Malcolm Benjamin Graham Christopher Williamson, AO, CBE (21 November 1931 – 2 March 2003) was an Australian composer. He served as the Master of the Queen's Music from 1975 until his death. According to Grove Music Online, Williamson's early compositions used specific methods, but he later changed his style to create music that included many different elements. His work was based on traditional musical scales and focused on creating expressive, lyrical melodies. In the 1960s, he was the most frequently commissioned composer in Britain. Over his lifetime, he created more than 250 musical works across many different types of music.

Life and career

Williamson was born in Sydney in 1931. His father was an Anglican priest named Rev. George Williamson. He studied composition and the horn at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. His teachers included Eugene Goossens. In 1950, he moved to London, where he worked as an organist, a proofreader, and a nightclub pianist. In 1952, he converted to Roman Catholicism. From 1953, he studied with Elisabeth Lutyens and Erwin Stein. His first major success was his Piano Concerto No. 1, which was performed by Clive Lythgoe at the 1958 Cheltenham Festival and received a standing ovation. At this time, Williamson was a very productive composer, receiving many commissions and often performing his own works on the organ and piano.

In 1975, the death of Arthur Bliss left the title of Master of the Queen’s Music empty. Choosing Williamson for this role surprised many, as other composers such as Benjamin Britten, Michael Tippett, and Malcolm Arnold were considered. William Walton once said that “the wrong Malcolm” had been chosen. Williamson was the first (and only) person not from Britain to hold the post. He wrote several pieces connected to his royal role, including Mass of Christ the King (1978) and Lament in Memory of Lord Mountbatten of Burma (1980). However, his time in this position was controversial, especially because he did not finish the planned “Jubilee Symphony” for Queen Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee in 1977. He wrote fewer royal-themed works in his later years, though he continued to create music for the Royal Family. His overall output slowed due to several illnesses. He died in 2003 in a hospital in Cambridge. Reports said he was an alcoholic.

Williamson married an American woman named Dolores “Dolly” Daniel in 1960. They had one son and two daughters. He had relationships with people of both genders before and after his marriage. After his marriage ended in the 1970s, a close relationship with musician and publisher Simon Campion helped him during the difficult times in his career. Later in life, Williamson had a series of strokes that left him needing a wheelchair. He spent his final months in the hospital. No members of the Royal Family attended his funeral.

Music

Williamson's early music used a special method called the twelve-tone technique, developed by Arnold Schoenberg. However, his most important influence was often considered to be Olivier Messiaen. He discovered Messiaen's music shortly before he converted to Roman Catholicism in 1952. He was also influenced by Benjamin Britten, as well as by jazz and popular music. This influence may have come from his work as a nightclub pianist in the 1950s.

Williamson wrote seven symphonies, four numbered piano concertos, and other concertos for violin, organ, harp, and saxophone. He also created many orchestral works, ballets, choral music, chamber music, solo piano pieces, and music for film and television, including the prologue and main title of Watership Down. His operas include English Eccentrics (with a libretto by Edith Sitwell), Our Man in Havana (based on a novel by Graham Greene), The Violins of Saint-Jacques (from a novel by Patrick Leigh Fermor), and two adaptations of plays by August Strindberg. Williamson also wrote music for children, such as the operas The Happy Prince (based on a story by Oscar Wilde) and Julius Caesar Jones. He composed short operas called cassations, which involve audience participation. One cassation, The Valley and the Hill, was written for the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II in 1977 and performed by 18,000 children.

Williamson's largest choral work, Mass of Christ the King, was commissioned by the Three Choirs Festival for the 1977 jubilee. It received attention partly because Williamson delivered it late. The piece was scored for two sopranos, tenor, baritone; soprano, alto, tenor, bass (SATB) chorus; SATB echo choir; and a large orchestra. It was performed several times over the years, including a live BBC broadcast in 1981. A recording from the Perth Festival in 1981 is available on YouTube.

Williamson produced fewer works in his later years, though he had some very busy years. For example, in 1988, he wrote The True Endeavour (a large-scale choral-orchestral work), the Bicentennial Anthem, the Fanfare of Homage for military band, the ballet Have Steps Will Travel for John Alleyne and the National Ballet of Canada, Ceremony for Oodgeroo (for brass quintet), and began work on a new choral-symphony, The Dawn is at Hand (to texts by Kath Walker), which was completed and performed in Australia the following year. Other works include Requiem for a Tribe Brother (an Australian work completed in 1992), a third string quartet (1993), a fourth piano concerto (1994, for Marguerite Wolff), and a symphony for solo harp, Day That I Have Loved (1994). He also composed an orchestral song cycle, A Year of Birds (on texts by Iris Murdoch), which premiered at The Proms in 1995. That same year, he also wrote With Proud Thanksgiving, commissioned for the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations and dedicated to the memory of his long-time friend, UK Prime Minister Harold Wilson.

At the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, held on Monday, 19 September 2022, mourners entered Westminster Abbey to the music of O Paradise by Williamson.

Recordings of Williamson's works include:
• Organ Concerto, Third Piano Concerto. London Philharmonic Orchestra. Lyrita SRCS 79 (1975)
• Elevamini, Sinfonia Concertante, Violin Concerto. London Philharmonic Orchestra, Adrian Boult. HMV SLS 5085 (1977)
• Choral Music. Joyful Company of Singers, Peter Broadbent. Naxos 8557783 (2006)
• Orchestral Works Vol. 1. Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Rumon Gamba. Chandos CHAN 10359 (2006)
• Orchestral Works Vol. 2. Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Rumon Gamba. CHAN 10406 (2007)
• Complete Piano Concertos. Piers Lane, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Howard Shelley. Hyperion CDA68011/2 (2014)
• Organ Music. Tom Winpenny. Naxos 8.571375-76 (2016)
• Complete Works For Piano. Antony Gray. ABC Classics ABC4814390 (2017)
• Chamber Music for Wind and Piano. New London Chamber Ensemble. Divine Art DDX21120 (2025)

Honours

Williamson was given the title of Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1976 and the title of Honorary Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 1987. Honorary titles of the Order of Australia are given only to people who are not citizens of Australia. It is not known why Williamson was not given a substantive award, as there is no public record showing he ever gave up his Australian citizenship. The citation for the award stated, "For service to music and the mentally handicapped." He was the first Master of the Queen's Music in over a century not to be given a knighthood.