Viola Concerto (Walton)
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The Viola Concerto by
William Walton Sir William Turner Walton (29 March 19028 March 1983) was an English composer. During a sixty-year career, he wrote music in several classical genres and styles, from film scores to opera. His best-known works include ''Façade'', the cantat ...
was written in 1929 and first performed at the
Queen's Hall The Queen's Hall was a concert hall in Langham Place, London, Langham Place, London, opened in 1893. Designed by the architect Thomas Knightley, it had room for an audience of about 2,500 people. It became London's principal concert venue. Fro ...
, London on 3 October of that year by
Paul Hindemith Paul Hindemith (; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advocate of the ' ...
as soloist and the composer conducting. It had been written with the
violist ; german: Bratsche , alt=Viola shown from the front and the side , image=Bratsche.jpg , caption= , background=string , hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= , related= *Violin family ...
Lionel Tertis Lionel Tertis, CBE (29 December 187622 February 1975) was an English violist. He was one of the first viola players to achieve international fame and a noted teacher. Career Tertis was born in West Hartlepool, the son of Polish-Jewish immigra ...
in mind, and he took the work up after initially rejecting it. The concerto established Walton as a substantial figure in British music and has been recorded by leading violists internationally. Walton revised the instrumentation of the concerto in 1961, lightening the orchestral textures.


Background and first performances

In 1929 William Walton was regarded as an avant-garde composer, best known for ''
Façade A façade () (also written facade) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loan word from the French (), which means ' frontage' or ' face'. In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important aspect ...
'' (1923), which had been a ''
succès de scandale ''Succès de scandale'' (French for "success from scandal") is a term for any artistic work whose success is attributed, in whole or in part, to public controversy surrounding the work. In some cases the controversy causes audiences to seek ou ...
'' at its premiere.Kennedy, pp. 31 and 33; "Poetry Through a Megaphone", ''The Daily Express'', 13 June 1923, p. 7; "Futuristic Music and Poetry", ''The Manchester Guardian'', 13 June 1923, p. 3; and "The World of Music", ''The Illustrated London News'', 23 June 1923, p. 1122 His exuberant and harmonically edgy concert overture ''
Portsmouth Point Portsmouth Point, or "Spice Island", is part of Old Portsmouth in Portsmouth, Hampshire, on the southern coast of England. The name Spice Island comes from the area's seedy reputation, as it was known as the "Spice of Life". Men were easily found ...
'' (1926) maintained his reputation as an ''
enfant terrible ''Enfant terrible'' (; ; "terrible child") is a French expression, traditionally referring to a child who is terrifyingly candid by saying embarrassing things to parents or others. However, the expression has drawn multiple usage in careers of ...
''. Towards the end of 1928 the conductor
Sir Thomas Beecham Sir Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet, CH (29 April 18798 March 1961) was an English conductor and impresario best known for his association with the London Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic orchestras. He was also closely associated with th ...
suggested that Walton should write a concerto for the
violist ; german: Bratsche , alt=Viola shown from the front and the side , image=Bratsche.jpg , caption= , background=string , hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= , related= *Violin family ...
Lionel Tertis Lionel Tertis, CBE (29 December 187622 February 1975) was an English violist. He was one of the first viola players to achieve international fame and a noted teacher. Career Tertis was born in West Hartlepool, the son of Polish-Jewish immigra ...
, for whom composers including
Vaughan Williams Ralph Vaughan Williams, (; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...
and Bax had written major works. After some preliminary discussion Walton agreed. He wrote the concerto while wintering in
Amalfi Amalfi (, , ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Salerno, in the region of Campania, Italy, on the Gulf of Salerno. It lies at the mouth of a deep ravine, at the foot of Monte Cerreto (1,315 metres, 4,314 feet), surrounded by dramati ...
, Italy, with his friends and patrons
the Sitwells The Sitwells (Edith Sitwell, Osbert Sitwell, Sacheverell Sitwell), from Scarborough, North Yorkshire, were three siblings who formed an identifiable literary and artistic clique around themselves in London in the period roughly 1916 to 1930. T ...
. He wrote in December 1928 that he was working hard on the piece, and in February 1929 that he had finished the second movement. He said he considered the concerto potentially his finest work to date, although whether this assessment would hold true would depend on how the third movement turned out. On his return to England in the spring of 1929, Walton sent the completed concerto to Tertis, who immediately rejected it because of its modernity. Tertis later realised his error and wrote in his autobiography: Walton was so disappointed by Tertis's refusal that he considered recasting the concerto for violin and orchestra.Lloyd, p. 89 It is not clear where the suggestion came from that the German composer and violist
Paul Hindemith Paul Hindemith (; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advocate of the ' ...
should be invited to premiere the work. In 1974 Tertis wrote in his memoirs that he had recommended Hindemith to Walton, but Walton had recalled in 1962 that the idea came from Edward Clark of the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
music department. Clark sent the manuscript to Hindemith, who agreed to give the first performance. The first performance was at
the Proms The BBC Proms or Proms, formally named the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts Presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hal ...
at the
Queen's Hall The Queen's Hall was a concert hall in Langham Place, London, Langham Place, London, opened in 1893. Designed by the architect Thomas Knightley, it had room for an audience of about 2,500 people. It became London's principal concert venue. Fro ...
, London, on 3 October 1929; Hindemith was the soloist and the Henry Wood Symphony Orchestra was conducted by the composer. Hindemith did not possess an immaculate technique, but played with strong character, a full tone and great emotion. The composer later wrote that Hindemith's "technique was marvellous, but he was rough—no nonsense about it. He just stood up and played." Tertis, who attended the premiere, realised that he had made a mistake in rejecting the concerto and soon took it up. When it was selected for performance at the
International Society for Contemporary Music The International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) is a music organization that promotes contemporary classical music. The organization was established in Salzburg in 1922 as Internationale Gesellschaft für Neue Musik (IGNM) following th ...
festival in Liège in September 1930, Tertis was the soloist, with Walton conducting. Over the next three years Tertis gave five more performances of the concerto.


1961 revision

Walton was given to revising his works after their first performances, and in 1961 he thinned the orchestration of the Viola Concerto, reducing the woodwind from triple to double, omitting one trumpet and the tuba, and adding a harp. The revised version was first performed at the Royal Festival Hall, London, on 18 January 1962, with John Coulling as soloist and the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by
Sir Malcolm Sargent Sir Harold Malcolm Watts Sargent (29 April 1895 – 3 October 1967) was an English conductor, organist and composer widely regarded as Britain's leading conductor of choral works. The musical ensembles with which he was associated include ...
.Lloyd, p. 99 There is some uncertainty about the solo part in this version. The violist
Frederick Riddle Frederick Craig Riddle OBE (20 April 19125 February 1995) was a British violist. He was considered to be in the line from Lionel Tertis and William Primrose, through to the violists of today such as Lawrence Power. Early life and career Frede ...
, with whom Walton performed the work many times, made some adjustments to the solo line. He understood that Walton approved his changes and intended to incorporate them in the score of the revision, but when it was published, in 1962, the original line remained intact. In a 2006 study of the concerto, James F. Dunham attributes the omission of Riddle's revisions to a mistake by the publishers. A 2001 biography of Walton reports the composer's specific preference for his original version, without Riddle's alterations.


Analysis

The concerto carries the dedication "To Christabel" ( the Hon. Mrs Henry McLaren, with whom Walton had a romantic though platonic friendship). The original scoring is for piccolo, two flutes, two
oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. ...
s, cor anglais, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four
horns Horns or The Horns may refer to: * Plural of Horn (instrument), a group of musical instruments all with a horn-shaped bells * The Horns (Colorado), a summit on Cheyenne Mountain * ''Horns'' (novel), a dark fantasy novel written in 2010 by Joe Hill ...
, three
trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...
s, three
trombones The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...
,
tuba The tuba (; ) is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid-19th century, making it one of the ne ...
,
timpani Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a membrane called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally ...
and strings."William Walton, Concerto for Viola and Orchestra, Original 1929 version"
Oxford University Press. Retrieved 12 July 2021 The 1961 revision (published in 1962) stipulates three flutes (one doubling piccolo), oboe, cor anglais, two clarinets (second doubling bass clarinet), two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani, harp and strings."William Walton, Concerto for Viola and Orchestra, Revised 1962 version"
Oxford University Press. Retrieved 12 July 2021 The playing time of the concerto is about 25 minutes."Concerto for Viola and Orchestra (1928–9/61)"
William Walton Trust. Retrieved 13 July 2021 In his study of Walton, Michael Kennedy comments that in its design the Viola Concerto resembles Elgar's Cello Concerto in beginning with a slow ("or at any rate ruminative") movement followed by a quick scherzo, and concentrating most weight into the finale, "which ends in a mood of pathos by recalling the principal theme of the first movement". Influences suggested by other writers are
Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''., group=n (27 April .S. 15 April1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, p ...
in his First Violin Concerto (1923), and Hindemith in his '' Kammermusik No. 5'' (1927).Lloyd, p. 93


1. Andante comodo

The first movement, marked
andante Andante may refer to: Arts * Andante (tempo), a moderately slow musical tempo * Andante (manga), ''Andante'' (manga), a shōjo manga by Miho Obana * Andante (song), "Andante" (song), a song by Hitomi Yaida * "Andante, Andante", a 1980 song by A ...
comodo, is in what Howes describes as a regular but condensed
sonata form Sonata form (also ''sonata-allegro form'' or ''first movement form'') is a musical structure generally consisting of three main sections: an exposition, a development, and a recapitulation. It has been used widely since the middle of the 18th c ...
. After a three-bar introduction in which muted strings and low clarinet establish the tonality of A minor the viola enters with a melancholy theme, in the middle register of the instrument. The theme is passed to the oboe, with the viola accompanying; then the viola repeats the theme in the high register. The pace quickens and a series of viola chords leads to the second subject, a tranquil theme,
con moto A variety of musical terms are likely to be encountered in printed scores, music reviews, and program notes. Most of the terms are Italian, in accordance with the Italian origins of many European musical conventions. Sometimes, the special mu ...
, mostly in
E-flat minor E-flat minor is a minor scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature consists of six flats. Its relative key is G-flat major (or enharmonically F-sharp major) and its parallel key is E-flat major. ...
for the viola in its lower register. The themes are developed at varying dynamics and speeds, with solo viola and orchestra handing the themes to and fro. There is no formal cadenza. After a vigorous
tutti ''Tutti'' is an Italian word literally meaning ''all'' or ''together'' and is used as a musical term, for the whole orchestra as opposed to the soloist. It is applied similarly to choral music, where the whole section or choir is called to sing. ...
the movement ends quietly with the melancholic theme with which it began.


2. Scherzo and trio

The second movement, unusually for a concerto, has the character of a scherzo. The first part, is in a quartal harmony, but strongly suggesting an E minor tonality. The tempo marking vivo con moto preciso, is in a basic time but with many changes of metre. There is a climactic section for the full orchestra.


3. Finale – allegro moderato

In the words of the musicologist
Christopher Palmer Christopher Francis Palmer (9 September 194622 January 1995) was an English composer, arranger and orchestrator; biographer of composers, champion of lesser-known composers and writer on film music and other musical subjects; record producer; and ...
, "Here Walton pulls out all the stops".Palmer, Christopher (1992). Notes to Chandos CD CHAN9106 It is the longest of the three movements and as
Frank Howes Frank Stewart Howes (2 April 1891 – 28 September 1974) was an English music critic. From 1943 to 1960 he was chief music critic of ''The Times''. From his student days Howes gravitated towards criticism as his musical specialism, guided by the a ...
puts it in his study of Walton's music, it gathers up the mercurial emotions of the first two movements and reveals their serious purpose. The first theme is lively, elongating the rising fourths heard in the scherzo to rising fifths.Howes, pp. 86–88 It is introduced by the bassoon, followed by the viola over a
pizzicato Pizzicato (, ; translated as "pinched", and sometimes roughly as "plucked") is a playing technique that involves plucking the strings of a string instrument. The exact technique varies somewhat depending on the type of instrument : * On bowe ...
bass line, and is continued by the winds in
contrapuntal In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more musical lines (or voices) which are harmonically interdependent yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. It has been most commonly identified in the European classical tradi ...
lines. The second subject, deriving from the rocking figure of the first movement, is in the minor key. The development section mainly features on the first theme, gradually dividing it into fragments accompanying a long
cantabile In music, ''cantabile'' , an Italian word, means literally "singable" or "songlike". In instrumental music, it is a particular style of playing designed to imitate the human voice. For 18th-century composers, ''cantabile'' is often synonymous wit ...
theme for the viola and later the woodwind. In the recapitulation, the first theme is given to the full orchestra, and the second to woodwinds and horns, with a viola counter-theme. A development passage leads to the coda that draws the earlier themes into a characteristic Walton fugal treatment, leading to the climactic synthesis of the themes.


Critical reception

The work was greeted with enthusiasm. It brought Walton to the forefront of British classical music. In ''
The Manchester Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', Eric Blom wrote, "This young composer is a born genius" and said that it was tempting to call the concerto the best thing in recent music of any nationality. The musical scholar Sir Donald Tovey wrote: In 1931 the teenage
Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...
, later a friend but not an uncritical admirer of Walton, wrote in his diary about "Walton's wonderful Vla Concerto (beautifully played by Tertis) … a work of genius". A dissenting voice was that of
Sir Edward Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...
, who heard the concerto at the
Three Choirs Festival 200px, Worcester cathedral 200px, Gloucester cathedral The Three Choirs Festival is a music festival held annually at the end of July, rotating among the cathedrals of the Three Counties (Hereford, Gloucester and Worcester) and originally featu ...
in 1932 – the only time the two composers met. Elgar did not like the work and is said to have expressed dismay privately that "such music should be thought fit for a stringed instrument".


Ballet

In 1972 the choreographer
Joe Layton Joe Layton (May 3, 1931 – May 5, 1994) was an American director and choreographer known primarily for his work on Broadway.Dunning, Jennifer. (9 May 1994). Page B7.'Joe Layton, Choreographer And Director, Is Dead at 64' Obituary. New York Ti ...
used the concerto for a ballet about Oscar Wilde, ''O.W.'', given by the
Royal Ballet The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded in ...
at Sadler's Wells Theatre, London. The prologue of the ballet was danced to music from Walton's '' The Quest'', and for the main section the Viola Concerto was used. At the premiere Riddle was the viola soloist.


Recordings

The Riddle, Primrose and Power versions use the original scoring. :Source: Naxos Music Library."Walton Viola Concerto"
Naxos Music Library. Retrieved 12 July 2021


Notes, references and sources


Notes


References


Sources

* * * * * * *


External links


Video – William Walton – Viola Concerto (26:23).
{{Authority control
Walton Walton may refer to: People * Walton (given name) * Walton (surname) * Susana, Lady Walton (1926–2010), Argentine writer Places Canada * Walton, Nova Scotia, a community ** Walton River (Nova Scotia) *Walton, Ontario, a hamlet United Kingdo ...
Compositions by William Walton 1929 compositions 1961 compositions