1926 in British music
| 1920s in music in the UK |
| Events |
|---|
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
- 21 January – Brian Brockless, organist, composer, and conductor (died 1995)
- 11 February – Alexander Gibson, conductor and founder of the Scottish Opera (died 1995)
- 20 February – Gillian Lynne, choreographer
- 14 March – Lita Roza, singer (died 2006)
- May — Duncan Campbell, trumpeter
- 2 July – Morag Beaton, operatic soprano (died 2010)
- 18 July – Bryan Johnson, singer (died 1995)
- 17 August – George Melly, jazz singer (died 2007)
- 17 November – Robert Earl, singer
- 30 December – Stan Tracey, jazz pianist and composer (died 2013)
Deaths
- 8 June – John Hornsey Casson, hymn-tune composer, 82[14]
- 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
See also
References
- ^ Hurd, Michael (1983). "Rutland Boughton (1878–1960), The Immortal Hour". Hyperion. Retrieved 2014-09-01.
- ^ a b c d Music and History: 1926. 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. 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. Accessed 27 January 2016
- ^ PBS: Vernon Duke. Accessed 22 April 2013
- ^ Dictionary of Composers for the Church in Great Britain and Ireland. Accessed 28 January 2016