| [Index] |
| Thomas MATTHEWS (1908 - ) |
| concert pianist |
| Children | Self + Spouses | Parents | Grandparents | Greatgrandparents |
| Thomas MATTHEWS (1908 - ) + Eileen RALPH (1906 - 1995) |
Thomas MATTHEWS (1876 - 1921) | James MATTHEWS (1854 - 1929) | John MATTHEWS (1816 - ) | |
| Bridget CONLON (1824 - ) | ||||
| Ann DOHERTY (1852 - 1894) | ||||
| Mary SAVAGE (1882 - ) | ||||
| b. 1908 at Liverpool, Lancashire, England |
| m. 1940 Eileen RALPH (1906 - 1995) at Marylebone, London, England |
| Near Relatives of Thomas MATTHEWS (1908 - ) | ||||||
| Relationship | Person | Born | Birth Place | Died | Death Place | Age |
| Grandfather | James MATTHEWS | 1854 | Kilkenny, Ireland | 1929 | Wirral, Cheshire, England | 75 |
| Grandmother | Ann DOHERTY | abt 1852 | Chester, Cheshire, England | 1894 | Cheshire, Merseyside, England | 42 |
| Father in Law | William Henry RALPH | 1875 | Moonta, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia | 1954 | Nedlands, West Australia | 79 |
| Mother in Law | Florence Ada ROBINSON | |||||
| Father | Thomas MATTHEWS | abt 1876 | Birkenhead, Cheshire, England | abt 1921 | 45 | |
| Mother | Mary SAVAGE | 1882 | Birkenhead, Cheshire, England | |||
| Self | Thomas MATTHEWS | 1908 | Liverpool, Lancashire, England | |||
| Wife | Eileen RALPH | 1906 | Subiaco, Perth, WA, Australia | 1995 | London, Middlesex, England | 89 |
| Sister | Mary Josephine (Mamie) MATTHEWS | 1909 | Birkenhead, Cheshire, England | |||
| Uncle | James Edward MATTHEWS | 1875 | Birkenhead, England | |||
| Aunt | Ada Annie ISHERWOOD | 1878 | Manchester, Lancashire, England | |||
| Uncle | William MATTHEWS | abt 1878 | Birkenhead, Cheshire, England | |||
| Uncle | Edward MATTHEWS | abt 1880 | Birkenhead, Cheshire, England | |||
| Aunt | Margaret MATTHEWS | abt 1884 | Birkenhead, Cheshire, England | |||
| Aunt | Annie MATTHEWS | 1885 | Birkenhead, Cheshire, England | |||
| Uncle | George Richard ALLPORT | 17 Sep 1878 | Pembrey, Llanelly, Carmarthanshire, Wales | |||
| Aunt | Mary E (Nellie) MATTHEWS | abt 1889 | Buxton, Derbyshire, England | |||
| Aunt | Agnes MATTHEWS | abt 1891 | Birkenhead, Cheshire, England | |||
| Uncle | Harold Henry MATTHEWS | 1899 | Birkenhead, Cheshire, England | |||
| Aunt | Margaret Alice Francis BAYMAN | 1904 | Greenwich, London, England | 1987 | Weymouth, Dorset, England | 83 |
| Uncle | Edgar Vincent MATTHEWS | 1901 | Birkenhead, Cheshire, England | |||
| Aunt | Pamela J MITCHELL | |||||
| Cousin | Margaret Ada Annie MATTHEWS | 1901 | Birkenhead, Cheshire, England | 1987 | Ynys Mon, Gwynedd, Wales | 86 |
| Cousin | James Norman MATTHEWS | 1903 | Birkenhead, Cheshire, England | 1987 | Liverpool, Lancashire, England | 84 |
| Cousin | George Warren ALLPORT | 1910 | Birkenhead, Cheshire, England | 1991 | Birkenhead, Cheshire, England | 81 |
| Cousin | Patricia Margaret MATTHEWS | 1924 | Lewisham, London, England | 2012 | 88 | |
| Brother in Law | Eric Aubrey RALPH | 1901 | Leonora, West Australia, Australia | 1982 | Nedlands, West Australia | 81 |
| Sister in Law | Florence Adelaide (Addie) RALPH | 1903 | Perth, WA, Australia | |||
| Sister in Law | Julie Jean RALPH | 1904 | Subiaco, Perth, WA, Australia | 1907 | Subiaco, Perth, WA, Australia | 3 |
| Brother in Law | James Emerson RALPH | 1908 | 1991 | 83 | ||
| Brother in Law | Haydn Stuart ROGERSON | 1902 | Ormskirk, Lancashire, England | 1971 | St Marlebone, Westminster, London, England | 69 |
| Events in Thomas MATTHEWS (1908 - )'s life | |||||
| Date | Age | Event | Place | Notes | Src |
| 1908 | Thomas MATTHEWS was born | Liverpool, Lancashire, England | Note 1 | 16 | |
| abt 1921 | 13 | Death of father Thomas MATTHEWS (aged 45) | Note 2 | ||
| 1940 | 32 | Married Eileen RALPH (aged 34) | Marylebone, London, England | Note 3 | 86 |
| 1995 | 87 | Death of wife Eileen RALPH (aged 89) | London, Middlesex, England | Note 4 | |
| Personal Notes: |
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concert pianist - ancestry tree - Paulus Maximus Rogerson Family Tree - direct descendant
1950's played in the Proms, London 1961 South Australian Symphony Orchestra and ABC 1962 Conducted Victorian Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne (Eileen soloist) 1965 - Conducted Aust Youth Orchestra, Sydney Possibly conductor of the Tasmanian Symphony Orchetra 1962 - 1968. Also conducted the Victorian Symphony Orchestra https://archive.org/stream/violinistsoftoda009124mbp/violinistsoftoda009124mbp_djvu.txt Full text of "Violinists of Today" - printed 1949 THOMAS MATTHEWS A BRILLIANT English violinist of whom we hear far too little, for some mysterious reason, is Thomas Matthews : an artist of great technical skill. He was born at Birkenhead on 9 May 1907, nephew of J. E. Matthews, an accomplished violinist who used to lead the orchestra attached to Sir Thomas Beecham's opera company when on provincial tours. His uncle taught him to play the fiddle when he was very small, and even as a boy he was quite a proficient performer. The full advantage of this early start was felt when he was about fourteen, for the sudden death of his father made it necessary for him to start earning his own living forthwith. He was only fifteen when he was appointed a member of the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and within a year he achieved the further distinction of being admitted to the ranks of the Halle Orchestra, thereby coming under the influence of the late Sir Hamilton Harty. He held these two appointments for ten years, during which he studied with Albert Sammons, and in due course rose to the position of deputy leader of the Halle Orchestra. During this period four summers were spent abroad in taking further lessons from Carl Flesch. In 1936 Matthews decided to try to specialize in solo work and accordingly resigned his orchestral appoint- ments, He came to London and gave three excellent recitals at the Grotrian Hall, as a result of which he was offered a series of concerts In Finland. On this tour he made a significant impression in the Delius and Mozart concertos, which still occupy a prominent position in his repertoire. On his return to England, Matthews gave a magnifi- cent performance of the Elgar concerto with the Halle Orchestra under Dr. Malcolm Sargent, thus inaugura- ting the association of his name with this monumental work. He has now played it well over thirty times in a manner that leaves one in no doubt about his admira- tion for it: he considers it to be the greatest modern violin concerto we possess. Many a music-lover will remember the astonishing performance he gave of it at the Coliseum with the London Philharmonic Orches- tra in June 1941 : his seemingly effortless handling of its more difficult passages and these are a gruelling test of any violinist delighted everybody in the large audience. The advent of war in 1939 was, of course, a great anxiety to all soloists who had to support themselves by means of their musical activity, and it is not surpris- ing that Matthews accepted an invitation to return to the reconstructed Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra as leader. Shortly afterwards, however, a similar invita- tion came from the London Philharmonic, and for one season he led both of these orchestras, but the strain proved too great, and in the following year he resigned his Liverpool appointment in order to devote all his time to the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and naturally to whatever solo work could be fitted in with their arrangements. An important milestone in his career was the occasion in 1940 when he gave the first performance of Benjamin Britten's Violin Concerto with the London Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Basil Cameron. This is another extremely difficult work one critic, it will be recalled, remarked that the composer had evidently made a point of exploring the very limits of human endeavour but the fact that Matthews was invited to repeat it in the North of England and at Bristol with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Clarence Raybould, shortly afterwards, speaks for itself. During the later years of the war, Matthews made several important tours of the Dominions, visiting New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and the Middle East, Among others, the concertos of Elgar, Britten, Beethoven, Delius, Brahms and Prokofiev were played to very large and appreciative audiences. Another fine modern concerto with which the name of Thomas Matthews will be associated is that of William Walton. During 1946-7 he performed this out- standing work with the Halle Orchestra under John Barbirolli no less than nine times. In the same year he was offered the head professorship of the violin at the Royal Manchester College of Music, an appoint- ment which he still holds with a professorship at the Royal Academy of Music. Matthews feels very strongly about the neglect of British artists for those of other countries by some of London's concert promoters. Ironically enough, British nationality appears to be an impediment to the success of an ambitious violinist only in English speaking countries, for Matthews himself has played as a guest soloist in Stockholm and Vienna, to mention but two cities of culture and discrimination from which he has received invitations. As an instance of this he has men- tioned an occurrence in Johannesburg during one of his tours. A discriminating musician happened to overhear him playing over a few of the more difficult passages of a concerto in his room at an hotel, and went at once to the agent of a prominent impresario in a state of considerable excitement. "I have been listening to a remarkably brilliant violinist rehearsing at my hotel," he declared. "You ought to get into touch with him immediately and see if you can't fix up some concerts he has wonderful possibilities." "Have you discovered his name?" the agent asked eagerly. "Yes. It's Matthews the other replied. The agent's face fell immediately, and he shook his head. "You can't promote a name like Matthews!' The point that Matthews so often makes is that the English artist is so rarely given a fair chance of getting accustomed to concerto work. This is absolutely necessary if one is to rise to the height of such people as Heifetz or Milstein, both of whom he greatly admires. However brilliant he may be, a violinist cannot expect to give a beautifully polished performance of, say, the Beethoven concerto, if he never gets the chance of playing it with a symphony orchestra in public more than once a year. Practice at home, with the studying of gramophone records, is not the same. Matthews uses a Matteo Gofriller, and prefers "Pirastro" strings aluminium-covered. These, unfor- tunately, are extremely difficult to get at the present time. He always uses a Hill bow and considers this to be the finest make in the world. His pupils are allowed considerable latitude in the holding of the bow, though he invariably uses all four fingers on it himself. Similarly, he believes that fingering is a personal matter dictated largely by the shape of one's hand. Every violinist must himself determine the attitude of his left hand, avoiding movements that seem unnatural to him. He thinks it is most essential that the violin student should learn the right way to practise early in life. So many work hard at the wrong sort of practice and do not discover the way to true progress until they have passed the "impressionable" years. The young violinist must learn to become his own critic: the average student does not listen enough to his own playing. A vitally important point to remember is that the tone of the violin you are playing sounds different to the right ear than to the left, owing to the fact that the latter is much nearer the instrument. It is the right ear that hears as the audience hear, yet the vast majority of violin students listen to their tone almost exclusively with the left the right ear tends to become lazy because, consciously or unconsciously, the effort of listening is made by the left ear. This probably accounts for much of the bad intonation we hear to-day. Another criticism that Matthews often makes is that there is too much uniformity in the playing of many violinists to-day. So few seem to be able to explore the amazing diversity of tone that the fiddle is capable of producing: they generally succeed in doing so only when they have become too old to give first-rate performances, for the gift of producing a large variety of tones is one that can come only with long experience. He considers that among his contemporaries Ginette Neveu is one of the few who are exceptionally gifted in this direction, and he urges young violinists to listen carefully to this artist's playing. He advises the rising violinist to make a special effort to identify himself with a particular work, or a small number of works, or with a particular style of playing. Some indeed many say that this form of specialization is a disadvantage, but Matthews has come to the conclusion, from his own very considerable experience, that it is well worth while. So many of the really great works for the violin require such a tremen- dous amount of study if they are to be performed perfectly that it is better to rise to fame with a reputation for superb playing of two or three masterpieces than to remain in the ranks of mediocrity with a vast general repertoire. The standard of playing demanded to-day is extremely high, since audiences are becoming more and more discriminating every year, and of violinists in particular, they expect impeccable artistry. An interesting point arises here. It is the author's opinion that before an average English audience a second-rate pianist can "get away" with a piano-smashing orgy in which every conceivable fault is apparent, yet the same audience will give only the mildest applause to a well-performed violin concerto. There is definitely a type of listener who honestly enjoys my type of violent piano-thumping provided that the destruction is carried out in the ritual of a concerto. Everybody knows that it is far more difficult to produce a beautiful sound from a violin than from a piano, yet virtuosity in a violinist is still relatively unappreciated by the majority of concert-goers. It requires something not far short of a miracle to make them applaud as heartily as they would for a splashy keyboard per- formance. Matthews has always identified himself with the Elgar concerto, and no one will deny that he is one of the very few violinists in the world to-day who can give a really intelligent rendering of this masterpiece. His favourite concerto, incidentally, is the Brahms, which he believes to be the most wonderful work yet written for the violin, and one that demands the utmost skill in its execution. Until a few years ago Matthews was a keen golf and tennis player, but he now finds that his time is wholly occupied with music. His love of chess, on the other hand, is undiminished. He considers it to be the greatest game in the- world and confesses that he plays it at almost every meal-time ! |
| Source References: |
| 16. Type: Vital Record, Abbr: England and Wales birth index 1837-1983, Title: England and Wales birth index 1837-1983 |
| - Reference = (Birth) |
| - Notes: England & Wales, FreeBMD Birth Index, 1837-1915 about Thomas Matthews
Name: Thomas Matthews Registration Year: 1908 Registration Quarter: Jul-Aug-Sep Registration district: Liverpool Parishes for this Registration District: View Ecclesiastical Parishes associated with this Registration District Inferred County: Lancashire Volume: 8b Page: 7 |
| 86. Type: Vital Record, Abbr: England & Wales Marriages, 1538-1940, Title: England & Wales Marriages, 1538-1940, Auth: Ancestry.com, Locn: Ancestry.com |
| - Reference = (Marriage) |
| - Notes: England & Wales, Marriage Index, 1916-2005 about Thomas Matthews
Name: Thomas Matthews Spouse Surname: Ralph Date of Registration: Apr-May-Jun 1940 Registration district: Marylebone Inferred County: Middlesex Volume Number: 1a Page Number: 1755 Find Spouse: Find Spouse |
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