Harold Charles Schonberg (29 November 1915 – 26 July 2003) 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 ...
and author. He is best known for his contributions in ''
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 ...
'', where he was
chief music critic from 1960 to 1980. In 1971, he became the first music critic to win the
Pulitzer Prize for Criticism
The Pulitzer Prize for Criticism has been presented since 1970 to a newspaper writer in the United States who has demonstrated 'distinguished criticism'. Recipients of the award are chosen by an independent board and officially administered by C ...
. An influential critic, he is particularly well known for his encouragement of
Romantic piano music and criticism of conductor
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein ( ; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was the first America ...
. He also wrote a number of books on music, and one on
chess
Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...
.
Life and career
Early life
Harold Charles Schonberg was born in
Washington Heights, Manhattan
Washington Heights is a neighborhood in the uppermost part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is named for Fort Washington, a fortification constructed at the highest natural point on Manhattan by Continental Army troops to defen ...
in New York City, New York on 29 November 1915. His parents were David and Minnie (Kirsch) Schonberg, and he had a brother (Stanley) and a sister (Edith). His aunt,
Alice Frisca was an early influence and his first music teacher; she was a former concert pianist, and had studied with
Leopold Godowsky
Leopold Mordkhelovich Godowsky Sr. (13 February 1870 – 21 November 1938) was a Lithuanian-born American virtuoso pianist, composer and teacher. He was one of the most highly regarded performers of his time, known for his theories concernin ...
. He started piano lessons with Frisca at four years old, and "discovered early on that he had a superb musical memory that allowed him to remember pieces in great detail after a single hearing". Schonberg himself cited the first performance he saw at the
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operat ...
around age 12 as particularly formative to his musical upbringing. A performance of Richard Wagner's ''
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
(; "The Master-Singers of Nuremberg"), WWV 96, is a music drama, or opera, in three acts, by Richard Wagner. It is the longest opera commonly performed, taking nearly four and a half hours, not counting two breaks between acts, and is traditio ...
'' with the conductor
Artur Bodanzky
Artur Bodanzky (also written as Artur Bodzansky) (16 December 1877 – 23 November 1939) was an Austrian-American conductor particularly associated with the operas of Wagner. He conducted Enrico Caruso's last performance at the Metropolitan Oper ...
, he would later write on the experience 39 years later, reflecting on the opera's opening chord that it "rose to the dress circle, and he felt as though he could reach out, touch it, caress it. He had been to concerts before, but somehow, in this vast dark auditorium, there was a different feeling to the texture and even the organization of this chord. It sounded warm and cozy. It covered him like a blanket." In his recounting of the event, Schonberg claimed the experience as having inaugurated his desire to be a music critic.
Schonberg received a
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
at
Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus.
Being New York City's first publ ...
(1937), during which he published his first music criticism in the ''Musical Advance'' journal. He then studied as a graduate student at
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
, receiving a
Master of Arts
A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...
in 1938 while studying under the composer
Marion Bauer
Marion Eugénie Bauer (15 August 1882 – 9 August 1955) was an American composer, teacher, writer, and music critic. She played an active role in shaping American musical identity in the early half of the twentieth century.
As a composer, ...
. His dissertation concerned
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 ...
songbooks, which he studied in both musical and literary contexts. In his early life, Schonberg was also interested in the visual arts, studying drawing at the
Art Students League of New York
The Art Students League of New York is an art school at 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists.
Although artists may stu ...
and sometimes illustrating his music criticism with
caricature
A caricature is a rendered image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way through sketching, pencil strokes, or other artistic drawings (compare to: cartoon). Caricatures can be either insulting or complimentary, a ...
s of the musicians they featured. In 1939, Schonberg received his first post as a music critic: he was associate editor and critic at the ''
American Music Lover
The ''American Record Guide'' (''ARG'') is a classical music magazine. It has reviewed classical music recordings since 1935.
History and profile
The magazine was founded by Peter Hugh Reed in May 1935 as the ''American Music Lover''. It chang ...
''.
During World War II, Schonberg was a first lieutenant in the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
Airborne Signal Corps. He had hoped to enlist as a pilot, but was declared pastel-blind (he could distinguish colors but not shadings and subtleties) and was sent to London, where he was a code breaker and later a parachutist. He broke his leg on a training jump before D-Day and could not participate in the
Normandy landings
The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...
; every member of his platoon who jumped into France was ultimately killed. He remained in the Army until 1946.
At ''The New York Times''
Schonberg joined ''
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 ...
'' in 1950. He rose to the post of senior music critic for the ''Times'' a decade later. In this capacity he published daily reviews and longer features on
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 ...
s and
classical music
Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...
on Sundays. He also worked effectively behind the scenes to increase music coverage in the ''Times'' and develop its first-rate music staff. Upon his retirement as senior music critic in 1980, he became cultural correspondent for the ''Times''.
Schonberg also wrote articles for ''
Harper's'' and ''
High Fidelity'' magazine, among others.
Schonberg was an extremely influential music writer. Aside from his contributions to
music journalism
Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...
, he published 13 books, most of them on music, including ''The Great Pianists: From Mozart to the Present'' (1963, revised 1987)—pianists were a specialty of Schonberg—and ''The Lives of the Great Composers'' (1970; revised 1981, 1997) which traced the lives of major composers from
Monteverdi
Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi (baptized 15 May 1567 – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, choirmaster and string player. A composer of both secular and sacred music, and a pioneer in the development of opera, he is considered ...
through to modern times. Schonberg wrote a biography of
Vladimir Horowitz
Vladimir Samoylovich Horowitz; yi, וולאַדימיר סאַמוילאָוויטש האָראָוויץ, group=n (November 5, 1989)Schonberg, 1992 was a Russian-born American classical pianist. Considered one of the greatest pianists of all ...
, one of the most famous pianists of the 20th century, entitled ''Horowitz: His Life and Music'' (1992).
Criticisms of Bernstein
Schonberg was highly critical of
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein ( ; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was the first America ...
during the composer-conductor's eleven-year tenure (1958–69) as principal conductor of the
New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic, officially the Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc., globally known as New York Philharmonic Orchestra (NYPO) or New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, is a symphony orchestra based in New York City. It is ...
. He accused Bernstein of showing off by using exaggerated gestures on the podium and of conducting a piece in a way that made its structure overly obvious to audiences (e.g., slowing down during the transition from one main theme to another).
One of Schonberg's best remembered criticisms of Bernstein was written after
the famous 6 April 1962, performance before which Bernstein announced that he disagreed with pianist
Glenn Gould
Glenn Herbert Gould (; né Gold; September 25, 1932October 4, 1982) was a Canadian classical pianist. He was one of the most famous and celebrated pianists of the 20th century, and was renowned as an interpreter of the keyboard works of Johann ...
's interpretation of
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 with ...
'
Piano Concerto No. 1 but was going to conduct it anyway because he found it fascinating. Schonberg chided Bernstein in print, suggesting that he should have either refrained from publicizing his disagreement, backed out of the concert, or imposed his own will on Gould; Schonberg called Bernstein "the Peter Pan of music". In the chapter on Bernstein in his 1967 book ''The Great Conductors'', Schonberg quotes the remark but neglects to mention that he was the critic who had made it.
After Bernstein's regular tenure at the New York Philharmonic ended, however, Schonberg seemed to mellow in his attitude toward him and actually began to praise his conducting, stating in his book ''The Glorious Ones'' that "with age, came less of a need to prove something", and that "there were moments of glory in his conceptions."
Later life and death
In 1984, Schonberg taught music criticism at
McMaster University
McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood and Westdale, adjacent to the Royal Botanical Ga ...
in Hamilton, Canada.
In 1987, it was announced that Schonberg was assisting
Vladimir Horowitz
Vladimir Samoylovich Horowitz; yi, וולאַדימיר סאַמוילאָוויטש האָראָוויץ, group=n (November 5, 1989)Schonberg, 1992 was a Russian-born American classical pianist. Considered one of the greatest pianists of all ...
in the preparation of the pianist's memoirs. Although the project was never completed, Schonberg's biography of Horowitz was published in 1992. Also in 1987, he served on the jury of the
Paloma O'Shea Santander International Piano Competition.
Schonberg died in New York City on 26 July 2003, at the age of 87, of an unspecified cause. In his obituary notice in ''The New York Times'' the next day,
Allan Kozinn
Allan Kozinn (born July 28, 1954) is an American journalist, music critic, and teacher.
Kozinn received bachelor's degrees in music and journalism from Syracuse University in 1976. He began freelancing as a critic and music feature writer for ''T ...
wrote that Schonberg "set the standard for critical evaluation and journalistic thoroughness." The
University of Maryland Libraries
The University of Maryland Libraries is the largest university library in the Washington, D.C. - Baltimore area. The university's library system includes eight libraries: six are located on the College Park campus, while the Severn Library, an of ...
have a Harold C. Schonberg collection in their International Piano Archives at Maryland; it contains a substantial collection of correspondences between Schonberg and fellow critics, musicians and readers.
Other interests
A devoted and skilled
chess
Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...
player, Schonberg covered the 1972
championship match between Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer held in Reykjavík, Iceland. One of Schonberg's books not on music was ''Grandmasters of Chess''. He also reviewed mysteries and thrillers for ''The New York Times'' under the pseudonym Newgate Callender from 1972 to 1995.
Schonberg was an avid
golfer
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...
, though a poor one by his own estimation. He co-authored the book ''How To Play Double Bogey Golf'' (1975) along with
Hollis Alpert
Hollis Alpert (September 24, 1916 – November 18, 2007) was an American film critic and author. Alpert was best known as the cofounder of the National Society of Film Critics, which he started in his New York City apartment.
Early life
Hollis A ...
, founder of the
National Society of Film Critics
The National Society of Film Critics (NSFC) is an American film critic organization. The organization is known for its highbrow tastes, and its annual awards are one of the most prestigious film critics awards in the United States. In January 2014, ...
, and fellow author Ira Mothner. Schonberg, Mothner and Alpert frequently played golf together, according to the book.
Selected publications
Books
Source:
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* (a biography of
Vladimir Horowitz
Vladimir Samoylovich Horowitz; yi, וולאַדימיר סאַמוילאָוויטש האָראָוויץ, group=n (November 5, 1989)Schonberg, 1992 was a Russian-born American classical pianist. Considered one of the greatest pianists of all ...
)
References
Notes
Citations
Sources
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Further reading
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Schonberg, Harold C.
American music critics
Opera critics
Classical music critics
Pulitzer Prize for Criticism winners
Culture of New York City
Critics employed by The New York Times
American chess writers
American male non-fiction writers
1915 births
2003 deaths
Writers from New York City
United States Army personnel of World War II
Brooklyn College alumni
New York University alumni
McMaster University faculty
United States Army officers
20th-century American male writers