1915 in British music

This is a summary of 1915 in music in the United Kingdom.

List of years in British music
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Events

• March – The Musical Times publishes an appreciation of Frederick Delius by the composer Peter Warlock (Philip Heseltine).[1]
• December – Having been invalided out of the armed forces, composer Havergal Brian and his family move to Erdington, Warwickshire.
• date unknown
  • Composer Herbert Howells is given six months to live, and becomes the first person in the UK to receive radium treatment (he will live on until 1983).[2]
  • William Penfro Rowlands's hymn tune "Blaenwern" is first published in Henry H. Jones' Cân a Moliant.
  • The Band of the Welsh Guards is formed, simultaneously with the establishment of the regiment.[3]

Popular music

• Albert William Ketèlbey – "In a Monastery Garden"
• T. W. Conner – "A Little Bit of Cucumber"[4]
• George Henry Powell & Felix Powell – "Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit-Bag"

Classical music: new works

• Granville Bantock – Hebridean Symphony
• Frank Bridge – Lament[5]
• Dora Bright – A Dancer's Adventure (ballet)
• Frederick Delius – Double Concerto for violin, cello and orchestra
• Edward Elgar – Incidental music for The Starlight Express[6]
• Gustav Holst – Japanese Suite
• John Ireland – Preludes for Piano
• Percy Pitt
  • Sakura suite No. 2 (Suite de Ballet)
  • Ballet Egyptien
  • Suite pour petite orchestre

Opera

• Rutland Boughton – Bethlehem[7]

Musical theatre

• 24 April – Betty, with lyrics by Adrian Ross and music by Paul Rubens, opens at Daly's Theatre, starring Winifred Barnes.[8]
• 28 April – Tonight's the Night, with lyrics by Percy Greenbank and music by Paul Rubens, opens at Daly's Theatre, featuring George Grossmith and Leslie Henson.[8]

Births

• 25 January – Ewan MacColl, folk singer and songwriter (died 1989)
• 4 February – Norman Wisdom, comedian, singer and actor (died 2010)
• 10 March – Charles Groves, conductor (died 1992)
• 19 March – Nancy Evans, operatic mezzo-soprano (died 2000)[9]
• 25 March – Dorothy Squires, singer (died 1998)
• 29 March – George Chisholm, jazz trombonist and comedian (died 1997)
• 26 August – Humphrey Searle, composer (died 1982)
• 28 November – Pamela Harrison, pianist and composer (died 1990)

Deaths

• 15 January – Florence Everilda Goodeve, composer and lyricist, 53[10]
• 4 June – William Denis Browne, pianist, organist and composer, 26 (killed in action)[11]
• 6 June – William Hayman Cummings, tenor, organist and composer, 83[12]
• 10 December – David Jenkins, composer, 66

See also

• 1915 in the United Kingdom

References

1. Heseltine, Philip (March 1915). "Some Notes on Delius and His Music" (PDF). The Musical Times. 56: 137–42. doi:10.2307/909510. JSTOR 909510. (subscription required)
2. Spicer, Paul (1998). Herbert Howells. Bridgend: Seren. p. 44. ISBN 1-85411-233-3.
3. "Unofficial history of Welsh Guards band". Archived from the original on 14 May 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-27.
4. Peter Gammond (1971), Your Own, Your Very Own!: A Music Hall Scrapbook. London: Ian Allan
5. Kate Kennedy (29 January 2014). "World War One and Classical Music". British Library. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
6. McVeagh, Diana, "Elgar, Edward". Grove Music Online. Accessed 20 April 2010 (subscription required)
7. Liner notes to Hyperion Records, Russell Boughton, The Immortal Hour
8. "London Musicals 1915–1919" (PDF). Over The Footlights. Retrieved 8 September 2017.
9. Daily Telegraph, "Nancy Evans", 24 August 2000
   • Kennedy, Michael and Bourne, Joyce (eds.), "Evans, Nancy", The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music, Oxford University Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-19-920383-3
10. Sadie, Julie Anne; Samuel, Rhian (1994). The Norton/Grove dictionary of women composers (Digitized online by GoogleBooks). Retrieved 14 December 2010.
11. Davies, Rhian (2004). "Browne, William Charles Denis (1888–1915)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/56650. Retrieved 2007-11-09.
12. The Times, Monday, Jun 07, 1915; Issue 40874; pg. 12; col F — Death Of Dr. Cummings. Singer, Conductor, And Composer