January 10 – The Amadeus Quartet gives its first recital under this name, at the Wigmore Hall in London.
February 25 – First Nice Jazz Festival with Louis Armstrong, Stéphane Grappelli, Claude Luter, Mezz Mezzrow and Django Reinhardt. It is during this first edition that Suzy Delair sings for the first time the song "C'est si bon" to a cabaret where Louis Armstrong ended his evening.
March 20 – Renowned Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini makes his television debut, conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra in the United States in a program featuring the works of Richard Wagner.
April 3 – Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 is played on television in its entirety for the first time in a concert featuring Toscanini conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra. The chorus was prepared by Robert Shaw.
April 21 – National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain gives its first concert.[1]
June 5 – Opening of the first Aldeburgh Festival, founded by Benjamin Britten, Eric Crozier and Peter Pears.
Summer – John Cage begins teaching at Black Mountain College in North Carolina.
June 21 – Columbia Records introduces the long-playing record album in a public demonstration[2] at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City.
November 29 – First live telecast of a complete opera by the Metropolitan Opera, of the opening-night performance of Giuseppe Verdi's Otello, starring Ramón Vinay, Licia Albanese, and Leonard Warren, on ABC-TV
December – Perry Como has his first television Christmas Special.
Hans Werner Henze becomes musical assistant at the Deutscher Theater in Konstanz.
Al Jolson is voted the "Most Popular Male Vocalist" of the year by a Variety poll.
Patti Page becomes the first artist to use the technique of multi-track overdubbing (later popularized by Les Paul & Mary Ford).
Columbia Records introduces the 33⅓ rpm LP ("long playing") record at New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, featuring 25 minutes of music per side, compared to the four minutes per side of the 78 rpm record, the previous standard for gramophone records.
Otis Rush moves to Chicago and begins his musical career.
Igor Stravinsky and Robert Craft meet for the first time.
Quartetto Cetra dubs the choruses for the Italian release of Disney's Dumbo.
Gabriel von Wayditch begins work on his last opera The Heretics, which is still not completed when he dies in 1969. However, he completed the piano score of the massive 8.5 hour work, which is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's longest opera.
Bruno Maderna meets Hermann Scherchen for the first time: a fundamental encounter.
John Serry Sr. meets his mentor, the composer Robert Strassburg for the first time.
Albums released[]
The Jolson Album Vol. 2 – Al Jolson
Christmas Songs by Sinatra – Frank Sinatra
Selections from Road to Rio – Bing Crosby, Andrews Sisters
Biggest hit singles[]
The following singles achieved the highest chart positions
in the limited set of charts available for 1948.
#
Artist
Title
Year
Country
Chart Entries
1
Pee Wee Hunt
Twelfth Street Rag
1948
US 1940s 1 – Jul 1948, US 1 for 8 weeks Aug 1948, Peel list 1 of 1947, US BB 4 of 1948, POP 7 of 1948, RYM 20 of 1948
"Be A Clown" w.m. Cole Porter introduced by Judy Garland and Gene Kelly in the film The Pirate
"Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo (The Magic Song)" w.m. Mack David, Al Hoffman & Jerry Livingston
"Black Coffee" w. Paul Francis Webster m. Sonny Burke
"Black Market" w.m. Frederick Hollander
"Blue Christmas" w.m. Billy Hayes & Jay Johnson
"The Blue Skirt Waltz" w. Mitchell Parish m. Vaclav Blaha
"Brush Those Tears From Your Eyes" w.m. Oakley Haldeman, Al Trace & Jimmy Lee
"Brush Up Your Shakespeare" w.m. Cole Porter introduced by Harry Clark and Jack Diamond in the musical Kiss Me, Kate. Memorably Performed in the film version by Keenan Wynn and James Whitmore.
"Busy Line" Semes, Stanton
"Candy Kisses" w.m. George Morgan
"Careless Hands" w. Bob Hilliard m. Carl Sigman
"Comme Ci, Comme Ça" w. (Eng) Joan Whitney & Alex Kramer (Fr) Pierre Dudan m. Bruno Coquatrix
"A Couple Of Swells" w.m. Irving Berlin. Introduced by Fred Astaire and Judy Garland in the film Easter Parade
"The Deck Of Cards" w.m. T. Texas Tyler
"Don't Look Now But My Heart Is Showing" w. Ann Ronell m. Kurt Weill from the film version of One Touch of Venus
"Forever And Ever" w. (Eng) Malia Rosa (Ger) Franz Winkler m. Franz Winkler
"Girls Were Made To Take Care Of Boys" w.m. Ralph Blane
"Hair Of Gold, Eyes Of Blue" w.m. Sunny Skylar
"Hang On The Bell, Nellie" w.m. Tommie Connor, Clive Erard & Ross Parker
"Hooray for Love" w. Leo Robin m. Harold Arlen. Introduced by Tony Martin in the film Casbah
"I Am Ashamed That Women Are So Simple" w.m. Cole Porter. Introduced by Patricia Morison in the musical Kiss Me Kate.
"I'm Beginning To Miss You" w.m. Irving Berlin
"I've Come To Wive It Wealthily In Padua" w.m. Cole Porter introduced by Alfred Drake in the musical Kiss Me, Kate. Sung in the film version by Howard Keel.
"Shoes With Wings On" w. Ira Gershwin m. Harry Warren
"So In Love" w.m. Cole Porter introduced by Patricia Morison in the musical Kiss Me, Kate. Performed in the film version by Kathryn Grayson and Howard Keel.
"Sunflower" Mack David
"Tennessee Waltz" w.m. Redd Stewart & Pee Wee King
"The Three Bells" w. (Eng) Bert Reisfeld m. Jean Villard Gilles
"Time Out For Tears" w.m. Abe Schiff & Irving Berman
"Tom, Dick or Harry" w.m. Cole Porter introduced by Lisa Kirk, Harold Lang, Edwin Clay and Charles Wood in the musical Kiss Me, Kate. Sung in the film version by Ann Miller, Tommy Rall, Bobby Van and Bob Fosse.
"Too Darn Hot" w.m. Cole Porter introduced by Lorenzo Fuller, Fred Davis and Eddie Sledge in the musical Kiss Me, Kate. Ann Miller sang and danced the number in the film version.
"A Tree In The Meadow" w.m. Billy Reid
"Uncle Charlie's Polka" m. John Serry Sr.
"Where Is The Life That Late I Led?" w.m. Cole Porter introduced by Alfred Drake in the musical Kiss Me, Kate. Sung by Howard Keel in the film version.
"Why Can't You Behave?" w.m. Cole Porter introduced by Lisa Kirk and Harold Lang in the musical Kiss Me, Kate. Performed by Ann Miller in the film version.
"Wunderbar" w.m. Cole Porter introduced by Alfred Drake and Patricia Morison in the musical Kiss Me, Kate. Performed by Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson.
"You Came A Long Way From St Louis" w. Bob Russell m. John Benson Brooks
Inside U.S.A. Broadway production loosely based on the book Inside U.S.A. by John Gunther. Arthur Schwartz (music) and Howard Dietz (lyrics). Opened on Broadway at the New Century Theatre on April 30, 1948, and run for 399 performances
London production opened at the Prince's Theatre on September 30 and ran for 235 performances
Kiss Me, Kate (Cole Porter) – Broadway production opened on December 30 at the New Century Theatre and ran for 1077 performances
(Sigmund Romberg and Rowland Leigh) opened at the Shubert Theatre on October 19, transferred to the Adelphi Theatre (New York) on December 7 and ran for a total of 95 performances
London production
Slings And Arrows London production
Broadway production
Where's Charley? Broadway production opened on October 11 at the St. James Theatre and ran for 792 performances
Musical films[]
April Showers starring Ann Sothern, Jack Carson, Robert Alda and S. Z. Sakall. Directed by James V. Kern.
^Assistant Professor of Music and Ad Astra Fellow Tomás McAuley; Tomás McAuley; Nanette Nielsen (30 December 2020). The Oxford Handbook of Western Music and Philosophy. Oxford University Press. p. 525. ISBN978-0-19-936731-3.
^p. 846, Slonimsky (1971) Nicolas. 4th Edition. New York Music Since 1900 Charles Scribner's Sons