Ernest Newman
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Ernest Newman (Everton, Liverpool, November 30, 1868 – Tadworth, Surrey,July 7, 1959) was an English music critic.
[edit] Life
Born the son of a master tailor, Newman's name at birth was William Roberts. When he began writing music criticism he adopted the name Ernest Newman, because, as an advocate of progressive ideals, he saw himself as a "new man in earnest".
His musical education was entirely self-conducted. After studying at Liverpool University, he entered the Bank of Liverpool as a clerk in 1889. While in this job he read voraciously, training himself in literature and philosophy and learning nine languages. Having contributed articles to The National Reformer from 1889, he published his first book, Gluck and the Opera, in 1895, followed by A Study of Wagner in 1899. In 1904 Newman gave up banking and went to Birmingham to teach music theory and singing at the Midland Institute, at the invitation of its director, Granville Bantock.
[edit] Publications
Newman was critic of the Birmingham Daily Post from 1906 to 1918 and of the Sunday Times from 1920 until 1958, as well as writing for The Manchester Guardian, the Glasgow Herald and other media.
Newman's approach to criticism was dominated by the attempt to be logically rigorous and by the scrupulous sifting of relevant background knowledge. His 'magnum opus' was his four-volume study The Life of Richard Wagner, on which he worked from 1928 until 1947.
Two books on opera, Opera Nights (1943) and Wagner Nights (1949) are still in print and provide very informative, if opinionated, guides for the opera-goer to the standard repertoire.
Other works include a study of the player-piano (1920) and Confessions of a Musical Critic (1923). Another work, "A Musical Motley," is a very amusing collection of articles published by Bodley Head in 1919.
