The Probert Encyclopaedia of People

JOHN CURWEN

John Curwen was a British music reformer. He was born in 1816 at Heckmondwike and died in 1860. He entered the congregational ministry and was minister at Plaistow from 1844 until 1864 when he resigned. In 1841 he studied the tonic sol-fa system invented by Miss Glover, and in 1843 published his 'Grammar of Vocal Music'. In 1853 he founded the Tonic Sol fa Association and the college, of which he was the first principal, in 1869, and wrote several books on the teaching of music.
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