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1950 in music

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

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

Specific locations

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Specific genres

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Events

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Albums released

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No. 1 hit singles

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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

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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

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Top R&B hits on record

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Classical music

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Premieres

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Composer Composition Date Location Performers
Andriessen, Hendrik Organ Concerto 1950-11-01 Amsterdam Concertgebouw OrchestraMonteux[8]
Boulez, Pierre Le Soleil des eaux (2nd version, subsequently withdrawn) 1950-07-18 Paris Joachim, Mollet, Peyron / RTF National OrchestraDésormière[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 SymphonyFoss[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 SymphonyRosbaud[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 SymphonyGauk[19]
Martinu, Bohuslav Intermezzo for Large Orchestra 1950-12-29 New York City Louisville OrchestraWhitney[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 JollaSokoloff[23]
Nono, Luigi Variazioni canoniche sulla serie dell'op. 41 di Schoenberg 1950-08-27 Darmstädter Ferienkurse, Germany Darmstadt Landestheater OrchestraScherchen[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 OrchestraScherchen[26]
Strauss, Richard (d. 1949) Four Last Songs (1948) 1950-05-22 Royal Albert Hall, London Flagstad / Philharmonia OrchestraFurtwängler[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

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Opera

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Film

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Jazz

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Musical theatre

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Musical films

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

Births

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January – February

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March – April

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May – June

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July – August

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September – October

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November – December

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Deaths

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Notes

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  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.