1949 - Music

Music

Hollywood musical: Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen's On the Town with Kelly, Frank Sinatra, music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green.

Stage musicals: South Pacific 4/7 at the Majestic Theater, with Ezio Pinza, Mary Martin, Myron McCormick, Juanita Hall, Betta St. John, William Tabbert, Chattanooga-born Virginia Martin, 29, music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, book based on James Michener's tales of U.S. military personnel in World War II posts, songs that include "Some Enchanted Evening," "Younger than Springtime," "I'm in Love with a Wonderful Guy," "This Nearly Was Mine," "I'm Gonna Wash that Man Right Out of My Hair," "A Cockeyed Optimist," "Honey Bun," "You've Got to Be Carefully Taught," "Dites-moi Pourquoi," "There Is Nothing Like a Dame," "Happy Talk," "Bali Ha'i," 1,925 perfs.; Miss Liberty 6/15 at the Imperial Theater, with Eddie Albert, Maria Karnilova, Dody Goodman, Philip Borneuf, music and lyrics by Irving Berlin, songs that include "Let's Take an Old Fashioned Walk," 308 perfs.; Her Excellency 6/22 at the London Hippodrome, with Cicely Courtneidge as the British ambassador to a South American country, songs by Manning Sherwin and Harry Par-Davis; Lost in the Stars 10/30 at the Music Box Theater, with Todd Duncan, music by Kurt Weill, lyrics by Maxwell Anderson, book based on Alan Paton's 1948 novel Cry, the Beloved Country, 273 perfs.; Texas, L'il Darlin' 11/25 at New York's Mark Hellinger Theater, with Loring Smith, book by John Whedon and Sam Moore, music by Robert Emmett Dolan, lyrics by Johnny Mercer, 293 perfs.; Gentlemen Prefer Blondes 12/8 at the Ziegfeld Theater, with Carol Channing as Lorelei Lee, music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Leo Robin, book based on the 1925 novel, songs that include "A Little Girl from Little Rock," "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend," "Bye Bye Baby," 740 perfs.

Willie Howard dies broke after a brief illness at New York January 14 at age 62, reportedly having gambled away more than $1 million; librettist Fred Thompson at his native London April 10 at age 65; George Moran of Moran and Mack fame following a stroke at Oakland, Calif., August 1 at age 67; Al Shean of Gallagher and Shean fame at New York August 12 at age 81; Abraham Minsky of burlesque fame at New York September 5 at age 68; Bill "Bojangles" Robinson of a chronic heart condition at New York November 25 at age 71 (he has earned more than $2 million in his lifetime but dies penniless. His body lies in state at a Harlem armory, schools are closed, and thousands line the street to catch a glimpse of his funeral bier).

Opera: The Pit (dramatic scene for Tenor, Bass, Women's Chorus, and Orchestra) by Elisabeth Lutyens 4/24 at Palermo; Let's Make an Opera 6/14 at Aldeburgh's Jubilee Hall, with music by Benjamin Britten, libretto by Eric Crazier; Elisabeth Schwarzkopf makes her Salzburg Festival debut as the Countess Almaviva in Mozart's 1786 opera Le Nozze di Figaro. She will continue performing at Salzburg nearly every year until 1964.

Composer Richard Strauss dies at Vienna September 8 at age 85.

Ballet: Beauty and the Beast 12/20 at the Sadler's Wells Theatre, London, with music by the late Maurice Ravel, choreography by South African-born dancer-choreographer John Cranko, 22.

Looking at the Dance by Tientsin-born New York poet-dance critic Edwin (Orr) Denby, 46, will be widely read.

The first Aspen Music Festival opens at the Colorado ski town, whose summer season will grow to account for 40 percent of its annual income.

First performances: Spring Symphony for Soprano, Alto, and Tenor Soli, Mixed Chorus, Boys' Choir, and Orchestra by Benjamin Britten 7/9 at Amsterdam; Concerto Symphonique for Piano and Orchestra by Ernest Bloch 9/3 at the Edinburgh Festival; Phantasy for Violin and Piano Accompaniment by Arnold Schoenberg 9/13 at Los Angeles; Concerto for Organ, Brasses, and Woodwinds by Paul Hindemith 11/14 at Boston's Symphony Hall.

CBS introduces improved long-playing vinyl plastic phonograph records (see RCA, 1946; Goldmark, 1948). RCA introduces small 45 rpm LPs that require large spindles. Stereo components (amplifiers, turntables, speakers) enjoy a sales boom. The first LP record catalog is published in October by Cambridge, Mass., record shop proprietor William Schwann, whose 26-page listing of 674 entries from 11 companies will grow in 25 years to list some 50,000 LPs in a book of more than 250 pages.

The People's Republic of China adopts as its national anthem a song written during the war against Japan 6 years ago; Hebei Province songwriter Cao Huoxing, 25, has added new lyrics to those written by Tian Han and Nie Erh, and the song "Without the Communist Party, There Would Be No New China" has become familiar to hundreds of millions of Chinese.

Popular songs: "The Hokey Pokey" by Detroit-born songwriter Larry Laprise, 36; "Melodie d'Amour" by French songwriter Henri Salvador; "Bonaparte's Retreat" by Pee Wee King; "Mañana" by former Benny Goodman guitarist Dave Barbour and his wife, Peggy Lee; "Dear Hearts and Gentle People" by Sammy Fain, lyrics by Bob Hilliard; "I Don't Care If the Sun Don't Shine" by Mack David; "Scarlet Ribbons (for Her Hair)" by New York composer Evelyn Danzig, 47, lyrics by Jack Segal (the song will languish until Segal mentions it to Harry Belafonte in 1954); "Mona Lisa" by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans; "Huckle-Buck" by Andy Gibson, lyrics by Roy Alfred; "Daddy's Little Girl" by Bobby Burke and Horace Gerlah; "The Harry Lime Theme" by Anton Karas (for the film The Third Man); "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" by U.S. songwriter Johnny Marks, 40, who has adapted a verse written in 1939 by his brother-in-law Robert May for a Montgomery Ward promotional comic book. Former Portsmouth, Va., church choir singer Ruth Brown (née Weston), 21, records "So Long"/"It's Raining" to begin a notable rhythm & blues career.

Mahalia Jackson records "Let the Power of the Holy Ghost Fall On Me."

"Bricktop" opens a club in Rome's Via Veneto with backing from Doris Duke (see 1944).

Bandleader-lyricist Eddie De Lange dies at Los Angeles July 15 at age 45; folk singer-composer Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter returns from a European concert tour and dies of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease, ALS) at New York December 6 at age 61.