1932 in British music

This is a summary of 1932 in music in the United Kingdom.

Events

 * 7 October – The London Philharmonic Orchestra, recently founded by Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent, gives its first public concert.
 * date unknown – Henry Hall becomes Director of the BBC Dance Orchestra.

Popular music

 * "Ain't it grand to be blooming well dead?" w. Leslie Sarony
 * "The Flies Crawled Up The Window" w.m. Douglas Furber & Vivian Ellis
 * "Love Is The Sweetest Thing"    w.m. Ray Noble
 * "Mad About the Boy"    w.m. Noël Coward
 * "What More Can I Ask?"    w. A. E. Wilkins m. Ray Noble

Classical music: new works

 * Arnold Bax
 * Concerto for Cello and Orchestra
 * Sinfonietta
 * Sonata No. 4, for piano
 * Summer Music, for orchestra (revised version)
 * Symphony No. 5
 * "Watching the Needleboats", for voice and piano (text by James Joyce)
 * Arthur Benjamin – Violin Concerto
 * Arthur Bliss – A Colour Symphony (revised)
 * Arnold Cooke – Harp Quintet
 * Gustav Holst
 * "If 'twer the Time of Lilies", for two-part choir and piano, H187 (words by Helen Waddell)
 * Jazz-Band Piece
 * Jig, for piano, H179
 * John Ireland – A Downland Suite
 * Cyril Rootham – Symphony No 1 in C minor
 * Michael Tippett – String Trio in B Flat
 * Ralph Vaughan Williams – Magnificat for contralto, women's chorus, and orchestra
 * William Walton – 3 Songs to Poems by Edith Sitwell
 * Grace Williams
 * Suite for orchestra
 * Two Psalms for contralto, harp and strings

Opera

 * Alfred Reynolds – Derby Day (with libretto by A. P. Herbert)

Film and Incidental music

 * John D. H. Greenwood – After Office Hours
 * Louis Levy – White Face

Musical theatre

 * 16 September – Words and Music, a London revue by Noël Coward, opens at the Adelphi Theatre.

Musical films

 * Carmen, directed by Cecil Lewis, starring Marguerite Namara and Thomas F. Burke
 * For the Love of Mike, directed by Monty Banks, starring Bobby Howes, Constance Shotter and Arthur Riscoe
 * Goodnight, Vienna, directed by Herbert Wilcox, starring Jack Buchanan, Anna Neagle and Gina Malo
 * Little Waitress, directed by Widgey R. Newman, starring Claude Bailey and Moore Marriott
 * The Maid of the Mountains, directed by Lupino Lane, starring Nancy Brown and Harry Welchman

Births

 * 3 January – Johanna Peters, operatic mezzo-soprano (died 2000)
 * 12 January – Des O'Connor, comedian, singer and television host (died 2020)
 * 19 January – Russ Hamilton, English singer-songwriter (died 2008)
 * 23 January – Cyril Davies, blues musician (died 1964)
 * 29 January – Myer Fredman, British-Australian conductor (died 2014)
 * 26 February – Jean Allister, opera singer (died 2012)
 * 31 March – John Mitchinson, operatic tenor
 * 19 May
 * John Barnes, saxophonist and clarinet player
 * Alma Cogan, singer (died 1966)
 * 21 May – Robert Sherlaw Johnson, pianist and composer (died 2000)
 * 27 June – Hugh Wood, composer
 * 16 July – John Chilton, jazz trumpeter (died 2016)
 * 31 August – Roy Castle, actor, musician and singer (died 1994)
 * 11 September – Ian Hamer, jazz trumpeter (died 2006)
 * 18 September – Maureen Lehane, operatic mezzo-soprano (died 2010)
 * 19 September – Lol Coxhill, jazz saxophonist (died 2012)
 * 15 November – Petula Clark, singer, actress, and songwriter
 * 26 December – Clive Westlake, songwriter (died 2000)

Deaths

 * 28 January – Poldowski, Belgian-born British pianist and composer, 52
 * 3 March – Eugen d'Albert, Scottish-born German pianist and composer, 67
 * 14 May – John Hughes, composer of Cwm Rhondda
 * 22 July – Hugh Blair, organist and composer, 67
 * 21 August – Frederick Corder, composer and music teacher, 80
 * 21 September – William Herbert Scott, church composer and hymn-writer, 70
 * 23 November – Percy Pitt, organist and conductor, 62
 * 4 December – Mona McBurney, pianist, teacher and composer, 70
 * 10 December – Percy Fletcher, composer, 52