1928 in music

Specific locations

• 1928 in British music
• 1928 in Norwegian music

Specific genres

• 1928 in country music
• 1928 in jazz

Events

• April 27 – Igor Stravinsky's ballet Apollon musagète receives its première in Washington.
• May 5 – Composers Alban Berg and George Gershwin meet for the first time, in Vienna.
• June – 1928 International Columbia Graphophone Competition, sponsored by the Columbia Graphophone Company to mark Schubert's death centenary, is judged in Vienna. Kurt Atterberg's Sixth Symphony is the winner and becomes probably the first major piece to be premiered on disc.
• August 31 – The Threepenny Opera, adapted by Bertolt Brecht, Elisabeth Hauptmann and composer Kurt Weill from The Beggar's Opera, receives its première in Berlin at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm with Harald Paulsen and Lotte Lenya in the principal rôles.
• September 11 – Leoš Janáček's String Quartet No. 2, Intimate Letters, receives its première in Brno.
• September 12 – Anton Webern's String Trio receives its première in Siena.
• September 14 – Carl Nielsen's Clarinet Concerto is given its first performance.
• September 21 – Al Jolson marries Ruby Keeler.
• November 22 – Maurice Ravel's Bolero receives its première in Paris at the Palais Garnier.
• November 27 – Igor Stravinsky's ballet Le Baiser de la fée receives its première in Paris.
• December 2 – Arnold Schoenberg's Variations for Orchestra receives its première in Berlin
• December 29 – Pinetop Smith records "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie" in Chicago; released in 1929 it becomes the first hit boogie-woogie recording.
• Edward German is knighted for services to music.
• Eric Fenby begins work as amanuensis for Frederick Delius.
• Maurice Ravel embarks on a concert tour of the United States, where he meets George Gershwin.
• Tampa Red's recording career begins.
• Scrapper Blackwell makes his first recordings for Vocalion Records.
• Leroy Carr's recording career begins with the release of "How Long, How Long Blues".
• The first commercial recordings of Cajun music are released.
• The Detroit Symphony Orchestra makes its Carnegie Hall début.

Published popular music

• "Alabama Song" w. Bertolt Brecht m. Kurt Weill
• "Anything You Say" w.m. Walter Donaldson
• "Baby" w. Dorothy Fields m. Jimmy McHugh. Recorded and sung by Adelaide Hall
• "Back in Your Own Backyard" w.m. Dave Dreyer, Al Jolson & Billy Rose
• "Basin Street Blues" w.m. Spencer Williams
• "Because My Baby Don't Mean Maybe Now" w.m. Walter Donaldson
• "The Big Rock Candy Mountains" Harry McClintock
• "Bill" w. P.G. Wodehouse & Oscar Hammerstein II m. Jerome Kern. Introduced by Helen Morgan in the musical Showboat and performed by Miss Morgan in the 1929 and 1936 film versions.
• "Blue Yodel" w. Jimmie Rodgers
• "Bolero" m. Maurice Ravel
• "Button Up Your Overcoat" w. B.G. DeSylva & Lew Brown m. Ray Henderson. Introduced by Ruth Etting.
• "Calling To You" by Jack Lumsdaine
• "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" w. Oscar Hammerstein II m. Jerome Kern
• "Carolina Moon" w. Benny Davis m. Joe Burke
• "Cherry" w.m. Don Redman
• "Chiquita" w. L. Wolfe Gilbert m. Mabel Wayne
• "C-O-N-S-T-A-N-T-I-N-O-P-L-E" w.m. Harry Carlton
• "Coquette" w. Gus Kahn m. Carmen Lombardo & John Green
• "Cow Cow Blues" m. Cow Cow Davenport
• "Crazy Rhythm" w. Irving Caesar m. Joseph Meyer & Roger Wolfe Kahn. Introduced by Ben Bernie, Peggy Chamberlain and June O'Dea in the musical Here's Howe.
• "Dance, Little Lady" w.m Noël Coward. Introduced by Sonnie Hale in the revue This Year of Grace
• "Diga Diga Doo" w. Dorothy Fields m. Jimmy McHugh. Introduced by Adelaide Hall in the revue Blackbirds of 1928
• "Do I Hear You Saying?" w. Lorenz Hart m. Richard Rodgers. Introduced by Charles King and Flora Le Breton in the musical Present Arms.
• "Doin' The New Low-Down" w. Dorothy Fields m. Jimmy McHugh. Introduced by Bill Robinson in the revue Blackbirds of 1928.
• "Don't Look At Me That Way" w.m. Cole Porter. Introduced by Irène Bordoni in the musical Paris.
• "Dusky Stevedore" w. Andy Razaf m. J. C. Johnson
• "Empty Bed Blues" w.m. J. C. Johnson
• "Fancy Our Meeting" w. Douglas Furber m. Joseph Meyer & Philip Charig. Introduced by Jack Buchanan and Elsie Randolph in the musical That's a Good Girl.
• "Forgetting You" w. B.G. DeSylva & Lew Brown m. Ray Henderson
• "From Monday On" w. Bing Crosby m. Harry Barris
• "A Garden In The Rain" w. James Dyrenforth m. Carroll Gibbons
• "A Gay Caballero" w.m. Frank Crumit & Lou Klein
• "Get Out And Get Under The Moon" w. Charles Tobias & William Jerome m. Larry Shay
• "Glad Rag Doll" w.m. Dan Dougherty and Milton Ager
• "De Glory Road" w. Clement Wood m. Jacques Wolfe
• "Golden Gate" by Billy Rose & Dave Dreyer
• "Honey" w. Seymour Simons & Haven Gillespie m. Richard A. Whiting
• "Hooray for Captain Spaulding" w. Bert Kalmar m. Harry Ruby. Introduced by Zeppo Marx, Robert Greig, Margaret Dumont and Groucho Marx in the musical Animal Crackers and also performed by them in the 1930 film version.
• "How About Me?" w.m. Irving Berlin
• "How Long Has This Been Going On?" w. Ira Gershwin m. George Gershwin. Introduced by Bobbe Arnst in the musical Rosalie. Performed by Audrey Hepburn in the 1957 film Funny Face
• "I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby" w. Dorothy Fields m. Jimmy McHugh. Introduced by Adelaide Hall at Les Ambassedeurs Club, Broadway, January 1928 in the revue Lew Leslie's Blackbird Revue and in May at the Liberty Theatre, Broadway in Blackbirds of 1928.
• "I Must Have That Man" w. Dorothy Fields m. Jimmy McHugh. Introduced by Adelaide Hall in the revue Blackbirds of 1928
• "I Wanna Be Loved by You" w. Bert Kalmar m. Harry Ruby & Herbert Stothart. Introduced by Helen Kane and Dan Healy in the musical Good Boy. Performed by Miss Kane dubbing for Debbie Reynolds in the 1950 film Three Little Words.
• "I'd Rather Be Blue Over You" w. Billy Rose m. Fred Fisher. Introduced by Fanny Brice in the film My Man.
• "If I Had You" w.m. Ted Shapiro, Jimmy Campbell & Reg Connelly
• "I'll Get By" w. Roy Turk m. Fred E. Ahlert
• "I'm a Ding Dong Daddy From Dumas" w.m. Phil Baxter
• "I'm Bringing A Red, Red Rose" w. Gus Kahn m. Walter Donaldson. Introduced by Paul Gregory and Frances Upton in the musical Whoopee!
• "I'm On The Crest Of A Wave" w. B.G. DeSylva & Lew Brown m. Ray Henderson. Introduced by Harry Richman in the revue George White's Scandals of 1928
• "I've Got a Crush on You" w. Ira Gershwin m. George Gershwin. Introduced by Clifton Webb and Mary Hay in the musical Treasure Girl.
• "Is There Anything Wrong In That?" w.m. Michael H. Cleary & Herb Magidson
• "It's Tight Like That" Georgia Tom, Hudson "Tampa Red" Whittaker
• "Jeannine, I Dream of Lilac Time" w. L. Wolfe Gilbert m. Nathaniel Shilkret
• "Jimmy, the Well-Dressed Man" w.m. Jimmy Durante
• "Let's Do It" w.m. Cole Porter. Introduced by Irene Bordoni and Arthur Margetson in the musical Paris.
• "Let's Misbehave" w.m. Cole Porter
• "Life Upon The Wicked Stage" w. Oscar Hammerstein II m. Jerome Kern
• "Louisiana" w. Andy Razaf & Bob Schafer m. J. C. Johnson
• "Love Me or Leave Me" w. Gus Kahn m. Walter Donaldson
• "Lover, Come Back to Me" w. Oscar Hammerstein II m. Sigmund Romberg
• "Ma Belle" w. Clifford Grey m. Rudolf Friml
• "Mack The Knife" w. Marc Blitzstein Bertolt Brecht m. Kurt Weill
• "Make Believe" w. Oscar Hammerstein II m. Jerome Kern
• "Makin' Whoopee" w. Gus Kahn m. Walter Donaldson
• "Malagueña" m. Ernesto Lecuona
• "March Of The Musketeers" w. P. G. Wodehouse & Clifford Grey m. Rudolf Friml. Introduced by Dennis King, Douglass Dumbrille, Detmar Poppen, Joseph Macauley and chorus in the theatre musical The Three Musketeers
• "Marie" w.m. Irving Berlin
• "Memories of France" by Al Dubin
• "My Blackbirds Are Bluebirds Now" w. Irving Caesar m. Cliff Friend
• "My Baby Just Cares for Me" w. Gus Kahn m. Walter Donaldson
• "My Lucky Star" w. B.G. DeSylva & Lew Brown m. Ray Henderson
• "My Mammy" w. Walter Donaldson, Joe Young & Sam M. Lewis. Sung by Al Jolson.
• "Nagasaki" w. Mort Dixon m. Harry Warren
• "Oh, So Nice!" w. Ira Gershwin m. George Gershwin from Treasure Girl
• "One Kiss" w. Oscar Hammerstein II m. Sigmund Romberg
• "Pirate Jenny" w. Bertolt Brecht m. Kurt Weill
• "Room 1411" m. Glenn Miller & Benny Goodman
• "'Round Evening" w. Herb Steiner & J. Fred Coots m. George Whiting
• "She's Funny That Way" w. Richard A. Whiting m. Neil Moret
• "Short'nin' Bread" adapt. w.m. Jacques Wolfe
• "Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise" w. Oscar Hammerstein II m. Sigmund Romberg. Introduced by William O'Neal in the operetta The New Moon. Performed in the 1940 film New Moon by Nelson Eddy.
• "The Song Of The Prune" Frank Crumit, De Costa
• "Sonny Boy" w.m. Al Jolson, B.G. DeSylva, Lew Brown & Ray Henderson
• "St James Infirmary" w.m. Joe Primrose
• "Stack O'Lee" trad arr. Cliff Edwards
• "Stouthearted Men" w. Oscar Hammerstein II m. Sigmund Romberg
• "Sugar (That Sugar Baby of Mine)" w.m. Maceo Pinkard & Sidney D. Mitchell
• "Sweet Lorraine" w. Mitchell Parish m. Cliff Burwell
• "Sweet Sue" w. Will J. Harris m. Victor Young
• "Sweetheart Of All My Dreams" w.m. Art Fitch, Kay Fitch & Bert Lowe
• "Sweethearts On Parade" w. Charles Newman m. Carmen Lombardo
• "'Tain't So, Honey, 'Tain't So" w.m. Willard Robison
• "That's My Weakness Now" w.m. Bud Green & Sam H. Stept
• "There Ain't No Sweet Man " w.m. Fred Fisher
• "There's a Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder" w.m. Dave Dreyer, Billy Rose & Al Jolson
• "Together" w. B.G. DeSylva & Lew Brown m. Ray Henderson
• "Wanting You" w. Oscar Hammerstein II m. Sigmund Romberg. Introduced by Evelyn Herbert and Robert Halliday in the operetta The New Moon. Performed in the 1930 film version by Grace Moore and Lawrence Tibbett.
• "West End Blues" w.m. Joseph Oliver & Clarence Williams
• "When You're Smiling" w.m. Mark Fisher, Joe Goodwin & Larry Shay
• "Willow Tree" w. Andy Razaf m. Thomas Waller from the musical Keep Shufflin'
• "World Weary" w.m. Noël Coward. Introduced by Beatrice Lillie in the revue This Year of Grace
• "You Are Love" w. Oscar Hammerstein II m. Jerome Kern
• "You Took Advantage of Me" w. Lorenz Hart m. Richard Rodgers
• "You Wouldn't Fool Me" w. B. G. De Sylva & Lew Brown m. Ray Henderson
• "You're The Cream In My Coffee" w. B.G. DeSylva & Lew Brown m. Ray Henderson

Top popular recordings

1928 Harlem Hit Parade (non-official)

Other important recordings

• "The Mooche" by Duke Ellington
• "Muggles" by Louis Armstrong
• "Big Bill Blues" by Big Bill Broonzy
• "Prison Cell Blues" by Blind Lemon Jefferson
• "Statesboro Blues" by Blind Willie McTell
• "Playing With the Strings" by Lonnie Johnson
• "How Long, How Long Blues" by Leroy Carr
• "It's Tight Like That" by Tampa Red and Georgia Tom
• "I Used To Be Your Sweet Mama" by Bessie Smith
• "Son de la Loma" by Trio Matamoros

Classical music

• Aaron Avshalomov – Four Biblical Tableaux
• Granville Bantock – Pagan Symphony
• Samuel Barber – Serenade, Op. 1, for string quartet
• Béla Bartók – String Quartet No. 4
• Werner Egk – Concerto for Violin and Chamber Orchestra
• John Fernström – Symphony No. 2, Op. 15
• Gerald Finzi – Grand Fantasia and Toccata
• Roberto Gerhard – Wind Quintet
• Karl Amadeus Hartmann – Jazz Toccata and Fugue
• Gordon Jacob – String Quartet
• Dmitri Kabalevsky
• *String Quartet No. 1 in A minor, Op. 8
• *Piano Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 9
• Wilhelm Kienzl – String Quartet No. 3 in E major
• Uuno Klami – Karelian Rhapsody
• George Gershwin – An American in Paris
• Ernst Krenek
• *Little Symphony
• *Piano Sonata No. 2
• Maurice Ravel – Bolero
• Sergei Prokofiev
• *Symphony No. 3
• *The Prodigal Son
• Albert Roussel – Psalm 80
• Dmitri Shostakovich – Tahiti Trot, Op. 16
• Roger Sessions – The Black Maskers Suite for Orchestra
• Leo Sowerby – Symphony No. 2
• Richard Strauss
• *Die Tageszeiten, Op.76
• *Gesänge des Orients, Op.77
• Ernst Toch – Piano Sonata, Op. 47
• Heitor Villa-Lobos
• *Chôros No. 11
• *Chôros No. 14
• *Quinteto (em forma de chôros)
• Pancho Vladigerov – Bulgarische Rhapsodie "Vardar"
• Felix Weingartner – Symphony No. 6, Op. 74

[Opera]

• Cyril Scott – The Alchemist
• Dmitri Shostakovich – The Nose
• Richard Strauss – Die ägyptische Helena premiered at the Dresden Semperoper on 6 June 1928.
• Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht – Die Dreigroschenoper premiered on 31 August 1928, at Berlin's Theater am Schiffbauerdamm.
• Stefan Wolpe – Zeus und Elida, premiered in Berlin

Film

• Irving Berlin – The Awakening
• Werner Richard Heymann – Alraune
• Willy Schmidt-Gentner – Heimkehr
• Louis Silvers, Alois Reiser – ''Noah's Ark''

[Musical theater]

• Sunny Days Broadway production opened at the Imperial Theatre on February 8 and ran for 101 performances. It re-opened at the Century Theatre on October 1 for a further run of 32 performances.This Year of Grace by Noël Coward opens on 22 March 1928 at the London Pavilion and ran for nearly 10 monthsThe Three Musketeers Broadway production opened at the Lyric Theatre on March 13 and ran for 319 performances.
• Treasure Girl Broadway production opened at the Alvin Theatre on November 8 and ran for 68 performancesUps-a-Daisy Broadway production opened at the Shubert Theatre on October 8 and ran for 64 performances. Starring Marie Saxon, Luella Gear, William Kent, Bob Hope and Roy Royston.Virginia London production opened at the Palace Theatre on October 24.
• *London revue opened at the Pavilion on March 22 and ran for 316 performances.
• *Broadway production opened at the Selwyn Theatre on November 7 and ran for 158 performances.White Lilacs opened at the Shubert Theatre on September 10 and transferred to Jolson's 59th Street Theatre on October 8 for a total run of 136 performancesWhoopee! Broadway production opened at the New Amsterdam Theatre on December 4 and ran for 407 performances

Births

• January 2 – Alberto Zedda, Italian conductor and musicologist
• January 7 – Emilio Pericoli, Italian singer
• January 9 – Domenico Modugno, Italian singer and songwriter
• January 11 – Andréa Guiot, French operatic soprano
• January 15 – François Pantillon, Swiss composer and conductor
• January 16 – Pilar Lorengar, Spanish soprano
• January 17 – Jean Barraqué, composer
• January 29 – Bengt Hambraeus, composer
• January 30 – Ruth Brown, R&B singer
• January 31
• *Miltinho, Brazilian singer
• *Chuck Willis, singer and songwriter
• February 3
• *Saulius Sondeckis, Lithuanian violinist and conductor
• *Frankie Vaughan, British singer
• February 8 – Osian Ellis, Welsh harpist
• February 10 – Anthony Prospect, conductor from Trinidad and Tobago
• February 12 – Vincent Montana, Jr., American drummer and composer
• February 16 – Porfi Jiménez, Dominican-Venezuelan musician
• February 17 – Tom Jones, American lyricist
• February 23 – Isabel Bigley, singer and actress
• February 26 – Fats Domino, pianist and singer-songwriter
• February 27 – René Clemencic, Austrian composer, recorder player, harpsichordist, conductor and clavichord player
• March 4 – Samuel Adler, American composer and conductor
• March 6 – Ronald Stevenson, Scottish composer and pianist
• March 9 – Keely Smith, American singer
• March 10 – Sara Montiel, Spanish singer, actress
• March 12 – Aldemaro Romero, Venezuelan composer and pianist
• March 13 – Ronnie Hazlehurst, English conductor and composer
• March 21 – Valentin Gheorghiu, Romanian pianist and composer
• March 24 – Byron Janis, American pianist
• March 31 – Lefty Frizzell, American country singer and songwriter
• April 2 – Serge Gainsbourg, singer-songwriter
• April 3 – Don Gibson, country singer and songwriter
• April 4 – Monty Norman, singer and composer of the James Bond signature tune
• April 5 – Tony Williams, vocalist
• April 8 – Fred Ebb, lyricist
• April 9 – Tom Lehrer, satirical singer-songwriter and mathematician
• April 12 – Jean-François Paillard, French conductor
• April 14 – Egil Monn-Iversen, Norwegian composer and pianist
• April 19 – Alexis Korner, blues musician and historian
• April 21 – Hillous Butrum, country musician
• April 23
• *Sergio Tedesco, Italian actor, voice actor and tenor
• *Shirley Temple, actress, dancer and singer
• April 29 – Carl Gardner, vocalist
• May 1 – Sonny James, American country singer
• May 3 – Dave Dudley, country singer
• May 4 – Maynard Ferguson, jazz trumpeter
• May 12 – Burt Bacharach, songwriter
• May 19
• *Klara Berkovich, Soviet-American violinist
• *Bak Sheut-sin, Cantonese opera singer
• May 23 – Rosemary Clooney, singer and actress
• May 27 – Thea Musgrave, composer
• June 7 – Charles Strouse, lyricist and composer
• June 8 – Mimi Mariani, Indonesian actress, model, and singer
• June 10 – Carl Dahlhaus, musicologist and editor
• June 12
• *Vic Damone, singer
• *Richard M. Sherman, songwriter
• June 19 – Tommy DeVito
• June 26 – Jacob Druckman, composer
• July 1 – Bobby Day, singer, songwriter
• July 3 – Edward Greenfield, critic
• July 12 – S. R. Janakiraman, Indian Carnatic vocalist and musicologist
• July 13 – Leroy Vinnegar, American bassist
• July 16
• *Concha Valdés Miranda, Cuban songwriter
• *Bella Davidovich, pianist
• July 22 – Keter Betts, American bassist
• July 23 – Leon Fleisher, American classical pianist and teacher
• July 26
• *Tadeusz Baird, Polish composer
• *Joe Jackson, African-American manager, father of Michael Jackson
• August 9
• *Camilla Wicks, American violinist
• *Dolores Wilson, American coloratura soprano
• August 10
• *Jimmy Dean, singer
• *Eddie Fisher, singer
• August 16 – Ann Blyth, actress and singer
• August 18 – Sonny Til, doo-wop singer
• August 21 – Art Farmer, American jazz trumpeter, flugelhorn player
• August 22 – Karlheinz Stockhausen, German composer
• August 25 – Karl Korte, American composer
• August 28 – Vilayat Khan, sitar player
• September 1 – Ed Summerlin, composer, arranger, jazz saxophonist and music educator
• September 2 – Horace Silver, hard bop jazz pianist
• September 5
• * Damayanti Joshi, Indian classical dancer of Kathak
• * Albert Mangelsdorff, German jazz musician
• September 6 – Yevgeny Svetlanov, conductor, pianist and composer
• September 15 – Cannonball Adderley, jazz musician
• September 24 – John Carter, jazz musician
• October 3 – Erik Bruhn, dancer and choreographer
• October 7 – José Messias, Brazilian musician, composer, and writer
• October 9 – Einojuhani Rautavaara, Finnish composer
• October 22 – Clare Fischer, keyboardist, composer, arranger and bandleader
• October 27
• * Waldo Holmes, American musician and songwriter
• * Gilles Vigneault, Canadian singer-songwriter and poet
• November 10
• *Marilyn Keith Bergman, composer
• *Ennio Morricone, film composer
• November 13 – Hampton Hawes, jazz pianist
• November 14 – Bernabé Martí, Spanish operatic tenor
• November 18
• * Otar Gordeli, Georgian composer
• * Sheila Jordan, American jazz singer and pianist
• November 23 – Jerry Bock, composer of Fiddler on the Roof
• November 27 – Walter Klien, pianist
• December 7
• * Zdeněk Mahler, Czech writer, musicologist, pedagogue and screenwriter
• * Orlando Peña, Cuban bassist and songwriter
• December 15 – Ida Haendel, violinist
• December 18 – Galt MacDermot, Canadian-American composer and pianist
• December 28 – Moe Koffman, jazz musician
• December 29 – Bernard Cribbins, English actor, comedian and singer
• December 30 – Bo Diddley, singer, songwriter and guitarist
• December 31 – Tatyana Shmyga, Soviet-Russian operetta/musical theatre performer

Deaths

• January 1 – Loie Fuller, dancer
• January 11 – Valborg Aulin, pianist and composer
• February 16 – Eddie Foy, vaudeville star
• March 1 – Sir Herbert Brewer, organist and composer
• March 19 – Nora Bayes, singer, comedian and actress
• March 27 – Leslie Stuart, musical theatre composer
• April 24 – Ferdinand Hummel, harpist, pianist, conductor and composer
• April 27 – Ernst Seifert, organ builder
• May 6 – Juliusz Wertheim, pianist, conductor and composer
• May 13 – David Thomas, composer
• May 19 – Henry F. Gilbert, American composer and collector of folk music
• May 28 – Emma Howson, operatic soprano
• June 21 – Marie Novello, pianist
• July 7 – Jón Laxdal, composer
• August 12 – Leoš Janáček, composer
• September 12 – Howard Talbot, conductor and composer
• September 13 – Olena Falkman, concert vocalist
• October 9 – Frank Ellsworth Olds, brass instrument manufacturer
• October 30
• *Percy Anderson, D'Oyly Carte stage designer
• *Oscar Sonneck, musicologist
• November 7 – Mattia Battistini, operatic baritone
• November 10 – Anita Berber, dancer
• November 13 – Enrico Cecchetti, dancer
• November 26 – Herbert Sullivan, nephew and biographer of Sir Arthur Sullivan
• December 3 – Theodor von Frimmel, musicologist
• December 24 – Nicolae Leonard, operatic tenor
• date unknown
• *Celeste Farotti, violin-maker
• *Lillie de Hegermann-Lindencrone, singer