1924 in British music explained

This is a summary of 1924 in music in the United Kingdom.

Events

• 13 May – Edward Elgar is appointed Master of the King's Musick in succession to Sir Walter Parratt.^[1]
• date unknown
  • Richard Runciman Terry resigns as organist of Westminster Cathedral because of criticism of his choice of music, "erratic behaviour" and "neglect of duty".^[2]
  • The London Labour Choral Union is launched by Rutland Boughton.^[3]

Popular music

• "The Bristol Pageant", w. Frederic Weatherly, m. Hubert Hunt
• "There's Life In The Old Girl Yet" w.m. Noël Coward

Classical music: new works

• Gustav Holst – Choral Symphony (premiered in 1925)
• William Walton – Bucolic Comedies (lost), with words by Edith Sitwell
• Arthur Wood – My Native Heath (orchestral suite, including the maypole dance "Barwick Green", now famous as the theme to The Archers)^[4]

Opera

• Ralph Vaughan Williams – Hugh the Drover, with libretto by Harold Child^[5]

Musical theatre

• Primrose, written for the London stage by Guy Bolton and George Grossmith Jr., with lyrics by Desmond Carter and Ira Gershwin, and music by George Gershwin.^[6]
• Puppets, revue with music by Ivor Novello and others, starring Binnie Hale and Stanley Lupino^[7]

Births

• 8 January – Ron Moody, star of Oliver! (died 2015)
• 21 January – Benny Hill, comedian, actor and singer (died 1992)
• 9 February – George Guest, organist and choirmaster of St John's College, Cambridge (died 2002)
• 27 February – Trevor Duncan, composer (died 2005)
• 8 March – Alan Dell, BBC radio DJ (died 1995)
• 15 April – Sir Neville Marriner, conductor and violinist (died 2016)
• 18 April – Buxton Orr, composer (died 1997)
• 6 May – Denny Wright, jazz guitarist (died 1992)
• 19 May – Sandy Wilson, composer of The Boyfriend (died 2014)
• 20 May – Syd Dale, composer and arranger of big band, easy listening and library music (died 1994)
• 1 June – John Tooley, opera director and manager (died 2020)
• 19 September – Ernest Tomlinson, light music composer (died 2015)

Deaths

• 2 January – Sabine Baring-Gould, hymn-writer and collector of folk songs, 89^[8]
• 15 February – Lionel Monckton, composer, 62^[9]
• 18 March – Frederick Bridge, organist and composer, 79^[10]
• 27 March – Sir Walter Parratt, composer, Master of the King's Musick, 83^[11]
• 29 March – Sir Charles Villiers Stanford, composer, 71
• 5 April – Rosalind Ellicott, composer, 66 ^[12]
• 23 June – Cecil Sharp, folk song and dance revivalist, 64
• 6 August – John Roberts (Pencerdd Gwynedd), organist and composer, 76^[13]
• 26 November – Rose Hersee, operatic soprano, 78^[14]

See also

• 1924 in the United Kingdom
• List of British films of 1924

Notes and References

1. http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/32935/pages/3841 The London Gazette
2. Peter Doyle, Westminster Cathedral 1895–1995, London, 1995, p.53
3. Web site: The London Labour Choral Union,1924–1940: A Musical Institution of the Left.. Maria Kiladi. Royal Holloway University of London. 16 April 2018.
4. Feedback. Autumn 2007. BBC Radio 4. 2007-10-05.
5. [Michael Kennedy (music critic)|Michael Kennedy]
6. Book: Clive Barker. Simon Trussler. New Theatre Quarterly 37: Volume 10. 26 May 1994. Cambridge University Press. 978-0-521-46656-1. 33.
7. Web site: Chronology of London Shows. The Guide to Musical Theatre. 16 August 2017.
8. Book: Sabine Baring-Gould. Curious Myths of the Middle Ages. 1978. Oxford University Press. 978-0-19-520078-2.
9. http://www.brompton.org/Residents.htm Brompton Cemetery website
10. Book: Maggie Humphreys. Robert Evans. Dictionary of Composers for the Church in Great Britain and Ireland. 1 January 1997. A&C Black. 978-0-7201-2330-2. 42.
11. Book: Stanley Sadie. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. 1980. Macmillan Publishers. 978-0-333-23111-1. 241.
12. Book: Provincial Music Festival in England, 1784–1914. 2013. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. 9781409494614. Dr Pippa Drummond.
13. Web site: Roberts, John Henry (Pencerdd Gwynedd; 1848-1924), musician. Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Robert David Griffith. 6 January 2019.
14. Rosenthal, Harold. "Hersee, Rose", Grove Music Online http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/12901?q=Hersee&source=omo_epm&source=omo_t237&source=omo_gmo&source=omo_t114&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#firsthit accessed 25 May 2009