Denis Matthews

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 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.

He wrote a biography of Arturo Toscanini in 1982, and in 1985 he published a study of Beethoven in the Dent "Master Musicians" series.

His short book on Beethoven's piano sonatas (published as a BBC Music Guide) is particularly valuable.

In the few years before his death, he and his third wife, the pianist and teacher Beryl Chempin, both taught at the Birmingham School of Music.