1915 in music
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| By genre | 
| By topic | 
| List of years in music | 
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| (table) | 
 This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1915. 
Specific locations
Specific genres
Events
- March–December – The ukulele becomes popular as a result of its appearance in the Hawaiian Pavilion at the Panama–Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco.[1]
 - May 15 – Tom Brown's band from New Orleans begin performing in Chicago, Illinois and start advertising themselves as a "Jass Band".[2]
 - April 21 – Sibelius sees sixteen swans over Lake Tuusula which immediately inspires him to write the theme that becomes the finalé to his Symphony No. 5.
 - Summer – Claude Debussy composes at Pourville on the French Channel coast.
 - October 28 – Richard Strauss's symphonic poem An Alpine Symphony (Eine Alpensinfonie) is premiered by the orchestra of the Dresden Hofkapelle in Berlin under the composer's baton.
 - November 13 – First concert devoted to the work of Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos.[3]
 - December 8 – Jean Sibelius conducts the world première of his Symphony No. 5 in Helsinki at a birthday concert for him.[4]
 - December – Claude Debussy becomes one of the first people to receive a colostomy.
 - Composer Alban Berg enters service with the Austro-Hungarian Army.
 - Composer Herbert Howells is given six months to live, and becomes the first person in the UK to receive radium treatment (he will live on until 1983).[5]
 - William Penfro Rowlands's hymn tune "Blaenwern" is first published in Henry H. Jones' Cân a Moliant.
 - Marie and Edward M. Zimmerman's suffrage anthem "Votes for Woman, Suffrage Rallying Song" is published.[6]
 
Published popular music

- "Agitation Rag" by Robert Hampton
 - "Alabama Jubilee" w.m. Jack Yellen & George L. Cobb
 - "All For You" w. Henry Blossom m. Victor Herbert
 - "Along The Rocky Road To Dublin" w. Joe Young m. Bert Grant
 - "America, I Love You" w. Edgar Leslie m. Archie Gottler
 - "Araby" w.m. Irving Berlin
 - "Are You From Dixie?" w.m. Jack Yellen & George L. Cobb
 - "Are You The O'Reilly? (Blime Me, O' Reilly, You Are Lookin' Well)" Rooney, Emmett
 - "Auf Wiedersehen" w. Herbert Reynolds m. Sigmund Romberg, from the musical The Blue Paradise
 - "Babes In The Wood" w. Schuyler Greene & Jerome Kern m. Jerome Kern
 - "Baby Shoes" w. Joe Goodwin & Ed Rose m. Al Piantadosi
 - "Beatrice Fairfax, Tell Me What To Do" w.m. Grant Clarke, Joseph McCarthy, & James V. Monaco
 - "Belgium Put the Kibosh on the Kaiser" w.m. Mark Sheridan
 - "Blame It On The Blues" Doc Cooke
 - "Canadian Capers" w. Earl Burnett m. Gus Chandler, Bert White & Henry Cohan
 - "Close To My Heart" by Andrew B. Sterling
 - "Dear Old-Fashioned Irish Songs, My Mother Sang To Me" Bryan, Von Tilzer
 - "Don't Take My Darling Boy Away" w. Will Dillon m. Albert Von Tilzer
 - "Down In Bom-Bombay" w. Ballard MacDonald m. Harry Carroll
 - "Everything In America Is Ragtime" w.m. Irving Berlin
 - "Fascination" w.m. Harold Atteridge & Sigmund Romberg
 - "The Girl On The Magazine Cover" w.m. Irving Berlin
 - "Hello Frisco!" w. Gene Buck m. Louis A. Hirsch
 - "Hello, Hawaii, How Are You?" w. Bert Kalmar & Edgar Leslie m. Jean Schwartz
 - "The Hesitating Blues" w.m. W. C. Handy
 - "I Can Beat You Doing What You're Doing Me" w.m. Clarence Williams & Armand J. Piron
 - "I Didn't Raise My Boy To Be A Soldier" w. Alfred Bryan m. Al Piantadosi
 - "I Love a Piano" w.m. Irving Berlin
 - "I Wish I Was An Island In An Ocean Of Girls" w. Henry Blossom m. Victor Herbert
 - "I'd Rather Be A Lamp-Post On Old Broadway" Benjamin Hapgood Burt
 - "If I Can't Sing The Words, You Must Whistle The Tune" Herman Darewski
 - "If We Can't Be The Same Old Sweethearts" w. Joe McCarthy m. James V. Monaco
 - "I'm Simply Crazy Over You" w. William Jerome & E. Ray Goetz m. Jean Schwartz
 - "In a Monastery Garden" m. Albert William Ketèlbey
 - "Ireland Is Ireland To Me" w. Fiske O'Hara & J. Keirn Brennan m. Ernest R. Ball
 - "It's Tulip Time In Holland" w. Dave Radford m. Richard A. Whiting
 - "I've Been Floating Down the Old Green River" w. Bert Kalmar m. Joe Cooper
 - "I've Gotta Go Back To Texas" Irving Berlin
 - "Just Try To Picture Me (Back Home In Tennessee)" w. William Jerome m. Walter Donaldson
 - "Keep the Home Fires Burning" w. Lena Guilbert Ford m. Ivor Novello (2nd edition, first under this title)
 - "The Ladder Of Roses" w. R. H. Burnside m. Raymond Hubbell
 - "The Little House Upon The Hill" w. Ballard MacDonald & Joe Goodwin m. Harry Puck
 - "Love Is The Best Of All" w. Henry Blossom m. Victor Herbert
 - "Love, Here Is My Heart" w. Adrian Ross m. Lãu Silésu
 - "The Magic Melody" w. Schuyler Greene m. Jerome Kern
 - "Memories" w. Gustave Kahn m. Egbert Van Alstyne
 - "M-O-T-H-E-R" w. Howard Johnson m. Theodore F. Morse
 - "My Little Girl" w. Sam M. Lewis & William Dillon m. Albert Von Tilzer
 - "My Mother's Rosary" w. Sam M. Lewis m. George W. Meyer
 - "My Sweet Adair" w.m. L. Wolfe Gilbert & Anatole Friedland
 - "Neapolitan Love Song" w. Henry Blossom Jr m. Victor Herbert
 - "Nola" m. Felix Arndt
 - "Norway" by Joe McCarthy
 - "On The Beach At Waikiki" w. G. H. Stover m. Henry Kailimai
 - "Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit-Bag" w. George Asaf m. Felix Powell
 - "Paper Doll" w.m. Johnny S. Black
 - "The Perfect Song" w. Clarence Lucas m. Joseph Carl Breil
 - "Please Keep Out Of My Dreams" w.m. Elsa Maxwell
 - "Ragging The Scale" w. Dave Ringle m. Edward B. Claypole[7]
 - "Ragtime Pipe of Pan" w. Harold J. Atteridge m. Sigmund Romberg from the revue A World of Pleasure
 - "Railroad Jim" by Nat H. Vincent
 - "Ritual Fire Dance" m. Manuel de Falla
 - "She's The Daughter Of Mother Machree" w. Jeff T. Branen m. Ernest R. Ball
 - "Siam" w. Howard Johnson m. Fred Fisher
 - "Some Little Bug Is Going To Find You" w. Benjamin Hapgood Burt & Roy Atwell m. Silvio Hein. Introduced by Roy Atwell in the musical Alone at Last.
 - "Some Sort Of Somebody" w. Elsie Janis m. Jerome Kern[8]
 - "Song Of The Islands" w.m. Charles E. King
 - "That Hula Hula" w.m. Irving Berlin[9]
 - "There Must Be Little Cupids In The Briny" Jack Foley
 - "There's A Broken Heart For Every Light On Broadway" w. Howard Johnson m. Fred Fisher
 - "There's A Little Lane Without A Turning On The Way To Home Sweet Home" w. Sam M. Lewis m. George W. Meyer
 - "Underneath The Stars" w. Fleta Jan Brown m. Herbert Spencer
 - "We'll Have A Jubilee In My Old Kentucky Home" w. Coleman Goetz m. Walter Donaldson
 - "Weary Blues" m. Artie Matthews
 - "When I Get Back To The USA" w.m. Irving Berlin
 - "When I Leave The World Behind" w.m. Irving Berlin
 - "When You're In Love With Someone" w.m. Grant Clarke & Al Piantadosi
 - "You Can't Mend A Broken Heart" by Shelton Brooks
 - "You Know And I Know" w. Schuyler Greene m. Jerome Kern
 - "You'll Always Be The Same Sweet Girl" w. Andrew B. Sterling m. Harry Von Tilzer
 
Hit recordings
- "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny" by Alma Gluck
 - "It's a Long Way to Tipperary" by John McCormack
 - "I Didn't Raise My Boy to be a Soldier" by Morton Harvey
 - "Keep the Home Fires Burning" by James F. Harrison
 
Classical music
- Béla Bartók 
- Romanian Folk Dances
 - Sonatina
 
 - Alban Berg – Three Pieces for Orchestra (Drei Orchesterstücke; first performed 1923/30)
 - Frank Bridge 
- Novelletten, H.44 (first published, composed 1904)
 - String Quartet No.2, H.115
 - Lament, H.117
 
 - Harry Thacker Burleigh 
- 5 Songs of Laurence Hope
 - Ethiopia Saluting the Colors
 
 - John Alden Carpenter 
- Adventures in a Perambulator (first performed)[10]
 - Concertino for piano and orchestra
 - Impromptu for piano
 - Polonaise Américaine for piano
 
 - Claude Debussy 
- En blanc et noir for two pianos
 - Études for solo piano (two books of 6)
 - Sonata for cello and piano in D minor
 - Sonata for flute, viola and harp (first performed 1916)
 
 - George Enescu – Orchestral Suite No. 2 in C major, Op. 20
 - Edward Elgar – Polonia, op.76 (Overture)
 - Manuel de Falla 
- El amor brujo (gitanería version for cante flamenco, actors and chamber orchestra)
 - Nights in the Gardens of Spain (Noches en los jardines de España; first performed 1916)
 
 - Enrique Granados – 2 Danzas Españolas, Op.37
 - Jesús Guridi – Así cantan los chicos
 - Charles Ives 
- Piano Sonata No. 2, Concord, Mass., 1840–60 (first published 1919)
 - String Quartet No. 2 (first performed 1946)
 
 - Zoltán Kodály – Sonata for Solo Cello, Op. 8
 - Egon Kornauth – Phantasie Op.10
 - Federico Mompou – L'Hora Gris ("Grey Hour")
 - Manuel Ponce – Balada Mexicana
 - Sergei Prokofiev – Scythian Suite (first performed 1916)
 - Sergei Rachmaninoff – All-Night Vigil (Всенощное бдѣніе, Vsénoshchnoye bdéniye)
 - Max Reger
 - Camille Saint-Saëns – Cavatine, Op. 144
 - Jean Sibelius 
- Impromptu, Op. 78
 - Jäger March (Jääkärien marssi), Op. 91a, for male chorus and symphony orchestra
 - Symphony No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 82
 
 - Charles Villiers Stanford – Piano Concerto No.2, Op.126, premiered June 3 in Norfolk, Connecticut
 - Wilhelm Stenhammar – Symphony No. 2 in G minor
 - Richard Strauss – An Alpine Symphony
 - Karol Szymanowski 
- Métopes, for piano
 - Mythes, for violin and piano
 - Songs of a Fairy-Tale Princess, for voice and piano
 - 3 Songs on Words by Dmitri Davydov, for voice and piano
 
 - Gabriel Verdalle – Impromptu No.2
 - Heitor Villa-Lobos 
- Cello Concerto no. 1
 - Danças Características Africanas for piano
 - Desesperança – Sonata Phantastica e Capricciosa No. 1 for violin and piano
 - Elégie for orchestra
 - Suíte graciosa (revised in 1946 as String Quartet No. 1)
 - String Quartet No. 2
 - Trio for piano and strings No. 2
 
 - Siegfried Wagner – Violin Concerto
 - Heinrich Weinreis – Es kommt ein Schiff geladen
 - Géza Zichy – Liebestraum
 
Opera
- Rutland Boughton – Bethlehem
 - Umberto Giordano – Madame Sans-Gene
 - Emmerich Kálmán – Die Csárdásfürstin premiered November 17 in Vienna
 
- Alone at Last Broadway production opened at the Shubert Theatre on October 14 and ran for 180 performances
 - Betty London production opened at Daly's Theatre on April 24 and ran for 391 performances
 - The Blue Paradise Broadway production opened at the Casino Theatre on August 5 and ran for 356 performances.
 - Bric-A-Brac London production opened at the Palace Theatre on September 18.
 - 5064 Gerrard London revue opened at the Alhambra Theatre on March 19.
 - Hip-Hip-Hooray Broadway revue opened at the Hippodrome Theatre on September 30 and ran for 425 performances.
 - Maid in America Broadway production opened at the Winter Garden Theatre on February 18 and ran for 108 performances.
 - The Only Girl London production opened at the Apollo Theatre on September 25 and ran for 107 performances.
 - The Passing Show Of 1915 Broadway revue opened at the Winter Garden Theatre on May 29 and ran for 145 performances.
 - Shell Out London production opened at the Comedy Theatre on August 24 and ran for 315 performances.
 - Stop! Look! Listen! Broadway production opened at the Globe Theatre on December 25 and ran for 105 performances.
 - Tonight's The Night London production opened at the Gaiety Theatre on April 18 and ran for 460 performances.
 - Very Good Eddie Broadway production opened at the Princess Theatre on December 23 and ran for 341 performances
 - A World of Pleasure Broadway revue opened at the Winter Garden Theatre on October 14 and ran for 116 performances.
 - Ziegfeld Follies Of 1915 Broadway revue opened at the New Amsterdam Theatre on June 21 and ran for 104 performances
 
Births
- January 1 – Fulgencio Aquino, Venezuelan harpist and composer (d. 1994)
 - January 6 – Bob Copper, English folk singer (d. 2004)
 - January 25 – Ewan MacColl, English folk singer and songwriter (d. 1989)[11]
 - January 27 – Jack Brymer, English clarinettist (d. 2003)[12]
 - January 29 – John Serry, Sr., US concert accordionist, composer & arranger (d. 2003)
 - January 30 – Dorothy Dell, actress and singer (d. 1934)
 - January 31 – Alan Lomax, US folklorist and musicologist (d. 2002)[13]
 - February 4 – Ray Evans, US songwriter (d. 2007)
 - February 18 – Marcel Landowski, French composer, biographer and arts administrator (d. 1999)
 - March 4 – Carlos Surinach, Spanish composer (d. 1997)
 - March 10 – Charles Groves, English conductor (d. 1992)
 - March 14 – Alexander Brott, Canadian conductor and composer (d. 2005)[14]
 - March 20 
- Sviatoslav Richter, pianist (d. 1997)[15]
 - Sister Rosetta Tharpe, gospel singer (d. 1973)[16]
 
 - March 25 – Dorothy Squires, Welsh singer (d. 1998)[17]
 - March 27 – Robert Lockwood, Jr., US Delta blues guitarist (d. 2006)
 - March 28 – Jay Livingston, songwriter (d. 2001)
 - March 29 – George Chisholm, Scottish-born jazz trombonist and comedian (d. 1997)[18]
 - April 4 – Muddy Waters (born McKinley Morganfield), African American blues musician (d. 1983)
 - April 7 – Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan), African American blues singer (d. 1959)[19]
 - April 12 – Hound Dog Taylor, African American blues guitarist (d. 1975)
 - April 29 – Donald Mills, US singer of the Mills Brothers (d. 1999)
 - May 5 – Alice Faye, US actress and singer (d. 1998)[20]
 - May 8 – Nan Wynn, US singer (d. 1971)
 - May 25 – Ginny Simms, US singer (d. 1994)
 - May 27 
- Esther Soré, Chilean musician (d. 1996)
 - Midge Williams, African American jazz singer (d. 1952)
 
 - June 1 – Bart Howard, composer and pianist (d. 2004)
 - June 9 – Les Paul, US musician, inventor of the solid body electric guitar (d. 2009)
 - June 12 – Priscilla Lane, US singer and actress (d. 1995)
 - June 17 – David "Stringbean" Akeman, US country musician (d. 1973)
 - June 18 – Vic Legley, Dutch composer (d. 1994)
 - June 22 – Randolph Henning Hokanson, pianist (died 2018)
 - June 28 – David Honeyboy Edwards, US blues musician (d. 2011)
 - July 1 – Willie Dixon, US blues musician (d. 1992)
 - July 9 – David Diamond, classical composer (d. 2005)
 - July 15 – Frankie Yankovic, polka musician (d. 1998)
 - July 22 – Armando Renzi (it), composer (died 1985)
 - July 23 – Emmett Berry, jazz trumpeter (d. 1993)
 - July 28 – Frankie Yankovic, accordionist and polka musician (d. 1998)
 - July 31 – George Forrest, musical theatre writer (d. 1999)
 - August 6 – Jacques Abram, pianist (d. 1998)
 - August 9 – Haim Alexander, Israeli composer (d. 2012)
 - August 24 – Wynonie Harris, US singer (d. 1969)
 - August 26 – Humphrey Searle, English composer (d. 1982)
 - August 30 – Robert Strassburg, US classical composer (d. 2003)
 - September 3 
- Knut Nystedt, Norwegian classical composer (d. 2014)
 - Memphis Slim (born John Chatman), African American blues musician (d. 1988)
 
 - September 5 – Florencio Morales Ramos, singer, trovador and composer (d. 1989)
 - September 12 – Billy Daniels, US singer (d. 1988)
 - September 23 – Julius Baker, flautist (d. 2003)
 - September 24 – Ettore Gracis, conductor (d. 1992)
 - October 10 – Sweets Edison, jazz trumpeter (d. 1999)
 - October 31 – Jane Jarvis, jazz pianist and composer (d. 2010)
 - November 5 – Myron Floren, accordionist (d. 2005)
 - November 9 – Hanka Bielicka, Polish singer and actress (d. 2006)
 - November 14 – Billy Bauer, cool jazz guitarist (d. 2005)
 - November 26 – Earl Wild, pianist (d. 2010)
 - November 29 – Billy Strayhorn, jazz composer, pianist, arranger, lyricist and collaborator with Duke Ellington (d. 1967)
 - November 30 – Brownie McGhee, US Piedmont blues musician (d. 1996)
 - December 12 – Frank Sinatra, US singer and actor (d. 1998)
 - December 14 – Dan Dailey, US singer and actor (d. 1978)
 - December 16 – Georgy Sviridov, Russian/Soviet composer (d. 1998)
 - December 17 – André Claveau, singer (d. 2003)
 - December 19 – Édith Piaf, French singer (d. 1963)
 - December 25 – Pete Rugolo, Italian-born US pianist and bandleader (d 2011)
 
Deaths
- January 2 
- Karl Goldmark, Hungarian composer (b. 1830)
 - Bertha Tammelin, Swedish mezzo-soprano singer and actress (b. 1836)
 
 - January 5 – Jeanne Gerville-Réache, French operatic contralto (b. 1882)
 - January 21 – Louis Gregh, French composer and publisher (b. 1843)
 - January 22 – Anna Bartlett Warner, songwriter (b. 1827)
 - January 25 – Rudolf Tillmetz, flute virtuoso, pedagogue and composer (b. 1847)
 - February 5 – Paul Collin, translator and lyricist (born 1843)
 - February 12 
- Fanny Crosby, hymn-writer (b. 1820)
 - Emile Waldteufel, composer (b. 1837)
 
 - March 12 – Heinrich Schülz-Beuthen, composer (b. 1838)
 - March 19 – Franz Xaver Neruda, cellist and composer (b. 1843)
 - April 27 – Alexander Scriabin, composer (b. 1872) (sepsis)
 - May 7 – Charles Frohman, Broadway producer (b. 1856) (drowned in sinking of the RMS Lusitania)
 - June 2 – Botho Sigwart, composer (born 1884)
 - June 9 – Enrico Rocca, violin maker (b. 1847)
 - June 10 – William Hayman Cummings, organist and singer (b. 1831)
 - June 19 – Sergei Taneyev, pianist and composer (b. 1856)
 - June 25 – Rafael Joseffy, pianist and composer (b. 1852)
 - June 30 – Billy Kersands, African American dancer (b. c. 1842)
 - September 15 – Isidor Bajić, composer (b. 1878)
 - September 29 – Rudi Stephan, composer (b. 1887) (killed in action)
 - October 2 – Russell Alexander, entertainer and composer (b. 1877)
 - October 5 
- Otto Malling, organist and composer (b. 1848)
 - José María Usandizaga, Spanish Basque composer (b. 1887) (tuberculosis)
 
 - October 22 – Adèle Isaac, operatic soprano (b. 1854)
 - October 26 – August Bungert, German composer and poet (b. 1845)
 - November 12 – Jean-Charles Delioux, French composer (born 1825)
 - November 14 – Teodor Leszetycki, pianist and composer (b. 1830)
 - November 27 – Sigismund Zaremba, Russian composer (b. 1861)
 - c. December 1 – Henry Hart, African American entertainer and composer (b. 1839)
 - December 3 – Lewis F. Muir, American composer of ragtime (born 1883)
 - December 4 – Gustav Hollaender, German composer (b. 1855)
 - December 10 – David Jenkins, Welsh choral composer (b. 1848)
 
References
- ^ "The Spark that Started the First Ukulele Craze". Ukulele magazine. February 19, 2015. Retrieved July 24, 2021.
 - ^ Tom Brown's Band from Dixie Land Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed 17 April 2013.
 - ^ The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.
 - ^ Paxman, Jon (2014). Classical Music 1600–2000: A Chronology. London: Omnibus. ISBN 978-1-84449-773-7.
 - ^ Spicer, Paul (1998). Herbert Howells. Bridgend: Seren. p. 44. ISBN 1-85411-233-3.
 - ^ Crew, Danny O. (2015). Suffragist Sheet Music: An Illustrated Catalogue of Published Music Associated with the Women's Rights and Suffrage Movement in America, 1795-1921, with Complete Lyrics. McFarland & Company. p. 337. ISBN 9781476607443.
 - ^ Edward A. Berlin (1984). Ragtime: A Musical and Cultural History. University of California Press. p. 148. ISBN 978-0-520-05219-2.
 - ^ Ken Bloom (1985). American Song: The Complete Musical Theatre Companion. Facts on File. p. 495. ISBN 978-0-87196-924-8.
 - ^ Berlin (Irving) Music Corporation, New York (1957). The Songs of Irving Berlin, Arr. Alphabetically, Chronologically, Categorically, Stage, Screen. p. 43.
 - ^ David Ewen (1987). American Songwriters: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary. H.W. Wilson. p. 32. ISBN 978-0-8242-0744-1.
 - ^ Nick Talevski (1999). The Encyclopedia of Rock Obituaries. Omnibus. p. 260. ISBN 978-0-7119-7548-4.
 - ^ Gramophone. General Gramophone Publications Limited. 2003. p. 16.
 - ^ Guy A. Marco (1993). Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound in the United States. Garland Pub. p. 396. ISBN 978-0-8240-4782-5.
 - ^ Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. International Service (1972). Thirty-four Biographies of Canadian Composers. Scholarly Press. p. 21. ISBN 978-0-403-01351-7.
 - ^ Recorded Sound. British Institute of Recorded Sound. 1983. p. 72.
 - ^ Black Women in America. Macmillan Library Reference USA. 1999. p. 266. ISBN 978-0-02-865363-1.
 - ^ Edmond Grant (1999). The Motion Picture Guide: 1999 Annual (The Films of 1998). CineBooks. p. 524. ISBN 978-0-933997-43-1.
 - ^ Sinclair Traill (1956). Play that Music: A Guide to Playing Jazz. Faber & Faber. p. 12.
 - ^ Ken Vail (1996). Lady Day's Diary: The Life of Billie Holiday, 1937-1959. Castle Communications. p. 4. ISBN 978-1-86074-131-9.
 - ^ Barry Rivadue (1990). Alice Faye: A Bio-bibliography. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-313-26525-9.
 
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