# 1930 in British music

This is a summary of 1930 in music in the United Kingdom.

## Events

* 8 February – Singer Sam Browne makes his first recording with Bert Ambrose's band on Decca.
* 5 April – 25-year-old Michael Tippett gives a concert at Oxted consisting entirely of his own works—a Concerto in D for flutes, oboe, horns and strings; settings for tenor of poems by Fry; Psalm in C for chorus and orchestra, again with a text by Fry; piano variations on the song "Jockey to the Fair"; and a string quartet.
* 7 June – The Daily Herald reports that Jack Hylton and his band sold nearly four million records in the previous year.
* 29 September – Roy Fox gives his first London performance.
* 22 October – The London-based BBC Symphony Orchestra gives its first concert in Queen's Hall, conducted by Adrian Boult.
* date unknown
** The Joe Loss Orchestra is established.
** Gerald Walcan Bright adopts the name "Geraldo" to further his career as a bandleader.
** Songwriter Fred Godfrey and Irish tenor Tom Finglass form a short-lived variety act.
** The Dagenham Girl Pipers are established, under the direction of Rev. Joseph Waddington Graves, the minister of Osborne Hall Congregational church.

## Popular music

* "By the Sleepy Lagoon", by Eric Coates
* "It isnae me", w. Sally Holmes, m. Edward Elgar
* "Someday I'll Find You", by Noël Coward
* "The White Dove" w. Clifford Grey m. Franz Lehár

## Classical music: new works

* Kenneth J. Alford – The Standard of St. George
* William Alwyn – Piano Concerto No. 1
* Arnold Bax – Winter Legends
* Arthur Bliss – Morning Heroes (oratorio)
* Edward Elgar – Pomp and Circumstance March No. 5 in C
* Gustav Holst – A Choral Fantasia
* John Ireland
** Legend for piano and orchestra
** Piano Concerto in E flat
* Peter Warlock – Carillon Carilla

## Film and Incidental music

* Ernest Irving – Birds of Prey

## Musical theatre

* 25 June – The Love Race opens at the Gaiety Theatre where it runs for 237 performances.
* 30 October – Nippy (music by Billy Mayerl; book and lyrics by Arthur Wimperis and Frank Eyton), starring Binnie Hale, opens at the Prince Edward Theatre and runs for 137 performances.

## Musical films

* Elstree Calling, starring Teddy Brown
* Harmony Heaven, starring Polly Ward
* Just for a Song, starring Lillian Hall-Davis, Roy Royston and Constance Carpenter.
* The Nipper, starring Betty Balfour

## Births

* 5 January – Saxa, Jamaican-born British saxophonist (died 2017)
* 17 February – Frank Wappat, singer and radio host (died 2014)
* 5 March – Isla Cameron, actress and folk singer (died 1980)
* 10 March – Jimmie Macgregor, folk singer
* 28 March – Elizabeth Bainbridge, operatic soprano
* 17 April – Chris Barber, jazz trombonist (died 2021)
* 4 May – Bill Eyden, jazz drummer (died 2004)
* 8 May – Heather Harper, operatic soprano (died 2019)
* 22 May – Kenny Ball, jazz trumpeter and bandleader (died 2013)
* 28 May – Julian Slade, composer (died 2006)
* 30 May – Gordon Langford, composer and arranger (died 2017)
* 1 June – Edward Woodward, actor and singer (died 2009)
* 10 July – Josephine Veasey, mezzo-soprano
* 20 July – Sally Ann Howes, actress and singer
* 27 July – Andy White, Scottish drummer (died 2015)
* 1 August – Lionel Bart, composer and lyricist (died 1999)
* 13 August – Bernard Manning, comedian and singer (died 2007)
* 12 October – Cyril Tawney, singer-songwriter (died 2005)
* 1 November – John Scott, conductor and composer
* 2 November – Peter Hope (also known as William Gardner), composer and arranger
* 1 December – Matt Monro, singer (died 1985)

## Deaths

* 17 February – Louise Kirkby Lunn, operatic contralto, 56
* 22 June – Mary Davies, singer, 75
* 13 November – Thomas Bulch, British-born Australian composer, 67
* 17 December – Peter Warlock, composer, 36