Tovey, (Sir) Donald (Francis)

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Tovey, (Sir) Donald (Francis) (b Eton, 1875; d Edinburgh, 1940). Eng. pianist, composer, conductor, teacher, and writer. Began to compose at 8. Pianist with Joachim 1894. Played own works at London chamber concerts 1900–1. Prof. of Mus., Edinburgh Univ. from 1914. Est. Reid orch. concerts 1917, for which he wrote celebrated programme-notes (pubd. in 6 vols. as Essays in Musical Analysis, 1935–8). Amer. début as pianist 1925. Wrote opera The Bride of Dionysus (1918), pf. conc. (1903), sym. (1913), vc. conc. (for Casals, 1934), much chamber mus. Made conjectural completion of unfinished fugue in Bach's Die Kunst der Fuge. Many books and articles on mus. subjects. Knighted 1935.

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