Raymond Ericson (1915 – December 30, 1997) was an American

music critic ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of mus ...

who wrote articles for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' for 30 years.

Life and career

Born in Brooklyn, Ericson earned an associate degree in mathematics from North Park Junior College in Chicago in 1934, and then earned bachelor's degrees in mathematics and music from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

. In the late 1930s he worked as an associate music and drama critic for ''

The Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

''. He served in the

United States Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical r ...

(USAAC) during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

from 1939-1942. After the USAAC was disbanded in March 1942, Ericson moved back to Brooklyn where he obtained the post of organist and choir director of the Pilgrim Covenant Church. He also worked as press agent for a theatrical production company in Manhattan. In 1949 he became a staff writer at ''

Musical America ''Musical America'' is the oldest American magazine on classical music, first appearing in 1898 in print and in 1999 online, at musicalamerica.com. It is published by Performing Arts Resources, LLC, of East Windsor, New Jersey. History 1898–19 ...

'', and was later promoted to position of managing editor at that magazine in the mid-1950s. In 1960 he left that job to join the music editorial staff at ''

'' where he first worked as the editor of the Sunday recordings page. He quickly began writing music criticism for the newspaper as well; eventually writing the weekly news column ''Music Notes'' as well as additional feature articles and concert and record reviews. He retired in 1981, but continued to do freelance work for ''The New York Times'' up until 1990 when he suffered a debilitating stroke. Ericson lived in retirement in

Sherman, Connecticut Sherman is the northernmost and least populous town of Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 3,527 at the 2020 census. The town was formed in 1802 from the northern part of New Fairfield. It is named for Roger Sherman ...

with his life partner Frank Milburn. He died in 1997 at the age of 82 at

Danbury Hospital Danbury Hospital is a 456-bed hospital in Danbury, Connecticut serving patients in Fairfield County, Connecticut, as well as Westchester County and Putnam County, New York. The hospital has 3,300 employees and is part of the Nuvance Health sys ...

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ericson, Raymond 1915 births 1997 deaths American music critics American LGBT musicians American LGBT writers Critics employed by The New York Times North Park University alumni Musicians from Brooklyn University of Chicago alumni 20th-century American musicians 20th-century American non-fiction writers People from Sherman, Connecticut 20th-century American LGBT people