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Arthur Johnstone
1861–1904
A sharp, passionate music critic of the late Victorian era, he wrote with conviction about composers, performance, and the place of music in modern life. His posthumous collection Musical Criticisms preserves the voice of a writer deeply engaged with the musical culture of his time.
1 Audiobook
Musical Criticisms
by Arthur Johnstone
About the author
Born on December 3, 1861, Arthur Giffard Whiteside Johnstone became known as an English music critic and essayist. He is best remembered for Musical Criticisms, a collection published after his death in 1905 with a memoir by Henry Reece and Oliver Elton.
Johnstone served as music critic for the Manchester Guardian from 1896 until his death in 1904. His writing earned notice for its forceful opinions and strong literary style, and his criticism ranged across major composers including Bach, Beethoven, Wagner, and Tchaikovsky.
Although not as widely remembered today as some of the musicians he wrote about, his work remains a valuable record of musical thought at the turn of the twentieth century. For listeners interested in music history, his essays offer both sharp judgment and a vivid sense of the concert life of his day.