[78-L] well, no one's ever mourned a critic

[Philip Carli]

I wouldn't dispute your own deriving entertainment from his work, but I would shy from personally extending it as a general premise.  I've ploughed through those three volumes, as until recently there's been very little easily accessible collected late-Victorian music criticism, and found considerable viciousness and pretension rather than insight; if he hadn't become a successful playwright ("there's a very good word called 'dramatist'", wrote W. S. Gilbert with some irritation when he was knighted as a "playwright", but I won't apply it to Shaw) his criticism would be buried with Louis Engel's and James Davison's, and certainly not given the unmerited weight by historians that it has been.  I'm not fond of Shaw in any medium except his 1928 Movietone short film appearance.  PC
________________________________________
From: 78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com [78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com] on behalf of Don Cox [doncox at enterprise.net]
Sent: Friday, March 01, 2013 1:29 PM
To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
Subject: Re: [78-L] well, no one's ever mourned a critic

On 01/03/2013, Philip Carli wrote:

> You have to do something else rather just criticism to be mourned, I
> think. If Shaw had remained only a music critic, he would not only be
> unmourned, but rightfully reviled. He was mostly malicious rather than
> constructive. PC

But very entertaining to read.

("Shaw's Music", 3 thick paperback volumes.)

Regards
--
Don Cox
doncox at enterprise.net

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