Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 714 views

    Bio and Program Notes For Clifton Williams

    Uploaded by

    Andrew Janes
    Clifton Williams was an American composer, conductor, and music educator born in 1923 in Arkansas. He studied music at Louisiana State University and Eastman School of Music, focusing on composition. Williams' career path was set towards composing for wind ensembles by Howard Hanson. His first major success came in 1956 when his piece "Fanfare and Allegro" won the ABA Ostwald Prize. He went on to win the prize again the following year. Williams taught at the University of Texas and University of Miami, where he influenced many students before his passing in 1976. His final work, "Caccia and Chorale," contrasts a relentless pursuit with a plea for greater humanity.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Bio and Program Notes For Clifton Williams

    Uploaded by

    Andrew Janes
    714 views2 pages
    Clifton Williams was an American composer, conductor, and music educator born in 1923 in Arkansas. He studied music at Louisiana State University and Eastman School of Music, focusing on composition. Williams' career path was set towards composing for wind ensembles by Howard Hanson. His first major success came in 1956 when his piece "Fanfare and Allegro" won the ABA Ostwald Prize. He went on to win the prize again the following year. Williams taught at the University of Texas and University of Miami, where he influenced many students before his passing in 1976. His final work, "Caccia and Chorale," contrasts a relentless pursuit with a plea for greater humanity.

    Original Description:

    Bio and Program Notes for Clifton Williams "Caccia and Chorale"

    Original Title

    Bio and Program Notes for Clifton Williams

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Clifton Williams was an American composer, conductor, and music educator born in 1923 in Arkansas. He studied music at Louisiana State University and Eastman School of Music, focusing on composition. Williams' career path was set towards composing for wind ensembles by Howard Hanson. His first major success came in 1956 when his piece "Fanfare and Allegro" won the ABA Ostwald Prize. He went on to win the prize again the following year. Williams taught at the University of Texas and University of Miami, where he influenced many students before his passing in 1976. His final work, "Caccia and Chorale," contrasts a relentless pursuit with a plea for greater humanity.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    714 views2 pages

    Bio and Program Notes For Clifton Williams

    Uploaded by

    Andrew Janes
    Clifton Williams was an American composer, conductor, and music educator born in 1923 in Arkansas. He studied music at Louisiana State University and Eastman School of Music, focusing on composition. Williams' career path was set towards composing for wind ensembles by Howard Hanson. His first major success came in 1956 when his piece "Fanfare and Allegro" won the ABA Ostwald Prize. He went on to win the prize again the following year. Williams taught at the University of Texas and University of Miami, where he influenced many students before his passing in 1976. His final work, "Caccia and Chorale," contrasts a relentless pursuit with a plea for greater humanity.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 2

    Bio on Clifton Williams

    Clifton Williams was an American composer, conductor, theorist, and music


    educator born in Arkansas in 1923. Growing up, Williams began learning French horn
    and piano, and began to stand out as a musician as early as high school, where his
    classmates voted him most outstanding in artistry, talent, and versatility. He
    attended Louisiana State University for his Bachelors of Music (received 1947),
    where he studied under Helen Gunderson, and the Eastman School of Music for his
    Masters degree (received 1949), studying under Bernard Rogers and Howard
    Hanson. While at Eastman, Williams career path was set towards composing for the
    wind ensemble genre, counseled by Hanson, a veteran orchestral composer, that
    his compositions for wind band would garner larger audiences, not to mention a
    larger amount and wider range of ensembles that would be able to perform his
    works.
    His first major compositional breakthrough occurred in 1956, as his concert band
    piece entitled Fanfare and Allegro won the inaugural American Bandmasters
    Association Ostwald Composition Prize. He would also go on to win the award the
    following year, with the work entitled Symphonic Suite winning critical acclaim. As
    a sidenote, in 1958 he entered his piece Symphonic Essays, though he withdrew
    the work the day before the winner was to be announced after indications pointed
    to his victory; Williams stated himself that winning a new competition a third
    consecutive year would discourage other contemporary composers. With these
    successes, Williams works quickly moved to the forefront of contemporary wind
    literature.
    Immediately after graduating, Williams accepted a post in the composition
    department at the University of Texas. In 1966, he relocated to Miami to become the
    Chair of the Theory and Composition department at the University of Miami. He
    would stay at UM until his passing in 1976. Some of his most notable students
    include W. Francis McBeth, John Barnes Chance, and UConns own Dr. Kenneth
    Fuchs.

    Program Notes
    Caccia and Chorale

    Clifton Williams

    The two title words of this piece are borrowed from the Italian language because of their
    allegorical significance. The first Caccia, means hunt or chase, and is intended to reflect the
    preoccupation of most people in the world with a constant pursuit of materialism. The Chorale is, by
    contrast, an urgent and insistent plea for greater humanity, a return to religious or ethical concepts.
    Caccia and Chorale, published in 1973 just before his passing three years later, is very much in
    the signature of Clifton Williams; however, the futility of the Caccia and its ultimate exhaustion into the
    Chorale bring us yet another dimension of this composer. As the Caccia continues its relentless pursuit of
    greater heights of frenzy, at times utilizing multiple time signatures simultaneously, it is finally interrupted
    by a morse code figure, which persists over the sustained block chords of what signals the chase as Dr.

    Williams describes it. The material found in the Chorale represents some of the most powerful emotional
    music to come from Williams pen; not only in volume, but in the tension-maintaining harmonic structure
    which is as dramatic as any fortissimo climax found in any of his music. The music leaves one with a
    somewhat unresolved, restless feeling, although the final pianissimo chord makes every attempt to
    negate this through its musical consonance. (James D. Wayne)

    You might also like