Talk:B. H. Haggin

Peacock
I've added the peacock and POV tags. Much of this article is written in a hyberbolic, unencyclopedic style. I'll be toning it down and adding ref requests.THD3 (talk) 14:22, 30 December 2009 (UTC)

Archive at NYPL
The Music & Recorded Sound Division of the New York Public Library has Haggin's archive (including rights to his work). As of 2021 is it unprocessed; no target date for when it will be processed. - kosboot (talk) 19:04, 24 August 2021 (UTC)


 * I looked at most of the material in the archive held by the Music Division in January and February of this year, and made copies of many of the letters. I'll add information from the letters and other papers as appropriate. Addison0372 (talk) 20:32, 21 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Be aware that unless an item is published, it is probably unusable as a source for Wikipedia which requires secondary (not primary) sources. See: WP:PRIMARY. - kosboot (talk) 22:57, 21 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Understood. I will provide a source for all information I add to the biography. Addison0372 (talk) 17:26, 23 April 2023 (UTC)

Problems with "American National Biography" article as primary source
This article took most of its information from James A. Drake's article in American National Biography, which was opinionated in the extreme and wrong in much of what was supposed to be factual. So far, I corrected the date of death that he copied from the New York Times obituary, and the names of Haggin's parents. Where he got that from I have no idea. Next, I will correct the dates for his time at City College and the appearance of his first articles. According to an article in the student newspaper, "The Campus," which is available online, he graduated in 1921, not 1922 as Drake said, so he couldn't have finished high school in 1918. The earliest articles I found in Musical America on the Internet Archive were from October 1922, not 1923, as Drake said.

I think a C rating for this article as it stands right now is generous, frankly. Addison0372 (talk) 04:00, 13 May 2023 (UTC)


 * The limited biographical material on Haggin is usually written by other critics, a class he never got along with, and whose later membership rejected his views and approach as outdated.
 * The NY Times obituary reads as if it were written to settle some personal score.
 * I wouldn't know where to look for a dispassionate assessment of Haggin's 65-yr career. There is no shortage of his own reviews, which frequently include disputes with other critics. Gveln (talk) 08:00, 16 July 2023 (UTC)

According to Don Drewecki, who was at Haggin's memorial service, Tim Page said he didn't write the last two paragraphs in the New York Times obituary. Since that didn't appear in print--it's in a thread on rec.music.classical.recordings--I don't think I can use it in Wikipedia. It's not really accurate to say categorically that other critics didn't get along with Haggin. Some did. After Haggin died, several critics published appreciations of his career and work, and didn't overlook his shortcomings. William Youngren wrote an article for The American Scholar (Winter 1997) about his decades-long friendship with Haggin--and its end. There is a chapter in Michael Steinberg's book For the Love of Music about how Haggin inspired him to be a critic and mentored him until Haggin disavowed him. Terry Teachout wrote an appreciation of Haggin, also in 1997, that was on his blog. Harvey Sachs in his initial article reviewing music in the Winter 2014 issue of the Hudson Review credits Haggin with getting his career started by recommending him for a biography of Toscanini that a publisher wanted Haggin to write. There are others, though none will be dispassionate. Haggin was admired or loathed. There wasn't much in between. Addison0372 (talk) 04:32, 10 August 2023 (UTC)Addison0372