istoryworld
Events relating to music
British choreographer Kenneth MacMillan creates his first ballet, Somnambulism, to music by Stan Kenton
English composer William Walton writes Orb and Sceptre for the coronation of Elizabeth II
Dmitry Shostakovich's Tenth Symphony has its first performance in Leningrad nine months after the death of Stalin
French composer Olivier Messiaen uses birdsong with piano and orchestra in his Waking of the Birds
Bill Haley & His Comets record Rock Around the Clock, providing an early classic of US rock and roll
US truck driver Elvis Presley makes his first commercial recordings, for Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee
William Walton's opera Troilus and Cressida has its premiere at Covent Garden
Michael Tippett's first opera, A Midsummer Marriage, has its premiere at Covent Garden
Canadian pianist Glenn Gould wins international fame with his recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations
Jazz trumpeter Miles Davis forms his own quintet, extending it in 1958 to a sextet
Heartbreak Hotel, Presley's first recording for RCA, goes to the top of all three US charts
Jerome Robbins creates the ballet The Concert, to music by Chopin
The musical My Fair Lady, by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, opens on Broadway
Karlheinz Stockhausen's Song of the Children combines electronic sounds and the human voice
Hans Werner Henze's opera The Stag King has its premiere in Berlin
The ballet Spartacus, with music by Aram Khachaturian, has its premiere in Leningrad
Arnold Schoenberg's opera Moses and Aaron, incomplete at his death, has its premiere in Zurich
Polish-born British composer Andrzej Panufnik wins an international reputation with his Sinfonia elegiaco
Laurence Olivier brings the music-hall artist Archie Rice vibrantly to life in John Osborne's The Entertainer
Leonard Bernstein, Jerome Robbins and Stephen Sondheim create the Broadway musical West Side Story
German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen uses three separate orchestras to achieve acoustic space in Gruppen
18-year-old British pop singer Cliff Richard has his first hit single with Move It
Francis Poulenc and Jean Cocteau collaborate on La Voix Humaine, a concerto for soprano voice and orchestra
Australian soprano Joan Sutherland becomes a star overnight with her performance at Covent Garden in Lucia di Lammermoor
A Liverpool group of musicians call themselves Long John & the Silver Beatles – a name soon shortened to something more memorable
