Colin Graham Tilney (31 October 1933 – 17 December 2024) was a British-Canadian harpsichordist, fortepianist and teacher. He is well known for his historically-informed approach to performance practice, performing on original or copied instruments, largely using contemporary scores.

Education and personal life

Colin Graham Tilney was born in

Maida Vale Maida Vale ( ) is an affluent residential district in North West London, England, north of Paddington, southwest of St John's Wood and south of Kilburn, on Edgware Road. It is part of the City of Westminster and is northwest of Charing C ...

, London on 31st October 1933, the son of Cdr George Tilney RN and his wife Eileen (née Graham). He grew up in Haslemere, Surrey. He was educated at

Charterhouse School Charterhouse is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Godalming, Surrey, England. Founded by Thomas Sutton in 1611 on the site of the old Carthusian monastery in Charter ...

. After national service, when he learnt Russian, he went in 1954 to King’s College, Cambridge. He took a degree in modern languages and music, followed by a MusB. Tilney married Emira Samia Jazairy, an Algerian princess working as a nurse in London. They had a daughter Lucy. That marriage ended in divorce. He married Dr Hilary Jones in 1968 and had another daughter Beatrice, known as ‘Bee’, who predeceased him in 2023. Tilney and Jones also divorced and in 1979 he moved to

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, Ontario, Canada to live with a new partner, William Emigh, an English teacher, whom he married in 2008. Emigh died in November 2022. Tilney died in

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Gre ...

, Canada on 17th December 2024, aged 91.

Professional life

Tilney studied harpsichord with Mary Potts and became a student of

Gustav Leonhardt Gustav Maria Leonhardt (30 May 1928 – 16 January 2012) was a Dutch keyboardist, conductor, musicologist, teacher and editor. He was a leading figure in the historically informed performance movement to perform music on period instruments. Leo ...

. He first worked as a piano accompanist at Sadler's Wells Theatre and the New Opera Company, but soon focused his energies on teaching and performing on early keyboard instruments. In 1964 he was the harpsichordist under the direction of

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century c ...

for the second Columbia recording of '' The Rake's Progress''.

Life and work in Canada

In 1979 Tilney moved to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

and settled in

, where he continued to teach privately and at the Royal Conservatory of Music. He performed with Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and the Toronto Consort, as well as touring in Asia, Australia, Great Britain and elsewhere in Europe. In 1985 he formed the chamber ensemble Les Coucous Bénévoles, which regularly commissions new music by Canadian composers. He taught for several seasons at the Dartington International Summer School in Totnes, England. He has been recorded for radio broadcast by the BBC and CBC, which has issued CDs of his performances. In 2002 Tilney moved to

, where he continued to teach and perform. Tilney died on 17 December 2024, at the age of 91.

Works

Tilney's contributions to literature include ''The Art of the Unmeasured Prelude: France 1660 to 1720'' (Schott's, London, 1991), and previously unpublished harpsichord music by Antoine Forqueray (Heugel, 1970). Tilney has a long discography of harpsichord and fortepiano performances from labels including Dorian, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, L'Oiseau-Lyre, EMI Reflexe, Nonesuch, Vangard, DoReMi and several others.

Notes

Sources

* Grant-Evans, Susan. 'A portrait of Colin Tilney,' Continuo, 10 November 1983

External Links

Colin Tilney (Harpsichord, Clavichord)
Biography at ''Bach Cantatas'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tilney, Colin 1933 births 2024 deaths British harpsichordists Musicians from London Academic staff of The Royal Conservatory of Music Alumni of King's College, Cambridge English performers of early music English emigrants to Canada