ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how in the course of articulating a distinct classical style and refining the space of performance, a body of writing developed as a genre of music criticism, why it adopted a particular language which at a conceptual level was not especially effective or adequate, and why despite this limitation, the figure of the modern music critic assumed a special position in the popularization of musical taste. It looks at some individual figures who made their mark as premier music commentators and critics and who intervened at decisive moments to popularize and consolidate the new aesthetics of classicism. Music criticism, as a specific genre, emerged initially in response to a growing consensus among the new middle-class patrons of music to establish common standards of performance and pedagogy. The discussion on voice and vocal culture assumed a very specific set of inflections in the emerging musical discourse.
