1923 in British music explained

This is a summary of 1923 in music in the United Kingdom.

Events

• 12 June – William Walton's Façade, a collaboration with Edith Sitwell, is given its first public performance at the Aeolian Hall, London.^[1] The critics' reception is unfavourable.^[2]
• 4 July – Ralph Vaughan Williams's English Folk Song Suite is premièred at Kneller Hall, conducted by Hector Adkins.^[3]
• September–October – Philip Heseltine (Peter Warlock) and E. J. Moeran tour East Anglia in search of original folk music.
• 11 November – The première of John Foulds's A World Requiem is held at the Royal Albert Hall in London, with soloists including Herbert Heyner.^[4] It is repeated on that date each year until 1926.
• 23 December – The Beggar's Opera by John Gay and Dr Pepusch, with score restored by Frederic Austin, ends its record run of 1,463 performances at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith; Austin himself plays Peachum, with Frederick Ranalow as Macheath and Sylvia Nelis as Polly.
• date unknown
  • The Royal Scottish Country Dance Society is founded by Jean Milligan and Ysobel Stewart.^[5]
  • The moving-coil microphone is developed by Captain H. J. Round and is adopted by the BBC's London studios.^[6]
  • Edward Elgar moves to the village of Kempsey, Worcestershire, where he will live until 1927.^[7]
  • Arthur Bliss's father retires to California. Arthur goes with him to work as a conductor, lecturer, pianist and occasional critic.^[8]
  • Eugene Aynsley Goossens becomes conductor of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in the United States.
  • Henry Tippett agrees to support his son Michael Tippett's studies at the Royal College of Music, where Michael is accepted despite lacking the entry qualifications.^[9]
  • The Savoy Orpheans is formed as a resident dance band at the Savoy Hotel, London, by Debroy Somers.

Classical music: new works

• Kenneth J. Alford – Cavalry of the Clouds
• Granville Bantock – Suite from Cathay (words by Ezra Pound)
• Arthur Bliss – String Quartet
• Gerald Finzi – A Severn Rhapsody^[10]
• Constant Lambert – 2 Songs (words by Sacheverell Sitwell), for soprano, flute and harp
• Roger Quilter – "The Fuchsia Tree", Op. 25 No. 2^[11]
• Cyril Scott – The Incompetent Apothecary (ballet)
• Ralph Vaughan Williams – Sea Songs
• William Walton – Toccata for Violin and Piano

Opera

• Gustav Holst – The Perfect Fool^[12]

Musical theatre

• London Calling!, a revue produced by André Charlot with music and lyrics by Noël Coward,^[13] co-starring Coward and Gertrude Lawrence, opens at the Duke of York's Theatre on 4 September and runs for 367 performances.

Births

• 21 April – Ronald Cass, film composer (died 2006)
• 15 May – John Lanchbery, composer and conductor (died 2003)
• 4 August – Arthur Butterworth, composer (died 2014)
• 19 August – Dill Jones, pianist (died 1984)
• 30 September – Donald Swann, musician (died 1994)
• 5 October – Glynis Johns, actress and singer (died 2024)
• 10 November – Anne Shelton, singer (died 1994)

Deaths

• 18 January – Kate Santley, German-born actress, singer and comedian (exact age unknown)
• 10 July – Albert Chevalier, actor, singer, songwriter and music hall performer, 62^[14]
• 27 August – Letty Lind, singer and burlesque performer, 61^[15]
• 12 October – John Cadvan Davies, poet and hymn-writer, 77^[16]
• date unknown – Nicholas Kilburn, choral conductor and composer, 80^[17]

See also

• 1923 in the United Kingdom

Notes and References

1. 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
2. "Futuristic Music and Poetry", The Manchester Guardian, 13 June 1923, p. 3
3. Timothy Reynish, notes for British Wind Band Classics, Chandos Records 9697, 1999 – PDF
4. Cover of programme reproduced in Chandos CD booklet.
5. Book: Scottish Country Dancing. Knight, Peter. Collins. 1996. 0-00-472500-X.
6. Hennessy, Brian 2005 The Emergence of Broadcasting in Britain. Devon Southerleigh
7. Book: Reed, W.H. . William Henry Reed

   . William Henry Reed . Elgar. London. Dent. 1946. 134. 8858707 .

8. Obituary, The Times, 29 March 1975, p. 14
9. Web site: Lewis. Geraint. Tippett, Sir Michael Kemp. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Online edition. 22 August 2013.
10. Web site: Finzi, Gerald: A Severn Rhapsody op. 3 (1923). Boosey & Hawkes. 16 August 2017.
11. Smythe, David K.,The Fuchsia Tree, The Lied, Art Song, and Choral Texts Archive, Access date: 6 June 2012
12. 957953 . Head . Raymond . The Hymn of Jesus: Holst's Gnostic Exploration of Time and Space . Tempo . New Series . 209 . 7–13 . July 1999 . 1576 . Musical Times Publications Ltd..
13. Morley, Sheridan. Coward, p. 27, Haus, 2005
14. Book: Burns Mantle. John Arthur Chapman. Garrison P. Sherwood. Louis Kronenberger. Burns Mantle Yearbook. 1924. Dodd, Mead. 457.
15. Book: Who's who in the Theatre. 1930. Pitman. 1432.
16. s-DAVI-CAD-1846. Davies, John Cadvan (Cadvan; 1846-1923), Wesleyan minister. Edward Tegla Davies. 26 June 2019.
17. Book: Robert Evans. Maggie Humphreys. Dictionary of Composers for the Church in Great Britain and Ireland. 1 January 1997. Bloomsbury Publishing. 978-1-4411-3796-8. 196.