Donald Tovey

Sir Donald Francis Tovey (17 July 187510 July 1940) was a British music analyst, musicologist, writer on music, composer, conductor and pianist. He had been best known for his Essays in Musical Analysis and his editions of works by Bach and Beethoven, but since the 1990s his (relatively few) compositions have been recorded and performed with increasing frequency. The recordings have mostly been well received by reviewers. Life He was born at Eton, Berkshire, the son of Duncan Crookes Tovey, an assistant master at Eton College, and his wife, Mary Fison. As a child Tovey was privately educated exclusively by Sophie Weisse. She was impressed by his musical gifts evident at an early age and took it upon herself to nurture him. Through her network of associates he was introduced to composers, performers and music critics. These included Walter Parratt, James Higgs and (from the age of 14) Hubert Parry for composition. In 1898, Tovey graduated from Balliol College at Oxford University, where he had studied the classics and developed his interest in music, particularly that of Bach. When Tovey was seven or eight years old, he met violinist Joseph Joachim, another acquaintance of Weisse. T