Events in Music
- Jan 5 Isaac Albéniz' opera "Pepita Jiminez" premieres in Barcelona
Music Premiere
Feb 1 Giacomo Puccini's Opera "La Boheme" premieres in Turin
Giacomo Puccini
Event of Interest
Apr 13 John Philip Sousa's "El Capitan" premieres at the Tremont Theatre in Boston
John Philip Sousa
- Apr 20 1st public film showing in US John Philip Sousa's "El Capitan" premieres in NYC
- Apr 23 Vitascope system of movie projection 1st shown at Koster & Bial's Music Hall (NYC)
- Apr 25 Fight in Central Dance Hall starts fire at Cripple Creek, Colorado
- Apr 25 Sidney Jones & Harry Greenbacks musical premieres in London
- May 20 The six ton chandelier of the Palais Garnier opera house in Paris falls on the crowd resulting in the death of one and the injury of many others
- Dec 25 "Stars & Stripes Forever" written by John Philip Sousa
Birthdays in Music
- Jan 1 Maurice Jacobson, composer
- Jan 1 Yitzhak Edel, composer
- Jan 2 Ernst-Lothar von Knorr, composer
- Jan 8 Jaromir Weinberger, composer (Bird's Opera), born in Prague, Czechoslovakia
- Jan 9 Warwick Braithwaite, New Zealand-born British conductor (d. 1971)
- Jan 15 Jacobo Ficher, composer
- Jan 17 Harry Reser, American banjo player and bandleader (Sammy Kaye Show), born in Piqua, Ohio (d. 1965)
- Jan 20 Elmer R Diktonius, Finnish musicologist/author (Janne Kubik)
- Jan 20 George Burns [Nathan Birnbaum], American actor, comedian and singer (Oh God, Burns and Allen), born in NYC, New York (d. 1996)
- Feb 16 Alexander Brailowsky, Russian pianist (Chopin)
- Feb 22 Nacio Herb Brown, US composer
- Feb 26 Eduard Flipse, Dutch conductor/composer
- Feb 29 Wladimir Rudolfovich Vogel, composer
- Mar 1 Dimitri Mitropoulos, Athens Greece, conductor/composer
- Mar 7 Erwin Bodky, German-American composer, born in Ragnit, East Prussia (d. 1958)
- Mar 12 Jesse "Lone Cat" Fuller, San Francisco Blues Great
- Mar 26 Richard Flury, composer
- Apr 8 Karl Hermann Pillney, composer
- Apr 8 Yip Harburg [Isidore Hochberg], American lyricist (Somewhere Over The Rainbow), born in NYC, New York; (d. 1981)
- Apr 29 Jacques Leon Wolfe, composer
- Apr 30 Gary Davis, US blues and folk guitarist (A Little More Faith), born in Laurens, South Carolina
- May 11 Josip Slavenski, composer
- May 17 Brazilio da Cunha Luz Itibere, composer
- May 28 Marius Monnikendam, Dutch choir composer
- Jun 19 Walter Lang, Swiss composer (d. 1966)
- Jun 30 Wilfred Pelletier, conductor (Voice of Firestone), born in Montreal, Quebec
- Jul 4 Adolf Hallis, composer
- Aug 2 Lorenzo Herrera, Venezuelan singer and composer (d. 1960)
- Aug 6 Cyril Mockridge, composer
- Aug 13 Leo[nhard] Pappenheim, conductor
- Aug 19 Eino Mauno Aleksanteri Linnala, composer
- Aug 21 Blossom Rock [Edith Marie Blossom MacDonald], American actress (Grandmamma-Addams Family), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1978)
- Aug 26 Richard Hammond, American composer, born in England (d. 1980)
- Aug 27 Leon Theremin, electronic musical instruments inventor [o.s. 15-08]
- Sep 4 Antonin Artaud, Marseilles France, songwriter/dir (Theatre Seraphin)
- Sep 6 Frutuoso de Lima Viana, composer
- Sep 6 Vladimir Nikitich Kashperov, composer
- Sep 8 Howard Dietz, American lyricist and librettist (d. 1983)
- Sep 9 Fritz Reutter, German composer (d. 1963)
- Sep 10 Adele Astaire [Lady Charles Cavendish], American dancer and entertainer, sister of Fred Astaire (Last Man on Earth, Millie), born in Omaha, Nebraska (d. 1981)
- Sep 13 Tadeusz Szeligowski, Polish composer (The Peacock and the Girl), born in L'vov, Ukraine (d. 1963)
- Sep 25 Roberto Gerhard, composer
- Oct 6 Otto Siegl, Austrian composer, born in Graz (d. 1978)
Howard Hanson
Oct 28 Howard Hanson, American classical music composer and conductor (Nordic), born in Wahoo, Nebraska (d. 1981)
Howard Hanson
- Oct 30 Anatoly Grigor'yevich Novikov, composer
- Oct 31 Ethel Waters, American actress (Beulah), singer (Stormy Weather), born in Chester, Pennslyvania (d. 1977)
- Nov 16 Lawrence Tibbett, baritone (Metropolitan 1923-50), born in Bakersfield, California
- Nov 20 Mykhaylo Verikivsky, composer
- Nov 22 Mario La Broca, composer
- Nov 23 Joris Vriamont, Flemish author/music publisher
- Nov 23 Ruth Etting, American dancer, singer and actress (Roman scandals), born in David City, Nebraska (d. 1978)
- Nov 25 Virgil Thomson, composer/music critic (4 Saints in 3 Acts), born in Kansas City, Missouri
- Nov 28 Lilia Skala, Austrian actress (House of Games, Flashdance, Charly), born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary (d. 1994)
- Dec 1 Petko Staynov, composer
- Dec 3 Boleslaw Szabelski, composer
- Dec 6 Arnold Foster, composer
- Dec 6 Ira Gershwin, lyricist ('S Wonderful, I Got Rhythm)
- Dec 7 Juan Maria Thomas Sabater, composer
- Dec 21 Leroy Robertson, composer
- Dec 23 Alberto Hemsi, composer
- Dec 28 Roger Huntington Sessions, composer (Black Masks), born in Brooklyn, New York
Deaths in Music
- Jan 28 Joseph Barnby, composer, dies at 57
- Feb 4 Henry David Leslie, composer, dies at 73
- Feb 12 Charles Louis Ambrose Thomas, French composer (Mignon), dies at 84
- Feb 13 Karl Reinthaler, composer, dies at 73
- Apr 5 John Rogers Thomas, American composer, dies at 66
- Apr 12 Alexander Ritter, composer, dies at 62
- Apr 30 Antonio Cagnoni, composer, dies at 68
- May 12 Juan Morel Campos, composer, dies at 38
- May 20 Clara Schumann, German pianist and composer of the Romantic era, dies of a stroke at 76
- Jun 7 Pavlos Carrer, Greek composer (b. 1829)
- Jun 11 Friedrich Gottlieb Schwencke, composer, dies at 72
- Jul 6 Alexander Sergeyevich Famintsin, composer, dies at 54
- Aug 18 Frederick Nichols Crouch, composer, dies at 88
- Sep 1 Johannes Habert, composer, dies at 62
- Sep 16 Carlos Gomez, composer, dies at 60
- Sep 20 Gottfried Conradi, Norwegian composer, dies at 76
- Sep 23 Louis-Gilbert Duprez, composer, dies at 89
- Oct 11 Anton Bruckner, Austrian composer (Te Deum, Wagner Symphony), Wagner disciple and "monumental bore", dies at 72
- Nov 12 Spyridon Xyndas, composer, dies at 84
- Nov 13 Antonio Peña y Goñi, Spanish composer, dies at 50
- Nov 22 Leon Leopold Lewandoski, Polish composer, dies at 65