John Thomson (28 October 1805 – 18 May 1841) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

classical composer. He was born in Sprouston,

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, the son of Andrew Mitchell Thomson, the minister of Sprouston Church.

Life and career

Thomson studied in Germany with a letter of introduction to the Mendelssohn family, and his ''Drei Lieder'' were published in

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

in 1838. John Purser contends that we have to look to

Schumann Robert Schumann (; ; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and music critic of the early Romantic music, Romantic era. He composed in all the main musical genres of the time, writing for solo piano, voice and piano, chamber ...

to find anything comparable to these songs published two years before Schumann composed any songs in his mature style. The first song, ''Keiner von den Schönheit Töchtern'', is based on the poem ''There be none of beauty's daughters'' by

Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824) was an English poet. He is one of the major figures of the Romantic movement, and is regarded as being among the greatest poets of the United Kingdom. Among his best-kno ...

, set in German by Thomson to match the other songs. Thomson became the first

Reid Professor of Music The Reid Professorship in Music was a position founded within the University of Edinburgh in 1839 using funds provided in a bequest from General John Reid. History On his death in 1807 General John Reid left a fortune of more than £50,000. Subj ...

at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

in 1838. As a musicologist he edited the ''Vocal Melodies of Scotland'', and he was one of the first conductors to provide his audience with a programme of his concerts giving a critical analysis of the works to be performed. His other compositions included a fine bagatelle for solo piano, a six-part ''Glee With Whispering Winds'', three operas, a flute concerto and a flute quartet, and concert arias. However his career was cut short by his death in 1841. Among Thompson's compositions admired by his younger contemporary

Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions inc ...

when they met in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

in the summer of 1829 was a G minor piano trio of 1826, in which stormy and sometimes fierce passages are mixed with Schubertian warmth. Another favourite of Mendelssohn's was his lively rondo of 1828. They became friends and

Fanny Mendelssohn Fanny Mendelssohn (14 November 1805 – 14 May 1847) was a German composer and pianist of the early Romantic era who was known as Fanny Hensel after her marriage. Her compositions include a string quartet, a piano trio, a piano quartet, an or ...

is cited as saying that she liked Thomson "best of all the Britons I know". Thomson's C major trio is described as a fine work. Subsequently, his work was little performed, but it was featured in John Purser's ''Scotland's Music'' series, and a group of people in Kelso organised a bicentennial festival in 2005. Scores of some of John Thomson's compositions are available on the website of the

International Music Score Library Project The International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP), also known as the Petrucci Music Library after publisher Ottaviano Petrucci, is a subscription-based digital library of public-domain music scores. The project uses MediaWiki software, and ...

References

*Article by John Purser in

Scotland on Sunday ''Scotland on Sunday'' is a Scottish Sunday newspaper, published in Edinburgh by National World and consequently assuming the role of Sunday sister to its daily stablemate ''The Scotsman''. It was originally printed in broadsheet format but in ...

, 3 May 1992

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thomson, John 1805 births 1841 deaths Academics of the University of Edinburgh Scottish classical composers Scottish male classical composers Scottish opera composers Male opera composers 19th-century British classical composers 19th-century British composers 19th-century British male musicians