Biography
>Sebastian Farr was a pen-name of **Eric Walter Blom** (1888-1959), who was born in German-speaking Switzerland and was of partly Danish descent. He moved to Britain, and spent his working life there, where he became a successful editor and journalist.
>While working for a music publisher, Blom taught himself music and started writing programme notes for Henry Wood's concerts. His first post as a music critic was with the Manchester Guardian, as it was then known; he wrote notices of events in London from 1923-31. He was with the Birmingham Post for the next fifteen years before moving to London, mainly in order to work on the fifth edition of *Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians*, a monumental work in nine volumes. He became chief music critic for the Observer until his death. In 1941 he published his only novel, a mystery titled *Death on the Down Beat: An Orchestral Fantasy of Detection.*
>He married in 1923, and had a son and a daughter.
>While working for a music publisher, Blom taught himself music and started writing programme notes for Henry Wood's concerts. His first post as a music critic was with the Manchester Guardian, as it was then known; he wrote notices of events in London from 1923-31. He was with the Birmingham Post for the next fifteen years before moving to London, mainly in order to work on the fifth edition of *Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians*, a monumental work in nine volumes. He became chief music critic for the Observer until his death. In 1941 he published his only novel, a mystery titled *Death on the Down Beat: An Orchestral Fantasy of Detection.*
>He married in 1923, and had a son and a daughter.
