This is a summary of 1934 in music in the United Kingdom.
Events
February – Sir Edward Elgar dies and is buried next to his wife at St Wulstan's Roman Catholic Church in Little Malvern. Elgar leaves behind 130 pages of notes which Anthony Payne uses to reconstruct his unfinished Third Symphony; it would be premièred in 1998. Elgar is replaced as Master of the King's Music by Sir Walford Davies. 28 May – Opening of the first Glyndebourne Festival Opera season. June – Sir Henry Lytton retires from the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.
Popular music
"The Bluebird Of Happiness" w. Edward Heyman & Harry Parr-Davies m. Sandor Hamati "Home, James, and Don't Spare the Horses", by Fred Hillebrand, recorded by Jay Wilbur and later by Elsie Carlisle, with Ambrose and his Orchestra "If (They Made Me a King)", music by Tolchard Evans and lyrics by Robert Hargreaves and Stanley J. Damerell "I'll Follow My Secret Heart" w.m. Noël Coward, Introduced by Noël Coward and Yvonne Printemps in the musical Conversation Piece Albert Ketèlbey – From a Japanese Screen
Recordings
Sam Browne, Ambrose and his Orchestra – "Stay As Sweet As You Are" Stanley Holloway - "With Her Head Tucked Underneath Her Arm"
Classical music: new works
Arnold Bax
Clarinet Sonata
Northern Ballad No. 2
Frank Bridge – A Merry, Merry Xmas
Benjamin Britten
Simple Symphony
Te Deum in C
Edward German – Cloverley Suite
Walter Leigh – Concertino for Harpsichord and String Orchestra
William Reed – Homage to Delius, for string sextet
Ralph Vaughan Williams – Suite for Viola and Orchestra
Opera
Gustav Holst – The Wandering Scholar
Michael Tippett – Robin Hood
Film and Incidental music
Arthur Bliss – Things to Come
Ernest Irving – Autumn Crocus
Musical theatre
19 February – The revue Yours Sincerely, starring Binnie Barnes opens at Daly's Theatre. 31 March – Sporting Love opens at the Gaiety Theatre and runs for 302 performances. 27 September – London production of Yes, Madam? (Music: Jack Waller and Joseph Tunbridge Lyrics: R. P. Weston and Bert Lee Book: R. P. Weston, Bert Lee and R. G. Browne) opens at the Hippodrome and runs for 302 performances
Musical films
Blossom Time starring Richard Tauber
Boots! Boots! starring George Formby and Beryl Formby, and featuring Betty Driver and Harry Hudson & his Band Evergreen, produced by Michael Balcon, starring Jessie Matthews Music Hall, starring George Carney, with music by W. L. Trytel The Broken Melody, starring John Garrick, Margot Grahame and Merle Oberon, with music by W. L. Trytel
Births
13 January – Geoff Bradford, guitarist (died 2013) 29 January – Noel Harrison, singer and actor (died 2013) 4 March – John Churchill Dunn, DJ (died 2004) 8 March – John McLeod, composer (died 2022) 29 March – Delme Bryn-Jones, operatic baritone (died 2001) 7 April – Victor Feldman, jazz musician (died 1987) 5 May – Jim Reid, folk musician (died 2009) 9 May – Roy Massey, organist and conductor 24 May – Barry Rose, choir-trainer and organist 3 June – Bob Wallis, jazz musician (died 1991) 2 July – Tom Springfield, singer-songwriter and producer (The Springfields) 15 July – Harrison Birtwistle, composer 26 July – Anthony Gilbert, composer 8 September – Peter Maxwell Davies, composer (died 2016) 19 September – Brian Epstein, manager of the Beatles (died 1967) 26 September – Geoffrey Grey, composer 30 September – Sheila Tracy, trombonist and radio presenter (died 2014) 1 November – William Mathias, composer (died 1992) 15 November – Peter Dickinson, English pianist and composer 20 November – Colin Smith, jazz trumpeter (died 2004) 4 December – Chas McDevitt, skiffle musician 9 December – Alan Ridout, composer (died 1996) 16 December – Jim Parker, composer (died 2023)
Deaths
23 February – Sir Edward Elgar, composer, 76
25 February – Daniel Protheroe, composer and conductor, 67
3 March – George Ratcliffe Woodward, poet and composer, 85
7 May – Edward Naylor, organist and composer, 67
25 May – Gustav Holst, composer, 59 (complications following surgery) 10 June Frederick Delius, composer, 82 Julia Gwynne, opera singer, 77 11 August – Kalitha Dorothy Fox, composer, 40 10 September – George Henschel, German-born baritone singer, pianist, conductor and composer, 84 24 September – Edwin Lemare, organist and composer, 69