Thomas Hardy, Author, Poet, and Musician: Madeline’s Monthly Musical Tips Blog & Radio Show for November 2025
Our blog and Radio Show celebrates the life and work of Thomas Hardy, author, poet, architect, and musician.
Many of the world’s authors, poets, architects, mathematicians, inventors, scientists, engineers, medical doctors, researchers, and teachers have studied and played musical instruments since they were children. These eminent individuals have integrated music into their thinking process. Studying a musical instrument develops millions of new connections, synapses, between nerve cells in the brain.
Included is the article “How Playing an Instrument Makes You Smarter” by Merit School of Music.
Our article of the month is “Living Thankfully: How Gratitude Shapes Our Lives and Legacy”.
Feature Radio Show Question for November 2025: How did Classical music play a part of Thomas Hardy’s life as an author, poet and musician and what musical instrument did he play?
https://www.madelinefrankviola.com/one-minute-musical-radio-show/
Early Years:
Thomas Hardy was born in the community of Higher Bockhampton, near the town of Dorchester, in Wessex, England, on June 2, 1840 to Jemina (Hand) Hardy and Thomas Hardy.
At first, they thought he was stillborn, then fortunately the midwife noticed the baby was not dead and would survive. Throughout his life he was in ill health. He was the oldest of their four children.
From his father, a stonemason, builder, and violinist he learned to enjoy the violin and from his mother he learned to love reading. His Mom, Jemina Hardy was well educated and taught him at home till he was 8 years old.
“His mother adored him and he was close to his two sisters.” (Paula Byrne, author of “Hardy Women: Mother, Sisters, Wives, Muses.”)
He attended school at Bockhampton and then attended Mr. Last’s Academy for Young Gentleman in Dorchester for several years where he studied Latin, mathematics other subjects. He “demonstrated academic potential”. (Wikipedia Thomas Hardy)
As a young child his Father taught him to play the violin and he became quite good at it!
His Grandfather was a cellist. Thomas Hardy was a third-generation musician on his father’s side. (Boyd, 2008, pp.358).
Thomas Hardy “treasured three hand-written books of music, songs, sacred anthems and carols formerly played by his Grandfather [ Thomas Hardy 1st] and his father [ Thomas Hardy 2nd!] Grandfather played the cello, ..and his son played the violin. They were regulars in the Puddletown church band at the beginning of the nineteenth century, before moving to Stinsford to form a string quartet, playing in a gallery there to accompany the singing.”
Architect Apprentice:
At sixteen he became “apprenticed to architect, James Hicks, who specialized in building and restoring churches from the twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The medieval period, both its grotesqueness and its beauty, fascinated Hardy as he was learning how to restore ancient churches.” At 17, Thomas while apprenticed began “writing poetry and his first novel.” “His first love was always poetry.”
Music and Architecture in his 20’s:
In Thomas Hardy’s biography written by him and by his second wife, Florence, (published after his death,) described “his daily schedule in his 20s: “He would be reading the Iliad, the Aeneid, or the Greek Testament from six to eight in the morning, would work at Gothic architecture all day, and then in the evening rush off with his fiddle under his arm, sometimes in the company of his father as first violin and uncle as cellist, to play country dances, reels, and hornpipes at an agriculturist’s wedding, christening or party in a remote dwelling in the fallow fields, not returning sometimes till nearly dawn, the Hardy’s being still traditionally string-bandsmen available on such occasions, and having the added recommendation of charging nothing for their services, which was a firm principle with them, the entertainers being mostly acquaintances; though the tireless zeal of young couples in the dance often rendered the Hardy’s’ act of friendship anything but an enjoyment to themselves. But young Hardy’s vigor was now much greater than it had been when he was a child, and it enabled him, like a conjuror at a fair, to keep in the air the three balls of architecture, scholarship and dance-fiddling, without ill-effects, the fiddling being of course not daily, like the other two.”
King’s College London & Church Architect:
When he was 21, he moved to London enrolling at King’s College London as a student. “He won prizes from the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Architectural Association. He joined Arthur Blomfield’s practice as an assistant architect in April 1862.” (Wikipedia Thomas Hardy)
After working for six years as a church architect he did not want to continue this work, was lonely and returned home to Dorset.” (Elliot Engel, “A Dab of Dickens & A Touch of Twain”: Thomas Hardy pp.233-244.)
Thomas Hardy’s Novels & Marriage:
In 1871, Thomas Hardy published his first novel “Desperate Remedies”- anonymously. His book was not selling well and he returned to restoring old churches. He was sent to an old church to do repairs. He knocked on the door and instead of the vicar or curator the door was answered by Emma Gifford, a young woman who was the sister-in law of the rector. She was intelligent with nervous energy, and 29 years old.
Thomas Hardy stood at the door “bookish, pale, little, balding man.”
(Elliot Engel, “A Dab of Dickens & A Touch of Twain”: Thomas Hardy p.240)
“Emma was described as having “a rosy, Rubenesque complexion, striking blue eyes and auburn hair with ringlets reaching down as far as her shoulders”. (Spartacus educational Jgifford)
He wrote his second book in 1872 “Under the Greenwood Tree”
“The characters of the Tranter and Grandfather William in Hardy’s novel Under the Greenwood Tree are generally accepted to be based on his father and grandfather; and the stories they told of the exploits of the church bands, and the cause of their demise, became the basis of the storyline of Under the Greenwood Tree and many of Hardy’s other short stories and poems.” (Hardy Family Music Manuscript Books, September 26, 2022)
Thomas and Emma’s “courtship inspired his third novel, “A Pair of Blue Eyes”. Thomas Hardy and Emma Gifford married four years later, on September 17, 1874, at St Peter’s Church, Paddington, London. The ceremony was conducted by Emma’s uncle, Edwin Hamilton Gifford, canon of Worcester Cathedral and later archdeacon of London.” (Spartacus educational Jgifford)
Hardy’s love of music found its way into “his short story “The Fiddler of the Reels” where the children in the parish ‘burst into tears’ on hearing the fiddler Mop Ollamoor’s country jigs, reels and ‘favorite quick steps of the last century’ are a projection from Hardy’s own childhood. He admits how some tunes his father played could move him to tears in his memoirs. Mop Ollamoor seems a blending (conflation) of Hardy as well as his own father, Thomas senior.” (The Violin in Poetry and Literature: Thomas Hardy (June 14, 2015, by Luis Dias, Physician, Musician…)
Paula Byrne, author of “Hardy Women: Mother, Sisters, Wives, Muses.” wote, “His first marriage to Emma Gifford began romantically, but soured into separate lives within the same house. Up in her attic, Emma wrote a diary called ‘What I think of my Husband’, which Thomas found after she died (he burned it). He then began to repent his treatment of her, visited the places they had once roamed together and wrote love poetry of extraordinary power to his dead wife. Needless to say, his second wife, Florence Dugdale, was not impressed and wanted love poems addresses to herself. She went through married life feeling she was competing with Emma’s ghost.”
Thomas Hardy’s Poetry:
At the age of 58 in 1898, Thomas Hardy began in earnest writing poetry.
He had “already established his reputation with fifteen novels and 53 short stories”, when his “first book of poetry, Wessex Poems was published. For the final thirty years of his life he abandoned fiction and devoted himself entirely to poetry. It is a tribute to his remarkable powers of creativity that he is now not only regarded as one of the most important English novelists but is also recognized as a poet of major stature and ever-increasing popularity.” (Goodreads.com)Thomas Hardy wrote 1,000 Poems.
Attending Concerts:
“The ‘biography’ chronicles the notes made by Hardy in May 1901 at a concert by the great violinist Eugène Ysaye (1858-1931) at Queen’s Hall, London of Johann Sebastian Bach’s violin concerto in E major: “The solo enters at the twelfth bar…Later in the movement a new theme is heard – a brief episode, the thematic material of the opening sufficing the composer’s needs. In the Adagio, the basses announce and develop a figure. Over this the soloist and first violins enter.”
“A few days later, he writes about ‘a feat of execution’ by another legendary violinist of the age, Jan Kubelik (1880-1940) at St. James’ Hall: “that of playing ‘pizzicato’ on his violin the air of ‘The Last Rose of Summer’ with Ernst’s variations, and fingering and bowing a rapid accompaniment at the same time.” “The Violin in Poetry and Literature: Thomas Hardy (June 14, 2015, by Luis Dias, Physician, Musician…)
Thomas Hardy’s Mentors:
Strongly identifying himself and his work with Dorset, Hardy saw himself as a successor to the Dorset dialect poet William Barnes, who had been a friend and mentor.” (Poet Foundation Thomas Hardy)
He was also influenced and mentored by George Eliot, William Wordsworth, by his friend and scholar Horace Moule, and novelist George Meredith.
Thomas Hardy’s “work greatly influenced many 20th-century writers, including D. H. Lawrence , Virginia Woolf, poet Philip Larkin, Robert Graves, poet who saw him as a bridge between the Victorian era and modernism.” (AI)
Hardy designed and built Max Gate for he and his first wife, Emma Lavinia Gifford, “his guests included James Barrie, Robert Louis Stevenson, Rudyard Kipling, A. E. Houseman, Siegfried Sassoon, H.G. Wells, George Bernard Shaw, Robert Graves and many others.” (Dr. Andrzej Diniejko, Senior Lecturer in English Lit. & Culture, Warsaw University Poland: Victorian web Thomas Hardy)
Hardy wrote about what he knew about, rural life. “Jude the Obscure” (1865),
“Far from the Madding Crowd” (1874), “The Return of the Native” (1878), “The Mayor of Casterbridge”. (1886) “Tessof the d’Urbervilles” (1891)
Thomas Hardy died on Jan. 11, 1928 at the age of 87 years of age in Dorchester, United Kingdom. He wrote 15 novels, 53 short stories 1,000 poems, and he was an architect, husband, and lifelong musician.
“How Playing an Instrument Makes You Smarter” from the Merit School of Music. “An Upgraded Control Panel”: “Studies show that playing a musical instrument” will organize the brain to focus and concentrate on the work to be done. Studying a musical instrument develops millions of new connections, synapses, between nerve cells in the brain.
- Physically and mentally exercising the mind and body. “A workout for the entire brain.”
Learning a musical instrument teaches discipline, cooperation, teamwork, motivation, concentration and self-esteem. To read more go too:
https://meritmusic.org/how-playing-instrument-makes-you-smarter/
Living Thankfully: How Gratitude Shapes Our Lives and Legacy by Madeline Frank, Ph.D.
As Thanksgiving draws near, many of us pause to reflect on what we’re thankful for. But gratitude isn’t meant to be a once-a-year guest at our table—it’s meant to live with us every day.
Walker Larson, in his article “Planting Virtue: How to Raise Grateful Kids” writes that “Thankfulness is more than just good manners—it’s the foundation for good character, health, and happiness.” He’s absolutely right. Gratitude doesn’t just make us polite—it makes us strong, centered, and joyful.
The Power of Gratitude
When we count our blessings, something powerful happens. Our focus shifts from what’s missing to what’s meaningful. Grateful people are proven to sleep better, stress less, and smile more. They enjoy stronger relationships, better health, and deeper peace of mind.
Gratitude changes the lens through which we see life—it turns ordinary moments into miracles and challenges into opportunities for growth.
A Heritage of Hope and Gratitude
For me, gratitude is also rooted in heritage. My family’s story began with courageous men and women who emigrated from Europe to America—people who left behind everything familiar in search of freedom, safety, and opportunity.
They arrived with little more than faith, determination, and a belief that tomorrow could be brighter. Their legacy of perseverance and gratitude shaped generations to come. They taught us that blessings aren’t measured in wealthy, but in love, resiliency, and community.
The Women Who Modeled Gratitude
My mother, Romayne Leader Frank, was the granddaughter of European immigrants who believed deeply in education and self-reliance. She studied law while raising two children, scheduling her classes so she’d be home when we returned from school. We’d sit together at the dining room table—Mom with her law books, my brother and I with our homework. Whenever we struggled, she’d smile and say, “How about opening your book and looking for the answer?”
That simple phrase still echoes in my life—it taught me curiosity, confidence, and gratitude for the ability to learn.
My grandmother, Mary Chernick Leader, carried her parents’ immigrant values forward. She worked as a secretary, led a women’s stock club to teach financial independence, and volunteered with the Braille Society. I’ll never forget reading aloud to her at age seven, earning a tiny reward—a bite of chocolate and a sip of Coca-Cola—for each page. She made learning sweet in every sense of the word.
My mother-in-law, Pearl Neustein Berger, was the sixth of eight children born to European immigrants who taught honor, hard work, and faith. Widowed young, she raised two children on her own, working long hours at B. Altman’s Department Store in New York City. She insisted her children study, serve others, and attend religious services every week. Her quiet strength and endless generosity still inspire me. She was five feet one inches tall and to me she was one of the tallest and strongest women I have known because of her caring and commitment to her family, friends and helping others.
Pearl Berger’s sister, my Aunt- in- Law, Helen Neustein shared that same spirit of gratitude and grace. She was the 7thchild of the family. Helen also worked at B.Altman’s Department store in the shoe department. She was a wonderful person with a very big heart raised with the values of honor and respect just like her sister Pearl. My husband, Allan, remembers her playing baseball with him as a child. She was always patient and kind. Helen was also about 5 foot one inch tall but she seemed 6 feet tall because of her caring and commitment to her family, friends, and clients.
These remarkable women—each descended from immigrants who braved new beginnings—taught me that gratitude isn’t about possessions; it’s about perspective.
How to Live and Model Gratitude
Gratitude grows stronger when it’s shared.
- Start your day with reflection.Write down three things you’re grateful for.
- Acknowledge someone weekly.A note, a call, or a simple “thank you” can make a difference.
- Honor your roots.Remember the people who came before you and the sacrifices they made so that you could live the life you have today.
- Teach by example.Model gratitude for children and loved ones—praise effort, kindness, and integrity more than achievement.
When ungrateful attitudes appear—especially in younger generations—use it as a teaching moment. As Dayton Children’s Hospital notes, helping children handle disappointment builds strength and appreciation.
The Ripple Effect of Thankfulness
Living a life of gratitude is more than good manners—it’s transformational. Grateful people are more creative, compassionate, and courageous. They attract positivity, deepen relationships, and face adversity with calm confidence.
Gratitude is a magnet for joy. It reminds us that every sunrise is a gift, every friendship is a blessing, and every challenge carries a lesson.
So, this Thanksgiving—and every day after—pause to remember where you came from and who helped you get here. The courage of your ancestors, the kindness of your loved ones, and the opportunities before you are all reasons to give thanks.
Count your blessings. Share your gratitude. And live your thanks—boldly and joyfully—every single day. © 2025 Madeline Frank
If you need a speaker or video speaker contact Madeline at: [email protected]
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Wishing you and your family a happy Thanksgiving, from Your Non-Invasive Medicine Music Expert, Madeline
For over 30 years, Dr. Madeline Frank has helped children and adults overcome problems through Classical music. Madeline Frank, Ph.D. is an award-winning teacher, author, researcher, speaker, conductor, and concert artist. She has discovered a scientific link between studying a musical instrument and academic and societal success. Madeline Frank earned her Bachelor and Master’s degree from the Juilliard School of Music. Her education has included scholarships at the Juilliard School, Indiana University, and the University of Cincinnati and she has a violin performance diploma from the North Carolina School of the Arts. (C) 2025 Madeline Frank