Doreen Mary Carwithen (15 November 19225 January 2003) was a British composer of classical and film music. She was also known as Mary Alwyn following her marriage to

William Alwyn William Alwyn (born William Alwyn Smith; 7 November 1905 – 11 September 1985), was a prolific English composer, Conducting, conductor, and music teacher who composed over 200 cinematic scores, of which some 70 were for full-length features, ...

Lewis Foreman Lewis Foreman (born 1941) is a musicologist and author of books, articles, programme notes and CD sleeve notes on classical music, specialising in British music. He has been particularly associated with the Dutton Epoch and Lyrita record labels ...

'Carwithen, Doreen', in ''Grove Music Online'' (2001)
/ref> Doreen-carwithen-portrait

Biography

Doreen Carwithen was born at 8 High Street,

Haddenham, Buckinghamshire Haddenham is a village and civil parish in west Buckinghamshire, England. It is about south-west of Aylesbury and north-east of Thame in neighbouring Oxfordshire. At the 2011 Census, the population of the civil parish was 4,502. History Th ...

on 15 November 1922, in the house attached to her father's bakery and grocery. As a child she had her first music lessons from her mother Dulcie, an aspiring concert pianist and pupil of

Tobias Matthay Tobias Augustus Matthay (19 February 185815 December 1945) was an English pianist, teacher, and composer. Biography Matthay was born in Clapham, Surrey, in 1858 to parents who had come from northern Germany and eventually became naturalised Brit ...

, who gave up her wider ambitions to become a music teacher after her marriage in 1921. Doreen studied both piano and violin with her from the age of four. Her younger sister Barbara Carwithen (born 1926) received similar tuition and also became a talented musician and composer.Chivers, Mark. "Doreen Carwithen in Haddenham"
''carwithenmusicfestival.co.uk'', accessed 28 February 2023 At the age of 16 Doreen Carwithen began composing by setting

Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication '' Lyrical Ballads'' (1798). Wordsworth's ...

's "

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" (also sometimes called "Daffodils") is a lyric poem by William Wordsworth. It is one of his most popular, and was inspired by an encounter on 15 April 1802 during a walk with his younger sister Dorothy, when they ...

" for voice and piano. In 1941 she entered the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is one of the oldest music schools in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the firs ...

and played the cello in a string quartet and with orchestras. She was a member of the harmony class of

, who began to teach her composition. Her first orchestral work, the overture ''ODTAA (One Damn Thing After Another)'', was premiered at

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist sit ...

by the

London Philharmonic Orchestra The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is a British orchestra based in London. One of five permanent symphony orchestras in London, the LPO was founded by the conductors Thomas Beecham, Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a riv ...

, conducted by

Adrian Boult Sir Adrian Cedric Boult, CH (; 8 April 1889 – 22 February 1983) was a British conductor. Brought up in a prosperous mercantile family, he followed musical studies in England and at Leipzig, Germany, with early conducting work in London ...

on 2 March 1947. The previous year she had become the first recipient of a J. Arthur Rank Film Scholarship. In 1961 she became William Alwyn's devoted secretary and

amanuensis An amanuensis ( ) ( ) or scribe is a person employed to write or type what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another. It may also be a person who signs a document on behalf of another under the latter's authority. In some aca ...

, becoming his second wife in 1975, adopting Mary Alwyn as her married name, as she disliked the name Doreen, and Mary was her middle name. She later worked as a Sub Professor of Composition at the RAM. After her husband's death in 1985, she founded the William Alwyn Archive and William Alwyn Foundation to promote his music and facilitate related research projects. She then also resumed interest in her own music. In 1999, a stroke left her paralysed on one side. She died at Forncett St Peter, near

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

, on 5 January 2003.

Works

Doreen Carwithen wrote scores for over 30 films, including ''Harvest from the Wilderness'' (1948), ''

Boys in Brown ''Boys in Brown'' is a 1949 black and white British drama film directed by Montgomery Tully and starring Jack Warner, Richard Attenborough, Dirk Bogarde and Jimmy Hanley. It was written by Tully based on the 1940 play ''Boys in Brown'' by the ...

'' (1950), '' Mantrap'' (released in the U.S. as ''Man in Hiding'') (1952), ''

The Men of Sherwood Forest ''Men of Sherwood Forest'' is a 1954 British historical adventure film directed by Val Guest and starring Don Taylor, Reginald Beckwith, Eileen Moore, Douglas Wilmer, John Van Eyssen and David King-Wood. The film follows the exploits of Robin ...

'' (1954) and ''

Three Cases of Murder ''Three Cases of Murder'' is a 1955 British horror omnibus film comprising three stories: "In The Picture," "You Killed Elizabeth," and "Lord Mountdrago." Eamonn Andrews introduces each. Alan Badel appears in all three.John Hamilton, ''The Br ...

'' (1955). In two of the films - ''The Stranger Left No Card'' (1952) and ''On the Twelfth Day'' (1954) - the music took the place of dialogue. Music from the score of the short

British Transport Films British Transport Films was an organisation set up in 1949 to make documentary films on the general subject of British transport. Its work included internal training films, travelogues (extolling the virtues of places that could be visited via t ...

documentary ''East Anglian Holiday'' (1954) was later reused in her ''Suffolk Suite''.Deller, Toby.
The Carwithen Music Festival
, ''Classical Music'', 18 January 2022 She gained a reputation in the film industry for her professionalism and speed under pressure: her score for ''Elizabeth Is Queen'', the official film of the

coronation A coronation ceremony marks the formal investiture of a monarch with regal power using a crown. In addition to the crowning, this ceremony may include the presentation of other items of regalia, and other rituals such as the taking of special v ...

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

, had to be completed in just three days. Her orchestral works include an overture ''ODTAA (One Damn Thing After Another)'' (1945) (after the novel by

John Masefield John Edward Masefield (; 1 June 1878 – 12 May 1967) was an English poet and writer. He was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate from 1930 until his death in 1967, during which time he lived at Burcot, Oxfordshire, near Abingdon ...

); a Concerto for piano and strings (1948); the overture ''

Bishop Rock The Bishop Rock () is a skerry off the Great Britain, British coast in the northern Atlantic Ocean known for its lighthouse. It is in the westernmost part of the Isles of Scilly, an archipelago off the southwestern tip of the Cornwall, Cornish ...

'' (1952) and the ''Suffolk Suite'' (1964). Scores and parts for ''Bishop Rock'' and ''Suffolk Suite'' are available from Goodmusic. She also wrote a Violin Sonata (1951) and two award-winning ( Clements Prize, 1948 and Cobbett Award, 1952) but little-known string quartets, which received their first recordings in 1998, as well as seven solo songs, composed early in her career. Carwithen was an accomplished pianist herself, as is evident from the piano writing in her 1948 Piano Concerto. But her neo-classical three movement Sonatina (1946) was written for her lifelong friend, the pianist

Violet Graham Cole Violet may refer to: Common meanings * Violet (color), a spectral color with wavelengths shorter than blue * One of a list of plants known as violet, particularly: ** ''Viola'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants Places United States * Vio ...

(1923-2000).Broad, Leah.
Quartet: How Four Women Changed the Musical World
' (2023) via ''books.google.co.uk'' She also edited for performance the second piano concerto by her husband William Alwyn. A Doreen Carwithen Music Festival took place in the village of Haddenham between 30 June and 3 July 2022, marking her centenary. For the same reason, the

BBC Proms The BBC Proms is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in central London. Robert Newman founded The Proms in 1895. Since 1927, the ...

included three of her works - ''Bishop Rock'', the Second String Quartet and ''ODTAA'' - in the 2022 season, and her life and work were featured in the BBC Radio Three series ''

Composer of the Week ''Composer of the Week'' is a biographical music programme produced by BBC Cymru Wales and broadcast on BBC Radio 3. It is broadcast daily from Monday to Friday at 4pm for an hour, with each week's programmes being a self-contained series of fi ...

'' in November 2022.Composer of the Week
''www.bbc.co.uk''

Selected works

* Cello Sonatina (1944) * String Quartet No. 1 (1945) * Piano Sonatina (1945-6) * ''ODTAA'', overture (1947) * Concerto for Piano and Strings (1948) * Four Preludes for piano (1950) * String Quartet No. 2 in two movements (1950) * Violin Sonata (1951) * ''Bishop Rock'', overture (1952) * ''Five Diversions'' for wind quintet (1953) * ''Suffolk Suite'' (1964)

Selected film scores

* ''Harvest from the Wilderness'' (1948) * '' To the Public Danger'' (1948) * ''

'' (1950) * '' The Stranger Left No Card'' (1952) * ''Elizabeth is Queen'' (1953) * '' Mantrap'' (1953) (U.S. as ''Man in Hiding'') * ''East Anglian Holiday'' (1954) * ''

'' (1954) * ''

Break in the Circle ''Break in the Circle'' is a 1955 British crime film directed by Val Guest and starring Forrest Tucker, Eva Bartok, Marius Goring, Arnold Marle and Guy Middleton. It was written by Guest based on the 1951 novel ''Break in The Circle'' by Robin ...

'' (1955) * ''On The Twelfth Day...'' (1955) (directed by

Wendy Toye Beryl May Jessie Toye, (1 May 1917 – 27 February 2010), known professionally as Wendy Toye, was a British dancer, stage and film director and actress. Life and career Toye was born in London. She initially worked as a dancer and choreographe ...

) * ''

'' (1955)

References

External links