![]() His most famous works are the three concertos, for the viola, violin and cello, the monumental choral work Belshazzar’s Feast, the two symphonies, the lyric opera Troilus and Cressida, a comic opera, The Bear, the film scores for Laurence Olivier’s three Shakespearian films: Henry V, Hamlet and Richard III. Here they lived for the next 35 years in the property they created and developed, La Mortella, where today William’s ashes are kept. Desiring to enjoy the light and the peace of the Bay of Naples, the couple chose the island of Ischia. ![]() The couple decided to live in Italy which William had visited in 1919, and where in 1939 he had written his Violin Concerto for the musician Jascha Heifetz. Alone again in 1947, whilst on a visit to Argentina he met and just a few weeks later married Susana Gil, who was a good 22 years younger. His private life included a relationship that lasted for fifteen years with a society lady somewhat his senior, Alice Wimborne, who helped him to cultivate his inspirations and create for himself a career. During the war he wrote much music for the cinema, including the splendid score for Laurence Olivier’s film ‘Henry V’. ![]() His best known work in this period is Façade (1922), a brilliant musical composition, with words by Edith Sitwell. A determining factor in the development of his career was the patronage of the eccentric Sitwell family (the siblings Edith, Osbert and Sacheverell) who took him under their wing in 1919 when he left Oxford.įrom his humble origins in Oldham, Lancashire, he was thus catapulted into the elegant and sophisticated world of London’s high society. Sir William Walton OM (1902-1983) is considered as one of the greatest English composers of the twentieth century. ![]()
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