1933 in British music

This is a summary of 1933 in music in the United Kingdom.

Events

• December – Edward Elgar, knowing he is suffering from cancer and does not have time to complete his Third Symphony, tells William Henry Reed: "Don't let them tinker with it, Billy – burn it!" ^[1]

Popular music

• "My Lucky Day" and "Happy Ending" by Harry Parr-Davies, performed by Gracie Fields. ^[2]

Classical music: new works

• Arnold Bax – Symphonic Scherzo
• Arthur Bliss – Viola Sonata
• Benjamin Britten – A Boy Was Born
• Rebecca Clarke – The Tiger
• Eric Coates – London Suite . ^[3]
• Gustav Holst
  • Brook Green Suite
  • Lyric Movement
• Ralph Vaughan Williams – A London Symphony (revised)

Film and incidental music

• Bretton Byrd – Friday the Thirteenth ^[4]
• Colin Wark
  • Song of the Plough ^[5]
  • Doss House

Musical theatre

• 22 November – That's a Pretty Thing (Music: Noel Gay Lyrics: Desmond Carter Book: Stanley Lupino) opens at Daly's Theatre and runs for 103 performances.

Musical films

• Aunt Sally, starring Cicely Courtneidge and Sam Hardy and featuring Debroy Somers and his Band. Directed by Tim Whelan.
• Bitter Sweet , directed by Herbert Wilcox, starring Anna Neagle and Fernand Gravey
• Facing the Music , directed by Harry Hughes, starring Stanley Lupino, Jose Collins and Nancy Brown ^[6]
• The Good Companions , directed by Victor Saville, starring Jessie Matthews and Edmund Gwenn
• Happy , directed by Frederic Zelnik, starring Stanley Lupino, Dorothy Hyson, Laddie Cliff and Will Fyffe. ^[7]
• That's a Good Girl , starring Jack Buchanan, Elsie Randolph|

Births

• 20 January – Gerry Monroe, singer (died 1989)
• 7 February – Stuart Burrows, operatic tenor (d. 2025)
• 14 February – James Simmons, poet, literary critic and songwriter (died 2001)
• 22 February – Katharine, Duchess of Kent, patron of music (d. 2025)
• 1 March – Gerry Bron, record producer and manager (d. 2012)
• 6 March – Dolly Collins, folk musician, arranger and composer (died 1995)
• 14 April – Shani Wallis, actress and singer
• 21 April – Ian Carr, jazz musician, composer, writer, and educator (died 2009)
• 22 May – Don Estelle, actor and singer (died 2003)
• 30 May – Michael Garrick, jazz pianist and composer (died 2011)
• 10 June — Ian Campbell, folk singer (died 2012)
• 15 July – Julian Bream, guitarist and lutenist
• 23 July – Bernard Roberts, pianist (died 2013)
• 29 July – Anne Rogers, actress, singer and dancer
• 15 August – Rita Hunter, operatic soprano (died 2001)
• 21 August – Dame Janet Baker, operatic mezzo-soprano
• 23 August – Ian Fraser, Emmy-nominated composer, conductor, arranger and music director (died 2014)
• 10 October – Daniel Massey, star of musical theatre (died 1998)
• 21 October – Georgia Brown, actress and singer (died 1992)
• 3 November – John Barry, film composer (died 2011)
• 23 November – John Sanders, organist, conductor and composer (died 2003)
• 10 December – Don Charles, singer and record producer (died 2005)
• 30 December – Andy Stewart, singer (died 1993)

Deaths

• 3 March – Robert Radford, bass singer, 58 ^[8]
• 15 April – Ernest Bucalossi, British-Italian light music composer and arranger, 73
• 26 April – Francesco Berger, pianist and composer, 98
• 10 September – Adrian Ross, English lyricist, 73

See also

• 1933 in British television
• 1933 in the United Kingdom
• List of British films of 1933

References

1. Elgar – His Music: Symphony No. 3, Op. 88
2. Shafer, Stephen C. British popular films, 1929–1939: The Cinema of Reassurance. Routledge, 1997. p.199
3. Robert Farnon Society Archived 2012-02-25 at the Wayback Machine . Rfsoc.org.uk. Retrieved on 2011-05-30.
4. "BFI | Film & TV Database | FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH (1933)". Ftvdb.bfi.org.uk. 2009-04-16. Archived from the original on 2009-09-02. Retrieved 2011-05-13.
5. Chibnall, Steve. Quota Quickies: The British of the British 'B' Film. British Film Institute, 2007.
6. BFI.org
7. "Happy (film)". Ftvdb.bfi.org.uk. 16 April 2009. Archived from the original on 21 October 2012. Retrieved 20 February 2012.
8. H. Rosenthal and J. Warrack, Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera (London 1974 impression), 327).