1955 in British music explained

This is a summary of 1955 in music of all genres in the United Kingdom.

Events

• 2 January – Michael Tippett's 50th birthday is celebrated in a concert held at Morley College, in which Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears perform.^[1]
• 27 January – Premiere of Michael Tippett's opera The Midsummer Marriage at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in London, conducted by John Pritchard, with designs by Barbara Hepworth and choreography by John Cranko;^[2] it arouses controversy.^[3]
• May – The Ivor Novello Awards are launched.
• 4 May – The bass-baritone Peter Dawson records Albert Arlen's song Clancy of the Overflow (to Banjo Paterson's poem) with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Charles Mackerras.^[4] It is 73-year-old Dawson's last recording.
• 11 May – Arthur Bliss's Violin Concerto receives its first performance in London.^[5]
• 8 June – Pearl Carr & Teddy Johnson marry.
• July – Steuart Wilson, a retired singer and musical administrator, launches an outspoken campaign against "homosexuality in British music", saying: "The influence of perverts in the world of music has grown beyond all measure. If it is not curbed soon, Covent Garden and other precious musical heritages could suffer irreparable harm."^[6]
• 29 November – Juan José Castro conducts the UK premiere of Carlos Chávez's Third Symphony at the Maida Vale Studios with the London Symphony Orchestra.
• Late November – Lonnie Donegan's 1954 skiffle recording of Rock Island Line is released: it becomes a major hit in 1956.
• December – The Temperance Seven is founded as a jazz band, initially comprising three members from the Chelsea School of Art in London.
• 8 December – Sir Thomas Beecham is presented with the Order of the White Rose of Finland.^[7]
• 13 December – Sir Arthur Bliss's orchestral Meditations on a Theme by John Blow is premiered in Birmingham Town Hall.^[8]

Charts

• See UK No.1 Hits of 1955

Classical music: new works

• Malcolm Arnold – Tam O'Shanter Overture
• Arthur Bliss – Violin Concerto
• Eric Coates – Dambusters March^[9]
• Peter Maxwell Davies – Trumpet Sonata
• Gerald Finzi – Cello Concerto
• Michael Tippett – Sonata for Four Horns
• Ernst Toch – Symphony No. 3
• Ralph Vaughan Williams – Symphony No. 8
• William Walton – Johannesburg Festival Overture

Opera

• William Alwyn – Farewell Companions (for radio)
• Thea Musgrave – The Abbot of Drimock
• Michael Tippett – The Midsummer Marriage

Film and Incidental music

• John Addison – The Cockleshell Heroes, starring Trevor Howard
• Malcolm Arnold – The Deep Blue Sea, starring Vivien Leigh and Kenneth More
• Francis Chagrin – The Colditz Story directed by Guy Hamilton, starring John Mills and Eric Portman
• Eric Coates – The Dam Busters, starring Michael Redgrave
• Benjamin Frankel – The End of the Affair, starring Deborah Kerr, Van Johnson, Peter Cushing and John Mills
• William Walton – Richard III directed by and starring Laurence Olivier

Musical theatre

• 19 December – Cranks, a revue by John Cranko with music by John Addison, opens at the New Watergate Theatre, London.^[10]
• Wild Thyme, with music by Donald Swann and lyrics by Philip Guard, starring Betty Paul and Denis Quilley

Musical films

• King's Rhapsody, starring Anna Neagle
• Oh... Rosalinda!!, starring Anton Walbrook

Births

• 3 January – Helen O'Hara, vocalist
• 4 January – Mark Hollis, singer-songwriter
  • • 19 January Tony Mansfield, singer-songwriter and producer (New Musik)
  • Sir Simon Rattle, conductor
• 25 January – Terry Chimes, drummer (The Clash)
• 23 February – Howard Jones, singer-songwriter^[11]
• 27 February – Peter Christopherson, musician, songwriter, and director (died 2010)^[12]
• 19 March – Paul Edwards, composer of choral music
• 5 April – Janice Long, radio disc jockey (died 2021)
• 9 April – Bob Chilcott, choral composer, conductor, and singer
• 10 April – Lesley Garrett, operatic soprano
• 17 April – Pete Shelley, guitarist and vocalist (Buzzcocks)
• 16 May – Hazel O'Connor, singer
• 22 May – Jerry Dammers, ska musician and songwriter
• 30 May – Topper Headon (The Clash)
• 26 June – Mick Jones, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Clash, Big Audio Dynamite, General Public, Carbon/Silicon, and London SS)
• 18 July – Terry Chambers, English drummer (XTC and Dragon)
• 20 July – Jem Finer, English banjo player and songwriter (The Pogues)
• 30 July – Christopher Warren-Green, violinist and conductor
• 30 August – Andy Pask, English bass player and composer
• 1 September – Bruce Foxton, guitarist (The Jam)
• 3 September – Steve Jones, guitarist (Sex Pistols)
• 14 September – William Jackson, harpist and composer
• 30 September – Frankie Kennedy, folk musician (died 1994)
• 2 October – Philip Oakey, singer-songwriter
• 12 November – Les McKeown, singer (Bay City Rollers) (died 2021)
• 17 November – Peter Cox, English singer-songwriter (Go West)
• 30 November – Billy Idol, singer
• 6 December – Edward Tudor-Pole, singer and TV presenter
• 15 December – Paul Simonon, bassist (The Clash)
• 31 December – Tom Morton, musician, broadcaster and writer

Deaths

• 10 January – Annette Mills, partner of "Muffin the Mule", 60
• 9 March – Louie René, singer and actress, 83
• 12 April – W. H. Anderson, composer, 72
• 4 July – Ruth Vincent, operatic soprano, 78
• 13 August – Florence Easton, soprano, 72
• 14 October – Harry Parr-Davies, composer and songwriter, 41 (perforated ulcer)^[13]
• 30 October – Harry Dean, British-born Canadian conductor, pianist, organist and music educator, 76
• 14 November – Carl Denton, Yorkshire-born American conductor, 80
• 21 December – Gladys Ripley, operatic contralto, 47

See also

• 1955 in British television
• 1955 in the United Kingdom
• List of British films of 1955

Sources

• Book: Britten . Benjamin . 2004 . Letters from a Life: Selected Letters of Benjamin Britten, Vol 3, 1946–1951 . London . Cooke . Mervyn . Mitchell . Donald . Faber and Faber . 978-0571299300 . Reed . Phillip.
• Book: Britten . Benjamin . 2008 . Letters from a Life: Selected Letters of Benjamin Britten, Vol 4, 1952–1957 . The Boydell Press . Woodbridge . Cooke . Mervyn . Mitchell . Donald . 9781843833826 . Reed . Phillip.

Notes and References

1. Reed (2008): p. 304.
2. Reed (2008): p. 287.
3. Book: Gloag, Kenneth. Gloag, Kenneth . Jones, Nicholas . The Cambridge Companion to Michael Tippett. Tippett's operatic world: from The Midsummer Marriage to New Year. 230–31. Cambridge University Press. 2013. 978-1-107-60613-5.
4. http://members.optusnet.com.au/johnhrogers/c.htm optus net
5. Book: Kendall, Alan. The Chronicle of Classical Music. London. Thames & Hudson. 2000. 240.
6. The People, 24 July 1955, cited in Mitchell (2004), p. 7.
7. Lucas, John (2008). Thomas Beecham: An Obsession with Music. Woodbridge: Boydell Press. . p. 330.
8. Web site: Burn. Andrew. Bliss, Sir Arthur Edward Drummond (1891–1975). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. 2004. Online. 10.1093/ref:odnb/30827. 2015-01-06.
9. Web site: Eric Coates. Boosey & Hawkes.
10. Web site: Cranks. The Guide to Musical Theatre. 2014. 2014-06-26.
11. Web site: Biography by Stephen Thomas Erlewine . . 14 May 2009.
12. News: Peter Christopherson obituary. 15 December 2013. The Guardian. 28 November 2010. Alexis. Petridis.
13. Web site: Rex. Walford. Davies, Harry Parr (1914–1955). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. 2004. Online. 2011-08-21. 10.1093/ref:odnb/75739.