- Jan 11 Oscar Fetras, composer, dies at 76
- Jan 21 Felix Blumenfeld, Russian composer, conductor and pianist, dies at 67
- Jan 23 Anna Pavlova, Russian prima ballerina and choreographer (Diaghilew, Dying Swan), dies from pneumonia at 49
- Feb 7 Ion Vidu, Romanian composer and conductor, dies at 67
- Feb 23 Nellie Melba, [Helen Mitchell], Australian soprano, dies
- Mar 8 Clara Kathleen Rogers, composer, dies at 87
- Apr 4 George Whitefield Chadwick, composer, dies at 76
- Apr 6 Giuseppi Radiciotti, composer, dies at 73
- Apr 9 Paul Antonin Vidal, composer, dies at 67
- May 3 Frank Hoyt Losey, composer, dies at 59
- May 3 Otto Winter-Hjelm, Norwegian musician and composer, dies at 93
- May 12 Eugene Ysaye, Belgian composer and violinist, dies at 72
- May 13 Josif Marinkovic, composer, dies at 79
- Jun 9 Henrique Oswald, Brazilian composer, dies at 79
- Aug 6 Leon Bismarck "Bix" Beiderbecke, jazz cornetist (In Mist), dies at 29
- Aug 20 Waldemar von Baussnern, composer, dies at 64
- Sep 10 Alfonso Rendano, Italian composer, dies at 78
- Oct 3 Carl August Nielsen, composer, dies at 66
- Oct 20 Emánuel Moór, Hungarian composer, pianist, and inventor of musical instruments, dies at 68
- Oct 29 Luciano Gallet, Brazilian composer, dies at 38
- Nov 4 Buddy Bolden, African-American jazz musician, dies
- Nov 17 Georgi Atanasov, Bulgarian composer (Gergana), dies at 50
- Nov 19 Frederic Cliffe, English composer, dies at 74
- Nov 23 Evert Cornelis, Dutch conductor and pianist, dies at 46
- Nov 30 John Hyatt Brewer, American composer, dies at 75
- Nov 30 Marc-Jean-Baptiste Delmas, French composer, dies at 46
- Dec 2 Vincent D'indy, French composer and teacher, dies at 80
- Dec 27 Peter C. Lutkin, composer, dies at 73
- Dec 27 Walter Courvoisier, composer, dies at 56