1948 - Music

Music

Hollywood musicals: Charles Walters's Easter Parade with Judy Garland, Fred Astaire, Texas-born tap-dancer Ann Miller (originally Johnnie Lucile Ann Collier), 26, music and lyrics by Irving Berlin, songs that include "Stepping Out With My Baby," "A Couple of Swells," "Shaking the Blues Away"; Vincente Minnelli's The Pirate with Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, music and lyrics by Cole Porter, songs that include "Be a Clown"; John Berry's Casbah with Canadian-born actress Yvonne de Carlo (originally Peggy Middleton), 24, San Francisco-born singer Tony Martin (Alfred Norris Jr.), 33, Peter Lorre, music by Harold Arlen, lyrics by Leo Robin, songs that include "For Every Man There's a Woman."

Broadway musicals: Look Ma—I'm Dancing 1/29 at the Adelphi Theater, with Nancy Walker, Harold Lang, choreography by Jerome Robbins, book by Cleveland-born playwright Jerome Lawrence, 32, and his Elyria, Ohio-born collaborator Robert E. (Edwin) Lee, 30, music and lyrics by Hugh Martin, songs that include "Shauny O'Shay," 188 perfs.; Inside U.S.A. (revue) 4/30 at the New Century Theater, with Jack Haley, Beatrice Lillie, dancer Valerie Bettis, Lewis Nye, Carl Reiner, Herb Shriner, music by Arthur Schwartz, lyrics by Howard Dietz, choreography by Helen Tamiris, 399 perfs.; Where's Charley 10/11 at the St. James Theater, with Ray Bolger in an adaptation of the 1892 English comedy Charley's Aunt, music and lyrics by Frank Loesser, songs that include "Once in Love with Amy," "My Darling, My Darling," "The New Ashmolean Marching Society and Students' Conservatory Band," 792 perfs.; As the Girls Go 11/13 at the Winter Garden Theater, with Bobby Clark, Hobart Cavanaugh, Buffalo-born actress Irene Rich (originally Irene Luther), 51, music by Jimmy McHugh, lyrics by Harold Adamson, songs that include "It Takes a Woman to Make a Man," 420 perfs. (the first Broadway show to charge $7.20 for orchestra seats); Lend an Ear (revue) 12/16 at the National Theater, with Carol Channing, Seattle-born Gene Nelson (originally Eugene Leander Berg), 28, Pennsylvania-born actor William Eythe, 30, scenery and costumes by Roul Pène Du Bois, music and lyrics by Charles Gaynor, songs that include "When Someone You Love Loves You," 460 perfs.; Kiss Me Kate 12/30 at the New Century Theater, with Alfred Drake, New York-born singer Patricia Morison (originally Eileen Patricia Augusta Fraser), 29, Lisa Kirk, Harold Lang, Metairie, La.-born dancer Peter Gennaro, 29, in an adaptation of the 1596 Shakespeare comedy The Taming of the Shrew, music and lyrics by Cole Porter, songs that include "We Open in Venice," "I've Come to Wive It Wealthily," "I Hate Men," "Another Opening, Another Show," "Why Can't You Behave," "Were Thine that Special Face," "Too Darn Hot," "Where Is the Life that Late I Led," "Always True to You in My Fashion," "So in Love," "Tom, Dick or Harry," "Wunderbar," "Brush Up Your Shakespeare," 1,077 perfs.

Onetime Broadway musical star Edna May dies of a heart attack at Lausanne, Switzerland, January 1 at age 69; Earl Carroll of Vanities fame in a plane crash near Carmel, Pa., June 17 at age 56; onetime Broadway musical star Mary Eaton at Hollywood, Calif., October 10 at age 47.

Opera: The Beggar's Opera 5/24 at England's Cambridge Arts Theatre, with music by Benjamin Britten; Magdalena 7/28 at Los Angeles, with music by Heitor Villa-Lobos; German baritone (Albert) Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, 23, makes his operatic stage debut 11/18 singing the role of Rodrigo, Marquis of Posa, in the 1867 Verdi opera Don Carlos at the Berlin Städtische Oper.

Composer Franz Lehar dies of stomach cancer at his home in Bad Ischl, Austria, October 24 at age 78.

Cantatas: Knoxville—Summer of 1915 by Samuel Barber 4/19 at Boston's Symphony Hall, with Eleanor Steber (who has commissioned the work), text by James Agee; Saint Nicolas by Benjamin Britten 6/5 at the Aldeburgh Festival and in July at the 100th anniversary of St. Nicolas College, Lancing, Sussex; A Survivor of Warsaw by Arnold Schoenberg 11/4 at Albuquerque, N. M.

Ballet: Fall River Legend 4/22 at New York's Metropolitan Opera House, with Alicia Alonso, John Kriza, music by Morton Gould, choreography by Agnes de Mille; Orpheus 4/28 at the New York City Center, with Maria Tallchief as Eurydice, Tanaquil LeClercq as the leader of the Bacchantes, music by Igor Stravinsky, choreography by George Ballanchine; Cinderella 12/27 at London's Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, with Moira Shearer, music by Sergei Prokofiev, choreography by Frederick Ashton.

The Amadeus string quartet gives its first performance at London January 10. Its three young Austrian members (violist Peter Schidlof, violinist Norbert Brainin, and violinist Siegmund Nissel) were released from an internment camp after the war with help from harpsichorist Dame Myra Hess and composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, British cellist Martin Lovett joined them in 1946 to form the Brainin Quartet, they became the Amadeus quartet last year, and they will continue until 1987 to give recitals and make recordings.

First performances: Symphony No. 3 in E major by Walter Piston 1/9 at Boston's Symphony Hall; Symphony No. 4 by David Diamond 1/23 at Boston's Symphony Hall; Mandu-Carará (Symphonic Poem) by Heitor Villa-Lobos 1/23 at New York; Fantasy for Trombone and Orchestra by Paul Creston 2/12 at Los Angeles; The Seine at Night (Symphonic Poem) by Virgil Thomson 2/24 at Kansas City; Concerto No. 1 for Violin and Orchestra by Diamond 2/29 at Vancouver; Symphony No. 6 by Ralph Vaughan Williams, now 75, 4/21 at London; Symphony No. 4 (1848) by Darius Milhaud 5/20 at Paris; Symphony No. 2 by Roger Sessions 6/9 at Amsterdam; Toccata by Piston 10/14 at Bridgeport, Conn.; Sinfonietta by Francis Poulenc 10/24 in a BBC Orchestra concert from London; Mass by Igor Stravinsky 10/27 at Milan; Concerto No. 2 for Violin and Orchestra by Milhaud 11/7 at Paris; Wheat Field at Noon by Thomson 12/7 at Louisville; Concerto for Piano by Howard Hanson 12/31 at Boston's Symphony Hall; Symphony No. 5 by George Antheil 12/31 at Philadelphia's Academy of Music.

The Central Committee of the Communist Party rebukes Soviet composers Aram Khatchaturian, Sergei Prokofiev, and Dmitri Shostakovich February 11, calling their work an expression of "bourgeois decadence." The scolding comes on the heels of a denunciation by Soviet cultural czar Andrei Zhdanof, who has accused the composers of "failing in their duties to the Soviet people." Most of them avoid public appearances, Shostakovich humbles himself in a banal and masochistic speech that he reads aloud, Prokofiev dispatches a condescending reply.

The Aldeburgh Festival founded by composer Benjamin Britten and tenor Peter Pears has its first season 100 miles northeast of London.

The long-playing 12-inch vinyl plastic phonograph record demonstrated at New York June 18 by CBS engineer Peter Goldmark turns at a rate of 33 1/3 revolutions per minute instead of the usual 78, has 250 "Microgrooves" to the inch, plays 45 minutes of music, enables one record to contain an entire symphony where heretofore it has required five to 10 records, and begins a revolution in the recording industry (see 1946; Goldmark's color television, 1940). Goldmark also unveils a lightweight pickup arm and a silent turntable for his LP records (see 1949).

California guitar and amplifier maker C. (Clarence) Leo Fender, 40, goes into mass production with an electric guitar he calls the Broadcaster (it will be renamed the Telecaster in 1950). Created by Fender with help from George Fullerton, its solid body reduces feedback because it does not resonate inside and will help define the rock 'n' roll sound that will soon dominate the pop music scene (see 1954).

Popular songs: "Tennessee Waltz" by vocalist Redd Stewart and Wisconsin-born Grand Ole Opry accordionist-songwriter Pee Wee King (originally Julius Frank Anthony Kuczynski), 33; "Country Boy" by Nashville composer Boudleaux Bryant, 28, lyrics by his Milwaukee-born poet wife, Felice, 23; "On a Slow Boat to China" by Frank Loesser; "Mañana—Is Soon Enough for Me" by Peggy Lee and her guitarist husband, Dave Barbour, 36; "South" ("Sur") by tango composer Anibal Troilo, lyrics by Homero Manzi; "Nature Boy" by Eden Ahbez; "It's a Most Unusual Day" by Jimmy McHugh, lyrics by Harold Adamson (for the film A Date with Judy); "Candy Kisses" by George Morgan; "'A'- You're Adorable" by New York-born songwriter Jules Leonard "Buddy" Kaye, 30, with Fred Wise, and Sidney Lippman; "Enjoy Yourself—It's Later than You Think" by Carl Sigman, lyrics by Herb Magidson; "Red Roses for a Blue Lady" by Sid Tepper and Roy Beaumont; "Baby, It's Cold Outside" by Frank Loesser (for the film Neptune's Daughter); "You're Breaking My Heart" by Pat Genaro and Sunny Skylar; "Buttons and Bows" by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans (for the film Paleface); "Pigalle" by French songwriter Georges Ulmer; "Sleigh Ride" by Leroy Anderson, 39, lyrics by Mitchell Parish; "I'll Be Home for Christmas" by Kim Gannon, Walter Kent, Buck Ram. Patti Page (Clara Ann Fowler), 20, records "Confess" and has her first big success (she first sang under the name Patti Page for a Tulsa, Okla., radio show sponsored by Page Dairy Co.); Margaret Whiting records "A Tree in a Meadow" by British songwriter Billy Reid; Nellie Lutcher records "Fine Brown Frame"; Nova Scotia-born country singer Clarence Eugene "Hank" Snow, 24, records "I'm Movin' On" and has a hit that will be number one on the charts and remain there for 21 weeks; "I Can't Be Satisfied" and "I Feel Like Going Home" by Mississippi Delta-born guitarist-blues singer Muddy Waters (McKinley Morganfield), 33, who has been "discovered" by folk music collector Alan Lomax, now 33; Alabama-born country singer Hiram King "Hank" Williams, 26, records "Lovesick Blues" late in the year (he has been singing it on the radio show Louisiana Hayride out of Shreveport, La.) and it quickly climbs to number one on the charts, where it will remain for 16 weeks.

North Carolina-born banjoist Earl (Eugene) Scruggs, 24, leaves Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys with the group's guitarist and tenor singer, Lester Flatt, to form the Foggy Mountain Boys, which will gain fame for its recordings of "Earl's Breakdown," "Flint Hill Special," "Foggy Mountain Breakdown," and other numbers. The two will continue their partnership until 1969.

Songwriter Oley Speaks of "On the Road to Mandalay" fame dies at New York August 27 at age 74.