1917 in British music

This is a summary of 1917 in music in the United Kingdom.

Events

 * January – Morfydd Llwyn Owen makes her professional debut at London's Aeolian Hall.
 * Summer – Composer Arnold Bax and his lover, pianist Harriet Cohen, holiday together in Cornwall.
 * 26 November – After several cancellations, Granville Bantock's Tone Poem No. 3, also known as Orchestral Drama: Fifine at the Fair is finally performed by the Royal Philharmonic Society, conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham.
 * date unknown – Under the direction of Rupert D'Oyly Carte, the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company makes the first complete recording of a Gilbert and Sullivan opera, The Mikado, for the Gramophone Company (later His Master's Voice).

Popular music

 * Edward Elgar and Rudyard Kipling – "The Lowestoft Boat"
 * Bert Lee and R. P. Weston – "Paddy McGinty's Goat"

Classical music: new works

 * Kenneth J. Alford
 * On the Quarter Deck, march
 * The Middy, march
 * The Voice of the Guns
 * Arnold Bax – November Woods
 * Frank Bridge – Cello Sonata in D minor
 * Rebecca Clarke – Morpheus
 * Frederick Delius – Eventyr (Once Upon a Time)
 * Edward Elgar
 * The Sanguine Fan (ballet)
 * The Spirit of England
 * Gustav Holst – The Hymn of Jesus
 * Charles Villiers Stanford
 * Aviator's Hymn, for tenor, bass, choir, and organ
 * Irish Rhapsody No. 5, in G Minor, for orchestra
 * Night Thoughts, Op. 148, for piano
 * "On Windy Way When Morning Breaks", partsong
 * Sailing Song, partsong, two soprano voices
 * "St George of England", song
 * Scènes de ballet, Op. 150, for piano
 * Sonata No. 1, in F major, Op. 149, for organ
 * Sonata No. 2 ("Eroica"), in G minor, Op. 151, for organ
 * Sonata No. 3 ("Britannica"), in D minor, Op. 152, for organ

Musical theatre

 * 10 February – The Maid of the Mountains by Seymour Hicks, with music by Sidney Jones and Paul Rubens, and lyrics by Adrian Ross, starring José Collins, by Harold Fraser-Simson, with additional music by James W. Tate, lyrics by Harry Graham and additional lyrics by Frank Clifford Harris and Valentine, opens at Daly's Theatre, where it runs for 1,352 performances.
 * 14 September – The Boy, by Fred Thompson and Percy Greenbank, with music by Lionel Monckton and Howard Talbot and lyrics by Greenbank and Adrian Ross, opens at the Adelphi Theatre for a run of 801 performances, starring Maisie Gay and Donald Calthrop.

Births

 * 25 February – Anthony Burgess, composer and writer (died 1993)
 * 27 February – George Mitchell, founder of the Black and White Minstrels (died 2002)
 * 2 March – John Gardner, composer (died 2011)
 * 20 March – Vera Lynn, singer (died 2020)
 * 23 March – Josef Locke, tenor (died 1999)
 * 29 June – Mary Berry, canoness, choral conductor and musicologist (died 2008)
 * 6 July – Hugo Cole, composer and critic (died 1995)
 * 15 September – Richard Arnell, composer (died 2009)

Deaths

 * 25 February – Paul Rubens, composer and songwriter, 41 (tuberculosis)
 * 7 August – Basil Hood, librettist and lyricist, 53
 * 11 September – Evie Greene, actress and singer, 42 (Bright's disease)