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David Wynne (composer)

January 01, 1970

David Wynne (2 June 1900 – 23 March 1983) was a prolific Welsh composer, who taught for many years at Cardiff University and wrote much of his best-known music in retirement.[1]

Life and career edit

Christened David William Thomas, he was born at Nantmoch Uchaf farm in Penderyn, a village near Hirwaun, the son of a shepherd named Philip Thomas and his wife Elizabeth.[1] The following year, the family moved to Llanfabon, near Cilfynydd, where he attended the local school until the age of 12. For the next two years he worked at a local grocer's shop,[1] then at the age of 14 he went down the pit at the Albion Colliery, Cilfynydd, where one of Britain's worst mining disasters had occurred in 1894.[2] He continued to work there until the age of 25, even after beginning lessons with a local music teacher and organist, Tom Llewellyn Jenkins, himself a minor composer.[3] In 1925 he was awarded a Glamorgan Scholarship to University College, Cardiff, becoming a pupil of Professor David Evans[4] and John Morgan Lloyd; he obtained a B.Mus. degree in 1928.[1] From there he proceeded to the University of Bristol, where he spent a year in teacher training. In 1929 he was appointed Head of Music at Lewis School Pengam, a grammar school for boys, becoming the first full-time secondary school music teacher in Wales.[1] His students at Pengam included composers Robert Smith and Mervyn Burtch.[5] In 1933, he married Eirwen Evans and they settled in Maesycwmmer. In 1938 the University of Wales awarded him a D.Mus. In 1944 he was awarded the Clements Memorial Prize for his First String Quartet, and this effectively launched his career as a leading composer; thereafter he received regular commissions.[6] At the same time, he began using the name David Wynne for professional purposes. He retired from school teaching in 1960. From 1961 to 1971 he taught composition at Cardiff College of Music and Drama (now the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama),[7] and from 1970 to 1979 in the Department of Music at Cardiff University. In 1983, he died suddenly at his home in Pencoed, whilst working on his Fourth Symphony.[8]

Compositions edit

Wynne's first symphony, written in 1952, was never performed. His second, in 1956, was only the second work ever commissioned by the Welsh Music Guild.[9] One of his best-known orchestral works, the Third Symphony, was written in 1963 for the Caerffili Festival, and inspired by Caerphilly Castle,[10] its structure based on the castle's concentric design; it was premièred by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Michael Tippett.[9] His gentler and more lyrical side emerged in his Fantasia for Piano and Orchestra, which Martin Jones premiered with the Cardiff University Orchestra in 1972.

One of Wynne's earliest successes as a composer was his String Quartet No.1 in February, 1945. It won the A. J. Clements Composition Prize and brought him into contact with Michael Tippett, who remained a friend and supporter. It was the first of five quartets, spanning the years 1944 to 1980. There were also many sonatas including four solo piano sonatas (1947 rev. 1952, 1956, 1966 and 1966). Eiluned Davies premiered the Piano Sonata No 2 in 1957.[11]

The Welsh language had an influence on his composition that was both subtle and profound. The speech rhythms of Welsh poetry permeate his instrumental music, its melodic inflections often consciously influenced by the hwyl of the Welsh preachers that he heard in his youth. Many of his vocal works are settings of early and mediaeval Welsh poetry for which he seems to have had an especial affinity. In Owain ab Urien, a cantata for male voice choir with brass and percussion,[12] he set some of the earliest Welsh poetry, written in the 6th century. This work was also commissioned by the Welsh Music Guild, whose president at the time was Sir Michael Tippett, in memory of its founder, John Edwards;[13] and first performed at the Festival Hall in London in 1967 by the Pendyrus Male Voice Choir under its late director Glynne Jones and the Philip Jones brass ensemble. It was performed again by Risca Male Voice Choir in 2000, as part of Wynne's centenary celebrations.[14]

The David Wynne and Eirwen Thomas Memorial Award was launched in 2006, in association with the Welsh Music Guild, under the terms of David Wynne's will, to advance the careers of student composers, the first recipient being Gareth Churchill.[9]

Selected works edit

See also

Opera edit

  • Jack and Jill (1975)
  • Night and Cold Peace (1978)
  • Cain (1981)[15]

[16]

Orchestral
  • Symphony No.1 (1952); unperformed
  • Elegy for string orchestra (1953)
  • Berceuse for string orchestra (1954)
  • Prelude, Air and Dance (1955)
  • Symphony No.6 (1955)
  • Symphony No.2 (1956); commissioned by the Guild for the Promotion of Welsh Music
  • Fantasia No.1 (1957); commissioned by the National Youth Orchestra of Wales
  • Sinfonietta for string orchestra (1958)
  • A Welsh Suite (1961)
  • Symphony No.3 (1963); premiered at the Caerphilly Festival
  • Symphony No.4; incomplete
  • Cymric Rhapsody No.1 (1965)
  • Prelude (1968)
  • Cymric Rhapsody No.2 (1969)
  • Divertimento for string orchestra (1974)
  • Octad (1977)
  • Songs for string orchestra
  • Three Pieces for Orchestra
Concertante
  • Rhapsody No.1 for violin and orchestra (1957)
  • Fantasia Concerto for viola and orchestra (1961)
  • Fantasia Concerto for 2 pianos (3 hands) and orchestra (1962); unperformed
  • Fantasia for piano and orchestra (1972)
Chamber music
  • String Quartet No.1 (1944)
  • String Trio (1945)
  • Piano Trio No.1 (1946)
  • Sonatina for viola and piano (1946)
  • Sonata No.1 for violin and piano (1948)
  • Sonata for viola and piano (1951)
  • Five Short Pieces for clarinet and piano (1956)
  • Sonata for trombone and piano (1956)
  • Sonata for trumpet and piano (1956)
  • Sonata No.2 for violin and piano (1957)
  • Quintet for clarinet and string quartet (1959)
  • Septet for flute, clarinet, bassoon and string quartet (1961)
  • String Quartet No.3 (1966)[17]
  • Mosaic for percussion ensemble (1968)
  • Piano Trio No.2 (1968)
  • Duo for cello and piano (1970)
  • Quartet for violin, viola, cello and piano (1971)
  • String Quartet No.4 (1972)
  • Sextet for woodwind quintet and piano (1977)
  • Sonatina for violin and piano (1978)
  • Music for percussion ensemble (1979)
  • String Quartet No.5 (1980)
  • Quartet for oboe, viola, cello and double bass (1982)
  • Divertimento for 2 trumpets and 2 trombones
  • Postlude for 3 trumpets
Harp
  • Prelude and Dance (1963)
  • Music (1966)
  • Suite of Six Bagatelles
Organ
  • Sonata (1965)
  • Fanfare (1972)
  • Three Short Pieces (1973)
Piano
  • Sonata No.1 (1947)
  • Rondo Capriccioso for 2 pianos (1952)
  • Sonata No.2 (1956)[17]
  • Suite of Three Pieces
  • Variations and Capriccio for 2 pianos (1965)
  • Sonata No.3 (1966)
  • Sonata No.4 (1966)
  • Six Studies (1973)
  • Four Welsh Folk Tunes
  • Six Miniatures
Vocal
  • Songs of Solitude for high voice and string orchestra with piano (1941)
  • Two Songs from a Child's Garden for high voice and piano (1941)
  • Y môr ynghwsg (The Sleeping Sea) for high voice and piano (1941)
  • 6 Chân i denor a thelyn (6 Songs) for tenor and harp (1950)
  • Ebb and Flow for high voice and chamber ensemble (1960)
  • Coming Forth by Day for voice and piano (1964)
  • Evening Shadows for voice and piano (1971)
  • Night-Music for soprano, string quartet and piano (1974)
  • Aubade for voice and piano
  • A Cradle Song for voice and piano
  • Hwiangerdd Wyddelig (Irish Lullaby) for high voice and piano
  • Nocturne for low voice and piano
  • O rosyn, dos (Go, Lovely Rose) for tenor and piano
  • To Music for low voice and piano
Choral
  • Night Watch formixed chorus and orchestra (1957)
  • Four Songs from the Chinese for female chorus (1963)
  • Y gelynnen (The Holly) for female chorus and piano (1963)
  • Great Is the Lord for mixed chorus and organ (1967)
  • Stafell Gynddylan for mixed chorus (1967)
  • Gwirebau (Axioms) for chorus and piano (1969)
  • Suite of Six Songs for youth choir and piano (1972)
  • A Gwent Symphony "Wentwood Thorn" for female chorus and orchestra (1973)
  • The Traveller for tenor and mixed chorus (1973)
  • Geni Crist for mixed chorus and organ (1979)
  • Two settings of Poems by William Blake for mixed chorus and harp (1980)
  • Owain ab Urien, Cantata for male chorus and chamber ensemble

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d e Rhidian Griffiths. "David Wynne". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  2. ^ Phil Carradice (23 June 2014). "Albion Colliery explosion". BBC Blogs Wales. BBC. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  3. ^ Robert Evans; Maggie Humphreys (1 January 1997). Dictionary of Composers for the Church in Great Britain and Ireland. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 187. ISBN 978-1-4411-3796-8.
  4. ^ David Ewart Parry Williams. "David Evans". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  5. ^ Martin Hodson. . Risca Male Choir Côr Meibion Risca. Archived from the original on 20 November 2008. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  6. ^ "David Wynne archive (20th C.)". Cardiff University. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  7. ^ Music web
  8. ^ Music and Musicians. Hansom Books. 1982.
  9. ^ a b c "Welsh Music Guild: History". Welsh Music Guild. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  10. ^ David C F Wright (1986). "David Wynne" (PDF). Wright Music. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  11. ^ Notes to Lyrita SRCD 284 (2008)
  12. ^ . Tŷ Cerdd. Archived from the original on 1 June 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  13. ^ Eileen Price. "John Edwards: A Biography" (PDF). Welsh Music Guild. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  14. ^ "Risca Male Voice Choir". BBC Wales Music. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  15. ^ Irmtraud Fischer (2014). Bibel- und Antikenrezeption: Eine interdisziplinäre Annäherung. LIT Verlag Münster. pp. 229–. ISBN 978-3-643-50574-3.
  16. ^ "Opera Composers". Opera Glass. 2011. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  17. ^ a b Classical.net

Further reading edit

  • Welsh Music/Cerddoriaeth Cymru, Vol./Cyf. 7 No. 4 (Summer/Hâf 1983) pp/tt.35 – 43
  • "Centenary Tribute" – Welsh Music/Cerddoriaeth Cymru Vol/Cyf 10 No. 5 Winter 2000/01
  • "Composers of Wales – David Wynne", Ninnau Vol 33 No.5, 2008 p17
  • Seventh Catalogue of Contemporary Welsh Music, Compiled by Robert Smith : The Guild for the Promotion of Welsh Music (1981)
  • Composers of Wales (3): David Wynne by Richard Elfyn Jones. University of Wales Press (1979).ISBN 9780708307144

External links edit

  • Welsh Music Information Centre

January 01, 1970
david, wynne, composer, david, wynne, june, 1900, march, 1983, prolific, welsh, composer, taught, many, years, cardiff, university, wrote, much, best, known, music, retirement, contents, life, career, compositions, selected, works, opera, references, further, . David Wynne 2 June 1900 23 March 1983 was a prolific Welsh composer who taught for many years at Cardiff University and wrote much of his best known music in retirement 1 Contents 1 Life and career 2 Compositions 3 Selected works 3 1 Opera 4 References 5 Further reading 6 External linksLife and career editChristened David William Thomas he was born at Nantmoch Uchaf farm in Penderyn a village near Hirwaun the son of a shepherd named Philip Thomas and his wife Elizabeth 1 The following year the family moved to Llanfabon near Cilfynydd where he attended the local school until the age of 12 For the next two years he worked at a local grocer s shop 1 then at the age of 14 he went down the pit at the Albion Colliery Cilfynydd where one of Britain s worst mining disasters had occurred in 1894 2 He continued to work there until the age of 25 even after beginning lessons with a local music teacher and organist Tom Llewellyn Jenkins himself a minor composer 3 In 1925 he was awarded a Glamorgan Scholarship to University College Cardiff becoming a pupil of Professor David Evans 4 and John Morgan Lloyd he obtained a B Mus degree in 1928 1 From there he proceeded to the University of Bristol where he spent a year in teacher training In 1929 he was appointed Head of Music at Lewis School Pengam a grammar school for boys becoming the first full time secondary school music teacher in Wales 1 His students at Pengam included composers Robert Smith and Mervyn Burtch 5 In 1933 he married Eirwen Evans and they settled in Maesycwmmer In 1938 the University of Wales awarded him a D Mus In 1944 he was awarded the Clements Memorial Prize for his First String Quartet and this effectively launched his career as a leading composer thereafter he received regular commissions 6 At the same time he began using the name David Wynne for professional purposes He retired from school teaching in 1960 From 1961 to 1971 he taught composition at Cardiff College of Music and Drama now the Royal Welsh College of Music amp Drama 7 and from 1970 to 1979 in the Department of Music at Cardiff University In 1983 he died suddenly at his home in Pencoed whilst working on his Fourth Symphony 8 Compositions editWynne s first symphony written in 1952 was never performed His second in 1956 was only the second work ever commissioned by the Welsh Music Guild 9 One of his best known orchestral works the Third Symphony was written in 1963 for the Caerffili Festival and inspired by Caerphilly Castle 10 its structure based on the castle s concentric design it was premiered by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Michael Tippett 9 His gentler and more lyrical side emerged in his Fantasia for Piano and Orchestra which Martin Jones premiered with the Cardiff University Orchestra in 1972 One of Wynne s earliest successes as a composer was his String Quartet No 1 in February 1945 It won the A J Clements Composition Prize and brought him into contact with Michael Tippett who remained a friend and supporter It was the first of five quartets spanning the years 1944 to 1980 There were also many sonatas including four solo piano sonatas 1947 rev 1952 1956 1966 and 1966 Eiluned Davies premiered the Piano Sonata No 2 in 1957 11 The Welsh language had an influence on his composition that was both subtle and profound The speech rhythms of Welsh poetry permeate his instrumental music its melodic inflections often consciously influenced by the hwyl of the Welsh preachers that he heard in his youth Many of his vocal works are settings of early and mediaeval Welsh poetry for which he seems to have had an especial affinity In Owain ab Urien a cantata for male voice choir with brass and percussion 12 he set some of the earliest Welsh poetry written in the 6th century This work was also commissioned by the Welsh Music Guild whose president at the time was Sir Michael Tippett in memory of its founder John Edwards 13 and first performed at the Festival Hall in London in 1967 by the Pendyrus Male Voice Choir under its late director Glynne Jones and the Philip Jones brass ensemble It was performed again by Risca Male Voice Choir in 2000 as part of Wynne s centenary celebrations 14 The David Wynne and Eirwen Thomas Memorial Award was launched in 2006 in association with the Welsh Music Guild under the terms of David Wynne s will to advance the careers of student composers the first recipient being Gareth Churchill 9 Selected works editSee also Welsh Music Library Opera edit Jack and Jill 1975 Night and Cold Peace 1978 Cain 1981 15 16 Orchestral Symphony No 1 1952 unperformed Elegy for string orchestra 1953 Berceuse for string orchestra 1954 Prelude Air and Dance 1955 Symphony No 6 1955 Symphony No 2 1956 commissioned by the Guild for the Promotion of Welsh Music Fantasia No 1 1957 commissioned by the National Youth Orchestra of Wales Sinfonietta for string orchestra 1958 A Welsh Suite 1961 Symphony No 3 1963 premiered at the Caerphilly Festival Symphony No 4 incomplete Cymric Rhapsody No 1 1965 Prelude 1968 Cymric Rhapsody No 2 1969 Divertimento for string orchestra 1974 Octad 1977 Songs for string orchestra Three Pieces for Orchestra Concertante Rhapsody No 1 for violin and orchestra 1957 Fantasia Concerto for viola and orchestra 1961 Fantasia Concerto for 2 pianos 3 hands and orchestra 1962 unperformed Fantasia for piano and orchestra 1972 Chamber music String Quartet No 1 1944 String Trio 1945 Piano Trio No 1 1946 Sonatina for viola and piano 1946 Sonata No 1 for violin and piano 1948 Sonata for viola and piano 1951 Five Short Pieces for clarinet and piano 1956 Sonata for trombone and piano 1956 Sonata for trumpet and piano 1956 Sonata No 2 for violin and piano 1957 Quintet for clarinet and string quartet 1959 Septet for flute clarinet bassoon and string quartet 1961 String Quartet No 3 1966 17 Mosaic for percussion ensemble 1968 Piano Trio No 2 1968 Duo for cello and piano 1970 Quartet for violin viola cello and piano 1971 String Quartet No 4 1972 Sextet for woodwind quintet and piano 1977 Sonatina for violin and piano 1978 Music for percussion ensemble 1979 String Quartet No 5 1980 Quartet for oboe viola cello and double bass 1982 Divertimento for 2 trumpets and 2 trombones Postlude for 3 trumpets Harp Prelude and Dance 1963 Music 1966 Suite of Six Bagatelles Organ Sonata 1965 Fanfare 1972 Three Short Pieces 1973 Piano Sonata No 1 1947 Rondo Capriccioso for 2 pianos 1952 Sonata No 2 1956 17 Suite of Three Pieces Variations and Capriccio for 2 pianos 1965 Sonata No 3 1966 Sonata No 4 1966 Six Studies 1973 Four Welsh Folk Tunes Six Miniatures Vocal Songs of Solitude for high voice and string orchestra with piano 1941 Two Songs from a Child s Garden for high voice and piano 1941 Y mor ynghwsg The Sleeping Sea for high voice and piano 1941 6 Chan i denor a thelyn 6 Songs for tenor and harp 1950 Ebb and Flow for high voice and chamber ensemble 1960 Coming Forth by Day for voice and piano 1964 Evening Shadows for voice and piano 1971 Night Music for soprano string quartet and piano 1974 Aubade for voice and piano A Cradle Song for voice and piano Hwiangerdd Wyddelig Irish Lullaby for high voice and piano Nocturne for low voice and piano O rosyn dos Go Lovely Rose for tenor and piano To Music for low voice and piano Choral Night Watch formixed chorus and orchestra 1957 Four Songs from the Chinese for female chorus 1963 Y gelynnen The Holly for female chorus and piano 1963 Great Is the Lord for mixed chorus and organ 1967 Stafell Gynddylan for mixed chorus 1967 Gwirebau Axioms for chorus and piano 1969 Suite of Six Songs for youth choir and piano 1972 A Gwent Symphony Wentwood Thorn for female chorus and orchestra 1973 The Traveller for tenor and mixed chorus 1973 Geni Crist for mixed chorus and organ 1979 Two settings of Poems by William Blake for mixed chorus and harp 1980 Owain ab Urien Cantata for male chorus and chamber ensembleReferences edit a b c d e Rhidian Griffiths David Wynne Dictionary of Welsh Biography National Library of Wales Retrieved 2 May 2016 Phil Carradice 23 June 2014 Albion Colliery explosion BBC Blogs Wales BBC Retrieved 2 May 2016 Robert Evans Maggie Humphreys 1 January 1997 Dictionary of Composers for the Church in Great Britain and Ireland Bloomsbury Publishing p 187 ISBN 978 1 4411 3796 8 David Ewart Parry Williams David Evans Dictionary of Welsh Biography National Library of Wales Retrieved 2 May 2016 Martin Hodson Performances of Complete Works Risca Male Choir Cor Meibion Risca Archived from the original on 20 November 2008 Retrieved 2 May 2016 David Wynne archive 20th C Cardiff University Retrieved 2 May 2016 Music web Music and Musicians Hansom Books 1982 a b c Welsh Music Guild History Welsh Music Guild Retrieved 2 May 2016 David C F Wright 1986 David Wynne PDF Wright Music Retrieved 2 May 2016 Notes to Lyrita SRCD 284 2008 Owain ab Urien Tŷ Cerdd Archived from the original on 1 June 2016 Retrieved 2 May 2016 Eileen Price John Edwards A Biography PDF Welsh Music Guild Retrieved 2 May 2016 Risca Male Voice Choir BBC Wales Music Retrieved 2 May 2016 Irmtraud Fischer 2014 Bibel und Antikenrezeption Eine interdisziplinare Annaherung LIT Verlag Munster pp 229 ISBN 978 3 643 50574 3 Opera Composers Opera Glass 2011 Retrieved 2 May 2016 a b Classical netFurther reading editWelsh Music Cerddoriaeth Cymru Vol Cyf 7 No 4 Summer Haf 1983 pp tt 35 43 Centenary Tribute Welsh Music Cerddoriaeth Cymru Vol Cyf 10 No 5 Winter 2000 01 Composers of Wales David Wynne Ninnau Vol 33 No 5 2008 p17 Seventh Catalogue of Contemporary Welsh Music Compiled by Robert Smith The Guild for the Promotion of Welsh Music 1981 Composers of Wales 3 David Wynne by Richard Elfyn Jones University of Wales Press 1979 ISBN 9780708307144External links editWelsh Music Information Centre Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title David Wynne composer amp oldid 1218333691, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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