1946 - Music

Music

Hollywood musicals: Stuart Heisler's Blue Skies with Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, Joan Caulfield, music and lyrics by Irving Berlin, songs that include "A Couple of Song and Dance Men"; Vincente Minnelli's Ziegfeld Follies with William Powell, Judy Garland, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly; George Sidney's The Harvey Girls with Judy Garland, music by Harry Warren, lyrics by Johnny Mercer, songs that include "The Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe" (see restaurants [Fred Harvey], 1876); Alfred E. Green's The Jolson Story with Kansas-born actor Larry (originally Samuel Klausman) Parks, 32, and the voice of Al Jolson, now 60, singing "April Showers," "Mammy," "Swanee," and other songs he made famous; H. Bruce Humberstone's Three Little Girls in Blue with June Haver, Vivian Blaine, Celeste Holm, songs that include "You Make Me Feel So Good" and "On the Boardwalk at Atlantic City" by Joseph Myron, lyrics by Mack Gordon.

Stage musicals: Lute Song 2/6 at New York's Plymouth Theater, with Mary Martin, Yul Brynner, Helen Craig, music by Raymond Scott, lyrics by Bernard Harrigan, songs that include "Mountain High, Valley Low," 142 perfs.; Three to Make Ready (revue) 3/7 at New York's Adelphi Theater, with Ray Bolger, Gordon MacRae, Arthur Godfrey, dancer Harold Lang, New Brunswick, N.Y.,-born actress Bibi Osterwald, 26, scenic design by Donald Oenslager, music by Morgan Lewis, lyrics and sketches by Nancy Hamilton in a production staged by John Murray Anderson, songs that include "It's a Nice Night for It," 327 perfs. St. Louis Woman 3/30 at New York's Martin Beck Theater, with Newport News, Va.-born singer Pearl (Mae) Bailey, 28, heading an all-black cast, book from an unpublished play by the late Countee Cullen, music by Harold Arlen, lyrics by Johnny Mercer, songs that include "Come Rain or Come Shine," 113 perfs.; Call Me Mister (revue) 4/18 at New York's National Theater, with Betty Garrett, Melvyn Douglas, New York-born comedian Jules Munshin, 31, Hartford, Conn.-born ingénue Maria Karnilova, 25, music and lyrics by Harold Rome, book by Arnold Auerbach and Indiana-born writer Arnold B. Horwitt, 28, songs that include "South America, Take It Away," 734 perfs.; Sweetest and Lowest (revue) 5/9 at London's Ambassadors Theatre, with Hermione Gingold, Henry Kendall, 791 perfs.; Annie Get Your Gun 5/16 at New York's Imperial Theater, with Ethel Merman, Ray Middleton, book based on the life of markswoman Phoebe "Annie Oakley" Mozee of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show (see 1883), choreography by Helen Tamiris, music and lyrics by Irving Berlin, songs that include "Anything You Can Do," "Doin' What Comes Naturally," "The Girl That I Marry," "You Can't Get a Man with a Gun," "I Got the Sun in the Morning," "There's No Business Like Show Business," 1,147 perfs.; Pacific 1860 12/19 at London's Theatre Royal in Drury Lane, with Mary Martin, music and lyrics by Noël Coward, 129 perfs.

Composer Sidney Jones dies at his native London January 29 at age 84.

Opera: The Medium 5/8 at Columbia University's Brander Matthew Theater, with music by Italian-born U.S. composer Gian-Carlo Menotti, 34; The Rape of Lucretia 7/12 at Glyndebourne, with English contralto Kathleen (Mary) Ferrier, 34, in her stage debut as Lucretia, Peter Pears as the Male Chorus, Joan Cross as the Female Chorus, music by Benjamin Britten (Ferrier has toured the provinces during the war and sung with the Bach Choir at London). Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, now 30, makes her debut with the Vienna Staatsoper; Italian soprano Renata Tebaldi, 24, her debut at Milan's La Scala; Hollywood, Calif.-born bass Jerome Hines (originally Heinz), 24, his Metropolitan Opera debut as the officer in the 1874 Mussorgsky opera Boris Godunov (he will sing at the Met for 41 years).

Ballet: The Serpent Heart 5/10 at Columbia University's McMillin Theater, with Martha Graham, music by Samuel Barber, choreography by Graham; The Four Temperaments 11/20 at New York's Central High School of the Needle Trades, with Gisella Caccialanza, Tanaquil LeClerq, Todd Bolender, music by Paul Hindemith, choreography by George Balanchine.

Oklahoma-born ballerina Maria Tallchief, 19, quits the Ballets Russes and joins the new Grand Ballet de Monte Carlo started by George Balanchine. Daughter of an Osage chief, Tallchief becomes Balanchine's second wife (see 1947).

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra gives its first concert September 15 at Croydon under the direction of Sir Thomas Beecham, who will be its principal conductor until his death in 1961.

First performances: Symphony in Three Movements by Igor Stravinsky 1/24 at New York's Carnegie Hall (Stravinsky's wife, Catherine, died in 1939 and he married his longtime mistress Vera de Bosset in 1940); Metamorphosen by Richard Strauss 1/25 at Zürich; Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra by Darius Milhaud 1/30 at the Marine Barracks, Washington, D.C.; Concerto No. 3 for Piano and Orchestra by the late Béla Bartók 2/8 at Philadelphia's Academy of Music; Concerto for Oboe and Chamber Orchestra by Strauss 2/26 at Zürich; Scherzo a la Russe by Stravinsky 3/22 at San Francisco; Sonatina No. 2 for 16 Wind Instruments by Strauss 3/25 at Winterthur, Switzerland; Ebony Concerto by Stravinsky 3/25 at New York's Carnegie Hall, with Woody Herman as clarinet soloist; Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra by Samuel Barber 4/5 at Boston's Symphony Hall; Symphony No. 3 by Charles Ives 4/5 at New York; The Bells symphonic suite by Milhaud 4/26 at Chicago; The Unanswered Question (A Comic Landscape) by Ives (who wrote it in 1908) 5/11 at Columbia University; For Those We Love requiem by Paul Hindemith 5/14 at New York's City Center, with Robert Shaw's Collegiate Chorale, text from the Walt Whitman poem "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd"; Concerto No. 3 for Piano and Orchestra by Milhaud 5/26 at Prague; Symphony for Strings by William Schuman 7/12 at London; Symphonie No. 3 (Liturgique) by Arthur Honegger 8/17 at Zürich's Tonhalle; String Quartet No. 2 by Ives (who wrote it between 1907 and 1913) 10/7 at New York's Town Hall; Quartet No. 2 for Strings by Ernest Bloch 10/9 at London's Wigmore Hall; Symphony No. 3 by Aaron Copland 10/18 at Boston's Symphony Hall; Concerto for Cello in E major by Aram Khatchaturian 10/30 at Moscow; Concerto No. 2 for Violoncello and Orchestra by Milhaud 11/28 at New York's Carnegie Hall; Ricercari for Piano and Orchestra by U.S. composer Norman Dello Joio, 33, 12/19 at New York's Carnegie Hall; Symphony No. 2 by Milhaud 12/20 at Boston's Symphony Hall; Minstrel Show by Morton Gould 12/21 at Indianapolis.

The first vinylite phonograph record appears in October. RCA-Victor issues a new recording of the 1895 Richard Strauss work Till Eulenspiegels Lustige Streiche, but vinylite will not supplant shellac until the perfection of long-playing records (see 1948).

The first U.S. magnetic audiotape machine is used to produce the commercial recording Songs by Merv Griffin. Recording studios up to now have produced disks from masters made by recording directly onto an acetate disk, and it has been almost impossible to edit them, but San Francisco-born former U.S. Army Signal Corps lieutenant John "Jack" Mullin, now 32, discovered two German magnetophones at Paris last year, brought them to the United States, and has worked with William A. Palmer to improve them (see communications, 1940). While stationed in England 3 years ago Mullin heard a German radio station broadcasting classical music 24 hours per day without clicks or scratches; the sound quality of his tapes and their editability attracts crooner Bing Crosby, whose dislike for live broadcasts motivates him to give Mullin and Palmer financial backing (see communications [Sony], 1950).

Composer Manuel de Falla dies at Alta Gracia, Argentina, November 14 at age 69 (he has written little since 1926 and has lived in Argentina since 1939).

Popular songs: "La Vie en Rose" by Italian-born Paris composer Louiguy (Louis Guglielmi), 30, lyrics by French chanteuse Edith Piaf (Edith Givanna Gassion), now 31, whose records have entertained French listeners through the war years; "(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66" by Harrisburg, Pa.-born Los Angeles actor-songwriter Bobby Troup, 29, who sketched out the song last year while driving across the country to California; "To Each His Own" by Raymond B. Evans, 31, lyrics by Jay Livingston, 31 (title song for film); "Put the Blame on Mame" by Allan Roberts and Doris Fisher (for the film Gilda); "Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans" by James Van Heusen and Eddie De Lange (for the film New Orleans); "Tenderly" by Walter Gross, lyrics by Jack Lawrence; "You Call Everybody Darling" by Sam Martin, Ben Trace, Clem Walls; "Ole Buttermilk Sky" by Hoagy Carmichael and Jack Brooks (for the film Canyon Passage); "Day by Day" by Paul Wexton, lyrics by Sammy Cahn, Alex Stordahl; "Seems Like Old Times" by Carmen Lombardo, 43, and John Jacob Loeb, 35; "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)" by Chicago-born songwriter-vocalist Melvin Howard "Mel" Torme, 21, and Robert Wells (Torme appears at New York's Copacabana night club, where disk jockey Fred Robbins dubs him the "Velvet Fog." Country singer Molly O'Day (LaVerne Lois Williams), 23, records "The Tramp on the Street" with her husband, Lynn (originally Leonard) Davis, 32, and their band The Cumberland Mountain Folks.

Songwriter Harry Von Tilzer dies in his sleep at New York January 10 at age 73; Lew Pollock after a heart attack at Hollywood January 18 at age 50; Vincent Youmans of tuberculosis at Denver's Park Lane Hotel April 5 at age 47; James Kendis of a heart attack at his Jamaica, N.Y., home November 15 at age 63.

California-born pianist-composer David Warren "Dave" Brubeck, 25, forms an experimental octet that will give way in 1949 to a trio (see quartet, 1952).