{{Short description|American composer and conductor}} '''Edgar Warren Williams''' (born June 12, 1949) is an American composer, conductor, and music theorist.
Williams obtained a bachelor's degree in composition from Duke University in 1971, then obtained a master's degree at Columbia University in 1973, studying with Charles Wuorinen, Mario Davidovsky, and Harvey Sollberger. He then matriculated at Princeton, where he received a Master's in Fine Arts in 1977 and a Ph.D. in 1982 and studied with Milton Babbitt and James K. Randall. He was a faculty member and orchestral conductor at the College of William & Mary from 1979. Williams's compositional work is noted for its orchestrational and timbral complexity, and its use of pitch collections as melodic and thematic elements.<ref>Richard Swift, "Edgar Warren Williams". ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians''. via Grove Music Online.</ref>
== Compositions ==
=== Orchestral === * 1969 ''Of Orphalese'' * 1984 ''Landscapes with figure'' * 1998 ''Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror'' * 1999 ''Suite on "Nosferatu"''
=== For concert band === * 1968 ''"To my Father" Prologue'' * 1978 ''Across a Bridge of Dreams'' * 1991 ''Into the dark'' * 1993 ''Now showing!'' * 2002 ''Music from behind the Moon'' * ''Prologue''
==== Musicals ==== * 1970 Music for ''In the Dark of the Moon'' * 1982 Music for ''The Merry Wives of Windsor'' – text by William Shakespeare * 1985 Music for ''Richard II'' – text by William Shakespeare
=== Choral === * 1975 ''The mystic trumpeter'', for mixed choir and orchestra * 1976 ''Multum in parvo'', for large mixed choir * 1998 ''Star Spangled Banner'', canon for choir * ''Missa'', For six-member men's choir, brass and piano
=== Vocal music === * 1985 ''Three songs'', for high voice and piano – text: Margaret Tongue * 1985 ''The bawds of euphony'', for high voice and piano – text: Wallace Stevens * ''Two Lyrics'', for middle voice and piano – text: James Agee
=== Chamber music === * 1968 Chamber Piece Nr. 1 * 1968 Chamber Piece Nr. 2 * 1971 String Quartet Nr. 1 * 1980 ''Amoretti'', for viola and piano * 1985 ''Caprice'', for violin * 1996 String Quartet Nr. 2 * 1999 String Trio * ''Fant'sy I (from "Hortus conclusus")'', for 9 instruments * ''Fant'sy II (from "Hortus conclusus")'', for 12 instruments * ''Fant'sy III (from "Hortus conclusus")'', for 12 instruments
=== Piano === * 1987 Six Studies * 2005 Sonata
=== Guitar === * 2002 Guitar quartet
=== Electronic music === * 2000 ''Pentimenti''
== Publications == * Edgar Warren Williams: ''Harmony and Voice Leading'', New York: HarperCollins, 1992. * Edgar Warren Williams: ''Introduction to Music'', New York: HarperCollins, 1991. (Co-authored with Miller and Taylor.) * Edgar Warren Williams: "Banqueting with the Emperor", in: ''Perspectives of New Music'', vol. 35, no. 1 (1998) * Edgar Warren Williams: "A View of Schoenberg's Opus 19, No. 2", in: ''College Music Symposium'', vol. 25 (1985) * Edgar Warren Williams: "In and About Some Measures of Beethoven", in: ''19th-Century Music'', November 1983 * Edgar Warren Williams: "On Complementary Interval Class Sets", in: ''In Theory Only'', vol. 7 (June 1983)
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Portal bar|Biography|Classical music}} {{authority control|state=collapsed}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Edgar Warren}} Category:1949 births Category:Living people Category:Place of birth missing (living people) Category:Duke University alumni Category:Columbia University alumni Category:Princeton University alumni Category:College of William & Mary faculty Category:American contemporary classical composers Category:American conductors (music) Category:American music theorists