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.¹² 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.¹

• Blyth, Alan. Colin Davis (Recordmasters/2). Ian Allan, London, 1972 (ISBN 978-0-7110-0319-4)
• Blyth, Alan (3 May 2013). "Karl Böhm, interviewed by Alan Blyth (Gramophone, December 1972)". The Gramophone. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
• Blyth, Alan, ed. Opera on Record. Hutchinson, London, Melbourne, 1979 (ISBN 978-0-09-139980-1) Blyth also contributed the chapters on Der Freischütz, Otello, Der Ring des Nibelungen, Manon, Eugene Onegin, Die Fledermaus and Peter Grimes.
• Blyth, Alan, ed. (1981). Remembering Britten. Hutchinson. ISBN 978-0-09-144950-6.⁴⁵
• Blyth, Alan, ed. Opera on Record 2. Hutchinson, London, Melbourne, 1983 (ISBN 978-0-09-153120-1) Blyth also contributed the chapters on Samson et Dalila and Hänsel und Gretel.
• Blyth, Alan (23 October 1986). Song on Record: Volume 1, Lieder. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-26844-8.
• Blyth, Alan (1995). Opera on Video. Trafalgar Square Publishing. ISBN 978-1-85626-175-3.
• Blyth, Alan (1 November 2014). "An interview with Heinz Holliger". The Gramophone. Retrieved 18 December 2023.