1903 in British music

This is a summary of 1903 in music in the United Kingdom.

List of years in British music
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Events

• 12 February - Cyril Scott performs in his own Quartet for Piano and Strings at a Broadwood Concert in St James's Hall, London; the other three parts are played by Fritz Kreisler, Emil Kreuz and Ludwig Lebell.[1]
• June – Elgar's Dream of Gerontius is given its London premiere at Westminster Cathedral. Arthur Johnstone's favourable reviews of the work in The Guardian are generally credited with increasing its popularity.[2]
• date unknown
  • Edward Elgar buys Royal Sunbeam bicycles for himself and his wife; he names his bicycle "Mr Phoebus".[3]
  • Arthur Wood becomes musical director of Terry's Theatre in London and is the city's youngest musical director at 28.[4]
  • Alexander Mackenzie makes a tour of Canada, organised by Charles A.E. Harriss.[5]
  • Cecil Sharp begins collecting folk songs.[6]

Publications

• Henry Saxe Wyndham – Arthur Seymour Sullivan, 1842-1900[7]

Popular music

• "Little Yellow Bird", with words by William Hargreaves and music by Clarence Wainwright Murphy[8]
• "Spring, Sweet Spring", with words by Stanislaus Strange and music by Julian Edwards[9]

Classical music: new works

• Edward Elgar – The Apostles (oratorio)[10]
• Joseph Parry – "Dear Wife"[11]

Opera

• Edward German – A Princess of Kensington, with libretto by Basil Hood[12]

Musical theatre

• 9 May – The School Girl, with book by Henry Hamilton and Paul M. Potter, music by Leslie Stuart and Paul Rubens, and lyrics by Charles H. Taylor, opens at the Prince of Wales Theatre, where it runs for 333 performances.[13]
• 21 December – The Cherry Girl, with a book by Seymour Hicks, lyrics by Aubrey Hopwood and music by Ivan Caryll, opens at the Vaudeville Theatre; it runs until August 1904, when it goes on tour.[14]

Births

• 18 January – Gladys Hooper, née Nash, pianist (died 2016)[15]
• 22 January – Robin Milford, composer and educator (d. 1959)[16]
• 8 March – Avril Coleridge-Taylor, pianist, conductor and composer (died 1998)[17]
• 12 May – Lennox Berkeley, composer (d. 1989)[18]
• 26 June – Margaret More, composer (died 1966)[19]
• 2 September – Fred Pratt Green, Methodist minister and hymn writer (died 2000)
• 29 October – Vivian Ellis, composer and lyricist (died 1996)
• 31 October – Eric Ball, composer, arranger and conductor of brass band music (died 1989)[20]
• 17 December – Ray Noble, bandleader, composer and arranger (d. 1978)
• date unknown – Leo Maguire, singer, songwriter and radio broadcaster (died 1985)

Deaths

• 17 February – Joseph Parry, organist and composer, 61[21]
• June – Constance Bache, pianist, composer and music teacher, 57[22]
• 26 October – Herbert Oakeley, composer, 73[23]

See also

• 1903 in the United Kingdom

References

1. "Cyril Scott". Cyril Scott. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
2. Matthew Riley (5 July 2017). British Music and Modernism, 1895-1960. Taylor & Francis. p. 41. ISBN 978-1-351-57301-6.
3. Moore, Jerrold N. (1984). Edward Elgar: a Creative Life. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 323. ISBN 0-19-315447-1.
4. Philip L Scowcroft. "A Yorkshire Musician - Arthur Wood". MusicWebInternational. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
5. Barker, Duncan J. "Mackenzie, Sir Alexander Campbell", Grove Music Online (requires subscription), accessed 27 September 2009
6. Dinah Birch; Margaret Drabble (24 September 2009). The Oxford Companion to English Literature. OUP Oxford. p. 909. ISBN 978-0-19-280687-1.
7. "Arthur Seymour Sullivan, 1842-1900 / by Henry Saxe Wyndham". National Library of Australia catalogue. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
8. "Little yellow bird [music] / written & composed by C.W. Murphy & Wm. Hargreaves". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
9. Parker, Bernard S. World War I Sheet Music: 9,670 Patriotic Songs Published in the United States, 1914-1920, with More Than 600 Covers Illustrated. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2007. ISBN 9780786424931 OCLC 71790113
10. Stephen Kingsbury. "The Apostles, oratorio for soloists, choruses & orchestra, Op. 49". AllMusic. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
11. "The Late Dr. Joseph Parry". The Wilkes-Barre Record. 19 December 1903. p. 19 – via Newspapers.com.
12. "A Princess of Kensington". The Edward German Discography. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
13. "The School Girl a Hit". The New York Times, 10 May 1903, accessed 13 January 2019
14. The Stage, 17 Dec 1903, p. 13 – Original cast list.
15. "UK's oldest person, Gladys Hooper, dies aged 113". BBC News. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
16. Slominsky, Nicolas; Kuhn, Laura Diane, eds. (2001). "Milford, Robin (Humphrey)". Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians (Centennial ed.). New York: Schirmer Books. Retrieved 2018-02-28 – via Encyclopedia.com.
17. "Avril Coleridge-Taylor", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography; retrieved 26 Jan 2015
18. "Lennox Berkeley timeline". Lennox Berkeley Society. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
19. Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 5th Edition, E.B., 1954, page 887.
20. Dennis Taylor, Eric Ball: His Life and Music, 1903-1989, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2012, p.3
21. "Death of Dr. Joseph Parry". The Cambrian News and Merionethshire Standard. 20 February 1903. p. 6. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
22. Who Was Who 1897-1916 gives her date of death as 30 June; the Musical Times obituary gives 28 June
23. Field, Christopher D. S. "Oakeley, Sir Herbert Stanley (1830–1903)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/35273. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)