Donald Francis Tovey was born at Eton in 1875. As a schoolboy he already gained a vast knowledge of the classical repertory, and he began to compose at the age of eight.
In June 1894 he was elected Lewis Nettleship scholar at Balliol College, Oxford, where he graduated with classical honours in 1898.
In the early 1900s it seemed as if his career would incline towards that of pianist and composer. His own compositions were performed in London, Berlin and Vienna with some success. He played his piano concerto himself in 1903 under the conductorship of Henry Wood and repeated it under Richter in 1906. With such artists as Robert Hausmann and Lady Hallé he took part in concerts at the Chelsea Town Hall and in those of the Classical Concert Society, but his attempts to educate the public by analytical notes for intellectually demanding programmes met with some hostility.
Tovey composed prolifically during his Oxford days and in the years immediately following, but after 1918 the only major works he produced were the opera The Bride of Dionysus, which had occupied him since 1907 and was eventually performed in 1929, as well as the Cello Concerto of 1935. He was knighted in 1935.
He regarded his completion of Bach's Art of Fugue (London, 1931) as above anything else that he did at this time.
His essays, perhaps the most valuable part of his work, did much to create new standards in English writing about music. At their best they are magnificent, the product of a broadly stocked mind of acute sensibility and rare insight.
Some of his most significant compositions:
Orchestral:
Piano concerto in A major, opus 15, 1903
Symphony in D major, opus 32, 1913
Cello concerto in C major, opus 40, 1935
Chamber:
Piano quintet in C major, opus 6, 1900
Piano quartet in E minor, opus 12, 1900
String quartet in D major, opus 24, 1909
String quartet in G major, opus 23, 1909
Piano:
Variations on an Original Theme, 1900
Passacaglia in B minor, 1908
In June 1894 he was elected Lewis Nettleship scholar at Balliol College, Oxford, where he graduated with classical honours in 1898.
In the early 1900s it seemed as if his career would incline towards that of pianist and composer. His own compositions were performed in London, Berlin and Vienna with some success. He played his piano concerto himself in 1903 under the conductorship of Henry Wood and repeated it under Richter in 1906. With such artists as Robert Hausmann and Lady Hallé he took part in concerts at the Chelsea Town Hall and in those of the Classical Concert Society, but his attempts to educate the public by analytical notes for intellectually demanding programmes met with some hostility.
Tovey composed prolifically during his Oxford days and in the years immediately following, but after 1918 the only major works he produced were the opera The Bride of Dionysus, which had occupied him since 1907 and was eventually performed in 1929, as well as the Cello Concerto of 1935. He was knighted in 1935.
He regarded his completion of Bach's Art of Fugue (London, 1931) as above anything else that he did at this time.
His essays, perhaps the most valuable part of his work, did much to create new standards in English writing about music. At their best they are magnificent, the product of a broadly stocked mind of acute sensibility and rare insight.
Some of his most significant compositions:
Orchestral:
Piano concerto in A major, opus 15, 1903
Symphony in D major, opus 32, 1913
Cello concerto in C major, opus 40, 1935
Chamber:
Piano quintet in C major, opus 6, 1900
Piano quartet in E minor, opus 12, 1900
String quartet in D major, opus 24, 1909
String quartet in G major, opus 23, 1909
Piano:
Variations on an Original Theme, 1900
Passacaglia in B minor, 1908
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