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Jeffrey Lewis (born 28 November 1942) is a Welsh composer, who lives in
Llanfairfechan Llanfairfechan ("Little St Mary's Parish") is a town and community in the Conwy County Borough, Wales. It is known as a seaside resort and had a population at the 2001 Census of 3,755, reducing to 3,637 at the 2011 Census. The history of the ...
.


Biography and work

Lewis was born in Neath, where he joined the church choir and began learning the organ. He studied at the University of Wales, Cardiff, under
Alun Hoddinott Alun Hoddinott CBE (11 August 1929 – 11 March 2008) was a Welsh composer of classical music, one of the first to receive international recognition. Life and works Hoddinott was born in Bargoed, Glamorganshire, Wales. He was educated at Gowe ...
; with
György Ligeti György Sándor Ligeti (; ; 28 May 1923 – 12 June 2006) was a Hungarian-Austrian composer of contemporary classical music. He has been described as "one of the most important avant-garde composers in the latter half of the twentieth century ...
and
Karlheinz Stockhausen Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th-century classical music, 20th and early 21st-century ...
at Darmstadt; with
Bogusław Schaeffer Bogusław Julian Schaeffer (also Schäffer) (6 June 1929 – 1 July 2019) was a Polish composer, musicologist, and graphic artist, a member of the avantgarde "Cracow Group" of Polish composers alongside Krzysztof Penderecki and others. Schaeffe ...
in Krakow and with
Don Banks Donald Oscar Banks (25 October 19235 September 1980) was an Australian composer of concert, jazz, and commercial music. Early life and education Jazz was Banks' earliest and strongest musical influence. He learned the saxophone as a boy in Aust ...
in
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
. He taught at Leeds College of Music (1969–72) and the
University of Wales, Bangor , former_names = University College of North Wales (1884–1996) University of Wales, Bangor (1996–2007) , image = File:Arms_of_Bangor_University.svg , image_size = 250px , caption = Arms ...
(1973 - 1992), under
William Mathias William James Mathias CBE (1 November 1934 – 29 July 1992) was a Welsh composer noted for choral works. Biography Mathias was born in Whitland, Carmarthenshire. A child prodigy, he started playing the piano at the age of three and began co ...
. Early performances included ''Fanfares with Variations'' and the ''Chamber Concerto'' with the
BBC Welsh Orchestra The BBC National Orchestra of Wales (BBC NOW) ( cy, Cerddorfa Genedlaethol Gymreig y BBC) is a Welsh symphony orchestra and one of the BBC's five professional radio orchestras. The BBC NOW is the only professional symphony orchestra organisatio ...
under
John Carewe John Carewe (born 24 January 1933) is a British conductor. Very early in his student career at the Guildhall School of Music, Carewe gave up his original intention of being a composer and turned to conducting. His teachers, nevertheless, were al ...
, and, at the 1967
Cheltenham Festival The Cheltenham Festival is a horse racing-based meeting in the National Hunt racing calendar in the United Kingdom, with race prize money second only to the Grand National. The four-day festival takes place annually in March at Cheltenham Ra ...
, his ''Two Cadenzas'' for piano and ''Epitaphium - Children of the Sun'' for narrator, chamber choir, piano, flute, clarinet and percussion.
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
commissions included the orchestral works ''Mutations I'' (1969), ''Aurora'' (1973), ''Scenario'' (1975), ''Praeludium'' (1975), ''Memoria'' (1978) and ''Limina Lucis'' (1982). Other works include a ''Piano Concerto'' (1989), ''Duologue'' for violin and piano (1971), ''Scena'' for violin and piano (1988), ''Teneritas'' for flute and piano (1997), ''Sonante'' for clarinet and piano (1986 - for
Thea King Dame Thea King DBE FRCM FGSM (26 December 1925 – 26 June 2007) was a British clarinettist. Biography Early life Thea King was born in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, the daughter of Henry Walter Mayer King, the manager of his family engine ...
), ''Cantus'' for clarinet and piano (1996), a ''Piano Trio'' (1983), a ''Wind Quintet'' (1986), several mixed ensemble pieces including ''Time-Passage'' (1977), ''Stratos'' (1979), ''Epitaph for Abelard and Heloise'' (1979) and ''Litania'' (1993), piano works including ''Tableau'' (1980), ''Fantasy'' (1983), ''Threnody'' (1990 - all for Jana Frenklova), ''Trilogy'' (1992), ''Musica Aeterna'' (1997) and ''Sereno'' (2004), organ works including ''Mutations II'' (1971), ''Momentum'' (1977) and ''Esultante'' (1977 - these last two for
Gillian Weir Dame Gillian Constance Weir (born 17 January 1941) is a New Zealand-British organist. Biography Weir was born in Martinborough, New Zealand, on 17 January 1941. Her parents were Clarice Mildred Foy ( Bignell) and Cecil Alexander Weir. She re ...
), ''Dreams, Dances and Lullabies'' for harp (1990), ''Silentia Noctis'' for high voice and piano (1989), and many choral works, notably ''Carmen Paschale'' (1981), ''Hymnus Ante Somnum'' (1985), ''Sequentia ad Sancte Michaele'' (1985), ''Westminster Mass'' (1990 - for
Martin Neary Martin Gerard James Neary LVO is an English organist and choral conductor. Neary was born in London, and read theology and music at Cambridge University. He was Organist and Director of Music at Winchester Cathedral from 1972 to 1988, and Org ...
), ''Recordatio'' (1999) and a sequence of eleven ''Sacred Chants'' (2005). Lewis's music is characterised by rhythmic energy and harmonic complexity alternating with extreme stillness; latterly his music has tended towards greater simplicity and tranquility and it often appears to inhabit a twilight world of dreams. However, he has achieved this simplicity through a process of constant refinement of his compositional technique, rather than any rejection of his earlier complexity. In 2005 Ivan March in '' Gramophone'' magazine described the CD release of ''Epitaph for Abelard and Heloise'', ''Litania'' and ''Musica Aeterna'' as "...a disc not to be missed by anyone who cares about communicative 20th-century music."


References


Sources

*Henshall, Dalwyn: “Memento Mori - An appreciation of Jeffrey Lewis’s recent orchestral music.” (Welsh Music, Vol 6 No 6, 1980 & Vol 6 No 7, 1981) *Jones, David: Notes for CD ASC CS CD43 – Jeffrey Lewis: Threnody, Cantus, Teneritas, Sonante, Trilogy *Jones, David: Notes for CD CAMEO 2037 – Jeffrey Lewis: Epitaph for Abelard and Heloise, Litania, Musica Aeterna *Jones, David: “A glimpse of infinity: time and stillness in the music of Jeffrey Lewis” (The Musical Times Vol.145 No.1889 (Winter 2004), pp. 65–74) *Tommis, Colin: “Y Gitar Gymreig – Jeffrey Lewis” (Guitar International, July 1989, pp 22 –27)


External links


Article about Jeffrey Lewis, ''A Glimpse of Infinity'', in ''Musical Times'', Winter 2004

Welsh Music Information Centre
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Jeffrey 1942 births Welsh composers Welsh male composers Alumni of Cardiff University Academics of Bangor University Living people Academics of Leeds College of Music