Editing William Walton

{{short description|English composer (1902–1983)}}
{{Other people}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2015}}{{bots|deny=Citation bot}}
<!-- Before adding an infobox, please read the previous discussion at [[Talk:William Walton#Infobox]]-->

[[File:Walton circa 1977.jpg|thumb|upright=0.6|Walton, {{circa| 1977}}]]

'''Sir William Turner Walton''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|OM}} (29 March 1902{{spaced ndash}}8 March 1983) was an English composer. During a sixty-year career, he wrote music in several classical genres and styles, from film scores to opera. His best-known works include ''[[Façade (entertainment)|Façade]]'', the [[cantata]] ''[[Belshazzar's Feast (Walton)|Belshazzar's Feast]]'', the [[Viola Concerto (Walton)|Viola Concerto]], the [[Symphony No. 1 (Walton)|First Symphony]], and the [[Coronation of the British monarch|British coronation marches]] [[Crown Imperial (march)|''Crown Imperial'']] and ''[[Orb and Sceptre]]''.

Born in [[Oldham]], [[Lancashire]], the son of a musician, Walton was a chorister and then an undergraduate at [[Christ Church, Oxford]]. On leaving the university, he was taken up by the literary [[The Sitwells|Sitwell]] siblings, who provided him with a home and a cultural education. His earliest work of note was a collaboration with [[Edith Sitwell]], ''Façade'', which at first brought him notoriety as a [[Modernism (music)|modernist]], but later became a popular ballet score.

In middle age, Walton left England and set up home with his young wife [[Susana, Lady Walton|Susana]] on the Italian island of [[Ischia]]. By this time, he had ceased to be regarded as a modernist, and some of his compositions of the 1950s were criticised as old-fashioned. His only full-length opera, ''[[Troilus and Cressida (opera)|Troilus and Cressida]]'', was among the works to be so labelled and has made little impact in opera houses. In his last years, his works came back into critical fashion; his later compositions, dismissed by critics at the time of their premieres, were revalued and regarded alongside his earlier works.

Walton was a slow worker, painstakingly perfectionist, and his complete body of work across his long career is not large. His most popular compositions continue to be frequently performed in the 21st century, and by 2010 almost all his works had been released on CD.

==Biography==
===Early years===
[[File:Christ Church (Oxford).jpg|thumb|300px|right|alt=Exterior of large neo-classical building with extensive lawns in front of it|[[Christ Church, Oxford]], where Walton was a chorister and then an undergraduate]]
Walton was born into a musical family in [[Oldham]], [[Lancashire]], the second son in a family of three boys and a girl. His father, Charles Alexander Walton, was a musician who had trained at the [[Royal Northern College of Music|Royal Manchester College of Music]] under [[Charles Hallé]], and made a living as a singing teacher and church organist. Charles's wife, Louisa Maria (''née'' Turner), had been a singer before their marriage.<ref>Kennedy, p. 5</ref> William Walton's musical talents were spotted when he was still a young boy, and he took piano and violin lessons, though he never mastered either instrument. He was more successful as a singer:<ref name=greenfield>Greenfield, Edward. "Behind the Façade – Walton on Walton", ''[[Gramophone (magazine)|Gramophone]]'', February 2002, p. 93</ref> he and his elder brother sang in their father's choir, taking part in performances of large-scale works by [[George Frideric Handel|Handel]], [[Joseph Haydn|Haydn]], [[Felix Mendelssohn|Mendelssohn]] and others.<ref name=k6>Kennedy, p. 6</ref>

Walton was sent to a local school, but in 1912 his father saw a newspaper advertisement for probationer choristers at [[Christ Church Cathedral School]] in [[Oxford]] and applied for William to be admitted. The boy and his mother missed their intended train from Manchester to Oxford because Walton's father had spent the money for the fare in a local [[public house]].<ref name=dnb/> Louisa Walton had to borrow the fares from a [[greengrocer]].<ref name=dnb/> Although they arrived in Oxford after the entrance trials were over, Mrs Walton successfully pleaded for her son to be heard, and he was accepted.

He remained at the choir school for the next six years.<ref name=dnb>Kennedy, Michael. [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/31797, "Walton, Sir William Turner (1902–1983)"], ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edition, May 2008, retrieved 27 September 2010 {{subscription}}</ref> The Dean of Christ Church, Dr [[Thomas Strong (bishop)|Thomas Strong]], noted the young Walton's musical potential and was encouraged in this view by [[Hubert Parry|Sir Hubert Parry]], who saw the manuscripts of some of Walton's early compositions and said to Strong, "There's a lot in this chap; you must keep your eye on him."<ref>Kennedy, p. 7</ref>

At the age of sixteen Walton became an undergraduate of [[Christ Church, Oxford|Christ Church]]. It is sometimes said that he was [[Oxford University|Oxford]]'s youngest undergraduate since [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]],<ref name=timesobit>Obituary, ''[[The Times]]'', 29 March 1982, p. 5</ref> and though this is probably not correct, he was nonetheless among the youngest.<ref>Kennedy, p. 10</ref> He came under the influence of [[Hugh Allen (conductor)|Hugh Allen]], the dominant figure in Oxford's musical life. Allen introduced Walton to [[Modernism (music)|modern music]], including [[Igor Stravinsky|Stravinsky's]] ''[[Petrushka (ballet)|Petrushka]]'', and enthused him with "the mysteries of the orchestra".<ref>Kennedy, p. 8</ref> Walton spent much time in the university library, studying scores by Stravinsky, [[Claude Debussy|Debussy]], [[Jean Sibelius|Sibelius]], [[Albert Roussel|Roussel]] and others. He neglected his non-musical studies, and though he passed the musical examinations with ease, he failed the Greek and algebra examinations required for graduation.<ref name=ocm>Griffiths, Paul, and Jeremy Dibble. [http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com:80/subscriber/article/opr/t114/e7259 "Walton, Sir William (Turner)"], ''The Oxford Companion to Music'', Oxford Music Online, retrieved 27 September 2010 {{subscription}}</ref>

Little survives from Walton's juvenilia, but the choral anthem ''A Litany'', written when he was fifteen, anticipates his mature style.<ref name=grove>Adams, Byron. [http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/40016 "Walton, William,"] ''Grove Music Online'', Oxford Music Online, retrieved 27 September 2010 {{subscription}}</ref>

[[File:Sitwells-and-Walton.png| thumb|upright=1.5|left|Walton with the Sitwells: left to right [[Osbert Sitwell|Osbert]], [[Edith Sitwell|Edith]], [[Sacheverell Sitwell|Sacheverell]], Walton, and, with the ''[[Façade (entertainment)|Façade]]'' megaphone, Neil Porter of the [[Old Vic]].|alt=Group photograph with four clean-shaven white men and one woman in full-length frock]]
At Oxford Walton befriended several poets including [[Roy Campbell (poet)|Roy Campbell]], [[Siegfried Sassoon]] and, most importantly for his future, [[Sacheverell Sitwell]]. Walton was sent down from Oxford in 1920 without a degree or any firm plans.<ref>Kennedy, p.11</ref> Sitwell invited him to lodge in London with him and his literary brother and sister, [[Osbert Sitwell|Osbert]] and [[Edith Sitwell|Edith]]. Walton took up residence in the attic of their house in Chelsea, later recalling, "I went for a few weeks and stayed about fifteen years".<ref>Kennedy, p.16</ref>

===First successes===
The Sitwells looked after their protégé both materially and culturally, giving him not only a home but a stimulating cultural education. He took music lessons with [[Ernest Ansermet]], [[Ferruccio Busoni]] and [[Edward Joseph Dent|Edward J. Dent]].<ref>Kennedy, p. 19</ref> He attended the Russian ballet, met Stravinsky and [[George Gershwin|Gershwin]], heard the [[Savoy Orpheans]] at the [[Savoy Hotel]] and wrote an experimental string quartet heavily influenced by the [[Second Viennese School]] that was performed at a festival of new music at [[Salzburg]] in 1923.<ref name=grove/> [[Alban Berg]] heard the performance and was impressed enough to take Walton to meet [[Arnold Schoenberg]], Berg's teacher and the founder of the Second Viennese School.<ref>Lloyd (2002), p.62</ref>

In 1923, in collaboration with Edith Sitwell, Walton had his first great success, though at first it was a ''succès de scandale''.<ref name=dnb/> ''[[Façade (entertainment)|Façade]]'' was first performed in public at the [[Aeolian Hall, London]], on 12 June.{{refn|There had been private performances of ''Façade'' the previous year.<ref>Kennedy, p. 304</ref>|group= n}} The work consisted of Edith's verses, which she recited through a [[megaphone]] from behind a screen, while Walton conducted an ensemble of six players in his accompanying music.<ref name=dnb/> The press was generally condemnatory. Walton's biographer [[Michael Kennedy (music critic)|Michael Kennedy]] cites as typical a contemporary headline: "Drivel That They Paid to Hear".<ref name=dnb/> ''[[The Daily Express]]'' loathed the work, but admitted that it was naggingly memorable.<ref>"Poetry Through a Megaphone", ''The Daily Express'', 13 June 1923, p. 7</ref> ''[[The Guardian|The Manchester Guardian]]'' wrote of "relentless cacophony".<ref>"Futuristic Music and Poetry", ''The Manchester Guardian'', 13 June 1923, p. 3</ref> ''[[The Observer]]'' condemned the verses and dismissed Walton's music as "harmless".<ref>"Music of the Week", ''The Observer'', 17 June 1923, p. 10</ref> In ''[[The Illustrated London News]]'', Dent was much more appreciative: "The audience was at first inclined to treat the whole thing as an absurd joke, but there is always a surprisingly serious element in Miss Sitwell's poetry and Mr Walton's music ... which soon induced the audience to listen with breathless attention."<ref>"The World of Music", ''[[The Illustrated London News]]'', 23 June 1923, p. 1122</ref> In ''[[The Sunday Times]]'', [[Ernest Newman]] said of Walton, "as a musical joker he is a jewel of the first water ... Here is obviously a humorous musical talent of the first order.<ref>Lloyd (2002), p. 51</ref>

Among the audience were [[Evelyn Waugh]], [[Lytton Strachey]], [[Virginia Woolf]] and [[Noël Coward]].<ref>Lloyd (2002), p. 56</ref> The last was so outraged by the avant-garde nature of Sitwell's verses and the staging, that he marched out ostentatiously during the performance.<ref name=h120>Hoare, p. 120.</ref>{{refn|Soon afterwards Coward wrote a revue sketch lampooning the Sitwells, which caused a feud between him and them that lasted for decades.<ref name=h120/>|group= n}} The players did not like the music: the clarinettist, [[Charles Draper (musician)|Charles Draper]] asked the composer, "Mr Walton, has a [[clarinet]] player ever done you an injury?"<ref>Lloyd (2002), p. 34</ref> Nevertheless, the work soon became accepted, and within a decade Walton's music was used for the popular [[Façade (ballet)|''Façade'' ballet]], choreographed by [[Frederick Ashton]].<ref>Kennedy, p. 62</ref>

[[File:Rowlandson - Portsmouth Poing.jpg|thumb|300px|right|alt=painting of a busy dockside scene showing sailors carousing with women, and tradesmen transporting their wares|''Portsmouth Point'' by [[Thomas Rowlandson]] inspired Walton's overture of the same name.]]
Walton's works of the 1920s, while he was living in the Sitwells' attic, include the [[overture]] ''[[Portsmouth Point (Walton)|Portsmouth Point]]'', dedicated to Sassoon and inspired by the well-known painting of the same name by [[Thomas Rowlandson]]. It was first heard as an entr'acte at a performance in [[Sergei Diaghilev|Diaghilev's]] 1926 ballet season, where ''[[The Times]]'' complained, "It is a little difficult to make much of new music when it is heard through the hum of conversation."<ref>"The Russian Ballet", ''The Times'', 29 June 1926, p. 14</ref> [[Henry J. Wood|Sir Henry Wood]] programmed the work at [[the Proms]] the following year, where it made more of an impression.<ref>"Promenade Concert", ''The Times'', 13 September 1927, p. 14</ref> The composer conducted this performance; he did not enjoy conducting, but he had firm views on how his works should be interpreted, and orchestral players appreciated his "easy nonchalance" and "complete absence of fuss."<ref>Shore, p. 145 and Kennedy, p. 44</ref> Walton's other works of the 1920s included a short orchestral piece, ''[[Siesta (Walton)|Siesta]]'' (1926) and a [[Sinfonia Concertante (Walton)|Sinfonia Concertante]] for piano and orchestra (1928), which was well-received at its premiere at a [[Royal Philharmonic Society]] concert, but has not entered the regular repertory.<ref>Kennedy, pp. 44–45</ref>

The [[Viola Concerto (Walton)|Viola Concerto]] (1929) brought Walton to the forefront of British classical music. It was written at the suggestion of [[Thomas Beecham|Sir Thomas Beecham]] for the viola virtuoso [[Lionel Tertis]]. When Tertis received the manuscript, he rejected it immediately. The composer and violist [[Paul Hindemith]] stepped into the breach and gave the first performance.<ref>Kennedy, pp. 47–50</ref> The work was greeted with enthusiasm. In ''The Manchester Guardian'', [[Eric Blom]] wrote, "This young composer is a born genius" and said that it was tempting to call the concerto the best thing in recent music of any nationality.<ref>"A Fine British Concert", ''The Manchester Guardian'', 22 August 1930, p. 5, reviewing the second London performance.</ref> Tertis soon changed his mind and took the work up. A performance by him at a [[Three Choirs Festival]] concert in [[Worcester, England|Worcester]] in 1932 was the only occasion on which Walton met [[Edward Elgar|Elgar]], whom he greatly admired. Elgar did not share the general enthusiasm for Walton's concerto.<ref>Kennedy, p. 52</ref>{{refn|Tertis had premiered Elgar's own "Viola Concerto" two years earlier – an arrangement of the [[Cello Concerto (Elgar)|Cello Concerto]] for solo viola and orchestra.<ref>[https://www.jstor.org/stable/918849 "Elgar's Life and Career"], ''The Musical Times'', April 1934, p. 318 {{subscription}}</ref>|group= n}}

Walton's next major composition was the massive choral [[cantata]] ''[[Belshazzar's Feast (Walton)|Belshazzar's Feast]]'' (1931). It began as a work on a modest scale; the [[BBC]] commissioned a piece for a small chorus, orchestra of no more than fifteen players, and soloist.<ref>Kennedy, p. 53</ref> Osbert Sitwell constructed a text, selecting verses from several books of the [[Old Testament]] and the [[Book of Revelation]]. As Walton worked on it, he found that his music required far larger forces than the BBC proposed to allow, and Beecham rescued him by programming the work for the 1931 [[Leeds]] Festival, to be conducted by [[Malcolm Sargent]]. Walton later recalled Beecham as saying, "As you'll never hear the work again, my boy, why not throw in a couple of brass bands?"<ref name=k58>Kennedy, p. 58</ref>{{refn|These large extra brass forces were already available at the festival, as Beecham had scheduled performances there of [[Hector Berlioz|Berlioz]]'s extravagantly scored [[Requiem (Berlioz)|Requiem]].<ref name=k58/>|group= n}} During early rehearsals, the Leeds chorus members found Walton's music difficult to master, and it was falsely rumoured in London musical circles that Beecham had been obliged to send Sargent to Leeds to quell a revolt.<ref>Reid, p. 201</ref>{{refn|The author of a 2001 biography of Sargent, Richard Aldous, gives some credence to the story.<ref>Aldous, pp. 50–52</ref>|group= n}} The first performance was a triumph for the composer, conductor and performers.<ref>Aldous, p. 52</ref> A contemporary critic wrote, "Those who experienced the tremendous impact of its first performance had full justification for feeling that a great composer had arisen in our land, a composer to whose potentialities it was impossible to set any limits."<ref>Hussey, p. 409</ref> The work has remained a staple of the choral repertoire.<ref name=grove/>

===1930s===
In the 1930s, Walton's relationship with the Sitwells became less close. He had love affairs and new friendships that drew him out of their orbit.<ref name=dnb/> His first long affair was with Imma von Doernberg, the young widow of a German baron. She and Walton met in the late 1920s and they were together until 1934, when she left him.<ref>Kennedy, pp. 49 and 74</ref> 
[[File:Alice-Wimbourne-1928.png|thumb|left|alt=slim young woman in evening dress, seated, looking towards the camera|Alice Wimborne, Walton's partner from 1934 to 1948, photographed in 1928 by [[Cecil Beaton]]]]
Walton's later affair with Alice, [[Ivor Guest, 1st Viscount Wimborne#Family|Viscountess Wimborne]] (born 1880), which lasted from 1934 until her death in April 1948, caused a wider breach between Walton and the Sitwells, as she disliked them as much as they disliked her.<ref name=Kennedy78>Kennedy, p. 78</ref> By the 1930s, Walton was earning enough from composing to allow him financial independence for the first time. A legacy from a musical benefactress in 1931 further enhanced his finances, and in 1934 he left the Sitwells' house and bought a house in [[Belgravia]].<ref name=Kennedy78/>

Walton's first major composition after ''Belshazzar's Feast'' was his [[Symphony No. 1 (Walton)|First Symphony]]. It was not written to a commission, and Walton worked slowly on the score from late 1931 until he completed it in 1935. He had composed the first three of the four movements by the end of 1933 and promised the premiere to the conductor [[Hamilton Harty]]. Walton then found himself unable to complete the work. The end of his affair with Imma von Doernberg coincided with, and may have contributed to, a sudden and persistent [[writer's block]].<ref name=greenfield/> Harty persuaded Walton to let him perform the three existing movements, which he premiered in December 1934 with the [[London Symphony Orchestra]].<ref name=grove/> During 1934 Walton interrupted work on the symphony to compose his first film music, for [[Paul Czinner]]'s ''[[Escape Me Never (1935 film)|Escape Me Never]]'' (1934), for which he was paid £300.<ref>Kennedy, p. 76</ref>{{refn|In terms of average earnings this equates to £63,050 in 2021.<ref>Williamson, Samuel H. [http://www.measuringworth.com/ukcompare/ "Five Ways to Compute the Relative Value of a UK Pound Amount, 1830 to Present"], MeasuringWorth, 2008</ref>|group= n}}

After a break of eight months, Walton resumed work on the symphony and completed it in 1935. Harty and the [[BBC Symphony Orchestra]] gave the premiere of the completed piece in November of that year.{{refn|Contemporary press reports name the orchestra as the BBC Symphony, as does Kennedy.<ref>Cardus, Neville, "William Walton's First Symphony", ''The Manchester Guardian'', 7 November 1935, p. 10; "William Walton's Symphony", ''The Times'', 7 November 1935, p. 12; and Kennedy, p. 81</ref> Byron Adams in ''Grove's Dictionary'' names the orchestra as the LSO.<ref name=grove/>|group= n}} The symphony aroused international interest. The leading continental conductors [[Wilhelm Furtwängler]] and [[Willem Mengelberg]] sent for copies of the score, the [[Chicago Symphony Orchestra]] premiered the work in the US under Harty, [[Eugene Ormandy]] and the [[Philadelphia Orchestra]] gave the New York premiere, and the young [[George Szell]] conducted the symphony in Australia.<ref>Kennedy, p. 86; Downes, Olin. "Ormandy Directs Walton Symphony", ''[[The New York Times]]'', 17 October 1936, p. 20 (Chicago and New York premieres); [http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17616314 "Georg Szell – New Work Presented"], ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', 11 July 1939, p. 13 (Sydney premiere)</ref>{{refn|Furtwängler programmed the work but did not conduct it himself, assigning it to a guest conductor, [[Leo Borchard]].<ref>"British Music in Berlin," ''The Times'', 10 May 1936, p. 14</ref>|group= n}}

[[File:Heifetz-commons-cropped.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=head and shoulders shot of a man in overcoat, jacket and tie, looking at the camera|[[Jascha Heifetz]] commissioned Walton's Violin Concerto.]]
Elgar having died in 1934, the authorities turned to Walton to compose a march in the Elgarian tradition for the [[coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth|coronation of George VI]] in 1937. His ''[[Crown Imperial (march)|Crown Imperial]]'' was an immediate success with the public, but disappointed those of Walton's admirers who thought of him as an avant-garde composer.{{refn|''The Musical Times'' thought it "unrepresentative" and "unlikely to survive".<ref>McNaught, W. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/923351 "Crown Imperial"], ''The Musical Times'', August 1937, p. 710 {{subscription}}</ref> It was played not only at the 1937 coronation but also at the two subsequent ones, in [[Coronation of Elizabeth II|1953]] and [[Coronation of Charles III and Camilla|2023]].<ref name=classic>[https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/king-coronation-full-order-of-service "Every piece of music at King Charles’ coronation service at Westminster Abbey"], Classic FM. Retrieved 2023</ref>|group= n}} Among Walton's other works from this decade are more film scores, including the first of his [[incidental music]] for Shakespeare adaptations, ''[[As You Like It (1936 film)|As You Like It]]'' (1936); a short ballet for a West End revue (1936); and a choral piece, ''[[In Honour of the City of London]]'' (1937). His most important work of the 1930s, alongside the symphony, was the [[Violin Concerto (Walton)|Violin Concerto]] (1939), commissioned by [[Jascha Heifetz]]. The concerto, Walton later revealed, expressed his love for Alice Wimborne.<ref>Lloyd (2002), p. 165</ref> Its strong [[Romantic music|romantic]] style caused some critics to label it retrogressive,<ref>Mason, pp. 147–148</ref> and Walton said in a newspaper interview, "Today's white hope is tomorrow's black sheep. These days it is very sad for a composer to grow old ... I seriously advise all sensitive composers to die at the age of 37. I know: I've gone through the first halcyon period and am just about ripe for my critical damnation."<ref>Gilbert, G. "Walton on Trends in Composition", ''The New York Times'', 4 June 1939, p. X5</ref>

In the late 1930s Walton became aware of a younger English composer whose fame was shortly to overtake his, [[Benjamin Britten]].<ref name=greenfield/> After their first meeting, Britten wrote in his diary, "[...] to lunch with William Walton at [[Sloane Square]]. He is charming, but I feel always the school relationship with him – he is so obviously the head prefect of English music, whereas I'm the promising new boy."<ref>Britten, Benjamin. Diary, ''quoted'' in Kennedy, p. 96</ref> They remained on friendly terms for the rest of Britten's life; Walton admired many of Britten's works, and considered him a genius; Britten did not admire all of Walton's works but was grateful for his support at difficult times in his life.<ref name=grove/><ref name=k130/>{{refn|Britten was not among the admirers of the Symphony No 1, finding it "dull and depressing".<ref name=k130>Kennedy, pp. 130, 152 and 226</ref>|group= n}}

===Second World War===
[[File:Ashby Saint Ledgers 793313 945e6e7e.jpg|thumb|right|300px|alt=exterior of country house of Tudor period surrounded by extensive lawns|The Manor House, [[Ashby St Ledgers]], Walton's main base during the Second World War]]
During the Second World War Walton was exempted from military service on the understanding that he would compose music for wartime propaganda films. In addition to driving ambulances (extremely badly, he said),<ref>Moorhead, Caroline. "Beyond the façade – the reluctant Grand Old Man", ''The Times'', 29 March 1982, p. 5</ref> he was attached to the Army Film Unit as music adviser. He wrote scores for six films during the war – some that he thought "rather boring" and some that have become classics such as ''[[The First of the Few]]'' (1942) and [[Laurence Olivier]]'s adaptation of Shakespeare's ''[[Henry V (1944 film)|Henry V]]'' (1944).<ref name=grove/>

Walton was at first dismissive of his film scores, regarding them as professional but of no intrinsic worth; he resisted attempts to arrange them into concert suites, saying, "Film music is not good film music if it can be used for any other purpose."<ref>Lloyd (2002), p. 189</ref> He later relented to the extent of allowing concert suites to be arranged from ''The First of the Few'' and the Olivier Shakespeare films.<ref>Kennedy, pp. 117 and 126</ref> For the BBC, Walton composed the music for a large-scale radio drama, ''[[Christopher Columbus (play)|Christopher Columbus]]'', written by [[Louis MacNeice]] and starring Olivier. As with his film music, the composer was inclined to dismiss the musical importance of his work on the programme.<ref>Kennedy, p. 120</ref>

Apart from these commissions, Walton's wartime works of any magnitude comprised incidental music for [[John Gielgud]]'s 1942 production of ''[[Macbeth]]''; two scores for the [[Royal Ballet|Sadler's Wells Ballet]], ''[[The Wise Virgins]]'', based on the music of [[Johann Sebastian Bach|J. S. Bach]] transcribed by Walton, and ''The Quest'', with a plot loosely based on [[Edmund Spenser|Spenser's]] ''[[The Faerie Queene]]'';<ref name=dnb/> and, for the concert hall, a suite of orchestral miniatures, ''Music for Children'',<ref>''The Times'', 18 February 1941, p. 6</ref> and a comedy overture, ''[[Scapino (Walton)|Scapino]]'', composed for the fiftieth anniversary of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.<ref name=grove/>

Walton's house in London was destroyed by German bombing in May 1941, after which he spent much of his time at Alice Wimborne's family house at [[Ashby St Ledgers]] in the countryside of [[Northamptonshire]] in the middle of England. While there, Walton worked on projects that had been in his mind for some time. In 1939 he had been planning a substantial chamber work, a string quartet, but he set it aside while composing his wartime film scores. In early 1945 he turned again to the quartet. Walton was conscious that Britten, with ''[[Les Illuminations]]'' (1940), the ''[[Sinfonia da Requiem]]'' (1942), and ''[[Peter Grimes]]'' in 1945, had produced a series of substantial works, while Walton had produced no major composition since the Violin Concerto in 1939.<ref>Kennedy, p. 130</ref> Among English critics and audiences, the Violin Concerto was not at first rated one of Walton's finest works. Because Heifetz had bought the exclusive rights to play the concerto for two years, it was not heard in Britain until 1941. The London premiere, with a less famous soloist, and in the unflattering acoustics of the [[Royal Albert Hall]], did not immediately reveal the work as a masterpiece.<ref>"The New Concerto", ''The Times'', 7 November 1941, p. 6</ref> The [[String Quartet in A minor (Walton)|String Quartet in A minor]], premiered in May 1947, was Walton's most substantial work of the 1940s. Kennedy calls it one of his finest achievements and "a sure sign that he had thrown off the trammels of his cinema style and rediscovered his true voice."<ref>Kennedy, p. 135</ref>

===Postwar===
In 1947, Walton was presented with the Royal Philharmonic Society's Gold Medal.<ref name=k136>Kennedy, p. 136</ref> In the same year he accepted an invitation from the BBC to compose his first opera.<ref name=k136/> He decided to base it on [[Geoffrey Chaucer|Chaucer]]'s ''[[Troilus and Criseyde]]'', but his preliminary work came to a halt in April 1948 when Alice Wimborne died. To take Walton's mind off his grief, the music publisher Leslie Boosey persuaded him to be a British delegate to a conference on copyright in [[Buenos Aires]] later that year.{{refn|Other British delegates were [[Eric Coates]] and [[A. P. Herbert]].<ref>Kennedy, p. 143</ref> |group= n}} While there, Walton met [[Susana, Lady Walton|Susana Gil Passo]] (1926–2010), daughter of an Argentine lawyer. At 22 she was 24 years younger than Walton (Alice Wimborne had been 22 years his senior), and at first she ridiculed his romantic interest in her. He persisted, and she eventually accepted his proposal of marriage. The wedding was held in Buenos Aires in December 1948. From the start of their marriage, the couple spent half the year on the Italian island of [[Ischia]], and by the mid-1950s they lived there permanently.<ref>Kennedy, pp. 75, 140, 143, 144 and 208</ref>

Walton's last work of the 1940s was his music for Olivier's film of ''[[Hamlet (1948 film)|Hamlet]]'' (1948). After that, he focused his attentions on his opera ''[[Troilus and Cressida (opera)|Troilus and Cressida]]''. On the advice of the BBC, he invited [[Christopher Hassall]] to write the libretto. This did not help Walton's relations with the Sitwells, each of whom thought he or she should have been asked to be his librettist.<ref>Kennedy, p. 145</ref> Work continued slowly over the next few years, with many breaks while Walton turned to other things. In 1950 he and Heifetz recorded the Violin Concerto for EMI. In 1951 Walton was [[knight]]ed. In the same year, he prepared an authorised version of ''Façade'', which had undergone many revisions since its premiere. In 1953, following the accession of [[Elizabeth II]] he was again called on to write a coronation march, ''[[Orb and Sceptre]]''; he was also commissioned to write a choral setting of the ''[[Te Deum]]'' for the occasion.<ref>Wilkinson, pp. 27–28</ref>{{refn|The march, like ''Crown Imperial'', was played again at the [[coronation of Charles III and Camilla]] in 2023.<ref name=classic/>|group=n}}

''Troilus and Cressida'' was presented at [[Royal Opera House|Covent Garden]] on 3 December 1954. Its preparation was dogged by misfortunes. Olivier, originally scheduled to direct it, backed out, as did [[Henry Moore]] who had agreed to design the production; [[Elisabeth Schwarzkopf]], for whom the role of Cressida had been written, refused to perform it; her replacement, [[Magda László]], had difficulty mastering the English words; and Sargent, the conductor, "did not seem well acquainted with the score".<ref>Kennedy, pp. 174–180</ref><ref>Reid, p. 383</ref> The premiere had a friendly reception, but there was a general feeling that Hassall and Walton had written an old-fashioned opera in an outmoded tradition.<ref>Kennedy, p. 181</ref> The piece was subsequently staged in [[San Francisco]], [[New York City|New York]] and [[Milan]] during the next year, but failed to make a positive impression, and did not enter the regular operatic repertory.<ref>Kennedy, pp. 181–82</ref>

[[File:Veduta di Forio.JPG|thumb|left|300px|alt=view from hilltop garden across small town to the sea|The view from the Waltons' house on [[Ischia]]]]
In 1956 Walton sold his London house and took up full-time residence on Ischia. He built a hilltop house at [[Forio]] and called it [[La Mortella]].{{refn|La Mortella was the old name in Ischian dialect for that part of the hill, meaning literally "the [[Myrtaceae|myrtle]]").<ref>Lloyd (2002), p. 235</ref>|group=n}} Susana Walton created a magnificent garden there.<ref>Kennedy, pp. 208–209</ref> Walton's other works of the 1950s include the music for a fourth Shakespeare film, Olivier's ''[[Richard III (1955 film)|Richard III]]'', and the [[Cello Concerto (Walton)|Cello Concerto]] (1956), written for [[Gregor Piatigorsky]], who gave the premiere in January 1957 with the [[Boston Symphony Orchestra]] and the conductor [[Charles Munch (conductor)|Charles Munch]]. Some critics felt that the concerto was old-fashioned; [[Peter Heyworth]] wrote that there was little in the work that would have startled an audience in the year the {{RMS|Titanic||2}} met its iceberg (1912).<ref>Heyworth, Peter. "Music of the Establishment", ''The Observer'', 17 February 1957, p. 11.</ref> It has nevertheless entered the regular repertoire, performed by [[Paul Tortelier]], [[Yo-Yo Ma]], [[Lynn Harrell]] and [[Pierre Fournier]] among others.
{{refn|More than twelve recordings have been issued of the work since Piatigorsky's.<ref>[http://www.worldcat.org/search?qt=worldcat_org_all&q=Walton+Cello+Concerto#x0%253Amusic-%2C%2528x0%253Amusic%2Bx4%253Acd%2529%2C%2528x0%253Amusic%2Bx4%253Adigital%2529%2C%2528x0%253Amusic%2Bx4%253Alp%2529%2C%2528x0%253Amusic%2Bx4%253Acassette%2529format "Walton Cello Concerto"] WorldCat, retrieved 4 April 2015</ref>|group= n}}

In 1966 Walton successfully underwent surgery for [[lung cancer]].<ref>''The Times'', 9 February 1966, p. 12</ref> Until then he had been an inveterate pipe-smoker, but after the operation he never smoked again.<ref>Kennedy, p. 229</ref> While he was convalescing, he worked on a one-act comic opera, ''[[The Bear (opera)|The Bear]]'', which was premiered at Britten's [[Aldeburgh Festival]], in June 1966, and enthusiastically received. Walton had become so used to being written off by music critics that he felt "there must be something wrong when the worms turned on some praise."<ref name="Kennedy, p. 232">Kennedy, p. 232</ref> Walton received the [[Order of Merit]] in 1967,<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=44460 |date=24 November 1967 |page=12859 }}</ref> the fourth composer to be so honoured, after Elgar, [[Ralph Vaughan Williams|Vaughan Williams]] and Britten.<ref name=ocm/>

Walton's orchestral works of the 1960s include his [[Symphony No. 2 (Walton)|Second Symphony]] (1960), ''[[Variations on a Theme by Hindemith]]'' (1963), ''[[Capriccio burlesco]]'' (1968), and ''[[Improvisations on an Impromptu of Benjamin Britten]]'' (1969). His [[song cycle]]s from this period were composed for [[Peter Pears]] (''[[Anon in Love]]'', 1960) and Schwarzkopf (''[[A Song for the Lord Mayor's Table]]'', 1962). He was commissioned to compose a score for the 1969 film ''[[Battle of Britain (film)#Musical score|Battle of Britain]]'', but the film company rejected most of his score, replacing it with music by [[Ron Goodwin]]. A concert suite of Walton's score was published and recorded after Walton's death.<ref>Kennedy, p. 239</ref> After his experience over ''Battle of Britain'', Walton declared that he would write no more film music, but he was persuaded by Olivier to compose the score for a film of [[Anton Chekhov|Chekhov]]'s ''[[Three Sisters (1970 Olivier film)|Three Sisters]]'' in 1969.<ref>Kennedy, p. 243</ref>

===Last years===
Walton was never a facile or quick composer, and in his final decade, he found composition increasingly difficult. He repeatedly tried to compose a third symphony for [[André Previn]], but eventually abandoned it.<ref>Kennedy, p. 271</ref>{{refn|Surviving sketches are reproduced in Kennedy, plate 11.|group= n}} Many of his final works are re-orchestrations or revisions of earlier music. He orchestrated his song cycle ''[[Anon in Love]]'' (originally for tenor and guitar), and at the request of [[Neville Marriner]] adapted his [[String Quartet in A minor (Walton)|String Quartet in A minor]] as a Sonata for String Orchestra.<ref>Kennedy, pp. 244–248</ref> One original work from this period was his ''Jubilate Deo'', premiered as one of several events to celebrate his seventieth birthday. The British prime minister, [[Edward Heath]], gave a birthday dinner for Walton at [[10 Downing Street]], attended by royalty and Walton's most eminent colleagues; Britten presented a Walton evening at [[Aldeburgh]] and Previn conducted an all-Walton concert at the [[Royal Festival Hall]].<ref>Kennedy, pp. 251–253</ref><ref>''The Times'', 29 March 1972; and 19 July 1972, p. 11</ref>

Walton revised the score of ''Troilus and Cressida'', and the opera was staged at Covent Garden in 1976. Once again it was plagued by misfortune while in preparation. Walton was in poor health; Previn, who was to conduct, also fell ill; and the tenor chosen for Troilus pulled out. As in 1954, the critics were generally tepid.<ref>Kennedy, p. 188</ref> Some of Walton's final artistic endeavours were in collaboration with the film-maker [[Tony Palmer (director)|Tony Palmer]]. Walton took part in Palmer's profile of him, ''At the Haunted End of the Day'', in 1981, and in 1982 Walton and his wife played the cameo roles of King [[Frederick Augustus II of Saxony|Frederick Augustus]] and Queen Maria of Saxony in Palmer's nine-hour film ''[[Wagner (mini-series)|Wagner]]''.<ref>Walton, p. 229</ref> In March 1982 there were concerts marking Walton's eightieth birthday, at the [[Barbican Hall|Barbican]] and Royal Festival halls. The audience's response to the performance of ''Belshazzar's Feast'', at the latter, conducted by Previn, moved the composer to tears.<ref>Kennedy, p. 276</ref>

Walton died at La Mortella on 8 March 1983, at the age of 80.<ref name=timesobit/> His ashes were buried on Ischia, and a memorial service was held at [[Westminster Abbey]], where a commemorative stone to Walton was unveiled near those to Elgar, Vaughan Williams and Britten.<ref>''The Times'', 21 July 1983, p. 12 and Kennedy, p. 278.</ref>

==Music==
{{see also|List of compositions by William Walton}}
Walton was a slow worker. Both during composition and afterwards he would continually revise his music; he said, "Without an india-rubber I was absolutely sunk."<ref>Kennedy, p. 279</ref> Consequently, his total body of work from his sixty-year career as a composer is not large. Between the first performance of ''Façade'' in 1923, for example, and that of the Sinfonia Concertante in 1928, he averaged only one small piece a year.<ref name=dnba>Tierney, Neil. [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/olddnb/31797 Walton, Sir William Turner], Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Archive, retrieved 30 September 2010 {{subscription}}</ref> Of his work as a whole, [[Byron Adams]] in ''[[Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians|Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians]]'' writes:

{{blockquote|Walton's music has often been too neatly dismissed by a few descriptive tags: "bittersweet", "nostalgic" and, after World War II, "same as before". Such convenient categorizations ignore the expressive variety of his music and slight his determination to deepen his technical and expressive resources as he grew older. His early discovery of the basic elements of his style allowed him to assimilate successfully an astonishing number of disparate and apparently contradictory influences, such as [[Anglican]] anthems, jazz, and the music of Stravinsky, Sibelius, [[Maurice Ravel|Ravel]] and Elgar.<ref name=grove/>}}

The writer adds that Walton's allegiance to his basic style never wavered and that this loyalty to his own vision, together with his rhythmic vitality, sensuous melancholy, sly charm and orchestral flair, gives Walton's finest music "an imperishable glamour".<ref name=grove/> Another biographer of Walton, Neil Tierney, writes that although contemporary critics felt that the post-war music did not match Walton's pre-war compositions, it has become clear that the later works are "if emotionally less direct, more profound."<ref name=dnba/>

===Orchestral music===

====Overtures and short orchestral pieces====
[[File:Scapino-balli-di-sfessani.jpg|thumb|upright|right|alt=caricature of seventeen century man in full length right profile|[[Jacques Callot]]'s etching inspired Walton's ''Scapino'' overture]]
[[File:Paul Hindemith 1923.jpg|thumb|right|upright|[[Paul Hindemith]], who premiered Walton's Viola Concerto]]
Walton's first work for full orchestra, ''Portsmouth Point'' (1925), inspired by a [[Thomas Rowlandson|Rowlandson]] print of the same name, depicts a rumbustious dockside scene (in Kennedy's phrase, "the sailors of [[H.M.S. Pinafore]] have had a night on the tiles") in a fast moving score full of [[syncopation]] and [[Cross-beat|cross-rhythm]] that for years proved hazardous for conductors and orchestras alike.<ref>Hussey, p. 407; and Franks, Alan (1974), liner notes to EMI CD CDM 7 64723 2</ref> Throughout his career, Walton wrote works in this pattern, such as the lively Comedy Overture ''Scapino'', a virtuoso piece commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, described by ''The Musical Times'' as "an ingenious blending of fragments in exhilarating profusion."<ref name=evans>Evans, Edwin. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/922336 "William Walton"], ''The Musical Times'', December 1944, p. 368 {{subscription}}</ref> Walton's post-war works in this genre are the ''Johannesburg Festival Overture'' (1956), the "diverting but hard-edged ''Capriccio burlesco''" (1968),<ref name=grove/> and the longer ''[[Partita for Orchestra|Partita]]'' (1957), written for the [[Cleveland Orchestra]], described by ''Grove'' as "an impressively concentrated score with a high-spirited finale [with] steely counterpoint and orchestral virtuosity".<ref name=grove/> Walton's shorter pieces also include two tributes to musical colleagues, ''[[Variations on a Theme by Hindemith]]'' (1963) and the ''Improvisations on an Impromptu of Benjamin Britten'' (1969), in both of which the source material is gradually transformed as Walton's own voice becomes more prominent.<ref name=grove/> The critic Hugh Ottaway commented that in both pieces "the interaction of two musical personalities is{{space}}... fascinating".<ref>Ottaway, Hugh. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/956101 "Belshazzar's Feast; Improvisations on an Impromptu of Benjamin"], ''The Musical Times'', November 1972, p. 1095 {{subscription}}</ref>

====Concertos and symphonies====
Walton's first successful large-scale concert work, the Viola Concerto (1929) is in marked contrast to the raucous ''Portsmouth Point''; despite the common influence of jazz and of the music of Hindemith and Ravel, in its structure and romantic longing it owes much to the Elgar [[Cello Concerto (Elgar)|Cello Concerto]].<ref name=ocm/> In this work, wrote [[Edward Sackville-West, 5th Baron Sackville|Edward Sackville-West]] and [[Desmond Shawe-Taylor (music critic)|Desmond Shawe-Taylor]] in ''[[The Record Guide]]'', "the lyric poet in Walton, who had so far been hidden under a mask of irony, fully emerged."<ref>Sackville-West and Shawe-Taylor, p. 848</ref> Walton followed this pattern in his two subsequent concertos, for Violin (1937) and for Cello (1956). Each opens reflectively, is in three movements, and contrasts agitated and jagged passages with warmer romantic sections.<ref name=grove/> The Cello Concerto is more introspective than the two earlier concertos, with a ticking rhythm throughout the work suggesting the inexorable passage of time.<ref name=grove/>

The two symphonies are strongly contrasted with one another. The First is on a large scale, reminiscent at times of Sibelius.<ref>Cardus, Neville. "William Walton's First Symphony". ''The Manchester Guardian'', 7 November 1935, p. 10</ref> Grove says of the work that its "orgiastic power, coruscating malice, sensuous desolation and extroverted swagger" make the symphony a tribute to Walton's tenacity and inventive facility.<ref name=grove/> Critics have always differed on whether the finale lives up to the rest of the work.<ref name=evans/><ref>Cox, p. 193</ref> In comparison with the First, the Second Symphony struck many reviewers as lightweight, and, as with many of Walton's works of the 1950s, it was regarded as old-fashioned. It is a very different kind of work from the First Symphony. David Cox describes it as "more a ''[[divertimento]]'' than a symphony ... highly personal, unmistakably Walton throughout",<ref>Cox, p. 195</ref> and Kennedy calls it "somewhat enigmatic in mood, and a superb example of Walton's more mature, concise, and mellow post-1945 style."<ref name=dnb/>

====Music for ballets, plays and films====
{{also|William Walton: film music}}
Although generally a slow and perfectionist composer, Walton was capable of working quickly when necessary. Some of his stage and screen music was written to tight deadlines. He regarded his ballet and incidental music as of less importance than his concert works and was generally dismissive of what he produced.<ref>Kennedy, p. 127</ref>

Of his ballets for Sadler's Wells, ''The Wise Virgins'' (1940) is an arrangement of eight extracts from choral and instrumental music by Bach.{{refn|Later in 1940 Walton further arranged the music into a six-movement suite.<ref>[[David Lloyd-Jones (conductor)|Lloyd-Jones, David]] (2002), liner notes to Naxos CD 8.555868.</ref>|group= n}} ''The Quest'' (1943), written in great haste, is, according to Grove, oddly reminiscent of Vaughan Williams.<ref name=grove/> Neither of these works established itself in the regular repertoire, unlike the ballet score Walton arranged from the music of ''Façade'', the music for which was expanded for full orchestra, still retaining the jazz influences and the iconoclastic wit of the original.<ref name=ocm/> Music from ''The Quest'' and the whole of the Viola Concerto were used for another Sadler's Wells ballet, ''O.W.'', in 1972.<ref>Percival, John. "Finding the paradox of Oscar Wilde", ''The Times'', 23 February 1972, p. 11</ref>

Walton wrote little incidental music for the theatre, his music for ''Macbeth'' (1942) being one of his most notable contributions to the genre.<ref>Kennedy, pp. 113–114</ref>

Between 1934 and 1969 he wrote the music for 13 films. He arranged the ''Spitfire Prelude and Fugue'' from his own score for ''[[The First of the Few]]'' (1942). He allowed suites to be arranged from his Shakespeare film scores of the 1940s and 1950s; in these films, he mixed Elizabethan pastiche with wholly characteristic Waltonian music. Kennedy singles out for praise the [[Battle of Agincourt|Agincourt]] battle sequence in ''Henry V'', where the music makes the charge of the French knights "fearsomely real."<ref name=dnb/> Despite Walton's view that film music is ineffective when performed out of context, suites from several more of his filmscores have been assembled since his death.<ref name=grove/>

===Opera===
[[File:Troilus-and-crysede.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|alt=painting of scene from classical mythology with a young woman, veiled, to the left and three men in military dress on the right|''The First Meeting of Troilus and Cressida'', by [[Warwick Goble]], 1912]]
Walton worked for many years on his only full-length opera, ''[[Troilus and Cressida (opera)|Troilus and Cressida]]'', both before its premiere and afterwards. It has never been regarded as a success. The libretto is generally considered weak, and Walton's music, despite many passages that have won critical praise, is not dramatic enough to sustain interest.<ref name=dnb/> Grove calls the work a partially successful attempt to revivify the traditions of nineteenth-century Italian opera in a post-war era wary of heroic Romanticism.<ref name=grove/>

Walton's only other opera, ''[[The Bear (opera)|The Bear]]'', based on a comic vaudeville by [[Anton Chekhov|Chekhov]], was much better received. The critic [[Andrew Porter (music critic)|Andrew Porter]] described it in ''[[The Musical Times]]'' as "one of the strongest and most brilliant things Walton has written".<ref name="Kennedy, p. 232"/> It is, however, a one-act piece, a genre not regularly staged at most opera houses,<ref>White, p. 306</ref> and so is infrequently seen. [[Operabase]] recorded four productions of the piece worldwide between 2013 and 2015.<ref>[http://www.operabase.com/oplist.cgi?id=none&lang=en&is=&by=Walton&loc=&stype=abs&sd=4&sm=4&sy=2013&etype=abs&ed=&em=&ey= "William Walton"], Operabase, retrieved 4 April 2015</ref>

===Chamber and solo works===
Apart from an early experiment in [[atonal]]ism in his String Quartet (1919–22), which he later described as "full of undigested [[Béla Bartók|Bartók]] and Schoenberg", Walton's major essays in chamber music are his String Quartet in A Minor (1945–46) and the Sonata for Violin and Piano (1947–49). In the opinion of Adams in ''Grove's Dictionary'', the quartet is one of Walton's supreme achievements. Earlier critics did not always share this view. In 1956 ''The Record Guide'' said, "[T]he material is not first class and the composition as a whole seems laboured."<ref>Sackville-West and Shawe-Taylor, p. 851</ref>

The String Quartet in A Minor exists also in its later expanded form as the Sonata for String Orchestra (1971), which, the critic [[Trevor Harvey (conductor)|Trevor Harvey]] wrote, combines Walton in his most energetically rhythmic mood with a "vein of lyrical tenderness which is equally characteristic and is so rewarding to listen to".<ref>Harvey, Trevor. "Walton, Sonata for Strings", ''The Gramophone'', October 1973, p. 69</ref> Malcolm Arnold undertook some of the transcription involved in this expansion of forces. The work was premiered by Marriner and the [[Academy of St. Martin in the Fields]] in March 1972 at the [[Perth Festival]] in Australia; the same performers gave the British premiere in [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]] later that month.<ref>Kennedy, p. 297</ref>

The Violin Sonata is in two closely related movements, with strong thematic material in common. The first movement is nostalgically lyrical, the second a set of variations, each one a [[semitone]] higher than its predecessor.<ref>Fiske, Roger. "Walton, Violin Sonata", ''The Gramophone'', June 1955, p. 39</ref> Walton briefly refers back to Schoenberg with a [[Twelve-tone technique|dodecaphonic]] passage in the second movement, but otherwise the sonata is firmly [[Diatonic scale|tonal]].<ref name=grove/>

The ''Five Bagatelles for Guitar'' were written for, and edited by, the guitarist [[Julian Bream]] and dedicated to Arnold.<ref name=k246>Kennedy, p. 246</ref> Kennedy describes them as "among Walton's most piquant and delightful miniatures. He exploits the guitar's resources to the full and the music always sounds Waltonian".<ref name=k246/>

===Choral and other vocal music===
[[File:Rembrandt - Belshazzar's Feast - WGA19123.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|alt=painting of a biblical banquet interrupted by divine intervention|[[Rembrandt]]'s depiction of ''[[Belshazzar's Feast (Rembrandt)|Belshazzar's Feast]]'' used on the covers of several recordings of the cantata]]
Walton's liturgical compositions include the ''Coronation Te Deum'' (1952), ''Missa brevis'' (1966), ''Jubilate Deo'' (1972), and ''Magnificat'' and ''Nunc dimittis'' (1974),<ref>Lloyd (2002), p. 305 and 312</ref> and the anthems ''A Litany'' (1916) and ''Set me as a seal upon thy heart'' (1938).<ref>Lloyd (2002), pp. 292 and 299</ref>
One of the best-known and most frequently performed of Walton's works is the cantata ''Belshazzar's Feast''.<ref>Strimple, p. 89</ref> Written for large orchestra, chorus and baritone soloist, it intersperses a choral and orchestral depiction of Babylonian excess and depravity, barbaric jazzy outbursts, and the lamentations and finally the rejoicing of the Jewish captives. The "couple of brass bands" added at Beecham's suggestion to an already large orchestra each consist of three trumpets, three trombones and a tuba.<ref>Lucas, p. 200</ref> Many critics judged it the most important English choral work since Elgar's ''[[The Dream of Gerontius]]'' in 1900.<ref name=dnb/> None of Walton's later choral works have matched its popularity. They include ''In Honour of the City of London'' (1937) and a ''Gloria'' (1960–61) composed for the 125th anniversary of the [[Huddersfield Choral Society]].<ref name=grove/>

===Recordings===
{{see also|Façade discography}}
From the days of 78&nbsp;rpm discs, when relatively little modern music was being put on record, Walton was favoured by the record companies.<ref name=gramobit/> In 1929 the small, new [[Decca Records|Decca]] company recorded eleven movements from ''Façade'', with the composer conducting a chamber ensemble, with the speakers Edith Sitwell and Walton's friend and colleague [[Constant Lambert]].{{refn|Walton and Lambert were rivals and friends. Walton was [[godparent|godfather]] to Lambert's son [[Kit Lambert|Kit]].<ref>Lloyd (2014), pp. 49 and 211</ref>|group= n}}       In the 1930s, Walton also had two of his major orchestral works on disc, both on Decca, the First Symphony recorded by Harty and the London Symphony Orchestra, and the Viola Concerto with [[Frederick Riddle]] and the LSO conducted by the composer.<ref name=gramobit>Greenfield, Edward. "Sir William Walton (1902–1983)", ''Gramophone'', May 1983, p. 18</ref> In the 1940s Walton moved from Decca to its older, larger rival, [[EMI]]. The EMI producer [[Walter Legge]] arranged a series of recordings of Walton's major works and many minor ones over the next twenty years; a rival composer expressed the view that if Walton had an attack of flatulence (he used an earthier expression), Walter Legge would record it.<ref name=collection>Greenfield, Edward. "The Music of William Walton", ''Gramophone'', October 1994, p. 92</ref>

Walton himself, although a reluctant conductor, conducted many of the EMI recordings, and some for other labels. He made studio recordings of the First Symphony,<ref>Recorded 1951, CD catalogue number EMI Classics 5 65004 2</ref> the Viola Concerto,<ref>With [[Frederick Riddle]] (1937), CD catalogue number Pearl GEM 0171, [[William Primrose]] (1946), CD catalogue number Avid Classic AMSC 604, and [[Yehudi Menuhin]] (1968), CD catalogue number EMI Classics 5 65005 2</ref> the Violin Concerto,<ref>With Heifetz (1950) CD catalogue number RCA Victor Gold Seal GD87966, and Menuhin (1969) CD catalogue number EMI CHS5 65003-2</ref> the Sinfonia Concertante,<ref>With [[Peter Katin]] (1970) CD catalogue number Lyrita SRCD 224</ref> the ''Façade'' Suites,<ref>(1936–38) CD catalogue number EMI Classics 7 63381 2</ref> the Partita,<ref>CD catalogue number EMI Classics 65006</ref> ''Belshazzar's Feast'',<ref>1943, CD catalogue number EMI Classics 7 63381 2; and 1959, CD catalogue number EMI Classics 5 65004 2</ref> and suites from his film scores for Shakespeare plays and ''The First of the Few''.<ref>1963, CD catalogue number EMI Classics 5 65007 2</ref> Some live performances conducted by Walton were recorded and have been released on compact disc, including the Cello Concerto<ref>With [[Pierre Fournier]] (1959), CD catalogue number BBC Legends 4098-2</ref> and the Coronation Te Deum.<ref>1966, CD catalogue number BBC Legends 4098-2</ref>

Almost all Walton's works have been recorded for commercial release.<ref name=zuckerman>Zuckerman, Paul S. [http://www.waltontrust.org/williamwalton "Introduction"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120503063032/http://www.waltontrust.org/williamwalton/ |date=3 May 2012 }}, William Walton Trust, retrieved 13 September 2010</ref> EMI published a "Walton Edition" of his major works on CD in the 1990s, and the recording of the [[Chandos Records]] "Walton Edition" of his works was completed in 2010.<ref name=zuckerman/><ref>Greenfield, Edward. "Critics' Choice", ''Gramophone'', December 1994, p. 52</ref> His best-known works have been recorded by performers from many countries.<ref name=collection/> Among the frequently recorded are ''Belshazzar's Feast'', the Viola and Violin Concertos and the First Symphony, which has had some [[Symphony No. 1 (Walton)#Recordings|thirty recordings]] since Harty's 1936 set.<ref>[http://www.waltontrust.org/williamwalton/ "Discography] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150403002843/http://www.waltontrust.org/williamwalton/ |date=3 April 2015 }}, William Walton Trust, retrieved 4 April 2015</ref>

==Legacy==
In 1944, it was said of Walton that he summed up the recent past of English music and augured its future.<ref>Evans, Edwin. "Modern British Composers", ''The Musical Times'', November 1944, p. 330</ref> Later writers have concluded that Walton had little influence on the next generation of composers.{{refn|In ''The Musical Times'' in 1994, Arnold Whittall listed Mahler, Britten, Stravinsky and Berg, but not Walton, as major influences on British composers of the post-war generation.<ref>Whittall, Arnold. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1002900 "Thirty (More) Years On"], ''The Musical Times'', March 1994, pp. 143–147</ref>|group= n}}       In his later years, Walton formed friendships with younger composers including [[Hans Werner Henze]] and [[Malcolm Arnold]], but although he admired their work, he did not influence their compositional styles.{{refn|Arnold listed the principal influences on him as Berlioz, Mahler, Sibelius, Bartók and jazz.<ref>"Obituary, Sir Malcolm Arnold", ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'', 25 September 2006, p. 25</ref> Walton is not mentioned in the ''Grove'' articles on Henze or Arnold.<ref>Burton-Page, Piers, [http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/01303 "Malcolm Arnold"], and Palmer-Füchsel, Virginia, [http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/12820 "Hans Werner Henze"], Grove Music Online, retrieved 13 October 2010 {{subscription}}</ref>|group= n}} Throughout his life, Walton held no posts at music conservatoires; he had no pupils, gave no lectures and wrote no essays.<ref>Kennedy, ''passim''</ref> After his death, the Walton Trust, inspired by Susana Walton, has run arts education projects, promoted British music and held annual summer masterclasses on Ischia for gifted young musicians.<ref>''The Times'', 15 September 1984, p. 9</ref><ref>[http://www.waltontrust.org/ "The William Walton Trust"] William Walton Trust, retrieved 29 November 2015</ref>

==Notes, references and sources==

===Notes===
{{Reflist|group=n}}

===References===
{{Reflist}}

===Sources===
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book | last = Aldous | first = Richard | title = Tunes of Glory: The Life of Malcolm Sargent | publisher = Hutchinson | year = 2001 | location = London | isbn = 978-0-09-180131-1}}
* {{cite book | last = Cox | first = David | chapter = William Walton | title = The Symphony: Elgar to the Present Day | editor = [[Robert Simpson (composer)|Simpson, Robert]] | publisher = Pelican | location = London | year = 1967 | oclc = 221594461}}
* {{cite book | last = Hoare | first = Philip | author-link = Philip Hoare | title = Noël Coward | publisher = Sinclair Stevenson | year = 1995 | location = London | isbn = 978-1-85619-265-1}}
* {{cite book | last = Hussey | first = Dyneley |author-link = Dyneley Hussey | chapter = William Walton | title = The Music Masters | editor = Bacharach, A L | publisher = Pelican Books | location = London | year = 1957 | oclc = 655768838}}
* {{cite book | last= Kennedy | first= Michael | author-link = Michael Kennedy (music critic) | title = Portrait of Walton | location = Oxford | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 1989 | isbn = 978-0-19-816705-1}}
* {{cite book | last = Lloyd | first = Stephen | title = William Walton: Muse of Fire | publisher = Boydell | location = Woodbridge | year = 2002 | isbn = 978-0-85115-803-7 }}
* {{cite book | last = Lloyd | first = Stephen | title = Constant Lambert: Beyond the Rio Grande | year = 2014 | location = Woodbridge | publisher = : Boydell Press | isbn = 978-1-84383-898-2}}
* {{cite book | last = Lucas | first = John | title = Thomas Beecham | location = Woodbridge | publisher = Boydell | year = 2008 | isbn = 978-1-84383-402-1}}
* {{cite book | last = Mason | first = Colin | chapter = William Walton | title = British Music of Our Time | editor = Bacharach, A L | location = London | publisher = Pelican | year = 1946 | oclc = 458571770}}
* {{cite book | last = Reid | first = Charles | title = Malcolm Sargent: a biography | publisher = Hamish Hamilton | year = 1968 | isbn = 978-0-241-91316-1}}
* {{cite book | last = Sackville-West | first = Edward | author1-link = Edward Sackville-West, 5th Baron Sackville | author2 = [[Desmond Shawe-Taylor (music critic)|Shawe-Taylor, Desmond]] | title = The Record Guide | publisher = Collins | location = London | year = 1956 | oclc = 500373060}}
* {{cite book | last = Shore | first = Bernard | title = The Orchestra Speaks | publisher = Longmans | location = London | year = 1938 | oclc = 499119110}}
* {{cite book | last = Strimple | first = Nick | year = 2002 | title = Choral music in the Twentieth Century | location = Portland, US | publisher = Amadeus Press | isbn = 978-1-57467-122-3}}
* {{cite book | last = Walton | first = Susana | author-link = Susana, Lady Walton | title = William Walton: Behind the Façade | location = Oxford | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 1989 | isbn = 978-0-19-282635-0}}
* {{cite book | last = White | first = Eric Walter | year = 1984 | edition = second | orig-year = 1966 | title = Stravinsky: The Composer and his Works | location = Berkeley, US | publisher = University of California Press | isbn = 978-0-520-03985-8}}
* {{cite book | last = Wilkinson | first = James | title = The Queen's Coronation: The Inside Story | publisher = Scala | year = 2011 | isbn = 978-1-85759-735-6}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book | last= Burton | first = Humphrey | author1-link= Humphrey Burton | author2 = Murray, Maureen | title = William Walton: The Romantic Loner | publisher = Oxford University Press | location = Oxford | year = 2002 | isbn = 978-0-19-816235-3}}
* {{cite book | last = Craggs | first = Stewart R | title = William Walton: A Catalogue | location = Oxford | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 1990 | isbn = 978-0-19-315474-2}}
* {{cite book | editor-last = Hayes | editor-first = Malcolm | title = The Selected Letters of William Walton | publisher = Faber and Faber | location = London | year = 2002 | isbn = 978-0-571-20105-1}}
* {{cite book | last = Howes | first = Frank | author-link = Frank Howes | title = The Music of William Walton | location = Oxford | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 1965 | isbn = 978-0-19-315412-4}}
* {{cite book | last = Petrocelli | first = Paolo | title = The Resonance of a Small Voice: William Walton and the Violin Concerto in England between 1900 and 1940 |location=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing|year=2010|isbn= 978-1-4438-1721-9}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
*[http://www.waltontrust.org/ William Walton Trust]
*[http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/digitallibrary/walton.html William Walton Online Archive]. Archive of digitised works from the [http://www.library.yale.edu/beinecke/index.html Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University].
* Walton pages at [http://www.oup.co.uk/music/repprom/walton/ Oxford University Press]
* [http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?LinkID=mp04688 Sir William Turner Walton (1902–1983), Composer, Sitter in 22 portraits] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080317041117/http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?LinkID=mp04688 |date=17 March 2008 }} (National Portrait Gallery collection)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071004023736/http://www.gresham.ac.uk/event.asp?PageId=45&EventId=698 "The Jazz Age"], lecture and concert by [[Chamber Domaine]] given on 6 November 2007 at [[Gresham College]], including Walton's ''Façade'' (available for audio and video download).
* {{YouTube|0obY178z9kM|Walton, Cello Concerto}} performed by [[Julian Lloyd Webber]] and the [[Academy of St Martin in the Fields]] conducted by [[Neville Marriner|Sir Neville Marriner]]
* {{Screenonline name|id=518762|name=William Walton}}
* {{BBC composer page|walton|Walton}}
* {{IMDb name|id=0006338}}
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009mkvb Sir William Walton] on [[Desert Island Discs]], [[BBC Radio 4]] in 1982.

{{William Walton}}
{{Authority control}}
{{featured article}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walton, William}}
[[Category:William Walton| ]]
[[Category:1902 births]]
[[Category:1983 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century English classical composers]]
[[Category:People educated at Christ Church Cathedral School]]
[[Category:Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford]]
[[Category:British ballet composers]]
[[Category:English classical composers of church music]]
[[Category:Composers awarded knighthoods]]
[[Category:English film score composers]]
[[Category:English male film score composers]]
[[Category:English opera composers]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:English male opera composers]]
[[Category:Members of the Order of Merit]]
[[Category:Musicians from the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham]]
[[Category:Musicians from Oldham]]
[[Category:Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medallists]]
[[Category:20th-century English male musicians]]
[[Category:English expatriates in Italy]]
[[Category:Presidents of the London Symphony Orchestra]]
[[Category:Jazz-influenced classical composers]]