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The Inspiration behind Compositions for Clarinetist Frederick Thurston

Frederick Thurston was a prominent British clarinet performer and teacher in the first half of the 20th century. Due to the brevity of his life and the impact of two world wars, Thurston's legacy is often overlooked among clarinetists in the United States. Thurston's playing inspired 19 composers to write 22 solo and chamber works for him, none of which he personally commissioned. The purpose of this document is to provide a comprehensive biography of Thurston's career as clarinet performer and teacher with a complete bibliography of compositions written for him. With biographical knowledge and access to the few extant recordings of Thurston's playing, clarinetists may gain a fuller understanding of Thurston's ideal clarinet sound and musical ideas. These resources are necessary in order to recognize the qualities about his playing that inspired composers to write for him and to perform these works with the composers' inspiration in mind. Despite the vast list of works written for and dedicated to Thurston, clarinet players in the United States are not familiar with many of these works, and available resources do not include a complete listing. Much of this repertoire remains unexplored and unrecorded yet is suitable for intermediate to advanced level clarinet players.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:unt.edu/info:ark/67531/metadc1248511
Date08 1900
CreatorsRazey, Aileen
ContributorsCole, Kimberly, Henry, Warren, Scott, John C. (John Charles), 1947-
PublisherUniversity of North Texas
Source SetsUniversity of North Texas
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis or Dissertation
Formatv, 86 pages, Text
RightsPublic, Razey, Aileen, Copyright, Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.
RelationRecital: November 20, 2016, ark:/67531/metadc1614842, Recital: March 4, 2016, ark:/67531/metadc1614913

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