Siesta (Walton)

Last updated

Siesta is a short piece for small orchestra, written by William Walton and premiered in 1926. It was later used for a ballet by Frederick Ashton. Walton was a devotee of Italy, and its influence is apparent in this work.

Contents

Background

In 1926 William Walton was in the early stages of his composing career. He had come to public notice with the music for Façade (1923) and Portsmouth Point (1925). He had visited Italy with his friends and patrons the Sitwells in 1920, and said it "changed my whole attitude about life and music". [1] His biographer Michael Kennedy and the musicologist Christopher Palmer both consider that Italy had a lasting effect on the composer's music. Palmer writes that a Mediterranean or Latin quality is pervasive in Walton's work, and in Siesta explicitly refers to Italy – "an Italian street-scene drawn or sketched in deftly evocative strokes". [2]

Despite the Italian setting, Walton wrote Siesta while staying at Haus Hirth, near Munich. The piece is dedicated to his friend Stephen Tennant. [3] It was first performed at the Aeolian Hall, London on 24 November 1926 by the Aeolian Hall Chamber Orchestra conducted by the composer in one of a series of chamber concerts presented by Guy Warrack. [4] Walton made a transcription of the piece for piano four hands in 1928, and lightly revised the original orchestral work in 1962. [5]

Structure

Siesta takes about five minutes in performance. [5] It opens with a gently undulating figure in the lower strings and the woodwind. In the more richly scored centre of the work, the horns play an Italian street song in E major, before the return of the opening theme. Towards the end Walton introduces mild dissonances and the work ends with a particularly dissonant pizzicato chord, smoothed by an A sustained by violas and oboe. [6]

Ballet

Frederick Ashton used Walton's score as the basis of his 1936 Siesta – a Pas de deux, first given at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London, with Robert Helpmann and Pearl Argyle as principals. It preceded a performance of Ashton's Façade ballet. [7] Ashton later produced Siesta – a new Pas de deux, presented on 28 July 1972 at the Aldeburgh Festival with Vyvyan Lorrayne and Barry McGrath as principals, as part of a seventieth birthday tribute to Walton. [5] [8]

Recordings

Source: Walton Trust. [5]

References and sources

Related Research Articles

William Walton English composer (1902–1983)

Sir William Turner Walton 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 cantata Belshazzar's Feast, the Viola Concerto, the First Symphony, and the British coronation anthems Crown Imperial and Orb and Sceptre.

Arthur Bliss English composer

Sir Arthur Edward Drummond Bliss was an English composer and conductor.

Frederick Ashton British dancer and choreographer

Sir Frederick William Mallandaine Ashton was a British ballet dancer and choreographer. He also worked as a director and choreographer in opera, film and revue.

<i>Crown Imperial</i> (march)

Crown Imperial is an orchestral march by William Walton, commissioned for the coronation of King George VI in Westminster Abbey in 1937. It is in the Pomp and Circumstance tradition, with a brisk opening contrasting with a broad middle section, leading to a resounding conclusion. The work has been heard at subsequent state occasions in the Abbey: the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 and the wedding of Prince William in 2011. It has been recorded in its original orchestral form and in arrangements for organ, military band and brass band.

<i>Façade</i> (entertainment)

Façade is a series of poems by Edith Sitwell, best known as part of Façade – An Entertainment in which the poems are recited over an instrumental accompaniment by William Walton. The poems and the music exist in several versions.

The Symphony No. 2 by William Walton was written between 1957 and 1960, and premiered in September 1960. It received a mixed reception at first: some critics thought Walton's music old-fashioned. Subsequently it has been re-evaluated and praised. The work was first performed by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by John Pritchard and was first recorded by the Cleveland Orchestra, conducted by George Szell. It has subsequently been recorded by conductors from Britain, the US and elsewhere.

Dame Merle Park is a British ballet dancer and teacher, now retired. As a prima ballerina with the Royal Ballet during the 1960s and 1970s, she was known for "brilliance of execution and virtuoso technique" as well as for her ebullience and charm. Also admired for her dramatic abilities, she was praised as an actress who "textured her vivacity with emotional details."

<i>Orb and Sceptre</i> march for orchestra written by Sir William Walton for the 1953 coronation of Queen Elizabeth II

Orb and Sceptre is a march for orchestra written by William Walton for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Abbey, London, on 2 June 1953. It follows the pattern of earlier concert marches by Elgar and Walton himself in consisting of a brisk opening section followed by a broad melody in the middle, trio, section and a return to the lively first theme to conclude the piece after a second appearance of the big tune.

Robert Irving (conductor)

Robert Augustine Irving, DFC*, was a British conductor whose reputation was mainly as a ballet conductor.

<i>Ondine</i> (ballet)

Ondine is a ballet in three acts created by the choreographer Sir Frederick Ashton and composer Hans Werner Henze. Ashton originally produced Ondine for the Royal Ballet in 1958, with Henze commissioned to produce the original score, published as Undine, which has since been restaged by other choreographers. The ballet was adapted from a novella titled Undine by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué and it tells the tale of a water nymph who is the object of desire of a young prince named Palemon. The première of the ballet took place at the Royal Opera House, London, on 27 October 1958, with the composer as guest conductor. The first major revival of this Ashton/Henze production took place in 1988.

Horoscope is a ballet created in 1937 by Frederick Ashton with scenery by Sophie Fedorovitch and music by Constant Lambert. It is based on astrological themes, and is reminiscent of Gustav Holst's The Planets in its musical exploration of the mystical.

Les Rendezvous is a plotless one-act ballet created in 1933, with choreography by Frederick Ashton to the music of Daniel Auber arranged by Constant Lambert and with designs by William Chappell. It was the first major ballet created by Ashton for the Vic-Wells company.

Les Patineurs is a ballet choreographed by Frederick Ashton to music composed by Giacomo Meyerbeer and arranged by Constant Lambert. With scenery and costumes designed by William Chappell, it was first presented by the Vic-Wells Ballet at the Sadler's Wells Theatre, London, on 16 February 1937. It has been called "a paradigm of an Ashton ballet, perfectly crafted with a complex structure beneath the effervescent surface."

The Wise Virgins is a one-act ballet based on the biblical Parable of the Ten Virgins. It was created in 1940 with choreography by Frederick Ashton, to a score of music by Johann Sebastian Bach orchestrated by William Walton.

<i>Façade</i> (ballet)

Façade is a ballet by Frederick Ashton, to the music of William Walton; it is a balletic interpretation of items from Façade – an Entertainment (1923) by Walton and Edith Sitwell. The ballet was first given by the Camargo Society at the Cambridge Theatre, on 26 April 1931. It has been regularly revived and restaged all over the world.

Vyvyan Lorrayne is a South African ballet dancer, now retired. Noted as a "softly classical stylist," she won acclaim as a principal dancer in England's Royal Ballet during the 1960s and 1970s.

<i>Scapino</i> (Walton)

Scapino is a short work for large orchestra by William Walton, described by the composer as a "comedy overture". It was commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and was first performed in 1941. A revised version was premiered in 1950.

The Quest is a ballet score by William Walton, written for a ballet of the same title, now lost, choreographed by Frederick Ashton in 1943. Two versions of the score exist: one for the small orchestra for which Walton wrote, and a posthumously constructed version rescored for an orchestra of the larger size usually favoured by the composer. The ballet, with a scenario by Doris Langley Moore, was based on The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser. It was first given by the Sadler's Wells Ballet company.

William Walton's Partita for Orchestra is a three-movement work for large orchestra, composed for, dedicated to and first performed by the Cleveland Orchestra and its conductor George Szell. The work was composed in 1957 and premiered on 30 January 1958.

In Honour of the City of London is a 1937 cantata by William Walton for mixed chorus and orchestra. The text is by the 15th–16th-century poet William Dunbar. It was written for the Leeds Triennial Festival for which Walton had composed Belshazzar's Feast in 1931, but it failed to gain the popularity of the earlier work and is comparatively infrequently performed.

References

  1. Kennedy, pp. 15–16
  2. Palmer, Christopher (1993) Notes to Chandos CD 9148 OCLC   28893476
  3. Tierney, p. 30
  4. Tierney, p. 277
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Siesta", William Walton Trust. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  6. Tierney, pp. 205–206; and Howes, pp. 121–122
  7. Sadler's Wells Ballet: Walton's 'Siesta'", The Times, 25 January 1936, p. 8
  8. "Tribute to Sir William Walton", The Times, 19 July 1972, p. 11

Sources