August 1931 in Music History

Events in Music

  • Aug 29 Marc Connelly's stage drama "The Green Pastures", bible stories through the eyes of Southern Black child, closes at Mansfield Theater, NYC, after 640 performances and a Pulitzer Prize win

Birthdays in Music

  • Aug 1 "Ramblin' Jack" Elliott [Adnopoz], American folk singer, born in Brooklyn, New York
  • Aug 1 Seán Ó Riada [John Reidy], Irish composer (Mise Éire), traditional music revivalist, and bandleader (Ceoltóirí Chualann), born in Cork City, Ireland (d. 1971)
  • Aug 2 Henryk Schiller, Polish composer, born in Poznań, Poland (d. 2006)
  • Aug 2 Philippa Schuyler, African-American child classical piano prodigy, composer, and journalist, born in Harlem, New York City (d. 1967)
  • Aug 6 Jean-Louis Chautemps, French jazz and session saxophonist (Claude Bolling; Chet Baker; Elton John), born in Paris, France (d. 2022)
  • Aug 8 Jonathan Elkus, composer
  • Aug 11 Manabendra Mukhopadhyay, Bengali singer and composer (Ei Ganga ei Padda), born in Kolkata (d. 1992)
  • Aug 15 Mario Kuri-Aldana, Mexican composer, born in Tampico, Mexico (d. 2013)
  • Aug 21 Gregg Smith, American choral conductor and composer, born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 2016)
  • Aug 26 Dane Škerl, Slovene conductor, composer (Rhapsodic Symphony), and teacher, born in Ljubljana, Kingdom of Yugoslavia (now of Slovenia) (d. 2002)
  • Aug 28 John Perkins, Canadian pop singer (Crew Cuts), born in Toronto, Ontario
  • Aug 28 John Shirley-Quirk, British operatic bass-baritone (Death in Venice), born in Liverpool, England
  • Aug 29 Stelios Kazantzidis, Greek singer, born in Nea Ionia, Athens, Greece (d. 2001)

Deaths in Music

  • Aug 6 (Leon Bismarck) "Bix" Beiderbecke, American jazz cornetist - one of the most influential jazz soloists of the 1920s, pianist, and composer (In A Mist), dies of alcoholism exacerbated pneumonia at 28
  • Aug 20 Waldemar von Baussnern, composer, dies at 64