1906 in British music

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This is a summary of 1906 in music in the United Kingdom.

Events

• 18 January - The first performance of Charles Villiers Stanford’s Symphony No 6 in Eb major takes place at the Queen’s Hall with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by the composer.
• 25 January - The Kruse Quartet, supplemented by other players (including Lionel Tertis), give the first performance of Charles Villiers Stanford‘s Nonet at the Aeolian Hall in London.[1]
• 1 March - Nicholas Gatty‘s one-act opera Greysteel has its premiere in Sheffield during the University Opera week.
• 29 March - The first performance of James Friskin‘s Quintet by the Cathie Quartet takes place at the Aeolian Hall in London.
• 24 April - The winning three compositions of the 1905 Cobbett Competition for chamber music are performed by The Saunders Quartet at Stationers Hall: William Hurlstone‘s Phantasie for String Quartet (first prize); Haydn Wood‘s Phantasy Quartet (second prize); Frank Bridge‘s Phantasie Quartet (third prize).[2]
• 14 May - The first complete performance in the UK of Coppelia by Delibes is seen at the Empire Theatre, with Adeline Genée in the lead role.
• 14 June - The first performance of Variations on an African Air by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor takes place at a London Philharmonic Society concert, Queen's Hall, conducted by Frederick Cowen.[3]
• 23 August - The Norfolk Rhapsody No 1 in E minor by Ralph Vaughan Williams is performed for the first time at the Proms in London.
• August – Mary Davies is principal soloist at the National Eisteddfod of Wales.[4]
• Summer – Australian composer Percy Grainger begins collecting English folk songs with the aid of a phonograph.[5]
• 3 October
  • Hans Richter conducts the first performance of The Bells, a poem for chorus and orchestra by Joseph Holbrooke, at the Birmingham Music Festival.
  • Edward Elgar's oratorio The Kingdom, Op. 51, is first performed at the Birmingham Music Festival, conducted by the composer with soloists Agnes Nicholls, Muriel Foster, John Coates and William Higley.
• 25 October - Henry Wood conducts the first performance of Joseph Holbrooke’s orchestral suite Les Hommages at Queen’s Hall.
• 14 November -The Vicar of Wakefield (Goldsmith), a light opera by Liza Lehmann, is produced in London.[3]
• 15 November - Cyril Scott's orchestral and choral Christmas Overture is performed for the first time by the London Symphony Orchestra.[6]
• date unknown
  • Operatic soprano Maggie Teyte makes her public début at a Mozart festival in Paris.[7]
  • 16-year-old Phyllis Dare takes over the leading role in The Belle of Mayfair[8] at the Vaudeville Theatre when Edna May leaves suddenly because of a disagreement with the producer.
  • Composer Lawrence Wright opens a music shop in his home city of Leicester.

Popular music

• "Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones" (hymn), with words by Athelstan Riley, first published in The English Hymnal by Oxford University Press, edited by Percy Dearmer and Ralph Vaughan Williams.[9]

Classical music: new works

• Granville Bantock – Sappho, nine fragments with a Prelude
• Rutland Boughton – Love in Spring, symphonic poem
• Frank Bridge
  • Three Idylls for String Quartet
  • String Quartet No. 1 in E minor "Bologna"
• Katharine Emily Eggar – Piano Quartet in D minor and major
• Edward Elgar – The Kingdom (oratorio)

Opera

• Dame Ethel Smyth & Henry Brewster – The Wreckers[10]

Musical theatre

• 20 June – See See, with music by Sidney Jones, book by Charles H. Brookfield, and lyrics by Adrian Ross, opens at the Prince of Wales Theatre; it runs for 152 performances.[11]

Births

• 31 January – Benjamin Frankel, composer (died 1973)
• 19 February – Grace Williams, composer (died 1977)
• 13 March – Dave Kaye, pianist (died 1996)
• 5 April – Charles Proctor, conductor, pianist, composer, (died 1996)
• 22 April – Eric Fenby, composer, conductor, pianist, organist and teacher, amanuensis of Frederick Delius (died 1997)[12]
• 9 July – Elisabeth Lutyens, composer (died 2005)
• 24 August – Walter Braithwaite, composer (died 1991)
• 4 November – Arnold Cooke, composer (died 1983)[13]
• 23 November – Mervyn Roberts, Welsh composer

Deaths

• 9 May – Helen Lemmens-Sherrington, concert and operatic soprano (born 1834)[14]
• 14 June – George Herbert, organist and composer of hymn tunes (born 1817)[15]
• 30 December – Eugène Goossens, père, Belgian-born conductor (born 1845)[16]

See also

• 1906 in the United Kingdom

References

1. Jeremy Dibble. Notes to Hyperion CDA66291 (1989)
2. IMSLP: 1905 Cobbett Competition for Phantasy String Quartet
3. Slonimsky, Nicolas (1994). Music Since 1900, 5th ed. Schirmer.
4. Griffith, Robert David. "Davies , Mary (1855–1930)". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
5. Tim Rayborn (15 April 2016). A New English Music: Composers and Folk Traditions in England’s Musical Renaissance from the Late 19th to the Mid–20th Century. McFarland. pp. 201–. ISBN 978-1-4766-2494-5.
6. Desmond Scott, Lewis Foreman and Leslie De'Ath (eds.): The Cyril Scott Companion (2018)
7. "Dame Maggie Teyte". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
8. "Phyllis Dare (1890-1975), Actress". National Portrait Gallery. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
9. Shomsky, Tiffany. "Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones: Worship Notes". Hymnary.org. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
10. Fuller, Sophie. "DAME ETHEL SMYTH, THE WRECKERS". American Symphony Orchestra. Archived from the original on 30 June 2015. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
11. "(James) Sidney Jones". The Guide to Light Opera and Operetta. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
12. Mary Christison Huismann (2009). Frederick Delius: A Research and Information Guide. Routledge. p. 67. ISBN 978-0-415-99364-7.
13. The Double Reed. International Double Reed Society. 2006.
14. Davey, Henry. "Lemmens-Sherrington, Madame Helen (1834–1906)", Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 1912, online edition retrieved 17 April 2014 (subscription or UK public library membership required)
15. Maggie Humphreys; Robert Evans (1 January 1997). Dictionary of Composers for the Church in Great Britain and Ireland. A&C Black. p. 159. ISBN 978-0-7201-2330-2.
16. Encyclopædia Britannica: A New Survey of Universal Knowledge. Encyclopœdia Britannica. 1963. p. 522.