Shirley Fleming (1929 in New York City – 10 March 2005) 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 mu ...

and

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, ...

Biography

Born in New York City in 1929, she was the daughter of novelist Berry Fleming, who enjoyed popularity during the 1930s and 1940s with a series of successful works, and later in the 1980s with his ''Captain Bennett's Folly''. Shirley grew up in

Augusta, Georgia Augusta ( ), officially Augusta–Richmond County, is a consolidated city-county on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia. The city lies across the Savannah River from South Carolina at the head of its navigable portion. Georg ...

, and maintained a home there throughout her life. She earned both bachelor's and master's degrees from

Smith College Smith College is a private liberal arts women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith and opened in 1875. It is the largest member of the historic Seven Sisters colleges, a group of elite women's c ...

and was a classically trained

violist ; german: Bratsche , alt=Viola shown from the front and the side , image=Bratsche.jpg , caption= , background=string , hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= , related= *Violin family ...

. From 1967 to 1991, she was the editor of the magazine ''

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 ...

''. She also served as editor for the publications '' High Fidelity'', '' Hi-Fi Music at Home'', and the ''

American Record Guide 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 ...

''. In 1965 she worked as a freelance writer 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 ...

'' and later was on that paper's music criticism staff from 1975 to 1978. From 1978 until her death of a stroke on 10 March 2005 she wrote music criticism for the ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...

''.

References

1929 births 2005 deaths American music critics New York Post people Writers from Augusta, Georgia Smith College alumni Critics employed by The New York Times American women journalists Journalists from New York City Classical music critics American women music critics Women writers about music 20th-century American journalists 20th-century American women 21st-century American women {{US-journalist-1920s-stub