Sir William Walton (1902-1983)

William Walton was born in Oldham, England in 1902. He was a boy chorister at Christ Church Cathedral Oxford, and went on to study music at the university. However, he left without a degree and was largely self-taught as a composer. His close association with the aristocratic Sitwell family meant he continued to be part of the literary and music scene of the time. He lodged with the Sitwells in London where he produced Façade - a musical adaptation of Edith Sitwell’s poetry - influenced by the jazz music of the era.

Walton played piano in Jazz clubs to earn an income and continued to compose. With his Viola Concerto of 1929 came success and popularity. Great acclaim followed for the oratorio Belshazzar’s Feast in 1931. 1935 saw the premier of Symphony No. 1, a work inspired by Walton’s love affair with Imma von Dornberg. These, along with his other early works are generally considered his finest. In 1935 Walton moved on from the Sitwells who disapproved of his new relationship with Lady Alice Wimborne.

During World War II Walton composed film scores, again to popular acclaim. His score for Laurence Olivier’s Henry V, is considered one of his greatest achievements. After the war he turned his attentions to Opera, writing the tragic Troilus and Cressida over a period of seven years. The work was not widely acclaimed and Walton returned to orchestral composition. Walton had settled on the island of Ischia, near Naples, Italy with his Argentinian wife Susana Gil. He was honoured with a knighthood in 1951 and appointed to the Order of Merit in 1967. He died at his home on Ischia in 1983.