John Barry Steane (12 April 1928 – 17 March 2011) was an English music critic, musicologist, literary scholar and teacher, with a particular interest in singing and the human voice. His 36-year career as a schoolmaster overlapped with his career as a music critic and author of books on Elizabethan drama, and opera and concert singers. Among Steane's works are critical studies of

Christopher Marlowe Christopher Marlowe, also known as Kit Marlowe (; baptised 26 February 156430 May 1593), was an English playwright, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. Marlowe is among the most famous of the Elizabethan playwrights. Based upon the ...

and Alfred Tennyson, and a series of books on music, concentrating on singing and singers. He contributed to a range of musical journals, including ''

Gramophone A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

'' and ''

The Musical Times ''The Musical Times'' is an academic journal of classical music edited and produced in the United Kingdom and currently the oldest such journal still being published in the country. It was originally created by Joseph Mainzer in 1842 as ''Mainze ...

'', and wrote articles for the ''

Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and theo ...

'' and the ''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

Life and career

Early years

Steane was born in

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

, the son of William John Steane and his wife, Winifred. He was educated at King Henry VIII School, Coventry.Shenton, Kenneth
"John Steane – Distinguished literary scholar and music critic "
''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', 22 April 2011, pp. 8–9 While there, he became a member of the

Coventry Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Saint Michael, commonly known as Coventry Cathedral, is the seat of the Bishop of Coventry and the Diocese of Coventry within the Church of England. The cathedral is located in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The curren ...

choir. When the cathedral was destroyed by bombing in 1940, Steane moved to the neighbouring

Holy Trinity Church Holy Trinity Church may refer to: Albania * Holy Trinity Church (Berat), Berat County * Holy Trinity Church, Lavdar, Opar, Korçë County Armenia * Holy Trinity Church, Yerevan Australia * Garrison Church, Sydney, South Wales, also known as ''H ...

. After leaving school and before going up to the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

, he undertook his

national service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The l ...

, where among those he met was Sergeant

Edward Greenfield Edward Harry Greenfield OBE (3 July 1928 – 1 July 2015) was an English music critic and broadcaster. Early life Edward Greenfield was born in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex. His father, Percy Greenfield, was a manager in a labour exchange, while his ...

, who became a lifelong friend and later a colleague of Steane in music criticism. From 1948 to 1952 Steane attended

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's full name is The College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and the glorious Virgin Saint Radegund, near Cambridge. Its common name comes fr ...

, where he studied English under A. P. Rossiter from 1948 to 1952. Among the other influences on him at Cambridge was the controversial scholar

F. R. Leavis Frank Raymond "F. R." Leavis (14 July 1895 – 14 April 1978) was an English literary critic of the early-to-mid-twentieth century. He taught for much of his career at Downing College, Cambridge, and later at the University of York. Leavis ra ...

. After graduating he joined the staff of Merchant Taylors' school Northwood,

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

, where he became a housemaster and head of English. An obituarist wrote in 2011 that Steane influenced many aspects of the school's life, including not only English, but also sport, music and drama, and "the breadth of his intellect and the warmth of his personality made him an inspirational guide for generations of students".

English literature

In 1964, the

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press A university press is an academic publishing hou ...

published Steane's first book, ''Marlowe: A Critical Study'', giving a short (23 page) biographical study of the

Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personifi ...

playwright,

, together with a comprehensive (350-page) study of his works. Reviewing the book, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' said of Steane, "He possesses the authority which derives from intimate knowledge … creative criticism of the highest quality." ''

The Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication i ...

(TLS)'' wrote, "He has turned an acute and sensitive mind upon Christopher Marlowe and both the author and ourselves should be thankful to him." For the same publisher, Steane edited and introduced Thomas Dekker's ''

The Shoemaker's Holiday ''The Shoemaker's Holiday or the Gentle Craft'' is an Elizabethan play written by Thomas Dekker. The play was first performed in 1599 by the Admiral's Men, and it falls into the subgenre of city comedy. The story features three subplots: an ...

'' in an edition published in 1965, and

Ben Jonson Benjamin "Ben" Jonson (c. 11 June 1572 – c. 16 August 1637) was an English playwright and poet. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence upon English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for t ...

's ''

The Alchemist An alchemist is a person who practices alchemy. Alchemist or Alchemyst may also refer to: Books and stories * ''The Alchemist'' (novel), the translated title of a 1988 allegorical novel by Paulo Coelho * ''The Alchemist'' (play), a play by Ben ...

'', in 1967."John Barry Steane"
Gale Literary Database, Contemporary Authors, accessed 3 May 2011 Steane's literary interests were not confined to the Elizabethans; in 1966 he wrote a volume on Tennyson for a new series, "Literature in Perspective", to which his fellow contributors included

Margaret Drabble Dame Margaret Drabble, Lady Holroyd, (born 5 June 1939) is an English biographer, novelist and short story writer. Drabble's books include '' The Millstone'' (1965), which won the following year's John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize, and ''Jer ...

, Norman Sherry and

Fred Inglis Frederick Charles Inglis (born 17 May 1937) is Emeritus Professor of Cultural Studies at the University of Sheffield in the UK. Previously Professor of Cultural Studies at the University of Warwick, he has been a member of the School of Social Sci ...

; the ''TLS'' thought Steane's book "brilliant, informative and admirably written", and much the best of the four. In 1969 he edited, and wrote the introduction to, the

Penguin Penguins (order (biology), order List of Sphenisciformes by population, Sphenisciformes , family (biology), family Spheniscidae ) are a group of Water bird, aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: on ...

edition of Marlowe's plays.Millington, Barry
"Obituary: John Steane: Musicologist and a leading authority on vocal technique"
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 29 March 2011 In 1972 he published his last contribution to English literary scholarship, an edition of Thomas Nashe's, ''

The Unfortunate Traveller ''The Unfortunate Traveller: or, the Life of Jack Wilton'' (originally published as ''The Unfortunate Traueller: or, The Life of Jacke Wilton'') is a picaresque novel by Thomas Nashe first published in 1594 but set during the reign of Henry VIII of ...

'' and other works.

Music criticism

Music was a lifelong passion with Steane. During his years at Merchant Taylor's he regularly played the organ for chapel services. An obituary in ''The Times'', noting that choral music, and particularly the music of the Anglican liturgy, remained one of his greatest loves,"Obituary – John Steane", ''The Times'', 25 March 2011, p. 30 observes, "his beautifully observed and straightforwardly expressed views about the art of singing brought him to the attention of the

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

record producer

Walter Legge Harry Walter Legge (1 June 1906 – 22 March 1979) was an English classical music record producer, most especially associated with EMI. His recordings include many sets later regarded as classics and reissued by EMI as "Great Recordings of the ...

, who suggested to the editors of ''

'' magazine that he would be a useful adornment to its panel of contributors." Steane began writing for ''Gramophone'' in 1972. In 1974 he took over from

Desmond Shawe-Taylor Desmond Philip Shawe-Taylor (born 30 September 1955) was Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures from 2005 to 2020. He succeeded Christopher Lloyd (art historian), Christopher Lloyd on Lloyd's retirement.Jolly, James
Obituary, John Steane
''Gramophone'', March 2011 In 1999, the magazine published in book form a collection of these articles from the previous 25 years. In 1974, Steane published his book ''The Grand Tradition: Seventy Years of Singing on Record, 1900–1970'' which covered the history of recorded singing. It was enthusiastically received by the critics. The ''TLS'' wrote that singers had found in Steane "their Keats or Baudelaire, the poet of the sensations they create." The reviewer praised his ability to characterise a singer with phrases of "poetic refinement", though not eschewing humour, quoting his description of Nellie Melba changing in the course of one song "from Juliet at the ball to a knees-up-mother-Brown pearly-queen". In ''

'',

Harold Rosenthal Harold David Rosenthal OBE (30 September 1917 – 19 March 1987) was an English music critic, writer, lecturer, and broadcaster about opera. Originally a schoolmaster, he became drawn to music, particularly opera, and began working on musical ...

vigorously dissented from some of Steane's opinions, but he too praised his gift for the "apt choice of a word or phrase to sum up a singer's art or voice". '' Music & Letters'' called it "a book for the connoisseur". '' American Record Guide'' called Steane's erudition "formidable" and the book "essential". In the 1980s Steane began writing articles and reviews in ''The Musical Times.'' Many of his contributions were about famous singers of the past, or reviews of books about them. These included Claudia Muzio,

Beniamino Gigli Beniamino Gigli ( , ; 20 March 1890 – 30 November 1957) was an Italian opera singer (lyric tenor). He is widely regarded as one of the greatest tenors of his generation. Early life Gigli was born in Recanati, in the Marche, the son of a shoem ...

, Lauritz Melchior,

Enrico Caruso Enrico Caruso (, , ; 25 February 1873 – 2 August 1921) was an Italian operatic first lyrical tenor then dramatic tenor. He sang to great acclaim at the major opera houses of Europe and the Americas, appearing in a wide variety of roles (74) ...

, and Margaret Burke Sheridan. His literary expertise was employed in a piece about the poets whose music Britten chose to set. Other articles drew on his long and wide experience of opera and song, from

Puccini Giacomo Puccini (Lucca, 22 December 1858Bruxelles, 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long lin ...

Hugo Wolf Hugo Philipp Jacob Wolf (13 March 1860 – 22 February 1903) was an Austrian composer of Slovene origin, particularly noted for his art songs, or Lieder. He brought to this form a concentrated expressive intensity which was unique in late Ro ...

. He also contributed many reviews and articles to ''

Opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

'' (from 1981), ''Opera Now'' (from 1989), and ''

Classic Record Collector ''Classical Recordings Quarterly'' (formerly ''Classic Record Collector'') was a quarterly British magazine devoted to vintage recordings of classical music, across the range of instrumental recordings, chamber music, orchestral, vocal and opera. ...

''. Steane contributed numerous entries in the ''

'' and the ''

New Grove Dictionary of Opera ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'' is an encyclopedia of opera, considered to be one of the best general reference sources on the subject. It is the largest work on opera in English, and in its printed form, amounts to 5,448 pages in four volu ...

''. The online combined edition of Grove at May 2011 listed 359 articles by him, mostly about singers, but with some about other subjects such as the conductor Tullio Serafin and the pianist Graham Johnson. He wrote the articles in the ''

'' on Roy Henderson and Nellie Melba.Steane, J. B
"Henderson, Roy Galbraith (1899–2000)"
an
"Melba, Dame Nellie (1861–1931)"
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 5 May 2011 Steane's ''Voices, Singers and Critics'' was published in 1992, ''Elisabeth Schwarzkopf: A Career on Record'' (with Alan Sanders) in 1995, and his three-volume ''Singers of the Century'' appeared between 1996 and 2000. Steane retired from Merchant Taylor's in 1988. In 2008 he was honoured by the

Worshipful Company of Musicians The Worshipful Company of Musicians is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. Its history dates back to at least 1350. Originally a specialist guild for musicians, its role became an anachronism in the 18th century, when the centre of ...

, on the occasion of his 80th birthday. He died at the age of 82. His final contribution to ''Gramophone'', an appreciation of a vintage recording of ''

The Barber of Seville ''The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution'' ( it, Il barbiere di Siviglia, ossia L'inutile precauzione ) is an ''opera buffa'' in two acts composed by Gioachino Rossini with an Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was base ...

'' with

Maria Callas Maria Callas . (born Sophie Cecilia Kalos; December 2, 1923 – September 16, 1977) was an American-born Greek soprano who was one of the most renowned and influential opera singers of the 20th century. Many critics praised her ''bel cant ...

and

Tito Gobbi Tito Gobbi (24 October 19135 March 1984) was an Italian operatic baritone with an international reputation. He made his operatic debut in Gubbio in 1935 as Count Rodolfo in Bellini's ''La sonnambula'' and quickly appeared in Italy's major opera ...

, was published posthumously in May 2011.

Bibliography

Author

*''Marlowe: A Critical Study'', Cambridge University Press (Cambridge, England), 1964, second edition, 1970. *''Tennyson'', Evans Brothers (London), 1966, Arco (New York, NY), 1969. *''The Grand Tradition: Seventy Years of Singing on Record'', Scribner (New York, NY), 1974, reprinted, Amadeus Press (Portland, OR), 1993. *''Voices, Singers and Critics'', Amadeus Press, 1992. *''Elisabeth Schwarzkopf: A Career on Record'' (with Alan Sanders and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf), Amadeus Press, 1995. *''Singers of the Century'', Amadeus Press, Volume 1, 1996, Volume 2, 1999, Volume 3, 2000. *''The Gramophone and the Voice: 25 Years of Quarterly Writings from the Pages of Gramophone'', Gramophone, 1999.

Editor

*Thomas Dekker, ''The Shoemaker's Holiday'', Cambridge University Press, 1965. *Ben Jonson, ''The Alchemist'', Cambridge University Press, 1967. *Christopher Marlowe, The Complete Plays, Penguin (Harmondsworth), 1969. *Thomas Nashe, ''The Unfortunate Traveller'' and Other Works, Penguin, 1972.

Notes

Sources

Webber, Christopher (2015). ''John Barry Steane''
in

Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

*
Steane bibliography
at

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the OCL ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Steane, J. B. 1928 births Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge English musicologists English music critics 2011 deaths People from Coventry Schoolteachers from Warwickshire