All Topics  
Music critic

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Music critic
 
 
  Topics Music critic Topic Home

A music critic is someone who reviews music
Music

Music is an art form whose media is sound organized in time. Common elements of music are pitch , rhythm , dynamics , and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture ....
 (including printed music, performances and recorded music) and publishes writing on them in books or journals (or on the internet). Some music critics also write books analyzing musical styles and discussing music history, thus verging on the field of musicology
Musicology

Musicology is the scholarly study of music. The word is used in narrow, broad and intermediate senses. In the narrow sense, musicology is confined to the music history of Western culture....
.

Many composers of classical music
Classical music

Classical music is a broad term that usually refers to mainstream music produced in, or rooted in the traditions of Western art history Religious music and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 9th century to present times....
 were also notable writers on, and critics of, music, including Hector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz

Louis Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic music composer and guitarist, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Requiem . Berlioz made great contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation and by utilizing huge orchestral forces for his works; as a conductor, he performed several c...
, Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner

Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, Conducting, theatre director and essayist, primarily known for his operas . Unlike most other great opera composers, Wagner wrote both the scenario and libretto for his works....
 and Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann

Robert Schumann, sometimes given as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is one of the most famous Romantic music composers of the 19th century....
.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Music critic'
Start a new discussion about 'Music critic'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


A music critic is someone who reviews music
Music

Music is an art form whose media is sound organized in time. Common elements of music are pitch , rhythm , dynamics , and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture ....
 (including printed music, performances and recorded music) and publishes writing on them in books or journals (or on the internet). Some music critics also write books analyzing musical styles and discussing music history, thus verging on the field of musicology
Musicology

Musicology is the scholarly study of music. The word is used in narrow, broad and intermediate senses. In the narrow sense, musicology is confined to the music history of Western culture....
.

Many composers of classical music
Classical music

Classical music is a broad term that usually refers to mainstream music produced in, or rooted in the traditions of Western art history Religious music and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 9th century to present times....
 were also notable writers on, and critics of, music, including Hector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz

Louis Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic music composer and guitarist, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Requiem . Berlioz made great contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation and by utilizing huge orchestral forces for his works; as a conductor, he performed several c...
, Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner

Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, Conducting, theatre director and essayist, primarily known for his operas . Unlike most other great opera composers, Wagner wrote both the scenario and libretto for his works....
 and Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann

Robert Schumann, sometimes given as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is one of the most famous Romantic music composers of the 19th century....
. Amongst modern practitioners of the classical music tradition who also write (or wrote) on music may be included Alfred Brendel
Alfred Brendel

Alfred Brendel Order of the British Empire is an Austrian pianist, born in Czechoslovakia and a resident of the United Kingdom. He is known as one of the most distinguished classical music pianists of the second half of the 20th century....
, Charles Rosen
Charles Rosen

Charles Rosen is an Americanpianist and music theory.Charles Rosen studied piano with Moriz Rosenthal, but in an interview published in the June 2007 edition of BBC Music Magazine, he cites Josef Hofmann, whom he says he heard every year from age three, as a greater influence....
, Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith

Paul Hindemith was a German composer, violist, violinist, teacher, music theorist and Conducting....
 and Ernst Krenek
Ernst Krenek

Ernst Krenek was an Austrian composer. He explored atonality and other Contemporary classical music styles and wrote a number of books, including Music Here and Now , a study of Johannes Ockeghem , and Horizons Circled: Reflections on my Music ....
.

In the realm of rock music
Rock music

Rock music is a loosely defined genre of popular music that entered the mainstream in the mid 1950's. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rhythm and blues, country music and other influences....
(as indeed in that of classical music), critics have not always been respected by their subjects. Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa

Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, electric guitarist, record producer, and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock music, jazz, electronic music, orchestral, and musique concr?te works....
 declared that, "Most rock journalism is people who can't write, interviewing people who can't talk, for people who can't read." In the Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses

Guns N' Roses is an American Rock music band, formed in Los Angeles, California, California in 1985. The band, led by frontman and co-founder Axl Rose, has gone through numerous line-up changes and controversies since their formation....
 song "Get in the Ring
Get in the Ring

"Get in the Ring" is the fifth song on the Guns N' Roses album Use Your Illusion II. It was written by Axl Rose, Duff McKagan, and Slash and is directed at music critics who gave the band negative reviews because of their actions on stage....
", Axl Rose
Axl Rose

W. Axl Rose is an United States musician, best known as the lead vocalist of hard rock rock band Guns N' Roses.Rose grew up in Indiana in a troubled family environment....
 verbally attacked critics who gave the band negative reviews because of their actions on stage; such critics as Andy Secher
Andy Secher

Andy Secher, based in New York City, is the long-time editor of Hit Parader, a magazine geared for the Heavy metal music rock and roll audience....
, Mick Wall and Bob Guccione, Jr.
Bob Guccione, Jr.

Robert Charles Guccione, Jr. - the eldest son of Bob Guccione - is best known for founding the music magazine Spin magazine.In 1978, after two attempts at going into the publishing business on his own, Guccione went to work for General Media International - his father's publishing empire....
 were mentioned by name.

See also

  • Music journalism
    Music journalism

    Music journalism is criticism and reportage about music. It began in the eighteenth century as comment on what is now thought of as 'classical music'....
Category:Music critics


External links

  • - an international group of media professionals who treat any aspect of music on any media. Publishes the "Directory of Music Journalists" and confers "Music Journalist Award".