Lambert, Constant (1905-1951), was an English composer, conductor, and author. Much of Lambert’s music reflects his fascination with Chinese themes and with literature of the 1500’s and 1600’s. Lambert’s works also reveal the influence of classical music and of jazz, especially the music of the American jazz composer Duke Ellington. Lambert is best remembered for such compositions as his Eight Poems of Li-Po (1926-1929); The Rio Grande (1927) for piano, choir, and orchestra; and his ballet Horoscope (1938). Much of Lambert’s music is witty and charming.
Leonard Constant Lambert was born on Aug. 23, 1905, in London. His father was the noted Australian painter George Washington Lambert. The younger Lambert was educated at Christ’s Hospital and at the Royal College of Music, where one of his teachers was the English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. Lambert was musical director of the Vic-Wells Ballet Company from its establishment in 1931 to 1947. Lambert was a witty conversationalist and an outstanding critic. His book Music, Ho! (1934) is an important, if highly personal, commentary on modern music. Lambert suffered from poor health throughout his life and died on Aug. 21, 1951.
