1944 in British music

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This is a summary of 1944 in music in the United Kingdom.

Events

• 4 January – Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears begin a long association with Decca Records, recording four of Britten's folk song arrangements. ^[1] Britten spends most of this year at the Old Mill in Snape, Suffolk, working on the opera Peter Grimes .
• March – Vera Lynn goes to Shamsheernugger airfield in British India to entertain the troops before the Battle of Kohima. ^[2]
• 19 March – Michael Tippett's A Child of Our Time receives its first performances at London's Adelphi Theatre.
• 25 May – Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears record Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings for Decca, with Dennis Brain and the Boyd Neel Orchestra. ^[3]
• 28 July – Sir Henry Wood, aged 75, conducts his last Promenade Concert, evacuated to the Corn Exchange, Bedford. ^[4] He dies three weeks later.
• 23 September – English-born composer and violist Rebecca Clarke, stranded in the United States by the war, marries James Friskin, composer, concert pianist and founding member of the Juilliard School faculty. ^[5]

Popular music

• "One Love", music and words Jack Popplewell.

Classical music: new works

• Arnold Bax – To Russia for baritone solo and chorus (Masefield)
• Gerald Finzi – Farewell to Arms
• Ernest John Moeran – Sinfonietta (dedicated to Arthur Bliss)
• Grace Williams – Sea Sketches
• William Wordsworth – Symphony No. 1 in F minor

Film and Incidental music

• William Alwyn – The Way Ahead ^[6]
• Jack Beaver, Roy Douglas & James Turner – Candlelight in Algeria ^[7]
• Allan Gray – A Canterbury Tale ^[8]
• Gordon Jacob – For Those in Peril ^[9]
• William Walton – Henry V , ^[10] directed by and starring Laurence Olivier

Musical theatre

• 25 May – A Night In Venice (Johann Strauss II) London production opens at the Cambridge Theatre

Musical films

• Champagne Charlie starring Tommy Trinder
• One Exciting Night directed by Walter Forde and starring Vera Lynn, Donald Stewart and Mary Clare.

Births

• 3 January – David Atherton, conductor ^[11]
• 5 January – Jo Ann Kelly, singer and guitarist (John Dummer Band) (died 1990) ^[12]
• 9 January – Jimmy Page, rock musician and producer (Led Zeppelin) ^[13]
• 19 January – Laurie London, English singer ^[14]
• 27 January – Nick Mason, percussionist and composer (Pink Floyd) ^[15]
• 28 January – John Tavener, composer (died 2013) ^[16]
• 2 February – Andrew Davis, conductor ^[17]
• 15 February – Mick Avory, drummer
• 1 March – Roger Daltrey, vocalist (The Who) ^[18]
• 17 March – John Lill, pianist ^[19]
• 23 March
  • Tony McPhee, blues rock guitarist and singer (The Groundhogs) (died 2023) ^[20]
  • Michael Nyman, composer ^[21]
• 6 April – Felicity Palmer, operatic mezzo-soprano ^[22]
• 26 April – Richard Bradshaw, opera conductor (died 2007)
• 8 May
  • Gary Glitter, singer-songwriter
  • Bill Legend, drummer (T. Rex and Bill Legend's T. Rex)
• 10 May – Jackie Lomax, singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Undertakers) (died 2013)
• 12 May – Brian Kay, singer, conductor, and radio host (The King's Singers)
• 20 May – Joe Cocker, singer (died 2014)
• 17 June – Chris Spedding, singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 21 June – Ray Davies, singer-songwriter (The Kinks)
• 22 June – Peter Asher, singer and record producer (Peter & Gordon)
• 24 June
  • Jeff Beck, singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • John "Charlie" Whitney, English guitarist (Family, Axis Point, and Streetwalkers)
  • Chris Wood, English saxophonist (Traffic and Ginger Baker's Air Force) (d. 1983)
• 22 July – Rick Davies, keyboardist (Supertramp)
• 2 August – Jim Capaldi, musician and songwriter (died 2005) ^[23]
• 5 August – Christopher Gunning, composer
• 16 August – Kevin Ayers, singer-songwriter (died 2013)
• 10 September – Thomas Allen, operatic baritone
• 9 October – John Entwistle, bassist (The Who) (died 2002)
• 2 November – Keith Emerson, keyboardist and composer (died 2016)
• 10 November – Tim Rice, lyricist

Deaths

• 19 January – Harold Fraser-Simson, songwriter and composer of light music (born 1872) ^[24]
• 6 February – Philip Michael Faraday, organist, composer and theatrical producer (born 1875) ^[25]
• 12 February – Annie Fortescue Harrison, songwriter and composer of piano music (born 1850 or 1851)
• 29 February – Durward Lely, operatic tenor (born 1852)
• 9 May – Dame Ethel Smyth, composer (born 1858) ^[26]
• 24 June – Chick Henderson, dance band singer (born 1912; killed in action) ^[27]
• 4 July – Alice Burville, singer and actress (born 1856)
• 11 July – Frank Bury, composer (born 1910; killed in action) ^{[28] [29]}
• 13 July – Eda Kersey, violinist (born 1904; stomach cancer) ^[30]
• 19 August – Sir Henry Wood, conductor (born 1869) ^[31]
• 21 September – Louis N. Parker, dramatist, composer and translator (born 1852) ^[32]

See also

• 1944 in British television
• 1944 in the United Kingdom
• List of British films of 1944

References

1. Stuart, Philip. Decca Classical 1929–2009, accessed 15 June 2014.
2. "Technology Obituaries: Bernard Holden". The Daily Telegraph. London. 2012-10-04. Retrieved 2014-06-14.
3. Mitchell, Donald (ed) (1991). Letters From A Life: Selected Letters of Benjamin Britten, Vol. 2 1939–45. London: Faber and Faber. ISBN   0-571-16058-1. p. 1196.
4. "Jubilee Prom". The Yorkshire Post. Leeds. 1944-07-28. from the rural B.B.C. studio to which the concerts have been transferred.
5. Curtis, Liane (May 1996). "A Case of Identity" (PDF). Musical Times: 20.
6. John C. Dressler (March 2013). William Alwyn: A Research and Information Guide. Routledge. p. 71. ISBN   978-1-136-66003-0.
7. Kevin Sweeney (1999). James Mason: A Bio-bibliography. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 106. ISBN   978-0-313-28496-0.
8. Jefferson Hunter (5 April 2010). English Filming, English Writing. Indiana University Press. p. 215. ISBN   978-0-253-00414-7.
9. Jan G. Swynnoe (2002). The Best Years of British Film Music, 1936-1958. Boydell & Brewer. p. 232. ISBN   978-0-85115-862-4.
10. Kennedy, Michael. "Walton, Sir William Turner (1902–1983)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edition, May 2008, retrieved 27 September 2010 (subscription required)
11. Gerald Norris (June 1981). A musical gazetteer of Great Britain & Ireland. David & Charles. p. 197. ISBN   978-0-7153-7845-8.
12. Colin Larkin (1998). The Virgin Encyclopedia of the Blues. Virgin. p. 206. ISBN   978-0-7535-0226-6.
13. Joseph Murrells (31 December 1984). Million selling records from the 1900s to the 1980s: an illustrated directory. Batsford. p. 164. ISBN   978-0-7134-3843-7.
14. Joseph Murrells (1978). The Book of Golden Discs . Barrie and Jenkins. p. 104. ISBN   978-0-214-20480-7.
15. Vernon Fitch (2005). The Pink Floyd Encyclopedia. Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 19. ISBN   978-1-894959-24-7.
16. Maggie Humphreys; Robert Evans (1 January 1997). Dictionary of Composers for the Church in Great Britain and Ireland. A&C Black. p. 333. ISBN   978-0-7201-2330-2.
17. Roderick L. Sharpe; Jeanne Koekkoek Stierman (30 May 2008). Maestros in America: Conductors in the 21st Century. Scarecrow Press. p. 52. ISBN   978-1-4616-6948-7.
18. Ben Marshall (27 October 2015). The Who: 50 Years: The Official History. HarperCollins. ISBN   978-0-06-239638-9.
19. Gerald Norris (June 1981). A musical gazetteer of Great Britain & Ireland. David & Charles. p. 86. ISBN   978-0-7153-7845-8.
20. Adam Sweeting (10 June 2023). "Tony McPheen". The Guardian. London.
21. Colin Larkin (2000). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Nineties Music. Virgin. p. 289. ISBN   978-0-7535-0427-7.
22. Laura Williams Macy (2008). The Grove Book of Opera Singers. Oxford University Press. p. 363. ISBN   978-0-19-533765-5.
23. Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 92. ISBN   1-904994-10-5.
24. The Times obituary, 20 January 1944, p. 7
25. John Parker (1916). Who's who in the Theatre. Pitman. p. 1867.
26. Ethel Smyth (16 April 2013). Impressions That Remained - Memoirs of Ethel Smyth. Read Books Limited. p. 10. ISBN   978-1-4465-4542-3.
27. CWGC Casualty Record.
28. CWGC entry
29. Edward Greenfield; Robert Layton (2000). The Penguin Guide to Yearbook 2000-2001: Best Buys in Classical Music. Penguin Books. p. 37. ISBN   978-0-14-051382-0.
30. The Strad. Orpheus. 1984. p. 51.
31. Stephen Lloyd (2001). William Walton: Muse of Fire. Boydell & Brewer. p. 203. ISBN   978-0-85115-803-7.
32. Wilson library bulletin. 1944. p. 155.