Francis Toye
Encyclopedia
John Francis Toye was an English music critic, teacher, writer and educational administrator. After early efforts as a composer and novelist, and service in naval intelligence in World War I
, he became music critic of The Morning Post from 1925 to 1937, which he combined with teaching singing and working as managing director of the Restaurant Boulestin
in London.
In 1939 Toye was appointed director of the British Institute of Florence
, but the outbreak of World War II
forced him to leave Italy in 1940. During the war, he served as director of the Sociedade Brasileira de Cultura Inglesa, Rio de Janeiro
. Toye returned to the institute in Florence in 1946. He retired in 1958 but continued to live in Florence for the rest of his life.
Toye published novels, a play, autobiographies, essays and some works of music, but the book generally regarded as his most important was Giuseppe Verdi
: His Life and Music, published in 1931, which remained the standard English work on its subject for many years.
, and his sister's daughter became a soprano with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
under the name Jennifer Toye. His father was a schoolmaster at Winchester College
who had a strong interest in music. Toye was educated at Winchester and Trinity College, Cambridge
, where he studied languages. He was intended for a career in the diplomatic service, and passed the Foreign Office
examination for student interpretership in the Levant in 1904. He resigned from the service in 1906 and studied singing and composition with teachers including E. J. Dent
.
Toye began as a music critic in 1908 on the weekly magazine Vanity Fair. In the years leading up to World War I
, he also produced a variety of works, including a short play, The Extra Shilling; incidental music
(jointly with his brother Geoffrey) for The Well in the Wood, a "pastoral masque" by C. M. A. Peake; a sonata for piano and flute, performed at the Steinway Hall in London in 1910; magazine articles on a wide variety of subjects, from "The Theory of Feminism" for a suffragette paper, The Englishwoman, to "Opera in England" for The English Review; a comic novel written jointly with Marcel Boulestin
; and a second novel, written alone, Diana and Two Symphonies.
from 1914 to 1917, then transferred to the intelligence department of the Admiralty
, where he served in London and at Scapa Flow
. He went into commerce in 1920 and spent two years as manager of the coinage department of the Mond Nickel Company
. He then worked for The Daily Express, first as a leader-writer
and then as a music critic. In 1925 he was appointed music critic of The Morning Post and was active in London journalism until The Morning Post was absorbed into The Daily Telegraph
in 1937. After that, he wrote a weekly column, "The Charm of Music", in The Illustrated London News.
The Times
wrote of this period of Toye's life: "His tastes were Latin as against the generally Teutonic atmosphere of London music, being however an ardent Handelian
; he was interested in singing and even gave lessons in the art. He formulated his creed in a book, The Well-Tempered Musician", published in 1925. Sir Keith Falkner
, Director of the Royal College of Music
in London, praised Toye as a teacher of singing: "He was a teacher with a fine ear and down-to-earth knowledge". Toye's love of singing and of Italian music were deployed in his most important book, Giuseppe Verdi
: His Life and Music, published in 1931, which for many years remained the standard English authority on its subject. He followed it with a rather lighter treatment of Rossini in Rossini: A Study in Tragi-Comedy in 1934.
In addition to his writing, Toye was a frequent broadcaster, delivering regular talks about music on the main BBC
station between 1926 and 1931. From 1933 to 1939, Toye combined his musical work with the post of managing director of the Restaurant Boulestin
in Covent Garden
, one of the most famous restaurants of its day, with an international reputation.
, an institution dedicated to teaching English language and literature to Italians. Shortly after Toye's appointment, the Institute announced the forthcoming establishment of a new branch in Naples
, with further branches to follow in Genoa
, Turin
and Palermo
. but his work was cut short when Italy entered World War II
in May 1940. He was forced to flee from Italy, and for some time he and his wife were reported missing, but they returned safely to England. In 1941 Toye accepted the post of director of the Sociedade Brasileira de Cultura Inglesa, in Rio de Janeiro
, Brazil, which he held from 1941 to 1945, combining this position, between 1943 and 1945, with the post of British Council
representative in Brazil.
After the end of the war, the Toyes returned to Florence, where they lived for the rest of Toye's life. In 1946 he resumed the directorship of the British Institute, whose premises and "magnificent library" had survived the war intact. The Times later wrote, "he devoted a dozen years to the work of the institute with success founded on his love of Italy and his reputation as one of the line of English eccentrics." He wrote two volumes of autobiography, For What We Have Received (1948) and Truly Thankful (1957). Toye retired from the directorship of the institute in 1958, bought a farm near Florence, where he grew vines, and "added a good deal of spice and gaiety to the musical life of London and to that of the English colony in Italy." He visited London regularly and contributed notices to The Times of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino
.
Toye died in Florence at the age of 81. His fellow critic, Neville Cardus
, wrote of him, in an obituary tribute in The Guardian
, "Years ago he was critic for the old Morning Post, and as typical a Morning Post man as well could be, distinguished in presence, a connoisseur of music, good food, and wine, rather unapproachable at first sight, but once known extremely likeable, a representative in excelsis of the old school, fastidious yet humane." The Gramophone called him "the man who loved Verdi this side of idolatry, and who loved Handel and Sullivan
no less. His books on Verdi and Rossini will always be well thumbed, and the restoration of the supremacy of Italian opera in England owes much to his advocacy."
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, he became music critic of The Morning Post from 1925 to 1937, which he combined with teaching singing and working as managing director of the Restaurant Boulestin
Marcel Boulestin
Xavier Marcel Boulestin was a French chef, restaurateur, and the author of cookery books that popularised French cuisine in the English-speaking world....
in London.
In 1939 Toye was appointed director of the British Institute of Florence
British Institute of Florence
The British Institute of Florence is a cultural institute founded in 1917 in Florence, Italy, with the aim of promoting Anglo-Italian cultural relations, teaching English and Italian languages, and running a Library of English books to illustrate British and Italian literature, art, history and music...
, but the outbreak of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
forced him to leave Italy in 1940. During the war, he served as director of the Sociedade Brasileira de Cultura Inglesa, Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
. Toye returned to the institute in Florence in 1946. He retired in 1958 but continued to live in Florence for the rest of his life.
Toye published novels, a play, autobiographies, essays and some works of music, but the book generally regarded as his most important was Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
: His Life and Music, published in 1931, which remained the standard English work on its subject for many years.
Early years
Toye was the eldest son of Arlingham James Toye and his wife Alice Fayrer née Coates. His younger brother was the composer and conductor Geoffrey ToyeGeoffrey Toye
Edward Geoffrey Toye , better known as Geoffrey Toye, was an English conductor, composer and opera producer....
, and his sister's daughter became a soprano with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company was a professional light opera company that staged Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas. The company performed nearly year-round in the UK and sometimes toured in Europe, North America and elsewhere, from the 1870s until it closed in 1982. It was revived in 1988 and...
under the name Jennifer Toye. His father was a schoolmaster at Winchester College
Winchester College
Winchester College is an independent school for boys in the British public school tradition, situated in Winchester, Hampshire, the former capital of England. It has existed in its present location for over 600 years and claims the longest unbroken history of any school in England...
who had a strong interest in music. Toye was educated at Winchester and Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...
, where he studied languages. He was intended for a career in the diplomatic service, and passed the Foreign Office
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, commonly called the Foreign Office or the FCO is a British government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom overseas, created in 1968 by merging the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office.The head of the FCO is the...
examination for student interpretership in the Levant in 1904. He resigned from the service in 1906 and studied singing and composition with teachers including E. J. Dent
Edward Joseph Dent
Edward Joseph Dent, generally known by his initials as E. J. Dent was a British writer on music....
.
Toye began as a music critic in 1908 on the weekly magazine Vanity Fair. In the years leading up to World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, he also produced a variety of works, including a short play, The Extra Shilling; incidental music
Incidental music
Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, film or some other form not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as the "film score" or "soundtrack"....
(jointly with his brother Geoffrey) for The Well in the Wood, a "pastoral masque" by C. M. A. Peake; a sonata for piano and flute, performed at the Steinway Hall in London in 1910; magazine articles on a wide variety of subjects, from "The Theory of Feminism" for a suffragette paper, The Englishwoman, to "Opera in England" for The English Review; a comic novel written jointly with Marcel Boulestin
Marcel Boulestin
Xavier Marcel Boulestin was a French chef, restaurateur, and the author of cookery books that popularised French cuisine in the English-speaking world....
; and a second novel, written alone, Diana and Two Symphonies.
World War I to World War II
In 1914 Toye married the American author Ann Huston Miller, known as "Nina". There were no children of the marriage, which lasted until Toye's death fifty years later. In World War I, he served in various capacities in the War OfficeWar Office
The War Office was a department of the British Government, responsible for the administration of the British Army between the 17th century and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the Ministry of Defence...
from 1914 to 1917, then transferred to the intelligence department of the Admiralty
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
, where he served in London and at Scapa Flow
Scapa Flow
right|thumb|Scapa Flow viewed from its eastern endScapa Flow is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray, South Ronaldsay and Hoy. It is about...
. He went into commerce in 1920 and spent two years as manager of the coinage department of the Mond Nickel Company
Mond Nickel Company
The Mond Nickel Company Limited was a United Kingdom-based mining company, formed on September 20, 1900, licenced in Canada to carry on business in the province of Ontario, from October 16, 1900...
. He then worked for The Daily Express, first as a leader-writer
Editorial
An opinion piece is an article, published in a newspaper or magazine, that mainly reflects the author's opinion about the subject. Opinion pieces are featured in many periodicals.-Editorials:...
and then as a music critic. In 1925 he was appointed music critic of The Morning Post and was active in London journalism until The Morning Post was absorbed into The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
in 1937. After that, he wrote a weekly column, "The Charm of Music", in The Illustrated London News.
The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
wrote of this period of Toye's life: "His tastes were Latin as against the generally Teutonic atmosphere of London music, being however an ardent Handelian
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...
; he was interested in singing and even gave lessons in the art. He formulated his creed in a book, The Well-Tempered Musician", published in 1925. Sir Keith Falkner
Keith Falkner
Sir Keith Falkner was a distinguished English bass-baritone singer especially associated with oratorio and concert recital, who later became Director of the Royal College of Music in London.- Childhood and youth :...
, Director of the Royal College of Music
Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire founded by Royal Charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, England.-Background:The first director was Sir George Grove and he was followed by Sir Hubert Parry...
in London, praised Toye as a teacher of singing: "He was a teacher with a fine ear and down-to-earth knowledge". Toye's love of singing and of Italian music were deployed in his most important book, Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
: His Life and Music, published in 1931, which for many years remained the standard English authority on its subject. He followed it with a rather lighter treatment of Rossini in Rossini: A Study in Tragi-Comedy in 1934.
In addition to his writing, Toye was a frequent broadcaster, delivering regular talks about music on the main BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
station between 1926 and 1931. From 1933 to 1939, Toye combined his musical work with the post of managing director of the Restaurant Boulestin
Marcel Boulestin
Xavier Marcel Boulestin was a French chef, restaurateur, and the author of cookery books that popularised French cuisine in the English-speaking world....
in Covent Garden
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
, one of the most famous restaurants of its day, with an international reputation.
Florence and Rio
In 1939 Toye was appointed director of the British Institute of FlorenceBritish Institute of Florence
The British Institute of Florence is a cultural institute founded in 1917 in Florence, Italy, with the aim of promoting Anglo-Italian cultural relations, teaching English and Italian languages, and running a Library of English books to illustrate British and Italian literature, art, history and music...
, an institution dedicated to teaching English language and literature to Italians. Shortly after Toye's appointment, the Institute announced the forthcoming establishment of a new branch in Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
, with further branches to follow in Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
, Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
and Palermo
Palermo
Palermo is a city in Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...
. but his work was cut short when Italy entered World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
in May 1940. He was forced to flee from Italy, and for some time he and his wife were reported missing, but they returned safely to England. In 1941 Toye accepted the post of director of the Sociedade Brasileira de Cultura Inglesa, in Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
, Brazil, which he held from 1941 to 1945, combining this position, between 1943 and 1945, with the post of British Council
British Council
The British Council is a United Kingdom-based organisation specialising in international educational and cultural opportunities. It is registered as a charity both in England and Wales, and in Scotland...
representative in Brazil.
After the end of the war, the Toyes returned to Florence, where they lived for the rest of Toye's life. In 1946 he resumed the directorship of the British Institute, whose premises and "magnificent library" had survived the war intact. The Times later wrote, "he devoted a dozen years to the work of the institute with success founded on his love of Italy and his reputation as one of the line of English eccentrics." He wrote two volumes of autobiography, For What We Have Received (1948) and Truly Thankful (1957). Toye retired from the directorship of the institute in 1958, bought a farm near Florence, where he grew vines, and "added a good deal of spice and gaiety to the musical life of London and to that of the English colony in Italy." He visited London regularly and contributed notices to The Times of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino
Maggio Musicale Fiorentino
Maggio Musicale Fiorentino is an annual opera festival which was founded in April 1933 by conductor Vittorio Gui with the aim of presenting contemporary and forgotten operas in visually dramatic productions. It was the first music festival in Italy. The first opera presented was Verdi's early...
.
Toye died in Florence at the age of 81. His fellow critic, Neville Cardus
Neville Cardus
Sir John Frederick Neville Cardus CBE was an English writer and critic, best known for his writing on music and cricket. For many years, he wrote for The Manchester Guardian. He was untrained in music, and his style of criticism was subjective, romantic and personal, in contrast with his critical...
, wrote of him, in an obituary tribute in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, "Years ago he was critic for the old Morning Post, and as typical a Morning Post man as well could be, distinguished in presence, a connoisseur of music, good food, and wine, rather unapproachable at first sight, but once known extremely likeable, a representative in excelsis of the old school, fastidious yet humane." The Gramophone called him "the man who loved Verdi this side of idolatry, and who loved Handel and Sullivan
Arthur Sullivan
Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan MVO was an English composer of Irish and Italian ancestry. He is best known for his series of 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including such enduring works as H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado...
no less. His books on Verdi and Rossini will always be well thumbed, and the restoration of the supremacy of Italian opera in England owes much to his advocacy."