This is a summary of 1902 in music in the United Kingdom .
List of years in British music
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1 March – Baron Frederic Allred d’Erlanger ‘s Piano Quintet is performed in London at St James’s Hall, Piccadilly by the Kruse Quartet with d’Erlanger himself as pianist.
10 March – The Bucolic Suite for orchestra by Ralph Vaughan Williams is performed for the first time in Bournemouth.[ 1]
2 April – The light operetta Merrie England by Edward German is first produced at the Savoy Theatre in London.[ 1]
4 April – The Piano Trio in D minor by Frank Bridge is performed in public for the first time at the Steinway Hall in London.
14 May – The tenor Enrico Caruso makes his highly successful debut at Covent Garden as the Duke in Verdi’s Rigoletto . Also singing is the Australian soprano Nellie Melba as Gilda. Caruso releases his first recordings in Britain during May.
2 June – Land of Hope and Glory , with music by Edward Elgar and lyrics by A. C. Benson , is publicly performed in London for the first time, by Clara Butt .[ 2]
26 June – Composer Hubert Parry is made a baronet in the 1902 Coronation Honours ,[ 3] while another British composer, Charles Villiers Stanford , is knighted.
9 August – Frederick Bridge is director of music at the Coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra . Music performed during the ceremony includes works by Thomas Tallis , Orlando Gibbons , Henry Purcell , Arthur Sullivan , Charles Villiers Stanford and John Stainer .[ 4]
date unknown – In his book, The Operatic Problem , MP William Johnson Galloway expresses concern at the lack of home-grown musical talent: "Things have come to such a pass that one may well wonder whether there is any room for an Englishman, and whether the time has not arrived for a voice to be raised on behalf of native artists and native art."[ 5]
Classical music: new works
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18 January – A Country Girl , by James T. Tanner , with lyrics by Adrian Ross , additional lyrics by Percy Greenbank , music by Lionel Monckton and additional songs by Paul Rubens , opens at Daly's Theatre , and runs for 729 performances.[ 12]
10 May – Three Little Maids , by Paul Rubens , with additional songs by Percy Greenbank and Howard Talbot , opens at the Apollo Theatre (later moving to the Prince of Wales Theatre , and runs for 348 performances.[ 13]
15 November – The Girl from Kays , with book by Owen Hall , music by Ivan Caryll , and lyrics by Hall, opens at the Apollo Theatre (later moving to the Comedy Theatre , and runs for 432 performances.[ 14]
January – Billy Pigg , Northumbrian piper (d. 1968)[ 15]
11 January – Evelyn Dove , first black singer to be played on BBC Radio (d. 1987 )[ 16]
21 January – Webster Booth , tenor (d. 1984)[ 17]
29 March – William Walton , composer (d. 1983)[ 18]
30 March – Ted Heath , bandleader (died 1969 )
1 May – Sonnie Hale , actor and singer (d. 1959 )
31 May – Billy Mayerl , pianist, composer and conductor (d. 1959 )
20 July – Jimmy Kennedy , songwriter (d. 1984)[ 19]
9 August – Solomon Cutner , pianist, known professionally as Solomon (d. 1988 )
28 October – Elsa Lanchester , dancer, singer and actress (d. 1986 )[ 20]
15 December – Mary Skeaping , choreographer (d. 1984)
^ a b Slonimsky, Nicolas (1994). Music Since 1900, 5th ed . Schirmer.
^ "Arthur Christopher Benson (1862–1925): Land of Hope and Glory" . Representative Poetry Online . University of Toronto Libraries. Archived from the original on 2011-05-18. Retrieved 2010-08-18 .
^ "No. 27448" . The London Gazette (Supplement). 26 July 1902. p. 4189.
^ Richards, Jeffrey (2001), Imperialism and Music: Britain, 1876–1953 , Manchester University Press, ISBN 0-7190-6143-1 (p. 104)
^ Irene Morra (2007). Twentieth-century British Authors and the Rise of Opera in Britain . Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. pp. 2–. ISBN 978-0-7546-6063-7 .
^ C. A. Mathew; David Webb; Alison Carpenter (January 1974). The eastern fringe of the City: a photographic tour of the Bishopsgate area in 1912 . Bishopsgate Institute.
^ Banfield, Stephen (1985). Sensibility and English song : critical studies of the early 20th century . Cambridge Cambridgeshire New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 441. ISBN 9780521230858 .
^ Kennedy, Michael (1987). Portrait of Elgar (Third ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 347. ISBN 0-19-284017-7 .
^ Edward Wulstan Atkins; Edward Elgar; Sir Ivor Atkins (26 April 1984). The Elgar-Atkins friendship . David & Charles. ISBN 978-0-7153-8583-8 .
^ Stephen Banfield (27 January 1989). Sensibility and English Song: Critical Studies of the Early Twentieth Century . Cambridge University Press. pp. 521–. ISBN 978-0-521-37944-1 .
^ "Merrie England" . The Edward German Discography . Retrieved 21 January 2019 .
^ Traubner, Richard (2003). Operetta : a theatrical history . New York: Routledge. p. 198. ISBN 9781135887834 .
^ "Chronology of London shows 1902" . Guide to Musical Theatre . Retrieved 21 January 2019 .
^ Ganzl, Kurt. The British Musical Theatre Vol. 1, 1865–1914 (1987), Macmillan Press, pp. 802–19
^ Billy Pigg, the Border Minstrel . Leader Sound, 1971: LEA 4006
^ Chelsea Ritschel (11 January 2019). "Evelyn Dove: Who was the groundbreaking singer and why is her legacy so important?" . The Independent . Archived from the original on 2022-05-01. Retrieved 21 January 2019 .
^ Mr Webster Booth, Obituary, The Times, 22 June 1984
^ Patrick Kavanaugh (1996). Music of the Great Composers: A Listener's Guide to the Best of Classical Music . Zondervan. p. 255. ISBN 978-0-310-20807-5 .
^ "Jimmy Kennedy" . New York Times . 7 April 1984. Retrieved 21 January 2019 .
^ "Lanchester [married name Laughton], Elsa Sullivan (1902–1986)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi :10.1093/ref:odnb/57311 . (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
^ Thomas, Daniel Lleufer (1912), Dictionary of National Biography , vol. 2 (1912 supplement ed.), London: Smith, Elder & Co., p. 361
^ "General Registrar's Office" . IrishGenealogy.ie . Retrieved 21 April 2017 .
^ "Jones Hewson" . The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company - archive . Retrieved 21 January 2019 .