John Ardoin

'''John Ardoin''' (January 8, 1935 – March 18, 2001) was an American music critic.<ref name="Grove">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Bohlman |first=Andrea F. |year=2001 |encyclopedia=[[Grove Music Online]] |title=Ardoin, John |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=Oxford |doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.A2234170 |isbn=978-1-56159-263-0 |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-1002234170 }} {{Grove Music subscription}}</ref> The music critic of ''[[The Dallas Morning News]]'' for thirty-two years, he was particularly known for his friendship with the opera [[soprano]] [[Maria Callas]], about whom Ardoin wrote four books. His influence stretched much further than Dallas, and he was well acquainted with many classical musicians of the postwar era.

==Life and career== John Ardoin was born in [[Alexandria, Louisiana]], US on January 8, 1935.<ref name="Grove"/> As a child of twelve, he became interested in listening to the Saturday [[Metropolitan Opera|Met broadcasts]] and also heard and saw many singers of the day on ''[[The Voice of Firestone]]'', and ''[[The Bell Telephone Hour]]''. As he notes, "the radio was my first important link to the whole world".<ref name="James Jorden interview">[[James Jorden]] [http://www.parterre.com/ardoin_interview.htm interview on ''The Parterre Box'' web site], November 2005</ref> He also describes his first experiences seeing opera:

<blockquote>it wasn't until I was about 16 or 17 I saw my first opera – the old Charles Wagner Company, which used to barnstorm around towns, with [[Beverly Sills]]. Wait, I should say, that was my second opera, because I heard my first opera, ''[[La bohème]]'', and then I saw the next year this neighboring city was doing ''[[La traviata]]''. I went, and there was a baby Bev and [[John Alexander (tenor)|John Alexander]].<ref name="James Jorden interview"/></blockquote>

However, in the same interview, he recounts a visit to the opera in [[New Orleans]] with his parents in 1950 or 1951 to see [[Risë Stevens]] as Carmen.

Ardoin attended North Texas State College (now the [[University of North Texas]]) in [[Denton, Texas|Denton]] and later transferred to the [[University of Texas]] at [[Austin, Texas|Austin]]. There he studied music theory and composition and obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree. Later, he received his Master of Arts from the [[University of Oklahoma]] at [[Norman, Oklahoma|Norman]] and did postgraduate work at [[Michigan State University]] at [[East Lansing, Michigan]].

During his army service spent in [[Stuttgart]], (Germany), Ardoin had several important operatic experiences, not the least of which was a [[Ring cycle]] and a later ''[[Tristan und Isolde]]'' with the soprano [[Martha Mödl]] who "knocked me for a loop. From then on, I was searching for that same sort of incandescence in others... Mödl was electricity – from her toes to the top of her head. Never once a second out of character. I mean, the concentration was so fierce".<ref name="James Jorden interview"/>

Upon returning to the US, he went to New York in the late 1950s and, for seven years, wrote about music. He was editor of ''[[Musical America]]'' magazine, managing editor of the program books for Philharmonic Hall (now [[Avery Fisher Hall]]) at [[Lincoln Center]], a writer for the ''[[Saturday Review (US magazine)|Saturday Review of Literature]]'', as well as New York critic for [[The Times]] of London and ''[[Opera (British magazine)|Opera]]''.

In June 1966 he became the music critic at ''The Dallas Morning News'', only the second person to do so, but his most well-known writings were about Maria Callas, who was considered the godmother of the [[Dallas Opera]] after her 1958 appearances there. He became friendly with Callas during the 1960s and his 1977 book, ''The Callas Legacy,'' is an overview of her recordings, now in its 4th edition. ''Callas at Juilliard'' (1988) focuses on her master classes given in New York in the 1970s and it inspired playwright [[Terrence McNally]] to write the [[Tony Award]]-winning play ''[[Master Class]]''.<ref name="Grove"/> Ardoin also collaborated with Gerald Fitzgerald, and in 1974 they published ''Callas: the Art and the Life''.

Frequently, Ardoin was a commentator on the [[Metropolitan Opera]]'s weekly radio broadcasts and was a consultant to the [[PBS]] ''Great Performances'' series for twenty years. He wrote the script for [[Walter Cronkite]]'s narration of the New Year's Day international telecasts of the [[Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra]] on New Year's Day.

He was given an honorary doctorate from the University of North Texas for his work in criticism in 1987, and, after retiring from the ''Morning News'' in 1998, Ardoin retired to Costa Rica.

He died in [[San José Canton|San José]], [[Costa Rica]] on March 18, 2001.<ref name="Grove"/>

==Selected writings== *''The Callas Legacy: The Complete Guide to Her Recordings on Compact Disc'', Pompton Plains, NJ: Amadeus Press, Fourth Edition, 1995 {{ISBN|0-931340-90-X}} A detailed analysis of every recording made by Maria Callas from 1949 to 1977. *''Callas at Juilliard: The Master Classes'', Pompton Plains, NJ: Amadeus Press, 1984 {{ISBN|1-57467-042-5}} *(with Gerald Fitzgerald), ''Callas: the Art and the Life'', New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1974 {{ISBN|0-03-011486-1}} *''The Furtwängler Record'', Pompton Plains, NJ: Amadeus Press, 1994 {{ISBN|0-931340-69-1}} An overview of the conductor's career and his place in the mainstream of the German school of conducting. *''Valery Gergiev and the Kirov: A Story of Survival'', Pompton Plains, NJ: Amadeus Press, 2001 {{ISBN|1-57467-064-6}} An overview of the history of the [[Mariinsky Theatre]] and [[Valery Gergiev]]'s efforts to revive it in the 1990s. *''The Stages of Menotti'', New York: Doubleday, 1985 {{ISBN|0-385-14938-7}}

==References== {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ardoin, John}} [[Category:American classical music critics]] [[Category:Texas classical music]] [[Category:1935 births]] [[Category:2001 deaths]] [[Category:Writers from Alexandria, Louisiana]] [[Category:Michigan State University alumni]] [[Category:University of Texas at Austin College of Fine Arts alumni]] [[Category:University of North Texas College of Music alumni]] [[Category:University of Oklahoma alumni]] [[Category:The Dallas Morning News people]]