Grace Williams
Grace Mary Williams (19 February 1906 - 10 February 1977) was a Welsh composer.
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[edit] Biography
Williams was born in Barry, near Cardiff, Wales.
She was educated at Barry County School, and won a scholarship to Cardiff University ( University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire). She then went to the Royal College of Music, London, where she was taught by Ralph Vaughan Williams. During the Second World War, the students were evacuated to Grantham in Lincolnshire, where Grace composed some of her earliest works, including the Sinfonia Concertante and her first symphony.
During and after the war, Williams suffered from depression and other stress-related health problems. Having taught in London, she returned to Wales, where she worked for the BBC. One of her most popular works was her Fantasia on Welsh Nursery Tunes (1940). In 1960-61 she wrote her only opera, The Parlour, which was not performed until 1966. In the same year, she turned down an offer of the OBE for her services to music.
BBC Radio 3 devoted their Composer of the Week segment to her during the second week of August 2006. This resulted in several new performances of long-unperformed works, including her Violin Concerto.
[edit] Principal works
- Elegy for String orchestra (1936)
- Four Illustrations for the Legend of Rhiannon (1939)
- Fantasia on Welsh Nursery Tunes (1940)[1]
- Sinfonia Concertante for piano and orchestra (1941)[2]
- Symphony no. 1 (1943)
- Sea Sketches, for String orchestra (1944)
- Violin Concerto (c. 1945)[3]
- The Dancers (1951)
- Penillion, for orchestra (1955)[4]
- Symphony no. 2 (1956)
- All Seasons shall be Sweet (1959)
- The Parlour, opera (1961)
- Trumpet Concerto (1963)
- Carillons, for oboe and orchestra (1965)
- Ballads for Orchestra (1968)
- Missa Cambrensis (1971)
- Ave Maris Stella, for choir (1973)
- Fairest of Stars, for soprano and orchestra (1973)
[edit] Recordings
Only a handful of Williams' works have been recorded. Her Second Symphony, Penillion, Sea Sketches and Fantasia on Welsh Nursery Tunes have been included in two Lyrita compilations, and several choral works, including Ave Maris Stella, were recorded for a Chandos Records collection. Ballads for Orchestra was recorded by the BBC Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Baldur Brönnimann and was included in issue number 35 of BBC Music Magazine
[edit] Further reading
Grace Williams left no autobiography, but a useful introduction to her work is
- Boyd, Malcolm (1996). Grace Williams. University of Wales Press. ISBN 0-7083-1372-8.
