1944 in British music explained

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

Notes and References

1. Stuart, Philip. Decca Classical 1929–2009, accessed 15 June 2014.
2. News: Technology Obituaries: Bernard Holden. The Daily Telegraph. London. 2012-10-04. 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. . p. 1196.
4. News: Jubilee Prom. 1944-07-28. The Yorkshire Post. Leeds. from the rural B.B.C. studio to which the concerts have been transferred..
5. Curtis, Liane. May 1996. A Case of Identity. Musical Times. 20.
6. Book: John C. Dressler. William Alwyn: A Research and Information Guide. March 2013. Routledge. 978-1-136-66003-0. 71.
7. Book: Kevin Sweeney. James Mason: A Bio-bibliography. 1999. Greenwood Publishing Group. 978-0-313-28496-0. 106.
8. Book: Jefferson Hunter. English Filming, English Writing. 5 April 2010. Indiana University Press. 978-0-253-00414-7. 215.
9. Book: Jan G. Swynnoe. The Best Years of British Film Music, 1936-1958. 2002. Boydell & Brewer. 978-0-85115-862-4. 232.
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
11. Book: Gerald Norris. A musical gazetteer of Great Britain & Ireland. June 1981. David & Charles. 978-0-7153-7845-8. 197.
12. Book: Colin Larkin. The Virgin Encyclopedia of the Blues. 1998. Virgin. 978-0-7535-0226-6. 206.
13. Book: Joseph Murrells. Million selling records from the 1900s to the 1980s: an illustrated directory. 31 December 1984. Batsford. 978-0-7134-3843-7. 164.
14. Book: Joseph Murrells. The Book of Golden Discs. registration. 1978. Barrie and Jenkins. 978-0-214-20480-7. 104.
15. Book: Vernon Fitch. The Pink Floyd Encyclopedia. 2005. Collector's Guide Publishing. 978-1-894959-24-7. 19.
16. 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. 333.
17. Book: Roderick L. Sharpe. Jeanne Koekkoek Stierman. Maestros in America: Conductors in the 21st Century. 30 May 2008. Scarecrow Press. 978-1-4616-6948-7. 52.
18. Book: Ben Marshall. The Who: 50 Years: The Official History. 27 October 2015. HarperCollins. 978-0-06-239638-9.
19. Book: Gerald Norris. A musical gazetteer of Great Britain & Ireland. June 1981. David & Charles. 978-0-7153-7845-8. 86.
20. News: Adam Sweeting. Tony McPheen. The Guardian. London. 10 June 2023.
21. Book: Colin Larkin. The Virgin Encyclopedia of Nineties Music. 2000. Virgin. 978-0-7535-0427-7. 289.
22. Book: Laura Williams Macy. The Grove Book of Opera Singers. 2008. Oxford University Press. 978-0-19-533765-5. 363.
23. Book: Roberts , David . 2006. British Hit Singles & Albums. 19th. Guinness World Records Limited . London. 1-904994-10-5. 92.
24. The Times obituary, 20 January 1944, p. 7
25. Book: John Parker. Who's who in the Theatre. 1916. Pitman. 1867.
26. Book: Ethel Smyth. Impressions That Remained - Memoirs of Ethel Smyth. 16 April 2013. Read Books Limited. 978-1-4465-4542-3. 10.
27. http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2438698/ROWNTREE,%20HENDERSON
28. http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2847708 CWGC entry
29. Book: Edward Greenfield. Robert Layton. The Penguin Guide to Yearbook 2000-2001: Best Buys in Classical Music. 2000. Penguin Books. 978-0-14-051382-0. 37.
30. Book: The Strad. 1984. Orpheus. 51.
31. Book: Stephen Lloyd. William Walton: Muse of Fire. 2001. Boydell & Brewer. 978-0-85115-803-7. 203.
32. Book: Wilson library bulletin. 1944. 155.