Walton's ‘Henry V’ Music

Extract

“If Puccini were alive to-day, he'd be writing for the films.” A friend of mine recently expressed this provocative opinion, one consideration of which propounds the interesting questions of the economic possibility of opera surviving, and of the measure of fulfilment which the composition of film music affords to a composer whose leanings are towards the dramatic. The former question will probably be decided quite automatically. The financial strength of the film industry provides handsome rewards for the professional composer; the opera house does not. Opera was a living art in the countries most affected by the war, and it seems probable that its survival at all in these countries can only be on the basis of the well-tried repertoire. If this be so, the opera-house cannot avoid taking on the artistic value and functions of a museum.