Ernest Newman

Ernest Newman – Life, Critique & Enduring Voice

Learn about Ernest Newman (1868–1959), the eminent English music critic and Wagner scholar whose rigorous, objective criticism shaped musical discourse in the 20th century. Discover his life, works, style, and famous quotes.

Introduction

Ernest Newman (born William Roberts, November 30, 1868 – July 7, 1959) was a towering figure in English music criticism and musicology. His reputation, especially as a scholar of Richard Wagner, remains strong: Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians calls him “the most celebrated British music critic in the first half of the 20th century.” Over a long career, Newman sought to bring intellectual rigor, historical method, and clarity of argument to musical criticism—often positioning himself against more impressionistic or subjective critics of his time.

Early Life and Self-Formation

Ernest Newman was born William Roberts in the Everton district of Liverpool. His father, Seth Roberts, was a Welsh tailor; his mother was Harriet (née Spark). He was educated at St. Saviour’s School (Everton), Liverpool College, and University College, Liverpool, where he studied literature, philosophy, and art.

Newman did not have formal musical training; rather, he was largely self-taught in music, learning piano, reading scores, studying harmony and counterpoint on his own, and mastering multiple languages so he could read musicological and theoretical works in German, French, and beyond.

From 1889 to 1904, he worked in the Bank of Liverpool, while in his spare hours writing on economics, literature, philosophy, and music. He also published a critique titled Pseudo-Philosophy at the End of the Nineteenth Century under the pseudonym Hugh Mortimer Cecil (1897), in which he criticized vague thinking and irrational philosophical trends.

It was around this period that he adopted the pen name Ernest Newman—a name with dual connotations, often interpreted as “a new man (New-man) in earnest (Ernest).”

Career as Music Critic & Scholar

Early Criticism & Birmingham Years

In 1903, Newman joined the Birmingham and Midland Institute School of Music as a teacher of singing and musical theory. Soon after, in 1905, he moved into journalism, becoming music critic at The Manchester Guardian. His trenchant criticisms—occasionally offending local musical establishments—led to friction; after just a year he left and assumed the role of music critic for The Birmingham Post in 1906, a role he held until 1919.

During his Birmingham years, he published studies on composers such as Edward Elgar, Hugo Wolf, Richard Strauss, and Wagner. His 1907 work on Hugo Wolf remained, for decades, the only major English-language study of Wolf.

Move to London & The Sunday Times

In 1919, Newman relocated to London to become chief critic for The Observer. Very shortly thereafter (by 1920), he joined the Sunday Times as music critic, where he remained for nearly four decades until his failing eyesight forced him to stop in late 1958.

At The Sunday Times, Newman was able to write with a degree of freedom—the weekly format allowed him to reflect on performances, repertory, and musical trends with depth rather than rapid concert coverage. He also contributed regularly to The Musical Times from 1910 to 1955, covering a wide array of topics such as Debussy, Russian opera, Bach, and music criticism itself.

Major Literary and Scholarly Works

Newman was extraordinarily prolific. Some of his key works include:

• Gluck and the Opera: A Study in Musical History (1895)

• A Study of Wagner (1899)

• Wagner as Man and Artist (1914; revised 1924)

• Multi-volume Life of Richard Wagner (four volumes, 1933–1947) — widely considered his crowning achievement.

• Opera Nights (1943), Wagner Nights (1949), More Opera Nights (1954) — collections of essays and criticism.

• Studies of Liszt (The Man Liszt, 1934), Beethoven (The Unconscious Beethoven), and other major composers.

• From the World of Music (3 volumes, 1956–58)

He also translated key musical texts, notably works by Felix Weingartner (on conducting) and by Albert Schweitzer on Bach, and translated Wagner libretti into performance versions in English.

Style, Principles & Critical Method

Ernest Newman strove for objectivity, clarity, and method in his criticism. He often contrasted his approach with critics who emphasized personal impressions or emotional response; for Newman, criticism was a rational, historical, and scholarly act.

A recurring concern was methodology: Newman used a comparative, historically informed framework, drawing on biography, manuscript sources, letters, compositional context, and performance practice. Some scholars have noted that while Newman’s ideal was methodological consistency, in practice some of his works show biases—especially his strong admiration for Wagner or particular interpretive stances.

Newman also intervened in debates of musical mythmaking and reputation. He challenged inflated composer mythologies and exposed sloppy scholarship, demanding that claims about composer psychology or intention be rigorously argued.

His critical voice was often sharp, witty, and pungent—he did not shy away from trenchant judgments against sloppy performance or unsubstantiated claims.

Legacy & Reception

Newman’s influence among music critics and scholars was profound. His Wagner biography remained a standard reference in the English-speaking world for decades. He also helped raise expectations for rigor in musical criticism and established a benchmark for combining scholarship with journalism.

In his later years, Newman resisted many formal honors, but in the 1950s he accepted the Order of the White Rose of Finland (1956), Germany’s Großes Verdienstkreuz (1958), and an honorary doctorate from the University of Exeter (1959). After his death, a Festschrift titled Fanfare for Ernest Newman was published, with contributions from leading critics and scholars.

Today, Newman is studied both as a historical figure and for the challenges he raises to modern criticism: how to balance subjectivity and scholarship, how reputations take shape, and how the critic’s role evolves. Recent work (e.g. Paul Watt’s Ernest Newman: A Critical Biography, 2017) has revisited Newman’s intellectual milieu, his methods, and his contradictions.

Selected Quotes

Here are a few quotations attributed to Ernest Newman:

“Beethoven, Wagner, Bach, and Mozart settled down day after day to the job in hand. They didn't waste time waiting for inspiration.”

“The great composer does not set to work because he is inspired, but becomes inspired because he is working.”

“The higher the voice the smaller the intellect.”

These reflect his belief in diligence, dispelling romantic notions of spontaneous genius, and his sometimes acerbic view of aesthetic hierarchies.

Lessons from Ernest Newman

1. Criticism as disciplined inquiry
   Newman reminds us that critical writing should combine learning, evidence, and logical argument—not mere impression or rhetoric.

2. Self-education can rival formal training
   His largely autodidactic path suggests that dedication, broad reading, and linguistic fluency can substitute (partially) for institutional musical training.

3. Skepticism toward myth and hype
   By examining composer mythologies, inflated reputations, and unsupported claims, Newman teaches critical vigilance.

4. The tension of ideal vs. practice
   While Newman aimed for consistent method, he sometimes showed interpretive biases; critics must remain aware of their own lenses.

5. Longevity and influence
   Building a long career across journalism and scholarship can allow a critic to shape the field’s norms, audience expectations, and canon over generations.