William Walton(1902-1983)
- Music Department
- Composer
- Actor
William Walton came from a musical family. He entered Christ Church,
Oxford at the early age of sixteen but left without a degree in 1920. A
fine musician, he was essentially self-taught as a composer, except
some instruction from Hugh Allen, the cathedral organist. Through
literary friends and other associations he became acquainted with the
London music and cultural scene. In addition to his own genius for
harmonies and texturing (as seen in early choral works), Walton was
influenced by the works of Stravinsky, Sibelius, and jazz. The use of
the latter brought some early snubbing as a modernist among
conservative music critics. But during some lean years of the 1920s,
Walton helped support himself playing piano at jazz clubs. But he
devoted most time to composing (chamber, concerto, and vocal music)
which paid off initially in 1929 with his Viola Concerto, putting him
solidly in the British classical music scene. Through the 1930s his
choral and symphonic works bolstered that reputation all the more.
His first ventures into film music were in association with the
Hungarian émigré director/producer Paul Czinner. Walton did four scores
for him, including Walton's first Shakespearean effort, As You Like It (1936) which
starred Laurence Olivier. With the outbreak of World War II, Walton
entered military service but was given leave to compose music for
propaganda films based on his already proficient examples of ceremonial
themes. One of these film tasks put him back in acquaintance with
Olivier who was adapting Shakespeare's Henry V (1944). Having scored
five war period films so far, this would be the first of three scores
for Olivier's filmed Shakespeare plays. With its implied spirit of
nationalism, the music ranged over rousing heroic sections to
Renaissance dance and pastoral elements, so familiar to the public in
the efforts of such older contemporaries as Ralph Vaughn Williams. The
score was nominated for an Oscar, and it remains perhaps the best known
of Walton's film music.
After the war Walton continued to be a public favorite, and though
ranging over new projects in all composing areas, his post-Romantic
sentiments would continue to be his foundation. Once again Olivier
wanted a score, now for his Hamlet (1948). The music was appropriately
subdued to reflect the nature of the play. The film was a landmark for
the time and garnered four Oscars with Walton again being nominated for
the score. He continued work on an opera (Troilus and Cressida, 1954)
and his general musical output, which, all told, would surpass 75
works. Walton did no more film work until Olivier came knocking for the
third and final time for a Shakespearean score. This time Walton's
music for Richard III (1955) swelled with the facade of pomp that edges the
play-repeating the main theme throughout-while keeping the nuances of
treachery which dominates the play's content to dramatic economy.
Although the film proved to be the most popular and perhaps influential
of Olivier's trilogy, it received only one nomination as best picture.
The years following into the 1960s were challenging for Walton as
composing became difficult and focused on recasting previous work. He
scored the music for The Battle of Britain (1969), but it was replaced only two weeks before
the film was released. Walton composed his last big screen score-again
for Olivier-this time for Three Sisters (1970).
Walton was knighted in 1951 and received the Order of Merit in 1968.
But as fate will often have it, Walton was not finished with
Shakespeare. Into the 1970s he was commissioned to do the music for
twelve new productions of plays as part of the ambitious BBC effort
"The Complete Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare (1978 thru 1985).
Though his screen music output of some 28 scores was modest compared to
that of Hollywood contemporaries (Steiner, Rozsa, and Newman, but
similar to Korngold,), his brand of thematic delivery, a British twist
as it were, departed from classic Hollywood scores with their
continental Romantic traditions.
Oxford at the early age of sixteen but left without a degree in 1920. A
fine musician, he was essentially self-taught as a composer, except
some instruction from Hugh Allen, the cathedral organist. Through
literary friends and other associations he became acquainted with the
London music and cultural scene. In addition to his own genius for
harmonies and texturing (as seen in early choral works), Walton was
influenced by the works of Stravinsky, Sibelius, and jazz. The use of
the latter brought some early snubbing as a modernist among
conservative music critics. But during some lean years of the 1920s,
Walton helped support himself playing piano at jazz clubs. But he
devoted most time to composing (chamber, concerto, and vocal music)
which paid off initially in 1929 with his Viola Concerto, putting him
solidly in the British classical music scene. Through the 1930s his
choral and symphonic works bolstered that reputation all the more.
His first ventures into film music were in association with the
Hungarian émigré director/producer Paul Czinner. Walton did four scores
for him, including Walton's first Shakespearean effort, As You Like It (1936) which
starred Laurence Olivier. With the outbreak of World War II, Walton
entered military service but was given leave to compose music for
propaganda films based on his already proficient examples of ceremonial
themes. One of these film tasks put him back in acquaintance with
Olivier who was adapting Shakespeare's Henry V (1944). Having scored
five war period films so far, this would be the first of three scores
for Olivier's filmed Shakespeare plays. With its implied spirit of
nationalism, the music ranged over rousing heroic sections to
Renaissance dance and pastoral elements, so familiar to the public in
the efforts of such older contemporaries as Ralph Vaughn Williams. The
score was nominated for an Oscar, and it remains perhaps the best known
of Walton's film music.
After the war Walton continued to be a public favorite, and though
ranging over new projects in all composing areas, his post-Romantic
sentiments would continue to be his foundation. Once again Olivier
wanted a score, now for his Hamlet (1948). The music was appropriately
subdued to reflect the nature of the play. The film was a landmark for
the time and garnered four Oscars with Walton again being nominated for
the score. He continued work on an opera (Troilus and Cressida, 1954)
and his general musical output, which, all told, would surpass 75
works. Walton did no more film work until Olivier came knocking for the
third and final time for a Shakespearean score. This time Walton's
music for Richard III (1955) swelled with the facade of pomp that edges the
play-repeating the main theme throughout-while keeping the nuances of
treachery which dominates the play's content to dramatic economy.
Although the film proved to be the most popular and perhaps influential
of Olivier's trilogy, it received only one nomination as best picture.
The years following into the 1960s were challenging for Walton as
composing became difficult and focused on recasting previous work. He
scored the music for The Battle of Britain (1969), but it was replaced only two weeks before
the film was released. Walton composed his last big screen score-again
for Olivier-this time for Three Sisters (1970).
Walton was knighted in 1951 and received the Order of Merit in 1968.
But as fate will often have it, Walton was not finished with
Shakespeare. Into the 1970s he was commissioned to do the music for
twelve new productions of plays as part of the ambitious BBC effort
"The Complete Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare (1978 thru 1985).
Though his screen music output of some 28 scores was modest compared to
that of Hollywood contemporaries (Steiner, Rozsa, and Newman, but
similar to Korngold,), his brand of thematic delivery, a British twist
as it were, departed from classic Hollywood scores with their
continental Romantic traditions.