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John Reed, 1909-1999

 John Reed
There follows two obituary notices for John Reed. The first, by SIUK Vice-Chairman Paul Reid, appeared in the Guardian on 17th January 2000. The second, also by Paul, is the address that he read at John's funeral.

Obituary
The music of Franz Schubert has been well served by British scholars, for whom its study has been a labour of love rather than a profession. In the 19th century, Sir George Grove, civil engineer and chairman of the Crystal Palace Company, masterminded first performances of several Schubert symphonies, tracked down Schubert manuscripts in Vienna and wrote on the composer for his own Dictionary of Music. More recently, the grammar school science teacher Maurice Brown wrote extensively and authoritatively on Schubert’s works. John Reed, who has died aged 90, was the latest in this distinguished line, enjoying a second career as a Schubert scholar after his retirement from salaried work.
Born in Aldershot, Reed studied English at London University, and began his professional life as an English teacher. After volunteering for second world war service in the RAF, he joined the BBC in 1946. There he worked in the education department as producer and administrator until he retired in 1968.
In 1959 he had published an article on the so-called "Gastein" symphony, and his reputation was firmly established with the appearance in 1972 of his first book, Schubert: The Final Years. It analysed Schubert’s life and music, and cut through the myths surrounding the "Gmunden-Gastein" symphony, demonstrating that it is identical to the "Great" C major symphony, which dates from 1825, and not 1828.

Reed's Schubert Song Companion (1985) was, remarkably, the first book to discuss each of Schubert's solo songs. This remarkable compendium brought Reed the Vincent Duckles Award, and was an invaluable aid to concert organisers planning song series for the 1997 Schubert bicentenary. Reed’s Schubert biography in the Master Musicians series (1987, revised 1996) is a highly readable and authoritative account.

Reed shared the results of his research not only through his publications, but through his generous assistance to other scholars. He was instrumental in founding the Schubert Institute (UK) in 1991 and became its first chairman, steering it to become a leading forum for the discussion and performance of Schubert's works. In 1997 he achieved a long-held ambition with the official inauguration of the Schubert Institute Research Centre within the University of Leeds.

Reed was a familiar figure in the musical world of his adopted home, Manchester, and became honorary director of the Manchester Camerata orchestra. His contribution to Schubert scholarship was recognised in 1989 through the award of honorary membership of Vienna’s International Franz Schubert Institute.
John was happily married for over 60 years to his wife Marion, who died in 1998, and is survived by two sons and two daughters.
Paul Reid
John Reed, musicologist, born May 30 1909; died December 27 1999

Funeral Address
One thing which John Reed had in common with his hero Franz Schubert was a capacity for hard work. Without a disciplined and rigorous work pattern Schubert would never have produced almost 1000 opus numbers. Similarly, without hard work and persistence John would never have managed to write and then find publishers for three major studies of the composer - Schubert: The Final Years, Schubert Song Companion and his Schubert biography in the Master Musicians series. And this is not to forget his detailed research into Schubert's 19th century reception history in this country.
One thing which Schubert did not have in common with John Reed was longevity. Schubert died at 31 and had to squeeze his 1000 opus numbers into perhaps 18 years of creative life. John died at 90, and although his three major works were written and published in a similarly short period, this period began in earnest only after his retirement from the BBC.
Of course, John had paved the way for his second career as a Schubertian scholar well before he found the time to write his books. Among his colleagues and family he was well known to be what his friend Patricia Troop would call a ‘Schubert nut’, and he made himself thoroughly familiar with Schubert’s life and music. His first major article appeared in Music and Letters in October 1959, and outlined his arguments for a redating of one of Schubert’s major works - the ‘Great’ C major Symphony. In his 1972 book Schubert: The Final Years John expounded on this topic in his own highly readable, correct and lucid style, and undertook a close study of the relationship between Schubert's life and music in the composer’s last four years.
John’s mammoth compendium Schubert Song Companion was published in 1985. This extraordinary labour of love won him many new friends, and its thoroughness in discussing every one of Schubert's solo songs (some 650 of them) with musical incipits, factual details and a concise summary of each song’s character and significance, made it a great boon to listeners, performers, programme planners and scholars. The book received a major award from the Music Library Association of America and has been twice reprinted. John’s Schubert biography was first published in 1987, and I had the privilege of working closely with him on the revision of this book for its very successful reissue by Oxford University Press in 1996.
John’s pre-eminence in the field of Schubert scholarship was recognised with his election to honorary membership of the International Franz Schubert Institute in 1989, and he became the first chairman of the Schubert Institute (UK) in 1991. One of John’s prime concerns was that the new Schubert Institute should cater for all lovers of Schubert’s music, amateurs and professionals alike. It was thanks to John’s efforts that a prime aim of the Schubert Institute was realised with the establishment of the Schubert Institute Research Centre within the University of Leeds, and John contributed to the research centre library financially, and by donating books, scores and his research papers, which will be of the greatest interest and assistance to future scholars. John was proud to accept honorary membership of the Schubert Institute (UK) after stepping down as Chairman and retained a very keen interest in its affairs.
John said, in the Preface to his Song Companion: ‘A special bond seems to unite lovers of Schubert’s music’. This is undoubtedly true and explains why John will be missed so keenly by all those musicians who were lucky enough to know him. We each have our own memories, of course. Mine are dominated by my regular visits to John’s home in Manchester, when we would play through Schubert piano duets with immense feeling, but handfuls of wrong notes, before exploring a few songs. John became a friend and mentor, and gaining his friendship and respect taught me to value myself as a Schubertian.
When we listen to Schubert’s music, we are filled with a sense of beauty and warmth, and the power and essential goodness of the human spirit is reaffirmed. John had this in common with his hero too, that he could inspire such feelings in those closest to him.
Paul Reid