- Klein, Hermann. Thirty Years of Musical Life in London, 1870–1900.New
York: Century, 1903. xvii, 483p. ML285.8 .L8 K6.
Klein (1856–1934) wrote for the London Sunday Times. This collection has
notes, portraits, and an excellent expansive index of names. There are essays
of special interest on the de Reszkes, Patti, Sembrich, Lucca, Bispham, Melba
(her debut), Schumann-Heink, Alvary, and Nordica. - Lonchampt, Jacques. L’opéra d’aujourd’hui, journal de musique.Paris: Édi-
tions du Seuil, 1970. 301p. ML60 .L847.
Articles from Le monde,1960–1970, covering performances in Paris and else-
where in Europe. Useful for reviews of less common operas, including works
of Honegger, Tomasi, Kosma, Landowski, Semenoff, etc. - Marcello, Benedetto. Il teatro all moda. Venice: Borghi de Belisania per A.
Licante, ca. 1720.
A satirical and entertaining essay that sharply criticizes operatic practice of the
time. Frequently translated. The most useful English rendition is “Il teatro alla
moda,” trans. Reinhard G. Pauly, MQ34 (1948): 371–403; 35 (1949): 85–
105, with valuable footnotes and helpful explanations. The same author has
also written an important study: “Benedetto Marcello’s Satire on Early 18th
Century Opera,” MQ34 (1948): 222–233, which gives interesting material on
stage devices and on other operatic satires of the period. - Porter, Andrew. Music of Three More Seasons, 1977–1980.New York: Knopf,
- 613p. ISBN 0-3945-1813-6. ML200.8 .N52 P9.
Interesting reviews by an English critic who wrote for the New Yorkermaga-
zine for several seasons of opera; these are all extracts from the magazine. Two
earlier collections, A Musical Season, 1972–1973 (1974), and Music of Three
Seasons, 1974–1977(1978), are also of value. - Schmidgall, Gary. “Arcibrava, GBS!” OQ14-4 (Summer 1998): 5–13.
A pleasing survey of reviews by George Bernard Shaw, “one of music history’s
wittiest, most exuberant and charmingly outrageous critics,” who wrote for
several London journals over a seven-year period. For all the originals, there is
Shaw’s Music: The Complete Musical Criticism in Three Volumes,ed. Dan H.
Laurence (London: The Bodley Head, 1981).
Other critical collections are found under individual cities in Chapter XVIII.
Critics and Criticism 97