WALTON, (Sir) William
b Oldham, 29 March 1902
d Ischia, 8 March 1983, aged eighty
At the age of ten he won a place as a chorister at Christ Church, Oxford, but he had little formal musical training. At Oxford he made a number of influential friends, particularly Sacheverell Sitwell, with whose family he lived for the next ten years. This connection immensely broadened his horizons in literature and the visual arts; it brought him also the friendship of Bernard van Dieren, Peter Heseltine and, most important, Constant Lambert, who was perhaps the greatest single influence on his career. The music he wrote to Facade, some experimental poems written by Edith Sitwell and intended to be read as a drawing-room entertainment with musical backing, became Walton's most popular work to date, and established him before the public. In 1948 he married in Buenos Aires, and made his permanent horn e in Ischia, off the coast of Naples. He was knighted in 1951. He travelled to many parts of the world to conduct his own compositions.
1916 (14)
Piano Quartet
1922 (20)
fp (privately)
Facade - An Entertainment, for reciter and chamber ensemble
1923 (21)
String Quartet (withdrawn)
1925 (23)
Portsmouth Point, overture
1926 (24)
Siesta, for orchestra
1927 (25)
Viola Concerto (soloist at fp was Hindemith, qv)
Sinfonia Concertante for piano and orchestra
1931 (29)
fp Belshazzar's Feast, for baritone, chorus and orchestra
1934 (32)
fp Symphony No 1 (first three movements only, performed in full 1935)
Escape Me Never, ballet from the film
1937 (35)
Crown Imperial, coronation march for orchestra
In Honour of the City, for chorus and orchestra
1939 (37)
Violin Concerto
1940 (38)
The Wise Virgins, ballet (arranged from the music of J. S Bach)
1941 (39)
Scapino, overture
1942 (40)
Major Barbara, film score
The First of the Few, film score, including Prelude and Spitfire Fugue
1943 (41)
Henry V, incidental music for the film
The Quest, ballet
1947 (45)
Hamlet, incidental music for the film
String Quartet in A minor
1949 (47)
Violin Sonata
1953 (51)
Orb and Sceptre, coronation march for orchestra
Coronation Te Deum
1954 (52)
Troilus and Cressida, opera
1955 (53)
Richard III, incidental music for the film
Johannesburg Festival Overture
1956 (54)
Cello Concerto
1957 (55)
Partita for orchestra
1960 (58)
Symphony No 2
fp Anon. in Love, six songs for tenor and guitar
1961 (59)
Gloria, for contralto, tenor and bass soli, mixed choir and orchestra
1962 (60)
fp A Song for the Lord Mayor's Table, cycle of six songs for soprano and piano
1963 (61)
Variations on a Theme of Hindemith, for orchestra (theme from Hindemith's Nobilissima Visione)
1965 (63)
The Twelve, for choir and orchestra, or organ
1966 (64)
Missa Brevis
1967 (65)
The Bear, one-act opera for three solo voices and chamber orchestra
1968 (66)
Capriccio-burlesca, for orchestra
1970 (68)
Improvisations on an Impromptu of Benjamin Britten, for orchestra
1972 (70)
Jubilate Deo, for double mixed chorus and organ
Sonata for string orchestra, arranged from the String Quartet
Five Bagatelles for guitar
1974 (72)
Cantico del Sole
Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis
1982 (80)
Prologo e Fantasia, for orchestra
Passacaglia, for solo cello
Walton has also composed other incidental and film music.