''Opus'' was an American magazine that featured critical reviews of classical music recordings. Based in

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Harrisburg ( ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,099 as of 2020, Harrisburg is the ninth-most populous city in Pennsylvania. It is the larger of the two pr ...

, the magazine ran from November/December 1984 to March/April 1988, publishing 21 issues.

James R. Oestreich James Ruben Oestreich (born 1943) is a classical music critic for ''The New York Times'', where he has written about music since 1989. He grew up in Wisconsin. Career Oestreich has held earlier posts as music critic at ''American Record Guide'', ...

was its editor-in-chief. Historical Times, Inc., of

Harrisburg Harrisburg ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat, seat of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Dauphin County. With a population of 50, ...

was its owner. Warren Bertram Syer (1923–2007), who had published High Fidelity for 30 years, was then the president of Historical Times.''Enjoy a Tuesday Musical Bonus,''

Seattle Daily Times ''The Seattle Times'' is an American daily newspaper based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1891, ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region. The Seattle Times ...

, pg. D 13, November 1, 1984

History

Music critics depart from ''High Fidelity'' In 1983, most of the senior music critics at ''

High Fidelity High fidelity (hi-fi or, rarely, HiFi) is the high-quality reproduction of sound. It is popular with audiophiles and home audio enthusiasts. Ideally, high-fidelity equipment has inaudible noise and distortion, and a flat (neutral, uncolored) ...

'' and ''

Musical America ''Musical America'' is the oldest American magazine on classical music, first appearing in 1898 in print and in 1999 online magazine, online, at musicalamerica.com. It is published by Performing Arts Resources, LLC, of East Windsor, New Jersey. ...

'' — including Harris Goldsmith (1935-2014), (Stanley) Dale Harris (1928–1996), Andrew Porter,

Will Crutchfield Will Crutchfield (born 1957) is an American conductor, musicologist, and vocal coach. He is the founding Artistic and General Director of Teatro Nuovo, a company that presented its inaugural season in the summer of 2018 at Lincoln Center's Freder ...

Paul Henry Lang Paul Henry Lang (August 28, 1901 – September 21, 1991) was a Hungarian- American musicologist and music critic. Career Lang was born as "Pál Láng" in Budapest, Hungary, and was educated in Catholic schools. In 1918, as World War I was comi ...

Allan Kozinn Allan Kozinn (born July 28, 1954) is an American journalist, music critic, and teacher. Kozinn received bachelor's degrees in music and journalism from Syracuse University in 1976. He began freelancing as a critic and music feature writer for ''T ...

, Peter G. Davis (born 1936), Kenneth (A.) Furie (born 1949), David Peter Hamilton (born 1935), Robert P. Morgan (born 1934), and Conrad L. Osborne (born 1934) — resigned in protest over a reduction of autonomy for their music editor, James Oestreich, who had been informed by the parent that the classical music section was going to be reduced to eight pages by January 1984, and further reduced to one or two pages by December 1984. In 1983, the average issue devoted 18 pages to classical music. On behalf of the parent company, ABC Leisure Magazines of ABC Publishing, William (Bill) Tynan explained that they were going to "blend lengthy classical features into its highly acclaimed ''

''," a slim magazine sewn into the centerfold of selected issues of High Fidelity and available only by subscription. ''

'', at the time, had a circulation of about 20,000 subscribers. ''

'' had a circulation of nearly 400,000. Tynan said that ''High Fidelity's'' average reader "no longer prefers the lengthy classical music articles that have appeared as part of the previous format." Founding of ''Opus'' A year later (1984), many of those critics became the core review staff for a start-up classical record magazine ''Opus'', with '' Jim Oestreich'' as editor. Historical Times, Inc., of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, was the parent. Success of ''Opus'' During the planning stage, Warren Bertram Syer, its publisher, designed a five-year business strategy, projecting non-profitability in years one through three, breakeven in year four, and profit in year five. It turned out that Opus became profitable in its fourth year.

, ''Critic's Notebook; Classical Music Magazine As Endangered Species'',

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

, April 15, 1991 ''Opus'' is acquired by Cowles Media In December 1987, Historical Times – the company that published ''Opus'' – was acquired by larger firm,

Cowles Media Company Cowles Media Company ( ) (1935–1998) was a newspaper, magazine and information publishing company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota in the United States. The company operated Cowles Business Media, Cowles Creative Publishing, and Cowles Ent ...

. Cowles Media sells ''Opus'' to ABC Publishing — critical staff resigns, again Despite being marginally profitable, Cowles regarded ''Opus'' as too marginal to maintain.
James Gordon Keough
(born 1946), who was appointed president of Cowles Media in 1987, made the decision to put Opus up for sale. He said that, while ''Opus'' was ''probably the best-written'' of the company's magazines, it "didn't fit strategically with the rest of our publications." Historical Times had been printing mostly history and outdoor magazines. In December 1987, ''Opus'' had a circulation of 25,000, one-fourth of corporation's next smallest magazine, ''British Heritage''. In June 1988, Cowles Media sold ''Opus'' to

Capital Cities/ABC Capital Cities/ABC Inc. was an American media company. It was founded in 1985 when Capital Cities Communications purchased the much larger American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. It was eventually acquired by The Walt Disney Company and re-branded i ...

— which was still the parent of ''

'' as well as ''

''. The critics and editors of ''Opus'', including James Oestreich, all of whom had broken away from ''High Fidelity'' in 1983, resigned again. Cessation as a free-standing publication The 21st issue (March/April 1988) was the final free-standing publication of ''Opus.'' Following the acquisition, ''Opus'' was absorbed by ''

'', debuting in its July 1988 issue. Theodore (Ted) W. Libbey, Jr. (born 1951), then the classical music editor of ''High Fidelity'', became senior editor of the new ''Opus'' section. Patricia Reilly, who formerly edited Musical America's ''Recordings in Review,'' became the associate editor of the new ''Opus'' section. Shirley Fleming (1929–2005) continued as editor-in-chief of ''

''. Howard Reich, ''Musical Chairs in Publishing'',

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

, June 12, 1988 The words "incorporating Opus" added to Musical America's masthead was, according to

, somewhat misleading, given the resignation of its core staff and editors.

Purpose: classical music advocacy

Because ''Opus'' was founded by classical music journalists, it was a cause as much as it was a magazine. Besides shorter reviews,

Richard Taruskin Richard Filler Taruskin (April 2, 1945 – July 1, 2022) was an American musicologist and music critic who was among the leading and most prominent music historians of his generation. The breadth of his scrutiny into source material as well as ...

freely wrote as many as 60 pages on Beethoven symphony recordings, and

wrote 82 pages on the state of the classical record business.

and Conrad Osborne published a running debate about vocal style.

References

Library holdings * ''Opus,'' publisher: Historical Times, Inc.,

(1984–1988) : First publication: Volume 1, No. 1 – November/December 1984 : Final publication: Volume 4, No. 3 – March/April 1988 :: "The magazine of recorded classics" – cover, November/December 1984 to November 1985 :: "The classical music magazine" – cover, December 1985 to April 1988 ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: * Absorbed by ''

'' – Volume 108, No. 3 – July 1988 Inline citations {{Reflist 1984 establishments in Pennsylvania 1988 disestablishments in Pennsylvania Bimonthly magazines published in the United States Music magazines published in the United States Defunct magazines published in the United States Classical music magazines Magazines established in 1984 Magazines disestablished in 1988 Magazines published in Pennsylvania