during the 1930s he performed a lot as a conductor with the vic-wells ballet (later the royal ballet), but he stopped composing music. lambert thought he had failed as a composer, and only finished two more big works in the last sixteen years of his life. he continued conducting, and appeared at covent garden and in bbc broadcasts, and travelled to europe and america conducting ballets. he was an excellent ballet conductor and helped the dancers to give their best performance.