William Alwyn Totally Explained

Everything about William Alwyn totally explained

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

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 isn't 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'll 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.

Works

Operas

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

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

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

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

Instrumental

Divertimento, for flute solo

Ballade for Viola and Piano

Viola Sonatina

Flute Sonata

Oboe Sonata

Clarinet Sonata

Crepuscule, for harp

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

Vocal

Nocturnes

Invocations

Seascapes

Slum Song

Mirages

Two Songs for Voice, Violin, and Piano

Three Songs of Blakemore

Brass Band

The Moor of Venice (1957)

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)

References

Further Information

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