title: 1946 in British music
text: # 1946 in British music
  
  This is a summary of 1946 in music in the United Kingdom.
  
  ## Events
  
  * February – Kathleen Ferrier's recording contract with Columbia Records expires, and she transfers to Decca.
  * 21 March – Swedish premiere of Peter Grimes, the opera's first performance outside the UK, in Stockholm.
  * June – George Formby is awarded the Order of the British Empire in the 1946 King's Birthday Honours List.
  * 5 July – Michael Tippett arranges the first British performance of Monteverdi's Vespers at Morley College, adding his own organ Preludio for the occasion.
  * 6, 7 & 9 August – Leonard Bernstein conducts the first US performance of Peter Grimes at the Berkshire Music Center, Tanglewood.
  
  ## Popular music
  
  * Geraldo and his Orchestra – "We'll Gather Lilacs" (Ivor Novello)
  * Archie Lewis and The Geraldo Strings – "I Dream of You (More Than You Dream I Do)"
  * "It's A Pity To Say Goodnight" – (Billy Reid)
  
  ## Classical music: new works
  
  * Malcolm Arnold – Symphony for Strings, Opus 13
  * Edmund Rubbra – Cello Sonata, Opus 60
  * Michael Tippett – Little Music for String Orchestra
  * Ralph Vaughan Williams – Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra, co-arranged with Joseph Cooper
  * William Walton – String Quartet No. 2 in A minor
  
  ## Opera
  
  * Benjamin Britten – The Rape of Lucretia
  
  ## Film and Incidental music
  
  * William Alwyn – I See a Dark Stranger, starring Deborah Kerr and Trevor Howard.
  * John Ireland – The Overlanders.
  * Alan Rawsthorne – The Captive Heart, starring Michael Redgrave.
  
  ## Musical theatre
  
  * 7 March – The London production of Song of Norway opens at the Palace Theatre and runs for 526 performances.
  * 19 December – Noël Coward's new musical Pacific 1860 opens at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, starring Mary Martin and Graham Payn.
  
  ## Musical films
  
  * Gaiety George, released July 22, starring Richard Greene and Ann Todd.
  * I'll Turn to You, directed by Geoffrey Faithfull, starring Terry Randall and Don Stannard
  * The Laughing Lady, directed by Paul L. Stein, starring Anne Ziegler and Webster Booth
  * London Town, released September 30, starring Sid Fields, Greta Gynt, Petula Clark, Kay Kendall and Sonny Hale and featuring Tessie O'Shea and Beryl Davis.
  * The Magic Bow, directed by Bernard Knowles, starring Stewart Granger and Phyllis Calvert
  
  ## Births
  
  * 3 January – John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin)
  * 6 January – Syd Barrett (Pink Floyd) (died 2006)
  * 10 January – Aynsley Dunbar, drummer and songwriter
  * 22 January – Malcolm McLaren, impresario and founder of the Sex Pistols (died 2010)
  * 7 March – Matthew Fisher (Procol Harum)
  * 21 March – Ray Dorset (Mungo Jerry)
  * 1 April – Ronnie Lane, singer, songwriter and guitarist (The Faces) (died 1997)
  * 2 April – Raymond Gubbay, classical music promoter
  * 4 April – Dave Hill, guitarist (Slade)
  * 11 April – Bob Harris, DJ
  * 10 May
     * Donovan, folk singer
     * Graham Gouldman, singer and songwriter (10cc)
     * Dave Mason, singer-songwriter and guitarist (Traffic and Fleetwood Mac)
  * 15 May – Aly Bain, Scottish fiddler (The Boys of the Lough)
  * 16 May – Robert Fripp, guitarist, composer and record producer
  * 18 May – Bruce Gilbert, guitarist (Wire and Dome)
  * 15 June - Noddy Holder, singer and songwriter (Slade)
  * 30 June - Giles Swayne, composer
  * 19 July – Alan Gorrie, Scottish singer and bass player (Average White Band and Forever More)
  * 23 July – Andy Mackay, saxophonist, oboist, and composer
  * 10 August – Peter Karrie, star of West End musical productions
  * 1 September – Barry Gibb, singer and songwriter
  * 5 September – Freddie Mercury, singer (Queen) (died 1991)
  * 23 September – Duster Bennett, blues singer and musician (died 1976)
  * 28 September – Helen Shapiro, singer
  * 14 October
     * Justin Hayward, guitarist, singer and songwriter (The Moody Blues)
     * Dan McCafferty (Nazareth)
  * 29 October – Peter Green, guitarist and singer
  * 8 November – Roy Wood, singer and songwriter (The Move, Wizzard)
  * 11 November – Chip Hawkes, vocalist and guitarist (The Tremeloes)
  * 24 November – Bev Bevan, drummer (Electric Light Orchestra, Black Sabbath)
  * 1 December – Gilbert O'Sullivan, singer-songwriter
  * 10 December – Ace Kefford, bass player
  * 12 December – Clive Bunker, drummer (Jethro Tull, Electric Sun, Solstice, and Aviator)
  * 14 December – Jane Birkin, French-based actress and singer (died 2023)
  * 16 December – Trevor Pinnock, harpsichordist and conductor
  * 29 December – Marianne Faithfull, singer and actress
  
  ## Deaths
  
  * 29 January – Sidney Jones, conductor and composer, 84
  * 20 February – Hugh Allen, organist and choral conductor, 76
  * 13 March – Thomas Dunhill, composer and music writer, 69
  * 13 April – W. H. Bell, composer and conductor, 72
  * 1 May
     * Edward Bairstow, organist and composer, 71
     * Percy Whitlock, organist and composer, 42 (tuberculosis)
  * 16 October – Sir Granville Bantock, composer, 78
  * 10 November – Nicholas Gatty, composer and music critic, 72
  * 5 December – Tom Clare, music hall singer and pianist, 70
  * 15 December – Frederic Norton, composer, 77
  