Mann, William (Somervell) (1924–1989)

English critic and writer on music. Educated at Winchester and Cambridge, he studied composition with Seiber and piano with Ilona Kabós. In 1948 he joined the music staff of The Times, retiring as chief music critic in 1980. He published a short introduction to Bach (1950), contributed to the Britten symposium (1952) and to the fifth and sixth editions of Grove's Dictionary (1954, 1980). He also wrote books on Strauss's and Mozart's operas and made a translation of Wagner's Ring.