Crichton, Ronald 1913–2005
Crichton, Ronald 1913–2005
OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born December 28, 1913, in Scarborough, England; died November 15, 2005, in Barcelona, Spain. Music critic and author. Crichton was a highly respected British music critic who was an expert on opera and the ballet. Graduating from Christ Church, Oxford, with an M.A. in 1936, he worked as an organizing secretary for the Anglo-French Art and Travel Society, where it was his responsibility to bring orchestras, musicians, and theater companies from France to England. He left this post to serve in the British Army during World War II, after which he joined the British Council and worked abroad in Belgium, West Germany, Greece, and England until 1967. During the early 1960s, Crichton began contributing music reviews to the Financial Times. When he left his British Council job, Crichton joined the staff of the Financial Times as a full-time music critic. He also contribued to Opera magazine. Retiring from the Financial Times in 1978, he spent his remaining years as a freelance critic. Crichton was the coeditor of A Dictionary of Modern Ballet (1959), editor of The Memoirs of Ethel Smyth (1987), and author of such books as Falla (1982) and The Operettas of Offenbach (1984).
OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:
PERIODICALS
Independent (London, England), November 28, 2005, p. 37.
Times (London, England), November 18, 2005, p. 69.