English composer and conductor Sir William Walton is characterized by brilliant orchestration and rhythm. An important British composer between Vaughan Williams and Britten, he is known for two operas: Troilus and Cressida, (1954) and The Bear (1967).
Walton, (March 29,1902 - March 8, 1983), was born in Lancashire. Self-taught until aged 16, he settled in London, became a chorister at Christ Church Cathedral at Oxford, and later studied at Oxford University.
Early Musical Career
From the beginning of the 1920s, he was in close touch with the literary Sitwell family. His association with them led to his earliest work, chamber entertainment Façade. Setting poems by Edith Sitwell, Façade was premiered in 1923. It was his first important work. However, it also provoked uproar that branded him as a notorious modernist at that time.
The Viola Concerto of 1929 was Walton's first widely successful composition. Paul Hindemith was the soloist. Two years later the cantata Belshazzar's Feast was premiered in Leeds, followed by First Symphony in 1935. They were tremendously successful, gaining him international acclaim. Three years later, he went to the USA to confer with the violinist Jascha Heifetz about the solo part of the Violin Concerto.
He composed film music, creating musical scores such as Sir Laurence Olivier's adaptation of a Shakespeare movie Henry V.
William Walton's Style Influence
Walton was an important composer between the time of Vaughan Williams and Britten. His style was influenced by French group of composers 'Les Six' (in particular, Poulenc and Honegger), Handel, Elgar, and Sibelius. Retaining the vividness of his harmony and orchestration, Walton responded to the English Handel-influenced tradition in Belshazzar's Feast, Elgar's influence in the Violin Concerto, and to Sibelius in First Symphony.
As in the Viola Concerto and the First Symphony, the best of Parisian contemporary influences of Stravinsky, Debussy and Prokofiev can also be detected. From his post-war works, a more quasi-Romantic strain is evident, starting with the opera Troilus and Cressida and continuing with the Cello Concerto.
William Walton's Works:
- Cantata Belshazzar's Feast
- orchestral
- choral music
- chamber music
- incidental and solo vocal music
- operas
- film scores
- Coronation music of both King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II.
Recognition and Awards
- Knighted in 1951
- Admitted to the Order of Merit in 1967.
- Honorary member of the Royal Manchester College of Music in 1972.
- Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music and of the Santa Cecilia Academy in Rome. (Composers Since 1900 First Supplement by David Ewen, The H.W. Wilson Company, 1981)
 |
