Word: blom
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Died. Eric Blom, 70, scholarly, Swiss-born music critic for the London Observer, who spent eight years (1946-54) editing the 8,350,000-word, nine-volume fifth edition of Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians; in London...
Beethoven to Mendelssohn. As a result of Editor Blom's uninhibited pen (always filled with green ink), much of Grove V is merry and informative,* avoids the sentimental dogma of earlier editions...
...gets a stiff nod. Grove's admits that it "does represent a new means of expression." ¶ The diminished seventh, a foreboding chord much abused by 19th century composers and some 20th century organists, gets its comeuppance. Because it has four notes belonging to widely distant keys, Editor Blom recalls a reference to it as a railway station, from which it is "possible to get to any destination in the shortest possible time . . ." He adds, "It became stale . . . not only because later composers abused its sensational nature but also because as a harmonic device it represents a line...
...much the same as the first (1878), and after World War II, London's Macmillan & Co. decided it was high time for a completely revised edition. After nearly ten years of labor-by about 500 contributors under the stern supervision of London Music Critic and Scholar Eric Blom-Grove V is out at last. Almost twice as big as the 1940 edition, it runs to a weighty nine volumes (at $127.50 a set) that fascinatingly reflect the world of music in mid-20th century...
...gets his shrift shortened. Grove V explains that he expected a minimum of intellectual effort from his audiences and failed to write a successful opera because he was unwilling to "speak of his own emotional life: to exhibit naked feeling appeared as a breach of etiquette." Mild-mannered Cyclopedist Blom, 66, also sharpened up his donnish ax on the Queen's English and "made war" on certain usages that irked him. Among the casualties: GLISSANDO, which Blom calls a "mock-turtle with a French head and an Italian tail . . . unfortunately used by composers anywhere but in Italy," and TONE...