Classical Music Critic Michael Steinberg Dead
A Writer Beloved for His Clear Style and Love of Music
Aug 5, 2009
Classical music journalists and critics alike are mourning the passing of Michael Steinberg on Sunday, July 26. At the age of 80, he epitomized the standards of quality writing which engages, informs and just plain exudes a passion for music.
Diagnosed with colon cancer, Steinberg decided to stop receiving chemotherapy treatments after experiencing a bad reaction to the treatment. Instead, he let the cancer take its course and died in the midst of loved ones in N.C. Little Hospice in Edina, MN. Despite his declining health, Steinberg had remained active in the pursuits he enjoyed all the way up until his final weeks in the hospital.
Steinberg's writing output included the three guides for the classical music listener: "The Symphony: A Listener's Guide," "The Concerto: A Listener's Guide" and "Choral Masterworks: A Listener's Guide." His works reached a global audience, with his latest book "For the Love of Music: Invitations to Listening" slated to be translated into Chinese.
Born in 1928 in Breslau (then part of Germany), Steinberg and his family were able to leave Germany through the Kindertransport, a British program that managed to move several thousand Jewish children out of Nazi-occupied territory before the official outbreak of WWII. The family resettled in England, and it was the 1940 version of Disney's Fantasia that sparked the 11-year-old's lifelong love of music. His family later moved to the United States in 1943, where Steinberg eventually obtained a master's degree in musicology from Princeton University.
Steinberg: A Writer Who Listened, A Critic Who Cared
His teachers at Princeton included the modernist Milton Babbitt, who wrote the famous but often misunderstood article "Who Cares If They Listen?" Perhaps it was this composer's intense concern for getting people to listen in new ways which gave Steinberg such a focus on inviting audiences to listen to classical music.
In keeping with this passion for listening, Steinberg wrote for the common man. Serving as the program annotator for several major American orchestras, Steinberg helped many audiences prepare for their evening with the Boston Symphony, the San Francisco Symphony and the New York Philharmonic. He also worked as the music critic at the Boston Globe for 12 years, from 1964 to 1976.
Even composers appreciated how Steinberg treated music. John Adams, whose Nixon in China and Dr. Atomic are enthralling the next generation of concert-goers, praised Steinberg's "uncluttered English prose" and called his writing the "gold standard" for writing about music. This critic who cared about music will be sorely missed.
Sources
Huizenga, Tom. "Music Critic Michael Steinberg Dies At 80." July 27, 2009. NPR Music.
Feyder, Susan. "Renowned Music Critic Michael Steinberg." July 27, 2009. Star Tribune Obituraries.
Eichler, Jeremy. "Michael Steinberg, 80; Critic, Writer Expanded Horizons for Music Listeners." July 27, 2009. The Boston Globe.
"A Moment With Milton Babbitt '92." July 19, 2006. Princeton Alumni Publications.
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