William John Sweeney (born 5 January 1950) is a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

Biography

Born in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, he attended

Knightswood Secondary School Knightswood Secondary School is a secondary school located in Knightswood in the west-end of Glasgow, Scotland. The school has a roll of approximately 1200 pupils. Knightswood is co-educational, non-selective and non-denominational, and provid ...

. He studied the

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

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 ...

at the

Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (), formerly the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama () is a conservatoire of dance, drama, music, production, and film in Glasgow, Scotland. It is a member of the Federation of Drama Schools. Founde ...

from 1967 to 1970, and at 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 ...

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 Black ...

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 Ree ...

instruments, and then composition at the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

. An early influence was the European

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

, 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 and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groun ...

, 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, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

; 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 (pronounced for Irish Gaelic and for Scots Gaelic) is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". It may refer to: Languages * Gaelic languages or Goidelic languages, a linguistic group that is one of the two branches of the Insul ...

psalm The Book of Psalms ( , ; ; ; ; , in Islam also called Zabur, ), also known as the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) called ('Writings'), and a book of the Old Testament. The book is an anthology of H ...

-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 ...

form; he varies

melodies A melody (), 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 combination of pitch and rhythm, while more figuratively, the term ca ...

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 * Ornamental turning * Biological ornament, a characteristic of animals ...

, 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 ...

, 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 (, 3 July 1854 – 12 August 1928) was a Czech composer, Music theory, music theorist, Folkloristics, folklorist, publicist, and teacher. He was inspired by Moravian folk music, Moravian and other Slavs, Slavic music, includin ...

. 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. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

, using

improvisation Improvisation, often shortened to improv, is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. The origin of the word itself is in the Latin "improvisus", which literally means un-foreseen. Improvis ...

al 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 classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

poetry, and Indian and Arab traditions in his use of

ostinato In music, an ostinato (; derived from the Italian word for ''stubborn'', compare English ''obstinate'') is a motif or phrase that persistently repeats in the same musical voice, frequently in the same pitch. Well-known ostinato-based pieces inc ...

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 Angus Nicolson; 7 June 1942 – 19 December 2022), nicknamed ("Black-haired Angus"), was a contemporary writer in the Scottish Gaelic language. Early life Angus Nicolson was born in Uig on the Isle of Skye on 7 June ...

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 male classical composers 20th-century Scottish classical composers 21st-century British classical composers Scottish opera composers British male opera composers Musicians from Glasgow 1950 births Living people Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music 20th-century Scottish musicians 20th-century Scottish male musicians 21st-century Scottish male musicians