Bio

Brief Biography

"Edgar Warren Williams (born Orlando, Florida, 1949) studied composition with Iain Hamilton at Duke University, with Charles Wuorinen and Mario Davidovsky at Columbia University, and with Milton Babbitt at Princeton University. He has taught at Princeton,...the University of California at Davis, The College of William and Mary, and Washington and Lee University .... Williams ... strives to make audible the association between pitch and interval by means of timbral, registral, rhythmic, and dynamic relationships. He has a remarkable command of instrumental resources, imaginatively deploying sonorities within individual lines ... or in combinations ... to clarify and intensify the progressions of polyphonic voices...."
— from The Grove Dictionary of American Music

Work

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Recent Works

ordeal of light for vibraphone & piano 2023  
she and not the sea for alto-sax, bass-trombone, & fixed audio 2021–22
shards for string quartet 2021  
sibylla for clarinet alone or clarinet & fixed audio 2020
   ⚫version for clarinet & fixed audio 
   ⚫version for clarinet alone  
   ⚫fixed audio only 
dustdustsceawung in a year of plague, 2020, for flute, clarinet, percussionist, piano, violin, & cello 
fugitve visions, 2020, for flute, clarinet, piano, violin, & cello 
coniunctio, 2020, for violin & cello
what the thunder said, 2019, for mezzo, percussion, & cello  [Live performance by DUOROBOROS--Dagmar Bathmann, cello/mezzo & Omar Cecchi, Percussion]
dialogues & dialectics, 2018-20, clarinet solo & orchestra  

Small Ensemble

Solo

caprice, 1976, violin solo  
derke ymaginyngs, 2011, flute solo  
four studies, 1974,piano solo  
harlequinade , 1976, cello solo  
movements, 1973, french horn solo
piano 1985/1 
piano 1985/2 
piano 1992/1  
piano 1992/2 
sonata, 2006, piano  

Chamber

amoretti, 1979, viola & piano  
piano quartet, 2010  
piano trio, 2011  
guitar quartet, 2002  
ritual dances, 2013, violin & viola
o quae deliciae! , string quartet, 1996
string trio, 1998
woodwind quintet, 2011  

Electronic

pentimenti 1993  

pentimento [excerpt from above with flash animation by composer]

american dream: summer 1968 [1968] 

Prose

Theory & Composition

banqueting with the emperor 1997 harmony and voice leading 1992
a view of shoenberg's op. 19, no. 2, 1985
in and about a few measures of beethoven, 1983

Fiction

slow fall (a mystery novel) 1989

Large Ensemble

Orchestra

concertino , 2002  
[solo flute; 0,1,1,1-0,0,0,0-6,6,4,2,0]

sinfonia 1974  
[1+1,1,1,1-0,1,1,0-mallet-6,6,5,4,0]

landscapes with figure, 1983  
[2,2,2,2-0,2,0,0-strings]

nosferatu: a symphony of horror, 1997
[2+1,2+1,2+1,2+1-4,3,2+1,1-3 perc., harp, organ - strings] — a soundtrack for murnau's 1922 silent film of the same name. Excerpts:

  1. opening titles 
  2. renfield--domestic bliss--farewell 
  3. transylvania--the inn--morning 
  4. attack!--aftermath 
  5. escape 
  6. death--redemption--the end 

of orphalese, 1970
[2+1,3,3,3-4,3,3,1-piano, 3 perc.-strings]

scenes from childhood (after piano works of vladimir ribikov) 
[1+1,2,2,2-2,2,0,0-1 perc., strings; 15']

vetera aurea: medieval/renaissance settings
[1+1,2,2,2-2,2,0,0-1 perc., strings]

4 traditional carols, soprano (or childrens' chorus) & orchestra 
[1+1,2,2,2-2,2,0,0-1 perc., soprano, strings]

Winds & Percussion

harmonia, 1973 [2+1,2+1,0,2+1-0,1,1,1] 

across a bridge of dreams, 1977 
[1+1,1+1,1,1-1,1,1,0-mallet,pno]

into the dark, symphonic band, 1992

music from behind the moon for large wind ensemble, 2003  [notes]

some music from behind the moon (suite from the above)

now showing! for symphonic band, 1993 

prologue for concert band, 1967
from Ludwig Publishing Company 

Voice

Solo Voice

the bawds of euphony (stevens) for soprano and piano, 1973 [Mobart Music]

three songs (tongue) for high voice and piano, 1977 [Mobart Music]

two lyrics for mezzo and piano, 1977 [Mobart Music]

4 traditional carols, soprano (or childrens' chorus) & orchestra 
[1+1,2,2,2-2,2,0,0-1 perc., soprano, strings]

Chorus

multum in parvo (commenius) for large mixed chorus a capella, 1972

the star-spangled banner (satb)
(a canonic setting celebrating the inauguration of barak obama, 2008.) 

the mystic trumpeter (whitman) for mixed chorus and orchestra, 1975

missa pro defunctus, 1968 for six-part male chorus, brass quintet and piano

A Book of Kinds (Margaret Tongue) 2010

  buck (satb) 
  the camel (4 solo voices & satb) 
  doe (satb) 
  elm (satb) 
  frost on a window (satb) 
  open rose (satb) 
  shell (satb) 
  snail (satb) 
  spider (satb) 
  spruce (satb) 
  starfish (satb) 
  stream (satb) 

Unquiet Heart (James Joyce) 2010

  cool is the valley (satb)  
  gentle lady (satb) 
  golden hair (satb) 
  i hear an army (satb & harp) 
  my dove (satb) 
  repose (satb & harp) 
  the kiss (ssaattbb) 
  unquiet heart (satb) 
  winds of may (satb) 
  ecce puer (satb) 
  a wonder wild (satb)  

Contact