Contents

1937 in British music

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

• 24 January – Ernest John Moeran completes the revised version of his Symphony in G minor, dedicated to conductor Hamilton Harty.^[1]
• 6 March – Composer Benjamin Britten and his partner, the tenor Peter Pears, meet for the first time, in London.^[2]
• 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.^[2]
• 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.^[3]
  • George Lloyd marries Nancy Juvet. Lloyd suffers from PTSD and later acknowledges that he could not have recovered without Nancy's care.^[4]
  • Ukrainian-born pianist Benno Moiseiwitsch takes up British citizenship.

• "Did Your Mother Come From Ireland?" w.m. Jimmy Kennedy & Michael Carr^[5]
• "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^[6]
• "Leaning on a Lamp-post" w.m. Noel Gay^[7]
• "Me And My Girl" w.m. Noel Gay & Douglas Furber

• 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

• 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.

• 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.

• Big Fella, directed by J. Elder Wills, starring Paul Robeson and Elisabeth Welch^[8]
• Calling All Stars, directed by Herbert Smith, starring Carroll Gibbons and Evelyn Dall^[9]
• Gangway, starring Jessie Matthews and Alastair Sim^[10]
• Head Over Heels, starring Jessie Matthews^[10]
• Mayfair Melody, directed by Arthur B. Woods, starring Keith Falkner and Chili Bouchier^[11]
• The Show Goes On, starring Gracie Fields, Owen Nares and John Stuart.
• Song of the Forge, starring Stanley Holloway.^[12]
• The Street Singer, starring Arthur Tracy, Margaret Lockwood and Arthur Riscoe^[13]
• Take My Tip, directed by Herbert Mason, starring Jack Hulbert and Cicely Courtneidge

• 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^[14] (died 2001)
• 12 July – Guy Woolfenden, conductor and theatre composer (died 2016)^[15]
• 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^[16]
  • David Measham, violinist and conductor (died 2005)
• 12 December – Philip Ledger, composer and teacher (died 2012)
• 31 December – Anthony Hopkins, actor and composer

• 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^[17]
• 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)^[18]
• 23 December – Muriel Foster, contralto, 60^[19]
• 26 December
  • Dan Beddoe, tenor, 74
  • Ivor Gurney, composer and poet, 47 (tuberculosis)^[20]

• 1937 in British television
• 1937 in the United Kingdom
• List of British films of 1937