William Walton Online Archive

Sir William Walton (1902-1983), a British composer and conductor, was best known for his works Façade: Suites for Orchestra, (1926) a jazz-influenced orchestral work based on the poems of Edith Sitwell and the oratorio Belshazzar's Feast (1931).

Among the works digitzed by the Beinecke Library are Symphony, no. 2 (score and first movement, original version, 1959-60); Partita (orchestra, 1957); and The Forsaken Merman (cantata, 1916). Currently, only a portion of the Library's Walton holdings are available online.

To browse all of our digitized Walton manuscripts, including partial works, search for "William Walton" in our Digital Images database.

The Koch Collection

The Beinecke Library's selection of Sir William Walton music manuscripts are part of the Frederick R. Koch collection (GEN MSS 601), consisting of musical, literary, and historical materials collected by Frederick R. Koch, principally through purchases at public auctions, 1979-1986.

The collection is a broad and deep resource for study of the lives and works of a range of composers, authors, and other historical figures. Most materials are music manuscripts, literary manuscripts, drawings, and correspondence of composers, authors, and artists, with particular strengths in French, Italian, German, and British music, French literature, and British art.

Related Material

William Walton Edition, Oxford University Press