Clifton Williams (composer)

James Clifton Williams Jr. (26 March 1923– 12 February 1976) was born in Traskwood, Arkansas, United States. He began playing French horn, piano, and mellophone early on and played in the band at Little Rock High School. In his senior class of 600, he was voted for being the most outstanding in artistry, talent, and versatility.

As a professional horn player he would go on to perform with the San Antonio and New Orleans Symphony Orchestras. Williams also served in the Army Air Corps band as a drum major, composing in his spare time.

Education

He attended Louisiana State University (B.M., 1947) where he was a pupil of Helen Gunderson and the Eastman School of Music (M.M., 1949) where he studied with Bernard Rogers and Howard Hanson. It was Howard Hanson who led Williams to write for the wind band rather than the orchestra, counseling Williams that he would get larger audiences and a larger range of organizations to perform his music in doing so.

During his musical studies at Louisiana State University Williams joined the fraternity Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, the largest, oldest musical fraternity in America.

Tenure

In 1949 Williams joined the composition department at the University of Texas School of Music. He taught there until he was appointed Chair of the Theory and Composition Department at University of Miami in 1966. Williams retained this position until his death from stomach cancer in 1976. His composition students included W. Francis McBeth, Lawrence Weiner and John Barnes Chance.

Compositions

Williams' early compositions were for orchestra and he would later achieve great success writing for concert band. One of his earliest works, Fanfare and Allegro, was completed in 1954 but was considered, at the time,e xceptionally difficult by the bands (including some military bands) that attempted to perform it. Thus, Williams laid the work aside for some time. The American Bandmasters Association then announced its first Ostwald Composition Prize in the winter of 1955. Williams slightly revised Fanfare and Allegro and entered into this contest. Fanfare and Allegro won the inaugural American Bandmasters Association's Ostwald Award for original band literature in 1956. The first performance of the revised work, at the 1956 ABA convention, won rave reviews and the work moved rapidly to the forefront of serious wind literature. Williams won the award again in 1957 for Symphonic Suite. Williams entered the competition for a third time in 1957 with an earlier work, his Symphonic Essays of 1953, but withdrew the work the day before the award winner was to be announced, feeling that winning a new competition a third consecutive time would discourage other equally worthy composers. It was not revealed until several years later that Symphonic Essays was, in fact, set to be the winner of the 1958 ABA prize. The San Antonio Symphony commissioned Williams to compose a work for its 25th anniversary. He composed five symphonic dances which he would later arrange for concert band. The primary publishers of his wind music included Southern Music, Summy Birchard, Piedmont, C. L. Barnhouse, and University of Miami Music Publications.

The following is a partial list of band compositions by Clifton Williams. He considered "Ramparts" to be his best work, and his wife Maxine wore a charm bracelet with six charms, each charm representing a significant band work. The charm for "Ramparts" was the largest. Works marked with an asterisk are unpublished; all others are published although some may have gone out of print over the years.

• Academic Processional (1962)
• Air Force Band of the West (1964)
• Andalusia (*1970)
• Arioso (1958)
• Band of the Hour (*1968)
• Border Festival (1966)
• Caccia and Chorale (1973)
• Castle Gap (1964)
• Concertino for Percussion and Band (1959)
• Dedicatory Overture (1964)
• Dramatic Essay (1958)
• Fanfare and Allegro (1954, rev 1956)
• Festival (1961)
• Future Music Leaders of America March (1974)
• Henderson Festival (1967)
• Hermitage (1975)
• Hill Country Ballad (1955)
• Killian (1970)
• Laredo (1963)
• Lyric Psalm (*1957)
• March Lamar (1969)
• Pandean Fable (*1965)
• Pastorale (1960)
• Patriots (1970)
• Ramparts (1967)
• Regal Procession (1957)
• The Sinfonians (1960)
• Solumn Fugue (1960)
• Sonata Allegro (*1971)
• Songs of Heritage (1975, completed by W. Francis McBeth and Harold Walters, 1978)
• Strategic Air Command March (1965)
• Symphonic Dances (1963-65; No. 2 and No. 3 published)

No. 1 (Comanche Ritual)

No. 2 (Military Ball: The Maskers)

No. 3 (Fiesta)

No. 4 (Square Dance)

No. 5 (New Generation)

• Symphonic Essays (*1953)
• Symphonic Suite (*1957)

I. Intrada

II. Chorale

III. March

IV. Antique Dance

V. Jubilee

• Texas Bands (*1969)
• Trail Scenes (1968)

I. Round Up

II. Nighthawk

III. Railhead

• Trilogy for Band (1964)

I. Declamation

II. Elegy

III. Quickstep March

• Variation Overture (1962)

Persondata
Name	Williams, Clifton
Alternative names
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Date of birth	1923
Place of birth
Date of death	1976
Place of death