William John Sweeney (born 5 January 1950) is a Scottish composer.

Biography

Born in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, he attended

Knightswood Secondary School Knightswood Secondary School is a secondary school located in Knightswood in the west-end of Glasgow, Scotland. The school is one of the city's largest secondaries with a roll of approximately 1500 pupils. Knightswood is co-educational, non- ...

. He studied the clarinet and

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography *Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...

at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama from 1967 to 1970, and at the Royal Academy of Music from 1970 to 1973, where his teachers included

Alan Hacker Alan Ray Hacker (30 September 1938 – 16 April 2012) was an English clarinettist, conductor, and music professor. Biography He was born in Dorking, Surrey in 1938, the son of Kenneth and Sybil Hacker.''Who’s Who 1975'', page 1302, (A&C Bl ...

and

Harrison Birtwistle Sir Harrison Birtwistle (15 July 1934 – 18 April 2022) was an English composer of contemporary classical music best known for his operas, often based on mythological subjects. Among his many compositions, his better known works include '' T ...

. He went on to teach

woodwind Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the greater category of wind instruments. Common examples include flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and saxophone. There are two main types of woodwind instruments: flutes and re ...

instruments, and then composition at the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

. An early influence was the European

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

, particularly

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 ...

, though he returned to tonal composition in the mid-1970s. His work is strongly influenced by traditional Scottish

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

; in particular, he has utilised the

heterophonic In music, heterophony is a type of texture characterized by the simultaneous variation of a single melodic line. Such a texture can be regarded as a kind of complex monophony in which there is only one basic melody, but realized at the same time ...

style of

Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...

psalm The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived f ...

-singing, and the

piobaireachd Pibroch, or is an art music genre associated primarily with the Scottish Highlands that is characterised by extended compositions with a melodic theme and elaborate formal variations. Strictly meaning "piping" in Scottish Gaelic, has for some f ...

form; he varies

melodies A melody (from Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combinati ...

through

ornamentation An ornament is something used for decoration. Ornament may also refer to: Decoration *Ornament (art), any purely decorative element in architecture and the decorative arts *Biological ornament, a characteristic of animals that appear to serve on ...

, as in traditional

pibroch Pibroch, or is an art music genre associated primarily with the Scottish Highlands that is characterised by extended compositions with a melodic theme and elaborate formal variations. Strictly meaning "piping" in Scottish Gaelic, has for some f ...

, and in their contour; he modifies instruments' tone-colours through alternative fingerings. He has a strong regard for the music of

Leoš Janáček Leoš Janáček (, baptised Leo Eugen Janáček; 3 July 1854 – 12 August 1928) was a Czech composer, musical theorist, folklorist, publicist, and teacher. He was inspired by Moravian and other Slavic musics, including Eastern European f ...

. He has also addressed the reconciliation of classical and traditional music with

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

, using improvisational techniques and sometimes combining the two idioms. He has been influenced by

ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

poetry, and Indian and Arab traditions in his use of ostinato and other techniques of varied repetition. His Sonata for cello and piano (2010) won the 2011 British Composer Award in the "Instrumental Solo or Duo" category.Winners of the 2011 British Composer Awards
(archive from 2 October 2013, accessed 29 July 2020).

Selected works

Opera

*''An Turus'', opera in 3 acts, 1997; libretto by

Aonghas MacNeacail Aonghas MacNeacail (born 7 June 1942), nickname ''Aonghas dubh'' or ''Black Angus'', is a contemporary writer in the Scottish Gaelic language. Early life MacNeacail was born in Uig on the Isle of Skye on 7 June 1942. He was raised in Idrigil, ...

Orchestral

*''Maqam'', 1984 *''Glasgow'', 1985 *''Sunset Song'', 1986 *''Cumha'', 1987 *''Seann Orain'', 1989 *''Air, Strathspey and Reel'', 1990 *Concerto Grosso, for 9 clarinets, strings and timpani, 1990 *''St. Blane's Hill'', 1991 *''A Set for the Kingdom'', for string orchestra, 1991 *''October Landscapes'', 1993 *''Birth/Procession'', 1993 *''The Lost Mountain (A-bheinn Air Chall)'', for wind band, 1996 *''Sweeney Astray'', 1996

Concertante

*''Ceol-Beag'', for cello and orchestra, 1981 *''An rathad ùr'', for saxophone and orchestra, 1989

Chamber music

*String Quartet, 1981 *Trio for clarinet, viola and piano, 1982 *Sonata for viola, marimba and claves, 1985 *''Sweeney Astray'', for 2 clarinets, 1987, or for clarinet and viola, 2003 *String Quartet No. 3, 2004–2007 *Sonata for cello and piano, 2010 *''The Ballad of the Cat and the Ram'', for violin and piano

Choral

*''Salm an Fhearainn'', 1987 *''An Seachnadh'', 1988 *''I Will Wait'', 1990 *''Two Lyrics'', 1992 *''Airc an dualchais'', 1998

Multimedia

*''Tantallon! These Lands, This Wall'', 2012

Songs

*''3 Poems from Sangschaw'', 1977 *''The Heights of Macchu Picchu'', 1988 *''El Pueblo'', 1989 *''A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle'', 1992 *''An Coilltean Ratharsair'' (The Woods of Raasay), 1993 *''Seeking Wise Salmon'', 1994 *''All That Came in That One Coracle'', 1999

References

Sources

*Mackay, Neil. 'William Sweeney's ''an seachnadh. ''Tempo'', new series, no. 188 (Scottish Issue, March 1994): 58. *Morris, Francis J. 'Sweeney, William (John)'
Grove Music Online
ed. L. Macy (Accessed 2007-06-07), *Reid-Baxter, James. 'William Sweeney and the Voice of the People'. ''Tempo'', new series, no. 188 (Scottish Issue, March 1994): 26–30.

External links

Scottish music centre: William Sweeney
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sweeney, William Scottish classical composers British male classical composers 20th-century classical composers 21st-century classical composers Scottish opera composers Male opera composers Musicians from Glasgow 1950 births Living people Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music 20th-century Scottish musicians 20th-century British composers 20th-century British male musicians 21st-century British male musicians