Wikipedia

1950 in music

This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1950.

List of years in music (table)
In radio
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
In television
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
In film
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
+...
Clarinetist George Lewis in 1950 was prominent in the revived popularity of traditional jazz.

Specific locations edit

Specific genres edit

Events edit

Albums released edit

No. 1 hit singles edit

These singles reached the top of Billboard magazine's charts in 1950.

First week Number of weeks Title Artist
January 7, 1950 1 "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" Gene Autry, 7,000,000 sold by 1969[7]
January 14, 1950 4 "I Can Dream, Can't I?" The Andrews Sisters
February 11, 1950 1 "Rag Mop" The Ames Brothers
February 18, 1950 4 "Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy" Red Foley
March 18, 1950 4 "Music! Music! Music!" Teresa Brewer
April 15, 1950 2 "If I Knew You Were Comin' I'd've Baked a Cake" Eileen Barton
April 29, 1950 11 "The Third Man Theme" Anton Karas, 4,000,000 sold[7]
July 15, 1950 5 "Mona Lisa" Nat King Cole
August 19, 1950 13 "Goodnight, Irene" Gordon Jenkins & The Weavers, 2,000,000 sold[7]
November 18, 1950 2 "Harbor Lights" Sammy Kaye
December 2, 1950 4 "The Thing" Phil Harris
December 30, 1950 9 "The Tennessee Waltz" Patti Page

Biggest hit singles edit

The following songs achieved the highest chart positions in the limited set of charts available for 1950.

# Artist Title Year Country Chart entries
1 Nat King Cole Mona Lisa 1950 US US 1940s 1 – Jun 1950, US 1 for 5 weeks Jul 1950, Oscar in 1950, US BB 2 of 1950, POP 2 of 1950, DDD 4 of 1950, Italy 48 of 1951, RIAA 109, Acclaimed 1292
2 Patti Page Tennessee Waltz 1950 US US 1940s 1 – Nov 1950, US 1 for 9 weeks Dec 1950, US BB 4 of 1950, 6,000,000 sold by 1967[7]
3 Phil Harris The Thing 1950 US US 1940s 1 – Nov 1950, US 1 for 4 weeks Dec 1950, Peel list 1 of 1950, US BB 12 of 1950, POP 12 of 1950
4 Red Foley Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy 1950 US US 1940s 1 – Jan 1950, US 1 for 4 weeks Feb 1950, DDD 17 of 1950, US BB 18 of 1950, POP 25 of 1950
5 Teresa Brewer Music! Music! Music! 1950 US US 1940s 1 – Feb 1950, US 1 for 4 weeks Mar 1950, US BB 3 of 1950, POP 3 of 1950

Top hit records edit

Top R&B hits on record edit

Published popular music edit

Classical music edit

Premieres edit

Composer Composition Date Location Performers
Andriessen, Hendrik Organ Concerto 1950-11-01 Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra – Monteux[8]
Boulez, Pierre Le Soleil des eaux (2nd version, subsequently withdrawn) 1950-07-18 Paris Joachim, Mollet, Peyron / RTF National Orchestra – Désormière[9]
Boulez, Pierre Piano Sonata No. 2 (1948) 1950-04-29 Paris Grimaud[10]
Benjamin Britten Five Flower Songs 1950-07-23 Darlington Hall, England Imogen Holst conducting a student choir[11]
Cage, John String Quartet in Four Parts 1950-08-12 Black Mountain, North Carolina Summer Session Quartet[12]
Foss, Lukas Song of Anguish 1950-03-10 Boston Boston Symphony – Foss[13]
Guridi, Jesús String Quartet No. 2 1950-05-14 Madrid National Chamber Music Association[14]
Hartmann, Karl Amadeus Adagio (Symphony No. 2) 1950-09-10 Donaueschingen Festival, Germany SWF Symphony – Rosbaud[15]
Howells, Herbert Hymnus Paradisi (1938) 1950-09-07 Gloucester, UK (Three Choirs Festival) Baillie, William Herbert / London Symphony – Howells[16][17]
Jolivet, André Concerto for Flute and Strings 1950-01-24 Paris Rampla / [unknown orchestra and conductor][18]
Khachaturian, Aram Triumphal Poem 1950-12-09 Moscow USSR Radio Symphony – Gauk[19]
Martinu, Bohuslav Intermezzo for Large Orchestra 1950-12-29 New York City Louisville Orchestra – Whitney[20][21]
Martinu, Bohuslav Piano Trio No. 2 1950-05-19 Cambridge, Massachusetts Liepmann, Finckel, Tucker[22]
Martinu, Bohuslav Sinfonietta La Jolla 1950-08-13 San Diego, California Orchestra of the Musical Arts Society of La Jolla – Sokoloff[23]
Nono, Luigi Variazioni canoniche sulla serie dell'op. 41 di Schoenberg 1950-08-27 Darmstädter Ferienkurse, Germany Darmstadt Landestheater Orchestra – Scherchen[24]
Prokofiev, Sergei Cello Sonata (1949) 1950-03-01 Moscow Rostropovich, Richter[25]
Searle, Humphrey Poem for 22 Strings 1950-08-27 Darmstädter Ferienkurse, Germany Darmstadt Landestheater Orchestra – Scherchen[26]
Strauss, Richard (d. 1949) Four Last Songs (1948) 1950-05-22 Royal Albert Hall, London Flagstad / Philharmonia Orchestra – Furtwängler[27]
Villa-Lobos, Heitor Montanhas de Brasil (Symphony No. 6) (1944) 1950-04-29 Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro Municipal Theatre Symphony – Villa-Lobos [28]
Villa-Lobos, Heitor Piano Concerto No. 2 (1948) 1950-04-21 Rio de Janeiro João de Souza Lima [pt; de; ru] / Rio de Janeiro Municipal Theatre Symphony – Villa-Lobos[29]

Compositions edit

Opera edit

Film edit

Jazz edit

Main article: 1950 in jazz

Musical theatre edit

Musical films edit

 
Dorothy Kirsten and Bing Crosby in "Mr. Music".

Births edit

January – February edit

March – April edit

May – June edit

July – August edit

September – October edit

November – December edit

Deaths edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ Anon., "Columbia Records Acquires Casals", The New York Times (14 March): 21.
  2. ^ "Composer Wins Music Contest". The New York Times. August 30, 1950. p. 27.
  3. ^ "Hymnus Paradisi". The Musical Times. 91 (1291). Musical Times Publications Ltd: 352–353. September 1950. doi:10.2307/935574. JSTOR 935574.
  4. ^ Howard Taubman (October 12, 1950). "Gulda Impresses in Piano Program: 20-Year-Old Austrian Artist Shows Great Musical Gifts in Recital at Carnegie Hall". The New York Times. p. 51.
  5. ^ "Soprano Winds Steber Award". The New York Times. November 4, 1950. p. 13.
  6. ^ Ronald Crichton, "Sargent, Sir (Harold) Malcolm (Watts)", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London: Macmillan, 2001).
  7. ^ a b c d Murrells, Joseph (1978). The book of golden discs. Internet Archive. London : Barrie & Jenkins. ISBN 978-0-214-20512-5.
  8. ^ "Bruno Klassiek". Archived from the original on June 24, 2015. Retrieved June 24, 2015.
  9. ^ "Pierre Boulez: Le Soleil des eaux" (work details) (in French and English). IRCAM.
  10. ^ Encyclopedia Universalis
  11. ^ "Benjamin Britten: Five Flower Songs" (work details) (in French and English). IRCAM.
  12. ^ Black Mountain Studies Journal
  13. ^ "Boston Symphony Orchestra". Archived from the original on January 18, 2017. Retrieved May 25, 2017.
  14. ^ Doce Notas
  15. ^ Schott Music
  16. ^ Naxos
  17. ^ Thesis by Martin John Ward for the University of Birmingham, p.75
  18. ^ "André Jolivet: Flute Concerto" (work details) (in French and English). IRCAM.
  19. ^ "Le Chant du Monde" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 23, 2015. Retrieved June 30, 2015.
  20. ^ Naxos Records
  21. ^ "Louisville Orchestra". Archived from the original on June 26, 2015. Retrieved June 24, 2015.
  22. ^ "Classics Online". Archived from the original on June 26, 2015. Retrieved June 24, 2015.
  23. ^ Boosey & Hawkes
  24. ^ "Fondazione Onlus". Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved June 24, 2015.
  25. ^ Classical Connect
  26. ^ Darmstädter Ferienkurse, 1946–1966
  27. ^ Musicweb International
  28. ^ Historia de la sinfonía
  29. ^ Villa-Lobos, sua obra Archived October 16, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, Version 1.0. (MinC / IBRAM, and the Museu Villa-Lobos, 2009; based on the third edition, 1989): 56–57.
  30. ^ "Hamara Ghar : Lyrics and video of Songs from the Movie Hamara Ghar (1950)". HindiGeetMala. October 17, 2016. Retrieved December 20, 2016.
  31. ^ "Grable to appear in Blue Heaven: Star Ends Hold-Out Against the Fox Studios". The New York Times. October 19, 1949. p. 37.
  32. ^ Naati 101 Chitralu S. V. Rama Rao, Kinnera Publications, Hyderabad, 2006, pp. 54–55.
  33. ^ Goble, Alan (1999). The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film. Walter de Gruyter. p. 176.
  34. ^ Crowther, Bosley (March 31, 1950). "The Screen in Review". The New York Times. p. 43.
  35. ^ "Info on ciao.it". Ciao.it. Archived from the original on September 23, 2015. Retrieved August 17, 2018.
  36. ^ Mercado, Mario R. (1989). Kurt Weill: A Guide to His Works. Kurt Weill Foundation for Music.
  37. ^ "Straube, Karl". Deutsche Biographie (in German). Retrieved August 30, 2021.
  38. ^ Prince of Pianists | Lipatti | Classical Music | Mark Ainley Archived October 22, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
  39. ^ Musician, Player and Listener. Amordian Press. 1978. p. 45.
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