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.
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 33+1⁄3 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.
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.
The following songs appeared in The Billboard's 'Best Selling Retail Records', 'Records Most-Played On the Air' and 'Most Played Juke Box Records' charts, starting November 1947 and before December 1948. Each week fifteen points were awarded to the number one record, then nine points for number two, eight points for number three, and so on. This system rewards songs that reach the highest positions, as well as those that had the longest chart runs. The total of a song's complete chart run is determined (never cutoff at the end of December, as in The Billboard's year-end lists), then the three Popular charts are combined, with that number determining a record's year-end rank. Regional charts determine the 11-25 rankings each week, and records that failed to score on the main chart were ranked by highest position. If a record scored on only one or two of the popular charts, it will obviously rank lower than a national hit on radios and juke boxes. Additional information from other sources is reported, but not used for ranking. This includes dates obtained from the "Discography of American Historical Recordings" website, chart performance from 'Most Played Juke Box Race Records', 'Most Played Juke Box Folk (Hillbilly) Records', 'Cashbox', and other sources as noted.
The Billboard's Top Race Records
The following songs appeared in The Billboard's Most-Played Juke Box Race Records and Best-Selling Retail Race Records charts, starting November 1947 through November 1948. Each week twenty points were awarded to the number one record, then fourteen points for number two, thirteen points for number three, and so on. This system rewards songs that reach the highest positions, as well as those that had the longest chart runs. Also see Billboard Top Race Records of 1948.
Cage Me a Peacock (Music: Eve Lynd Lyrics: Adam Leslie Book: Noel Langley) London production opened at the Strand Theatre on June 18 and ran for 337 performances
Caribbean Rhapsody London production
Carissima London production opened at the Palace Theatre on March 10 and ran for 488 performances
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^"Ken Griffin The Rondo Years". theatreorgans.com. Retrieved 2022-07-29.
^"Decca matrix L 4366. Maybe you'll be there / Gordon Jenkins Orchestra – Discography of American Historical Recordings". adp.library.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 2022-07-29.
^"RCA Victor 78rpm numerical listing discography: 20-3000 through 20-3500". www.78discography.com. Retrieved 2022-07-29.
^"RCA Victor 20-2500–3000 78rpm numerical listing discography". www.78discography.com. Retrieved 2022-07-18.
^"Decca matrix 73886. Run Joe / Louis Jordan and his Tympany Five – Discography of American Historical Recordings". adp.library.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 2022-08-18.
^"Modern Records 78rpm numerical listing discography (500 to end of series)". www.78discography.com. Retrieved 2022-08-18.
^"Mercury 8000 series 78rpm numerical listing discography". www.78discography.com. Retrieved 2022-08-18.
^"Supreme records 78rpm numerical listing discography". www.78discography.com. Retrieved 2022-08-18.
^"Decca matrix 73883. Barnyard boogie / Louis Jordan and his Tympany Five – Discography of American Historical Recordings". adp.library.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 2022-08-18.
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^Samuel Barber: A Research and Information Guide
^Redlands Symphony
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^"Benjamin Britten: Saint Nicolas" (work details) (in French and English). IRCAM.
^John Cage website
^"John Cage: In a Landscape" (work details) (in French and English). IRCAM.
^"John Cage: Suite for Toy Piano" (work details) (in French and English). IRCAM.
^"Friedrich Cerha: Six Lieder" (work details) (in French and English). IRCAM.
^Howard Pollock, Aaron Copland: The Life and Work of an Uncommon Man (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1999), 430.
^"Luigi Dallapiccola: Quattro liriche di Antonio Machado" (work details) (in French and English). IRCAM.
^Naxos Records
^"American Symphony Orchestra". Archived from the original on 2015-07-09. Retrieved 2015-07-08.
^"Henri Dutilleux: Piano Sonata" (work details) (in French and English). IRCAM.
^Boosey & Hawkes
^ a b c d"Boston Symphony Orchestra". Archived from the original on 2017-01-18. Retrieved 2015-07-04.
^Schott Music
^"Hans Werner Henze: Violin Concerto No. 1" (work details) (in French and English). IRCAM.
^Scott Music
^"Charles Ives: Piano Trio" (work details) (in French and English). IRCAM.
^"Charles Ives: Three Harvest Home Chorales" (work details) (in French and English). IRCAM.
^"André Jolivet: Concerto for Ondes Martenot" (work details) (in French and English). IRCAM.
^"André Jolivet: Suite delphique" (work details) (in French and English). IRCAM.
^Amazon
^"Witold Lutosławski: Symphony No. 1" (work details) (in French and English). IRCAM.
^ a b c"New Music Box" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-05-31. Retrieved 2015-07-05.
^Nikolai Myaskovsky, The Conscience of Russian Music
^Nicolas Nabokov: A Life in Freedom and Music
^"Maurice Ohana: Trois poèmes de Saadi" (work details) (in French and English). IRCAM.
^Alan Rawsthorne: A Bio-Bibliography
^"Pierre Schaeffer: Cinq études de bruits" (work details) (in French and English). IRCAM.
^"Arnold Schoenberg: A Survivor from Warsaw" (work details) (in French and English). IRCAM.
^Stravinsky, the Composer and His Works
^"Michael Tippett: Suite in D" (work details) (in French and English). IRCAM.
^Pseudo Poseidonios
^Doctor, Jenny (2013). "Vaughan Williams, Boult, and the BBC". In Frogley, Alain; Thomson, Aidan J. (eds.). The Cambridge Companion to Vaughan Williams. Cambridge University Press. pp. 249–274. doi:10.1017/CCO9781139043243.017. ISBN 9781139043243.
^Wojciech Roszkowski; Jan Kofman (8 July 2016). Biographical Dictionary of Central and Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century. Routledge. p. 747. ISBN 978-1-317-47594-1.
^Tomás McAuley; Tomás McAuley; Nanette Nielsen (30 December 2020). The Oxford Handbook of Western Music and Philosophy. Oxford University Press. p. 525. ISBN 978-0-19-936731-3.
^Slonimsky, Nicolas (1971). Music Since 1900, p. 846, 4th ed. New York, Charles Scribner's Sons
^Aaron I. Cohen (1987). International Encyclopedia of Women Composers. Books & Music USA. p. 753. ISBN 978-0-9617485-1-7.
