Constant Lambert: Beyond The Rio Grande

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About Constant Lambert: Beyond The Rio Grande

Product Description To the economist and ballet enthusiast John Maynard Keynes he was potentially the most brilliant man he'd ever met; to Dame Ninette de Valois he was the greatest ballet conductor and advisor this country has ever had; to the composer Denis ApIvor he was the greatest, most lovable, and most entertaining personality of the musical world; whilst to the dance critic Clement Crisp he was quite simply a musician of genius. Yet sixty years after his tragic earlydeath Constant Lambert is little known today. As a composer he is remembered for his jazz-inspired The Rio Grande but little more, and for a man who selflessly devoted the greater part of his life to the establishment of English ballet his work is largely unrecognized today. This book amply demonstrates why he deserves to be held in greater renown. With numerous music examples, extensive appendices and a unique iconography, every aspect of thecareer and life of this extraordinary, multi-talented man is examined. It looks not only at his music but at his journalism, his talks for the BBC, his championing of jazz (in particular Duke Ellington), and - more privately - his long-standing affair with Margot Fonteyn. This is an indispensable biography for anyone interested in Constant Lambert, ballet and British musical life in the first part of the twentieth century. STEPHEN LLOYD is a writer on British music and author of William Walton: Muse of Fire (Boydell, 2001). Table of Contents A Meteor Fell . . . 1905-1914 At Christ's Hospital 1914-1922 The College 'Whizz-Kid' 1922-1926 Diaghilev and Disagreement 1925-1926 Early Ballets and Philip Heseltine 1926-1927 The Rio Grande and Jazz 1927-1930 Camargo and the Birth of British Ballet 1928-1931 Marriage and Journalism 1931 A Permanent Post 1932-1934 Let's to Billiards - Music Ho! 1934 Elgar and Delius; Enter Fonteyn 1934 Van Dieren and Walton 1935 Pestilence and Apparitions 1936 Checkmate and Horoscope 1937-1938 Double Bishops and Limericks 1939-1940 Escape from Holland 1940-1943 Small Fish and Large Cats 1944-1945 The Second Mrs Lambert 1945-1946 The Third Programme and The Fairy Queen Snakes and Tiresias Appendix 1: The Compositions of Constant Lambert Appendix 2: Synopsis of Tiresias Appendix 3: A Constant Lambert Discography Appendix 4: Constant Lambert's Journalism Appendix 5: Constant Lambert's Talks for the BBC Appendix 6: Constant Lambert's BBC Talks on Modern Dance Music (Jazz) Appendix 7: Constant Lambert's Third Programme Broadcasts Appendix 8: Constant Lambert's Conducting Engagements at the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts Appendix 9: A Dance to the Music of Time: Anthony Powell, Hugh Moreland and Constant Lambert Appendix 10: C. B. Rees on Constant Lambert Appendix 11: A Constant Lambert Iconography Appendix 12: Lambert's Limericks and Other Verses Appendix 13: Vic-Wells/Sadler's Wells London Repertoire Bibliography Index Review Lloyd is the first biographer to tell the full unexpurgated story. MUSIC AND LETTERS Terrific. THE GUARDIAN BOOKS OF THE YEAR Intensely researched ... Lloyd covers every aspect of the man's life ... there is scarcely a dull page throughout the book. (Five stars) CLASSICAL MUSIC A model of meticulous scholarship, as authoritative as it is compendious. ... The result is both majestic and moving. THE GUARDIAN This magisterial book is the best possible case for a Lambert revival. No Lambert enthusiast should miss it. GRAMOPHONE This magnificent book is a wholly remarkable achievement ... This book is more than valuable, appearing at a time when one had begun to imagine that studies of this importance and quality were in serious danger of dying out. Stephen Lloyd has restored this reader's faith in British musical scholarship and the publishers equally deserve our praise for the distinguished manner in which this book is presented. MUSICAL OPINION (A) monumental new biography ... a superb resource, thoroughly researched and rich in appendices. DANCING TIMES A revelation ...