Events

• October 15 - In Rovigo, Beniamino Gigli makes his operatic debut in Amilcare Ponchielli's La Gioconda.
• The first recorded calypso music is made in Trinidad and Tobago.
• First publication of Orchestration, the classic book by Cecil Forsyth.

Published popular music

• "The Aba Daba Honeymoon" w.m. Arthur Fields & Walter Donovan. Performed in the 1951 film Two Weeks with Love by Debbie Reynolds and Carleton Carpenter
• "After The Roses Have Faded Away" w. Bessie Buchanan m. Ernest R. Ball
• "Along Came Ruth" w.m. Irving Berlin
• "Always Treat Her Like A Baby" w.m. Irving Berlin
• "Back To The Carolina You Love" w. Grant Clarke m. Jean Schwartz
• "Burlington Bertie From Bow" w.m. William Hargreaves
• "By Heck" w. L. Wolfe Gilbert m. S. R. Henry
• "By The Beautiful Sea" w. Harold R. Atteridge m. Harry Carroll
• "By The Waters Of Minnetonka" w. J. M. Cavanass m. Thurlow Lieurance
• "California And You" Harry Puck
• "Can't You Hear Me Callin' Caroline?" w.m. William H. Gardner & Caro Roma
• "Cecile Waltz" by Frank McKee
• "Chinatown, My Chinatown" w. William Jerome m. Jean Schwartz
• "Colonel Bogey - March" m. Kenneth J. Alford
• "Come Over To Dover" Murphy, Botsford
• "La Cucaracha" w. (Eng) Stanley Adams m. arr. Juan Y. D'Lorah
• "The Darktown Poker Club" w. Jean C. Havez m. Bert Williams & Will H. Vodery
• "The Day Is Done" w. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow m. Herman Lohr
• "Desecration Rag" Felix Arndt
• "Down Among The Sheltering Palms" w. James Brockman m. Abe Olman
• "La Estrellita" m. Maurice Ponce
• "Everybody Rag With Me" w. Gus Kahn m. Grace LeBoy
• "Fido Is A Hot Dog Now" w. Charles McCarron & Thomas J. Gray m. Raymond Walker
• "Follow The Crowd" w.m. Irving Berlin
• "Gilbert, The Filbert" w. Arthur Wimperis m. Herman Finck
• "Goodbye Girls I'm Through" w. John Golden m. Ivan Caryll
• "He's A Devil In His Own Home Town" w. Grant Clarke & Irving Berlin m. Irving Berlin
• "He's A Rag Picker" w.m. Irving Berlin
• "Hot House Rag" m. Paul Pratt
• "I Love the Ladies" by Grant Clarke
• "I Want To Go Back To Michigan, Down On The Farm" w.m. Irving Berlin
• "I Was A Good Little Girl Till I Met You" w. Clifford Harris m. James W. Tate
• "If I Had You" w.m. Irving Berlin
• "If That's Your Idea Of A Wonderful Time, Take Me Home" w.m. Irving Berlin
• "If You Don't Want My Peaches" w.m. Irving Berlin
• "I'll Make A Man Of You" w.m. Arthur Wimperis & Herman Finck
• "I'm Goin' Back To Louisiana (Where The Bright Moon Shines)" E. Clinton Keithley
• "In An Old-Fashioned Town" w.m. Squire
• "In Siam" Manuel Klein
• "In The Candlelight" w.m. Fleta Jan Brown
• "Kachusha no uta" composed by Nakayama Shimpei is the first big kayōkyoku (pop music) hit in Japan
• "Keep the Home Fires Burning" w. Lena Guilbert Ford m. Ivor Novello
• "Land" by Irving Berlin
• "A Little Bit Of Heaven Sure They Call It Ireland" w. J. Keirn Brennan m. Ernest R. Ball
• "The Little Ford Rambled Right Along" by Byron Gay & C.R. Foster
• "Love's Own Sweet Song" w. C. C. S. Cushing & E. P. Heath m. Emmerich Kalman
• "The Minstrel Parade" Irving Berlin
• "Missouri Waltz" w. James Royce Shannon m. Frederick Knight Logan
• "Mrs. Sippi, You're A Grand Old Girl" Belle Ashlyn
• "Music Box Rag" Charles Luckeyth Roberts
• "My Bird Of Paradise" Irving Berlin
• "My Croony Melody" w.m. Joe Goodwin & E. Ray Goetz
• "On The 5:15" w. Stanley Murphy m. Henry I. Marshall
• "On The Good Ship Mary Ann" w. Gus Kahn m. Grace Le Boy
• "On The Shores Of Italy" w.m. Al Piantadosi, Dave Oppenheim & Jack Glogau
• "Pigeon Walk" m. James V. Monaco
• "Play a Simple Melody" w.m. Irving Berlin
• "Poor Pauline" w. Charles McCarron m. Raymond Walker
• "Revival Day" Berlin
• "Roll Them Cotton Bales" w. James Weldon Johnson m. J. Rosamond Johnson
• "Rufus Johnson's Harmony Band" w.m. Shelton Brooks & Maurice Abrahams
• "Same Sort Of Girl" w. Harry B. Smith m. Jerome Kern
• "Settle Down In A One-Horse Town" Irving Berlin
• "Shadowland" w. Blanche Merrill m. Gus Edwards
• "She's Dancing Her Heart Away" w. L. Wolfe Gilbert m. Kerry Mills
• "Sister Susie's Sewing Shirts For Soldiers" w. R. P. Weston m. Herman E. Darewski
• "The Springtime Of Life" w. Robert B. Smith m. Victor Herbert
• "St. Louis Blues" w.m. W. C. Handy
• "Stay Down Here Where You Belong" w.m. Irving Berlin
• "Sylvia" w. Clinton Scollard m. Oley Speaks
• "Syncopated Walk" w.m. Irving Berlin
• "That's a Plenty" m. Lew Pollack
• "There's A Little Spark Of Love Still Burning" w. Joe McCarthy m. Fred Fisher
• "They Didn't Believe Me" w. Herbert Reynolds m. Jerome Kern
• "They're On Their Way To Mexico" w.m. Irving Berlin
• "This Is The Life" w.m. Irving Berlin
• "'Twas In September" w. Benjamin Hapgood Burt m. Silvio Hein
• "Twelfth Street Rag" m. Euday L. Bowman
• "Vienna, City Of My Dreams" w. (Austrian) Rudolf Sieczynski m. Rudolf Sieczynski
• "Way Out Yonder In The Golden West" w.m. Percy Wenrich
• "What Is Love" Irving Berlin
• "When It's Night Time In Dixieland" w.m. Irving Berlin
• "When Mother Backed The Winner Of The Derby" Williams & Godfrey
• "When The Angelus Is Ringing" w. Joe Young m. Bert Grant
• "When The Grown-up Ladies Act Like Babies" w. Joe Young & Edgar Leslie m. Maurice Abrahams
• "When You Wore A Tulip" w. Jack Mahoney m. Percy Wenrich
• "When You're A Long, Long Way From Home" w. Sam M. Lewis m. George W. Meyer
• "When You're Away" w. Henry Blossom m. Victor Herbert
• "Who Paid The Rent For Mrs Rip Van Winkle?" Bryan, Fischer
• "The Yellow Dog Blues" w.m. W. C. Handy
• "You Planted A Rose In The Garden Of Love" w. J. Will Callahan m. Ernest R. Ball

Popular recordings

• "Aba Daba Honeymoon" by Collins & Harlan
• "Brindisi" from La Traviata, by Enrico Caruso & Alma Gluck
• "Ballin' the Jack" by Prince's Orchestra
• "The Little Ford Rambled Right Along" by Billy Murray

Classical music

• John Alden Carpenter - Adventures in a Perambulator (ballet)
• Arthur De Greef - Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Minor
• Frederick Delius - Violin Sonata No. 1
• Ernő Dohnányi - Variations on a Nursery Song
• Marcel Dupré - Psyche (cantata)
• Herbert Howells - Piano Concerto No. 1
• Charles Ives - Violin Sonata No. 3
• Nikolai Medtner - Sonate-Ballade op. 27
• Sergei Prokofiev - Violin Concerto No. 1 in D Major
• Sergei Prokofiev
• Sarcasms, for piano
• The Ugly Duckling, for mezzo-soprano and orchestra
• Maurice Ravel - Piano Trio in A Minor
• Max Reger - Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Mozart (orchestral version)
• Ralph Vaughan Williams - Symphony No. 2 A London Symphony
• Anton Webern - Cello Sonata

Opera

• Jules Massenet - Cléopâtre
• Joaquín Turina - Margot
• Gabriel von Wayditch - Opium Dreams

Musical theater

• Adele London production opened at the Gaiety Theatre on May 30
• The Belle of Bond Street Broadway production opened at the Shubert Theatre on March 30 and ran for 48 performances
• Business as Usual London production opened at the Hippodrome on November 16
• Chin-Chin Broadway production opened at the Globe Theatre on October 20 and ran for 295 performances
• The Earl and the Girl London revival opened at the Aldwych Theatre on November 4
• The Girl from Utah Broadway production opened at the Knickerbocker Theatre on August 24 and ran for 120 performances
• The Lilac Domino (libretto by Emmerich von Gatti and Béla Jenbach; music by Charles Cuvillier) Broadway production opened at the 44th Street Theatre on October 28 and ran for 109 performances
• Papa's Darling Broadway production
• The Pretty Mrs Smith Broadway production opened at the Casino Theatre on September 21 and ran for 48 performances
• Szibill by Victor Jacobi, with libretto by Martos Ferenc and Miklós Bródy. First performed on February 27 in Budapest.
• Tonight's The Night Broadway production opened at the Shubert Theatre on December 24 and ran for 112 performances
• Wars of the World Broadway production opened at the Hippodrome Theatre on September 5 and ran for 229 performances
• Watch Your Step Broadway production opened at the New Amsterdam Theatre on December 8 and ran for 175 performances
• When Claudia Smiles Broadway production opened at the 39th Street Theatre on February 2 and moved to the Lyric Theatre on February 23 for a total run of 112 performances

Births

• February 10 - Larry Adler, harmonica virtuoso (d. 2001)
• February 18 - Pee Wee King, country musician (d. 2000)
• March 5 - Philip Farkas, horn player (d. 1992)
• March 6 - Kiril Kondrashin, conductor (d. 1981)
• March 21 - Paul Tortelier, cellist and composer (d. 1990)
• March 30 - Sonny Boy Williamson I, blues musician (d. 1948)
• April 4 - Frances Langford, US singer and actress (d. 2005)
• May 9 -
• Carlo Maria Giulini, conductor (d. 2005)
• Hank Snow, country singer (d. 1999)
• May 18 - Boris Christoff, operatic bass (d. 1993)
• May 26 -Ziggy Elman, US trumpet player (d. 1968)
• May 31 - Akira Ifukube, composer (d. 2006)
• June 6 - Iris du Pré, pianist, mother of Jacqueline du Pré and Hilary du Pré (d. 1985)
• June 28 - Lester Flatt, bluegrass musician (d. 1979)
• July 2 - Frederick Fennell, conductor (d. 2004)
• July 8 - Billy Eckstine, jazz musician and singer (d. 1993)
• July 26
• Erskine Hawkins, US jazz trumpeter and bandleader (d. 1993)
• Ralph Blane, US composer and singer (d. 1995)
• August 28 - Abe (Glenn) Osser, US conductor and arranger
• September 12 - Eddy Howard, singer (d. 1963)
• September 24 - Andrzej Panufnik, composer (d. 1991)
• September 25 - Robert Wright, US composer (d. 2005)
• October 7 - Alfred Drake, US singer and actor (d. 1992)
• October 10 - Ivory Joe Hunter, R&B singer, songwriter and pianist (d. 1974)
• November 15 - Jorge Bolet, pianist and conductor (d. 1990)
• December 3 - Irving Fine, composer (d. 1962)
• December 14 - Rosalyn Tureck, pianist (d. 2003)
• date unknown - Rita Abatzi, rebetiko singer (d. 1969)

Deaths

• January 5 - François Cellier, conductor and composer (b. 1849)
• January 23 - George W. Johnson, singer and pioneer recording artist (b. 1850)
• March 1 - Tor Aulin, violinist, conductor and composer (b. 1866)
• March 24 - Ellen Franz, pianist and actress (b. 1839)
• March 31 - Hubert von Herkomer, painter, film director and composer (b. 1849)
• May 10
• Lillian Nordica, opera singer (b. 1857)
• Ernst von Schuch, conductor (b. 1846)
• July 1 - Edmund Payne, musical comedy star (b. 1865)
• July 14 - Andrzej Hławiczka, musicologist (b. 1866)
• July 23 - Harry Evans, conductor and composer (b. 1873)
• August 7 - Bolesław Dembiński, composer (b. 1833)
• August 18 - Anna Yesipova, pianist (b. 1851)
• August 28 - Anatoly Lyadov, composer (b. 1855)
• September 3 - Albéric Magnard, composer (b. 1865)
• September 13 - Robert Hope-Jones, inventor of the theatre organ (b. 1859)
• October 28 - Richard Heuberger, composer (b. 1850)
• November 9 - Jean-Baptiste Faure, operatic baritone and composer (b. 1830)
• December 14 - Giovanni Sgambati, composer (b. 1841)
• December 16 - Ivan Zajc, composer (b. 1832)
• December 25 - Bernhard Stavenhagen, pianist, composer and conductor (b. 1862)
• date unknown
• Emil Fischer, operatic bass (b. 1838)
• Carl Kolling, composer of piano music (b. 1831)