Ɵ WILLIAM WALTON. (1902-1983)AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPT OF THE 'VALSE' FROM FACADE, C. 1922-192312pp. (on 6 leaves), inserted into a modern green morocco folder, 4to., (340 x 260mm), gilt titles to front, with 4 opening flaps and green silk lining, tissue guards, titled 'Valse' in pencil to first and second pages, marginal notes to second page, 'Flute, Clarinet in A, Alto Sax is Eb, Trumpet in C, Percussion, Voice, Cello, Don't do FI & CI', a few pages with pencil text below the music score, Signed in pencil to the final page 'William Walton'. together with a loosely inserted black and white photograph of the composer taken in later years, two London Weekend Television Ltd. red ink stamps to verso, 8 x 22.5cm; both items part of the National Portrait Gallery Exhibition, The Sitwells: 14/10/94 - 22/1/95, Catalogue No. C20 / 3.12. see Honor Clerk, The Sitwells, 1994).William Walton, a protégé of the Sitwells, wrote the first version of the score aged 20, and composed much of the music for his later choral cantata Belshazzar's Feast whilst he was living at Weston Hall. Facade is a series of poems by Edith Sitwell, best known as part of 'Facade - An Entertainment', in which the poems are recited over Walton's instrumental accompaniment. The first performance was given at Carlyle Square, 22 January, 1922, before a small private audience of the Sitwell's friends. A disastrous first public performance held at the Aeolian Hall, 12 June, 1923, caused and achieved both fame and notoriety for its unconventional form. 'Valse' was included in both the 1931 Frederick Ashton ballet and Orchestral Suite, although Edith did not wish her poems to be part of it. Provenance: The Sitwell Family Library, Weston Hall.