1927 in British music

1920s in music in the UK
Best-selling singles
Best-selling albums
Summaries and charts 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924 1925, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1929
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This is a summary of 1927 in music in the United Kingdom.

Events

• January
  • Peter Warlock's string serenade is recorded for the National Gramophonic Society, by John Barbirolli and an improvised chamber orchestra; it is the first recording of the composer's work ever to be released.^[1]
  • Edward Clark transfers from BBC Newcastle to London as a programme planner, at the request of Percy Pitt.^[2]
• date unknown
  • Following the death of impresario Robert Newman in the previous year, publishers Chappell & Co. withdraw their financial support for The Proms, to be replaced by the BBC.
  • Rebecca Clarke forms the English Ensemble piano quartet with Marjorie Hayward, Kathleen Long and May Mukle.
  • Gustav Holst is commissioned by the New York Symphony Orchestra to write a symphony, but does not do so. Instead, he starts work on the tone poem Egdon Heath, which is premiered by the NYSO in the following year.^[3]
  • The first recordings of Frederick Delius's music are conducted by Thomas Beecham for the Columbia label: the "Walk to the Paradise Garden" interlude from A Village Romeo and Juliet, and On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring, performed by the orchestra of the Royal Philharmonic Society.

Popular music

• Herbert Farjeon - "I've danced with a man, who's danced with a girl, who's danced with the Prince of Wales".^[4]
• Will Fyffe - "I Belong to Glasgow"

Classical music: new works

• Arnold Bax - Northern Ballad No. 1
• Arthur Bliss - Oboe Quintet
• Havergal Brian - Symphony No. 1 Gothic
• Frank Bridge - Rhapsody: Enter Spring
• Edward Elgar - Civic Fanfare^[5]
• Gerald Finzi - Violin Concerto
• Victor Hely-Hutchinson - Carol Symphony
• John Ireland - Sonatina^[6]
• Constant Lambert - The Rio Grande^[7]<

Opera

• Geoffrey Toye - The Red Pen, with libretto by A. P. Herbert.

Musical theatre

• 1 December - The review Clowns in Clover opens at the Adelphi Theatre ; it funs for 508 performances.

Births

• 26 January - Ronnie Scott, jazz musician and club owner (died 1996)
• 7 February - Laurie Johnson, composer
• 10 February - Brian Priestman, conductor and music teacher (died 2014)
• 12 June - Al Fairweather, jazz musician (died 1993)
• 14 June - Elaine Hugh-Jones, pianist and composer
• 23 June - Kenneth McKellar, tenor (died 2010)
• 4 July – Patricia Kern, mezzo-soprano
• 19 July – John Hopkins, orchestral conductor who worked in the UK, New Zealand and Australia (died 2013)
• 25 September - Sir Colin Davis, orchestral conductor (died 2013)
• 9 November - Ken Dodd, comedian and singer
• 28 October - Cleo Laine, singer
• 7 December - Helen Watts, contralto (died 2009)
• 26 December - Denis Quilley, actor and singer (died 2003)

Deaths

• 26 February - Isabel Jay, singer and actress with the d'Oyly Carte Opera Company, 47^[8]
• 17 March - James Scott Skinner, violinist, 83
• 31 March - Edward Lloyd, concert and oratorio tenor, 82
• 16 May - Sam Bernard, entertainer, 63
• 2 November - Fred Billington, singer and actor with the d'Oyly Carte, 63
• 21 December - Courtice Pounds, singer and actor with the d'Oyly Carte, 65

date unknown - Haldane Burgess, writer and musician, 65

References

1. Smith, Barry (1994). Peter Warlock: The Life of Philip Heseltine. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-816310-X. p 244
2. Jennifer Doctor, 'Clark, (Thomas) Edward (1888–1962)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 31 Jan 2013
3. IMSLP IMSLP. Retrieved 3 March 2015
4. "Edna Deane, Dancer And Inspiration, 90". New York Times. November 26, 1995. Retrieved 27 November 2009.
5. Written for the mayoral procession at the opening of the Hereford Festival on 4 September 1927
6. Foreman, Lewis (20 October 2011). The John Ireland Companion. Suffolk, England: Boydell Press. p. 63. ISBN 978-1843836865. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
7. Oxford University Press
8. Cannon, John. "Old Favourites: Isabel Jay" in The Savoyard, the magazine of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Trust, Vol. XVII No.1, May 1978.