1954 in British music
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| 1950s in music in the UK |
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Overview of the events of 1954 in British music
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List of years in British music
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This is a summary of 1954 in music of all genres in the United Kingdom.
Events
[edit ]- 14 January – The Boy Friend , opens in the West End, with understudy Anne Rogers in the lead role after Diana Maddox falls ill at the dress rehearsal.[1]
- 5 August – Salad Days opens in the West End after a short run in Bristol.[2] It becomes the longest-running musical in British theatre history until overtaken by Oliver! in 1960.
- 14 September – Benjamin Britten conducts the premiere of his opera The Turn of the Screw at Teatro La Fenice, Venice.[3]
- 18 September – The Last Night of the Proms for the first time features the subsequently almost-invariable second-half coupling of Sir Henry Wood's 1905 Fantasia on British Sea Songs , Sir Edward Elgar's 1902 setting of "Land of Hope and Glory", Sir Hubert Parry's 1916 setting of William Blake's "Jerusalem", and "Rule, Britannia!".[4]
- 1 October – The UK Singles Chart is expanded into a Top 20.
- 3 December – William Walton's opera Troilus and Cressida opens at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. It is not a success.[3]
Charts
[edit ]Classical music: new works
[edit ]- Gerald Finzi – Cello Concerto in A minor
- Alun Hoddinott – Clarinet Concerto
- Daniel Jones – Symphony No. 4
- Ralph Vaughan Williams – Tuba Concerto in F minor
Opera
[edit ]- Benjamin Britten – The Turn of the Screw [5]
- Arwel Hughes – Menna
- John Joubert – Antigone (for radio)[6]
- William Walton – Troilus and Cressida
Film and Incidental music
[edit ]- Malcolm Arnold [7]
- The Belles of St Trinian's , starring Alistair Sim.
- Hobson's Choice directed by David Lean, starring Charles Laughton, Brenda De Banzie, John Mills and Prunella Scales.
- The Sea Shall Not Have Them , starring Michael Redgrave, Dirk Bogarde and Anthony Steel.
- Francis Chagrin – An Inspector Calls directed by Guy Hamilton, starring Alastair Sim.
- Eric Coates – The Dam Busters March [8]
- Mátyás Seiber – Animal Farm
Musical theatre
[edit ]- Salad Days , with music by Julian Slade and lyrics by Dorothy Reynolds and Julian Slade
- Zuleika , with music by Peter Tranchell and lyrics by James Ferman [9]
Musical films
[edit ]- Lilacs in the Spring , starring Anna Neagle
Births
[edit ]- 23 January – Edward Ka-Spel, singer-songwriter
- 8 March – Cheryl Baker, singer (Bucks Fizz)
- 15 March – Isobel Buchanan, operatic soprano
- 30 April – Christopher Wright, composer (died 2024)
- 8 May
- John Michael Talbot, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Mason Proffit)
- Gary Wilmot, entertainer
- 11 May – Judith Weir, composer
- 10 July – Neil Tennant, singer-songwriter and record producer (Pet Shop Boys)
- 11 August – Joe Jackson, singer, songwriter and composer
- 25 August – Elvis Costello, singer-songwriter
- 3 November – Adam Ant, singer
- 4 November – Chris Difford, singer, songwriter and record producer (Squeeze)
- 18 November – John Parr, singer
- 7 December – Mike Nolan, singer (Bucks Fizz)
- 10 December – Jack Hues, singer-songwriter and guitarist (Wang Chung)
- 25 December – Annie Lennox, singer
- date unknown – Timothy Bowers, composer
Deaths
[edit ]- 18 January – Herbert Heyner, operatic baritone, 71
- 3 March – Noel Gay, songwriter, 55
- 4 April – Frederick Lonsdale, dramatist of musicals, 73
- 24 July – Anne Gilchrist, folk song collector, 90
- 9 August – Frederick Keel, baritone singer and composer, 83
- 14 December – Philip Ritte, operatic tenor, 83
- 29 November – Sir George Robey, music hall star, 85
- date unknown – George Alex Stevens, songwriter and musical show director
See also
[edit ]References
[edit ]- ^ Theatre World. Iliffe Specialist Publications, Limited. 1954. p. 37.
- ^ Adrian Wright (2010). A Tanner's Worth of Tune: Rediscovering the Post-war British Musical. Boydell & Brewer. p. 95. ISBN 978-1-84383-542-4.
- ^ a b Kendall, Alan (2000). The Chronicle of Classical Music. London: Thames & Hudson. p. 240.
- ^ Cannadine, David (2008). "The 'Last Night of the Proms' in historical perspective". Historical Research . 31 (212): 315–349. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2281.2008.00466.x.
- ^ Patricia Howard; Richard Wagner (19 September 1985). Benjamin Britten: The Turn of the Screw. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-28356-4.
- ^ "John Joubert". MusicWeb International. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
- ^ Stewart R. Craggs; Stewart R. Craggs, Professor (1998). Malcolm Arnold: A Bio-bibliography. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 190–191. ISBN 978-0-313-29254-5.
- ^ John Ramsden (2003). The Dam Busters: A British Film Guide. I.B.Tauris. p. 126. ISBN 978-1-86064-636-2.
- ^ "Zuleika Dobson as a Musical", The Times, 15 February 1957, p. 3