- Jan 4 Billboard magazine publishes its 1st music hit parade
Music History
Jan 9 Noël Coward's stage drama "Astonished Heart" premieres in London
Music Recording
Jan 24 Benny Goodman and orchestra record "Stompin' at the Savoy" on Victor Records
Music History
Jan 26 Joseph Stalin views Dmitri Shostakovich's opera "Lady Macbeth" but he and his officials leave early and the play is denounced in state press
Music History
Jan 28 Pravda criticizes Dmitri Shostakovich's opera "Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District"
- Feb 6 Pravda criticizes Dmitri Shostakovich's ballet "Clear Brook"
- Apr 11 Rodgers & Hart's musical "On Your Toes" premieres in NYC
Murder of Interest
Apr 14 French singer Édith Piaf questioned after nightclub owner and her patron Louis Leplée murdered in Paris
- Apr 26 Dmitri Shostakovich completes his 4th Symphony
- May 2 Sergei Prokofiev's musical "Peter and the Wolf" premieres in Moscow
- May 12 Ralph Vaughan Williams' opera "Poisoned Kiss" premieres in London
Music History
Jun 29 George M. Cohan is the first artist to be presented with a US Congressional Gold Medal, by Franklin D. Roosevelt (for raising war morale)
Music History
Jul 25 Jazz saxophonist Charlie "Bird" Parker marries his childhood sweetheart Rebecca Ruffin
Film Release
Sep 4 RKO Radio Pictures releases "Swing Time", directed by George Stevens, starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers
Music Premiere
Oct 29 Cole Porters musical "Red Hot And Blue", starring Ethel Merman, Jimmy Durante, and Bob Hope, opens at the Alvin Theatre, NYC; runs for 183 performances
Music Recording
Nov 23 Legendary Delta blues musician Robert Johnson's first recording session with producer Don Law at the Gunter Hotel, San Antonio, Texas
- Nov 24 Noël Coward's anthology "Tonight at 8:30" premieres in NYC, runs for 118 performances
- Dec 26 Israel's Philarmonic Orchestra forms