1926 in British music
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is a summary of 1926 in music in the United Kingdom.
Events
- c. May â 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 â 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 â 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 â Gertrude Lawrence becomes the first British performer to star in a US musical on Broadway, starring in Oh, Kay!.[4]
- 8 December â 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 â The mother of teenage composer Benjamin Britten brings his work to the attention of Charles Macpherson.[2]
- 17 December â Composer John Ireland marries Dorothy Phillips, thirty years his junior, at Chelsea Register Office.[2]
- 26 December â 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 â "By The Tamarisk"
Classical music: new works
- Arnold Bax â Symphony No. 2 in E minor and C major
- Rutland Boughton â The Queen of Cornwall, overture
- John Ireland â 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 â The Triumph of Neptune (ballet)
- Peter Warlock â Capriol Suite
Opera
- Ernest Bryson â The Leperâs Flute, with libretto by Ian Colvin[12]
Musical theatre
- May â Yvonne by Percy Greenbank, Jean Gilbert and Vernon Dukelsky,[13] opens at Daly's Theatre, London.
Births
- 3 January â Sir George Martin, record producer (died 2016)[14]
- 21 January â Brian Brockless, organist, composer, and conductor (died 1995)
- 11 February â Alexander Gibson, conductor and founder of the Scottish Opera (died 1995)[15]
- 20 February â Gillian Lynne, choreographer (died 2018)[16]
- 14 March â Lita Roza, singer (died 2006)[17]
- 31 May â Duncan Campbell, trumpeter (died 2013)
- 2 July â Morag Beaton, operatic soprano (died 2010)[18]
- 18 July â Bryan Johnson, singer (died 1995)
- 17 August â George Melly, jazz singer (died 2007)[19]
- 17 November â Robert Earl, singer (died 2025)
- 30 December â Stan Tracey, jazz pianist and composer (died 2013)[20]
Deaths
- 8 June â John Hornsey Casson, hymn-tune composer, 82[21]
- 12 July â Charles Wood, composer, 60[22]
- 17 October â Horton Claridge Allison, pianist and composer, 80
- 2 November â John Le Hay, Irish-born musical comedy performer, 72
- 4 November â Robert Newman, co-founder of the Proms, 68