1926 in British music

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This is a summary of 1926 in music in the United Kingdom.

Events

c. May – Socialist composer Rutland Boughton stages a performance of his Nativity opera Bethlehem (1915) at Church House, Westminster, in a staging explicitly referencing the 1926 United Kingdom general strike.^[1]
6 May – In the midst of the General Strike, a concert of Leos Janácek's work is held at the Wigmore Hall, attended by the composer himself.^[2]
20 October – Ethel Smyth's opera Entente Cordiale receives its first public stage performance in Bristol, having been premièred by students at the Royal College of Music the previous year.^[3]
November – Gertrude Lawrence becomes the first British performer to star in a US musical on Broadway, starring in Oh, Kay!.^[4]
8 December – The premiere of Dame Ethel Smyth's Sonata in A minor for cello and piano is held in London, nearly 40 years after the work was composed.^[2]
14 December – The mother of teenage composer Benjamin Britten brings his work to the attention of Charles Macpherson.^[2]
17 December – Composer John Ireland marries Dorothy Phillips, thirty years his junior, at Chelsea Register Office.^[2]
26 December – Granville Bantock's incidental music for Macbeth is used for the first time, in a production at the Prince Theatre, London, starring Sybil Thorndike.
date unknown
- Operatic baritone Leslie Rands marries his D'Oyly Carte co-star Marjorie Eyre.
- Eugène Goossens, fils, joins the British National Opera Company as a conductor.^[5]
- Sir Walford Davies resigns his professorship at University College, Aberystwyth.^[6]
- The Webber Douglas School of Singing and Dramatic Art is founded by Walter Johnstone Douglas and Amherst Webber in London.^[7]
- Organist and composer Herbert Brewer receives a knighthood.^[8]

Popular music

Eric Coates – "By The Tamarisk"

Classical music: new works

Arnold Bax – Symphony No. 2 in E minor and C major
Rutland Boughton – The Queen of Cornwall, overture
John Ireland – Three Songs, 1926^[9]
Ralph Vaughan Williams
- On Christmas Night (ballet)
- Piano Concerto in C (movements 1 and 2)^[10]
Six Studies in English Folk Song^[11]
Gerald Tyrwhitt – The Triumph of Neptune (ballet)
Peter Warlock – Capriol Suite

Opera

Ernest Bryson – The Leper’s Flute, with libretto by Ian Colvin^[12]

Musical theatre

May – Yvonne by Percy Greenbank, Jean Gilbert and Vernon Dukelsky,^[13] opens at Daly's Theatre, London.

Births

3 January – Sir George Martin, record producer (died 2016)^[14]
21 January – Brian Brockless, organist, composer, and conductor (died 1995)
11 February – Alexander Gibson, conductor and founder of the Scottish Opera (died 1995)^[15]
20 February – Gillian Lynne, choreographer (died 2018)^[16]
14 March – Lita Roza, singer (died 2006)
May — Duncan Campbell, trumpeter
2 July – Morag Beaton, operatic soprano (died 2010)^[17]
18 July – Bryan Johnson, singer (died 1995)
17 August – George Melly, jazz singer (died 2007)^[18]
17 November – Robert Earl, singer
30 December – Stan Tracey, jazz pianist and composer (died 2013)^[19]

Deaths

8 June – John Hornsey Casson, hymn-tune composer, 82^[20]
12 July – Charles Wood, composer, 60
2 November – John Le Hay, Irish-born musical comedy performer, 72
4 November – Robert Newman, co-founder of the Proms, 68

References

^ Hurd, Michael (1983). "Rutland Boughton (1878–1960), The Immortal Hour". Hyperion. Retrieved 2014-09-01.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Music and History: 1926 Archived 2012-08-28 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed 28 January 2016
^ Smyth, Ethel (1987). The Memoirs of Ethel Smyth (abridged, edited and annotated by Richard Crichton), p. 290. Viking. ISBN 0670806552
^ Morley, Sheridan, Gertrude Lawrence. New York, New York: McGraw-Hill 1981; ISBN 978-0-07-043149-2. p. 61
^ The Times obituary, 2 August 1958, p. 8
^ Dibble, Jeremy. "Davies, Sir (Henry) Walford (1869–1941)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, online edition, January 2011, retrieved 6 December 2015 (subscription or UK public library membership required)
^ "Central and Webber Douglas to Merge." The Stage. 20 April 2004.
^ H. D., "Alfred Herbert Brewer, 1865–1928", The Musical Times, Vol. 69, No. 1022 (Apr. 1, 1928), pp. 315–316
^ "List of works – T to Y". The John Ireland Trust. Archived from the original on July 27, 2012. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
^ Achenbach, Andrew, Notes for EMI 75983, Vaughan Williams: Piano Concerto; Delius: Piano Concerto; Finzi: Eclogue; Piers Lane, piano; Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vernon Handley.
^ "6 Studies in English Folk Song, for cello and piano". Ralph Vaughan Williams: Chamber Works. Classical Archives. 2008. Retrieved 2011-02-24.
^ Harvard Library Archived 2017-12-13 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed 27 January 2016
^ PBS: Vernon Duke Archived 2012-11-12 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed 22 April 2013
^ Adam Sweeting (9 March 2016). "Sir George Martin obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
^ "Sir Alexander Gibson obituary". The Independent. 16 January 1995. Archived from the original on 2022-05-01. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
^ Jim Hiley (2 July 2018). "Dame Gillian Lynne obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
^ "Obituary: Morag Beaton". The Scotsman. 27 April 2010. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
^ Julian Mitchell (6 July 2007). "George Melly". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
^ John Fordham (6 December 2013). "Stan Tracey obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
^ Dictionary of Composers for the Church in Great Britain and Ireland. Accessed 28 January 2016

[1] Hurd, Michael (1983). "Rutland Boughton (1878–1960), The Immortal Hour". Hyperion. Retrieved 2014-09-01.

[MusicandHistory-2] Music and History: 1926 Archived 2012-08-28 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed 28 January 2016

[3] Smyth, Ethel (1987). The Memoirs of Ethel Smyth (abridged, edited and annotated by Richard Crichton), p. 290. Viking. ISBN 0670806552

[4] Morley, Sheridan, Gertrude Lawrence. New York, New York: McGraw-Hill 1981; ISBN 978-0-07-043149-2. p. 61

[5] The Times obituary, 2 August 1958, p. 8

[6] Dibble, Jeremy. "Davies, Sir (Henry) Walford (1869–1941)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, online edition, January 2011, retrieved 6 December 2015 (subscription or UK public library membership required)

[7] "Central and Webber Douglas to Merge." The Stage. 20 April 2004.

[8] H. D., "Alfred Herbert Brewer, 1865–1928", The Musical Times, Vol. 69, No. 1022 (Apr. 1, 1928), pp. 315–316

[9] "List of works – T to Y". The John Ireland Trust. Archived from the original on July 27, 2012. Retrieved 29 April 2015.

[10] Achenbach, Andrew, Notes for EMI 75983, Vaughan Williams: Piano Concerto; Delius: Piano Concerto; Finzi: Eclogue; Piers Lane, piano; Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vernon Handley.

[11] "6 Studies in English Folk Song, for cello and piano". Ralph Vaughan Williams: Chamber Works. Classical Archives. 2008. Retrieved 2011-02-24.

[12] Harvard Library Archived 2017-12-13 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed 27 January 2016

[13] PBS: Vernon Duke Archived 2012-11-12 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed 22 April 2013

[14] Adam Sweeting (9 March 2016). "Sir George Martin obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 February 2019.

[15] "Sir Alexander Gibson obituary". The Independent. 16 January 1995. Archived from the original on 2022-05-01. Retrieved 19 February 2019.

[16] Jim Hiley (2 July 2018). "Dame Gillian Lynne obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 February 2019.

[17] "Obituary: Morag Beaton". The Scotsman. 27 April 2010. Retrieved 19 February 2019.

[18] Julian Mitchell (6 July 2007). "George Melly". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 February 2019.

[19] John Fordham (6 December 2013). "Stan Tracey obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 February 2019.

[20] Dictionary of Composers for the Church in Great Britain and Ireland. Accessed 28 January 2016

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1926 in music
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Events

Popular music

Classical music: new works

Opera

Musical theatre

Births

Deaths

See also

References