Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Displaced as Britain's preeminent living composer by Britten and later by Tippett after failing to fulfill the promise of his early masterpieces, composer William Walton was once regarded as a promising experimentalist and successor to Elgar. Here, Kennedy illuminates the complex and contradictory personality of Walton, whose moods ranged from self-critical, depressive, and jealous to witty, generous, and forgiving. Drawing on the composer's correspondence with friends and colleagues--including Britten, Malcolm Arnold, and André Previn, and assessing his compositions, Kennedy provides a compassionate and perceptive study of the life and music of this notable twentieth-century artist.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Part 1 Willie
• 1 Oldham and Oxford, 1902-20
• 2 London and Salzburg, 1920-3
• 3 Fa,cade, 1921-79
• 4 With the Sitwells, 1923-9
• 5 Viola Concerto, 1928-9
• 6 Belshazzar's Feast, 1929-31
• 7 In Switzerland, 1931-3
• 8 Unfinished Symphony, 1933-4
• 9 Finished Symphony, 1934-5
• Part 2 William
• 10 Crown Imperial, 1936-7
• 11 Violin Concerto, 1938-9
• 12 War Films, 1939-42
• 13 Columbus and Henry V, 1942-5
• 14 Post-war Quartet, 1944-7
• 15 Birth of an Opera, 1947-8
• 16 Making an Opera, 1948-52
• Part 3 Sir William
• 17 Corontation Interlude, 1952-3
• 18 Finishing an Opera, 1953-4
• 19 Troilus and Cressida, 1954-76
• 20 Cello Concerto, 1955-7
• 21 Partita and Second Symphony, 1957-60
• 22 The Bear, 1964-7
• 23 Britten and Bagatelles, 1969-72
• 24 Seventieth Birthday, 1972
• 25 Roaring Fanfares, 1972-7
• 26 The Haunted End, 1977-83
• 27 Epilogue
• Appendices
• I Classified List of Works
• II Troilus and Cressida Synopsis
• III Discography: Walton conducts Walton
• IV Select Bibliography Classifed
• Index of Works General
• Index

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

This book complicates Walton studies, in some ways adding little to familiar accounts by Neil Tierney (Sir William Walton, London, 1984) and Susana Walton (William Walton: Behind the Facade, CH, Nov'88, which never acknowledges Kennedy as Walton's chosen biographer). Scholars must now consult all three, plus Frank Howes's The Music of William Walton (2nd ed., CH, May'74), S.R. Craggs's William Walton: A Catalogue (CH, Apr'78; rev. ed. forthcoming) and Carolyn Smith's William Walton: A Bio-Bibliography (1988, with superior work list and source lists, bibliographies, and discography). Kennedy excels in musical judgments (admiring but not adulatory) and in suggesting musical influences on this largely self-taught "English Prokofiev" who went from being "enfant not so very terrible to unofficial laureate." Kennedy does not shirk clear-eyed criticism of the post-1945 works, yet gives credit where due, and is wonderfully full on the seven-year gestation of the ill-fated Troilus and Cressida, printing fascinating extracts from Walton's letters to librettist Hassall. Walton deserves to be better known: this good book, fulfilling a 20-year-old commitment to a genuinely admired composer, should help. Not so good as it might have been, it still belongs in all music libraries. -W. Metcalfe, University of Vermont