William Walton Catalogue

First performance:

First performance: London, Royal Festival Hall, 18 January 1962; John Coulling and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargent First broadcast performance: London, BBCTV Centre, 15 October 1963 (recording made five months earlier in the International Concert Hall series); Lina Lama and the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by William Walton. (Walton conducted a BBC2 (television) programme of his own music.) Note: Lina Lama was principal viola of orchestras in Naples and Salzburg. Walton heard her playing in Italy and specially asked her to take part in this TV performance. Publication: study score: OUP, 1964, at 30s (rev. edn, September 1976, with minor corrections to pp. 33 and 59) • WWE vol. 12, pp. 149–295 • study score: OUP, 2013, at £17.95 Bibliography: Times, 19 Jan 1962, p. 13 Recordings: LP, CD Yehudi Menuhin / New Philharmonia Orchestra / Walton (recorded No.1 Studio, Abbey Road, London, 9–11 October 1968). HMV ASD 2542 (1970); EMI CDS 5 65003 2 (1994) • Nigel Kennedy / Royal Philharmonic Orchestra / André Previn. EMI EL749 628 1 (1987); EMI CDC 7 49628 2 (1987); EMI 7243 62813 2 (2004); 6 80504 2 (2012); EMI Collector’s Edition 4 40860 2 (2012) • Nobuka Imai / London Philharmonic Orchestra / Jan Latham-Koenig. Chandos CHAN 9106 (1993); CHAN 9426 (1995) Note: In a letter dated 16 October 1961, Walton told Alan Frank that ‘I think [it] an improvement on the old version particularly as regards clarity and definition. The music is the same and the solo part unaltered save for an odd octave higher here and there’ (OUP archive). Other versions C22a arrangement for viola and piano by Geoffrey Pratley Publication: piano score and solo viola part: OUP, 1993 C22b piano reduction by Geoffrey Pratley, edited by Christopher Wellington. Solo line restored, as edited and prepared by Frederick Riddle and most favoured by WW. Publication: piano score and solo viola part (compatible with WWE, vol. 12): OUP, 2002 (this reduction contains tempo markings and dynamics and expression marks from both orchestrations prepared by Walton, in 1929 and 1962 C23 Belshazzar’s Feast 31 (the latter distinguished by lighter type), and thus the solo line printed here may be played with either) C22c O.W. A ballet choreographed by Joe Layton, for which both the Viola Concerto and The Quest (C49a) were used. ‘O.W.’ stands for ‘Oscar Wilde’. First performance: London, Sadler’s Wells Theatre, 22 February 1972; Royal Ballet Touring Orchestra, conducted by David Taylor with Frederick Riddle (viola). Royal Ballet, including Paul Clarke, Michael Somes, Kerrison Cooke, Margaret Barbieri, and Vyvyan Lorrayne. Designs and costumes by Joe Conklin. Bibliography: Times, 24 Feb 1972, p. 13 C23 Be l s h a z z a r’s Fe a s t cantata for baritone solo, double mixed chorus (SSAATTBB), and orchestra Text: arranged from biblical sources (Isaiah, Daniel, parts of Psalms 137 and 81, Joel, and Revelation) by Osbert Sitwell, with a German translation by Beryl de Zoete and the Baroness Imma Doernberg. Date of composition: 1929–31 Commissioned by: British Broadcasting Corporation Holograph: whereabouts unknown Instrumentation: picc.2.2.2(II + E♭).bcl(+cl III).a sax.2.cbn/4.3.3.1/timp/perc (4: tri, cyms, sus cym, gong, cast, wb, sd, td, bd, glock, xyl, tamb, slapstick and anvil)/ pno (opt)/org/2hp/strings, and 2 optional brass ensembles each containing 3tpt, 3tbn, tba Dedication: To Lord Berners Duration: 35 minutes First performance: Leeds, Town Hall, 8 October 1931 (Leeds Triennial Festival); Dennis Noble, Leeds Festival Chorus and London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Malcolm Sargent First London performance: Queen’s Hall, 25 November 1931 (broadcast by the BBC as the 6th of the BBC Symphony Concerts); Stuart Robertson, National Chorus and BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Adrian Boult. (Holst’s Hammersmith (A Prelude and Scherzo) received its first performance at this concert.) For perusal purposes only

32 C23 Belshazzar’s Feast First European performance: Amsterdam, Groote Zaae (Concertgebouw), 10 June 1933 (ISCM Festival concert); Roy Henderson, Kon. Christelijke Oratorium Vereniging and ‘Excelsior’ (Rotterdam) with the Concertgebouworkest, conducted by Constant Lambert (the Rotterdam choir undertook the work at comparatively short notice after another choir had withdrawn its offer) First American performance: Boston, Symphony Hall, 31 March 1933; David Blair McClosky, Cecilia Society Chorus and Boston Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Serge Koussevitzky Other early performances: London, Queen’s Hall, 2 November 1932 (broadcast as a BBC Symphony Concert); Dennis Noble, Wireless Singers, BBC Chorus and BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Adrian Boult • Manchester, Free Trade Hall, 17 November 1932; Dennis Noble, Hallé Chorus and Orchestra, conducted by Sir Hamilton Harty • London, Queen’s Hall, 16, 17, and 19 January 1933 (Courtauld–Sargent Concerts); Roy Henderson, ‘Special Choir’ (drawn mainly from members of the Royal Choral Society) and London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Malcolm Sargent • Cincinnati, Music Hall, 5 May 1933; Herbert Gould, Spring Festival Chorus and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Eugene Goossens • Philadelphia, 12 January 1934 (radio concert from CBS studios and broadcast across America); Dudley Marwick, Philadelphia Orchestra Chorus, the Mendelssohn Club and Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Leopold Stokowski • Neath, National Eisteddfod Pavilion, 9 August 1934; Roy Henderson, Eisteddfod Choir (700 voices) and the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Matthew Davies • New York, Carnegie Hall, 9 January 1935; Keith Falkner, Schola Cantorum and New York Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Hugh Ross • Toronto, Massey Hall, 13 February 1936; Frederick L. Newnham, Toronto Mendelssohn Choir and Toronto Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Dr. Herbert Fricker Publication: vocal score: OUP, 1931 at 3s • Sol-Fa edition: OUP, 1933 at 2s • two separate choruses printed for the 1934 Blackpool Music Festival: OUP, 1935. (This performance, by various competing choirs and the Blackpool Amateur Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Ralph Harwood, took place in the Blackpool Opera House on 27 October 1934.) Bibliography: Richard Aldous, Tunes of Glory: The Life of Malcolm Sargent (London: Pimlico, 2002), 48, 50–53, 72–3, 79, 98, 191, 195 • H. F. Brown, ‘English Oratorio after Handel Including Analysis of Belshazzar’s Feast by Sir William Walton’ (MA thesis, University of Michigan, 1954) • Spike Hughes, Second Movement, Continuing the Autobiography of Spike Hughes (London: Museum Press, 1951), 140 • Michael Kennedy, ‘Belshazzar and the BBC Bureaucracy: the Origins of a Masterpiece’, CraggsML, pp. 59–66 • L. S. Luce, ‘William Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast: A Conductor’s Analysis for Performance’ (DMA diss., University of Miami, 1995) • BETr, 30 March 1933, p. 13 (AHM); Gramophone, 20 (May 1943), 182 (H. Bardgett); The Listener, 18 Nov 1931, pp. 860–61 (HG); MG, 9 Oct 1931, p. 10, (N. Cardus); 18 Nov 1932, p. 13 (N.Cardus); MMR 61 (October 1931), 298–9 (F. Howes); MO 56 (July 1933), 860–61 (H.Foss); MT 73 (November 1931), 991–2 (F. Howes); 73 (January 1932), 68 (WMcN); 73 (December 1932), 1127 (FB); 74 (August 1933), 905–8 (E. Evans); 76 (October 1935), 901 (W. R. Anderson); 84 (April 1943), 115 (W. R. Anderson); NYT, 10 Jan 1935, p.23 (O. Downes); 6 Nov 1935, p. X7 (O. Downes); RT, 28 Oct 1932, p. 258 (C. Lambert); 20 Nov 1942, p. 4 (R. Hill); Sackbut 12 (1932), 84–6 (J. H. Elliot); ST, 29 Nov 1932, p. 5 (E. Newman); Times, 9 Oct 1931, p. 10; 23 Nov 1931, p. 12; 3 Nov 1932, p. 10; 17 Jan 1933, p. 10; 12 June 1933, p. 12; YOb, 9 Oct 1931, p. 7; YPost, 9 Oct 1931, p. 5, 14 Sept 1931, p. 4 Recordings: 78 Dennis Noble / Huddersfield Choral Society, Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and brass bands / Walton (recording commissioned by the British Council and recorded in Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool, 3 and 10 January 1943). HMV C3330–34 (1943); HMV C 7572–6 auto (1943) LP, CD Dennis Noble, Huddersfield Choral Society, Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and brass bands / Walton. HMV ALP1089 (1953); HMV Treasury series ED 290715 1 (1986); EMI CDH7 63381 2 (1992) Note: In a letter to OUP dated 22 July 1942 Osbert Sitwell stated that at least a quarter of of the libretto was his own, and that the work took him ten days in Venice, working all day long. He added that the fact his work cannot be detected from that of the rest of the material only showed how skilfully he worked (OUP archive). In a letter to the present author, dated 2 October 1972, the late Christabel, Lady Aberconway, claimed that she did ‘most of the research on the text’. Those six words are underlined twice (Craggs archive). Revised version For perusal purposes only Spike Hughes (see above) says that Walton ‘revised one or two passages’ between its first performance in Leeds and the first London performance. Roy Douglas, in a letter to the present author, dated 24 September 1981, detailed the later revisions to Belshazzar’s Feast thus: