Martin Bernheimer, a classical music critic noted for witty, withering writing that won him a Pulitzer Prize in 1982, died on Sunday at his home in Manhattan. He was 83.

The cause was sarcoma, his wife, the theater critic Linda Winer, said.

“Historically,” Mr. Bernheimer wrote in the Financial Times in 2008, “the best critics have guarded standards, stimulated debate and, in the complex process, reinforced the importance of art in society. They have been tastemakers, taskmasters and possibly ticket-sellers. Some have even written well.”

Mr. Bernheimer certainly did. Few classical music critics in the United States since Virgil Thomson possessed his way with words, or his eagerness to wield them without mercy.

Luciano Pavarotti? “The overhype tenor of the century.”

Lorin Maazel? “He knows how to capitalize on his limitations.”