Book Launch: 'The Reminiscences and Selected Music Criticism of Herbert Thompson'

Discover British musical life in the late-19th and early-20th centuries through the rich and fascinating archive of Yorkshire music critic Herbert Thompson.

Join us to celebrate Clemson University Press’s publication of The Reminiscences and Selected Criticism of Herbert Thompson, edited and compiled by the School of Music’s Professor Michael Allis and Professor Paul Watt of the University of Adelaide.

Herbert Thompson (1856 – 1945) was chief music critic of The Yorkshire Post from 1886 to 1936, and was also the Yorkshire correspondent for The Musical Times. Allis and Watt’s volume incorporates a critical edition of Thompson’s previously unpublished Reminiscences, plus a substantial selection of his music criticism in The Yorkshire Post.

Highlighting the rich detail of British musical life in the late-19th and early-20th centuries, Thompson’s writings remind us of the variety of music-making in Yorkshire (focusing on the Leeds Festival in particular), and recount his early musical experiences in Cambridge, his concert-going in London, and his tours of Europe. Together with his views on a plethora of composers (such as J. S. Bach, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Meyerbeer, Stanford, Sullivan and Wagner), performers (including Leonard Borwick, Joachim, Clara Schumann, and a range of operatic vocalists) and conductors (Julius Buths, Michael Costa, Arthur Nikisch, Hans Richter, Hans von Bülow, amongst others), Thompson discusses topics such as music education, writing about music, female musicians, music competitions, and the importance of programme notes. The timings that he made of musical works in performance (documented in his diaries and musical scores) are particularly valuable, helping our understanding of contemporary performing practices.

Beginning in Treasures of the Brotherton, Professor Allis will give a brief introduction the book and show some material from the Herbert Thompson Collection (including diaries, letters and musical scores) held in Special Collections at the University of Leeds. This will be followed by a reception in the School of Music.

Attendees will receive a discount code to use when ordering the book online.