Constant Lambert

An indispensable biography for anyone interested in Constant Lambert, ballet and British musical life in the first part of the twentieth century.

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-inspiredThe 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 ofWilliam Walton: Muse of Fire (Boydell, 2001).

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 BilliardsMusic Ho! 1934
Elgar and Delius; Enter Fonteyn 1934
Van Dieren and Walton 1935
Pestilence and Apparitions 1936
Checkmate andHoroscope 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 andThe Fairy Queen
Snakes andTiresias
Appendix 1: The Compositions of Constant Lambert
Appendix 2: Synopsis ofTiresias
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