Sir William Turner Walton
(1902-1983), ComposerSitter in 26 portraits
During a sixty-year career, Walton composed music in various styles and genres, including symphonies, concertos, ballet music, opera and film scores. Influenced by jazz and the music of Stravinsky, he collaborated with Edith Sitwell on Façade - An Entertainment (1922), a musical accompaniment to her poems. His later works, notably Belshazzar's Feast (1931), three concertos and two symphonies, show the evolution of a personal style combining modernist elements with traditional forms. Walton met Edith's brother Sacheverell at Oxford University in 1918 and was part of the Sitwell household from 1919 to 1933. The family provided him with patronage and encouragement. He was knighted in 1951.
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