William Walton
Composer
1902 – 1983
Who was William Walton?
Sir William Turner Walton OM 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, the cantata Belshazzar's Feast, the Viola Concerto, and the First Symphony.
Born in 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 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 modernist, but later became a popular ballet score.
In middle age, Walton left Britain and set up home with his young wife 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, was among the works to be so labelled and has made little impact in opera houses.
We need you!
Help us build the largest biographies collection on the web!
- Born
- Mar 29, 1902
Oldham - Also known as
- Walton
- Sir William Turner Walton
- Sir William Walton
- Walton, Sir William
- Parents
- Spouses
- Susana, Lady Walton
(1948/12 - 1983/03/08)
- Susana, Lady Walton
- Nationality
- United Kingdom
- Profession
- Education
- Christ Church, Oxford
- University of Oxford
- Died
- Mar 8, 1983
Ischia
Submitted
on July 23, 2013
Citation
Use the citation below to add to a bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"William Walton." Biographies.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.biographies.net/people/en/william_walton>.
Discuss this William Walton biography with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In