This is a corrected reissue, in Clarendon Paperbacks format with a new cover, of Michael Kennedy's classic study of William Walton's life and works. In this biography by one of England's foremost writers on music, Walton's personality emerges in all its complexity and self-contradiction. Michael Kennedy portrays a creative artist completely committed to his art yet plagued by misgiving and doubts, prey to insecurity and frustration, vulnerableto criticism, and jealous of the achievement of others. At the same time he was witty and generous, bore no grudges, and enjoyed the loyalty of a host of friends. Appointed his biographer by the composer himself, Kennedy has had access to correspondence with many of the friends and colleagues who were important in Walton's life, among them Siegfried Sassoon, Benjamin Britten, Malcolm Arnold, and Andre Previn. His compassionate and perceptive biography willbe welcomed by all devotees of Walton and his music.
Almost two decades after his death Walton's reputation is higher than ever - many of his masterworks remain firm favourites in the concert repertoire, notably his eloquent concertos for violin, viola and cello, his dramatic cantata Belshazzar's Feast, his vivid film scores (such as Henry V), his powerful First Symphony (the creative outcome of a tempestuous love affair) and the sparkling entertainment Facade, a brilliant divertissement based on Edith Sitwell's poems and composed before hewas twenty. Born in the cotton town of Oldham, young Billie's life was transformed when he won a boy chorister's scholarship to Christ Church, Oxford. He soon lost his Lancashire accent but never his innate canniness. His remarkable creative gifts were spotted early both by Hubert Parry (of "Jerusalem" fame) and the intellectually adventurous circle surrounding the Sitwell family, who persuaded him, since he was determined not to return to the narrow confines of life in Oldham, that he should quit Oxford without a degree to live with them in Jazz-Age London and earn his living purely as a composer. He stuck to music but it made him only a pittance, however, and he became a self-acknowledged scrounger, lodging with the Sitwells for over ten years. His evident genius and his romantic good looks saw him taken up by rich admirers such as the poet Siegfried Sassoon and the rich industrialist Samuel Corutauld, to whose mistress, Christabel Aberconway, he dedicated his first orchestral masterpiece, the 1929 Viola Concerto. His idyllic relationship with a beautiful but impecunious German princess ended in an emotional turmoil that held up completion of his First Symphony for over a year. Walton then became the lover of a woman 22 years his senior, Alice, Viscountess Wimborne, a powerful society hostess who guided his career and chose the librettist, Christopher Hassall, for his first opera Troilus and Cressida. Within a year of her death in 1948 (when he was 46) hemet the vivacous 22 year old Susana Gil Passo and they married after a whirlwind courtship. On their honeymoon he announced that he did not want children and intended to live in Italy. They settled on the island of Ischia in the Bay of Naples, eventually acquiring a plot of rocky hillside land upon which they developed the villas and estate of La Mortella, now one of Italy's best-known gardens. A professional composer to his fingertips, always writing to commission, Walton's critical reputation sagged during his self-imposed Italian exile. But he demonstrated an uncanny flair for tapping a patriotic vein in such popular works as Crown Imperial, Orb and Sceptre and the Coronation Te Deum. A knighthood awarded in 1951 was followed by other honours, notably the Order of Merit. His final years were dogged by ill health - including a near fatal attack of lung cancer - and by a depressing sense of creative impotence; lack of inspiration forced him to abandon plans in his seventies to compose a Third Symphony. The authors Humphrey Burton and Maureen Murray worked with Walton on Ischia and have retained their Waltonian links since his death in 1983: she is curator of the Walton Archive and he is a member of the Walton Trust. With their shared background in television documentary they have adopted a filmic approach to this new pictorial biography. Each of its eight chapters opens with a succinct descriptive essay highlighting Walton's life and his significant musicalachievements: the narrative text is followed by many pages of illustrations, in which portraits by Cecil Beaton, Bill Brandt, Norman Parkinson and many others are interspersed with hitherto unpublished family photographs, music manuscript, press cuttings, playbills etc., all accompanied by commentary, reminiscences, anecdotes and liberal quotations from Walton's typically trenchant letters and self-deprecating interviews for radio and television. Much more than a coffee-table book, this centenary tribute conveys the essence of Walton's personality and provides a measure of his colossal artistic achievement. It will be essential reading for all lovers of his music and students of twentieth century musical life.
A 2015 William C. Morris YA Debut Award Finalist Magical realism, lyrical prose, and the pain and passion of human love haunt this hypnotic generational saga. Foolish love appears to be the Roux family birthright, an ominous forecast for its most recent progeny, Ava Lavender. Ava — in all other ways a normal girl — is born with the wings of a bird. In a quest to understand her peculiar disposition and a growing desire to fit in with her peers, sixteen-year old Ava ventures into the wider world, ill-prepared for what she might discover and naive to the twisted motives of others. Others like the pious Nathaniel Sorrows, who mistakes Ava for an angel and whose obsession with her grows until the night of the summer solstice celebration. That night, the skies open up, rain and feathers fill the air, and Ava’s quest and her family’s saga build to a devastating crescendo. First-time author Leslye Walton has constructed a layered and unforgettable mythology of what it means to be born with hearts that are tragically, exquisitely human.
Artists have long been stimulated and motivated by the work of those who came before them—sometimes, centuries before them. Interviews with 120 international contemporary artists discussing works from The Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection that spark their imagination shed new light on art-making, museums, and the creative process. Images of works from The Met collection appear alongside images of the contemporary artists' work, allowing readers to discover a rich web of visual connections that spans cultures and millennia.
Now a Major Motion Picture starring Charlie Plummer, AnnaSophia Robb, and Taylor Russell! Fans of More Happy Than Not and The Perks of Being a Wallflower will cheer for Adam in this uplifting and surprisingly funny story of a boy living with schizophrenia. When you can't trust your mind, trust your heart. Adam is a pretty regular teen, except he's navigating high school life while living with paranoid schizophrenia. His hallucinations include a cast of characters that range from the good (beautiful Rebecca) to the bad (angry Mob Boss) to the just plain weird (polite naked guy). An experimental drug promises to help him hide his illness from the world. When Adam meets Maya, a fiercely intelligent girl, he desperately wants to be the normal, great guy that she thinks he is. But as the miracle drug begins to fail, how long can he keep this secret from the girl of his dreams? "Echoing the premise and structure of Flowers for Algernon, this [is a] frank and inspiring novel." --Publishers Weekly, starred review Don't miss Just Our Luck, another stunning book by Julia Walton. Coming in 2020!
When you're in love with the wrong person for the right reasons, anything could happen. Tretch lives in a very small town where everybody's in everybody else's business. Which makes it hard for him to be in love with his straight best friend. For his part, Matt is completely oblivious to the way Tretch feels - and Tretch can't tell whether that makes it better or worse.The problem with living a lie is that the lie can slowly become your life. For Tretch, the problem isn't just with Matt. His family has no idea who he really is and what he's really thinking. The girl at the local bookstore has no clue how off-base her crush on him is. And the guy at school who's a thorn in Tretch's side doesn't realize how close to the truth he's hitting.Tretch has spent a lot of time dancing alone in his room, but now he's got to step outside his comfort zone and into the wider world. Because like love, a true self can rarely be contained.
When Bull Mastrick and Victor Konig wind up in the same psychiatric ward at age 16, each recalls and relates in group therapy the bullying relationship they have had since kindergarten as well as facts about themselves and their families that reveal how much they have in common. A first novel.
Many today find the Old Testament a closed book. The cultural issues seem insurmountable and we are easily baffled by that which seems obscure. Furthermore, without knowledge of the ancient culture we can easily impose our own culture on the text, potentially distorting it. This series invites you to enter the Old Testament with a company of guides, experts that will give new insights into these cherished writings. Features include • Over 2000 photographs, drawings, maps, diagrams and charts provide a visual feast that breathes fresh life into the text. • Passage-by-passage commentary presents archaeological findings, historical explanations, geographic insights, notes on manners and customs, and more. • Analysis into the literature of the ancient Near East will open your eyes to new depths of understanding both familiar and unfamiliar passages. • Written by an international team of 30 specialists, all top scholars in background studies.
