William Lloyd Webber
| William Lloyd Webber | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | William Southcombe Lloyd Webber |
| Born |
11 March 1914 London, England, United Kingdom |
| Died |
29 October 1982 (aged 68) London, England, UK |
| Occupation(s) | |
William Southcombe Lloyd Webber CBE (11 March 1914 – 29 October 1982) was an English organist and composer, achieving some fame as a part of the modern classical music movement yet commercially facing mixed opportunities. Besides his long and prestigious career, composing works ranging from choral pieces to instrumental items and more, he is known for being the father of both fellow composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and virtuoso cellist Julian Lloyd Webber. He also notably served as a teacher, instructing pupils on music theory at the Royal College of Music for a time.[1]
Lloyd Webber was born in London. The son of William Charles Henry Webber, a self-employed plumber, he was fortunate, from a musical point of view, that his father was a keen organ 'buff' who spent what little money he had travelling to hear various organs in and around the capital. Often he would take his son with him and, before long, young William started to play the organ himself and developed a keen interest that bordered on the obsessional.[2]
By the age of 14, William Lloyd Webber had already become a well-known organ recitalist, giving frequent performances at many important churches and cathedrals throughout Great Britain. He won an organ scholarship to the Mercers' School, later winning a further scholarship to study at the Royal College of Music, where he studied with Ralph Vaughan Williams and gained his FRCO diploma at nineteen. Because there was already another student at the college with the name William Webber, William continued to use his second middle name 'Lloyd' from then on as part of his name.
Early works
Parallel to his activities as an organist, he began to compose, and several interesting works date from this early period including the Fantasy Trio of 1936. Although the Second World War interrupted his composition (he was organist and choirmaster at All Saints, Margaret Street, London throughout the war) its ending marked the beginning of Lloyd Webber's most prolific years as a composer.
Prolific years
In 1938, he was appointed organist and choirmaster of All Saints, later becoming Musical Director at Westminster Central Hall, London, the headquarters of the Methodist church in the United Kingdom. His first compositions developed in the 1930s. In 1942 he married the pianist and violinist Jean Hermione Johnstone (1921–1993).[3] The marriage, which lasted until his death, produced two sons: composer Andrew (born 1948) and cellist Julian (born 1951).
From 1945 until the mid-1950s, Lloyd Webber composed vocal and instrumental music, choral and organ works, chamber music and orchestral works. Works from this period include the oratorio St. Francis of Assisi, the orchestral tone-poem Aurora, the Sonatinas for viola and flute, numerous songs, organ pieces and choral works. But Lloyd Webber's roots were firmly embedded in the romanticism of such composers as Sergei Rachmaninov, Jean Sibelius and César Franck, and he became increasingly convinced that his own music was 'out of step' with the prevailing climate of the time. Rather than compromise his style, he turned to the academic side of British musical life - teaching at the Royal College of Music, directing the choir at Central Hall, Westminster, and, in 1964, accepting the Directorship of the London College of Music, a post which he held until his death in 1982.[2]
Later years
Disillusioned with composition, he wrote virtually nothing for the next 20 years - until shortly before his death, when a sudden flowering of creativity produced among a number of works the mass 'Missa Sanctae Mariae Magdalenae', (available on ASV CD, DCA961). In 1980 William Lloyd Webber was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for 'services to music'.
Personal life and character
Lloyd Webber was by nature a shy and withdrawn character. He had an avowed dislike of self-promotion and found the 'cut and thrust' approach apparently necessary for the furtherance of a composer's career to be complete anathema. He also had no time for the trappings of verbosity, and was a man averse to wasting words or, in his music, notes. He would ask his pupils, “Why write six pages, when six bars will do?"
Legacy
Lloyd Webber's music has recently enjoyed a resurgence and is heard increasingly in both live and recorded performances. When Aurora was recorded for Philips in 1986 by Lorin Maazel and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Edward Greenfield of The Guardian called it "skillfully and sumptuously scored ... music as sensuous as any you will find from a British composer".
In 2005, Lloyd Webber's The Divine Compassion was revived by the Aeolian Singers. This large scale choral work takes 95 minutes to perform and is based on the account of Passion of Christ in the Gospel of John.
A William Lloyd Webber Festival took place in the spring and summer of 2007 in London.
Centenary
On 11 March 2014, a celebration of William Lloyd Webber's music and life took place at St Martin's in the Fields, London, to mark the 100th anniversary of the composer's birth. The event was presented by Rowan Morton Gledhill and attended by family and friends of the composer's. Performers included the St. Martin's Voices directed by Andrew Earis, cellist Julian Lloyd Webber, organist Nicholas Wearne and pianist Rebeca Omordia. The programme consisted of both sacred and secular choral works - including the 'Missa Princeps Pacis' and the part song 'The Moon', works for cello and piano, music for solo piano and the 'Benedictus' for organ and violin that William Lloyd Webber had composed for his wife and that was performed at their wedding service.
A performance of William Lloyd Webber's orchestral work 'Aurora', a tone poem, was scheduled to take place in the autumn of 2014 at the Royal College of Music, London.
Selected works
Orchestra
Brass band
Chamber music
Choral
Partsongs
Vocal
|
Piano
Organ
|
Discography
- Music of William Lloyd Webber, (ASV Digital, CD DCA 961, 1996)
- Organ Works of William Lloyd Webber, (Priory, PRCD 616, 1998)
- William Lloyd Webber piano music, chamber music and songs, (Hyperion, CDA67008, 1998)
- Sacred Choral Music of William Lloyd Webber, (Priory PRCD677, 1999)
- Invocation, (Chandos CHAN 9595, 1998)
References
- ↑ "BBC Radio 3 - Sunday Feature, Billy - The Other Lloyd Webber". Bbc.co.uk. 2014-08-09. Retrieved 2015-09-18.
- 1 2 "Julian Lloyd Webber on his composer father | Music". The Guardian. Retrieved 2015-09-18.
- ↑ John Lill (1993-12-14). "Obituary: Jean Lloyd Webber - People - News". The Independent. Retrieved 2015-09-18.
External links
- William Lloyd Webber's biography
- William Lloyd Webber's Facebook page
- Air Varie on YouTube and In the half-light on YouTube by William Lloyd Webber played by his son, Julian Lloyd Webber
- Performance of Aurora on YouTube by the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Lorin Maazel
- Guardian article written by Julian Lloyd Webber about his father, 16 April 2004
- William Lloyd Webber: An Impressionistic View by John France
- Review of William Lloyd Webber Centenary Concert.