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ARTHUR GORING THOMAS (1850-1892)

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Originally appearing in Volume V26, Page 866 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ARTHUR See also:GORING See also:THOMAS (1850-1892)  , See also:English musical composer. was the youngest son of See also:Freeman See also:Thomas and Amelia, daughter of See also:Colonel Thomas See also:Frederick . He was See also:born at Ratton See also:Park, See also:Sussex, on the loth of See also:November 1850, and educated at Haileybury See also:College . He was intended for the See also:Civil Service, but delicate See also:health interfered with his studies, and in 1873 he went to See also:Paris to cultivate the musical See also:talent he had displayed from an See also:early See also:age . Here he studied for two years with £mile See also:Durand . In 1875 he returned to See also:England, and in 1877 entered the Royal See also:Academy of See also:Music, where for three years he studied under Ebenezer See also:Prout and See also:Arthur See also:Sullivan, winning twice the See also:Lucas See also:medal for See also:composition . At a later See also:period he received some instruction in orchestration from Max See also:Bruch . His first published composition was a See also:song, " Le Roi See also:Henri," which appeared in 1871 . An early comic See also:opera, See also:Don Braggadocio (libretto by his See also:brother, C . I . Thomas), was apparently unfinished; some of the music in it was afterwards used for The See also:Golden See also:Web . A selection from his second opera, The See also:Light of the See also:Harem (libretto by See also:Clifford See also:Harrison), was performed at the Royal Academy of Music on the 7th of November 1879, with such success that Carl See also:Rosa commissioned him to write II Esmeralda (libretto by T . Marzials and A .

Randegger), which was produced at See also:

Drury See also:Lane on the 26th of See also:March 1883 . Two years later it was given (in See also:German) at See also:Cologne and See also:Hamburg, and in 1890 (in See also:French) at Covent See also:Garden . On the 16th of See also:April 1885 Rosa produced at Drury Lane Thomas's See also:fourth and best opera, Nadeshda (libretto by See also:Julian See also:Sturgis); a German version of which was given at See also:Breslau in 1890 . A fifth opera, The Golden Web (libretto by F . Corder and B . C . See also:Stephenson), slighter than its predecessors, was produced (after the composer's See also:death) at See also:Liverpool, Feb . 15, and at the Lyric See also:Theatre, See also:London, See also:Mar . 11, 1893 . Besides these dramatic See also:works Thomas's See also:chief compositions were a See also:psalm, " Out of the Deep," for See also:soprano See also:solo and See also:chorus (London, 1878); a choral See also:ode, " The See also:Sun Worshippers " (See also:Norwich, 1881), and a See also:suite de See also:ballet for See also:orchestra (See also:Cambridge, 1887) . A See also:cantata, The See also:Swan and the Skylark, was found in See also:pianoforte See also:score among his See also:MSS. after his death: it was orchestrated by C . See also:Villiers See also:Stanford, and produced at the See also:Birmingham Festival of 1894 .

His See also:

minor compositions include over too songs and duets . In 1891 Thomas became engaged to be married; shortly afterwards he showed signs of See also:mental disease, and his career came to a tragic end on the 2oth of March 1892 . He was buried in See also:Finchley See also:cemetery . See also:Goring Thomas occupies a distinct See also:place among English composers of the 19th See also:century . His music, which shows traces of his early French training, reveals a See also:great talent for dramatic composition and a real See also:gift of refined and beautiful See also:melody . Personally the most amiable of men, he was most See also:critical of his own See also:work, never attempting anything for which he See also:felt he was unfitted, and constantly revising and rewriting his compositions . (W . B .

End of Article: ARTHUR GORING THOMAS (1850-1892)
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