From Ariel....

Welcome to a new blog celebrating the life and work of the British composer, William Alwyn.  Alwyn (1905-1985) was born in Northampton, the son of a shopkeeper. His father owned the Shakspere [sic] grocery stores - a store where each flour bag was engraved with a quote from Shakespeare. This stayed firmly in the young composer's mind, and when many years later his diary, which charted the progress of his 3rd symphony was published, the book was entitled  From Ariel to Miranda.  Hence the name of this blog. The "Miranda" of the title of the published diary was Doreen Carwithen (1922-2003), Alwyn's former pupil, who later became his wife. Doreen was also a talented composer, and this blog will celebrate the life and work of both of them.  The William Alwyn Archive is now held at Cambridge University Library (for more information email  music@lib.cam.ac.uk ), and contains a vast amount of Alwynabilia. This ranges from film scores to art music, photographs, drawings