1929 in British music

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This is a summary of 1929 in music in the United Kingdom.

Events

22 January – Gordon Jacob's First String Quartet is premiered by the Spencer Dyke Quartet in London.
13 June – Eugene Goossens conducts the UK premiere of Ottorino Respighi's Feste Romane, at the Queen's Hall, London.
27 June – First London performances of two ballets by Igor Stravinsky, Apollon musagète and Le baiser de la fée, conducted by the composer at the Kingsway Hall and broadcast on the wireless.
4 October – Beethoven’s complete Ninth Symphony (with full chorus) is performed at the Proms for the first time since 1902. It has become a regular annual fixture of the festival ever since.^[1]
12 October – Sir Thomas Beecham, supported by Peter Warlock, launches a six-day festival of the work of Frederick Delius, at the Queen's Hall in London. The composer attends in his wheelchair.^[2]
October – George Formby has a recording session with Dominion Records.
date unknown
- Jimmy Campbell and Reg Connelly form their music publishing company as a result of the success of their song "Show Me the Way to Go Home".
- Ray Noble becomes leader of the New Mayfair Dance Orchestra, an HMV Records studio band featuring members of many of the top hotel orchestras of the day.
- Will Fyffe participates in a screen test, shot for Pathe in New York; it provides rare screen footage of his music hall act.

Popular music

"Dear Little Cafe" w.m. Noël Coward
"I Lift Up My Finger (and I Say "Tweet Tweet")" w.m. Leslie Sarony
"Spread a Little Happiness" w.m. Vivian Ellis, recorded by Binnie Hale

Classical music: new works

Kenneth J. Alford
- Old Panama
- HM Jollies
Arnold Bax – Symphony No. 3
Benjamin Britten – Rhapsody for String Quartet^[3]
Alan Bush – Dialectic Op. 15 for string quartet^[4]
Frederick Delius – Cynara^[5]
David John de Lloyd – Forty Welsh Traditional Tunes (arrangements)
John Ireland – Ballad
William Walton – Viola Concerto

Opera

Ralph Vaughan Williams – Sir John in Love

Musical theatre

12 July – Bitter Sweet, by Noël Coward, opens at His Majesty's Theatre.

Musical films

Auld Lang Syne, starring Sir Harry Lauder and Dorothy Boyd (silent film with soundtrack added later)^[6]
The Broken Melody, starring Enid Stamp Taylor (silent film with soundtrack added later)^[7]

Births

5 January – Norman Kay, composer (died 2001)^[8]
28 January – Acker Bilk, jazz clarinetist and band leader (died 2014)^[9]
14 February – Wyn Morris, conductor (died 2010)
25 February – Sandy Brown, Scottish clarinetist (died 1975)
5 April – Joe Meek, record producer (died 1967)
6 April – Edmund Percey, architect and jazz pianist (died 2014)
11 May – Stan Kane, Scottish-Canadian actor and singer (died 2015)
13 June – Alan Civil, horn player (died 1989)^[10]
9 July – Alex Welsh, Scottish singer, cornetist, and trumpeter (died 1982)
2 August – Roy Crimmins, trombonist and composer (died 2014)
5 August – John Armatage, drummer and arranger
11 August – Alun Hoddinott, composer (died 2008)
20 September – Joe Temperley, jazz saxophonist (died 2016)
2 October – Kenneth Leighton, pianist and composer (died 1988)
4 November – Dickie Valentine, singer (died 1971)
11 December – Kenneth MacMillan, ballet dancer and choreographer (died 1992)
date unknown – Maurice Handford, horn player (died 1986)^[11]

Deaths

12 February – Lillie Langtry, singer and actress, 75^[12]
22 August – Lucy Broadwood, folk song collector and researcher, 71^[13]
7 September – Frederic Weatherly, songwriter, 80^[14]
29 December – Josiah Booth, hymn-writer, 77^[15]

References

^ BBC Proms Performance Archive
^ "The Published Writings of Philip Heseltine on Delius" (PDF). The Delius Society Journal (94). Autumn 1987. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 2015-07-13.
^ "Benjamin Britten: Rhapsody for String Quartet" (work details) (in French and English). IRCAM.
^ "Rhapsody in Red (about Bush's Dialectic, and other things)". Retrieved January 6, 2009.
^ Beecham, Thoma (1975). Frederick Delius. Sutton, Surrey: Severn House. p. 203. ISBN 0-7278-0099-X.
^ St. Pierre, Paul Matthew (April 1, 2009). Music Hall Mimesis in British Film, 1895–1960: On the Halls on the Screen. New Jersey: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. p. 42. ISBN 978-1611473995.
^ "The Broken Melody". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 2012-09-05. Retrieved 2013-01-01.
^ "Norman Kay obituary". The Guardian. 30 May 2001. Retrieved 22 February 2010.
^ Leigh, Spencer (4 November 2014). "Acker Bilk: Clarinettist and bandleader who became best known for his sweetly melancholic 'Stranger on the Shore'". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2022-05-01. Retrieved 4 November 2014.
^ The Horn Call. International Horn Society. 1991. p. 39.
^ "Obituaries". Music and Musicians. Vol. 35. 1987. p. 45. Maurice Handford : A Personal Tribute – The premature death of the conductor Maurice Handford, at the age of 57, has left the musical world a good deal the poorer. Those of us who were privileged to know him as a friend are ...
^ Dudley, Ernest (1958). The Gilded Lily. London: Oldhams Press. pp. 219–220.
^ "Lucy Etheldred Broadwood (1858–1929)". National Archives. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
^ Pickles John D., "Weatherly, Frederick Edward (1848–1929)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, online edition, Oxford University Press, September 2004, accessed 29 August 2010. (subscription required)
^ Maggie Humphreys; Robert Evans (1 January 1997). Dictionary of Composers for the Church in Great Britain and Ireland. A&C Black. p. 38. ISBN 978-0-7201-2330-2.

[1] BBC Proms Performance Archive

[2] "The Published Writings of Philip Heseltine on Delius" (PDF). The Delius Society Journal (94). Autumn 1987. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 2015-07-13.

[3] "Benjamin Britten: Rhapsody for String Quartet" (work details) (in French and English). IRCAM.

[4] "Rhapsody in Red (about Bush's Dialectic, and other things)". Retrieved January 6, 2009.

[5] Beecham, Thoma (1975). Frederick Delius. Sutton, Surrey: Severn House. p. 203. ISBN 0-7278-0099-X.

[6] St. Pierre, Paul Matthew (April 1, 2009). Music Hall Mimesis in British Film, 1895–1960: On the Halls on the Screen. New Jersey: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. p. 42. ISBN 978-1611473995.

[7] "The Broken Melody". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 2012-09-05. Retrieved 2013-01-01.

[8] "Norman Kay obituary". The Guardian. 30 May 2001. Retrieved 22 February 2010.

[9] Leigh, Spencer (4 November 2014). "Acker Bilk: Clarinettist and bandleader who became best known for his sweetly melancholic 'Stranger on the Shore'". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2022-05-01. Retrieved 4 November 2014.

[10] The Horn Call. International Horn Society. 1991. p. 39.

[11] "Obituaries". Music and Musicians. Vol. 35. 1987. p. 45. Maurice Handford : A Personal Tribute – The premature death of the conductor Maurice Handford, at the age of 57, has left the musical world a good deal the poorer. Those of us who were privileged to know him as a friend are ...

[12] Dudley, Ernest (1958). The Gilded Lily. London: Oldhams Press. pp. 219–220.

[13] "Lucy Etheldred Broadwood (1858–1929)". National Archives. Retrieved 26 June 2019.

[14] Pickles John D., "Weatherly, Frederick Edward (1848–1929)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, online edition, Oxford University Press, September 2004, accessed 29 August 2010. (subscription required)

[15] Maggie Humphreys; Robert Evans (1 January 1997). Dictionary of Composers for the Church in Great Britain and Ireland. A&C Black. p. 38. ISBN 978-0-7201-2330-2.

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1929 in music
By location
United Kingdom Norway
By genre
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By topic

Events

Popular music

Classical music: new works

Opera

Musical theatre

Musical films

Births

Deaths

See also

References