John Tiplady Carrodus

John Tiplady Carrodus (1836–1895) was an English violinist.

Life

Carrodus was born on 20 January 1836, at Keighley, in the West Riding of Yorkshire. He took violin lessons from his father Thomas Carrodus, who was a barber and music-seller. He made his first appearance as a violinist at the age of nine, and before the London public four years later. He had the advantage of studying between the ages of twelve and eighteen at Stuttgart, with Bernhard Molique.

On his return to Britain in 1853 Sir Michael Costa got him engagements in the leading orchestras. He was a member of the Covent Garden opera orchestra from 1855. He made his debut as a solo player at a concert given on 22 April 1863 by the Musical Society of London, and succeeded Prosper Sainton as leader at Covent Garden in 1869. He led the Covent Garden orchestra for twenty-five years. He also took over from Sainton as the Leader of the Three Choirs Festival orchestra in 1882. and those of the great provincial festivals. The coveted Carrodus violin, made by Guarneri in 1743, was said to have belonged to Carrodus, as well as a violin by Antonio Stradivari c. 1708.

Carrodus was constantly striving "for improving the standard of string playing in English orchestras." He was famous for setting extremely high standards in his own playing and in that of his pupils. Lilian Baylis was one of his notable students. He taught her violin at the Royal Academy of Music. He edited a popular six-volume edition of violin duets for Pitman's Sixpenny Musical Library.

He died at Hampstead, London on 13 July 1895 and was buried in a family grave on the eastern side of Highgate Cemetery.