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 (1879–1961) was a British conductor and author who worked in the classical music genre from 1899 until his death. Born in St Helens, he was educated at Wadham College and held the noble titles of baronet and Knight Bachelor. He was also a Knight of the Legion of Honour. Beecham died in London from coronary thrombosis.

His recorded works were released on labels including RCA Red Seal, Columbia Graphophone Co. Ltd., Philips Records, and His Master's Voice. As an author, he wrote eleven works, including *Beecham's family almanack*, *A mingled chime*, *an autobiography*, *Frederick Delius*, and *Beecham's happy thought reading puzzle book*.

Synthesized by Vinony from 37 facts across 7 sources: Wikidata, Open Library, MusicBrainz, Crossref, Last.fm, Wikiquote, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Person · Open Library

Works: 11

Top works

Beecham's family almanack
A mingled chime, an autobiography
Frederick Delius
Mingled Chime
Beecham's happy thought reading puzzle book

via Open Library + Wikidata

Music · MusicBrainz

Type: Person
Gender: Male
Origin: United Kingdom
Active from: 1879
Active to: 1961

british conductorclassicalconductorpavane

Discography

Discogs Stream

via MusicBrainz · CC0

Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners: 5,944
Total plays: 30,302

Recent publications · Crossref

5 total works indexed

Analysis of Relative Gene Expression Data Using Real-Time Quantitative PCR and the 2−ΔΔCT Method
· 2001 · cited 163,200x
The PRISMA 2020 statement: an updated guideline for reporting systematic reviews
· 2021 · cited 84,879x
U-Net: Convolutional Networks for Biomedical Image Segmentation
· 2015 · cited 59,824x
STAR: ultrafast universal RNA-seq aligner
· 2012 · cited 51,043x
UCSF Chimera—A visualization system for exploratory research and analysis
· 2004 · cited 44,317x

via Crossref · CC0

Quotes

“Great music is that which penetrates the ear with facility and leaves the memory with difficulty. Magical music never leaves the memory.”
“The musical equivalent of the towers of St Pancras Station”
“Asked if he had ever conducted any Stockhausen, he said, "No, but I once trod in some."”
“Too much counterpoint; what is worse, Protestant counterpoint.”
“A musicologist is a man who can read music but can't hear it.”
“The function of music is to release us from the tyranny of conscious thought.”

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

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

Sources (3)

via Wikidata · CC0

~40 min read

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.