This is a summary of 1918 in music in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Events

13 February Events Pre-1600 * 962 – Emperor Otto I and Pope John XII co-sign the ''Diploma Ottonianum'', recognizing John as ruler of Rome. *1258 – Siege of Baghdad: Hulegu Khan, a prince of the Mongol Empire, orders his army to sack and plun ...

– Cellist

May Mukle May Henrietta Mukle FRAM (14 May 1880 – 20 February 1963) was a British cellist and composer. She has been described as a "noted feminist cellist", who encouraged other women cellists. Early life Mukle was born in London, the daughter of L ...

and violist Rebecca Clarke give a recital at the Aeolian Hall, New York City, accompanied by

Marjorie Hayward Marjorie Olive Hayward (14 August 188510 January 1953) was an English violinist and violin teacher, prominent during the first few decades of the 20th century. Biography Marjorie Hayward was born in Greenwich in 1885. An "infant prodigy", he ...

, performing works by

Hubert Parry Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, 1st Baronet (27 February 1848 – 7 October 1918), was an English composer, teacher and historian of music. Born in Richmond Hill, Bournemouth, Parry's first major works appeared in 1880. As a composer he is ...

Frank Bridge Frank Bridge (26 February 187910 January 1941) was an English composer, violist and conductor. Life Bridge was born in Brighton, the ninth child of William Henry Bridge (1845–1928), a violin teacher and variety theatre conductor, formerly a ...

, and Clarke herself, including the premiėre of her ''

Morpheus Morpheus ('Fashioner', derived from the meaning 'form, shape') is a god associated with sleep and dreams. In Ovid's ''Metamorphoses'' he is the son of Somnus (Sleep, the Roman counterpart of Hypnos) and appears in dreams in human form. From the ...

'', written under the pen-name "Anthony Trent". * August – Anglo-Welsh composer Philip Heseltine concludes a year's stay in Ireland with the writing of a number of songs which will be published under the pseudonym

Peter Warlock Philip Arnold Heseltine (30 October 189417 December 1930), known by the pseudonym Peter Warlock, was a British composer and music critic. The Warlock name, which reflects Heseltine's interest in occult practices, was used for all his published ...

. *

29 September Events Pre-1600 *61 BC – Pompey the Great celebrates his third triumph for victories over the pirates and the end of the Mithridatic Wars on his 45th birthday. *1011 – Danes capture Canterbury after a siege, taking Ælfheah, a ...

– The première of

Gustav Holst Gustav Theodore Holst (born Gustavus Theodore von Holst; 21 September 1874 – 25 May 1934) was an English composer, arranger and teacher. Best known for his orchestral suite ''The Planets'', he composed many other works across a range ...

's orchestral suite ''

The Planets ''The Planets'', Op. 32, is a seven- movement orchestral suite by the English composer Gustav Holst, written between 1914 and 1917. In the last movement the orchestra is joined by a wordless female chorus. Each movement of the suite is name ...

'' takes place before an invited audience at the

Queen's Hall The Queen's Hall was a concert hall in Langham Place, London, Langham Place, London, opened in 1893. Designed by the architect Thomas Knightley, it had room for an audience of about 2,500 people. It became London's principal concert venue. Fro ...

, London, with orchestra conducted by

Adrian Boult Sir Adrian Cedric Boult, CH (; 8 April 1889 – 22 February 1983) was a British conductor. Brought up in a prosperous mercantile family, he followed musical studies in England and at Leipzig, Germany, with early conducting work in London ...

. *December –

Ralph Vaughan Williams Ralph Vaughan Williams ( ; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...

is appointed Director of Music, First Army.

Popular music

Ivan Caryll Félix Marie Henri Tilkin (12 May 1861 – 29 November 1921), better known by his pen name Ivan Caryll, was a Belgian-born composer of operettas and Edwardian musical comedies in the English language, who made his career in London and later N ...

– " Some Day Waiting Will End" *

Harry Castling Henry Castling (19 April 1865 – 26 December 1933) was an English lyricist of music hall songs. Biography Castling was born in Newington, London, the son of a street musician. He began writing songs in the 1890s, often collaborating on both ...

and Fred W. Leigh – "Where's Old Bill?"

Classical music: new works

* Kenneth J. Alford – ''The Vanished Army'', march *

Arnold Bax Sir Arnold Edward Trevor Bax (8 November 1883 – 3 October 1953) was an English composer, poet, and author. His prolific output includes songs, choral music, chamber pieces, and solo piano works, but he is best known for his orchestral music ...

** String Quartet No. 1 in G major, GP. 199 ** ''Symphonic Variations'', GP. 210 *

Frederick Delius file:Fritz Delius (1907).jpg, Delius, photographed in 1907 Frederick Theodore Albert Delius (born Fritz Theodor Albert Delius; ; 29 January 1862 – 10 June 1934) was an English composer. Born in Bradford in the north of England to a prospero ...

– ''A Song Before Sunrise'' *

Edward Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...

– '' Violin Sonata in E minor''

Musical theatre

1 June Events Pre-1600 *1252 – Alfonso X is proclaimed king of Castile and León. *1298 – Residents of Riga and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeat the Livonian Order in the Battle of Turaida. * 1495 – A monk, John Cor, records the ...

– ''

Tails Up! ''Tails Up!'' was a 1918 London revue presented by André Charlot starring Jack Buchanan. The premiere took place at the Comedy Theatre, London on 1 June 1918 with Philip Braham conducting the band, and the show ran for 467 performances. Songs ...

'', a revue starring

Jack Buchanan Walter John Buchanan (2 April 1890 – 20 October 1957) was a Scottish theatre and film actor, singer, dancer, producer and director. He was known for three decades as the embodiment of the debonair man-about-town in the tradition of George Gr ...

, opens at Comedy Theatre, London, where it will run for 467 performances. *

5 August Events Pre-1600 *AD 25 – Guangwu claims the throne as Emperor of China, restoring the Han dynasty after the collapse of the short-lived Xin dynasty. * 70 – Fires resulting from the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem are ...

– ''

Roses of Picardy "Roses of Picardy" is a popular British song with lyrics by Frederic Weatherly and music by Haydn Wood. Published in London in 1916 by Chappell & Co, it is one of the most famous songs of the First World War and has been recorded frequently ...

'', by Evelyn Thomas, opens at the Hippodrome, Cannock, before moving to the West End the following year.

Births

20 March Events Pre-1600 *1206 – Michael IV Autoreianos is appointed Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. *1600 – The Linköping Bloodbath takes place on Maundy Thursday in Linköping, Sweden: five Swedish noblemen are publicly behead ...

–

Marian McPartland Margaret Marian McPartland Order of the British Empire, OBE ( Turner;Hasson, Claire, . PhD Thesis. Retrieved 12 August 2008. 20 March 1918 – 20 August 2013), was an English and American jazz pianist, composer, and writer. She was the host of ...

, jazz pianist (died 2013) *

16 April Events Pre-1600 * 1457 BC – Battle of Megido – the first battle to have been recorded in what is accepted as relatively reliable detail. * 69 – Defeated by Vitellius' troops at Bedriacum, Roman emperor Otho commits suicide. * 7 ...

–

Spike Milligan Terence Alan "Spike" Milligan (16 April 1918 – 27 February 2002) was an Irish comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright and actor. The son of an English mother and Irish father, he was born in British Raj, British India, where he spent his ...

, comedian, writer, musician, poet and playwright (died 2002) *

5 June Events Pre-1600 *830 – Theodora is crowned Byzantine empress and marries then emperor Theophilos in the Hagia Sophia. She is credited with restoring orthodoxy and the icons. * 1086 – Tutush, brother of Seljuk sultan Malik Shah, ...

– Robert Docker, composer (died 1992) *

19 August Events Pre-1600 * 295 BC – The first temple to Venus, the Roman goddess of love, beauty and fertility, is dedicated by Quintus Fabius Maximus Gurges during the Third Samnite War. *43 BC – Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, later know ...

– Dilys Elwyn Edwards, composer (died 2012) *

22 September Events Pre-1600 * 904 – The warlord Zhu Quanzhong kills Emperor Zhaozong of Tang, Emperor Zhaozong, the penultimate emperor of the Tang dynasty, after seizing control of the imperial government. *1236 – The Samogitians defeat the L ...

–

A. J. Potter Archibald James Potter (22 September 1918 – 5 July 1980) was an Irish composer and teacher, who wrote hundreds of works including operas, a mass, and four ballets, as well as orchestral and chamber music. Early years Potter was born in Belfas ...

, composer (died 1980) *

2 December Events Pre-1600 * 1244 – Pope Innocent IV arrives at Lyon for the First Council of Lyon. *1409 – The University of Leipzig opens. 1601–1900 *1697 – St Paul's Cathedral, rebuilt to the design of Sir Christopher Wren follow ...

–

Wilfred Heaton __NOTOC__ Wilfred Heaton (2 December 1918 – 20 May 2000) was an English composer, conductor and teacher, best known for his brass band music and for his long association with the Salvation Army. Early career Born in Sheffield into a Salvation Ar ...

, composer (died 2000)

Deaths

15 January Events Pre-1600 * 69 – Otho seizes power in Rome, proclaiming himself Emperor of Rome, beginning a reign of only three months. *1541 – King Francis I of France gives Jean-François Roberval a commission to settle the province of ...

–

Mark Sheridan Mark Sheridan (11 September 1864 – 15 January 1918), born Frederick Shaw, was an English music hall comedian and singer. He became a popular performer of lusty seaside songs and originated the J. Glover-Kind classic, "I Do Like to Be Beside t ...

, music hall performer, 53 (probable suicide by shooting) *

13 April Events Pre-1600 *1111 – Henry V, King of Germany, is crowned Holy Roman Emperor. *1204 – Constantinople falls to the Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade, temporarily ending the Byzantine Empire. * 1455 – Thirteen Years' War: th ...

– David Ffrangcon Davies, baritone, 62 * 26 August –

Cecil Coles Cecil Frederick Coles (7 October 1888 – 26 April 1918) was a Scottish composer who was killed on active service in World War I. Life and career Coles was born in Tongland, near Kirkcudbright, to Frederick Coles and Margaret Coles (née Bla ...

, composer, 29 (killed in action) *

7 September Events Pre-1600 * 878 – Louis the Stammerer is crowned as king of West Francia by Pope John VIII. * 1159 – Cardinal Rolando Bandinelli is elected Pope Alexander III, prompting the election of Cardinal Octaviano Monticelli as Antip ...

–

Morfydd Llwyn Owen Morfydd Llwyn Owen (1 October 1891 – 7 September 1918) was a Wales, Welsh composer, pianist and mezzo-soprano. A prolific composer, as well as a member of influential intellectual circles, she died shortly before her 27th birthday. Early ...

, singer, pianist and composer, 26 (complications from surgery for appendicitis) *

7 October Events Pre-1600 *3761 BC – The epoch reference date (start) of the modern Hebrew calendar. * 1403 – Venetian–Genoese wars: The Genoese fleet under a French admiral is defeated by a Venetian fleet at the Battle of Modon. * 1477 ...

–

, composer, 70Dibble, Jeremy
"Parry, Sir (Charles) Hubert Hastings, baronet (1848–1918)"
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 18 April 2013

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1918 In British Music British Music, 1918 in

Music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

British music by year 1910s in British music