Edward Downes: A life in music and the media

Edward Downes (1911-2001) was a broadcaster, critic and teacher. For several days in 1994 and 1995, I sat in the "servant's quarters" at the historic Dakota Apartment Building, Downes' spacious six-room apartment under the eaves, with a magnificent view of Central Park, as he spoke into my old cassette recorder about his life and career. This project makes available for the first time Downes' published criticism and these recent spoken reminiscences of more than a half-century of concert and opera going. Edward's words will help the reader examine the development of music criticism in the United States, and its influence on audiences and music making. His clear memories of opera and concert life go back to the 1920s, and through them one gets a sense of what was available to audiences eighty years ago.; Transcripts of my conversations recorded with Downes in New York form the heart of this document. These personal reminiscences are complemented by reviews published by Downes in The Boston Evening Transcript from 1939-1941, when he was chief critic for that paper. Both performance reviews and "thought" pieces will be presented showing how cultural life was discussed in print in the years leading up to World War II.; A second aspect of this document is some discussion of music criticism in America's print media between 1910 and 1960. Edward Downes was the son of Olin Downes (1886-1955), who from 1925 until his death, was chief critic for The New York Times. His ascension up the ranks of music criticism is examined through the writings of predecessors and contemporaries.; Edward Downes himself was given the largest platform of all when he succeeded his father as host of the popular Opera Quiz segment of the Metropolitan Opera Saturday afternoon broadcasts. On the air since 1931 to the present day, these broadcasts were opera to millions of Americans at a time when access to travel, public libraries and education was limited. Edward used this platform to entertain and to educate with considerable erudition, personality and charm.