William Mathias (November 1 1934 — July 29 1992) was a Welsh composer.
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Brief biography
Mathias was born in Whitland, Carmarthenshire. A child prodigy, he started playing the piano aged three, and composing aged five. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music under Lennox Berkeley, where he was elected a Fellow in 1965. In 1968, he received the Bax Society Prize of the Harriet Cohen International Music Award. He was professor of music and head of department at the University of Wales, Bangor from 1970 until 1988. His compositions include large scale works including an opera The Servants (1980), three symphonies and three piano concertos. Much of his music was written for the Anglican choral tradition, most famously the anthem Let the people praise Thee, O God written for the July 1981 royal wedding of the Prince and Princess of Wales, which had a television audience of an estimated 1 billion people worldwide. Mathias wrote his Sinfonietta – initially called Dance Suite – for the Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra in late 1966 and it received its first performance at Leicester De Montfort Hall during the 1967 Schools Festival. It was also included in the orchestra's tour programme for Denmark and Germany later in the year. The LSSO made the first commercial recording of Sinfonietta for the Pye Golden Guinea label in July 1967 under the direction of the composer (see external links below). He founded the North Wales International Music Festival in St Asaph in 1972 and directed it until his death in 1992. He is buried outside St Asaph Cathedral.
List of works
Choral Works
- Festival Te Deum in C Major
- Bell Carol
- Sweet was the Song
- A Babe is Born Op. 55 (1971) 3:30 duration
- Ave Rex Op. 45
- Ceremony after a Fire Raid
- A May Magnificat
- Salvator Mundi
- Jonah
- Learsongs
- Lux Aeterna
- Riddles
- A Royal Garland
- Shakespeare Songs
- This Worlde's Joie
- Three Medieval Lyrics
- Sir Christemas
- Let the People Praise Thee, O God
Opera
- The Servants (1980)
Orchestral Works
- Divertimento for String Orchestra, Op.7 (1958)
- Dance Overture, Op.16 (1961)
- Invocation and Dance, Op.17 (1961)
- Serenade for Small Orchestra, Op.18 (1963)
- Prelude, Aria and Finale for String Orchestra, Op.25 (1964)
- Sinfonietta, Op.34 (1967)
- Harp Concerto (1970)
- Celtic Dances, Op.60 (1972)
- Laudi, Op.62 (1973)
- Vistas, Op.69 (1975)
- Symphony No. 2, Op.90 (Summer Music)
- Symphony No. 3 (1991)
- Organ Concerto (1984)
Chamber Works
- Zodiac Trio for Flute, Viola and Harp (1976)
- Wind Quintet op. 22 (1963)
Solo instrumental
- Sonatina for Flute & Piano Op. 98 (1953)
- Clarinet Sonatina (1957)
- Clarinet Concerto
- Violin Concerto (1992)
- Horn Concerto
- Oboe Concerto (1989)
Organ
- Antiphonies
- Berceuse
- Carillon
- Canzonetta Op. 78, No. 2
- Chorale (Easter 1966)
- Fanfare
- Fantasy for Organ
- Fenestra
- Invocations
- Jubilate Op. 67, No. 2 Dedicated to Michael Smythe
- Partita
- Postlude (1962)
- Processional Op. 96, No. 4. Dedicated to Christopher Morris, musician, publisher, friend
- Recessional (1964)
- Toccata Giocosa Op. 36, No. 2. Dedicated to Sir David Willcocks on the occasion of his Inauguration of the new organ at The Royal College of Organists, 7th October, 1967
- Variations on a Hymn Tune
References
- Liner notes by Rhiannon Mathias to Lyrita SRCD.328
- Malcolm Boyd. "William Mathias", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie (London: Macmillan, 1980), xi, 821-822.
External links
- William Mathias at Oxford University Press
- William Mathias, biography & appraisal of his music by David C.F. Wright on MusicWeb International
- Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra website
- Sinfonietta Information and short audio extracts from the 1967 Pye recording.
