Freda Swain
Freda Swain (1902 – 1985) was a British composer and music educator.
Biography[]
Freda Swain was born in Portsmouth, England on 30 October 1903, the daughter of Thomas and Gertrude (nee Allen) Swain. She studied composition with Charles Villiers Stanford and piano with and Arthur Alexander at the Royal College of Music,[1] earning awards including the Sullivan Prize in 1921.[2]
In 1924 Swain began teaching at the Royal College and in 1936 she founded the British Music Movement to help promote the efforts of young composers and artists. Swain married Arthur Alexander in 1921, and before World War II the couple toured South Africa and Australia, lecturing, broadcasting and performing recitals.[3]
Works[]
Swain's first major success was The Harp of Aengus for violin and orchestra (the title refers to the Yeats poem), soloist Achille Rivarde at the Queen’s Hall in January 1925.[4] Her ‘Airmail’ Piano Concerto, mailed in instalments to her husband Arthur Alexander while he was stuck in South Africa during World War II, was performed by Alexander in Cape Town.[1] She composed a one-act opera Second Chance, but never finished a second opera, The Shadowy Waters.[5] Other works include a concertino for piano and strings and other orchestral pieces, songs and song cycles, choral and church music, two string quartets, a Suite for Six Trumpets, and a number of other chamber and instrumental pieces.[3]
Selected works include:
- Second Chance, (opera) premiered at Bath in 1955
- Clarinet Concerto
- Piano Concerto (1939)
- A Pastoral Fantasy, tone poem for violin and orchestra
- The Harp of Angus (1925)
- Breathe on Me, Breath of God
- A Gaelic Prayer
- A Country Pastoral (1957)
- The Windmill, for piano
- Mimosa
- The Lonely Dove
- The Sea (piano quartet, 1938)
- Fantasy Suite for oboe and piano
- Sonatina
- Scherzo for three pianos
- Sonata in F minor
- Sonata for violin in C minor
- Sonata for violin in B minor, The River
- Cello Sonata in C
- String Quartet No 1 Norfolk (1924)
- String Quartet No 2 in G minor (1949)
- English Reel for viola
- Song at Evening for viola
- Danse Barbare for violin and cello
- The Willow Tree (1948) for clarinet and piano
- Contrasts (1953) for clarinet and piano
Songs:
- Blessing
- Experience
- The Lark on Portsdown
- The Green Lad From Donegal
- Winter Field[2]
References[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b Blom, Eric, revised Foreman, Lewis. 'Swain, Freda (Mary)' in Grove Music Online, 2001
- ^ Jump up to: a b "THE DISTAFF SIDE: SOME BRITISH WOMEN COMPOSERS". Retrieved 21 September 2010.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Barnett, Rob. "British Composer Dictionary:Freda Swain (1902-1985)". British Music Society. Retrieved 21 September 2010.
- ^ Blom, Eric. ‘The Younger English Composers, 8: Freda Swain’, Monthly Musical Record No 59 (1929), p 257-8
- ^ D. Francke: Obituary, The Times (4 Feb 1985)
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