Robert Thurston Dart was a British musicologist, conductor and keyboard player. He studied at Hampton Grammar School, sang in the choir at Hampton Court, and later attended the Royal College of Music before studying at University College, Exeter, where he received an external BA from the University of London. During World War II he served as a statistician and researcher in the RAF working in operational research. Dart’s academic career was based mainly at the University of Cambridge before his appointment in 1964 as King Edward Professor of Music at the University of London. He taught and influenced figures including David Munrow, Christopher Hogwood, John Eliot Gardiner, and Philip Brett. As a performer, Dart was a continuo player and conductor associated with the Boyd Neel Orchestra and made numerous recordings on harpsichord, clavichord, and organ. Dart died in London on March 6, 1971.
