Brian Robins

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Brian Robins is an English nonfiction author and editor.

He edited the voluminous journals of the 18th-century English amateur composer, John Marsh, for publication in 1998. A review by the academic Nicholas Temperley in Music & Letters calls the publication a "significant event", though he doubts its claimed appeal to a wide audience; Temperley is critical of the meagre index of the 754-page work, which he describes as "seriously deficient", and calls attention to mistakes in the notes as well as deficiencies in the works list.{{cite journal|author=Nicholas Temperley|title=Review: The John Marsh Journals: The Life and Times of a Gentleman Composer (1752-1828) by Brian Robins, John Marsh|journal=Music & Letters|volume=80 |number=4 |year=1999 |pages=628–629|jstor=54999}} A long review by H. Diack Johnstone for the Journal of the Royal Musical Association describes the project as a "monumental achievement", and praises Robins' "industry and indefatigable concern for detail", which he compares with that of the subject; Johnstone suggests that it would have been preferable to divide the material into two or three volumes, and also points out the inadequacies of the index.{{cite journal |author=H. Diack Johnstone|title=Review: The John Marsh Journals: The Life and Times of a Gentleman Composer (1752–1828) by Brian Robins|journal=Journal of the Royal Musical Association |volume=125 |number=2 |year=2000 |pages=306–314 |jstor=250675}} The edition was also reviewed in The Musical Times{{cite journal|author=Peter Phillips|title=Sizeable Symphonist. Review: The John Marsh Journals: The Life and Times of a Gentleman Composer (1752–1828) by Brian Robins, John Marsh. |journal=The Musical Times |volume=140 |number=1867 |year=1999 |page=78 |jstor=1193908}} and Early Music.{{cite journal|author=Rachel Cowgill|title=Review: The John Marsh Journals |journal=Early Music |volume=30 |number=3 |year=2002 |pages= 470–471 |jstor=519319}}

Robins' monograph study of catch and glee culture in 18th-century England was published in 2006. William Weber, in a review for Journal of British Studies, describes it as a "major contribution to a little-studied subject" that is "accessible" to the general reader; he praises the book for its "vivid picture" of the places where these forms were performed and particularly appreciates the focus on settings outside London.{{cite journal |author=William Weber|title=Review: Catch and Glee Culture in Eighteenth-Century England by Brian Robins |journal=Journal of British Studies |volume=48 |number=1 |year=2009 |pages=224–225|jstor=5482998}} Christina Bashford, in a review for Music & Letters, describes the book as "carefully documented", praises its "thorough, nuanced" descriptions of large numbers of groups, and highlights some "striking vignettes"; she criticises many of the chapters for failing to discuss "broader social and cultural themes and meanings".{{Cite journal |last=Bashford |first=C. |date=2008-08-01 |title=Catch and Glee Culture in Eighteenth-Century England. By Brian Robins |journal=Music & Letters |language=en |volume=89 |issue=3 |pages=411–413 |doi=10.1093/ml/gcm104 |jstor=0163002}}