Martin Cooper (musicologist)
Martin Cooper | |
|---|---|
| Born | 17 January 1910 Richmond upon Thames, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation(s) | Chief music critic The Daily Telegraph, editor The Musical Times |
| Known for | French Music (book) |
Martin du Pré Cooper CBE (17 January 1910 – 15 March 1986) was an English musicologist and author.[1]
Cooper was born in
Hertford College, Oxford, before a period of study in Vienna with Egon Wellesz. Fluent in half-a-dozen languages, he taught modern languages at Stow College and Winchester College[2] while simultaneously establishing himself as a music critic, first at the London Mercury (1935–9), then (interrupted by the war) the Daily Herald (1946–50) and The Spectator (1947–54). In 1950 he joined The Daily Telegraph as assistant to Richard Capell, succeeding him as chief music critic four years later when Capell died. He remained at the Telegraph until his retirement in 1976 and was succeeded by Peter Stadlen. He was also editor of The Musical Times between 1953 and 1956.[3]
Cooper is best known for his book French Music, first published in 1951. He was a lifelong enthusiast of
Elgar.[5] But his interests were wide-ranging, encompassing German and Russian music, as well as a broader, cosmopolitan perspective on philosophy, literature and cultural and political history than most of his English contemporaries.[5][6]
He married the artist Mary Stewart in 1940. There were four children, including the novelist
Richmond upon Thames
.
Books
- Gluck (1935)
- Georges Bizet (1938)
- Opéra comique (1949)
- Profils de musiciens anglais (1950)
- French Music from the Death of Berlioz to the Death of Fauré (1951)
- Russian Opera (1951)
- Ideas and Music (1966)
- Beethoven: the Last Decade, 1817–1827 (1970, revised 1985)
- ed.: The New Oxford History, Vol 10: The Modern Age, 1890–1960 (1974)
- (as translator): Orientations: Collected Writings of Pierre Boulez (1986)
- Judgements of Value (1988) (selected writings, ed. Dominic Cooper)
References
- ^ Sadie, Stanley. 'Cooper, Martin (opera) (Du Pré )' in Grove Music Online (2001)
- ^ Obituary, The Musical Times, Vol. 127, No. 1718 (May, 1986), p. 291
- ^ Oxford Dictionary of Music (2013)
- ^ Nelson, Byron. Review of 'Judgements of Value' in Opera Quarterly, Vol. 7 Issue 2, Summer 1990, pp. 145–147
- ^ a b c 'Martin Cooper, music critic of distinction', in The Daily Telegraph, 17 March 1986, p. 14
- ^ Obituary, The Times, 17 March 1986, p. 14
- ^ Imogen Cooper website
- ^ Recorded as Pique Dame, RCA Victor 60992 (1991)