Alan Blyth

Geoffrey Alan Blyth (27 July 1929 – 14 August 2007) was an English music critic, author, and musicologist who was particularly known for his writings within the field of opera.^[1][2] He was a specialist on singers and singing.^[1] Born in London, Blyth's earliest musical experiences were at Rugby School.^[1] He attended the music lectures of Professor Jack Westrup.^[1] After graduation from Pembroke College, Oxford, where he read history, he returned to London and worked in journalism and publishing.^[1] He wrote reviews, interviews, and obituaries for The Times and for Gramophone.^[1] He was a long-time contributor to the British magazine Opera.^[3]

Blyth was married first to the German-born Ursula Zumloh, who died in 2000, and then to the Buddhist scholar Sue Hamilton. For the last two decades of his life, he lived in Lavenham, Suffolk.^[1] He wrote a critical discography of Heddle Nash, a singer he much admired, together with Paul Campion, and with the help of Nash's son.^[4]

Blyth died after his 78th birthday^[4]

• Blyth, Alan (1 November 2014). "An interview with Heinz Holliger". The Gramophone. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
• Blyth, Alan (3 May 2013). "Karl Böhm, interviewed by Alan Blyth (Gramophone, December 1972)". The Gramophone. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
• Blyth, Alan (1995). Opera on Video. Trafalgar Square Publishing. ISBN 978-1-85626-175-3.
• Blyth, Alan (23 October 1986). Song on Record: Volume 1, Lieder. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-26844-8.

• C. Mackenzie. "Tribute: Alan Blyth", The Gramophone (2007), volume 85, issues 1024–1026, page 10.

• Cummings, D.M. (2000). International Who's who in Music and Musicians' Directory: (in the Classical and Light Classical Fields). International Who's who in Music and Musicians' Directory 2000/2001: In the Classical and Light Classical Fields. International Biographical Centre. p. 64. ISBN 978-0-948875-53-3. Retrieved 18 December 2023.