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1953 In British Music
This is a summary of 1953 in music in the United Kingdom, including the official charts from that year. Events *14 January – Ralph Vaughan Williams's ''Sinfonia Antarctica'' is given its first performance in Manchester.Kendall, Alan. ''The Chronicle of Classical Music''. Thames & Hudson, 2000: p. 240 *3 February – Kathleen Ferrier, already suffering from terminal cancer, gives a critically acclaimed performance on the first night of a new production of Gluck's ''Orfeo ed Euridice'' at the Royal Opera House. *6 February – During the second performance of ''Orfeo'' at Covent Garden, Kathleen Ferrier's left femur gives way; she completes the performance before going to hospital for treatment. *26 May – In the 1953 Coronation Honours, Herbert Howells receives a CBE and Benjamin Britten is appointed a Companion of Honour. *2 June **The Coronation of Elizabeth II, William McKie, who had been in charge of music at the royal wedding in 1947, is organist. In addition ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1953 In Music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1953. Specific locations * 1953 in British music * 1953 in Norwegian music Specific genres * 1953 in country music * 1953 in jazz Events * February 6 – Contralto Kathleen Ferrier, already terminally ill with cancer, leaves Covent Garden Opera House in London on a stretcher after being taken ill on the second night of her run-in Gluck's ''Orfeo ed Euridice''. * March 12 – Heinrich Sutermeister's opera ''Romeo and Juliet'' receives its English première at Sadler's Wells Theatre in London, conducted by James Robertson. *April - Pat Boone begins his recording career at Republic Records. *May 26 – Werner Meyer-Eppler, Fritz Enkel, Herbert Eimert and Robert Beyer open a pioneering electronic music studio at the Cologne studios of the NWDR. *July 16–29 – The Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik are held at Darmstadt. *July 18 – Elvis Presley's Sun recordings: Elvis Presley makes his first reco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William McKie (musician)
Sir William Neil McKie (22 May 19011 December 1984) was an Australian organist, conductor, and composer. He was Organist and Master of the Choristers at Westminster Abbey 1941–1963 and noted for his direction of the music for the marriage of Princess Elizabeth in 1947, and later her Coronation in 1953. Birth and studies William McKie was born in the suburb of Collingwood, Melbourne, the son of William McKie, who was vicar of Collingwood at the time; his brother was John McKie, Bishop of Geelong (coadjutor bishop in Melbourne). He studied the organ at Melbourne Grammar School under Dr Arthur Nickson (1876–1964), and in 1919 won the prestigious Clarke Scholarship from the University of Melbourne which enabled him to study at the Royal College of Music, London. Following this he became Organ Scholar of Worcester College, Oxford, where he gained his MA and BMus degrees. Early career In 1926 McKie took up his first professional appointment as Director of Music of Cli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Malcolm Arnold
Sir Malcolm Henry Arnold (21 October 1921 – 23 September 2006) was an English composer. His works feature music in many genres, including a cycle of nine symphonies, numerous concertos, concert works, chamber music, choral music and music for brass band and wind band. His style is tonal and rejoices in lively rhythms, brilliant orchestration, and an unabashed tunefulness. He wrote extensively for the theatre, with five ballets specially commissioned by the Royal Ballet, as well as two operas and a musical. He also produced scores for more than a hundred films, among these ''The Bridge on the River Kwai'' (1957), for which he won an Oscar. Early life Malcolm Arnold was born in Northampton, Northamptonshire, England, the youngest of five children from a prosperous Northampton family of shoemakers. Although shoemakers, his family was full of musicians; both of his parents were pianists, and his aunt was a violinist. His great great grandfather was the composer William Hawes, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Royal Ballet
The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded in 1931 by Ninette de Valois, Dame Ninette de Valois. It became the resident ballet company of the Royal Opera House in 1946, and has purpose-built facilities within these premises. It was granted a royal charter in 1956, becoming recognised as Britain's flagship ballet company. The Royal Ballet was one of the foremost ballet companies of the 20th century, and continues to be one of the world's most famous ballet companies to this day, generally noted for its artistic and creative values. The company employs approximately 100 dancers. The official associate school of the company is the Royal Ballet School, and it also has a sister company, the Birmingham Royal Ballet, which operates independently. The Prima ballerina assoluta of the Royal Bal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Healy Willan
James Healey Willan (12 October 1880 – 16 February 1968) was an Anglo-Canadian organist and composer. He composed more than 800 works including operas, symphonies, chamber music, a concerto, and pieces for band, orchestra, organ, and piano. He is best known for his church music. Biography Willan was born in England on 12 October 1880 and began musical training at age eight, with studies at St. Saviour's Choir School in Eastbourne. He continued at St. Saviour's until 1895, when he began working as organist and choirmaster at several London-area churches. He earned, by examination in organ playing, harmony, counterpoint, history and orchestration, the ARCO in 1897 and fellowship in 1899. From 1903 to 1913, he was organist and choirmaster of St. John the Baptist Church on Holland Road in London. The Anglo-Catholic Tractarian movement had led to an Anglican revival of plainsong, and in 1910 Willan joined the London Gregorian Association (which strove to preserve and revi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthur Bliss
Sir Arthur Edward Drummond Bliss (2 August 189127 March 1975) was an English composer and conductor. Bliss's musical training was cut short by the First World War, in which he served with distinction in the army. In the post-war years he quickly became known as an unconventional and Modernism (music), modernist composer, but within the decade he began to display a more traditional and romantic side in his music. In the 1920s and 1930s he composed extensively not only for the concert hall, but also for films and ballet. In the Second World War, Bliss returned to England from the US to work for the BBC and became its director of music. After the war he resumed his work as a composer, and was appointed Master of the Queen's Music. In Bliss's later years, his work was respected but was thought old-fashioned, and it was eclipsed by the music of younger colleagues such as William Walton and Benjamin Britten. Since his death, his compositions have been well represented in recordin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orb And Sceptre
''Orb and Sceptre'' is a march for orchestra written by William Walton for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Abbey, London, on 2 June 1953. It follows the pattern of earlier concert marches by Elgar and Walton himself in consisting of a brisk opening section followed by a broad melody in the middle, trio, section and a return to the lively first theme to conclude the piece after a second appearance of the big tune. Background and first performances Walton had composed the march '' Crown Imperial'', in 1936 for the coronation of Elizabeth II's father, King George VI.Kennedy, p. 93 It was generally well received – the BBC predicted that it would be ranked alongside Elgar's ''Pomp and Circumstance Marches'' – but disappointed those of Walton's admirers who thought of him as an avant-garde composer. By 1953 Walton was no longer perceived as avant-garde, and a ceremonial march in the Elgar tradition was generally expected. ''Orb and Sceptre'' was commissioned ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Walton
Sir William Turner Walton (29 March 19028 March 1983) was an English composer. During a sixty-year career, he wrote music in several classical genres and styles, from film scores to opera. His best-known works include ''Façade'', the cantata ''Belshazzar's Feast'', the Viola Concerto, the First Symphony, and the British coronation marches ''Crown Imperial'' and '' Orb and Sceptre''. Born in Oldham, Lancashire, the son of a musician, Walton was a chorister and then an undergraduate at Christ Church, Oxford. On leaving the university, he was taken up by the literary Sitwell siblings, who provided him with a home and a cultural education. His earliest work of note was a collaboration with Edith Sitwell, ''Façade'', which at first brought him notoriety as a modernist, but later became a popular ballet score. In middle age, Walton left Britain and set up home with his young wife Susana on the Italian island of Ischia. By this time, he had ceased to be regarded as a moderni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samuel Sebastian Wesley
Samuel Sebastian Wesley (14 August 1810 – 19 April 1876) was an English organist and composer. Wesley married Mary Anne Merewether and had 6 children. He is often referred to as S.S. Wesley to avoid confusion with his father Samuel Wesley. Biography Born in London, he was the eldest child in the composer Samuel Wesley's second family, which he formed with Sarah Suter having separated from his wife Charlotte. Samuel Sebastian was the grandson of Charles Wesley. His middle name derived from his father's lifelong admiration for the music of Bach. After singing in the choir of the Chapel Royal as a boy, Samuel Sebastian embarked on a career as a musician, and was appointed organist at Hereford Cathedral in 1832. While there he married the sister of the Dean, John Merryweather. S.S. Wesley was, like his father Samuel Wesley, a Freemason. He was initiated in Palladian Lodge No.120 in Hereford on 17 September 1833. He moved to Exeter Cathedral three years later, and joined St ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
I Was Glad
"I was glad" (Latin incipit, "Laetatus sum") is a choral introit which is a popular piece in the musical repertoire of the Anglican church. It is traditionally sung in the Church of England as an anthem at the Coronation of the British monarch. The text consists of verses from Psalm 122. Numerous composers have set the words to music, among them Henry Purcell and William Boyce; its most famous setting was written in 1902 by Sir Hubert Parry, which sets only verses 1–3, 6, and 7. Text The text of the anthem consists of verses from Psalm 122, from the psalter found in the 1662 ''Book of Common Prayer'': # I was glad when they said unto me : We will go into the house of the Lord. # Our feet shall stand in thy gates : O Jerusalem. # Jerusalem is built as a city : that is at unity in itself. # For thither the tribes go up, even the tribes of the Lord : to testify unto Israel, to give thanks unto the Name of the Lord. # For there is the seat of judgement : even the seat of the hous ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hubert Parry
Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, 1st Baronet (27 February 18487 October 1918) was an English composer, teacher and historian of music. Born in Richmond Hill in Bournemouth, Parry's first major works appeared in 1880. As a composer he is best known for the choral song "Jerusalem", his 1902 setting for the coronation anthem "I was glad", the choral and orchestral ode '' Blest Pair of Sirens'', and the hymn tune "Repton", which sets the words "Dear Lord and Father of Mankind". His orchestral works include five symphonies and a set of Symphonic Variations. He also composed the music for ''Ode to Newfoundland'', the Newfoundland and Labrador provincial anthem (and former national anthem). After early attempts to work in insurance at his father's behest, Parry was taken up by George Grove, first as a contributor to Grove's massive '' Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' in the 1870s and '80s, and then in 1883 as professor of composition and musical history at the Royal College of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zadok The Priest
''Zadok the Priest'' ( HWV 258) is a British anthem that was composed by George Frideric Handel for the coronation of King George II in 1727. Alongside '' The King Shall Rejoice'', '' My Heart is Inditing'' and '' Let Thy Hand Be Strengthened'', ''Zadok the Priest'' is one of Handel's Coronation Anthems. One of Handel's best-known works, ''Zadok the Priest'' has been sung prior to the anointing of the sovereign at the coronation of every British monarch since its composition and has become recognised as a British patriotic anthem. Text Part of the traditional content of British coronations, the texts for all four anthems were picked by Handel—a personal selection from the most accessible account of an earlier coronation, that of James II in 1685. The text is a translation of the traditional antiphon, ''Unxerunt Salomonem'', itself derived from the biblical account of the anointing of Solomon by the priest Zadok ( 1 Kings 1:38-40). These words have been used in every Eng ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
