James William Davison
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James William Davison (5 October 1813 – 24 March 1885) was an English journalist, known as the music critic of ''
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 ...
''.


Life

The son of James Davison, of a
Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...
family, and the actress Maria Duncan, he was born in London 5 October 1813. He was educated at
University College School ("Slowly but surely") , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent day school , religion = , president = , head_label = Headmaster , head = Mark Beard , r_head_label = , r_hea ...
and the
Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke of ...
, where he studied the pianoforte under W. H. Holmes and composition under
George Alexander Macfarren Sir George Alexander Macfarren (2 March 181331 October 1887) was an English composer and musicologist. Life George Alexander Macfarren was born in London on 2 March 1813 to George Macfarren, a dancing-master, dramatic author and journalist, wh ...
..


Critic

Originally with ambitions to be a composer, Davison became first a music teacher, and then in the 1830s a music writer and critic. In 1842 he was a founder of the journal ''The Musical Examiner'', and remained its editor (after it was merged with the ''Musical World'') until his death. In 1846 he became principal music critic of ''
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 ...
'', where he remained until 1879, exercising substantial influence over British musical taste. He also wrote for other journals, including the ''
Pall Mall Gazette ''The Pall Mall Gazette'' was an evening newspaper founded in London on 7 February 1865 by George Murray Smith; its first editor was Frederick Greenwood. In 1921, '' The Globe'' merged into ''The Pall Mall Gazette'', which itself was absorbed int ...
'' and the ''Saturday Review''.Warrack (2004). Davison's tastes were conservative and he was a strong advocate of the work of
Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include sy ...
,
Louis Spohr Louis Spohr (, 5 April 178422 October 1859), baptized Ludewig Spohr, later often in the modern German form of the name Ludwig, was a German composer, violinist and conductor. Highly regarded during his lifetime, Spohr composed ten symphonies, ...
and
William Sterndale Bennett Sir William Sterndale Bennett (13 April 18161 February 1875) was an English composer, pianist, conductor and music educator. At the age of ten Bennett was admitted to the London Royal Academy of Music (RAM), where he remained for ten years. B ...
, the latter of whom he had befriended at the Royal Academy. He joined Bennett on his first visit to Germany in 1836 where they met Mendelssohn, who had admired Bennett's work in London. Conversely Davison was strongly against the innovations of the composers of the
New German School The New German School (german: link=no, Neudeutsche Schule, ) is a term introduced in 1859 by Franz Brendel, editor of the ''Neue Zeitschrift für Musik'', to describe certain trends in German music. Although the term has frequently been used in ...
, including
Franz Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...
and
Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
, and even towards more conventional composers such as
Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid- Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped wit ...
and
Robert Schumann Robert Schumann (; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career a ...
, although he was an advocate of the work (and conducting) of
Hector Berlioz In Greek mythology, Hector (; grc, Ἕκτωρ, Hektōr, label=none, ) is a character in Homer's Iliad. He was a Trojan prince and the greatest warrior for Troy during the Trojan War. Hector led the Trojans and their allies in the defense o ...
, whom he described as "a great musical thinker" and who dedicated to him his overture ''Le Corsaire'' (op. 21, H101) After the first performance in England of
Robert Schumann Robert Schumann (; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career a ...
's ''
Paradise and the Peri ''Paradise and the Peri'', in German ''Das Paradies und die Peri'', is a secular oratorio for soloists, choir, and orchestra by Robert Schumann. Completed in 1843, the work was published as Schumann's Op. 50. The work is based on a German tran ...
'' he wrote: "Robert Schumann has had his innings, and been bowled out—like Richard Wagner. ''Paradise and the Peri'' has gone to the tomb of the
Lohengrin Lohengrin () is a character in Germany, German Arthurian literature. The son of Percival, Parzival (Percival), he is a knight of the Holy Grail sent in a boat pulled by swans to rescue a maiden who can never ask his identity. His story, which fi ...
s." Visiting the Wagner Festival at
Bayreuth Bayreuth (, ; bar, Bareid) is a town in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Franconian Jura and the Fichtelgebirge Mountains. The town's roots date back to 1194. In the 21st century, it is the capital of U ...
in 1876 for the first production of Wagner's
Ring cycle (''The Ring of the Nibelung''), WWV 86, is a cycle of four German-language epic music dramas composed by Richard Wagner. The works are based loosely on characters from Germanic heroic legend, namely Norse legendary sagas and the ''Nibelung ...
, he commented "Wagner...by crushing the buds of melody as they spring up, buds which might blossom into seemly flowers, cramps the manifold resources of expression which are the golden heritage of his art." Davison's antagonism to Wagner was noted by musicologists of the
Nazi regime Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
in Germany, and (although he was not of Jewish descent) his name was included in the Nazi handbook ''Lexikon der Juden in der Musik (Dictionary of Jews in Music)'', published in 1940.Reprinted in Weissweiler (1999), p. 212.


Composer

Davison wrote orchestral works, one of which, an overture, was played at a concert of the
Society of British Musicians The Society of British Musicians was a Society founded in 1834, dedicated to promoting the composition and performance of British music. It gave concerts of works by leading British composers of the day. The Society was dissolved in 1865. Founding ...
. He also wrote and arranged pianoforte music for ''Bohn's Harmonist'', and composed songs, among them settings of
John Keats John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculo ...
and
Percy Bysshe Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley ( ; 4 August 17928 July 1822) was one of the major English Romantic poets. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame during his lifetime, but recognition of his achie ...
. The only book he published was a short work on Chopin, which appeared about 1849.


Family

In 1860 Davison married
Arabella Goddard Arabella Goddard (12 January 18366 April 1922) was an English pianist. She was born and died in France. Her parents, Thomas Goddard, an heir to a Salisbury cutlery firm, and Arabella née Ingles, were part of an English community of expatriat ...
the pianist, who had been his music pupil. They had two sons, one of whom (
Henry Henry may refer to: People *Henry (given name) * Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...
) edited Davison's papers into memoirs which were published in 1912. Davison died in Margate in 1885.


References


Sources

* * * Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Davison, James William 1813 births 1885 deaths English male journalists English magazine editors 19th-century British journalists English male non-fiction writers English music critics English male composers English classical composers 19th-century English musicians 19th-century English male writers 19th-century British male musicians