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| Frank Howes | |
|---|---|
| Name | Frank Howes |
| Birth date | 23 January 1891 |
| Birth place | Boston, Lincolnshire |
| Death date | 31 October 1974 |
| Death place | Headington, Oxford |
| Occupation | Music critic, editor, musicologist |
| Employer | The Times; British Broadcasting Corporation |
Frank Howes was a prominent English music critic, editor, and musicologist active in the mid-20th century. He became principal music critic of The Times and later a senior figure at the British Broadcasting Corporation where he influenced repertoire, scholarship, and public taste. Howes bridged journalistic criticism, institutional administration, and scholarly publishing during an era shaped by figures from the late Romantic and early modern periods.
Howes was born in Boston, Lincolnshire, into a family with rural and provincial ties and was educated at local schools before attending St John's College, Oxford. At Oxford he studied under teachers connected to the Royal College of Music and encountered contemporaries linked to Edward Elgar, Gustav Holst, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and the circle around Charles Villiers Stanford. Early influences included exposure to performances at venues such as Queen's Hall and contacts with performers associated with Sir Henry Wood and the Promenade concerts.
Howes joined the staff of The Times and rose to become principal music critic, succeeding earlier critics associated with the paper during the interwar period. In that role he reviewed concerts at institutions like the Royal Opera House, the Royal Festival Hall, and events featuring ensembles such as the London Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. His reviews engaged with conductors and composers including Sir Thomas Beecham, Adrian Boult, Herbert von Karajan, Béla Bartók, and Igor Stravinsky. Howes's criticism addressed performances by soloists like Artur Schnabel, Vladimir Horowitz, Clara Haskil, and chamber groups including the Amadeus Quartet and the London Quartet.
At the British Broadcasting Corporation Howes worked on music programming and policy, interacting with administrative figures such as John Reith and producers connected to the Third Programme. He influenced commissioning, scheduling, and support for composers linked to Benjamin Britten, Michael Tippett, William Walton, and Alban Berg. Howes participated in debates over broadcasting standards alongside staff from the Arts Council of Great Britain and advisory committees tied to the Royal Philharmonic Society. His tenure overlapped with institutional developments involving the Festival of Britain, wartime broadcasting practices, and postwar cultural reconstruction.
Howes authored books, essays, and program notes, and edited series for publishers and organizations such as the Oxford University Press, the BBC Music Guides, and the Music Society. His published works addressed composers and topics linked to Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Antonín Dvořák, Anton Bruckner, Franz Schubert, Franz Liszt, Gustav Mahler, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Hector Berlioz, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, George Frideric Handel, Henry Purcell, Joseph Haydn, and the scholarship promoted by figures like Donald Francis Tovey and Egon Wellesz. He edited critical editions and contributed to periodicals including The Musical Times, Music and Letters, and other journals with readerships in conservatoires such as the Royal College of Music and the Royal Academy of Music.
Howes advocated a conservatory of taste favoring craftsmanship associated with Johannes Brahms and the English pastoral tradition represented by Ralph Vaughan Williams and Gustav Holst. He often critiqued avant-garde trends associated with Anton Webern, Pierre Boulez, Olivier Messiaen, and Karlheinz Stockhausen while engaging sympathetically with modernists like Igor Stravinsky and Béla Bartók when their craftsmanship met his criteria. His influence extended through institutional recommendations affecting programming at the Royal Albert Hall, Covent Garden, and regional venues such as Birmingham Town Hall and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. Musicians and administrators including Colin Davis, John Barbirolli, Sir Malcolm Sargent, and Sir Adrian Boult encountered his critiques and advisory input.
Howes received recognition from musical institutions and scholarship networks, with honors tied to societies such as the Royal Philharmonic Society and his peers at the Royal College of Music. His papers and correspondence have been consulted by biographers of composers like Benjamin Britten, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Edward Elgar, and historians of broadcasting and music criticism. Posthumous assessments appear in surveys of 20th-century criticism alongside figures like Neville Cardus, Ernest Newman, Desmond Shawe-Taylor, and Herbert von Karajan-era commentary, and his editorial work continues to inform editions used in conservatoires and university departments including University of Oxford and University of Cambridge.
Category:1891 births Category:1974 deaths Category:English music critics Category:British music journalists Category:People associated with the BBC