William Alwyn

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William Alwyn, CBE, born William Alwyn Smith [1] (November 7, 1905 – September 11, 1985) was an English composer, conductor, and music teacher.

Contents

[edit] Life and Music

William Alwyn was born in Northampton where he showed an early interest in music and began to learn to play the piccolo. At age 15 he entered the Royal Academy of Music in London where he studied flute and composition. He was a virtuoso flautist and for a time was the principal flautist of the London Symphony Orchestra. Alwyn served as professor of composition at the Royal Academy of Music from 1926 to 1955.

William Alwyn had a remarkable range of talents. He was a distinguished polyglot, poet, and artist, as well as musician.

His compositional output was varied and large and included five symphonies, four operas, several concertos and string quartets.

Alwyn wrote over 70 film scores from 1941 to 1962. His classic film scores included Odd Man Out, Desert Victory, Fires Were Started, The History of Mr Polly, The Fallen Idol, The Black Tent and Crimson Pirate. Many of the scores have been lost, but in recent years CD recordings have been made, reconstructed by Philip Lane from the film soundtracks themselves.

Alwyn could be considered a late Romantic composer whose style is not dissimilar to, for example, William Walton. He relished dissonance, and devised his own alternative to twelve-tone serialism, explained in his own programme note to his Third Symphony (1956): "the twelve notes used in a different way – in a tonal manner". Eight notes of the possible twelve are used in the first movement, with the remaining four (D, E, F, and A-flat) constituting the middle movement, and all twelve being combined for the finale. (The composer adds "This all sounds very complicated, but I don’t think you will find it a difficult work to listen to.")

Alwyn's concerto for harp and string orchestra, Lyra Angelica, became popularly known when figure skater Michelle Kwan performed to it at the 1998 Winter Olympics.

William Alwyn lived at 'Larkrise", Dunwich Road, Blythburgh, Suffolk and died in Southwold, Suffolk, England in 1985. He was survived by his second wife, the composer Doreen Carwithen.

[edit] Works

[edit] Operas

  • The Fairy Fiddler
  • Farewell Companions
  • Juan, or the Libertine
  • Miss Julie

[edit] Orchestral

  • Symphonies
    • Symphony No. 1
    • Symphony No. 2
    • Symphony No. 3
    • Symphony No. 4
    • Symphony No. 5 Hydriotaphia
  • Concerto Grossi
    • Concerto Grosso No. 1
    • Concerto Grosso No. 2
    • Concerto Grosso No. 3
  • Sinfonietta for Strings
  • Elizabethan Dances
  • Scottish Dances
  • The Magic Island
  • The Innumerable Dance
  • Aphrodite in Aulis
  • Festival Overture
  • Overture To A Masque
  • Five Preludes for Orchestra
  • Tragic Interlude

[edit] Concertante

  • Piano Concerto No. 1
  • Piano Concerto No. 2
  • Violin Concerto
  • Oboe Concerto
  • Harp Concerto Lyra Angelica
  • Pastoral Fantasia, for viola and string orchestra
  • Autumn Legend, for cor anglais and string orchestra

[edit] Chamber

  • String Quartet
    • String Quartet No. 1
    • String Quartet No. 2
    • String Quartet No. 3
    • Three Winter Poems
    • Novelette
  • Concerto for Flute and Eight Wind Instruments
  • Rhapsody for Piano Quartet
  • Suite for Oboe and Harp
  • Sonata Impromptu, for violin and viola
  • Conversations, for violin, clarinet and piano
  • Trio for Flute, Cello and Piano
  • String Trio
  • Naiades, fantasy sonata for flute and harp

[edit] Instrumental

  • Divertimento, for flute solo
  • Ballade for Viola and Piano
  • Viola Sonatina
  • Flute Sonata
  • Oboe Sonata
  • Clarinet Sonata
  • Crepuscule, for harp

[edit] Piano

  • Hunter's Moon (1920s)
  • Odd Moments - suite for piano (1920s)
  • The Orchard (1920s)
  • Haze of Noon (1926)
  • Two Irish Pieces
  • April Morn - 4 little pieces (1924-26)
  • Fancy Free - 4 pieces
  • Contes Barbares - homage to Paul Gaugin (1930-33)
  • By the Farmyard Gate - 4 pieces
  • From Ireland - 7 traditional tunes
  • Wooden Walls - suite for piano
  • Midsummer Night - suite for piano
  • Green Hills
  • Five Pieces - suite for piano
  • Two Intermezzi
  • Two Pieces
  • Harvest Home - suite for piano
  • The Tinker's Tune
  • Down by the Riverside
  • Night Thoughts
  • Prelude & Fugues on an Indian scale (1945)
  • Sonata alla Toccata (1946)
  • Nine Children's Pieces
  • Fantasy-Waltzes
  • Twelve Preludes (1958)
  • Movements
  • Twelve Diversions for the Five Fingers

[edit] Vocal

  • Nocturnes
  • Invocations
  • Seascapes
  • Slum Song
  • Mirages
  • Two Songs for Voice, Violin, and Piano
  • Three Songs of Blakemore

[edit] Brass Band

  • The Moor of Venice (1957)

[edit] Film music

  • They Flew Alone (1941)
  • Penn of Pennsylvania (1941)
  • Squadron Leader X (1942)
  • Escape To Danger (1943)
  • On Approval (1943)
  • Medal For The General (1944)
  • The Way Ahead (1944)
  • Tunisian Victory (1944)
  • Great Day (1945)
  • The Rake's Progress (1945)
  • Green For Danger (1946)
  • I See a Dark Stranger (1946)
  • Odd Man Out (1946)
  • Captain Boycott (1947)
  • Take My Life (1947)
  • The October Man (1947)
  • Escape (1948)
  • The Fallen Idol (1948)
  • So Evil My Love (1948)
  • The Winslow Boy (1948)
  • The Cure For Love (1949)
  • The Golden Salamander (1949)
  • The History of Mr Polly (1949)
  • Madeleine (1949)
  • The Rocking Horse Winner (1949)
  • The Magnet (1950)
  • Morning Departure (1950)
  • The Mudlark (1950)
  • State Secret (1950)
  • The House in The Square (1951)
  • Lady Godiva Rides Again (1951)
  • The Magic Box (1951)
  • Night Without Stars (1951)
  • No Resting Place (1951)
  • The Crimson Pirate (1952)
  • Saturday Island (1952)
  • The Long Memory (1952)
  • Mandy (1952)
  • The Card (1952)
  • The Malta Story (1953)
  • Personal Affair (1953)
  • The Master Of Ballantrae (1953)
  • The Million Pound Note (1953/4)
  • The Rainbow Jacket (1954)
  • The Seekers (1954)
  • Svengali (1954)
  • Bedevilled (1955)
  • Geordie (1955)
  • The Ship That Died Of Shame (1955)
  • The Black Tent (1956)
  • Safari (1956)
  • Smiley (1956)
  • Zarak (1957)
  • Manuela (1957)
  • The Smallest Show On Earth (1957)
  • A Night to Remember (1958)
  • Fortune is a Woman (1958)
  • Carve Her Name with Pride (1958)
  • I Accuse (1958)
  • The Silent Enemy (1958)
  • Devil's Bait (1959)
  • Third Man on the Mountain (1959)
  • The Killers of Kilimanjaro (1959)
  • Shake Hands With The Devil (1959)
  • Swiss Family Robinson (1960)
  • The Professionals (1960)
  • The Naked Edge (1961)
  • In Search of the Castaways (1962)
  • Life for Ruth (1962)
  • Night of the Eagle (1962)
  • The Running Man (1963)

[edit] References

  1. ^ Johnson, Ian (2005): William Alwyn: the art of film music. Woodbridge : Boydell. ISBN 1-84383159-7.

[edit] External links