Samuel Langford

Trained as a pianist, Langford became chief music critic of The Manchester Guardian in 1906, serving in that post until his death.

[2] The rest of Langford's career was spent in this post, based in Manchester, although he sometimes travelled to London to hear a new work in which he was interested, and he never missed the big music festivals.

Manchester was, in the early years of the twentieth century, an important musical city, with Hans Richter and the Hallé Orchestra at its centre.

"[5] As a trained concert pianist Langford retained a special fondness for the music of Chopin, he particularly enjoyed Lieder by Schubert, Brahms and Wolf, and among his other loves were Mozart and Wagner.

His colleagues observed, "A Gilbert and Sullivan opera, a newcomer making his first appearance … or an open rehearsal by students would set his musical imagination going … and he would clothe his thoughts about them in phrases so apt and spontaneous that sometimes it gave one a thrill to read them.