“The undisputed spiritual home of classical music in the UK”

Musical Opinion has been in continuous production, never missing one single edition, since 1877 making it the longest serving continually published classical music magazine in the world. To put this in context the first edition was published when Benjamin Disraeli was the British Prime Minister, Rutherford Hayes was the US President, Alphonse Thiers was French President and Bismarck was all still powerful in Germany. 1877 saw the premieres of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake and Saint Saëns Samson et Dalila; Edison announced the invention of the phonograph; Samurai rule in Japan all but ended, Alexander Graham Bell started the first commercial telephone service; Louise Renault the eponimous French car manufacture was born, as was Isodora Duncan; and the deaths occurred of Cornelius Vanderbilt and Gustave Courbet. A memorable year indeed!

The first Musical Opinion was published on October 8th 1877 and critically reviewed Brahms’ new Second Symphony amongst many other pieces of news. In 1921 Musical Opinion launched its highly regarded sister magazine The Organ, which, again, is still in continuous production without missing one single edition.