At the time of writing, Walton
had reached just over the halfway stage of his life. There would be many more
compositions to come. These included the major opera Troilus and Cressida
(1954), the Cello Concerto (1957), the Symphony No.2 (1960) and the Crown
Imperial March (1953).
On a personal note, this was one
of the earliest second-hand books about music that I bought in the days before
the internet, it served as my introduction to a wide range of composers and
their music. I include several footnotes to Brook’s pen-portrait of William
Walton.
STILL IN HIS EARLY FORTIES is
William Walton, another of our contemporary composers whose works are now being
played all over the world. He was born at Oldham, Lancashire, on March 29th,
1902, son of a music teacher, [1] and proved to be unusually sensitive to music
when he was a child.
Throughout his boyhood the music
of Handel exercised a strange charm upon him, and he spent many hours in
turning up this composer's songs and learning to sing them. His father taught
him to play the piano, but he showed no great interest in this instrument
during his childhood: he infinitely preferred the violin. It was his voice,
however, that started him on his musical career. At the age of ten he won a
choral scholarship to Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, and became a chorister
there under Dr H. G. Ley. [2] He says that at school he was bad at almost
everything except music.
[Walton] began composing when he
was about thirteen, writing chiefly hymn tunes and anthems, and then he began
to take rather more interest in the piano, so he went to Dr. Basil Allchin [3] for
lessons. His outstanding musical ability came to the notice of Sir Hugh Allen
[4], who from that time followed the boy's progress with great interest. Some
idea of his precocity in music may be gained from the fact that he passed the
first part of the Mus. B. examination when he was only fifteen. He did not
matriculate until he was sixteen, and when he became an undergraduate it was
chiefly through the influence of the Dean of Christ Church [5], who was anxious
that he should take a degree. While he was at Oxford his friendship with Edward
J. Dent [6] brought him into touch with Busoni, who gave him valuable advice.
He also met Ernest Ansermet [7], and through Sacheverell Sitwell soon became
one of the most popular guests of the eminent Sitwell family.
It is both interesting and highly
significant that from the age of sixteen Walton was entirely self-taught: he
felt no inclination whatever to spend years at the feet of eminent composers,
and least of all, those of other countries. He has always known his own mind
and has always been determined to follow his own course in music. He wrote a
great deal at Oxford but scrapped most of it shortly afterwards: the only works
of this early period now surviving are a Litany for soprano, alto, tenor
and bass written in 1916 and two songs composed during the last year of the
war, Tritons (1920, words by William Drummond) and a setting of
Swinburne's poem The Winds (1918).
Having said that, I must hasten
to add that his Piano Quartet [1918-21] was started when he was only sixteen,
but it was not finished until two or three years later. Shortly before his
twenty-first birthday he sent it to the Carnegie Trust in the hope that they
would publish it. To his horror it was lost in the post! For two whole years it
was maturing in the hands of the G.P.O. but eventually reached its destination.
After he had given up all hope, the Trust published it in 1924, describing it
in their report as being "clear and transparent in texture, restrained in
feeling, well written throughout, and rising at moments of climax into a strain
of great beauty and nobility. It is a work of real achievement."
In the meantime, he had completed
his Facade [1922-29] in its original version: a very clever setting of
poems by Edith Sitwell that was first performed privately in Chelsea, but later
at the Aeolian Hall. Since that time, it has undergone many revisions and has
also been adapted for ballet purposes. It originated from an idea for which the
Sitwell family were responsible. They painted a huge head on a curtain, with a
large mouth fitted with a megaphone through which these poems by Edith Sitwell
were recited. The music was required for a general accompaniment or background.
Little did they realize that Walton's effort would become so popular. The
original music was scored for flute, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, 'cello and
percussion, but it was afterwards made into an orchestral suite. It was used
during a ballet season at the Lyceum in 1927, and first heard as a concert
piece at the Leeds Festival in the following year.
Walton's next important work was
the String Quartet (1920-22) which made a very favourable impression upon the
International Society for Contemporary Music despite the fact that Ernest
Newman described it as "horrible." It was first performed under that
Society's auspices at the Salzburg Festival in 1923.
Two years later Walton composed
his famous overture Portsmouth Point, and the credit for giving the
first performance must once again go to the International Society for
Contemporary Music: it was a tremendous success at their Zurich Festival in
1926. This excellent work won him many thousands of admirers when it was brought
home and performed almost immediately as an interlude by Diaghilev's Russian
Ballet at His Majesty's Theatre. In the same year it was first performed at the
Queen's Hall. Undoubtedly one of the best modern orchestral works of its type,
Portsmouth Point was inspired by a print of that name by Thomas Rowlandson, the
eighteenth-century English caricaturist, who depicted a lively scene of
merrymaking at the waterside between the old Ship Tavern and the money-lender's
premises. In the background there are several stately sailing ships. The
rollicking fun in this scene chiefly concerning the seafaring men and their
lady friends is cleverly portrayed in Walton's music. It has been revised slightly
in more recent years. In 1926 he wrote Siesta for chamber orchestra,
which was first performed that autumn under the direction of Guy Warrack at one
of the concerts being run by that conductor at the Aeolian Hall. Then if we
pass over various minor works, many of which he has now withdrawn, the next of
Walton's more important works is his Sinfonia Concertante for piano and
orchestra, first heard at a Royal Philharmonic Society concert in 1928 with
York Bowen as the soloist and revised in 1943. It is in three movements
dedicated to Osbert, Edith and Sacheverell Sitwell, respectively.
One of the best
works we have ever had from Walton was the Concerto for Viola and Orchestra; a
remarkable work in three movements which was conducted by the composer himself
when it was first played in London. The occasion was a Promenade concert on
October 3rd, 1929, and Paul Hindemith was the soloist: the critics were almost
unanimous in their praise, and as a result, it was chosen for the festival of
the I.S.C.M. at Liege in 1930, when Lionel Tertis played the solo part. This
concerto contains some very fine writing in the dynamic, colourful style that
Walton has made his own and will undoubtedly stay in the repertoire of the
leading artists for generations.
Donald Brook, Composer’s Gallery (London, Rockcliff, 1946)
Notes:
[1] Charles Alexander Walton (1867-1924) was a singing teacher and organist at St John’s
Werneth, sadly now demolished. He had been trained at the Royal Manchester
College of Music, under Sir Charles Hallé. William’s mother Louisa Marie (née
Turner) (1866-1954) had been a singer, before her marriage to Charles. William
Walton was born at 93 Werneth Road, Oldham.
[2] Henry
George Ley MA DMus FRCO FRCM Hon RAM (1887-1962) was an English organist, composer,
and music teacher.
[3] Basil
Allchin (18781957) was an organist, music teacher and administrator. When
Walton was at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, Allchin was Assistant to Henry
Lee.
[4] Sir Hugh
Allen (1869-1946) was an English organist, conductor, and teacher. During
William Walton’s time at Christ Church Cathedral, Allen was organist at New
College Oxford.
[5] The Dean of
Christ Church at that time was Dr Thomas Strong (1861-1944).
[6] Edward J.
Dent (1876-1957) was an English musicologist, critic, and translator. He was
Professor of Music at Cambridge University and known for his work on opera and
music history. Dent also translated several operas and was involved with the
Sadler's Wells and Covent Garden opera houses.
To be
continued…
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