ABSTRACT
William Alwyn was born in Northampton on 7 November 1905, and died in Southwold, Suffolk on 11 September 1985 just two months short of what would have been his eightieth birthday. He began his musical studies in 1920 aged just fifteen studying flute, piano, and composition at London’s Royal Academy of Music (RAM) where, in 1926, at the age of twenty-one, he was appointed Professor of Composition, a position that he was to retain for almost thirty years. During his long and prolific career Alwyn produced close to three hundred compositions that include music in the majority of genres: opera, ballet, orchestral, chamber, instrumental, and song. His major orchestral works include five symphonies, concertos for flute, oboe, violin, harp, and piano (two), a Sinfonietta for string orchestra, and three concerti grossi. In addition to this Alwyn contributed approximately two hundred scores for the cinema, seventy of which are feature films with the remainder being documentaries. He began his career in the documentary movement in 1936 and along with fellow British composer Benjamin Britten (1913–1976) became somewhat of a pioneer in this medium. In 1941 he wrote his first feature length score for Penn of Pennsylvania. Other notable film scores include the following: Desert Victory, The Way Ahead, The True Glory, Odd Man Out, The History Of Mr. Polly, The Rake’s Progress, The Fallen Idol, The Rocking Horse Winner, The Crimson Pirate, The Million Pound Note, The Winslow Boy, The Card, A Night To Remember, Carve Her Name With Pride, etc. This dedication to the art of writing film music was recognized in 1951 when Alwyn was made a fellow of The British Film Academy, the only composer until very recently to receive this honor. In addition to his work in the cinema, Alwyn also provided much incidental music for both radio and television.
