1915 in music
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.
- May 15 – Tom Brown's band from New Orleans begin performing in Chicago, Illinois and start advertising themselves as a "Jass Band".
- May 23 – Japanese composer Kōsaku Yamada conducts the premiere of his Overture in D major at the Imperial Theatre in Tokyo, performed by the.
- 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 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.
- 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
- "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? " 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 " w. William Jerome m. Walter Donaldson
- "Keep the Home Fires Burning" w. Lena Guilbert Ford m. Ivor Novello
- "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
- "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 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
- Frank Bridge
- *Novelletten, H.44
- *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
- *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
- *Sonata for cello and piano in D minor
- *Sonata for flute, viola and harp
- George Enescu – Orchestral Suite No. 2 in C major, Op. 20
- Edward Elgar – Polonia, op.76
- Manuel de Falla
- *El amor brujo
- *Nights in the Gardens of Spain
- Enrique Granados – 2 Danzas Españolas, Op.37
- Jesús Guridi – Así cantan los chicos
- Charles Ives
- *Piano Sonata No. 2, Concord, Mass., 1840–60
- *String Quartet No. 2
- Zoltán Kodály – Sonata for Solo Cello, Op. 8
- Egon Kornauth – Phantasie Op.10
- Federico Mompou – L'Hora Gris
- Manuel Ponce – Balada Mexicana
- Sergei Prokofiev – Scythian Suite
- Sergei Rachmaninoff – All-Night Vigil
- 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, 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
- *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
[Musical theater]
Alone at Last Broadway production opened at the Shubert Theatre on October 14 and ran for 180 performancesBetty London production opened at Daly's Theatre on April 24 and ran for 391 performancesThe 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 performancesA 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 performancesBirths
- January 1 – Fulgencio Aquino, Venezuelan harpist and composer
- January 6 – Bob Copper, English folk singer
- January 25 – Ewan MacColl, English folk singer and songwriter
- January 27 – Jack Brymer, English clarinettist
- January 29 – John Serry, Sr., US concert accordionist, composer & arranger
- January 30 – Dorothy Dell, actress and singer
- January 31 – Alan Lomax, US folklorist and musicologist
- February 4 – Ray Evans, US songwriter
- February 18 – Marcel Landowski, French composer, biographer and arts administrator
- March 4 – Carlos Surinach, Spanish composer
- March 10 – Charles Groves, English conductor
- March 14 – Alexander Brott, Canadian conductor and composer
- March 20
- *Sviatoslav Richter, pianist
- *Sister Rosetta Tharpe, gospel singer
- March 25 – Dorothy Squires, Welsh singer
- March 27 – Robert Lockwood, Jr., US Delta blues guitarist
- March 28 – Jay Livingston, songwriter
- March 29 – George Chisholm, Scottish-born jazz trombonist and comedian
- April 4 – Muddy Waters, African American blues musician
- April 7 – Billie Holiday, African American blues singer
- April 12 – Hound Dog Taylor, African American blues guitarist
- April 29 – Donald Mills, US singer of the Mills Brothers
- May 5 – Alice Faye, US actress and singer
- May 8 – Nan Wynn, US singer
- May 25 – Ginny Simms, US singer
- May 27
- *Esther Soré, Chilean musician
- *Midge Williams, African American jazz singer
- June 1 – Bart Howard, composer and pianist
- June 9 – Les Paul, US musician, inventor of the solid body electric guitar
- June 12 – Priscilla Lane, US singer and actress
- June 17 – David "Stringbean" Akeman, US country musician
- June 18 – Vic Legley, Dutch composer
- June 22 – Randolph Henning Hokanson, pianist
- June 28 – David Honeyboy Edwards, US blues musician
- July 1 – Willie Dixon, US blues musician
- July 9 – David Diamond, classical composer
- July 15 – Frankie Yankovic, polka musician
- July 22 – Armando Renzi, composer
- July 23 – Emmett Berry, jazz trumpeter
- July 28 – Frankie Yankovic, accordionist and polka musician
- July 31 – George Forrest, musical theatre writer
- August 6 – Jacques Abram, pianist
- August 9 – Haim Alexander, Israeli composer
- August 24 – Wynonie Harris, US singer
- August 26 – Humphrey Searle, English composer
- August 30 – Robert Strassburg, US classical composer
- September 3
- *Knut Nystedt, Norwegian classical composer
- *Memphis Slim, African American blues musician
- September 5 – Florencio Morales Ramos, singer, trovador and composer
- September 12 – Billy Daniels, US singer
- September 23 – Julius Baker, flautist
- September 24 – Ettore Gracis, conductor
- October 10 – Sweets Edison, jazz trumpeter
- October 31 – Jane Jarvis, jazz pianist and composer
- November 5 – Myron Floren, accordionist
- November 9 – Hanka Bielicka, Polish singer and actress
- November 14 – Billy Bauer, cool jazz guitarist
- November 26 – Earl Wild, pianist
- November 29 – Billy Strayhorn, jazz composer, pianist, arranger, lyricist and collaborator with Duke Ellington
- November 30 – Brownie McGhee, US Piedmont blues musician
- December 12 – Frank Sinatra, US singer and actor
- December 14 – Dan Dailey, US singer and actor
- December 16 – Georgy Sviridov, Russian/Soviet composer
- December 17 – André Claveau, singer
- December 19 – Édith Piaf, French singer
- December 25 – Pete Rugolo, Italian-born US pianist and bandleader
Deaths
- January 2
- *Karl Goldmark, Hungarian composer
- *Bertha Tammelin, Swedish mezzo-soprano singer and actress
- January 5 – Jeanne Gerville-Réache, French operatic contralto
- January 21 – Louis Gregh, French composer and publisher
- January 22 – Anna Bartlett Warner, songwriter
- January 25 – Rudolf Tillmetz, flute virtuoso, pedagogue and composer
- February 5 – Paul Collin, translator and lyricist
- February 12
- *Fanny Crosby, hymn-writer
- *Emile Waldteufel, composer
- March 12 – Heinrich Schülz-Beuthen, composer
- March 19 – Franz Xaver Neruda, cellist and composer
- April 27 – Alexander Scriabin, composer
- May 7 – Charles Frohman, Broadway producer
- June 2 – Botho Sigwart, composer
- June 9 – Enrico Rocca, violin maker
- June 10 – William Hayman Cummings, organist and singer
- June 19 – Sergei Taneyev, pianist and composer
- June 25 – Rafael Joseffy, pianist and composer
- June 30 – Billy Kersands, African American dancer
- September 15 – Isidor Bajić, composer
- September 29 – Rudi Stephan, composer
- October 2 – Russell Alexander, entertainer and composer
- October 5
- *Otto Malling, organist and composer
- *José María Usandizaga, Spanish Basque composer
- October 22 – Adèle Isaac, operatic soprano
- October 26 – August Bungert, German composer and poet
- November 12 – Jean-Charles Delioux, French composer
- November 14 – Teodor Leszetycki, pianist and composer
- November 27 – Sigismund Zaremba, Russian composer
- c. December 1 – Henry Hart, African American entertainer and composer
- December 3 – Lewis F. Muir, American composer of ragtime
- December 4 – Gustav Hollaender, German composer
- December 10 – David Jenkins, Welsh choral composer