1953 in British music

1950s in music in the UK

* Number-one singles
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1953 in music By location

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Overview of the events of 1953 in British music

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This is a summary of 1953 in music in the United Kingdom, including the official charts from that year.

## Events

[edit]

* 14 January – Ralph Vaughan Williams's Sinfonia antartica is given its first performance in Manchester.[1]
* 3 February – Contralto Kathleen Ferrier, suffering from terminal cancer (unknown to the public), gives a critically acclaimed performance on the first night of a new English-language production of Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.[2]
* 6 February – During the second performance of Orfeo, Kathleen Ferrier's left femur gives way; she completes the performance before going to hospital for treatment.[3] This will be her last public performance.
* 1 April – First record by any UK act to reach number one in the UK Singles Chart, The Stargazers' recording of "Broken Wings".[4]
* 26 May – In the 1953 Coronation Honours, Herbert Howells receives a CBE and Benjamin Britten is appointed a Companion of Honour.[5]
* 2 June
* The Coronation of Elizabeth II, William McKie, who had been in charge of music at the royal wedding in 1947, is organist.[6] In addition to traditional music, such as Handel's "Zadok the Priest", Hubert Parry's "I was glad" and Samuel Sebastian Wesley's "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace", specially commissioned works performed at the ceremony include Ralph Vaughan Williams's "O Taste and See", William Walton's "Orb and Sceptre", Arthur Bliss's "Processional", Arnold Bax's "Coronation March", and the Canadian composer Healy Willan's anthem "O Lord our Governor".
* On the evening of the coronation, Sadler's Wells Ballet stages the first performance of Malcolm Arnold's official coronation ballet Homage to the Queen, with choreography by Frederick Ashton and Robert Irving conducting.[7]
* 9 June – Kathleen Ferrier writes to the secretary of the Royal Philharmonic Society, thanking them for the award of the gold medal; it is thought to be the last letter she ever signed in person.[8]
* 29 August – Michael Tippett's Fantasia Concertante on a Theme of Corelli is first performed in Edinburgh.[1]
* October – Sir Arthur Bliss replaces Sir Arnold Bax as Master of the Queen's Music.
* 19 September – Sir Hubert Parry's 1916 setting of William Blake's "Jerusalem" first appears as a permanent feature of the Last Night of the Proms (televised).[9]
* 19 October – Opening of the Covent Garden opera season, with a production of Wagner's Die Walküre.
* Allegri Quartet formed.

## Chart summary

[edit]

See List of UK top-ten singles in 1953

## Number Ones

[edit]

### Number-one singles

[edit]

Issue Date | Song | Artist

|
|

4 January | "Here in My Heart" | Al Martino
11 January | "You Belong to Me" | Jo Stafford
18 January | "Comes A-Long A-Love" | Kay Starr
25 January | "Outside of Heaven" | Eddie Fisher
1 February | "Don't Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes" | Perry Como and the Ramblers
8 February
15 February
22 February
1 March
8 March | "She Wears Red Feathers" | Guy Mitchell
15 March
22 March
29 March
5 April | "Broken Wings" | Stargazers
12 April | "(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?" | Lita Roza
19 April | "I Believe" | Frankie Laine
26 April
3 May
10 May
17 May
24 May
31 May
7 June
14 June
21 June | "I'm Walking Behind You" | Eddie Fisher
28 June | "I Believe" | Frankie Laine
5 July
12 July
19 July
26 July
2 August
9 August | "The Song from the Moulin Rouge" | Mantovani
16 August | "I Believe" | Frankie Laine
23 August
30 August
6 September | "Look at That Girl" | Guy Mitchell
13 September
20 September
27 September
4 October
11 October
18 October | "Hey Joe" | Frankie Laine
25 October
1 November | "Answer Me" | David Whitfield
8 November | Frankie Laine
15 November
22 November
29 November
6 December
13 December
20 December
27 December

## Classical music

[edit]

* Malcolm Arnold – Symphony No. 2
* Michael Tippett Variations on an Elizabethan Theme

## Opera

[edit]

* Benjamin Britten – Gloriana

## Film and Incidental music

[edit]

* Stanley Black – Escape by Night, starring Sid James.
* Alan Rawsthorne – The Cruel Sea, starring Jack Hawkins, Donald Sinden and Denholm Elliott.

## Musical films

[edit]

* The Beggar's Opera, directed by Peter Brook and starring Laurence Olivier, Dorothy Tutin, and Stanley Holloway.
* The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan, directed by Sidney Gilliat and starring Robert Morley, Maurice Evans and Owen Brannigan

## Births

[edit]

* 28 January – Chris Carter, English DJ and producer
* 22 February – Graham Lewis, bass player
* 3 March – Robyn Hitchcock, singer-songwriter
* 9 April – John Howard, singer-songwriter
* 15 May – Mike Oldfield, composer
* 8 June – Bonnie Tyler, singer
* 19 June – Simon Wright, English drummer (AC/DC, Dio, and UFO)
* 13 July – Malcolm Singer, composer and educationalist
* 22 July
* Nigel Hess, composer
* Brian Howe, singer-songwriter (Bad Company)
* 27 July – Eibhlis Farrell, composer
* 2 August – Donnie Munro, Scottish singer and guitarist (Runrig)
* 3 August – Ian Bairnson, multi-instrumentalist (Alan Parsons Project)
* 10 August – Gillian Elisa, actress, singer, and comedian
* 23 August – Bobby G, singer (Bucks Fizz)
* 10 October \- Midge Ure, singer-songwriter and record producer
* 16 October – Brinsley Forde, singer (Aswad)
* 21 October – Eric Faulkner, guitarist, songwriter, and singer (Bay City Rollers)
* 12 November – Calum Macdonald, percussionist with Runrig

## Deaths

[edit]

* 18 January – Arthur Wood, conductor and composer, 78
* 30 April – Lily Brayton, musical theatre star, 76[10]
* 15 May – Mabel Love, dancer, 78[10]
* 19 May – Frank Mullings, operatic tenor, 72[11]
* 21 September – Roger Quilter, composer, 75[12]
* 3 October – Sir Arnold Bax, composer, Master of the King's (and later Queen's) Musick, 69[13]
* 8 October – Kathleen Ferrier, contralto, 41 (cancer)[14]
* 26 November – Sir Ivor Atkins, organist and choirmaster, 83[15]
* 11 December – Albert Coates, conductor and composer, 71[16]
* date unknown – John Reynders, film score composer

## See also

[edit]

* 1953 in British television
* 1953 in the United Kingdom
* List of British films of 1953

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Kendall, Alan. The Chronicle of Classical Music. Thames & Hudson, 2000: p. 240
2. ^ Barbirolli, John (1954). "Kathleen ... The Last Years". In Cardus, Neville (ed). Kathleen Ferrier: A Memoir. London: Hamish Hamilton. p 107.
3. ^ "Miss Kathleen Ferrier Suffering From Strain". The Guardian. Manchester. 10 February 1953. p. 5.
4. ^ Rice, Jo (1982). The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits (1st ed.). Enfield: Guinness Superlatives. p. 8\. ISBN 0-85112-250-7.
5. ^ "No. 39863". The London Gazette (Supplement). 26 May 1953. p. 2939.
6. ^ Wilkinson, James (2011). The Queen's Coronation: The Inside Story. Scala Publishers Ltd. p. 24\. ISBN 978-1-85759-735-6.
7. ^ "Sir Malcolm Arnold CBE 1921-2006: official website".
8. ^ Ferrier, Winifred (1955). The Life of Kathleen Ferrier. London: Hamish Hamilton. OCLC 612023977. p. 179.
9. ^ 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.
10. ^ a b Frances Stephens (1953). Theatre World Annual (London): A Pictorial Review of West End Productions with a Record of Plays and Players. Macmillan. p. 18.
11. ^ John Parker (1916). Who's who in the Theatre. Pitman. p. 1604.
12. ^ Maggie Humphreys; Robert Evans (1 January 1997). Dictionary of Composers for the Church in Great Britain and Ireland. A&C Black. p. 276\. ISBN 978-0-7201-2330-2.
13. ^ Paolo Petrocelli (14 December 2009). The Resonance of a Small Voice: William Walton and the Violin Concerto in England between 1900 and 1940. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 57\. ISBN 978-1-4438-1831-5.
14. ^ "Biography of Kathleen Ferrier". Kathleen Ferrier Society. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
15. ^ "Death of organist Sir Ivor Atkins". Worcester News. 28 November 2003. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
16. ^ Jürgen Schaarwächter (27 February 2015). Two Centuries of British Symphonism: From the beginnings to 1945. A preliminary survey. Volume 1. Georg Olms Verlag. p. 553\. ISBN 978-3-487-15227-1.

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