Dart, (Robert) Thurston
Dart, (Robert) Thurston
Dart, (Robert) Thurston , eminent English musicologist and keyboard player; b. London, Sept. 3, 1921;d. there, March 6, 1971. He studied keyboard instruments at the Royal Coll. of Music in London (1938–39), and also took courses in mathematics at Univ. Coll., Exeter (B.Sc., 1942). In 1947 he became an asst. lecturer in music at the Univ. of Cambridge, a full lecturer in 1952, and finally a prof. of music in 1962. In 1964 he was named King Edward prof. of Music at King’s Coll. of the Univ. of London. As a performing musician, he made numerous appearances on the harpsichord; also appeared as organist and performer on Baroque keyboard instruments. He served as ed. of the Galpin Society Journal (1947–54) and secretary of the documentary ed. Musica Britannica (1950–65). His magnum opus was The Interpretation of Music (London, 1954; 5th ed., 1984; Ger. tr., 1959, as Practica musica; Swedish tr., 1964). He also ed. works by Morley, Purcell, John Bull, and others.
Bibliography
I. Bent, ed., Source Materials and the Interpretation of Music: A Memorial Volume to T. D. (London, 1981).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire