1953 in music

Events
February 6 – Contralto Kathleen Ferrier, already terminally ill with cancer, leaves Covent Garden Opera House on a stretcher after being taken ill on the second night of her run in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice. February 11 – The Louisville Orchestra, conducted by the composer, premieres Carlos Chávez's Fourth Symphony (Sinfonía romántica). March 12 – Heinrich Sutermeister's opera Romeo and Juliet receives its first UK performance at Sadler's Wells Theatre in London, conducted by James Robertson. May 26 – Werner Meyer-Eppler, Fritz Enkel, Herbert Eimert, and Robert Beyer open a pioneering electronic music studio at the Cologne studios of the NWDR (Morawska-Büngeler 1988, 11–12). July 16–July 29 – The Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik are held at Darmstadt. July 18 – Elvis Presley makes his first recordings. September 27 – Helen Traubel ends her long association with the Metropolitan Opera, after having appeared in Chicago as a night-club singer (Anon. 1953). October – Sir Arthur Bliss replaces Sir Arnold Bax as Master of the Queen's Music. October 5 – Wilhelm Furtwängler and the soloist's in the Vienna State Opera's production of Don Giovanni publicly protest the suspension of Egon Hilbert as administrator of the Burg Theater and State Opera. October 19 – Opening of the Covent Garden opera season, with a production of Wagner's Die Walküre. October 30 – Ernst Marboe is announced as the new administrator of the Vienna State Opera and Burg Theater, replacing Egon Hilbert. November 2 – the Metropolitan Opera announces that a new two-year contract has been agreed with the musicians' union, averting a threatened strike by the orchestra. November 17 – Carl Ebert is announced as the new Intendant of the Städtische Oper, (West) Berlin. December 7 – the La Scala opera season opens with a production of Alfredo Catalani's La Wally, to mark the hundredth anniversary of the composer's birth. Alfred Schnittke becomes a student of Evgeny Golubev. Frank Sinatra begins recording at Capitol. Frankie Laine sets the all-time United Kingdom record for weeks at Number One in a given year on the UK Singles Chart, when his hit singles "Answer Me," "Hey Joe!" and "I Believe" held the top slot for 27 weeks: a little over half a year. "I Believe," which was Number One for 18 weeks also holds the all-time record for a single. Over 50 years later, both records still hold. Eddie Fisher becomes "The Coca-Cola Kid" on the television show, Coke Time at a salary of one million dollars a year. The Platters form in Los Angeles. "Crazy Man, Crazy", recorded by Bill Haley & His Comets, becomes the first rock and roll single to make the Billboard national American musical charts. The Erato Records label is founded to promote French classical music.

Albums

 * 1) Tristan und Isolde Wilhelm Furtwangler/Ludwig Suthaus/Kirsten Flagstad

Biggest hit singles
The following singles achieved the highest chart positions in the limited set of charts available for 1953.

Published popular music
"And This Is My Beloved" w. & m. adapted Robert Wright & George Forrest "Angel Eyes" w. Earl Brent m. Matt Dennis "Anna" w.(Eng) William Engvick (Ital) F. Giordano m. R. Vatro "Answer Me, My Love" w. (Eng) Carl Sigman (Ger) & m. Gerhard Winkler & Fred Ravich "Baubles, Bangles And Beads" w. & m. adapt Robert Wright & George Forrest. Introduced by Doretta Morrow in the musical Kismet "Bell Bottom Blues" w. Hal David m. Leon Carr "Bimbo" w.m. Rodney Morris "Black Hills Of Dakota" w. Paul Francis Webster m. Sammy Fain. Introduced by Doris Day in the film Calamity Jane. "The Boy Friend" w.m. Sandy Wilson. "Can-Can" w.m. Cole Porter "Caribbean" w.m. Mitchell Torok "C'est Magnifique" w.m. Cole Porter. Introduced by Lilo and Peter Cookson in the musical Can-Can "Changing Partners" w. Joe Darion m. Larry Coleman "Chicka Boom" w.m. Bob Merrill "Crying In the Chapel" w.m. Artie Glenn "Cry Me a River" w.m. Arthur Hamilton "Dragnet" w.m. Walter Schumann "Ebb Tide" w. Carl Sigman m. Robert Maxwell "Eh, Cumpari!" trad Ital w. m. adapt. Julius LaRosa & Archie Bleyer "Ev'rybody Loves Saturday Night" Campbell "Fate" w. & m. adapt Robert Wright & George Forrest from music by Alexander Borodin Adapted from Symphony No. 2 in B Minor. It was introduced by Alfred Drake and Doretta Morrow in the musical Kismet. "From Here to Eternity" w. Robert Wells m. Fred Karger "Gambler's Guitar" w.m. Jim Lowe "Gee!" w.m. Viola Watkins, Daniel Norton & William Davis "Giddy-Up-A Ding Dong" w.m. Freddie Bell, Pep Lattanzi "Goodnite, Sweetheart, Goodnite" James Hudson, Calvin Carter "Half a Photograph" w. Bob Russell m. Hal Stanley "The Happy Wanderer" w.(Ger) Florenz Siegesmund & Edith Möller (Eng) Antonia Ridge m. Friedrich Wilhelm Möller "Here's That Rainy Day" w. Johnny Burke m. Jimmy Van Heusen. Introduced by John Raitt in the musical Carnival In Flanders. "Hold My Hand" w.m. Jack Lawrence & Richard Myers "I Believe" w.m. Ervin Drake, Jimmy Shirl, Irvin Graham & Al Stillman "(Oh Baby Mine) I Get So Lonely" w.m. Pat Ballard "I Love Paris" w.m. Cole Porter. Introduced by Lilo in the musical Can-Can "I Really Don't Want To Know" w. Howard Barnes m. Don Robertson "I'm Walking Behind You" w.m. Billy Reid "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" w. Jimmy Kennedy m. Nat Simon "It's All Right With Me" w.m. Cole Porter "It's Love" w. Betty Comden & Adolph Green m. Leonard Bernstein. Introduced by George Gaynes in the musical Wonderful Town. Performed in the 1955 London production by Dennis Bowen. "Just Walkin' In The Rain" w.m. Johnny Bragg & Robert S. Riley "Little Things Mean a Lot" w.m. Carl Stutz & Edith Lindeman "Look at That Girl" w.m. Bob Merrill "Make Love to Me" w. Alan Copeland & Bill Norvas Music from "Tin Roof Blues" 1923. "The Man That Got Away" w. Ira Gershwin m. Harold Arlen "The Man With The Banjo" w. (Eng) Robert Mellin m. Fritz Schulz Reichel "Marriage Type Love" w. Oscar Hammerstein II m. Richard Rodgers. Introduced by Arthur Maxwell and Helena Scott in the musical Me And Juliet. "Matilda, Matilda!" w.m. Harry Thomas "Melancholy Serenade" m. Jackie Gleason "Mexican Joe" w.m. Mitchell Torok "Money Burns a Hole In My Pocket" w. Bob Hilliard m. Jule Styne. Introduced by Dean Martin in the 1954 film Living It Up. "Money Honey" w.m. Jesse Stone "My Love, My Love" w. Bob Haymes m. Nick Acquaviva "No Other Love" w. Oscar Hammerstein II m. Richard Rodgers. Introduced by Isabel Bigley and Bill Hayes in the musical Me And Juliet. "Non Dimenticar" w.(Eng) Shelley Dobbins (Ital) Michele Galdieri m. P. G. Redi "Not Since Nineveh" w. & m. adapt Robert Wright & George Forrest From Borodin's "Polovetsian Dances". "Oh! My Pa-Pa" w. John Turner & Geoffrey Parsons m. Paul Burkhard "The Olive Tree" w. & m. adapt Robert Wright & George Forrest from music by Alexander Borodin "Rags to Riches" w.m. Richard Adler & Jerry Ross "Ricochet" w.m. Larry Coleman, Joe Darion & Norman Gimbel "Rock Around the Clock" w.m. Jimmy De Knight & Max C. Freedman "Santa Baby" w.m. Joan Javits, Phil Springer & Tony Springer "Satin Doll" w.m. Billy Strayhorn & Duke Ellington "Secret Love" w. Paul Francis Webster m. Sammy Fain. Introduced by Doris Day in the film Calamity Jane "Seven Lonely Days" w.m. Alden Shuman, Earl Shuman & Marshal Brown "Shake a Hand" w.m. Joe Morris "Sippin' Soda" adapt. P. Campbell "The Song From "Moulin Rouge"" (a.k.a. "Where Is Your Heart") w. (Eng) William Engvick (Fr) Jacques Larue m. Georges Auric "Stranger in Paradise" w. & m. adapt Robert Wright & George Forrest. Introduced by Doretta Morrow and Richard Kiley in the musical Kismet. "Such a Night" w.m. Lincoln Chase "Sway" ("Quien Será") w. (Eng) Norman Gimbel (Sp) Pablo Beltrán Ruiz m. Pablo Beltran Ruiz "Teach Me Tonight" w. Sammy Cahn m. Gene De Paul "Tell Me a Story" w.m. Terry Gilkyson "Tell Us Where the Good Times Are" w.m. Bob Merrill "That's Amore" w. Jack Brooks m. Harry Warren "Vaya con Dios" w.m. Larry Russell, Inez James & Buddy Pepper "Wanted" w.m. Jack Fulton & Lois Steele "When Love Goes Wrong" w. Harold Adamson m. Hoagy Carmichael from the film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes "You Won't Forget Me" w. Kermit Goell m. Fred Spielman Introduced by India Adams dubbing for Joan Crawford in the film Torch Song "You, You, You" w.(Eng) Robert Mellin (Ger) Walter Rothenberg m. Lotar Olias "Young at Heart" w. Carolyn Leigh m. Johnny Richards