# 1946 in British music

This is a summary of 1946 in music in the United Kingdom.

## Events

* February – Kathleen Ferrier's recording contract with Columbia Records expires, and she transfers to Decca.
* 21 March – Swedish premiere of Peter Grimes, the opera's first performance outside the UK, in Stockholm.
* June – George Formby is awarded the Order of the British Empire in the 1946 King's Birthday Honours List.
* 5 July – Michael Tippett arranges the first British performance of Monteverdi's Vespers at Morley College, adding his own organ Preludio for the occasion.
* 6, 7 & 9 August – Leonard Bernstein conducts the first US performance of Peter Grimes at the Berkshire Music Center, Tanglewood.

## Popular music

* Geraldo and his Orchestra – "We'll Gather Lilacs" (Ivor Novello)
* Archie Lewis and The Geraldo Strings – "I Dream of You (More Than You Dream I Do)"
* "It's A Pity To Say Goodnight" – (Billy Reid)

## Classical music: new works

* Malcolm Arnold – Symphony for Strings, Opus 13
* Edmund Rubbra – Cello Sonata, Opus 60
* Michael Tippett – Little Music for String Orchestra
* Ralph Vaughan Williams – Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra, co-arranged with Joseph Cooper
* William Walton – String Quartet No. 2 in A minor

## Opera

* Benjamin Britten – The Rape of Lucretia

## Film and Incidental music

* William Alwyn – I See a Dark Stranger, starring Deborah Kerr and Trevor Howard.
* John Ireland – The Overlanders.
* Alan Rawsthorne – The Captive Heart, starring Michael Redgrave.

## Musical theatre

* 7 March – The London production of Song of Norway opens at the Palace Theatre and runs for 526 performances.
* 19 December – Noël Coward's new musical Pacific 1860 opens at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, starring Mary Martin and Graham Payn.

## Musical films

* Gaiety George, released July 22, starring Richard Greene and Ann Todd.
* I'll Turn to You, directed by Geoffrey Faithfull, starring Terry Randall and Don Stannard
* The Laughing Lady, directed by Paul L. Stein, starring Anne Ziegler and Webster Booth
* London Town, released September 30, starring Sid Fields, Greta Gynt, Petula Clark, Kay Kendall and Sonny Hale and featuring Tessie O'Shea and Beryl Davis.
* The Magic Bow, directed by Bernard Knowles, starring Stewart Granger and Phyllis Calvert

## Births

* 3 January – John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin)
* 6 January – Syd Barrett (Pink Floyd) (died 2006)
* 10 January – Aynsley Dunbar, drummer and songwriter
* 22 January – Malcolm McLaren, impresario and founder of the Sex Pistols (died 2010)
* 7 March – Matthew Fisher (Procol Harum)
* 21 March – Ray Dorset (Mungo Jerry)
* 1 April – Ronnie Lane, singer, songwriter and guitarist (The Faces) (died 1997)
* 2 April – Raymond Gubbay, classical music promoter
* 4 April – Dave Hill, guitarist (Slade)
* 11 April – Bob Harris, DJ
* 10 May
** Donovan, folk singer
** Graham Gouldman, singer and songwriter (10cc)
** Dave Mason, singer-songwriter and guitarist (Traffic and Fleetwood Mac)
* 15 May – Aly Bain, Scottish fiddler (The Boys of the Lough)
* 16 May – Robert Fripp, guitarist, composer and record producer
* 18 May – Bruce Gilbert, guitarist (Wire and Dome)
* 15 June – Noddy Holder, singer and songwriter (Slade)
* 30 June – Giles Swayne, composer
* 19 July – Alan Gorrie, Scottish singer and bass player (Average White Band and Forever More)
* 23 July – Andy Mackay, saxophonist, oboist, and composer
* 10 August – Peter Karrie, star of West End musical productions
* 1 September – Barry Gibb, singer and songwriter
* 5 September – Freddie Mercury, singer (Queen) (died 1991)
* 23 September – Duster Bennett, blues singer and musician (died 1976)
* 28 September – Helen Shapiro, singer
* 14 October
** Justin Hayward, guitarist, singer and songwriter (The Moody Blues)
** Dan McCafferty (Nazareth)
* 29 October – Peter Green, guitarist and singer
* 8 November – Roy Wood, singer and songwriter (The Move, Wizzard)
* 11 November – Chip Hawkes, vocalist and guitarist (The Tremeloes)
* 24 November – Bev Bevan, drummer (Electric Light Orchestra, Black Sabbath)
* 1 December – Gilbert O'Sullivan, singer-songwriter
* 10 December – Ace Kefford, bass player
* 12 December – Clive Bunker, drummer (Jethro Tull, Electric Sun, Solstice, and Aviator)
* 14 December – Jane Birkin, French-based actress and singer (died 2023)
* 16 December – Trevor Pinnock, harpsichordist and conductor
* 29 December – Marianne Faithfull, singer and actress (died 2025)

## Deaths

* 29 January – Sidney Jones, conductor and composer, 84
* 20 February – Hugh Allen, organist and choral conductor, 76
* 13 March – Thomas Dunhill, composer and music writer, 69
* 13 April – W. H. Bell, composer and conductor, 72
* 1 May
** Edward Bairstow, organist and composer, 71
** Percy Whitlock, organist and composer, 42 (tuberculosis)
* 16 October – Sir Granville Bantock, composer, 78
* 10 November – Nicholas Gatty, composer and music critic, 72
* 5 December – Tom Clare, music hall singer and pianist, 70
* 15 December – Frederic Norton, composer, 77