Francis Toye

John Francis Toye (27 January 1883 – 13 October 1964) was an English music critic, teacher, writer and educational administrator. After early efforts as a composer and novelist, and service in naval intelligence in World War I, he became music critic of The Morning Post from 1925 to 1937, which he combined with teaching singing and working as managing director of the Restaurant Boulestin in London.

In 1939 Toye was appointed director of the British Institute of Florence, but the outbreak of World War II forced him to leave Italy in 1940. During the war, he served as director of the Sociedade Brasileira de Cultura Inglesa, Rio de Janeiro. Toye returned to the institute in Florence in 1946. He retired in 1958 but continued to live in Florence for the rest of his life.

Toye published novels, a play, autobiographies, essays and some works of music, but the book generally regarded as his most important was Giuseppe Verdi: His Life and Music, published in 1931, which remained the standard English work on its subject for many years.

Toye was born in Winchester, Hampshire, the eldest son of Arlingham James Toye and his wife Alice Fayrer née Coates. His father was a schoolmaster at Winchester College who had a strong interest in music. Francis's younger brother was the composer and conductor Geoffrey Toye, whose son was John, a long-time news anchor for Scottish Television, and his niece became a soprano with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company under the name Jennifer Toye.

Toye was educated at Winchester and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied languages. He was intended for a career in the diplomatic service, and passed the Foreign Office examination for student interpretership in the Levant in 1904. He resigned from the service in 1906 and studied singing and composition with teachers including E. J. Dent.

...
Wikipedia