Thomas Appleby Matthews (30 August 1884 – 22 June 1949) was an English
conductor and
organist
An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists. In addition, an organist may accompany congregational h ...
.
Life and career
Matthews was born in
Tamworth, Staffordshire
Tamworth (, ) is a market town and borough in Staffordshire, England, north-east of Birmingham. The town borders North Warwickshire to the east and north, Lichfield to the north, south-west and west. The town takes its name from the River T ...
and received his musical education at the
Birmingham and Midland Institute School of Music, serving as organist of
St. Philip's Cathedral, Birmingham and playing viola in
George Halford's Orchestra. He became an experienced choirmaster, running his own Appleby Matthews Chorus, and also conducted the
Birmingham City Police
Birmingham City Police was the police service responsible for general policing in the city of Birmingham from 1839 to 1974. The force was established by a special Act of Parliament in 1839, and was amalgamated as of 1 April 1974 with the West M ...
band.
Leon Goossens
Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to:
Places
Europe
* León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León
* Province of León, Spain
* Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again f ...
, who played the oboe under Matthews for the City of Birmingham Orchestra, described him as "a very short man
hoalways tried to walk a little bit taller than he really was".
Appleby Matthews Orchestra
Between 1916 and 1920 Matthews ran annual series of concerts in Birmingham with an orchestra bearing his own name. The first recorded concert took place on 16 July 1916 at
Birmingham Town Hall, with 40 musicians and Alex Cohen as leader. The 1917-1918 season saw twelve Monday evening concerts take place at the
Birmingham Repertory Theatre
Birmingham Repertory Theatre, commonly called Birmingham Rep or just The Rep, is a producing theatre based on Centenary Square in Birmingham, England. Founded by Barry Jackson, it is the longest-established of Britain's building-based theatre ...
in Station Street; the 1918-1919 season saw 40 Sunday evening concerts at the Scala on Smallbrook Street; and the 1919-1920 season saw 36 concerts, also on Sunday evenings, at the Futurist Cinema on John Bright Street.
The orchestra's most significant concert took place on 4 October 1917, when Matthews, his orchestra, chorus and a soprano soloist gave the first complete performance of
Edward Elgar's choral trilogy ''
The Spirit of England''. The first concert of Matthews' final season on 7 September 1919 was reviewed in the ''
Musical Times
''The Musical Times'' is an academic journal of classical music edited and produced in the United Kingdom and currently the oldest such journal still being published in the country.
It was originally created by Joseph Mainzer in 1842 as ''Mainzer ...
'': Alex Cohen was still leading the orchestra, who played a programme featuring works by
Mozart,
Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
and
Dvorak, and the review recorded a "packed house" and "fine performances", concluding "evidently these excellent concerts have come to stay".
City of Birmingham Orchestra
In 1920 Matthews became the first conductor of the City of Birmingham Orchestra, today's
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) is a British orchestra based in Birmingham, England. It is the resident orchestra at Symphony Hall: a B:Music Venue in Birmingham, which has been its principal performance venue since 1991. Its a ...
. ''
Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians
''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and theo ...
'' says of this period:
Other activities
Matthews supported
Rutland Boughton
Rutland Boughton (23 January 187825 January 1960) was an English composer who became well known in the early 20th century as a composer of opera and choral music. He was also an influential communist activist within the Communist Party of Gre ...
at his
Glastonbury Festivals (1914–1925) and conducted performances of ''The Immortal Hour'' and ''Bethlehem''. He also acted as a chorus master for the
Beecham Opera Company
The Beecham Opera Company was an opera company founded by Thomas Beecham which presented opera in English in London and on tour between 1916 and 1920.Jefferson, Alan (2004) "Beecham, Sir Thomas, second baronet (1879–1961)" ''Oxford Dictionary of ...
.
Appearances by Matthews as a guest conductor included performances with the
Hallé Orchestra in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
in 1916; with the
Berlin Philharmonic
The Berlin Philharmonic (german: Berliner Philharmoniker, links=no, italic=no) is a German orchestra based in Berlin. It is one of the most popular, acclaimed and well-respected orchestras in the world.
History
The Berlin Philharmonic was fo ...
in April 1922, where his programme was adventurous and well-reviewed; and with the
Orchestre Lamoureux
The Orchestre Lamoureux () officially known as the Société des Nouveaux-Concerts and also known as the Concerts Lamoureux) is an orchestral concert society which once gave weekly concerts by its own orchestra, founded in Paris by Charles Lamoureu ...
in Paris on 31 October 1922, where he conducted the Paris premiere of ''
Beni Mora'', the first performance of any work of
Gustav Holst
Gustav Theodore Holst (born Gustavus Theodore von Holst; 21 September 1874 – 25 May 1934) was an English composer, arranger and teacher. Best known for his orchestral suite ''The Planets'', he composed many other works across a range ...
given in that capital.
Matthews died in Birmingham on 22 June 1949.
"Thomas Appleby Matthews"
Ancestry UK. Retrieved 19 June 2021
Notes and references
Bibliography
*Greene, Richard. ''Holst: The Planets''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
*Handford, Margaret. ''Sounds Unlikely: Music in Birmingham''. Studley: Brewin Books, 2006.
*Hinrichsen, Max. ''Hinrichsen's Musical Year Book, 1947–1948''. London: Hinrichsen Edition Limited, 1947.
*King-Smith, Beresford. ''Crescendo! 75 years of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra''. London: Methuen, 1995.
*Short, Michael. ''Gustav Holst: The Man and his Music''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990.
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matthews, Appleby
1881 births
1948 deaths
English conductors (music)
British male conductors (music)
Birmingham City Police
People from Tamworth, Staffordshire
20th-century British conductors (music)
20th-century British male musicians