John M Thomson

John Mansfield Thomson was born in Blenheim, New Zealand on 10 March 1926.[1] In his youth he attended the Nelson School of Music for piano (he later continued instruction in Wellington), while he studied the recorder with Zillah Castle.[1] His parents died in his youth, and he moved to England.[2] While in London, he continued piano with Dorothea Vincent, recorder with Walter Bergmann, and began flute with James Hopkinson.[1] After brief military service from 1944 to 1945, he graduated from Victoria University of Wellington with a Bachelor of Arts for English and History in 1948.

He founded both the Early Music journal, which became a leading publication in its field, and the National Early Music Association of the Britain.[2] Thomson's publications include numerous works on the Music of New Zealand, including the 1991 The Oxford History of New Zealand Music.[1] He also published a book on the life and work of English composer Alfred Hill in 1980.[2] At various times he was an associate of the Stout Research Centre and a research associate of the University of Waikato.[1] His obituary in the The Guardian noted how "music was only a cover for what really interested him: meeting artistic and creative personalities, finding material for his own writing and design work".[2]

Later in life he gave tours of New Zealand to Igor Stravinsky and Michael Tippet.[2] He received an honorary doctor from Victoria University of Wellington in 1991. Thomson died in Wellington on 11 September 1999.[1]

Grove Music Online describes Thomson as "One of New Zealand’s leading musicologists, [whose] publications on the country’s musical history set benchmarks of accuracy, style and vitality".[1] The Guardian called him "a key figure in the revival of the sympathetic performance of early music" and "one of New Zealand's most effective cultural ambassadors".[2]