Denis Matthews
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e6/Denis_Matthews.jpg/220px-Denis_Matthews.jpg)
Denis Matthews (27 February 1919 – 25 December 1988) was an English pianist and musicologist whose performing career flourished after the war, during the 1950s and into the 1960s. He later turned increasingly to broadcasting, writing and teaching.[1]
Biography
Denis James Matthews was born in Coventry, the son of a motor salesman. He attended Arnold Lodge School, Leamington Spa, from 1927 to 1932 and Warwick School from October 1932 to the summer of 1936,[2] when he left to study at the Royal Academy of Music. While there, he lodged with Harold Craxton and his wife Essie in St John's Wood. He had made his professional debut in 1939 and even started to compose - his Five Sketches for violin and piano were broadcast by Isolde Menges and Howard Ferguson in May 1940.[3] But then the war interrupted things. Matthews joined up in 1940, serving with the RAF until 1946.[4]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/60/Denis_matthews%2C_1954._first_of_two_acclaimed_Southern_Africa_tours_arranged_by_Hans_Adler.jpg/220px-Denis_matthews%2C_1954._first_of_two_acclaimed_Southern_Africa_tours_arranged_by_Hans_Adler.jpg)
Resuming his professional career after the war, he toured extensively as a
His autobiography In Pursuit of Music appeared in 1966.
Personal life
Matthews was married three times, to three musicians. His first wife was the cellist Mira Howe, with whom he had one son and three daughters. They divorced in 1960. His second wife was the pianist Brenda McDermott. They married in 1963 and had one son and one daughter. Their marriage lasted until 1986, and then he married Beryl Chempin. Subject to bouts of depression, Matthews committed suicide on 24 December 1988.[8] Beryl Chempin died in 2012.
References
- ^ Denis Matthews Memorial Trust, Denismatthews.org
- ^ Obituary published in The Portcullis, the Chronicle of Warwick School, October 1989
- ^ a b Christopher Howell. Forgotten Artists: Denis Matthews (2016)
- ^ Obituary, The Musical Times, Vol. 130, No. 1753 (March 1989), p. 174
- ^ Joan Chissell, rev. Stanley Sadie. 'Matthews, Denis ( James )', in Grove Music Online (2001)
- ISBN 978-0-575-00215-9
- ^ Denis Matthews. Desert Island Discs, 30 October, 1967
- ^ Warrack, John. 'Matthews, Denis James', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004)