Sir William Walton - Lowndes Place, London, UK
Posted by: Groundspeak Regular Member Master Mariner
N 51° 29.824 W 000° 09.228
30U E 697557 N 5708944
This English Heritage blue plaque, erected to Sir William Walton, is attached to a building on the south west side of Lowndes Place.
Waymark Code: WMNNX4
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 04/11/2015
Published By:Groundspeak Premium Member bill&ben
Views: 2

The Encyclopaedia Britannica website tells us about Sir William:

Sir William Walton, in full Sir William Turner Walton    (born March 29, 1902, Oldham, Lancashire, Eng.—died March 8, 1983, Ischia, Italy), English composer especially known for his orchestral music. His early work made him one of England’s most important composers between the time of Vaughan Williams and that of Benjamin Britten.

Walton, the son of a choirmaster father and a vocalist mother, studied violin and piano desultorily as a boy and also sang, with somewhat better results, in his father’s choir. He taught himself composition, although he received advice from both Ernest Ansermet and Ferruccio Busoni. In 1912 he entered the University of Oxford, where he sang in the choir of Christ Church. He put in the requisite four years of study but failed by one examination (Responsonions) to win a bachelor of music degree. At Oxford he had met the Sitwell brothers, Osbert and Sacheverell, by whom he was virtually adopted, and he spent most of the next decade traveling with them or living with them at Chelsea. During this period he composed Façade (1923)—a set of pieces for chamber ensemble, to accompany the Sitwells’ sister Edith in a recitation of her poetry—as well as Sinfonia Concertante for piano and orchestra (1928; revised 1943) and Portsmouth Point (1926), which established his reputation as an orchestral composer.

Walton was influenced by some of his older contemporaries, notably Edward Elgar, Igor Stravinsky, and Paul Hindemith. Hindemith was soloist in the first performance of one of Walton’s finest works, his Viola Concerto (1929). Walton also composed a number of scores for motion pictures, including Major Barbara (1941), Henry V (1944), Hamlet (1947), and Richard III (1954). His vocal music includes the oratorio Belshazzar’s Feast (1931) and the operas Troilus and Cressida (1954) and The Bear (one act; 1967). The composer received a knighthood in 1951.

Blue Plaque managing agency: English Heritage

Individual Recognized: Sir William Walton

Physical Address:
Lowndes Cottage
8 Lowndes Place
London, United Kingdom


Web Address: [Web Link]

Visit Instructions:
To log an entry for a "Blue Plaque," please try to include a picture of you next to the plaque!
Search for...
Geocaching.com Google Map
Google Maps
MapQuest
Bing Maps
Nearest Waymarks
Nearest Blue Plaques
Nearest Geocaches
Create a scavenger hunt using this waymark as the center point
Recent Visits/Logs:
Date Logged Log User Rating  
OrientGeo visited Sir William Walton - Lowndes Place, London, UK 05/05/2021 OrientGeo visited it