Thomas Appleby Matthews (30 August 1884[1] - 22 June 1949) was an English conductor and organist.
Matthews was born in Tamworth, Staffordshire and received his musical education at the Birmingham and Midland Institute School of Music,[2] serving as organist of St. Philip's Cathedral, Birmingham and playing viola in George Halford's Orchestra.[3] He became an experienced choirmaster, running his own Appleby Matthews Chorus, and also conducted the Birmingham City Police band.[4]
Leon Goossens, who played the oboe under Matthews for the City of Birmingham Orchestra, described him as "a very short man [who] always tried to walk a little bit taller than he really was".[5]
Between 1916 and 1920 Matthews ran annual series of concerts in Birmingham with an orchestra bearing his own name.[6] The first recorded concert took place on 16 July 1916 at Birmingham Town Hall, with 40 musicians and Alex Cohen as leader.[7] The 1917-1918 season saw twelve Monday evening concerts take place at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre in Station Street; the 1918-1919 season saw 40 Sunday evening concerts at the Scala on Smallbrook Street; and the 1919-1920 season saw 36 concerts, also on Sunday evenings, at the Futurist Cinema on John Bright Street.[8]
The orchestra's most significant concert took place on 4 October 1917, when Matthews, his orchestra, chorus and a soprano soloist gave the first complete performance of Edward Elgar's choral trilogy The Spirit of England.[9] The first concert of Matthews' final season on 7 September 1919 was reviewed in the Musical Times: Alex Cohen was still leading the orchestra, who played a programme featuring works by Mozart, Wagner and Dvorak, and the review recorded a "packed house" and "fine performances", concluding "evidently these excellent concerts have come to stay".[10]
In 1920 Matthews became the first conductor of the City of Birmingham Orchestra, today's City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians says of this period:
Matthews supported Rutland Boughton at his Glastonbury Festivals (1914–1925) and conducted performances of The Immortal Hour and Bethlehem. He also acted as a chorus master for the Beecham Opera Company.[11]
Appearances by Matthews as a guest conductor included performances with the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester in 1916;[12] with the Berlin Philharmonic in April 1922, where his programme was adventurous and well-reviewed;[13] and with the Orchestre Lamoureux in Paris on 31 October 1922,[14] where he conducted the Paris premiere of Beni Mora, the first performance of any work of Gustav Holst given in that capital.[15]
Matthews died in Birmingham on 22 June 1949.[16]