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Wikipedia

Musical America

January 01, 1970

Musical America is the oldest American magazine on classical music, first appearing in 1898 in print[2] and in 1999 online, at musicalamerica.com. It is published by Performing Arts Resources, LLC, of East Windsor, New Jersey.

Musical America
Categoriesmusic magazine
FrequencyAnnual (directory)
FounderJohn Christian Freund
First issueOctober 8, 1898 (magazine)
1960 (directory)
Final issueJanuary–February 1992 (magazine)[1]
CompanyPerforming Arts Resources LLC
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Websitemusicalamerica.com
ISSN0735-7788

History edit

1898–1964 edit

Musical America's first issue was on October 8, 1898. Its founder was John Christian Freund (1848–1924), who with Milton Weil, also founded The Music Trades magazine in 1893.[3][4] Thirty-six issues appeared until June 24, 1899, covering music, drama, and the arts. In 1899 the publication was discontinued for six years due to a lack of financial resources. It reappeared as a weekly from November 18, 1905, until 1929, solely focusing on classical music. In 1921 Musical America published the first "Guide," which later evolved into the International Directory of the Performing Arts, now the Musical America Directory.

After John Freund died in 1924, Milton Weil who had been Freund's business partner continued the publication. In June 1927, Musical America consolidated with five other prominent trade publications to form a new company named Trade Publications, Inc., headed by Walter Howey and Verne Hardin Porter (1888–1942). Included were its sister publication, The Music Trades, and The American Architect, The Barbers' Journal, Beauty Culture, and Perfumers' Journal.[5] Shields & Company was the investment banking firm that handled the consolidation. Musical America subsequently began diversifying with articles about jazz, dance, radio, and records.

Trade Publications, Inc., filed for bankruptcy in 1929; and, in a bankruptcy sale on July 19, 1929, John Majeski, Weil's former assistant, purchased four of the six magazines for $45,200: (i) Musical America, (ii) The Music Trades, (iii) The Barbers' Journal, and (iv) Beauty Culture.[6]

After some 30 years of relative stability, effective January 1, 1960, John Majeski retired and sold Musical America and The Music Trades to Music Publications, Ltd., a newly formed corporation headed by two editors from Musical America, Theodate Johnson (1907–2002) and Ronald Eyer. Johnson, sister of the architect, Philip Johnson, continued as director of artists relations and Eyer continued as editor-in-chief.[7]

1964–1992 edit

In 1964, Music Publications, Ltd. sold the magazine and the annual directory to High Fidelity magazine, a subsidiary of Billboard Publications, the owners of Billboard magazine. High Fidelity incorporated the newly acquired publication as an additional insert inside certain editions of High Fidelity that were mailed to subscribers who had paid an additional fee.[8][9] During this time, the Musical America was not available in the copies of High Fidelity that were sold at newsstands, but only in certain copies available only by subscription. This business arrangement continued after High Fidelity was sold to ABC Consumer Magazines in 1974.

ABC continued this publishing arrangement until 1986 when ABC decided it needed to revive Musical America as a separate monthly publication[10] (which later became bimonthly) to fight back against the loss of readership caused by the founding of a new competing classic music publication by a James R. Oestreich called Opus. Oestreich was a former High Fidelity classic music editor who was fired in 1983 for protesting the cutbacks in classic music coverage in High Fidelity/Musical America.[11] In protest to Oestreich dismissal, several noted classic music editors resigned in mass to eventually join Oestreich at his new publication.

The reintroduction of the first separate issue of Musical America in 1987 was mishandled by ABC since ABC did not provide copies for distribution at newsstands in many major cities.[12] Although Musical America's tenure at ABC was not very impressive,[13] it avoided High Fidelity's fate of being sold to Diamandis and remained with ABC until 1991 when it was sold to media investor Gerry M. Ritterman.[2][14] During most of this time, Shirley Fleming served as the magazine's editor from 1967 to 1991.[2]

Faced with declining sales and rising costs, Ritterman tried to turn the magazine around by firing the entire editorial staff and implementing cost saving measures, but was unsuccessful. A few months later, he announced that he was shutting down the magazine with the publication of the January/February 1992 issue being the last. However, Ritterman said he was going to continue to publish the lucrative Annual Directory, a separate publication that followed the magazine in its journey through several change of ownership.[15]

1992–2013 edit

Ritterman kept the Annual Directory for two more years before selling it, along with the entire directory division, in 1994 to K-III Communications, later renamed Primedia.[16] Under Primedia, the Annual Directory announced in December 1998 the launch the following year of website MusicalAmerica.com.[17] This publishes 25 news stories per week and since April 2004 has also been issuing a weekly newsletter.

Primedia sold Musical America as part of its directories division to Commonwealth Business Media, Inc. in October 2000.[18] Commonwealth Business Media was itself acquired for $152 million in 2006 by United Business Media plc.[19][20]

2013 to present edit

Musical America has been owned and published by Performing Arts Resources, LLC, of New Jersey, since February 2013.

Musical America's impact on American composers edit

Freund and Weil were exponents of American music and used Musical America to promote it. After Freund's death, Weil took over Musical America as editor. On December 11, 1925, Weil, on behalf of Musical America, announced a $3,000 prize for the best symphonic work, with a contest closing date, initially December 31, 1926,[21] but extended to April 1, 1927. The contest was open to American citizens, native or naturalized. The contest elevated its winner, Ernest Bloch, a Swiss-born American, into the international spotlight and raised international acclaim for American music and its composers. Bloch's work, America, an Epic Rhapsody, was premiered simultaneously on December 20, 1928, in six American cities: San Francisco, Ann Arbor, Providence, New York, Cincinnati, and Los Angeles. Bloch's composition was selected among nine-two anonymous submissions. The judges were conductors of five major orchestras: Walter Damrosch of the New York Symphony, Serge Koussevitzky of the Boston Symphony, Leopold Stokowski of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Frederick Stock of the Chicago Symphony, and Alfred Hertz of the San Francisco Symphony.[22] On July 29, 1929, seven months after the spectacular success of the premier, Musical America was sold in a bankruptcy sale to John Majeski.

Editors edit

  • 1898–1924: John Christian Freund (Milton Weil, asst editor)
  • 1924–1927: Milton Weil[23]
  • 1927–1929: Deems Taylor[23]

1929: Metronome Corporation acquired Musical America

  • 1929–1936: A. Walter Kramer (1890–1969)
  • 1936–1943: Oscar Thompson (1887–1945), executive editor
  • 1943–1947: Ronald F. Eyer
  • 1947: John F. Majeski, Jr.
  • 1948–1952: Cecil Michener Smith (1906–1956)
  • 1952–1960: Ronald F. Eyer

Music Publications, Ltd.

  • 1960–1962: Robert Sabin 1912–1969)
  • 1962–1963: Everett Helm
  • 1963–1964: Jay S. Harrison[24]

High Fidelity Magazine

  • 1965–1967: Roland Gelatt

Under other publishers

February 1991: Gerry M. Ritterman acquired Musical America from Capital Cities/ABC

  • March 1991–January 1992: Charles I. Passy (born 1964)

1999: launch of MusicalAmerica.com

  • 1999–2017: Susan Elliott

Notable covers edit

See also edit

  • Opus, classical record magazine

References edit

General references

  • "About Us: History", Musical America

Inline citations

  1. ^ "Musical America Ceases Publication". New York Times. January 15, 1992.
  2. ^ a b c Kozinn, Allan (April 3, 1991). "Musical America Magazine Announces Reorganization". The New York Times.
  3. ^ Dolge, Alfred (1972) [1911]. Pianos and Their Makers. Dover Publications. pp. 416–417. OCLC 1631260.
  4. ^ "John C. Freund; Founder and Editor of Musical America Dies After Long Illness". The New York Times. June 4, 1924.
  5. ^ "Large New Security Offerings Announced" (PDF). The Philadelphia Inquirer. June 27, 1927.
  6. ^ "Six Magazines Auctioned". The New York Times. July 20, 1929.
  7. ^ "Deaths: Severns, Theodate Johnson". The New York Times. March 15, 2002.
  8. ^ "Classical Music: BB's High Fidelity Buys Musical America". Billboard. Vol. 76, no. 47. November 21, 1964. p. 16. Link via ProQuest.
  9. ^ "Musical America Magazine Sold; To Run as Part of High Fidelity". The New York Times. November 10, 1964. p. 57. Alternate Link via ProQuest.
  10. ^ Page, Tim (November 2, 1986). "Music Notes; Championing the Music of Today". The New York Times. p. A.23. Alternate Link via ProQuest.
  11. ^ Page, Tim (October 5, 1983). "Music Editor Dismissed". The New York Times.
  12. ^ Reich, Howard (March 15, 1987). "A Classic Newsstand Tale Of Woe". Chicago Tribune. p. 24. The most eagerly anticipated "new" classical music magazine in America went into print this month, but it's impossible to buy a copy in Chicago... or New York or Los Angeles. Musical America, for years published inside High Fidelity magazine, went to a free-standing format for its March issue--unfortunately, the magazine never made it to the newsstands. Alternate Link via ProQuest.
  13. ^ Page, Tim (December 18, 1990). "Now Musical America Is For Sale: Bad Times for The Classical Music Press". Newsday. p. 59. In recent years, however, Musical America has often been hard to find. From 1964 to 1986, the magazine was available only as an insert in special subscription editions of High Fidelity. (In 1983, High Fidelity had an estimated circulation of 400,000; at that time only one issue in 20 carried Musical America.) In 1986, Musical America was again cut loose from High Fidelity. At first a monthly, then a bimonthly, it never caught on at the newsstands, in part because of the unusually high price - $6 - that was set for the slim magazine. The new, independent Musical America expanded its coverage and began to run recordings reviews. Link via ProQuest.
  14. ^ Silber, Tony (March 1, 1991). "Cap Cities/ABC Titles Are Music to Millionaire's Ears". Folio. Rockville, Maryland: Access Intelligence LLC.[dead link]
  15. ^ Henken, John (February 9, 1992). "Musical America: Now It's Only an Echo..." Los Angeles Times.
  16. ^ "American Media Inc – 'DEF 14A' for 8/13/97". Security and Exchange Commission. June 23, 1997.
  17. ^ Miller, Sarah Bryan (November 10, 2009). "Musical America announces 2010 awards". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved 2019-10-31.
  18. ^ "Commonwealth Business Media, Inc. Acquires Primedia Directories". PR Newswire (Press release). November 2, 2000.
  19. ^ "United Business Media Acquires Commonwealth Business Media For $154M". Adweek. July 5, 2006.
  20. ^ "United Business Media Acquires Commonwealth Business Media, Inc. for $152m". PR Newswire (Press release). July 5, 2006.
  21. ^ "$3000 Prize for An American Symphony" (PDF). Buffalo Evening News. December 11, 1925. p. 26.
  22. ^ Móricz, Klára (Summer 2011). "The Birth of a Nation and the Limits of the Human Universal in Ernest Bloch's America". American Music. 29 (2): 168–202. doi:10.5406/americanmusic.29.2.0168. S2CID 162908380 – via Project MUSE.
  23. ^ a b DuPree, Mary Herron (1990). "Mirror To An Age: Musical America, 1918–39". Royal Musical Association Research Chronicle. 23 (1): 137–147. doi:10.1080/14723808.1990.10540939. ISSN 2167-4027.
  24. ^ Fidler, Linda Michele & James, Richard Schmidt (1990). International Music Journals. Greenwood Press. pp. 269–271. ISBN 9780313250040. OCLC 19888058.

External links edit

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Musical America.

January 01, 1970
musical, america, oldest, american, magazine, classical, music, first, appearing, 1898, print, 1999, online, musicalamerica, published, performing, arts, resources, east, windsor, jersey, categoriesmusic, magazinefrequencyannual, directory, founderjohn, christ. Musical America is the oldest American magazine on classical music first appearing in 1898 in print 2 and in 1999 online at musicalamerica com It is published by Performing Arts Resources LLC of East Windsor New Jersey Musical AmericaCategoriesmusic magazineFrequencyAnnual directory FounderJohn Christian FreundFirst issueOctober 8 1898 magazine 1960 directory Final issueJanuary February 1992 magazine 1 CompanyPerforming Arts Resources LLCCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglishWebsitemusicalamerica wbr comISSN0735 7788 Contents 1 History 1 1 1898 1964 1 2 1964 1992 1 3 1992 2013 1 4 2013 to present 2 Musical America s impact on American composers 3 Editors 4 Notable covers 5 See also 6 References 7 External linksHistory edit1898 1964 edit Musical America s first issue was on October 8 1898 Its founder was John Christian Freund 1848 1924 who with Milton Weil also founded The Music Trades magazine in 1893 3 4 Thirty six issues appeared until June 24 1899 covering music drama and the arts In 1899 the publication was discontinued for six years due to a lack of financial resources It reappeared as a weekly from November 18 1905 until 1929 solely focusing on classical music In 1921 Musical America published the first Guide which later evolved into the International Directory of the Performing Arts now the Musical America Directory After John Freund died in 1924 Milton Weil who had been Freund s business partner continued the publication In June 1927 Musical America consolidated with five other prominent trade publications to form a new company named Trade Publications Inc headed by Walter Howey and Verne Hardin Porter 1888 1942 Included were its sister publication The Music Trades and The American Architect The Barbers Journal Beauty Culture and Perfumers Journal 5 Shields amp Company was the investment banking firm that handled the consolidation Musical America subsequently began diversifying with articles about jazz dance radio and records Trade Publications Inc filed for bankruptcy in 1929 and in a bankruptcy sale on July 19 1929 John Majeski Weil s former assistant purchased four of the six magazines for 45 200 i Musical America ii The Music Trades iii The Barbers Journal and iv Beauty Culture 6 After some 30 years of relative stability effective January 1 1960 John Majeski retired and sold Musical America and The Music Trades to Music Publications Ltd a newly formed corporation headed by two editors from Musical America Theodate Johnson 1907 2002 and Ronald Eyer Johnson sister of the architect Philip Johnson continued as director of artists relations and Eyer continued as editor in chief 7 1964 1992 edit In 1964 Music Publications Ltd sold the magazine and the annual directory to High Fidelity magazine a subsidiary of Billboard Publications the owners of Billboard magazine High Fidelity incorporated the newly acquired publication as an additional insert inside certain editions of High Fidelity that were mailed to subscribers who had paid an additional fee 8 9 During this time the Musical America was not available in the copies of High Fidelity that were sold at newsstands but only in certain copies available only by subscription This business arrangement continued after High Fidelity was sold to ABC Consumer Magazines in 1974 ABC continued this publishing arrangement until 1986 when ABC decided it needed to revive Musical America as a separate monthly publication 10 which later became bimonthly to fight back against the loss of readership caused by the founding of a new competing classic music publication by a James R Oestreich called Opus Oestreich was a former High Fidelity classic music editor who was fired in 1983 for protesting the cutbacks in classic music coverage in High Fidelity Musical America 11 In protest to Oestreich dismissal several noted classic music editors resigned in mass to eventually join Oestreich at his new publication The reintroduction of the first separate issue of Musical America in 1987 was mishandled by ABC since ABC did not provide copies for distribution at newsstands in many major cities 12 Although Musical America s tenure at ABC was not very impressive 13 it avoided High Fidelity s fate of being sold to Diamandis and remained with ABC until 1991 when it was sold to media investor Gerry M Ritterman 2 14 During most of this time Shirley Fleming served as the magazine s editor from 1967 to 1991 2 Faced with declining sales and rising costs Ritterman tried to turn the magazine around by firing the entire editorial staff and implementing cost saving measures but was unsuccessful A few months later he announced that he was shutting down the magazine with the publication of the January February 1992 issue being the last However Ritterman said he was going to continue to publish the lucrative Annual Directory a separate publication that followed the magazine in its journey through several change of ownership 15 1992 2013 edit Ritterman kept the Annual Directory for two more years before selling it along with the entire directory division in 1994 to K III Communications later renamed Primedia 16 Under Primedia the Annual Directory announced in December 1998 the launch the following year of website MusicalAmerica com 17 This publishes 25 news stories per week and since April 2004 has also been issuing a weekly newsletter Primedia sold Musical America as part of its directories division to Commonwealth Business Media Inc in October 2000 18 Commonwealth Business Media was itself acquired for 152 million in 2006 by United Business Media plc 19 20 2013 to present edit Musical America has been owned and published by Performing Arts Resources LLC of New Jersey since February 2013 Musical America s impact on American composers editFreund and Weil were exponents of American music and used Musical America to promote it After Freund s death Weil took over Musical America as editor On December 11 1925 Weil on behalf of Musical America announced a 3 000 prize for the best symphonic work with a contest closing date initially December 31 1926 21 but extended to April 1 1927 The contest was open to American citizens native or naturalized The contest elevated its winner Ernest Bloch a Swiss born American into the international spotlight and raised international acclaim for American music and its composers Bloch s work America an Epic Rhapsody was premiered simultaneously on December 20 1928 in six American cities San Francisco Ann Arbor Providence New York Cincinnati and Los Angeles Bloch s composition was selected among nine two anonymous submissions The judges were conductors of five major orchestras Walter Damrosch of the New York Symphony Serge Koussevitzky of the Boston Symphony Leopold Stokowski of the Philadelphia Orchestra Frederick Stock of the Chicago Symphony and Alfred Hertz of the San Francisco Symphony 22 On July 29 1929 seven months after the spectacular success of the premier Musical America was sold in a bankruptcy sale to John Majeski Editors edit1898 1924 John Christian Freund Milton Weil asst editor 1924 1927 Milton Weil 23 1927 1929 Deems Taylor 23 1929 Metronome Corporation acquired Musical America 1929 1936 A Walter Kramer 1890 1969 1936 1943 Oscar Thompson 1887 1945 executive editor 1943 1947 Ronald F Eyer 1947 John F Majeski Jr 1948 1952 Cecil Michener Smith 1906 1956 1952 1960 Ronald F Eyer Music Publications Ltd 1960 1962 Robert Sabin 1912 1969 1962 1963 Everett Helm 1963 1964 Jay S Harrison 24 High Fidelity Magazine 1965 1967 Roland Gelatt Under other publishers 1967 1991 Shirley Fleming February 1991 Gerry M Ritterman acquired Musical America from Capital Cities ABC March 1991 January 1992 Charles I Passy born 1964 1999 launch of MusicalAmerica com 1999 2017 Susan ElliottNotable covers editAlexander Kipnis March 10 1940See also editOpus classical record magazineReferences editGeneral references About Us History Musical America Inline citations Musical America Ceases Publication New York Times January 15 1992 a b c Kozinn Allan April 3 1991 Musical America Magazine Announces Reorganization The New York Times Dolge Alfred 1972 1911 Pianos and Their Makers Dover Publications pp 416 417 OCLC 1631260 John C Freund Founder and Editor of Musical America Dies After Long Illness The New York Times June 4 1924 Large New Security Offerings Announced PDF The Philadelphia Inquirer June 27 1927 Six Magazines Auctioned The New York Times July 20 1929 Deaths Severns Theodate Johnson The New York Times March 15 2002 Classical Music BB s High Fidelity Buys Musical America Billboard Vol 76 no 47 November 21 1964 p 16 Link via ProQuest Musical America Magazine Sold To Run as Part of High Fidelity The New York Times November 10 1964 p 57 Alternate Link via ProQuest Page Tim November 2 1986 Music Notes Championing the Music of Today The New York Times p A 23 Alternate Link via ProQuest Page Tim October 5 1983 Music Editor Dismissed The New York Times Reich Howard March 15 1987 A Classic Newsstand Tale Of Woe Chicago Tribune p 24 The most eagerly anticipated new classical music magazine in America went into print this month but it s impossible to buy a copy in Chicago or New York or Los Angeles Musical America for years published inside High Fidelity magazine went to a free standing format for its March issue unfortunately the magazine never made it to the newsstands Alternate Link via ProQuest Page Tim December 18 1990 Now Musical America Is For Sale Bad Times for The Classical Music Press Newsday p 59 In recent years however Musical America has often been hard to find From 1964 to 1986 the magazine was available only as an insert in special subscription editions of High Fidelity In 1983 High Fidelity had an estimated circulation of 400 000 at that time only one issue in 20 carried Musical America In 1986 Musical America was again cut loose from High Fidelity At first a monthly then a bimonthly it never caught on at the newsstands in part because of the unusually high price 6 that was set for the slim magazine The new independent Musical America expanded its coverage and began to run recordings reviews Link via ProQuest Silber Tony March 1 1991 Cap Cities ABC Titles Are Music to Millionaire s Ears Folio Rockville Maryland Access Intelligence LLC dead link Henken John February 9 1992 Musical America Now It s Only an Echo Los Angeles Times American Media Inc DEF 14A for 8 13 97 Security and Exchange Commission June 23 1997 Miller Sarah Bryan November 10 2009 Musical America announces 2010 awards St Louis Post Dispatch Retrieved 2019 10 31 Commonwealth Business Media Inc Acquires Primedia Directories PR Newswire Press release November 2 2000 United Business Media Acquires Commonwealth Business Media For 154M Adweek July 5 2006 United Business Media Acquires Commonwealth Business Media Inc for 152m PR Newswire Press release July 5 2006 3000 Prize for An American Symphony PDF Buffalo Evening News December 11 1925 p 26 Moricz Klara Summer 2011 The Birth of a Nation and the Limits of the Human Universal in Ernest Bloch s America American Music 29 2 168 202 doi 10 5406 americanmusic 29 2 0168 S2CID 162908380 via Project MUSE a b DuPree Mary Herron 1990 Mirror To An Age Musical America 1918 39 Royal Musical Association Research Chronicle 23 1 137 147 doi 10 1080 14723808 1990 10540939 ISSN 2167 4027 Fidler Linda Michele amp James Richard Schmidt 1990 International Music Journals Greenwood Press pp 269 271 ISBN 9780313250040 OCLC 19888058 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Musical America Official website Musical America collection at Internet Archive Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Musical America amp oldid 1181362738, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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