Griffiths, Paul

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Griffiths, Paul

Griffiths, Paul, English music critic, writer on music, and librettist; b. Bridgend, Glamorgan, Wales, Nov. 24, 1947. He received his education at Lincoln Coll., Oxford. From 1971 he wrote music criticism for many publications. He was chief music critic of The Times of London from 1982 to 1992, and then of the New Yorker from 1992. He served as area ed. for 20th century music for the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (1980) and the New Oxford Companion to Music (1983). Among his books are A Concise History of Avant-Garde Music (1978; rev. ed., 1994, as Modern Music: A Concise History), Modern Music: The Avant- Garde Since 1945 (1981; rev.ed., 1995, as Modern Music and After), The Rake’s Progress (1982), The String Quartet (1983), Bartόk (1984), New Sounds, New Personalities: British Composers of the 1980s (1985), An Encyclopedia of 20th Century Music (1986), and Stravinsky (1992). He also wrote the librettos for Tan Dun’s opera Marco Polo (1993-94) and Elliott Carter’s opera What Next? (1999).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

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