Rodney Milnes

Rodney Milnes Blumer OBE (26 July 1936 – 5 December 2015) was an English music critic, musicologist, writer, translator and broadcaster, with a particular interest in opera. He wrote under the professional name of Rodney Milnes.

Life and career Milnes was born in Stafford, where his father was a surgeon. He learnt the piano as a child, to the level of playing the early Beethoven sonatas, and later recalled accompanying a fellow Oxford student in Winterreise at the Holywell Music Room.

Milnes attended Rugby School and studied history at Christ Church, Oxford University. and Smetana's The Secret in 1956, which featured the debut of Janet Baker as Panna Róza, both conducted by Jack Westrup. He was associate editor of Opera from 1976, deputy editor from 1984, and editor between 1986–99. There he honed his reputation as a "trenchant and entertaining writer, with a strong background in literature and theatre, and wide musical sympathies".

Milnes translated opera librettos under his original name, including Rusalka, Pollicino (Henze), Undine, Giovanna d'Arco, Die drei Pintos and Tannhäuser.

Milnes contributed entries on Massenet and his operas in the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. He was consultant editor for the Viking Opera Guide, and revised and updated A Concise History of Opera in 1987. He was a contributor to Opera on Record Vol 1 (Carmen), Vol 2 (Thaïs and Don Quichotte) and Vol 3 (The stage works of Weill).

For BBC Radio he was a regular contributor to the Building a Library feature in Record Review; in Just the part and In Repertory he talked to opera singers about particular roles they have made their own, and in 2001 introduced a 14-part series Performing Verdi.

Milnes was a Knight of the Order of the White Rose; in January 2002 he was awarded an OBE for services to journalism and music. He spent his final years in Gloucestershire to live near his sister. He was unmarried.