Constant Lambert was a British composer, conductor, and author, best known as the founding music director of the Royal Ballet. A key figure in the establishment of English ballet, he worked closely with Dame Ninette de Valois and Sir Frederick Ashton. His most famous composition, The Rio Grande (1927), blends jazz influences with classical choral and orchestral elements and remains widely performed. Other notable works include the ballet Horoscope (1938) and the choral masque Summer’s Last Will and Testament (1936). A prodigious talent from a young age, Lambert studied at the Royal College of Music under Ralph Vaughan Williams and quickly gained recognition, receiving a commission from Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes at just 20 years oConstant Lambert was a British composer, conductor, and author, best known as the founding music director of the Royal Ballet. A key figure in the establishment of English ballet, he worked closely with Dame Ninette de Valois and Sir Frederick Ashton. His most famous composition, The Rio Grande (1927), blends jazz influences with classical choral and orchestral elements and remains widely performed. Other notable works include the ballet Horoscope (1938) and the choral masque Summer’s Last Will and Testament (1936). A prodigious talent from a young age, Lambert studied at the Royal College of Music under Ralph Vaughan Williams and quickly gained recognition, receiving a commission from Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes at just 20 years old. His compositions often incorporated jazz, a style he championed for its rhythmic and harmonic complexity. His interest extended beyond music to literature and visual arts, as reflected in his influential book Music Ho! (1934), a critical study of modern music. Despite his early success, Lambert’s compositional output declined as he focused on conducting, particularly with the Vic-Wells Ballet (later the Royal Ballet). His personal life was tumultuous, marked by affairs, heavy drinking, and health struggles, including undiagnosed diabetes. He died in 1951 at the age of 45. His legacy endures through his contributions to British ballet and his innovative fusion of classical and jazz elements in composition....more
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