Christopher Wilson

Christopher Wilson was an English composer and critic who lived from 1874 to 1919. A Project Gutenberg edition of Shakespeare and Music identifies him as the book's author, and its front matter notes that the volume was published in 1922 after his death, with a memoir reprinted from The Musical Times of April 1, 1919.

That same memoir describes the warm reception of his song "Come away, Death" when it appeared in 1901, suggesting the reputation he had already earned as a thoughtful and highly musical artist. His writing on Shakespeare shows the same strengths: he was interested not just in the words on the page, but in how music shapes mood, drama, and character.

Because easily confirmed biographical details about his private life are scarce in the sources found here, his legacy is best approached through the work itself. Shakespeare and Music remains a vivid example of early twentieth-century musical criticism, written by someone who clearly knew the stage and listened closely to what Shakespeare's plays sound like as well as what they say.