+ + – Acad. 69: 1267. D. 2, ’95. 156Ow.
“Valuable as undoubtedly is the painstaking collection of data, the book is somewhat overweighted by detailed accounts of programs and the like ... that it is rather difficult for the reader to see Brahms the man in his proper perspective.”
+ – Critic. 48: 379. Ap. ’06. 320w.
“Her work is especially to be commended because she traces the history of the progress of Brahms’ music in England from 1867 ... down to the present day.”
+ + Lond. Times. 4: 360. O. 27, ’05. 950w.
“For readers of Max Kalbeck’s ‘Life of Brahms’ there is not much that is entirely new in the bulk of Miss May’s pages; but, pending the translation of that exhaustive work, American admirers will find here the most complete accessible depository of Brahms lore.”
+ + Nation. 82: 473. Je. 7, ’06. 330w.
“She is a passionate partisan of her subject, who is her hero. There is no other book in England in which the life of Brahms is so minutely recorded.” Richard Aldrich.
+ – N. Y. Times. 11: 190. Mr. 31, ’06. 1050w.
“Possibly Miss May has succeeded as well as is possible with so unpromising a subject. But profound musical insight she has not, and therefore a great part of her two volumes is of no interest to any living being.”