William Alwyn, CBE, born William Alwyn Smith (7 November 1905 – 11 September 1985) was an English composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

, conductor

Conducting

Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...

, and music teacher.

Life and music

William Alwyn was born in Northampton

Northampton

Northampton is a large market town and local government district in the East Midlands region of England. Situated about north-west of London and around south-east of Birmingham, Northampton lies on the River Nene and is the county town of Northamptonshire. The demonym of Northampton is...

, where he showed an early interest in music and began to learn to play the piccolo

Piccolo

The piccolo is a half-size flute, and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. The piccolo has the same fingerings as its larger sibling, the standard transverse flute, but the sound it produces is an octave higher than written...

. At age 15 he entered the Royal Academy of Music

Royal Academy of Music

The Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a conservatoire, Britain's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999. The Academy was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 with the help and ideas of the French harpist and composer Nicolas...

 in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 where he studied flute

Flute

The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...

 and composition

Musical composition

Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...

. He was a virtuoso flautist and for a time was a flautist with the London Symphony Orchestra

London Symphony Orchestra

The London Symphony Orchestra is a major orchestra of the United Kingdom, as well as one of the best-known orchestras in the world. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in London's Barbican Centre.-History:...

. 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

Polyglot (person)

A polyglot is someone with a high degree of proficiency in several languages. A bilingual person can speak two languages fluently, whereas a trilingual three; above that the term multilingual may be used.-Hyperpolyglot:...

, poet

Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

, and artist

Artist

An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...

, 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

Odd Man Out

Odd Man Out is a 1947 Anglo-Irish film noir directed by Carol Reed, starring James Mason, and is based on a novel of the same name by F. L. Green.-Plot:The film's opening intertitle reads:...

, Desert Victory

Desert Victory

Desert Victory is a 1943 film produced by the British Ministry of Information, documenting the Allies' North African campaign against Field Marshal Erwin Rommel and the Afrika Korps. This documentary traces the struggle between General Erwin Rommel and Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, from the...

, Fires Were Started

Fires Were Started

Fires Were Started is a British film written and directed by Humphrey Jennings, filmed in documentary style showing the lives of firefighters through the Blitz in World War II...

, The History of Mr Polly, The Fallen Idol, The Black Tent

The Black Tent

The Black Tent is a 1956 British war film directed by Brian Desmond Hurst and starring Donald Sinden, Anthony Steel, Anna Maria Sandri, André Morell and Donald Pleasence. It is set in North Africa, during the Second World War and was filmed on location in Libya.-Plot:During the British retreat...

and The Crimson Pirate

The Crimson Pirate

The Crimson Pirate is a 1952 American adventure film directed by Robert Siodmak. It stars Burt Lancaster, who also co-produced the film, as Captain Vallo, the eponymous pirate, and is set in the Caribbean late in the 18th century, on the fictional islands of Cobra and San Pero...

. Some of the scores have been lost, although many scores and sketches are now in the William Alwyn Archive at Cambridge University Library. In recent years CD recordings have been made. Some works, for which only fragmentary sketches remained, were reconstructed by Philip Lane

Philip Lane (composer)

Philip Lane is an English composer and musicologist. He is noted for his light music compositions and arrangements, as well as his painstaking work reconstructing lost film scores.-Biography:...

  or Christopher Palmer from the film soundtracks themselves.

Alwyn relished dissonance, and devised his own alternative to twelve-tone serialism. In his third symphony 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.

Alwyn's concerto for harp

Harp

The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...

 and string orchestra, Lyra Angelica, became popularly known when figure skater

Figure skating

Figure skating is an Olympic sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform spins, jumps, footwork and other intricate and challenging moves on ice skates. Figure skaters compete at various levels from beginner up to the Olympic level , and at local, national, and international competitions...

 Michelle Kwan

Michelle Kwan

Michelle Wingshan Kwan is an American figure skater. She is a two-time Olympic medalist, a five-time World champion and a nine-time U.S...

 performed to it at the 1998 Winter Olympics

1998 Winter Olympics

The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially the XVIII Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event celebrated from 7 to 22 February 1998 in Nagano, Japan. Seventy-two nations and 2,176 participans contested in seven sports and 72 events at 15 venues. The games saw the introduction of Women's ice...

.

William Alwyn lived at "Larkrise", Dunwich Road, Blythburgh

Blythburgh

Blythburgh is a small English village in an area known as the Sandlings, part of the Suffolk heritage coast. Located close to an area of flooded marshland and mud-flats, in 2007 its population was estimated to be 300. Blythburgh is best known for its church, Holy Trinity, internationally known as...

, Suffolk, and died in Southwold

Southwold

Southwold is a town on the North Sea coast, in the Waveney district of the English county of Suffolk. It is located on the North Sea coast at the mouth of the River Blyth within the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The town is around south of Lowestoft and north-east...

, Suffolk, England, in 1985. He was survived by his second wife, the composer Doreen Carwithen

Doreen Carwithen

Doreen Mary Carwithen was a British composer of classical and film music. She was also known as Mary Alwyn.-Biography:...

.

Selected works

• The Fairy Fiddler, opera (1922)
• Five Preludes for Orchestra (1927)
• Piano Concerto No. 1 (1930)
• Tragic interlude for 2 horns, timpani and string orchestra (1936)
• Violin Concerto (1938)
• Pastoral fantasia for viola and string orchestra (1939)
• Concerto grosso No. 1 in B flat major (1943)
• Score for Country Town (1943)
• Concerto for oboe, harp and strings (1945)
• Symphony No. 1 (1949)
• The Magic Island, symphonic prelude (1952)
• Symphony No. 2 (1953)
• Autumn legend for cor anglais and string orchestra (1954)
• Lyra angelica, concerto for harp and string orchestra (1954)
• Farewell Companions, radio opera (1955)
• Symphony No. 3 (1956)
• Elizabethan Dances (1957)
• Symphony No. 4 (1959)
• Derby Day, overture (1960)
• Piano Concerto No. 2 (1960)
• Concerto grosso No. 3 (1964)
• Sinfonietta for strings (1970)
• Juan, or The Libertine, opera (1971)
• Symphony No. 5 'Hydriotaphia' (1973)
• Miss Julie
  Miss Julie (Alwyn)
  Miss Julie is an opera in two acts by William Alwyn with a libretto by the composer, based on the play Miss Julie by Swedish playwright August Strindberg.-Performance history:...
  
  , opera (1977)

External links

• William Alwyn at MusicWeb International
• William Alwyn Archive at Cambridge University Library
• Philip Lane on reconstructing Alwyn's film scores
• The Innumerable Dance: The Life and Work of William Alwyn by Adrian Wright, the first full biography published by the Boydell Press in 2008.
• Composing in words: William Alwyn on his art edited by Andrew Palmer, includes many of Alwyn's autobiographical writings, and other writings on music published by Toccata Press, 2009.
• http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=353236954739 William Alwyn on Facebook.