1920 in British music

This is a summary of 1920 in music in the United Kingdom.

Events

• February – The Philharmonic Choir, ^[1] under its founder Charles Kennedy Scott, appears at a Philharmonic Society concert giving the first performance of Frederick Delius's A Song of the High Hills .
• March – Adrian Boult conducts Edward Elgar's second Symphony at the Queen's Hall to "great applause" and "frantic enthusiasm", ^[2]
• April – Irish composer Hamilton Harty is appointed resident conductor of the Hallé Orchestra. ^[3]
• May – Noël Coward's comedy I'll Leave It to You becomes his first full-length play to be staged in London's West End. ^[4]
• 4 September – City of Birmingham Orchestra holds its first rehearsals (in a police bandroom). Later in the month, it holds first concert, conducted by Appleby Matthews, including Granville Bantock's overture Saul.
• November – City of Birmingham Orchestra gives its "First Symphony Concert", with Edward Elgar conducting a programme of his own music in Birmingham Town Hall. ^[5]
• 15 November – The first complete public performance of Gustav Holst's suite The Planets (including "Neptune") is given in London by the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Albert Coates. ^[6]
• 15 December – Vaughan Williams' The Lark Ascending is premiered in its original version for violin and piano with Marie Hall as violinist at Shirehampton near Bristol.
• December – Sir Thomas Beecham is forced to disband the Beecham Opera Company because of financial difficulties. ^[7]

Popular music

• "Black Stitchel", w. Wilfrid Wilson Gibson, m. Ivor Gurney ^[8]
• "I Belong to Glasgow", w.m. Will Fyffe

Classical music: new works

• Granville Bantock – Arabian Nights
• Arnold Bax – Phantasy for viola and orchestra
• Arthur Bliss
  • The Tempest, overture and interludes;
  • Concerto for piano, tenor voice, strings and percussion
  • Rout (for soprano and chamber orchestra)
• Frederick Delius – Hassan
• Ivor Gurney – War Elegy
• Basil Harwood – Christmastide
• Dorothy Howell – Two Dances ^[9]
• John Blackwood McEwen – String Quartet No. 9 in B minor
• Charles Villiers Stanford – Sonata "Celtica" No. 4, Op. 153
• Ralph Vaughan Williams
  • The Lark Ascending
  • Mass in G minor
  • A London Symphony

Musical theatre

• 18 September – A Night Out , with a book by George Grossmith, Jr. and Arthur Miller, music by Willie Redstone and Cole Porter and lyrics by Clifford Grey, opens at the Winter Garden Theatre in London, where it runs for 309 performances. The original cast includes Leslie Henson and Stanley Holloway.

Births

• 9 January – Clive Dunn, comedy actor and chart-topping singer (died 2012)
• 23 March – Geoffrey Bush, composer, writer and broadcaster (d. 1998) ^[10]
• 12 April – The Cox Twins, music hall entertainers (Frank, died 2007, and Fred, died 2013)
• 14 April – Ivor Forbes Guest, historian of dance (died 2018) ^[11]
• 2 May – Joe "Mr. Piano" Henderson, Scottish pianist and composer (died 1980) ^[12]
• 13 May – Gareth Morris, flautist (died 2007) ^[13]
• 20 May – Betty Driver, singer and actress (died 2011) ^[14]
• 19 June – Johnny Douglas, film composer and conductor (died 2003) ^[15]
• 27 September – Alan A. Freeman, record producer (died 1985) ^{[16] [17]}
• 24 October – Steve Conway, singer (died 1952) ^[18]
• 12 December – Dick James, singer and record producer (died 1986)

Deaths

• 21 January – John Henry Maunder, composer, 61 ^[19]
• 24 January – Percy French, Irish-born songwriter, 65 (pneumonia) ^[20]
• 7 April – Alice Elgar, wife of composer Edward Elgar, 72 (lung cancer) ^[21]
• 5 May – Robert Bryan, poet and composer, 61
• 28 May - Hardwicke Rawnsley, hymn-writer, 68 ^[22]
• 28 June - Pauline Rita, singer and actress, about 78
• 14 December – George J. Gaskin, Irish singer, 57

See also

• 1920 in the United Kingdom

References

1. Daniel Snowman, Hallelujah! An Informal History of the London Philharmonic Choir (London: London Philharmonic Choir, London 2007), pp. 127–33 – Appendix II: "The History of the Philharmonic Choir".
2. Moore, Jerrold Northrop (1979). Music and Friends: Letters to Adrian Boult. London: Hamish Hamilton. p. 42. ISBN   0-241-10178-6. Lady Elgar's diary
3. "Hamilton Harty", The Musical Times, Vol. 61, No. 926 (April 1920), pp. 227–230 (subscription required)
4. Thaxter, John. I'll Leave It To You Archived 2011-06-10 at the Wayback Machine , British Theatre Guide, 2009
5. King-Smith, Beresford (1995), Crescendo! 75 years of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, London: Methuen, ISBN   0413697401. page 9.
6. "London Concerts"' The Musical Times, December 1920, p. 821 (subscription required)
7. Lucas, John (2008). Thomas Beecham: An Obsession With Music. London: Boydell & Brewer Ltd. p. 156. ISBN   978-1-84383-402-1 . Retrieved 29 May 2012.
8. Barbara Doscher (ed. John Nix) From Studio to Stage: Repertoire for the Voice, Scarecrow Press, 2002, p 32. Accessed 11 Sept 2014
9. Mike, Celia, "Howell, Dorothy", in The Norton/Grove Dictionary of Women Composers (Julie Anne Sadie and Rhian Samuel, eds.). The MacMillan Press (London & Basingstoke), p. 231 (1994, ISBN   0-333-51598-6).
10. Foreman, Lewis (2 March 1998). "Obituary: Geoffrey Bush". The Independent. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
11. Macaulay, Alastair (April 9, 2018). "Ivor Guest, 97, Dies; Transformed Study of Dance History". The New York Times . London. Archived from the original on May 21, 2020. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
12. "Joe "Mr. Piano" Henderson Songs, Albums, Revie..." AllMusic . Retrieved 2025-05-28.
13. Sebastian Bell (28 February 2007). "Gareth Morris". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
14. Dennis Barker (15 October 2011). "Betty Driver obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
15. Tim McDonald (23 April 2003). "Johnny Douglas". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
16. General Register Office; United Kingdom; Volume: 15; Page: 284. England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007 [database on-line].
17. "Obituary for ALAN ALBERT FREEMAN.-On". The Daily Telegraph . 1985-03-20. p. 36. Retrieved 2025-06-03.
18. "Steve Conway Biography, Songs, & Albums". AllMusic. Retrieved 2021-09-23.
19. Robert Evans; Maggie Humphreys (1 January 1997). Dictionary of Composers for the Church in Great Britain and Ireland. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 229. ISBN   978-1-4411-3796-8.
20. The Songs of Percy French, by James N. Healy (Dublin & Cork: Mercier Press, 1983)
21. Moore, Jerrold N. (1984). Edward Elgar: a Creative Life. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 750–51. ISBN   0-19-315447-1.
22. Charles W. Spurgeon (17 March 2008). The Poetry of Westminster Abbey. Xlibris Corporation. p. 179. ISBN   978-1-4535-0144-3.