This guide is part of our overview of the essential classical guitar repertoire. Sir William Walton (1902–1983) was one of the most significant British composers of the twentieth century — creator of Façade, Belshazzar's Feast, the First Symphony, and two coronation marches — who late in his career wrote a single work for classical guitar that became one of the instrument's most loved pieces.
From Lancashire to Ischia
Born in Oldham, Walton became a chorister at Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford before being taken under the wing of the extraordinary Sitwell family — Osbert, Edith, and Sacheverell — with whom he lived and worked for fifteen years. Façade (1923), setting Edith Sitwell's surrealist poetry for chamber ensemble and reciter, launched his reputation; Belshazzar's Feast (1931) consolidated it. His music served three monarchs: Crown Imperial (1937) and Orb and Sceptre (1953) became the sonic backdrop of British royal ceremony.
