Krehbiel, Henry (Edward)
Krehbiel, Henry (Edward)
Krehbiel, Henry (Edward), noted American music critic; b. Ann Arbor, Mich., March 10, 1854; d. N.Y., March 20, 1923. He was music critic of the Cincinnati Gazette (1874–80), and subsequently of the N.Y. Tribune until his death. He also wrote the program notes for the N.Y. Phil., was American ed. of the 2nd edition of Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians (1904–10), and brought out the rev. and completed ed. of the Eng. version of Thayer’s Life of Beethoven (3 vols., 1921). He was a brilliant writer of music criticism, able to project his opinions (and prejudices) in vivid prose. He was an ardent champion of Wagner, and also wrote with warm admiration for the late Romantic composers; however, he deprecated the modern school of composition, hurling invectives on Stravinsky, Prokofiev, and Schoenberg (whose music he described as excrement).
Writings
(all publ. in N.Y): Notes on the Cultivation of Choral Music, and the Oratorio Society of New York (1884); Review of the New York Musical Season (5 vols., 1886-90); Studies in the Wagnerian Drama (1891); The Philharmonic Society of New York: A Memorial Published on the Occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Founding of the Philharmonic Society (1892); How to Listen to Music (1896); Annotated Biography of Fine Art (with R. Sturgis; 1897); Music and Manners in the Classical Period (1898); Chapters of Opera (1908; 2nd ed., 1911); A Book of Operas (1909); The Pianoforte, and Its Music (1911); Afro-American Folksongs (1914); A Second Book of Operas (1917); More Chapters of Opera (1919).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire