Thomas Beecham

Also known as Sir Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet, H. C. Thomas, Reverend H. C. Thomas, Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet

British conductor and impresario (1879–1961)

OverviewAI-generated

Thomas Beecham was a British conductor associated with classical music and opera. Born in St Helens in 1879, he held the titles of baronet and Knight Bachelor, and was addressed as Sir. He was educated at Wadham College and spoke English. His professional career as a conductor began in 1899 and continued until 1961.

Beecham recorded for several labels, including RCA Red Seal, Columbia Graphophone Co. Ltd., Philips Records, and His Master's Voice. He received the Knight of the Legion of Honour and was described by The Times. He died of coronary thrombosis in London on March 8, 1961, from natural causes.

Synthesized by Vinony from 29 facts across 3 sources: Wikidata, MusicBrainz, Last.fm. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

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Wikidata facts

Instance of: human
Given name: Thomas
Gender: male
Citizenship: United Kingdom
Place of birth: St Helens
Place of death: London
Occupation: conductor
Languages spoken: English language
Noble title: Knight Bachelor
Genre: classical music
Image: Beecham emu 1910.jpg

Show 9 more facts

Commons category: Thomas Beecham
date of birth: 1879-04-29
date of death: 1961-03-08
cause of death: coronary thrombosis
honorific prefix: Reverend
start of work period: 1899-00-00
end of work period: 1961-00-00
name in native language: Thomas Beecham
manner of death: natural causes

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Encyclopedic overview

Beecham rehearsing in 1948 Sir Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet (29 April 1879 – 8 March 1961) was an English conductor and impresario best known for his association with the London Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic orchestras. He was also closely associated with the Liverpool Philharmonic and Hallé orchestras. From the early 20th century until his death, Beecham was a major influence on the musical life of Britain and, according to the BBC, was Britain's first international conductor.

Born to a rich industrial family, Beecham began his career as a conductor in 1899. He used his access to the family fortune to finance opera from the 1910s until the start of the Second World War, staging seasons at Covent Garden, Drury Lane and His Majesty's Theatre with international stars, his own orchestra and a wide repertoire. Among the works he introduced to England were Richard Strauss's Elektra, Salome and Der Rosenkavalier and three operas by Frederick Delius.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Thomas Beecham” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.