Constant Lambert

It is hard to overestimate the importance of the Camargo Society's contribution to English ballet. De Valois said that existing ballet companies regarded it as 'our stage society', and its formation paved the way not only for the Sadler's Wells Ballet, but for the Royal Ballet itself. Everyone on the committee, obviously, deserves to take credit for this, but it was generally agreed at the time that no one deserved more praise than Constant. Maynard Keynes, tellingly, later called Constant 'potentially the most brilliant person I have ever met'. 'Without Constant's enthusiasm and knowledge,' Walton wrote, 'not only of music but of choreography and decor, and his instinct for the theatre, the whole project might have fallen to the ground. Indeed, it may be that he will be best remembered by this, his great contribution to the theatre of our time.'

Walton was right in fact but wrong in his prediction. Constant is now only rarely acknowledged as a founding father of English ballet.

The Lamberts: George, Constant & Kit by Andrew Motion. 1986. Page 183.