James Wilson (27 September 1922 – 6 August 2005) was an Irish composer. Though born in England, Wilson was a resident of Ireland for over 50 years.

Early life

Wilson was born in

Islington Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ...

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 ...

. His father, a chemist, died when James was only four days old, leaving his widowed mother to bring up three sons alone. Without any family background in music (the only real interest was his mother's slight interest in playing the piano), Wilson began piano lessons in 1931 (at the age of nine), continuing them until 1938. While in his early teens, Wilson attended many operas which fostered his interest in music. After school, and without any formal higher education, Wilson entered the

Civil Service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

after having passed their entrance exam. He served in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, from 1942 till 1946. Having finished his military service, Wilson began attending weekly musical composition classes at the

Trinity College of Music Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance is a music and dance conservatoire based in London, England. It was formed in 2005 as a merger of two older institutions – Trinity College of Music and Laban Dance Centre. The conservatoire has ...

in London. It was around this time that he left the Civil Service to pursue a full-time career in music. In 1948 he moved to

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, where he had been stationed in the latter part of his naval service.

Musical work

Wilson was a largely self-taught composer. He experimented with many musical styles but did not particularly adhere to any of them. He had an interest in some less typical instruments, and wrote substantial works for the free-bass accordion, the

cor anglais The cor anglais (, or original ; plural: ''cors anglais''), or English horn in North America, is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family. It is approximately one and a half times the length of an oboe, making it essentially an al ...

, and an electrically modified flute. Wilson's creative output was large and varied: seven

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libre ...

s, three

symphonies A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning c ...

, twelve concertos, several

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form ...

s, about two hundred songs, and a large number of other choral and instrumental works. His works have been performed and broadcast throughout Ireland, the UK, and Scandinavia. Wilson was professor of composition at the

Royal Irish Academy of Music The Royal Irish Academy of Music (RIAM) in Dublin, Ireland, is one of Europe's oldest music conservatoires, specialising in classical music and the Irish harp. It is located in a Georgian building on Westland Row in Dublin. An institution whic ...

. For many years he was also the course director of the annual Ennis/IMRO Composition Summer School. Wilson was a founder-member of

Aosdána Aosdána ( , ; from , 'people of the arts') is an Irish association of artists. It was created in 1981 on the initiative of a group of writers with support from the country's Arts Council. Membership, which is by invitation from current member ...

, an association of people in Ireland who have achieved distinction in the arts. In 1999 Wilson became an Irish citizen. He died just six years later in Dublin, on 6 August 2005. He was working on an eighth opera at the time of his death.

Selected works

Opera *''Grinning at the Devil'' *''Letters to Theo'' *''The Hunting of the Snark'' (children's opera) *''Twelfth Night'' Concerti *''For Sarajevo, Calico Pie'' (triple concerto) *''Concerto Giocoso''

Quotations

*''Music is the nearest thing that we know to magic: its powers have still to be understood.'' *''In my own work, I seek for clarity and economy and, above all, for the quality of lyricism.''

Bibliography

*Axel Klein: ''Die Musik Irlands im 20. Jahrhundert'' (Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlag, 1996), . *Mark Fitzgerald: ''The Life and Music of James Wilson'' (Cork: Cork University Press, 2015), .

External links

James Wilson at Naxos.comIrish composer dies in Dublin (pdf)''The Independent'' obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, James 1922 births 2005 deaths 20th-century classical composers 20th-century Irish male musicians 21st-century classical composers 21st-century Irish male musicians Aosdána members British emigrants to Ireland Composers for piano Irish classical composers Irish male classical composers Irish opera composers Male opera composers Musicians from Islington (district)