Neoclassicism in the Music of William Alwyn: Selected Works 1938-45

Abstract

In 1938 William Alwyn made the radical decision to abandon his previous composition methods and based future works upon the neoclassical compositional aesthetic. The second work to emerge was the Divertimento for Solo Flute, a composition on a single stave with substantial implicit contrapuntal writing.
This thesis will examine both the Continental European and British musical context in the period leading up to Alwyn’s 1938 compositional crisis in order to provide a model for neoclassicism. This model will be used to assess Alwyn’s neoclassical compositions to evaluate Alwyn as a composer in the light of his stated wish to become a Bach or Beethoven. It will also include a brief musical biography in order to contextualise Alwyn’s neoclassical compositions within the wider body of his work.