1942 in British music

none 1942 1942 British music This is a summary of 1942 in music in the United Kingdom. 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.Mitchell, Donald (ed) (1991). Letters From A Life: Selected Letters of Benjamin Britten, Vol. 2 1939–45. London: Faber and Faber. 0-571-160581. pp. 1017, 1019 16 March – Britten sails back to England with Peter Pears on board MS Axel Johnson.Mitchell (1991): p. 630 20 March – Vera Lynn records The White Cliffs of Dover with Mantovani at Decca Records's West Hampstead studio.MacKenzie Colin Mantovani: A Lifetime in Music Melrose Press 2005 87 https://books.google.com/books?id=X0unFqqjhMAC&q=%22Vera+Lynn%22+recording+Mantovani&pg=PA87 9781905226191 29 June – Shostakovich’s Leningrad Symphony No. 7, the score of which has been smuggled out of the Soviet Union on microfilm, receives its first performance in Western Europe at the Proms in London, as an act of defiance following Germany's invasion of Russia. 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.Foreman, Lewis. The John Ireland Companion. The Boydell Press, 2011: p. xxxiii 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.https://www.naxos.com/mainsite/blurbs_reviews.asp?item_code=8.555837&catNum=555837&filetype=About%20this%20Recording&language=English# About this recording Naxos 23 January 2019 Popular music Vera Lynn with Mantovani – The White Cliffs of Dover (Walter Kent) Classical music: new works Kenneth J. Alford – Eagle Squadron 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.http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/334212 BFI | Film & TV Database | The ROSE OF TRALEE (1942) BFI: Film & TV Database 15 June 2014 https://web.archive.org/web/20121019025839/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/334212 19 October 2012 dead We'll Smile Again, starring Bud Flanagan, Chesney Allen and Meinhart Maur.http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/57446 https://web.archive.org/web/20090116190018/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/57446 dead 16 January 2009 BFI | Film & TV Database | WE'LL SMILE AGAIN (1942) BFI: Film & TV Database 15 June 2014 Births 2 February – Graham Nash, English-born rock singer-songwriter and photographer 12 February – Lionel Grigson, English pianist, composer and educator (died 1994) 15 February – Glyn Johns, recording engineer 19 February – Phil Coulter, musician and music producer 24 February – Tim Staffell, singer and guitarist 28 February – Brian Jones, rock musician (The Rolling Stones) (died 1969)Jackson Laura Golden Stone: The Untold Life and Tragic Death of Brian Jones 1992 Smith Gryphon Limited 0-312-09820-0 https://archive.org/details/goldenstoneuntol00jack/page/3 3 9 March – John Cale, composer and musicianMitchell, Tim Sedition and Alchemy: A Biography of John Cale, 2003, p. 24 13 March – Meic Stevens, singer-songwriter 24 March – Arthur Brown, singer (Kingdom Come and The Crazy World of Arthur Brown) 19 April – David Fanshawe, composer (died 2010) 12 May – Ian Dury, singer-songwriter (died 2000) Richard Balls 2000 Sex & Drugs & Rock'N'Roll: The Life of Ian Dury 1st Omnibus Press London 14–16 0-7119-8644-4 18 June – Paul McCartney, singer, songwriter & composerSpitz Bob Bob Spitz The Beatles: The Biography https://archive.org/details/beatlesbiography00spit registration 2005 Little, Brown and Company 978-0-316-80352-6 75 17 July – Spencer Davis, musician 13 August – Sheila Armstrong, soprano 21 September – Jill Gomez, sopranoBlyth, A. Jill Gomez. In: The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. Macmillan, London and New York, 1997. 27 September – Alvin Stardust (born Bernard Jewry, also called Shane Fenton), pop singer (died 2014) 31 December – Andy Summers, rock musician (Police) Deaths 14 January – Harry Champion, music hall composer, 76Obituary, The Times, 15 January 1942, p. 46 10 February – Felix Powell, musician, 63Richard Anthony Baker British Music Hall: An Illustrated History https://books.google.com/books?id=mtKwBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA156 31 May 2014 Pen and Sword 978-1-4738-3718-8 156 17 May – Alfred Hollins, organist and composer, 76 12 June – Walter Leigh, composer, 36 (killed in action)CWGC entry 16 June – Haldane Stewart, organist, composer and choirmaster, 74 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, 78Deaths: The Times, 23 October 1942, p. 7, col. B 23 November – Peadar Kearney, Irish Republican and songwriter, writer of the lyrics to The Soldier's Song, 58Séamus de Burca The Soldier's Song: The Story of Peadar Ó Cearnaigh Dublin P. J. Bourke 1957 559798527 See also 1942 in British television 1942 in the United Kingdom List of British films of 1942 References 33em nb Category:British music by year Category:1940s in British music