1915 in music

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This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1915.

Specific locations

• 1915 in British music
• 1915 in Norwegian music

Specific genres

• 1915 in jazz

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.
• May 15 – Tom Brown's band from New Orleans begin performing in Chicago, Illinois and start advertising themselves as a "Jass Band".
• 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.
• December 8 – Jean Sibelius conducts the world première of his Symphony No. 5 in Helsinki at a birthday concert for him.
• 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).
• 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.

Published popular music

"The Jelly Roll Blues" by Jelly Roll Morton

• "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
• "The Army Of Today's All Right" w.m. Kenneth Lyle & Fred W. Leigh
• "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
• "Cleopatra Rag" by Joseph Francis Lamb
• "Close To My Heart" by Andrew B. Sterling
• "Dear Old-Fashioned Irish Songs, My Mother Sang To Me" Bryan, Von Tilzer
• "Don't Bite The Hand That's Feeding You" w. Thomas Hoier m. James Morgan
• "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
• "Gasoline Gus And His Jitney Bus" Gay, Brown
• "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
• "Molly Dear It's You I'm After" w. Frank Wood m. Henry E. Pether
• "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
• "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
• "Song Of The Islands" w.m. Charles E. King
• "That Hula Hula" w.m. Irving Berlin
• "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 Old Bill Bailey Plays The Ukulele" w.m. Charles McCarron & Nat Vincent
• "When You're In Love With Someone" w.m. Grant Clarke & Al Piantadosi
• "Which Switch Is The Switch, Miss, For Ipswich?" David, Barnett & Darewski
• "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)
  • 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
  • Variationen und Fuge über ein Thema von Beethoven, Op. 86
  • 3 Cello Suites, Op. 131c
  • 3 Viola Suites, Op. 131d
  • Violin Sonata No.9, Op.139
  • String Trio No. 2 in D minor, Op. 141b
  • Requiem, Op. 144b
• 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

Jazz

Main article: 1915 in jazz

Musical theater

• 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)
• January 27 – Jack Brymer, English clarinettist (d. 2003)
• 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)
• 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)
• March 20
  • Sviatoslav Richter, pianist (d. 1997)
  • Sister Rosetta Tharpe, gospel singer (d. 1973)
• March 25 – Dorothy Squires, Welsh singer (d. 1998)
• 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)
• 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)
• 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)
• 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)