Eric Harding Thiman (12 September 1900 – 13 February 1975)
was an
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national id ...
composer, conductor and
organist
An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists. In addition, an organist may accompany congregational ...
. The surname is pronounced 'tea-man'.
By 1939 he was considered one of the leading non-conformist organists in England.
His choral and educational music is still performed today.
Life
Thiman was born in
Ashford, Kent
Ashford is a town in the county of Kent, England. It lies on the River Great Stour at the southern or scarp edge of the North Downs, about southeast of central London and northwest of Folkestone by road. In the 2011 census, it had a popula ...
, England as Eric Harding Thimann. He later changed his last name to Thiman. Educated at
Caterham School
(Truth without Fear)
, established =
, closed =
, type = Public schoolIndependent day and boarding school
, religious_affiliation = Protestant (United Reformed Church)
, president =
, head_label = Headmast ...
he was largely self-taught in music.
[ In 1921 he was awarded a fellow of the ]Royal College of Organists
The Royal College of Organists (RCO) is a charity and membership organisation based in the United Kingdom, with members worldwide. Its role is to promote and advance organ playing and choral music, and it offers music education, training and d ...
(FRCO) and (after some coaching from Harold Darke
Harold Edwin Darke (29 October 1888 – 28 November 1976) was an English composer and organist. He is particularly known for his choral compositions, which are an established part of the respertoire of Anglican church music. Darke had a fifty-y ...
, who remained a friend) took his DMus in 1928.[ Hurd, Michael. 'Thiman, Eric (Harding)' in ''Grove Music Online'' (2001)] That year he married Madeline Arnold, a musician and singer. From 1930 he was Professor of Harmony at the Royal Academy of Music
The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke ...
and later, from 1956 to 1962, was Dean of the Faculty of Music at the University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degre ...
.
In 1958, after 29 years as organist at Park Chapel (a Congregational church in Crouch End
Crouch End is an area of North London, approximately from the City of London in the western half of the borough of Haringey. It is within the Hornsey postal district (N8). It has been described by the BBC as one of "a new breed of urban villa ...
, later to join with Ferme Park Baptist Church to form a Union Church in the same district), Thiman was appointed organist of the City Temple in London. He was a keen advocate of amateur music-making and in the 1960s was the conductor and Musical Director of the Purley Choral Society, which performed his choral song cycle ''Spring Garland'' in 1964. He wrote much educational music for piano and other instruments, as well as music for church choirs, some of which is still performed. He was the musical editor of the hymn book ''Congregational Praise'' (1951).[Obituary, ''The Daily Telegraph'', 15 February, 1975, p. 10] He is best remembered for his short passion cantata
In Christian music, a Passion is a setting of the Passion of Christ. Liturgically, most Passions were intended to be performed as part of church services in the Holy Week.
Passion settings developed from Medieval intoned readings of the Gospe ...
, ''The Last Supper'' (1930), which sets texts from the gospels of Matthew and John and hymns by St Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wi ...
, Charles Wesley
Charles Wesley (18 December 1707 – 29 March 1788) was an English leader of the Methodist movement. Wesley was a prolific hymnwriter who wrote over 6,500 hymns during his lifetime. His works include "And Can It Be", "Christ the Lord Is Risen ...
and Johann Franck
Johann Fran(c)k (1 June 1618 – 18 June 1677) was a German politician (serving as mayor of Guben and a member of the Landtag of Lower Lusatia) and a lyric poet and hymnist.
Life
Franck was born in Guben, Margraviate of Lower Lusatia. After vi ...
.
He founded and conducted The Eric Thiman String Ensemble in the 1940s.[ He was conductor of the Elysian Concert Society, holding concerts at Hornsey Town Hall, The City Temple and other venues in London. In August 1951 he toured Australia to conduct examinations for the Australian Musical Examinations Board.]
Thiman was still working actively when he died of cancer in 1975, aged 74 years. He was survived by his wife Madeline who died in 1981, there were no children. Their address in the 1960s and 1970s was 7 Edmunds Walk, London NW2.
Music
Thiman was a prolific composer whose works were widely published in the UK and the USA. The catalogue of his published works numbers about 1,300. These include a large number of part songs
A part song, part-song or partsong is a form of choral music that consists of a song to a secular or non-Liturgy, liturgical sacred text, written or arranged for several voice type, vocal parts. Part songs are commonly sung by an SATB choir, but ...
(many for SS or SSA and piano, but also many for SATB
SATB is an initialism that describes the scoring of compositions for choirs, and also choirs (or consorts) of instruments. The initials are for the voice types: S for soprano, A for alto, T for tenor and B for bass.
Choral music
Four-part ...
) and many anthems and carols, as well as over 100 published organ pieces. A CD selection of his anthems, partsongs and organ music was recorded in 2016 by the Tudor Singers and the Eric Thiman Singers of Caterham School.
Most of his church music was written for the non-conformist churches, but he also wrote anthems and canticle
A canticle (from the Latin ''canticulum'', a diminutive of ''canticum'', "song") is a hymn, psalm or other Christian song of praise with lyrics usually taken from biblical or holy texts. Canticles are used in Christian liturgy.
Catholic Church
...
s for Church of England choirs. He was influenced by Edward Elgar
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...
(1857–1934), but as Michael Hurd points out, the titles of his extended choral works - ''The Last Supper'' (1930), ''The Parables'' (1931), ''The High Tide on the Coast of Lincolnshire'' (1932) and ''The Temptations of Christ'' (1952) - more closely reflect the pre-Elgar lineage of John Stainer
Sir John Stainer (6 June 1840 – 31 March 1901) was an English composer and organist whose music, though seldom performed today (with the exception of '' The Crucifixion'', still heard at Passiontide in some churches of the Anglican Commun ...
, Stanford
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
and Parry
PARRY was an early example of a chatbot, implemented in 1972 by psychiatrist Kenneth Colby.
History
PARRY was written in 1972 by psychiatrist Kenneth Colby, then at Stanford University. While ELIZA was a tongue-in-cheek simulation of a Rog ...
.[ ''The Last Supper'', of approachable difficulty for amateurs, is sometimes programmed as an alternative to Stainer's '']The Crucifixion
The crucifixion and death of Jesus occurred in 1st-century Judea, most likely in AD 30 or AD 33. It is described in the four canonical gospels, referred to in the New Testament epistles, attested to by other ancient sources, and consider ...
''.[
He was the musical director of the ''Congregational Praise'' hymn book published in 1951. He contributed 15 tunes to the volume (including 'Gildas' and 'Stella') as well as descants and arrangements. In 1969 he also wrote ''Varied Harmonies to Hymn Tunes: A short practical treatise''.
There are many secular and sacred partsongs and solo songs, including some lighter songs under the name Eric Harding. A selection of songs were recorded by Convivium Records in 2022. Although he mostly wrote with amateurs and practical church musicians in mind, there were also orchestral works and instrumental pieces for professionals. His first extended chamber piece was the Violin Sonata of 1934, dedicated to the violinist Sidney Hall and broadcast by him with the composer at the piano the following year. The four movement Suite in E for two pianos (1947) was written for Harry Isaacs and ]York Bowen
Edwin York Bowen (22 February 1884 – 23 November 1961) was an English composer and pianist. Bowen's musical career spanned more than fifty years during which time he wrote over 160 works. As well as being a pianist and composer, Bowen was a ...
, both colleagues of his at the Royal Academy.[Guy Turner. ]
Eric Thiman and his Music: An Introduction
', Southwell Minster video (2020)
An archive of his music, The Eric Thiman Collection, was set up in 2014 in the choir library of Southwell Minster
Southwell Minster () is a minster and cathedral in Southwell, Nottinghamshire, England. It is situated miles from Newark-on-Trent and from Mansfield. It is the seat of the Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham and the Diocese of Southwell and N ...
by his niece Francis Thiman and Paul Hale (then Rector Chori at Southwell).
Selected works
Cantatas
*''The Last Supper'' (Passion cantata, 1930)
*''The Parables'' (1931)
*''The High Tide on the Coast of Lincolnshire'' (1932)
*''The Nativity'' (Christmas cantata, 1934)
*''Ring Out Ye Crystal Spheres'' (text: Milton) (1938)
*''The Temptations of Christ'' Lenten cantata, 1952)
*''Christmas Cantata: The Flower of Bethlehem'' (text: Irene Gass) (1958)
Anthems
*''Fight the good fight'' (hymn anthem)
* ''Gloria in exceteis Deo''
* ''The King of love my shepherd is"
* ''Let All the World''
*''Let Thy merciful ears, O Lord''
*''Lord, think on me''
*''Morning Prayer'' (text: W B Heathcote)
*''Seek ye the Lord''
*Te Deum in D flat
*''There is a stream''
*''Three Choral Songs of Praise''
**'Morning Hymn'
**'I Praised the Earth'
**'O Praise God In His Holiness'
Song cycles
* ''A Folk Song Sequence'' (1961)
* ''Six Sea Songs''
* ''A Spring Garland'', for mixed choir and orchestra
* ''Songs of England''
* ''Songs of Travel'' ('Give me a ship to sail the seas', 'Magic', 'A Good Companion', 'Roaming', 'Homewards')
Partsongs and solo songs
''(many appeared in both solo voice and choral arrangements)''
*''Away to Rio''
*''The Birds'' (text: Belloc)
*''Easter Prayer''
* ''Evening in Lilac Time''
*''Evening in the Birch-Path''
*''Fain Would I Change That Note''
* ''The Ferry'' (text: Christina Rossetti)
* ''The Heavenly Down'' (text: Irene Gass)
* ''I Saw Three Ships''
*''I Wandered Lonely as a cloud'' (text: Wordsworth)
*''Jesus the Very Thought of You''
*''Madonna and Child''
*''The Man in the Moon''
*''Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal'' (text: Tennyson)
*''The Path to the Moon''
* ''The Rainbow''
* ''The Shepherd'' (text: William Blake)
*''She Walks in Beauty'' (text: Byron)
*''The Silver Swan''
*''Sleeping''
*''Song of Farewell''
*''The Swans''
* ''Sweet Afton'' (text: Robert Burns)
* ''Where Go the Boats'' (text: R.L. Stevenson)
Organ
* ''Eight Interludes'', sets one, two and three (1946-1952)
* ''Four Chorale Improvisations''
* ''Four Occasional Pieces'' ('A Morning Prelude', 'An Easter Prelude', 'A Lenten Sarabande', 'Christmas Meditation') (1957)
* ''Four Quiet Voluntaries'' (1963)
* ''Pastorale'' (1938)
* ''Preludes and Voluntaries'', books one, two and three (1940, 1943 and 1947)
* ''Six Pieces in Various Styles'' (1960)
* ''Three Preludes on Themes by Orlando Gibbons'' (1956)
* ''Times and Seasons'', five pieces for organ, sets 1 and 2 (1954 and 1958)
Other works
* ''A Folk Song Suite'', for string quartet (1928)
* ''Flood Time'', solo piano, ABRSM
The ABRSM (Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music) is an examination board and registered charity based in the United Kingdom. ABRSM is one of five examination boards accredited by Ofqual to award graded exams and diploma qualificatio ...
syllabus, Grade 5 (and many other graded piano pieces)
* ''Highland Scenes''. Five short piano pieces of moderate difficulty: 'By rock-bound coast';'Evening on Skye'; 'Celtic tune'; 'In the heather'; and 'At the highland gathering'.
* ''Miniature trio: In Springtime'', three movements for piano trio[''Radio Times'', Issue 766, 5 June 1938, p. 30]
/ref>
* Suite in E for two pianos (published Curwen, 1947): Alla Menuetto, Fughetta, Sarabande, Rigaudon. (There is also a different Suite in E in three movements: Prelude; Sarabande, Gavotte)[
* ''Three Shanty Pieces'', for piano (1934)
* ''Two English Dances'', for piano trio][
* ''Variations on a theme of Elgar'' for orchestra (1940), the theme taken from Elgar's partsong '' As Torrents in Summer''
* Violin Sonata (1934), three movements
* ''When Cats Run Home'', two part canon
Thiman wrote ''Practical Free Counterpoint'', which was published in 1947. His ''13 Songs for Voice and Piano'', published by Stainer and Bell, has remained in print since his death.]
13 Songs for Voice and Piano
', Stainer & Bell
References
External links
*
''She Is My Slender Small Love'', performed by UGA Men's Glee Club
Suite in E for two pianos
played by Zibo Li and Yuan Zhou (June 2022)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thiman, Eric
English classical organists
British male organists
Organ improvisers
Academics of the Royal Academy of Music
Academics of the University of London
Fellows of the Royal College of Organists
1975 deaths
1900 births
People from Ashford, Kent
Musicians from Kent
20th-century classical musicians
20th-century English composers
20th-century organists
20th-century British male musicians
Male classical organists
People educated at Caterham School