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1942 in British music

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1942 in British music

This is a summary of 1942 in music in the United Kingdom.

Contents

Events

  • January/February – Serge Koussevitzky commissions Benjamin Britten to compose an opera, Peter Grimes, one of the first commissions given by the Koussevitzky Music Foundation.
  • 16 March – Britten sails back to England with Peter Pears on board MS Axel Johnson.
  • 20 March – Vera Lynn records The White Cliffs of Dover with Mantovani at Decca Records's West Hampstead studio.
  • 26 August – In an act of wartime cultural diplomacy, John Ireland, Granville Bantock, Arnold Bax and Benjamin Britten deliver a letter to the wife of the Soviet Ambassador sending greetings from British composers to their Soviet counterparts.
  • November/December - E.J. Moeran's Symphony is the first British work to be recorded under the auspices of the British Council. The recording is made in Manchester by the Hallé Orchestra conducted by Leslie Heward.
  • Vera Lynn with Mantovani - The White Cliffs of Dover (Walter Kent)

    • Classical music: new works

  • Benjamin Britten -
  • A Ceremony of Carols
  • Hymn to St Cecilia
  • Gerald Finzi - Let Us Garlands Bring Op. 18, song cycle (words by Shakespeare)

    • Film and Incidental music

  • Noël Coward - In Which We Serve
  • Ralph Vaughan Williams -
  • Coastal Command (film)
  • The Pilgrim’s Progress (music for radio production)
  • William Walton - The First of the Few directed by and starring Leslie Howard, with co-star David Niven.

    • Musical theatre

  • 22 October - Du Barry Was A Lady, London production opens at His Majesty's Theatre and runs for 178 performances
  • 19 November - Let's Face It!, London production opens at the Hippodrome and runs for 348 performances

    • Musical films

  • Rose of Tralee, starring John Longden, Lesley Brook and Angela Glynne.
  • We'll Smile Again, starring Bud Flanagan, Chesney Allen and Meinhart Maur.

    • Births

  • 12 February - Lionel Grigson, English pianist, composer, and educator (d. 1994)
  • 28 February - Brian Jones, Rolling Stones (died 1969)
  • 24 March - Arthur Brown, singer (Kingdom Come and The Crazy World of Arthur Brown)
  • 12 May - Ian Dury, singer-songwriter (died 2000)
  • 18 June - Paul McCartney, singer, songwriter & composer
  • 21 September - Jill Gomez, soprano

    • Deaths

  • 14 January - Harry Champion, music hall composer
  • 12 June - Walter Leigh, composer, 36 (killed in action)
  • 17 June - Jessie Bond, singer and actress in Gilbert & Sullivan, 89
  • 30 July - Dorothy Silk, soprano, 59
  • 15 October - Dame Marie Tempest, opera and musical comedy singer, 78

    • References

    1942 in British music Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA