Musical Courier

Musical Courier
CategoriesTrade magazine
FrequencyWeekly
Founded1880
Final issue1962 (1962)
CountryUnited States
Based inNew York City
LanguageEnglish

The Musical Courier was a weekly 19th- and 20th-century American music trade magazine that began publication in 1880.[1]

The publication included editorials, obituaries, announcements, scholarly articles and investigatory writing about musical instruments and music in general. These included construction practices, descriptions, tools, exhibitions collections, new technologies, and laws and legal actions relating to the music industry. There were articles on companies and manufacturers of instruments, entries on patents, trade marks, and designs for new or improved instruments, as well as reporting on "African-American music and culture, women's rights, John Philip Sousa, Antonín Dvořák and the influence of the rise of Nazi Germany on music in Europe."[2]

In 1897, Marc A. Blumenberg, the publisher, separated the musical and industrial departments of the magazine and began publishing the Musical Courier Extra strictly as a trade edition."[3]

In the 1890s, a separate edition was published in England.[4] Composer, pianist, opera librettist, and music critic Leonard Liebling served as the publication's editor-in-chief from 1911–1945.[5]

Former University of Southern California professor Lisa Roma, an operatic soprano, acquired it in 1958.[6] She was the publisher and owner from 1958 to 1961.[7] The magazine ceased publication 1962.[8]

  1. ^ "The music magazine-musical courier". Hathi Trust. 1880. Retrieved December 14, 2016.
  2. ^ Adams, Peter H. (2009). An annotated index to selected articles from The musical courier, 1880-1940. Lanham, Md: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-6658-4.
  3. ^ Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Part V, Chapter 2, Page 417, in the Electronic Library
  4. ^ Listed in Houston Stewart Chamberlain bibliography
  5. ^ Roy Pinney (October 29, 1945). "Leonard Liebling, Librettist, Critic; Editor in Chief of The Musical Courier for 34 Years Dies-- Worked on 4 Comic Operas". The New York Times.
  6. ^ "Mrs. Lisa Roma Trompeter, a Singer, Buys Magazine" (PDF). The New York Times. July 9, 1958. Retrieved December 14, 2016.
  7. ^ "Lisa Roma Trompeter, 72, Retired Operatic Soprano," New York Times, February 18, 1965 (subscription required)
  8. ^ "The Musical Courier". The Online Books Page. Retrieved April 22, 2020.