1921 in British music

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This is a summary of 1921 in music in the United Kingdom.

Events[edit]

January – Sir Charles Villiers Stanford gives a public lecture entitled "Some Recent Tendencies in Composition", criticising current musical trends.^[1]
5 March – Charles Villiers Stanford makes his last public appearance when he conducts his latest work, the cantata At the Abbey Gate.^[2] The Observer thinks it "quite appealing even though one feels it to be more facile than powerful."^[3]
14 June – First performance of the orchestral version of Vaughan Williams's The Lark Ascending conducted by Adrian Boult with Marie Hall as violin soloist in a concert at the Queen's Hall in London.
June – Adrian Boult conducts an experimental Opera Intime week at the Aeolian Hall (London).^[4]
date unknown
- A new production of The Tempest at the Aldwych Theatre, directed by Viola Tree, adds new incidental music by Arthur Bliss to that by Thomas Arne and Arthur Sullivan.^[5]
- The Savoy Havana Band is formed as a resident dance band at the Savoy Hotel, London, by American saxophonist Bert Ralton.

Popular music[edit]

"And Her Mother Came Too": words by Dion Titheradge, music by Ivor Novello^[6]
"Dancing Time": words by George Grossmith, Jr., music by Jerome Kern^[7]
"Shimmy With Me": words by P. G. Wodehouse, music by Jerome Kern, from the musical The Cabaret Girl^[7]

Classical music: new works[edit]

Kenneth J. Alford – The Mad Major
Arnold Bax – Mater ora Filium
Eric Coates – Moresque
John Foulds – A World Requiem (1919–21; premiered 1923)^[8]
Albert Ketèlbey
- Bells Across the Meadows
- In a Persian Market
John Ireland – Two Pieces for Piano
Cyril Rootham – Suite in three movements for flute and piano

Opera[edit]

Gustav Holst – Savitri

Musical theatre[edit]

17 January – The League of Notions London revue opens at the Oxford Theatre.
5 October – The Golden Moth (Music: Ivor Novello) opens at the Adelphi Theatre, starring Bobbie Comber and Thorpe Bates.

Publications[edit]

Porte, J. F. Sir Edward Elgar. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Turner & Co. Ltd.

Births[edit]

5 February – Sir John Pritchard, conductor (died 1989)
2 March – Robert Simpson, musicologist and composer (died 1997)
21 March – Antony Hopkins, composer and music writer (died 2014)
8 April – Alfie Bass, actor (Tevye in West End production of Fiddler on the Roof) (died 1987)^[9]
23 May – Humphrey Lyttelton, English jazz musician (died 2008)
12 July – Hilary Corke, writer and composer (died 2001)
13 August – Mary Lee, Scottish singer
8 September – Sir Harry Secombe, singer and comedian (died 2001)^[10]
21 September – Jimmy Young, singer and radio broadcaster (died 2016)^[11]
2 October – Robert Bruce Montgomery, composer (died 1978)
21 October – Sir Malcolm Arnold, composer (died 2006)^[12]

Deaths[edit]

8 February – George Formby Sr, singer and comedian, 45 (tuberculosis)^[13]
25 February – John Thomas of Llanwrtyd, composer, 81^[14]
14 March – Gustave Barnes, violinist, painter and sculptor, 43^[15]
29 November – Ivan Caryll, Belgian-born composer of operettas in English, 60^[16]

References[edit]

^ Stanford, Charles Villiers. "On Some Recent Tendencies in Composition", Proceedings of the Musical Association, 47th Sess. (1920–1921), pp. 39–53 (subscription required)
^ "At the Abbey Gate", The Times, 7 March 1921, p. 8.
^ Anderson, W R. "Yesterday's Music", The Observer London, 6 March 1921, p. 15.
^ Boult, Adrian (1973). My Own Trumpet. London: Hamish Hamilton. ISBN 0-241-02445-5.
^ Evans, Edwin. "Arthur Bliss". The Musical Times, February 1923, pp. 95–99, accessed 21 March 2011 (subscription required)
^ Anastasia Belina; Derek B. Scott (30 November 2019). The Cambridge Companion to Operetta. Cambridge University Press. p. 252. ISBN 978-1-107-18216-5.
^ ^a ^b Steven Suskin (2000). Show Tunes: The Songs, Shows, and Careers of Broadway's Major Composers. Oxford University Press. p. 24. ISBN 978-0-19-512599-3.
^ BBC Press Release
^ British film and television year book. Cinema TV Today. 1970. p. 26.
^ Harris M. Lentz III (16 April 2002). Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2001: Film, Television, Radio, Theatre, Dance, Music, Cartoons and Pop Culture. McFarland. p. 262. ISBN 978-0-7864-1278-5.
^ Colin Larkin (2002). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Fifties Music. Virgin Books. p. 343. ISBN 978-1-85227-937-0.
^ Stewart R. Craggs (1998). Malcolm Arnold: A Bio-bibliography. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-313-29254-5.
^ "Mrs George Formby's Own Story". The Sunday Post. Dundee. 13 February 1921. p. 16.
^ Robert David Griffith (1959). "Thomas, John". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
^ Nancy Benko, 'Barnes, Gustave Adrian (1877–1921)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 7, MUP, 1979, pp 179–180.
^ Gänzl, Kurt (2001). "Ivan Caryll". The Encyclopedia of the Musical Theatre, Second Edition. Schirmer Books. p. 327. ISBN 0-02-864970-2.

[1] Stanford, Charles Villiers. "On Some Recent Tendencies in Composition", Proceedings of the Musical Association, 47th Sess. (1920–1921), pp. 39–53 (subscription required)

[2] "At the Abbey Gate", The Times, 7 March 1921, p. 8.

[3] Anderson, W R. "Yesterday's Music", The Observer London, 6 March 1921, p. 15.

[4] Boult, Adrian (1973). My Own Trumpet. London: Hamish Hamilton. ISBN 0-241-02445-5.

[5] Evans, Edwin. "Arthur Bliss". The Musical Times, February 1923, pp. 95–99, accessed 21 March 2011 (subscription required)

[6] Anastasia Belina; Derek B. Scott (30 November 2019). The Cambridge Companion to Operetta. Cambridge University Press. p. 252. ISBN 978-1-107-18216-5.

[Suskin2000-7] Steven Suskin (2000). Show Tunes: The Songs, Shows, and Careers of Broadway's Major Composers. Oxford University Press. p. 24. ISBN 978-0-19-512599-3.

[8] BBC Press Release

[9] British film and television year book. Cinema TV Today. 1970. p. 26.

[10] Harris M. Lentz III (16 April 2002). Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2001: Film, Television, Radio, Theatre, Dance, Music, Cartoons and Pop Culture. McFarland. p. 262. ISBN 978-0-7864-1278-5.

[11] Colin Larkin (2002). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Fifties Music. Virgin Books. p. 343. ISBN 978-1-85227-937-0.

[12] Stewart R. Craggs (1998). Malcolm Arnold: A Bio-bibliography. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-313-29254-5.

[13] "Mrs George Formby's Own Story". The Sunday Post. Dundee. 13 February 1921. p. 16.

[14] Robert David Griffith (1959). "Thomas, John". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 19 August 2017.

[15] Nancy Benko, 'Barnes, Gustave Adrian (1877–1921)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 7, MUP, 1979, pp 179–180.

[16] Gänzl, Kurt (2001). "Ivan Caryll". The Encyclopedia of the Musical Theatre, Second Edition. Schirmer Books. p. 327. ISBN 0-02-864970-2.

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1921 in music
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By topic

1921 in British music

Events[edit]

Popular music[edit]

Classical music: new works[edit]

Opera[edit]

Musical theatre[edit]

Publications[edit]

Births[edit]

Deaths[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

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