This is a summary of 1932 in music in the United Kingdom.
Events
7 October – The London Philharmonic Orchestra, recently founded by Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent, gives its first public concert. date unknown – Henry Hall becomes Director of the BBC Dance Orchestra.
Popular music
"Ain't it grand to be blooming well dead?" w. Leslie Sarony
"The Flies Crawled Up The Window" w.m. Douglas Furber & Vivian Ellis
"Love Is The Sweetest Thing" w.m. Ray Noble
"Mad About the Boy" w.m. Noël Coward
"What More Can I Ask?" w. A. E. Wilkins m. Ray Noble
Classical music: new works
Arnold Bax
Concerto for Cello and Orchestra
Sinfonietta
Sonata No. 4, for piano
Summer Music, for orchestra (revised version) Symphony No. 5 "Watching the Needleboats", for voice and piano (text by James Joyce) Arthur Benjamin – Violin Concerto Arthur Bliss – A Colour Symphony (revised) Arnold Cooke – Harp Quintet Gustav Holst "If 'twer the Time of Lilies", for two-part choir and piano, H187 (words by Helen Waddell) Jazz-Band Piece Jig, for piano, H179 John Ireland – A Downland Suite Cyril Rootham – Symphony No 1 in C minor Michael Tippett – String Trio in B Flat Ralph Vaughan Williams – Magnificat for contralto, women's chorus, and orchestra William Walton – 3 Songs to Poems by Edith Sitwell Grace Williams Suite for orchestra Two Psalms for contralto, harp and strings
Opera
Alfred Reynolds – Derby Day (with libretto by A. P. Herbert)
Film and Incidental music
John D. H. Greenwood – After Office Hours
Louis Levy – White Face
Musical theatre
16 September – Words and Music, a London revue by Noël Coward, opens at the Adelphi Theatre.
Musical films
Carmen, directed by Cecil Lewis, starring Marguerite Namara and Thomas F. Burke
For the Love of Mike, directed by Monty Banks, starring Bobby Howes, Constance Shotter and Arthur Riscoe Goodnight, Vienna, directed by Herbert Wilcox, starring Jack Buchanan, Anna Neagle and Gina Malo Little Waitress, directed by Widgey R. Newman, starring Claude Bailey and Moore Marriott The Maid of the Mountains, directed by Lupino Lane, starring Nancy Brown and Harry Welchman
Births
3 January – Johanna Peters, operatic mezzo-soprano (died 2000) 12 January – Des O'Connor, comedian, singer and television host (died 2020) 19 January – Russ Hamilton, English singer-songwriter (died 2008) 23 January – Cyril Davies, blues musician (died 1964) 29 January – Myer Fredman, British-Australian conductor (died 2014) 26 February – Jean Allister, opera singer (died 2012) 31 March – John Mitchinson, operatic tenor 19 May John Barnes, saxophonist and clarinet player Alma Cogan, singer (died 1966) 21 May – Robert Sherlaw Johnson, pianist and composer (died 2000) 27 June – Hugh Wood, composer 16 July – John Chilton, jazz trumpeter (died 2016) 31 August – Roy Castle, actor, musician and singer (died 1994) 11 September – Ian Hamer, jazz trumpeter (died 2006) 18 September – Maureen Lehane, operatic mezzo-soprano (died 2010) 19 September – Lol Coxhill, jazz saxophonist (died 2012) 15 November – Petula Clark, singer, actress, and songwriter 26 December – Clive Westlake, songwriter (died 2000)
