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As befitted a renowned scholar and educationist, Tovey’s own music was much influenced by the classics, especially Brahms, and was considered extremely ‘old-fashioned’ within his lifetime. Now that the fashions of the early 20th century no longer seem quite so important, it is possible to appreciate his gifts more realistically.

Selected list of compositions

Opera

• The Bride of Dionysus (libretto by R.C. Trevelyan)(1907-18, published 1928, premiere 1932, Edinburgh)

Orchestral Music

• Piano Concerto in A major, op.15 (1903)
• Symphony in D major, op.32 (1913)
• Cello Concerto in C major, op.40 (1935)
• National March for the Sultan of Zanzibar for military band

Chamber Music

• Divertimento for oboe and piano (1899)
• Piano Trio in B minor, op.1 (1900)
• Cello Sonata in F major, op.4 (1900)
• Piano Quintet in C major, op.6 (1900)
• Piano Quartet in E minor, op. 12 (1900)
• Trio for violin, cor anglais and piano, op.14 (1903)
• Trio for clarinet, horn and piano ‘Style tragique’, op.8 (1905)
• Aria and Variations for string quartet, op.11 (1900)
• Clarinet Sonata in F flat, op.16 (1906)
• Sonata for violin and piano (1907)
• String Quartet in G major, op.23 (1909)
• String Quartet in D major, op.24 (1909)
• Elegiac Variations for cello and piano, op.25 (1909)
• Piano Trio in D major, op.27 (1910)
• Variations on a Theme by Gluck for flute and string quartet, op.28 (1913)
• Sonata Eroica in C major for violin unaccompanied, op.29 (1913)
• Sonata in D major for cello unaccompanied (1914)

Vocal Music

• Motet ‘In festo sanctorum Innocentium’ (1902)
• 2 sets of songs for bass voice, op.2 (1903)
• A Lyke Wake Dirge for 6-part chorus (1931)

Piano Music

• Bagatelles (1900)
• Allegro and Andate (1900)
• Variations on an original Theme (1900)
• Passacaglia in B minor (1908)
• Balliol Dances for piano duet, op.17

As well as being a virtuoso pianist, editor, scholar, conductor and all-round educator, Tovey was a composer of considerable mastery. He began composing at the age of eight, while a piano pupil of Sophie Weisse. He studied Classics in Oxford, became a protege of Joseph Joachim and had works performed in Berlin and Vienna. In 1914 became Professor of Music at the Reid School of Music, Edinburgh University. He founded the Reid Orchestra in 1917 and for its concerts wrote the famous series of programme notes eventually published in six volumes as ‘Essays in Musical Analysis’.