1937 in British music

This is a summary of 1937 in music in the United Kingdom.

Events

 * 24 January – Ernest John Moeran completes the revised version of his Symphony in G minor, dedicated to conductor Hamilton Harty.
 * 6 March – Composer Benjamin Britten and his partner, the tenor Peter Pears, meet for the first time, in London.
 * 12 May – William Walton's ceremonial march, "Crown Imperial", originally written for his predecessor, King Edward VIII, is performed for the first time at the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.
 * 27 August – Britten's Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge is performed at the Salzburg Festival, conducted by Boyd Neel.
 * 20 December – The Gaumont State Cinema opens in London with Sidney Torch as organist.
 * date unknown
 * Kathleen Ferrier wins the piano and vocal competitions at the Carlisle Festival, and is awarded a special rose bowl as champion of the festival.
 * George Lloyd marries Nancy Juvet. Lloyd suffers from PTSD and later acknowledges that he could not have recovered without Nancy's care.
 * Ukrainian-born pianist Benno Moiseiwitsch takes up British citizenship.

Popular music

 * "Did Your Mother Come From Ireland?" w.m. Jimmy Kennedy & Michael Carr
 * "Harbour Lights" w. Jimmy Kennedy m. Hugh Williams
 * "Home Town" w.m. Jimmy Kennedy & Michael Carr
 * "The Lambeth Walk" w. Douglas Furber, L. Arthur Rose m. Noel Gay
 * "Leaning on a Lamp-post" w.m. Noel Gay
 * "Me And My Girl" w.m. Noel Gay & Douglas Furber

Classical music: new works

 * Arthur Bliss – Checkmate (ballet)
 * Rutland Boughton – Symphony No. 3 in B minor
 * Frank Bridge String Quartet No. 4
 * Benjamin Britten – Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge
 * George Dyson – Symphony in G major
 * John Ireland – These Things Shall Be
 * Edmund Rubbra – Symphony No. 1
 * Ralph Vaughan Williams – Job: A Masque for Dancing (ballet)
 * Percy Whitlock – Wessex Suite

Film and Incidental music

 * Richard Addinsell – Fire Over England, starring Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh.
 * Ernest Irving – Feather Your Nest, starring George Formby, Polly Ward and Enid Stamp-Taylor.

Musical theatre

 * 5 February – On Your Toes London production opened at the Palace Theatre and ran for 123 performances
 * 29 March – Swing is in the Air London revue opened at the Palladium
 * 16 December – Me and My Girl (Noel Gay) – London production opened at the Victoria Palace Theatre and ran for 1646 performances.

Musical films

 * Big Fella, directed by J. Elder Wills, starring Paul Robeson and Elisabeth Welch
 * Calling All Stars, directed by Herbert Smith, starring Carroll Gibbons and Evelyn Dall
 * Gangway, starring Jessie Matthews and Alastair Sim
 * Head Over Heels, starring Jessie Matthews
 * Mayfair Melody, directed by Arthur B. Woods, starring Keith Falkner and Chili Bouchier
 * The Show Goes On, starring Gracie Fields, Owen Nares and John Stuart.
 * Song of the Forge, starring Stanley Holloway.
 * The Street Singer, starring Arthur Tracy, Margaret Lockwood and Arthur Riscoe
 * Take My Tip, directed by Herbert Mason, starring Jack Hulbert and Cicely Courtneidge

Births

 * 8 January – Shirley Bassey, singer
 * 22 January – Ryan Davies, comedian, singer and songwriter (died 1977)
 * 27 January – John Ogdon, pianist (died 1989)
 * 28 April – Jean Redpath, folk singer (died 2014)
 * 5 May – Delia Derbyshire, musician and composer of electronic music (died 2001)
 * 12 July – Guy Woolfenden, conductor and theatre composer (died 2016)
 * 27 July – Anna Dawson, actress and singer
 * 19 November – Geoff Goddard, songwriter, singer and instrumentalist (died 2000)
 * 30 November – Frank Ifield, British-born Australian singer
 * 1 December
 * Gordon Crosse, composer
 * David Measham, violinist and conductor (died 2005)
 * 12 December – Philip Ledger, composer and teacher (died 2012)
 * 31 December – Anthony Hopkins, actor and composer

Deaths

 * 22 January – Walter Willson Cobbett, businessman and amateur violinist, editor/author of Cobbett's Cyclopedic Survey of Chamber Music, 89
 * 10 April – Algernon Ashton, pianist and composer, 77
 * 1 May – Herbert Hughes, composer, music critic and collector of folk songs, 54
 * 2 May – Sir Arthur Somervell, composer, 73
 * 23 July – Charles Henry Mills, composer and music teacher (b. 1873)
 * 25 November – Lilian Baylis, founder of Sadler's Wells ballet company, 63 (heart attack)
 * 23 December – Muriel Foster, contralto, 60
 * 26 December
 * Dan Beddoe, tenor, 74
 * Ivor Gurney, composer and poet, 47 (tuberculosis)