Ahead of APO's performance of William Walton's First Symphony, APO's Robin Lane takes a look at the varied and slow paced career of this often overlooked English composer.
William Walton hailed from the industrial town of Oldham, Lancashire where he was born into a musical household. His father and mother were both singers and encouraged Walton's talents from an early age. At the age of 10 he was accepted as a chorister at Christ Church Cathedral School in Oxford. At 16 he became an undergraduate after the Dean noticed his musical potential. During his time at Oxford he befriended several poets including Roy Campbell, Siegfried Sassoon and, crucially for his immediate future, Sacheverell Sitwell.
Walton left Oxford in 1920 with no degree or any plans for his future, but was offered lodgings in London by his dear friend Sitwell and siblings Osbert and Edith Sitwell. Walton later recalled, "I went for a few weeks and stayed about 15 years". It was during this time that the Sitwells gave Walton his cultural education in the heart of 1920s London, including introductions to both Stravinsky and Gershwin.
In 1923 Walton collaborated with Edith Sitwell for his first notable success, Façade – An Entertainment. The work incorporates the poetry of Edith Sitwell with musical accompaniment composed by Walton. When performed live, a screen was placed at the front of the stage with all performers placed behind it. Edith would then recite the poetry through a megaphone protruding through said screen. If you are thinking this sounds rather bizarre, you would have found many contemporaries at the time who agreed with you. One headline read "Drivel That They Paid to Hear" and writer Noël Coward marched out of the venue mid-performance. Even the musicians had few kind words to say – the clarinettist asked the composer, "Mr Walton, has a clarinet player ever done you an injury?"
Walton would go on to rework the music into suites for orchestra without Edith's poetry:
Or for the brave of heart, you can enjoy the original version with Edith's poetry: