Considered as a serious form of writing, the concert notice is a relatively new thing. Until quite recently there was a prejudice against it; it was beneath the attention of sophisticated persons. One could write about music theory, about styles and fashions and influence, about new compositions. But there was something degraded and sneaky about criticising concerts and performers. Even a distinguished critic like William J. Henderson declared: ‘We are confronted by the demand of the interpretative artist. Of this any one who places the function of criticism upon a high plane would wish to say very little. The consideration of the performer is the least important office of real criticism.’ The great musical writer Ernest Newman argued in a 1931 newspaper review that repeat performances of well-known works gave the critic nothing to do:

Perhaps because of this prejudice, the story of performance criticism is rather different from that of general music criticism.