CARWITHEN, Doreen

Doreen Carwithen, later known as Mary Alwyn, was a British composer of concert and film music. She studied piano, violin and cello before entering the Royal Academy of Music in 1941, where she studied composition with William Alwyn. In 1946, she became the first recipient of the J. Arthur Rank Film Scholarship and subsequently established herself as one of the earliest British women to work professionally as a film composer.

Carwithen composed orchestral, chamber, piano and vocal music. Her concert works include the overtures ODTAA and Bishop Rock, the Concerto for Piano and Strings, two string quartets, a violin sonata and the Suffolk Suite. She wrote music for more than thirty films, including Boys in Brown, The Stranger Left No Card, Elizabeth Is Queen, The Men of Sherwood Forest, Break in the Circle and Three Cases of Murder. Her music is distinguished by colourful orchestration, rhythmic energy and a strong dramatic sense.