Donald Tovey

Donald Tovey

Sir Donald Francis Tovey (17 July 1875 – 10 July 1940) was a British musical analyst, musicologist, writer on music, composer, conductor and pianist. He had been best known for his Essays in Musical Analysis and his editions of the works of Bach and Beethoven but since the 1990s his compositions (relatively small in number but very substantial in musical content) have been recorded and performed with increasing frequency. It remains to be seen, however, if these recordings, which have mostly been well received by reviewers, will earn Tovey a permanent place in the canon of 20th century British music, or whether he will remain a niche composer.