Mudie, Thomas Mollcson

1809-1876

Composer and piano-player; born at Chelsea; was one of ten successful candidates to enter the Royal Academy of Music under its first examination in 1823. He studied piano with Cipriani Potter, composition with Dr. Crotch and with Willman the clarinet, the instrument which he played in the school orchestra, and upon which he is said to have become a delightful performer, although he abandoned it after his student days. During his study at the Academy he wrote several vocal pieces with orchestral accompaniments; a symphony in C and a symphony in B flat, as well as his Lungi dal caro bene, of which the committee of management paid the cost of publication. In 1832 Mudie became a professor of piano at the Academy, acting in that capacity until 1844. He was organist at Gatton until 1844, going then to Edinburgh to succeed Devaux as teacher, and remaining there until 1863, when he returned to London for the remainder of his life. In the library of the Royal Academy are all his scores that remain, and all of his printed works, among them being symphony in F; symphony in D; quintet in Eflat for piano and strings; accompaniment to many of Wood's Collection of Songs of Scotland; an exceedingly fine collection of twenty-four sacred songs; three church anthems for three voices; three sacred duets; forty-two separate songs; two duets; and the forty-eight original piano solos, of which twelve are dedicated to Sterndale Bennett.