Waart, Edo de. 56 Wachmann, Eduard 56



Download 14.95 Mb.
Page374/410
Date29.01.2017
Size14.95 Mb.
#11656
1   ...   370   371   372   373   374   375   376   377   ...   410

Woodstock.


Town in New York State, USA. It was the site of a rock festival held in 1969. See Festival, §6.

Woodward, Richard


(b ?1743; d Dublin, 22 Nov 1777). Anglo-Irish organist and composer. He completed his apprenticeship as a choirboy at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, in June 1759, having presumably joined the choir shortly after his father, Richard Woodward senior, came over from England in 1751 to serve as a stipendiary in the choir. He continued as a member of the choir until 1760 or after. He also served in the choir of St Patrick’s Cathedral. At the age of 22, after the death of George Walsh, Woodward was appointed organist and vicar-choral of Christ Church Cathedral (28 February 1765); in 1770 he also became a vicar-choral of St Patrick’s. By June 1766 he was already sharing the duties of Master of the Choir Boys with his father, who had been appointed to that position in 1768. In October 1776 his father resigned the post in his favour, but he died suddenly one year later. Although he is described on his monument as ‘Preceptor to the Children of the two Choirs’, Samuel Murphy appears to have held the post of Master of the Choristers at St Patrick’s from about 1766 until 1780.

In 1771 Woodward was awarded the degree of MusD by Dublin University. At that time the Earl of Mornington was occupying the newly-created chair of music there, and it was to him that Woodward dedicated his op.1, the Songs, Canons and Catches of 1767. This publication consisted of vocal canons, catches, duets, trios and other partsongs with continuo, and solo songs with accompaniment for various instrumental combinations. It includes the canon O Almighty Lord which that same year had won a prize medal of the Catch Club of Pall Mall, London, and the canon Let the words of my mouth which had won the first prize of the Noblemen’s and Gentlemen’s Catch Club, London, in 1764. The names of William Boyce and other well-known musicians are on the list of subscribers. He also published his Veni creator spiritus (of which only the title is in Latin) in 1767; this was composed for the consecration of the Bishop of Cloyne at Christ Church Cathedral on 31 May. Woodward’s third and last publication, the most substantial of the three, appeared in 1771: his Cathedral Music, op.3, dedicated to the Archbishop of Dublin, and consisting of seven anthems, chants and a large-scale Service in B. It also includes a revised version of his Veni creator spiritus. The advanced keyboard style exhibited in the accompaniments to his vocal music suggests that he may have written some independent keyboard music, but none has come to light.

From 1767 until his death he regularly gave his services as conductor at the benefit concerts for Mercer’s Hospital. His tomb, in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, is surmounted by an inscribed tablet erected by his father, who outlived him by 18 years. Further discussion of his career and music is given in W.H. Grindle: Irish Cathedral Music (Belfast, 1989), 47–9, 187–91 and B. Boydell: Music at Christ Church before 1800: Documents and Selected Anthems (Dublin, 1998).

BRIAN BOYDELL


Woodward, Roger


(b Sydney, 20 Dec 1942). Australian pianist. Encouraged by Eugene Goossens, he studied at the Sydney State Conservatorium, taking piano lessons with Alexander Sverenksy and composition lessons with Raymond Hanson. In 1964, after winning the Australian Radio (ABC) Competition, he moved to London to study with Ilona Kabos, and the following year was awarded a Polish government scholarship to study at the Warsaw Academy of Music with Zbigniew Drzewiecki. He remained in Poland for the next six years, and embarked on a concert career, making successful débuts in Warsaw and London (1967), and in Paris and Havana (1969), as well as playing with the leading orchestras in Poland and eastern Europe, and returning to Australia for two concert tours. He won the 23rd International Chopin Festival in Warsaw in 1968, and the International Gaudeamus Competition in the Netherlands in 1970. He has toured widely in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and East Asia.

Woodward is a pianist of wide musical sympathies, gifted with a powerful virtuoso technique, as highly regarded for his performances (sometimes controversial, always stimulating) of Chopin, Skryabin and Prokofiev as for his interpretations of avant-garde scores. Many composers, including Barraqué, Berio, Birtwistle, Boulez, Carter, Donatoni, Feldman, Gehlhaar, Lutosławski, Radulescu and Takemitsu, have written works for him. He founded the Alpha Centauri Ensemble, a group specializing in contemporary works, in 1989, and is also the founder of the annual Sydney Spring Festival devoted to contemporary music. Notable recordings include solo piano works by Chopin, Prokofiev and Debussy, and Xenakis's Keqrops for piano and orchestra. He was appointed OBE in 1980.

DOMINIC GILL/CYRUS MEHER-HOMJI

Woodwind instruments


(Fr. bois; Ger. Holz, Holzblasinstrumente; It. legni, strumentini; Sp. instrumentos de madera).

A term used to describe instruments, in particular Western orchestral instruments, of the flute, recorder and reed-actuated types, whether made of wood or of some other material (e.g. ivory, bone or metal). For further details, see entries on individual instruments; see also Reed instruments and Instruments, classification of.




Woodworth, G(eorge) Wallace


(b Boston, 6 Nov 1902; d Cambridge, MA, 18 July 1969). American choral conductor, organist and music educationist. At Harvard University he studied history (BA 1924) and music (MA 1926), and on a Paine Traveling Fellowship studied conducting under Malcolm Sargent at the RCM (1927–8). As an undergraduate he was accompanist for the Harvard Glee Club and on graduating he was appointed instructor of music at Harvard and conductor of the Radcliffe Choral Society (1924). Subsequently he was conductor of the Pierian Sodality Orchestra (1928–32), conductor of the Harvard Glee Club (from 1933) and university organist and choir director (from 1940). He succeeded A.T. Davison as James Edward Ditson Professor of Music at Harvard (1954–9), and in 1958 resigned all conducting and performing posts to devote himself to teaching.

From 1951 until his death Woodworth broadcast a series of lectures called ‘Tomorrow's Symphony’ on Boston radio (WGBH). He was a Senior Fulbright Scholar in London, conducting and lecturing at the RCM (1966–7), and was awarded honorary doctorates in music by the New England Conservatory of Music and the University of Hartford and an honorary LittD by Miami University; he also served as the first president of the College Music Society (1958–60). Woodworth's influence on music education in the USA is incalculable; his special concern was for the ‘amateur listener’. He was also a champion of the music of Giovanni Gabrieli when it was unknown in the USA.


WRITINGS


‘The Performance of Bach: an Example of the Relation between Research and Practical Music-Making’, PAMS 1937, 120–32

‘Texture versus Mass in the Music of Giovanni Gabrieli’, Essays on Music in Honor of Archibald Thompson Davison (Cambridge, MA, 1957), 129–38

‘The College Music Society’, New York Times (18 Jan 1959); repr. in College Music Symposium, x (1970), 9–11

‘The Conductor and Reformer’, College Music Symposium, i (1961), 15–17

‘The Teaching of Listening or History and Literature of Music’, College Music Symposium, iii (1963), 19–21

The World of Music (Cambridge, MA, 1964)

‘The Place of Music in the Curriculum’, Music Educators Journal, li/4 (1964–5), 48–50

‘Congress of Music Colleges’, MT, cvii (1966), 960 only

‘Careers for Performers’, R.C.M. Magazine, lxiii (1967), 35–8

‘Latin and the Vernacular in Catholic and Protestant Churches, Sixteenth and Twentieth Centuries: a Parallel’, Sacred Music, xciv/3 (1967), 3–15

BIBLIOGRAPHY


E. Forbes: ‘G. Wallace Woodworth in memoriam’, American Choral Review, xii (1970), 91–4

E. Forbes: Obituary, JAMS, xxiii (1970), 543–4

L. Berman, ed.: Words and Music: the Composer's View: a Medley of Problems and Solutions Compiled in Honor of G. Wallace Woodworth (Cambridge, MA, 1972) [incl. biographical note, p.ix]

RODNEY H. MILL




Download 14.95 Mb.

Share with your friends:
1   ...   370   371   372   373   374   375   376   377   ...   410




The database is protected by copyright ©ininet.org 2024
send message

    Main page