1956 in British music

Events

• February – Release of Shirley Bassey's first single, Burn My Candle .
• 8 May – Benjamin Britten's opera Gloriana, written in 1953, is given its US première in Cincinnati, in concert form, conducted by Josef Krips.
• 14 May – Ralph Vaughan Williams's Symphony No. 8 receives its first London performance.
• June – Arthur Bliss heads the first delegation by British musicians to the Soviet Union since the end of the Second World War. The party included the violinist Alfredo Campoli, the oboist Léon Goossens, the soprano Jennifer Vyvyan and the pianist Gerald Moore.
• 13 November – The first of a series of Hoffnung Music Festival Concerts takes place at the Royal Festival Hall, in London.
• 28 November – Yoko Ono, recently divorced from Japanese composer Toshi Ichiyanagi, marries Anthony Cox.
• 31 December – Flanders and Swann launch their two-man revue At the Drop of a Hat.

  Charts

• See UK No.1 Hits of 1956

  Classical music: new works

• Arthur Bliss
• *Edinburgh Overture, for orchestra
• *Seek the Lord, SATB choir and organ
• Reginald Smith Brindle – El Polifemo de Oro
• Benjamin Britten
• *Antiphon, Op. 56b, for SATB choir and organ
• *The Prince of the Pagodas, Op. 57
• Peter Maxwell Davies – Sonata for Clarinet and Piano
• Stephen Dodgson – Concerto No. 1 for Guitar and Orchestra
• Cecil Armstrong Gibbs – Threnody
• Gordon Jacob
• *Concerto No. 2 for Oboe and Orchestra
• *Sextet for Piano and Wind Quintet
• *Trio for Violin, Cello, and Piano
• *Variations on "Annie Laurie", for two piccolos, two contrabass clarinets, heckelphone, two contrabassoons, serpent, contrabass serpent, subcontrabass tuba, harmonium, and hurdy-gurdy
• Michael Tippett –
• *Bonny at Morn, unison choir and three recorders
• *Songs from the British Isles, SATB choir
• Ralph Vaughan Williams
• *A Choral Flourish, for SATB choir, two trumpets, and organ
• *God Bless the Master of This House, for SATB choir
• *Preludes on Welsh Folksongs, for organ
• *Symphony No. 8
• *A Vision of Aeroplanes'', motet for SATB choir and organ
• William Walton – Cello Concerto

  Opera

• Malcolm Arnold – The Open Window, Op. 56
• Alan Bush – Men of Blackmoor, with libretto by Nancy Bush, premiered at the German National Theatre, Weimar

  Film and Incidental music

• Malcolm Arnold – 1984, starring Edmond O'Brien, Donald Pleasence, Jan Sterling and Michael Redgrave.
• Brian Easdale – The Battle of the River Plate by director-writer team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, starring John Gregson, Anthony Quayle and Peter Finch.
• Edward Williams – Doublecross directed by Anthony Squire, starring Donald Houston, Fay Compton and William Hartnell.

  Musical theatre

• Grab Me a Gondola by James Gilbert and Julien More, starring Denis Quilley

  Musical films

• The Good Companions, starring Eric Portman
• It's a Wonderful World, starring George Cole and featuring Ted Heath and Dennis Lotis
• It's Great to Be Young, starring John Mills and Cecil Parker
• Stars in Your Eyes, starring Nat Jackley and Patricia Kirkwood
• A Touch of the Sun, starring Frankie Howerd, Ruby Murray and Dennis Price

  Births

• 1 January – Andy Gill, guitarist and singer-songwriter
• 17 January – Paul Young, singer
• 25 January – Andy Cox
• 31 January – Johnny Rotten, singer
• 12 February – Brian Robertson, Scottish guitarist and songwriter
• 13 February – Peter Hook, singer and bass player
• 12 March – Steve Harris, musician, composer
• 3 June – Lynne Dawson, operatic soprano
• 5 July
• *Terry Chimes, drummer
• *Billy Jenkins, guitarist and composer
• 15 July – Ian Curtis, vocalist )
• 19 July –Nikki Sudden, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 20 July
• *Paul Cook, English drummer
• *Michael Gordon, American composer
• 27 August – Glen Matlock, guitarist
• 12 September – B. A. Robertson, singer-songwriter
• 27 October – Hazell Dean, singer
• 17 November – Philip Grange, composer
• 15 December – William Cauty, composter
• 19 December – Jimmy Cauty, artist and musician
• 28 December – Nigel Kennedy, violinist

  Deaths

• 9 March – Amanda Christina Elizabeth Aldridge, opera singer, teacher and composer, 89
• 16 March – Joseph John Richards, conductor, composer and music teacher, 77
• 9 April – Jack Little, composer, actor, singer and songwriter
• 16 May – Orlando Morgan, music teacher, composer and musicologist, 91
• 18 July – Violet Loraine, musical theatre star, 69
• 6 September – Felix Borowski, British/American composer and teacher, 84
• 27 September – Gerald Finzi, composer, 55
• 18 October – Harry Parry, jazz clarinetist and bandleader, 44
• 8 December – Edgar Bainton, church music composer, 76
• 9 December – Ethel Scarborough, pianist and composer, 76
• date unknown – George Oldroyd, organist and composer

  Awards

Ivor Novello Awards

• Best Song Musically and Lyrically – Mátyás Seiber & Norman Newell, "By the Fountains of Rome"