1909 in British music

Last updated August 24, 2025

This is a summary of 1909 in music in the United Kingdom.

Events

22 September - 11-year-old pianist Marie Novello makes her Proms début, playing the Piano Concerto no. 1 in E-flat by Franz Liszt.^[1]
date unknown - Ada Jones records her most popular song, "The Yama Yama Man", for the Victor Light Opera Company.^[2]

Popular music

"Boiled Beef and Carrots" by Charles Collins and Fred Murray
"Master Kilby"; traditional folk song collected by Cecil Sharp and Maud Karpeles ^[3]
"The King's Way" by Edward Elgar and Caroline Alice Elgar ^[4]

New recordings

Mark Sheridan - "I Do Like To be Beside the Seaside"^[5]

Classical music: new works

Arnold Bax – In the Faery Hills
Gustav Holst – First Suite in E-flat for Military Band ^[6]
John Blackwood McEwen – A Solway Symphony
Ralph Vaughan Williams – The Wasps ^[7]

Opera

Fallen Fairies by W. S. Gilbert and Edward German
The Mountaineers , by Guy Eden and Reginald Somerville ^[8]

Musical theatre

29 April – The Arcadians , with book by Mark Ambient and Alexander M. Thompson, lyrics by Arthur Wimperis, and music by Lionel Monckton and Howard Talbot, opens at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London, where it runs for 809 performances.^[9]

Births

1 May – George Melachrino, conductor, singer and composer (died 1965)
11 May – Herbert Murrill, organist and composer (died 1952)
12 June – Mansel Thomas, composer and conductor (died 1986)
13 August – Brian Lawrance, Australian-born bandleader (died 1983)^[10]
25 August – Brian Easdale, composer (died 1995)
25 August – Arwel Hughes, composer (died 1988)

Deaths

4 February – James Lynam Molloy, poet, songwriter and composer, 71
7 June – P. W. Halton, conductor, 68

References

↑ "Obituary: Miss Marie Novello". The Times . 23 June 1928. p. 16.
↑ "The Yama Yama Man" Archived April 26, 2012, at the Wayback Machine , Netlex News, July 5, 2006.
↑ Folk Song Arrangements, volume 6, Naxos
↑ Kennedy, Michael, Portrait of Elgar (Oxford University Press, Third ed., 1987) ISBN 0-19-284017-7 page 350
↑ "How to have a very British day at the seaside, in pictures". The Telegraph. 18 May 2016. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
↑ Udell, Budd (1982). "Standard Works for Band: Gustav Holst's First Suite in E♭ Major for Military Band." Music Educators Journal, 69 (4):28 (JSTOR subscription access)
↑ Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) - Overture: The Wasps
↑ Penny Illustrated Paper , 23 April 1910, p. 530; Issue 2552
↑ Gaye, Freda, ed. (1967). Who's Who in the Theatre (fourteenth ed.). London: Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons. OCLC 5997224
↑ The National Archives; Kew, London, England; 1939 Register; Reference: RG 101/464K

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[1] "Obituary: Miss Marie Novello". The Times . 23 June 1928. p. 16.

[2] "The Yama Yama Man" Archived April 26, 2012, at the Wayback Machine , Netlex News, July 5, 2006.

[3] Folk Song Arrangements, volume 6, Naxos

[4] Kennedy, Michael, Portrait of Elgar (Oxford University Press, Third ed., 1987) ISBN 0-19-284017-7 page 350

[5] "How to have a very British day at the seaside, in pictures". The Telegraph. 18 May 2016. Retrieved 20 April 2018.

[6] Udell, Budd (1982). "Standard Works for Band: Gustav Holst's First Suite in E♭ Major for Military Band." Music Educators Journal, 69 (4):28 (JSTOR subscription access)

[7] Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) - Overture: The Wasps

[8] Penny Illustrated Paper , 23 April 1910, p. 530; Issue 2552

[9] Gaye, Freda, ed. (1967). Who's Who in the Theatre (fourteenth ed.). London: Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons. OCLC 5997224

[10] The National Archives; Kew, London, England; 1939 Register; Reference: RG 101/464K

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