Christopher Dingle is Professor of Music at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. In addition to research on music criticism, he has authored or edited five books on Messiaen, including the acclaimed The Life of Messiaen (Cambridge, 2007). His realization of the orchestration of Messiaen's Un oiseau des arbres de Vie (Oiseau Tui) was premiered at the 2015 BBC Proms, and a critical edition of the score will be published by Leduc in 2019. A book of conversations with the composer Julian Anderson is in preparation and Dingle has also written for BBC Music Magazine for twenty-five years.

• Part I. The Early History of Music Criticism: 1. Speaking of plainsong in the Middle Ages Christopher Page; 2. Music criticism in the Late-Medieval and Renaissance era Stefano Mengozzi; 3. Musical discourse in Italy 1500–1800 Carrie Churnside; 4. Music criticism in France before the Revolution Charles Dill; 5. Music criticism in Britain up to Burney Rebecca Herissone; 6. German Music criticism before 1800 Stephen Rose; Part II. The Rise of the Press: 7. French music criticism in the nineteenth century, 1789–1870 Mark A. Pottinger; 8. Gatekeeping, advocacy, reflection: overlapping voices in nineteenth-century British music criticism Leanne Langley; 9. Constructing a musical nation: German-language criticism in the nineteenth century Laura Tunbridge; 10. Music criticism in nineteenth-century Italy Alexandra Wilson; 11. Music criticism in Imperial Russia Emily Frey; Part III. Critical Influence and Influences: 12. Critiquing the canon: the role of criticism in canon formation Laura Hamer; 13. Comparing notes: recording and criticism Christopher Dingle; 14. The gender paradox: criticism of women and women as critics Laura Hamer; Part IV. Entering the Twentieth Century: 15. Music criticism in the United States and Canada up to the Second World War Mark McKnight; 16. Music criticism in Portugal: towards an overview Paulo F. de Castro; 17. Spanish music criticism in the twentieth century: writing music history in real time Eva Moreda Rodríguez; 18. Critical battlegrounds in the French Third Republic Delphine Mordey; 19. British music criticism, 1890–1945 Paul Watt; 20. Music criticism in Norway Per Dahl; 21. Aesthetic conservatism and politics in German music criticism, 1900–1945 Karen Painter; 22. Music criticism in Hungary until WWII Lynn M. Hooker; 23. The 'people' in Czech and Slovak music criticism Kelly St Pierre; Part V. New Areas: 24. Jazz criticism in America Mark Racz; 25. Catalysing Latin American identities: Alejo Carpentier's music criticism as a Cuban case study Caroline Rae; 26. Writing about popular music Simon Frith; 27. Working in the cool capitalism complex: the role of critics in the world music field Timothy D. Taylor; 28. Cultural anxieties, aspirational cosmopolitanism and capacity building: music criticism in Singapore Shzr Ee Tan; Part VI. Developments since the Second World War: 29. Music criticism in the USSR from Asafyev to Cherednichenko Peter J. Schmelz; 30. The Feuilleton and beyond: criticism in the Federal Republic of Germany and Austria after the Second World War Mark Berry; 31. Music criticism in Italy in the twentieth century Raffaele Pozzi; 32. Wider still and wider: British music criticism since the Second World War Christopher Dingle; 33. Music criticism in France since the Second World War Christopher Brent Murray; 34. Old divisions and new debates: music criticism in post-war America Sophie Redfern; 35. Stop the press? The changing media of criticism Christopher Dingle and Dominic McHugh.

'The Cambridge History of Music Criticism is an incredible resource in a field where much formal research is still to be done, and it will no doubt be an important springboard for further studies into this vast and fascinating topic.' Angus McPherson, Limelight