Frederick John Thurston (21 September 1901 – 12 December 1953) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

clarinettist This article lists notable musicians who have played the clarinet. Classical clarinetists * Laver Bariu * Ernest Ačkun * Luís Afonso * Cristiano Alves * Michel Arrignon * Dimitri Ashkenazy * Kinan Azmeh * Alexander Bader * Carl Baermann ...

Career

From the age of 7 he was taught by his father and he won an open scholarship to the Royal College of Music, becoming a pupil of Charles Draper. During the 1920s he played with the orchestra of the

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal ...

and the BBC Wireless Orchestra before becoming principal clarinettist of the newly formed

BBC Symphony Orchestra The BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBC SO) is a British orchestra based in London. Founded in 1930, it was the first permanent salaried orchestra in London, and is the only one of the city's five major symphony orchestras not to be self-governing. T ...

. He left the BBC Symphony Orchestra in 1946 to concentrate on

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small nu ...

.Robert Philip/Pamela Weston,
Thurston, Frederick
, ''Grove Music Online''. Accessed 30 June 2007. He was principal clarinetist of the Philharmonia Orchestra and can be heard on the Toscanini recording of the Brahms Symphonies. Thurston can also be heard on Volume 1 of ''Historical Clarinet Recordings'' on the Victoria Soames Samek's Clarinet Classics CD Label. He gave the first performances of many new works, including

Arnold Bax Sir Arnold Edward Trevor Bax, (8 November 1883 – 3 October 1953) was an English composer, poet, and author. His prolific output includes songs, choral music, chamber pieces, and solo piano works, but he is best known for his orchestral musi ...

's ''Clarinet Sonata'',

Arthur Bliss Sir Arthur Edward Drummond Bliss (2 August 189127 March 1975) was an English composer and conductor. Bliss's musical training was cut short by the First World War, in which he served with distinction in the army. In the post-war years he qu ...

's ''Clarinet Quintet'' and

Gerald Finzi Gerald Raphael Finzi (14 July 1901 – 27 September 1956) was a British composer. Finzi is best known as a choral composer, but also wrote in other genres. Large-scale compositions by Finzi include the cantata '' Dies natalis'' for solo voice and ...

's ''Clarinet Concerto'', and a private performance of

Roger Fiske Roger Fiske (11 September 1910 – 22 July 1987) was a musicologist, broadcaster and author who played an important part in establishing music for schools at the BBC during and after World War II. Fiske was born in Surbiton. He studied English at ...

's 1941 Clarinet Sonata. Works dedicated to him include Malcolm Arnold's ''Clarinet Concerto No 1'', Iain Hamilton's ''Three Nocturnes'', Herbert Howells's ''Clarinet Sonata'',

John Ireland John Benjamin Ireland (January 30, 1914 – March 21, 1992) was a Canadian actor. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in ''All the King's Men'' (1949), making him the first Vancouver-born actor to receive an Oscar nomin ...

's '' Fantasy-Sonata'', Gordon Jacob's ''Clarinet Quintet'', Elizabeth Maconchy's ''Clarinet Concertino #1'',

Alan Rawsthorne Alan Rawsthorne (2 May 1905 – 24 July 1971) was a British composer. He was born in Haslingden, Lancashire, and is buried in Thaxted churchyard in Essex. Early years Alan Rawsthorne was born in Deardengate House, Haslingden, Lancashire, to Hu ...

's ''Clarinet Concerto'' and

Freda Swain Freda Swain (31 October 190229 January 1985) was a British composer, pianist and music educator. Biography Freda Swain was born in Portsmouth, England, the daughter of Thomas and Gertrude (née Allen) Swain. Her first piano lessons (from age 11 ...

's ''Rhapsody''. He taught at the Royal College of Music from 1930 to 1953. In 1953 he married Thea King (later Dame Thea King), one of his pupils, but died later the same year from

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, mali ...

.Pamela Weston/Robert Philip,
King, Thea
, ''Grove Music Online''. Accessed 30 June 2007.

Writings

* * * *The Passage Studies Volume 1 ( Boosey & Hawkes ) *The Passage Studies Volume 2 ( Boosey & Hawkes ) *The Passage Studies Volume 3 ( Boosey & Hawkes )

Career

Writings

References

Further reading