Richard Dyer (music critic)

Born in Mineral Wells, Texas, on December 29, 1941, Richard M. Dyer was raised first in Enid, Oklahoma, and later in Hiram, Ohio. In his youth he was an avid opera enthusiast, and played the piano. At Harvard University, he graduated with a Master's degree in English, and began teaching the subject at the University of Iowa. He soon returned to Harvard, however, being appointed the Briggs-Copeland Lecturer in English, continuing work on his PhD in English (1973) with a dissertation on the writer Oliver Goldsmith. The work was left incomplete with his move to fulltime journalism. ==Career and later life==

While studying for his PhD, Dyer received nationwide attention for his 1973 article in The New York Times concerning the soprano Renata Tebaldi's "artistic decline". In addition to the Times and Globe, his music criticism spans numerous other publications: American Music, Opera, Opera News, High Fidelity, Ovation, Symphony Magazine, Chamber Music, Gramophone, Musical America, The Connoisseur, The Nation and the Chicago Tribune. Reflecting on Dyer's retirement, the music critic Alex Ross noted that Dyer was "a dean of the profession" and that "no critic writes with more authority or passion." Dyer died in Boston on September 20, 2024, at the age of 82. ==Selected writings==