Editing Tobias Matthay

{{Short description|English pianist, teacher, and composer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
[[Image:Tobias Matthay - Project Gutenberg eText 15604.png|thumb|right|Tobias Matthay, ca.&nbsp;1913]]
'''Tobias Augustus Matthay''' (19 February 1858{{spaced ndash}}15 December 1945) was an English [[pianist]], teacher, and composer.

==Biography==
Matthay was born in [[Clapham]], [[Surrey]], in 1858 to parents who had come from northern Germany and eventually became naturalised British subjects.<ref name=grove>''Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', 5th ed. (1954) Vol. 5, p. 632, Macmillan, London {{oclc|6085892}}</ref> He entered London's [[Royal Academy of Music]] in 1871 and eight months later he received the first scholarship given to honour the knighthood of its principal, [[William Sterndale Bennett|Sir William Sterndale Bennett]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Tobias Matthay|url=http://www.pianosage.net/Matthay.html|access-date=2021-08-28|website=www.pianosage.net}}</ref> At the academy, Matthay studied composition under Sir William Sterndale Bennett and [[Arthur Sullivan]], and piano with William Dorrell and [[Walter Macfarren]]. He served as a sub-professor there from 1876 to 1880, and became an assistant professor of pianoforte in 1880, before being promoted to professor in 1884.<ref>{{cite book |title=England's Piano Sage: The Life and Teachings of Tobias Matthay|author=Siek, Stephen|year=2012 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |location=Lanham, MD |isbn=978-0-81088-161-7 }}</ref>  With [[Frederick Corder]] and [[John Blackwood McEwen]], he co-founded the [[Society of British Composers]] in 1905.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SIK1vk2c6A0C|title=The British Piano Sonata, 1870-1945|author=Hardy, Lisa|year=2001 |publisher=Boydell Press |isbn=978-0-85115-822-8}}</ref> Matthay remained at the RAM until 1925, when he was forced to resign because McEwen—his former student who was then the academy's Principal—publicly attacked his teaching.

In 1903, after over a decade of observation, analysis, and experimentation, he published ''The Act of Touch'', an encyclopedic volume that influenced piano pedagogy throughout the English-speaking world. So many students were soon in quest of his insights that two years later he opened the Tobias Matthay Pianoforte School, first in Oxford Street, then in 1909 relocating to Wimpole Street, where it remained for the next 30 years.  The teachers there included his sister Dora. He soon became known for his teaching principles that stressed proper piano touch and analysis of arm movements.  He wrote several additional books on piano technique that brought him international recognition, and in 1912 he published ''Musical Interpretation'', a widely read book that analyzed the principles of effective musicianship. However, whilst acknowledging its importance, his RAM colleague [[Ambrose Coviello]] later felt the need to interpret his writing, which he criticized for its lack of clarity:<ref name=Coviello>{{cite book |date=1948 |last=Coviello |first=Ambrose |title=What Matthay Meant: His Musical and Technical Teachings Clearly Explained and Self-explained |location=London |publisher=Bosworth |oclc=316255047 |page=1}}</ref><blockquote |style=font-size:inherit>The interminable repetitions, recapitulations, summaries, footnotes, all with a change of emphasis and as often as not with new names for the same thing, led enquirers into a maze from which only the clearest brain equipped with a dogged perseverance, could extricate itself.</blockquote>

Many of his pupils went on to define a school of 20th century English pianism, including [[Arthur Alexander (pianist)|Arthur Alexander]], [[York Bowen]], [[Hilda Dederich]], [[Norman Fraser]], [[Myra Hess]], Denise Lasimonne, [[Clifford Curzon]], [[Harold Craxton]], [[Moura Lympany]], [[Arthur Douglas Peppercorn|Gertrude Peppercorn]], [[Ruth Roberts]], [[Irene Scharrer]], Lilias Mackinnon, [[Guy Jonson]], Vivian Langrish, [[Hope Squire]], [[Eileen Joyce]], jazz "syncopated" pianist Raie Da Costa, [[Harriet Cohen]], [[Dorothy Howell (composer)|Dorothy Howell]], and the duo [[Bartlett and Robertson]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Tobias Matthay Collection|url=https://www.ram.ac.uk/museum/collections/performers/tobias-matthay-collection|access-date=2021-08-04|website=Royal Academy of Music|language=en-GB}}</ref> He taught many Americans, including [[Ray Lev]], [[Eunice Norton]], and Lytle Powell, and he was also the teacher of Canadian pianist [[Harry Dean (musician)|Harry Dean]], English composer [[Arnold Bax]] and English conductor [[Ernest Read]].<ref>Scott-Sutherland, Colin. [http://www.a-test.co.uk/bms/pages/publications_2007.html 'Tobias Matthay (1858-1945) and his Pupils'], in ''British Music'' ([[British Music Society]]), Issue 29 (2007)</ref> In 1920, Hilda Hester Collens, who had studied under Matthay from 1910 to 1914, founded a music college in [[Manchester]] named the Matthay School of Music in his honour. It was later renamed the [[Northern School of Music]], a predecessor institution of the [[Royal Northern College of Music]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kennedy |first1=Michael |title=The History of the Royal Manchester College of Music, 1893-1972 |date=1971 |publisher=Manchester University Press |isbn=978-0-7190-0435-3 |page=89 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xTe8AAAAIAAJ&dq=Matthay+School+of+Music+Manchester&pg=PA89 |access-date=8 January 2022 |language=en}}</ref>

His wife Jessie née Kennedy, whom he married in 1893, wrote a biography of her husband, published posthumously in 1945.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=UUGTAAAAIAAJ Jessie Henderson Kennedy Matthay. ''The Life and Works of Tobias Matthay''] (1945)</ref> She was a sister of [[Marjory Kennedy-Fraser]].  She was born in 1869 and died in 1937.<ref name=grove/> Tobias Matthay died at his country home, High Marley, near [[Haslemere]] in 1945, aged 87.

==Compositions==
Matthay's larger scale compositions and virtuoso piano works were all written between the 1870s and 1890s before he focused instead on piano technique and teaching. They include two symphonies, some concert overtures and several piano concertante works. They were all forgotten for many years, resurfacing at a [[Sotheby's]] manuscript auction on 30 November 2006, won by the Royal Academy of Music.<ref>[http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2006/music-and-continental-manuscripts-l06409/lot.88.html ''Music and Continental Manuscripts'', Sotheby's Catalogue, 2006]</ref><ref>[https://www.ram.ac.uk/museum/collections/collections-highlights/performers-collections-and-archives/tobias-matthay-collection Tobias Matthay Collection, Royal Academy of Music]</ref>

Only the symphonic overture ''In May'' (1883) and the one movement Concert Piece in A minor for piano and orchestra (begun about 1883 and revised till about 1908) gained much contemporary attention. The Concert Piece became his most popular large scale work, although its London premiere at the [[The Proms|Proms]] had to wait 25 years before its first performance, on 28 August 1909. The soloist was York Bowen. It was then performed at the Proms by Vivian Langrish in 1914, in 1919, and 1920 and again in 1925 by Matthay's student Betty Humby (who later became [[Betty Humby Beecham]] after she married [[Thomas Beecham]]).<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/events/works/20c726f4-2f4f-4b66-81ad-80b281924db4 BBC Proms Performance Archive]</ref> Myra Hess also performed it under Matthay's baton at [[Queen's Hall]] on 18 July 1922 in the presence of the King and Queen for the Royal Academy of Music Centennial Celebration.

Matthay also wrote chamber music (most notably the Piano Quartet, op.20 of 1882), a small number of songs, and a great deal of piano music.<ref>[https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000018096?rskey=l3MDy6&result=1 Dawes, Frank.'Matthay, Tobias ( Augustus )' in ''Grove Music Online'', 2001']</ref> His ''31 Variations and Derivations on an Original Theme'' for piano, written in 1891 and revised till 1918, was one of his last important early period works. Showing the influence of both [[Franz Liszt|Liszt]] and [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]], it was considered harmonically daring when first composed. The work is in two parts, the second growing increasingly complex.<ref>[https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/page/5bc135231d7e46b5919b07d2225ba4c2 ''Radio Times'' Issue 604, 28 April, 1935, p 28]</ref>

During and after the First World War Matthay returned to piano composition, but abandoned his previously complex style in favour of short character pieces closer in spirit to [[Robert Schumann|Schumann]]'s pieces for children. In 1933 he recorded some of these, including ''Twilight Hills'' and ''Wind Sprites'' from the 1919 suite ''On Surrey Hills'', op.30,<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0JeyK_neH4 Tobias Matthay plays Matthay "On Surrey Hills", Op. 30]</ref> as well as the older Prelude and the highly demanding "Bravura" from ''Studies in the Form of a Suite (1887).''<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgYWRtUzFV4 Tobias Matthay plays Matthay Prelude and Arpeggio Op. 16]'', Columbia DX444, 1933</ref><ref>Recordings, Pianosage.net</ref>

A nearly complete collection of the published piano works is held at the International Piano Archives at the [[University of Maryland]]. It was donated by the late James Matthew Holloway from papers originally in the possession of the pianist and favourite Mathay student Denise Lassimonne (1903–1994), whom Matthay took in after the death of her father, later naming her his ward and heir<ref>[https://www.forte-piano-pianissimo.com/Denise-Lassimonne.html Denise Lassimonne]</ref> Many of the scores contain corrections, editorial markings and comments by Matthay himself.<ref>[https://www.lib.umd.edu/ipam/collections/tobias-matthay Tobias Matthay Collection at IPAM</]</ref>

==List of works==

'''Orchestral'''
* Concert Overture (1874)
* Symphony in A minor (1874)
* Piano Concerto in D minor (1874)
* ''Scherzo for Orchestra'' in D minor (1875)
* Concert Overture in C (1877)
* Symphony (1878)
* ''Reminiscences of Country Life'', concert overture (1879)
* ''Hero and Leander'', scena for contralto and orchestra (1879)
* ''In Summer'', symphonic overture (aka Introduction and Allegro) (1880)
* ''Andante for Orchestra'' (1881)
* Concert Piece for Piano and Orchestra in D minor (1881)
* ''In May'', symphonic overture (1883)
* Concert Piece for Piano and Orchestra in A minor (1895)

'''Chamber'''
* Piano Quartet in F (1876)
* [[Piano Quartet (Matthay)|Piano Quartet, op. 20]] (1882, revised 1905, published 1906)<ref>[https://imslp.org/wiki/Piano_Quartet_in_One_Movement%2C_Op.20_(Matthay%2C_Tobias) Piano Quartet, op 20, Charles Avison Ltd (1906) score at IMSLP]</ref>
* Piano Trio in F
* ''Ballade'' for cello and piano, op.40 (1936)

'''Piano Works''' (selected)<ref>[https://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Matthay%2C_Tobias Compositions by: Matthay, Tobias. IMSLP]</ref>
* ''Moods of a Moment'', op.11 (1886, revised and published 1920) (ten pieces)
* ''Love Phases'', op.12 (1880, published 1912) (includes 'Doubts', 'Avowal', 'Response')
* ''Studies in the form of a Suite'' op.16 (1887) (eight studies)
* ''Elves,'' op.17 (1898, published 1911)
* ''Con Imitazione'', op. 18
* ''Sketch-Book No 1'' op.24 (includes 'May Morning', 'Terpsichore') (1914)
* ''Sketch Book No 2'', op.26 (1916)
* ''31 Variations and Derivations on an Original Theme'' op.28 (1891, published 1918)
* ''Five Cameos'', op. 29 (1919)
* ''On Surrey Hills'' op.30 (1919), includes 'Twilight Hills', 'On Holiday', 'Night Shadows', 'Wind Sprites'
* ''Three Lyric Studies'', op.33 (1921)
* ''Ballade in A minor'', op. 39 (1926)
* ''Five Miniatures'', op.45

==See also==
*{{See LMST|Tobias|Matthay}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
*[https://archive.org/details/actoftouchinalli009163mbp ''The Act Of Touch In All Its Diversity: An Analysis And Synthesis Of Pianoforte Tone Production''] (1903) Bosworth & Co. Ltd., London
*[https://archive.org/details/firstprincipleso00mattiala ''The First Principles of Pianoforte Playing''] (1905) Bosworth & Co. Ltd., London
*[http://imslp.org/wiki/Relaxation_Studies_(Matthay,_Tobias) ''Relaxation Studies''] (1908) Bosworth & Co. Ltd., London
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=9KU9AQAAMAAJ ''The Child's First Steps in Piano Playing''] (1912) Boston music Co., Boston
*''The Principles of Fingering and Laws of Pedalling'' (Extracted from ''Relaxation Studies'') (1908)  Bosworth, London
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=c8gwAQAAMAAJ ''The Fore-Arm Rotation Principle in Pianoforte Playing''] (1912) The Boston Music Co., Boston
*[https://archive.org/details/musicalinterpre00mattgoog ''Musical Interpretation, Its Laws and Principles, and their application in teaching and performing''] (1912) Joseph Williams, London
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=jNs5AAAAIAAJ ''The Slur or Couplet of Notes in all its Variety, its Interpretation and Execution''] (1928) Oxford University Press, London
*[https://archive.org/details/visibleandinvisi009582mbp ''The Visible And Invisible In Pianoforte Technique''] (1947)

==External links==
*{{IMSLP|id=Matthay, Tobias|cname=Tobias Matthay}} 
* Siek, Stephen. [http://www.pianosage.net ''England's Piano Sage: The Life and Teachings of Tobias Matthay''] (2012, rev. 2021)
* [http://www.matthay.org The American Matthay Association]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150329114505/http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_APR6014 The APR 7-volume CD reissue of recordings by Matthay and his pupils] 
* [http://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php?topic=1185.0 ''Tobias Matthay'' at Unsung Composers]
* Guy, Robin D. ''[https://repository.arizona.edu/handle/10150/626205 Tobias Matthay: The Man, The Pedagogue, The Composer]'', Dissertation, University of Arizona (1988)

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[[Category:1858 births]]
[[Category:1945 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century British classical pianists]]
[[Category:20th-century English classical pianists]]
[[Category:Academics of the Royal Academy of Music]]
[[Category:Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music]]
[[Category:English people of German descent]]
[[Category:English male classical pianists]]
[[Category:British piano educators]]