Viola Concerto

Composer: WALTON, Sir William
  • Walton composed the first version of his Viola Concerto in 1928-9. He revised the work in 1936–7, and again in 1961.1
  • Walton composed this concerto for violist Lionel Tertis at the suggestion of Sir Thomas Beecham.2
    • Tertis did not like the concerto, sending it back to Walton with the comment that it was “too modern.” Paul Hindemith (an excellent violist as well as a composer) agreed to play it instead. 
  • Hindemith appeared as soloist in the work’s premiere with the Henry Wood Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Walton, on 3 October 1929 and Queen’s Hall, London.3
  • Walton dedicated this work “To Christabel:”4 Walton’s friend Christabel, Lady Aberconway.5

Sources

  1. Byron Adams, “Walton, Sir William,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed May 20, 2022, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000040016.
  2. “Walton’s Viola and Violin Concertos,” The William Walton Trust, accessed May 20, 2022, https://waltontrust.org/en/articles/123-walton-s-viola-and-violin-concertos.
  3. Leo Black, “Viola Concerto: Composer: Sir William Walton (1902-1983),” Hyperion (2007), accessed May 20, 2022, https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dw.asp?dc=W9970_67587.
  4. William Walton, Concerto for Viola and Orchestra, William Walton Edition Vol. 12, ed. Christopher Wellington (UK: Oxford University Press, 2004), 1.
  5. “Walton’s Viola and Violin Concertos,” The William Walton Trust, accessed May 20, 2022, https://waltontrust.org/en/articles/123-walton-s-viola-and-violin-concertos.

Cut IDs

41619