Ralph Hill (music critic)
Ralph Hill (8 October, 1900 - 19 October 1950) was an English writer on music. Hill was born in Watford into a musical family: one of his grandfathers was Joseph Williams the music publisher; the other was Thomas Henry Weist Hill, violinist, conductor and the first director of the Guildhall School of Music. After attending Latymer Upper School[1] Hill was taught cello by his father at Guildhall.[2] By 1920, following military service for two years, he was active in music publishing, influenced by the example of Ernest Newman.[3]
His first full-time appointment was as editor of the Musical Mirror and Fanfare from 1929 to 1932. The following year he became music editor of the Radio Times, a post he held until 1945. He was also assistant music critic with the Daily Mail from 1933, and was later (1945-48) appointed chief music critic on the paper, succeeding Edwin Evans.[4] Hill was editor of The Liverpool Daily Post and (for two years) The Sunday Express, and from the 1940s a regular BBC broadcaster on classical music. In 1946 he was appointed editor of The Penguin Music Magazine (nine issues, 1946-1949)[5] and the Pelican annual book series Music (1950 and 1951).[6]
Hill, who lived in Putney, founded the Putney Gramophone Society in the autumn of 1949.[7] He was also a wrestling enthusiast, and arranged several friendly matches with the pianist Benno Moiseiwitsch, who was also a skilled wrestler.[8] Hill died at his home on October 19, 1950, having being taken ill after attending the Royal Philharmonic Society concert at the Albert Hall the previous evening.[4]
Publications[]
- An Outline of Musical History (1929)
- Brahms: A Study in Musical Biography (1933)
- Liszt ('Great Lives' series) (1936; 2nd ed., 1949)
- Brahms ('Great Lives' series) (1941)
- Challenges: A Series of Controversial Essays on Music (1943)
- 'Some Reflections on Music Criticism' in Musical Quarterly, April 1943, pp. 188-197
- Music without Fears (1945)
- The Symphony (ed.) (1949)
- Music 1950
- Music 1951
- Prelude to Music (1951)
- The Concerto (ed.) (1952)
References[]
- ^ Author biography, Music 1951
- ^ Encyclopedia.com
- ^ Howes, Frank. 'Ralph Hill', in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (1980)
- ^ a b Obituary, The Times, October 20, 1950, p. 6
- ^ Penguin First Editions
- ^ The Penguin Music Magazine (1946-1949) and Music (1950-1952), RIPM.org
- ^ Putney Society Bulletin, April 2010
- ^ Palmer, Russell. British Music (1947), p. 167
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