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Eric Harding Thiman (12 September 1900 – 13 February 1975) was an English people composer and organist. The surname is pronounced 'tea-man'. By 1939 he was considered one of the leading non-conformist organists in England. His choral and educational music is still performed today.
In 1958, after 29 years as organist at Park Chapel, Crouch EndThis was a Congregational church, later to join with Ferme Park Baptist Church to form a Union Church in the same district Thiman was appointed organist of the City Temple in London. He was a keen advocate of amateur music-making and in the 1960s was the conductor and Musical Director of the Purley Choral Society, which performed his choral song cycle Spring Garland in 1964. He wrote much educational music for piano and other instruments,D. Cairns: ‘Eric Thiman’, in Music in Education 19 (1955–6), pp. 13–14 as well as music for church choirs, some of which is still performed. He was the musical editor of the hymn book Congregational Praise (1951).Obituary, The Daily Telegraph, 15 February, 1975, p. 10 He is best remembered for his short passion cantata, The Last Supper (1930), which sets texts from the gospels of Matthew and John and hymns by St Thomas Aquinas, Charles Wesley and Johann Franck.
He founded and conducted The Eric Thiman String Ensemble in the 1940s. He was conductor of the Elysian Concert Society, holding concerts at Hornsey Town Hall, The City Temple and other venues in London. In August 1951 he toured Australia to conduct examinations for the Australian Musical Examinations Board.
Thiman was still working actively when he died of cancer in 1975, aged 74 years. He was survived by his wife Madeline, who died in 1981; there were no children. Their address in the 1960s and 1970s was 7 Edmunds Walk, London NW2.
Most of his church music was written for the non-conformist churches, but he also wrote anthems and for Church of England choirs. He was influenced by Edward Elgar (1857–1934), but as Michael Hurd points out, the titles of his extended choral works – The Last Supper (1930), The Parables (1931), The High Tide on the Coast of Lincolnshire (1932) and The Temptations of Christ (1952) – more closely reflect the pre-Elgar lineage of John Stainer, Stanford and Hubert Parry. The Last Supper, of approachable difficulty for amateurs, is sometimes programmed as an alternative to Stainer's The Crucifixion. For the Congregational Praise hymn book of 1951 he contributed 15 tunes to the volume (including 'Gildas' and 'Stella') as well as descants and arrangements. reviewed in the Scottish Journal of Theology, Vol. 5, Issue 4, (1951), p. 1034 In 1969 he also wrote Varied Harmonies to Hymn Tunes: A short practical treatise.
There are many secular and sacred partsongs and solo songs, including some lighter songs under the name Eric Harding. A selection of songs were recorded by Convivium Records in 2022. The Silver Swan, Convivium CR075 (2022), performed by Emily Gray and Nicole Johnson Although he mostly wrote with amateurs and practical church musicians in mind, there were also orchestral works and instrumental pieces for professionals. His first extended chamber piece was the Violin Sonata of 1934, dedicated to the violinist Sidney Hall and broadcast by him with the composer at the piano the following year.
An archive of his music, The Eric Thiman Collection, was set up in 2014 in the choir library of Southwell Minster by his niece Francis Thiman and Paul Hale (then Rector Chori at Southwell). Francis Thiman. Reflections on the Collection, Southwell Minster
Thiman wrote Practical Free Counterpoint, which was published in 1947. His Thirteen Songs for Voice and Piano, published by Stainer and Bell, has remained in print since his death. Thirteen Songs for Voice and Piano, Stainer & Bell
Music
Thiman was a prolific composer whose works were widely published in the UK and the USA. The catalogue of his published works numbers about 1,300. Eric Thiman Collection, Southwell Minster These include a large number of part songs (many for SS or SSA and piano, but also many for SATB) and many anthems and carols, as well as over 100 published organ pieces. A CD selection of his anthems, partsongs and organ music was recorded in 2016 by the Tudor Singers and the Eric Thiman Singers of Caterham School. CD: The Music of Eric Thiman (2016), Guy Turner
target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> Radio Times Issue 623, 8 September, 1935, pp. 25-6 The four movement Suite in E for two pianos (1947) was written for Harry Isaacs and York Bowen, both colleagues of his at the Royal Academy.Guy Turner. Eric Thiman and his Music: An Introduction, Southwell Minster video (2020)
Selected works
Cantatas
Anthems
Song cycles
target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> Radio Times Issue 952, 28 Dec 1941, p. 18
Partsongs and solo songs
(many appeared in both solo voice and choral arrangements)
(* collected in Thirteen Songs)
Organ
Other works
target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> Radio Times, Issue 766, 5 June 1938, p. 30
target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> Radio Times Issue 897, 8 December, 1940, p. 15
External links
Categories: English Classical Organists, Organ Improvisers, Academics Of The Royal Academy Of Music, Academics Of The University Of London, Fellows Of The Royal College Of Organists, 1975 Deaths, 1900 Births, People From Ashford, Kent, Musicians From Kent, 20th-century British Classical Musicians, 20th-century English Composers, 20th-century English Organists, 20th-century British Male Musicians, British Male Classical Organists, People Educated At Caterham School
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