Berthold Tours (Rotterdam, Dec 17, 1838 – London, Mar 11, 1897) was a Dutch-born English violinist, composer and music editor. His first music teacher was his father, Barthelemy Tours (1797-1864), who was organist of the Groote or St Laurens Kerk in Rotterdam for thirty years, a conductor, and a violinist of European wide reputation, while he studied composition with
Johannes Verhulst
Johannes Joseph Hermann Verhulst (March 19, 1816 in The Hague – January 17, 1891 in Bloemendaal) was a Dutch composer and conductor. As a composer mainly of songs and as administrator of Dutch musical life, his influence during his lifet ...
. Later, he studied composition with
François-Joseph Fétis at the conservatory in Brussels and then continued his studies in Leipzig.
[''Groves Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (1989)]
In Leipzig, Tours received an invitation from Prince George Galitzin, a fellow student, to go to Russia as second violinist in a string quartet that would be engaged by the tsar. The quartet performed in the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg and in neighbouring palaces. Tours then became the assistant director of the chorus in the Imperial Opera and then went with Galitzin to Covent Garden, London in 1861, as a score-reader. He was organist at St Helen's, Bishopsgate from 1864–65, at St Peter's, Stepney from 1865–67, and finally at the Swiss Church, Holborn from 1867–79.
After Galitzin's death, Tours became an editor for
Novello & Co in 1872, and chief editor in 1878 in succession to Sir John Stainer. The works he edited included ''Iphigenia in Aulis'', ''Iphigenia in Tauris'' and ''Orpheus'' by Gluck; ''L'Étoile du nord'' by Meyerbeer; ''Il seraglio'' and ''Zauberflöte'' by Mozart; ''Guillaume Tell'' by Rossini; ''Der Fliegender Holländer'' and ''Lohengrin'' by Wagner; ''Euryanthe'' by Weber; Mendelssohn's ''Elijah''; Gounod's ''Mors et Vita'' and ''Redemption'',
[''The Musical Times'' (Apr 1, 1894)] numerous piano albums, and many others. He also arranged scores of Gilbert and Sullivan operettas for piano and voice.
["Berthold Tours", Sibley Digital Scores]
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He was also a composer and composed a cantata for female voices called ''The Home of Titania'' (1893); an anthem entitled ''A Festival Ode'' (1893) for organ and soprano, which was performed at the inauguration of the new organ in St. Basil's Church in Bassaleg
Bassaleg ( cy, Basaleg) is a suburb on the west side of Newport, Wales. It is in the Graig electoral ward and community.Bassaleg is located two miles northwest of Newport city centre. Bassaleg is bounded by the A467 road (A4072) to the east, the ...
, Wales; a setting of the Anglican Holy Communion in C; a setting of the ''Te Deum'' in F; the anthems, ''Behold, the Angel of the Lord'', ''The Pillars of the Earth are the Lord's'', ''O Saving Victim'' and ''God Has Appointed a Day''; incidental music to Shakespeare's ''Hamlet'' and ''Romeo and Juliet'', and a violin primer called simply ''The Violin'', along with a book of thirty melodies for the violin. This tutor was used in Britain and the United States and sold almost a hundred-thousand copies.[ He also composed works for organ including, Fantasia in C, Allegretto Grazioso, Menuetto and Postlude.][''The Musical Times'' (May 1, 1892)]
Tours's sister was the wife of Woldemar Bargiel and his former pupil. His son and pupil Frank Tours (1877-1963) became a noted theatrical conductor, composer, and arranger in London and New York, and eventually became a studio musical director in Hollywood; he did most of the orchestrations for Irving Berlin's score for ''The Cocoanuts
''The Cocoanuts'' is a 1929 pre-Code Musical film, musical comedy film starring the Marx Brothers (Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Chico Marx, and Zeppo Marx in his first starring role). Produced for Paramount Pictures by Walter Wanger, who is not cre ...
'' (1925) starring the Marx Brothers, and was musical director for the 1929 screen version of the play. Another former pupil was the composer and author Arthur Hervey
Arthur Hervey (26 January 1855 – 10 March 1922) was an Irish composer, music critic, and an expert in French music.
Life
Hervey was born in Paris of Irish parentage – his father was Charles J.V. Hervey who owned Killiane Castle in County We ...
.
References
External links
List of downloadable works by Tours, University of Rochester
''The Complete Catalogue of Music Published by Novello, Ewer and Co'' (1890)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tours, Berthold
1838 births
1897 deaths
Dutch composers
Dutch expatriates in England
Dutch organists
Male organists
Dutch violinists
Male violinists
Sacred music composers
Dutch music arrangers
Musicians from Rotterdam
19th-century Dutch male musicians
19th-century organists