- Jan 29 La Goulue [Louise Weber], French can-can dancer (Moulin Rouge), known as the Queen of Montmartre, dies at 62
- Feb 1 August Halm, German composer, dies at 59
- Feb 5 Siegfried Ochs, German composer, dies at 70
- Feb 24 André Charles Prosper Messager, French organist, composer and conductor (Les Deux Pigeons, Véronique), dies at 75
- Feb 27 Manuel Manrique de Lara, Spanish composer (The Oresteia), dies at 65
- Feb 28 John Ebenezer West, English composer, dies at 65
- Mar 15 Clarence "Pinetop" Smith, American jazz pianist and singer (Boogie Woogie Piano), dies of a gunshot wound in a dance-hall fight at 24
- Mar 22 Anton Beer-Walbrun, German composer, dies at 64
- Apr 15 Antonio Smareglia, Italian composer, dies at 74
- Apr 22 Ödön Mihalovich, Hungarian composer, dies at 86
- May 4 Henry Morton Dunham, American composer, dies at 75
- May 16 Lilli Lehmann, soprano, dies
- Jul 4 Otto Taubmann, German composer, dies at 70
- Jul 22 Bror Beckman, Swedish composer, dies at 63
- Aug 16 Frank Valentine der Stucken, American-Belgian composer, dies at 70
- Aug 19 Serge Diaghilev, Russian ballet director (founder of the Ballets Russes), dies at 57
- Sep 18 Hermann Gradener, German composer, dies at 85
- Nov 11 Mieczyslaw Soltys, Polish composer, dies at 66
- Nov 19 Arthur Henry Mann, English composer (Church of England Hymnal), dies at 79
- Nov 23 Arvid Kleven, Norwegian flautist and composer, dies at 29
- Nov 26 Michele Esposito, Italian composer who worked in Ireland, dies at 74
- Dec 13 Knut Algot Håkanson, Swedish composer, dies at 42
- Dec 19 Lemon Henry "Blind Lemon" Jefferson, American blues singer and guitarist, dies at 36