Edgar Warren Williams
Edgar Warren Williams is an American composer, conductor, and music theorist.
Williams obtained a bachelor's degree in composition from Duke University in 1971, then obtained a master's degree at Columbia University in 1973, studying with Charles Wuorinen, Mario Davidovsky, and Harvey Sollberger. He then matriculated at Princeton, where he received a Master's in Fine Arts in 1977 and a Ph.D. in 1982 and studied with Milton Babbitt and James K. Randall. He was a faculty member and orchestral conductor at the College of William & Mary from 1979. Williams's compositional work is noted for its orchestrational and timbral complexity, and its use of pitch collections as melodic and thematic elements.
Compositions
Orchestral
- 1969 Of Orphalese
- 1984 Landscapes with figure
- 1998 Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror
- 1999 ''Suite on "Nosferatu"''
For concert band
- 1968 "To my Father" Prologue
- 1978 Across a Bridge of Dreams
- 1991 Into the dark
- 1993 Now showing!
- 2002 Music from behind the Moon
- ''Prologue''
Musicals
- 1970 Music for In the Dark of the Moon
- 1982 Music for The Merry Wives of Windsor – text by William Shakespeare
- 1985 Music for Richard II – text by William Shakespeare
Choral
- 1975 The mystic trumpeter, for mixed choir and orchestra
- 1976 Multum in parvo, for large mixed choir
- 1998 Star Spangled Banner, canon for choirMissa, For six-member men's choir, brass and piano
Vocal music
- 1985 Three songs, for high voice and piano – text: Margaret Tongue
- 1985 The bawds of euphony, for high voice and piano – text: Wallace StevensTwo Lyrics, for middle voice and piano – text: James Agee
Chamber music
- 1968 Chamber Piece Nr. 1
- 1968 Chamber Piece Nr. 2
- 1971 String Quartet Nr. 1
- 1980 Amoretti, for viola and piano
- 1985 Caprice, for violin
- 1996 String Quartet Nr. 2
- 1999 String TrioFant'sy I , for 9 instrumentsFant'sy II , for 12 instrumentsFant'sy III , for 12 instruments
Piano
- 1987 Six Studies
- 2005 Sonata
Guitar
- 2002 Guitar quartet
Electronic music
- 2000 ''Pentimenti''
Publications
- Edgar Warren Williams: Harmony and Voice Leading, New York: HarperCollins, 1992.
- Edgar Warren Williams: Introduction to Music, New York: HarperCollins, 1991.
- Edgar Warren Williams: "Banqueting with the Emperor", in: Perspectives of New Music, vol. 35, no. 1
- Edgar Warren Williams: "A View of Schoenberg's Opus 19, No. 2", in: College Music Symposium, vol. 25
- Edgar Warren Williams: "In and About Some Measures of Beethoven", in: 19th-Century Music, November 1983
- Edgar Warren Williams: "On Complementary Interval Class Sets", in: In Theory Only, vol. 7