometimes not so kindly) shared their views on the matter with me over the past decade. It is a story of a long golden age, in which venerable figures were given unlimited acres of space to espouse their great wisdom, followed by a precipitous decline in both quantity and quality. It is a perception that echoes a generally nuanced 2001 editorial by Marc Bridle for Seen & Heard: ‘Since then [the 1980s], critics have lost their influence as movers and shakers, in part due to philistinism among arts editors and decreased critical coverage in newspapers. Moreover, the decline of classical music is irrevocably linked to the rise of popular music – and the nefarious (and probably incorrect) belief that this is what readers want.’
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- The Cambridge History of Music Criticism , pp. 629 - 647Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019