New book by School of Music professor celebrates Yorkshire Post music critic and Special Collections
A Professor in the School of Music has published a book exploring the legacy of the Yorkshire Post's Chief Music Critic
A Professor in the School of Music has published a book on a celebrated music critic who wrote for the Yorkshire Post.
The Reminiscences and Selected Music Criticism of Herbert Thompson (Clemson University Press) by Professor Michael Allis and his colleague Professor Paul Watt (University of Adelaide) explores the work of Herbert Thompson (1856-1945), a music critic writing for the Yorkshire Post from 1886 to 1936.
The book includes a transcription of Thompson’s unpublished memoirs, plus a representative range of his writings, drawing on the Herbert Thompson archive in the Special Collections at the University of Leeds (including contextual material from his diaries and letters).
Thompson’s work offers a rich account of music-making in late 19th- and early 20th-century Britain – in Cambridge and London, but particularly in Yorkshire, including the importance of the Leeds Musical Festivals – as well as detailing his European tours. He also discusses the value of programme notes, the nature of music criticism, and the importance of music education and providing accessible concerts. His views on composers, conductors, and performers of the day (with clear admiration for J.S. Bach, Brahms, Wagner, Hans Richter, Arthur Nikisch, and the Croatian opera singer Milka Ternina) not only demonstrate changes in musical taste, but remind us of the exciting musical environment in which he worked.
Professor Allis recently spoke to the Yorkshire Post about the book and Thompson’s legacy.
An event celebrating the book will take place on 19 September (17:15-19:15) in the Treasures of the Brotherton Gallery followed by a reception in the School of Music – click here to reserve tickets.
For further information about the volume, see the Clemson University Press and Liverpool University Press websites.
Photo: Professor Michael Allis. Credit: the Yorkshire Post.
