1927 in British music

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]
• 20 January – On his way to the HMV studios at Hayes, Middlesex, bandleader Jack Hylton is involved in a serious road accident.^[3]
• 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.^[4]
  • 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".^[5]
• 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^[6]
• Gerald Finzi – Violin Concerto
• Victor Hely-Hutchinson – Carol Symphony
• John Ireland – Sonatina^[7]
• Albert Ketèlbey - By the Blue Hawaiian Waters^[8]
• Constant Lambert – The Rio Grande^[9]

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 (died 2015) ^[10]

• 19 July – John Hopkins, orchestral conductor who worked in the UK, New Zealand and Australia (died 2013)
• 11 August – Raymond Leppard, conductor
• 25 September – Sir Colin Davis, orchestral conductor (died 2013)
• 9 November – Ken Dodd, comedian and singer (died 2018)
• 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^[11]
• 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

See also

• 1927 in British television
• 1927 in the United Kingdom
• List of British films of 1927

References