Thomas Wilson (composer) explained

Thomas Wilson
Honorific Suffix:CBE, FRSE
Birth Name:Thomas Brendan Wilson
Birth Date:10 October 1927
Birth Place:Trinidad, Colorado, U.S.
Death Date:12 June 2001 (aged 73)
Death Place:Scotland, United Kingdom
Alma Mater:University of Glasgow (BA, DMus)
Occupation:Composer

Thomas Wilson CBE FRSE (10 October 1927 – 12 June 2001) was an American-born Scottish composer, a key figure in the revival of interest in Scottish classical music after the second world war.[1]

Early life and education

Thomas Brendan Wilson was born in Trinidad, Colorado to British parents and moved to Britain with his family when he was 17 months old.

The family settled in the Glasgow, Scotland area where (aside from three years in France) he lived and worked for the remainder of his life. Wilson was educated in Glasgow before taking an undergraduate course at St. Mary's College, Aberdeen. He then studied music at the University of Glasgow (1948-1953) with Ernest Bullock and Frederick Rimmer, where he continued as a postgraduate, receiving a doctorate (DMus). From 1954 he continued his composition studies with Herbert Howells at the Royal College of Music.[2]

He served in the Royal Air Force from 1945 to 1948.[3]

Career

One of the first honours graduates in music from Glasgow University, Wilson became a lecturer there in 1957. He was later appointed a Reader (1971) and given a Personal Chair in 1977. He consistently played an active part in the musical life of the UK, holding executive and advisory positions in such organisations as the Scottish Arts Council, The New Music Group of Scotland, The Society for the Promotion of New Music, The Composers' Guild of Great Britain (chairman 1986–89) now the British Association of Composers and Songwriters, and The Scottish Society of Composers (of which he was a founder member).[4]

His music has been played all over the world and embraces all forms - orchestral, choral-orchestral, chamber-orchestral, opera, ballet, brass band, vocal music of different kinds, and works for a wide variety of chamber ensembles and solo instruments. Wilson completed five symphonies, the fourth of which, Passeleth Tapestry, was premiered by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra under Bryden Thomson on 6 August 1988 in Paisley Abbey.[5] He also completed four concertos - for piano (1985), viola (1987), violin (1993, a one movement elegy in memory of Bryden Thomson)[6] and guitar (1996) - and large scale choral works, such as Sequentiae Passionis (1971) for chorus and orchestra, and Confitemini Domino (1993), commissioned by the Royal College of Organists and premiered in St Paul's Cathedral. His largest work was an opera, Confessions of a Justified Sinner (1972–75), commissioned by Scottish Opera and based on the novel by James Hogg.[3]

The chamber and instrumental compositions include four string quartets. The prize winning Third in 1958 is a three movement work, expressionist in tone and with the emphasis on counterpoint and organic development. The Fourth Quartet (1978) is a further example of his interest in single movement form (like the later orchestral piece Introit and the Violin Concerto).[2] His first fully serial work was the 1961 Violin Sonata, and a free treatment of 12 tone techniques is a feature of his later pieces.[2] There are also vocal chamber music settings, such as the 1983 song cycle The Willow Branches: Seven Songs from the Chinese, for soloists and chamber ensemble or piano. The six part piano piece Incunabula (1983) was composed for Richard Deering, who premiered it in 1984. Some of the music is used again in the Piano Concerto the following year.[7]

Wilson was awarded the CBE in 1990. The following year he was awarded an honorary DMus Degree from Glasgow University and created a Fellow of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. He was also elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

He died at the age of 73 in June 2001, survived by his wife Margaret Rayner (married 1952) and their three sons.[3] The 80th anniversary of Wilson's birth on 10 October 1927 was marked by a concert featuring one of the composer's most performed works, the St Kentigern Suite for string orchestra, on 17 January 2008 by the RSAMD Chamber Orchestra, and by a performance of the composer's Violin Concerto also in January 2008 by the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland.

Works

Orchestral

Choral

A cappella masses

Operas

Ballet

Brass band

Vocal

Carols

Chamber

Instrumental

Other

Recordings

References

  1. [Cedric Thorpe Davie]
  2. https://doi-org.lonlib.idm.oclc.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.30384 Francis J. Morris. 'Wilson, Thomas (Brendan)'
  3. News: Geddes. John Maxwell. 2001-06-19. Obituary: Thomas Wilson. en-GB. The Guardian. 2020-05-12. 0261-3077.
  4. [John Maxwell Geddes]
  5. Web site: Catalogue - @ Scottish Music Centre . 14 May 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150924095541/http://www.scottishmusiccentre.com/members/thomas_wilson/works/c10565/ . 24 September 2015 . dead .
  6. Paul Driver. 'Sonic delights; Music', in The Sunday Times, 22 August 1993, p. 14
  7. Incumabula, recorded by Richard Deering on Heritage HTGCD142 (2023), MusicWeb International review
  8. Book: Operas in English. 86. Margaret Ross Griffel. 2013. 9780810883253. Scarecrow Press. 1 November 2022.

Further reading

External links

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Thomas Wilson (composer)".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.