Doreen Carwithenaus modern

Doreen Mary Carwithen (b. 15 November 1922 in Haddenham, Buckinghamshire; † 5 January 2003 in Forncett, Norfolk) was a British composer. Also known as Mary Alwyn.

Life and work

Doreen Mary Carwithen was born in Haddenham, Buckinghamshire, in 1922, the daughter of a music teacher. Her musical talent was nurtured at an early age. She began playing the violin and piano at the age of four. At 16, she studied harmony at the Royal Academy of Music. At the university she also met her future husband William Alwyn. In 1941 she won a scholarship. She received cello lessons from Peers Coetmore and was soon playing regularly in a string quartet and local orchestras. It was at this time that she wrote her first compositions.

In 1946, the young composer was offered the opportunity to write film music by the British film producer J. Arthur Rank, first for short films and documentaries such as This Modern Age and To the Public Danger. She then finally made her feature film debut in 1949 with the composition for Montgomery Tully’s drama Boys in Brown, starring Jack Warner, Richard Attenborough and Dirk Bogarde. In the early 1950s she worked for directors such as Peter Bradford and Terence Fisher. For the director Val Guest she wrote the two film scores for Robin Hood, the Red Avenger (1954) and Spionagenetz Hamburg (1955). In the same year she composed the music for the crime drama Murder Without a Murderer starring Orson Welles, John Gregson and Elizabeth Sellars.

In addition to her film music career, she also composed classical works, such as the 1947 overture ODTAA, which received its world premiere at Covent Garden in March 1947 under the direction of Sir Adrian Boult. This was followed by a concerto for piano and strings, premiered at the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts in 1952. For her two string quartets she was honoured with the A.J. Clements Prize in 1948 and the Cobbett Award in 1952.

Despite the initial success of her own works and film compositions, publishers had little interest in publishing the classical compositions of a woman, and so from the mid-1950s Doreen Carwithen confined herself, of necessity, to promoting and accompanying the music and career of her future husband William Alwyn. From 1961 onwards, she officially ran his work show and archive. After her husband’s death in 1985, she founded the William Alwyn Archive of music, poetry and art and established the William Alwyn Foundation to promote and manage her husband’s works in the public domain. She also worked as a teacher at the Royal Academy of Music and gave readings and lectures on music at Furzedown College of Education.

Doreen Carwithen died at Forncett St Peter in Norfolk on 5 January 2003, aged 80.
Source Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doreen_Carwithen