Biography
From an early age, Thomas Attwood benefited from royal patronage while working as both composer and organist. His compositional promise soon led him to become a pupil of Mozart, whose stylistic traits Attwood absorbed into his own writing. As a founding member and director of the Philharmonic Society and the Royal Academy of Music, he gained the chance to conduct his own pieces together with Mozart symphonies. Close ties with Mendelssohn brought both personal friendship and artistic influence; at Attwood’s house Mendelssohn wrote his A-mol “Kyrie elieson” and dedicated the work to him. Mendelssohn’s sustained interest in Bach and his performances of that composer’s music fostered in Attwood a new admiration for the Baroque master. Although Thomas Attwood never excelled as an organist, his reputation rests chiefly on the gentle character of his intimate hymns, among them “Turn they face from my sins,” and “Come, Holy Ghost.”