# 1937 in British music

This is a summary of 1937 in music in the United Kingdom.

## Events

* 24 January – Ernest John Moeran completes the revised version of his Symphony in G minor, dedicated to conductor Hamilton Harty.
* 6 March – Composer Benjamin Britten and his partner, the tenor Peter Pears, meet for the first time, in London.
* 12 May – William Walton's ceremonial march, "Crown Imperial", originally written for his predecessor, King Edward VIII, is performed for the first time at the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.
* 27 August – Britten's Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge is performed at the Salzburg Festival, conducted by Boyd Neel.
* 20 December – The Gaumont State Cinema opens in London with Sidney Torch as organist.
* date unknown
** Kathleen Ferrier wins the piano and vocal competitions at the Carlisle Festival, and is awarded a special rose bowl as champion of the festival.
** George Lloyd marries Nancy Juvet. Lloyd suffers from PTSD and later acknowledges that he could not have recovered without Nancy's care.
** Ukrainian-born pianist Benno Moiseiwitsch takes up British citizenship.

## Popular music

* "A Nice Cup of Tea" Gracie Fields w.m. AP Herbert, Henry Sullivan
* "Did Your Mother Come From Ireland?" w.m. Jimmy Kennedy & Michael Carr
* "Harbour Lights" w. Jimmy Kennedy m. Hugh Williams
* "Home Town" w.m. Jimmy Kennedy & Michael Carr
* "The Lambeth Walk" w. Douglas Furber, L. Arthur Rose m. Noel Gay
* "Leaning on a Lamp-post" w.m. Noel Gay
* "Me And My Girl" w.m. Noel Gay & Douglas Furber

## Classical music: new works

* Arthur Bliss – Checkmate (ballet)
* Rutland Boughton – Symphony No. 3 in B minor
* Frank Bridge String Quartet No. 4
* Benjamin Britten – Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge
* George Dyson – Symphony in G major
* John Ireland – These Things Shall Be
* Edmund Rubbra – Symphony No. 1
* Ralph Vaughan Williams – Job: A Masque for Dancing (ballet)
* Percy Whitlock – Wessex Suite

## Film and Incidental music

* Richard Addinsell – Fire Over England, starring Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh.
* Ernest Irving – Feather Your Nest, starring George Formby, Polly Ward and Enid Stamp-Taylor.

## Musical theatre

* 5 February – On Your Toes London production opened at the Palace Theatre and ran for 123 performances
* 29 March – Swing is in the Air London revue opened at the Palladium
* 16 December – Me and My Girl (Noel Gay) – London production opened at the Victoria Palace Theatre and ran for 1646 performances.

## Musical films

* Big Fella, directed by J. Elder Wills, starring Paul Robeson and Elisabeth Welch
* Calling All Stars, directed by Herbert Smith, starring Carroll Gibbons and Evelyn Dall
* Gangway, starring Jessie Matthews and Alastair Sim
* Head Over Heels, starring Jessie Matthews
* Mayfair Melody, directed by Arthur B. Woods, starring Keith Falkner and Chili Bouchier
* The Show Goes On, starring Gracie Fields, Owen Nares and John Stuart.
* Song of the Forge, starring Stanley Holloway.
* The Street Singer, starring Arthur Tracy, Margaret Lockwood and Arthur Riscoe
* Take My Tip, directed by Herbert Mason, starring Jack Hulbert and Cicely Courtneidge

## Births

* 8 January – Shirley Bassey, singer
* 22 January – Ryan Davies, comedian, singer and songwriter (died 1977)
* 27 January – John Ogdon, pianist (died 1989)
* 28 April – Jean Redpath, folk singer (died 2014)
* 5 May – Delia Derbyshire, musician and composer of electronic music (died 2001)
* 21 May – John Barstow, pianist and teacher
* 12 July – Guy Woolfenden, conductor and theatre composer (died 2016)
* 27 July – Anna Dawson, actress and singer
* 19 November – Geoff Goddard, songwriter, singer and instrumentalist (died 2000)
* 30 November – Frank Ifield, British-born Australian singer
* 1 December
** Gordon Crosse, composer
** David Measham, violinist and conductor (died 2005)
* 12 December – Philip Ledger, composer and teacher (died 2012)
* 31 December – Anthony Hopkins, actor and composer

## Deaths

* 22 January – Walter Willson Cobbett, businessman and amateur violinist, editor/author of Cobbett's Cyclopedic Survey of Chamber Music, 89
* 10 April – Algernon Ashton, pianist and composer, 77
* 1 May – Herbert Hughes, composer, music critic and collector of folk songs, 54
* 2 May – Sir Arthur Somervell, composer, 73
* 23 July – Charles Henry Mills, composer and music teacher (b. 1873)
* 25 November – Lilian Baylis, founder of Sadler's Wells ballet company, 63 (heart attack)
* 23 December – Muriel Foster, contralto, 60
* 26 December
** Dan Beddoe, tenor, 74
** Ivor Gurney, composer and poet, 47 (tuberculosis)