text:
1927 in music

This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1927.

Specific locations

 * 1927 in British music
 * 1927 in Norwegian music

Specific genres

 * 1927 in country music
 * 1927 in jazz

Events

 * January 8 – Alban Berg's Lyric Suite is premiered in Vienna.
 * April 21 – Electric re-recording of George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue by Paul Whiteman's Orchestra directed by Nathaniel Shilkret with Gershwin at the piano.
 * May – American all-girl harmony singing trio The Hamilton Sisters and Fordyce set out by air from New York with the American portion of New York's Savoy Orpheans band for a tour of English variety theatres. In June they record "My Heart Stood Still" (Rodgers and Hart) and "The Birth of the Blues" and with Bert Ambrose and others in London. On December 10 they take ship for France to visit Paris before returning to the United States.
 * July 1 – Béla Bartók's Piano Concerto No. 1 is premiered in Frankfurt with the composer at the piano and Wilhelm Furtwängler conducting.
 * August 4 – Country singer Jimmie Rodgers records his first sides for Victor in Camden, New Jersey.
 * August 13 – The Proms concert season opens in London under management of the BBC, music publishers Chappell & Co. having withdrawn their financial support and disbanded the New Queen's Hall Orchestra after a symphony concert on March 19.
 * December 5 – Leoš Janáček's Glagolitic Mass is premiered in Brno.
 * December 31 – The original Savoy Orpheans and Savoy Havana London dance bands are disbanded.
 * Benjamin Britten is introduced to Frank Bridge at the Norfolk and Norwich Festival and becomes his pupil of at age 14.
 * Witold Lutosławski enters the Warsaw conservatory.
 * Recording careers begin for
 * Louis Armstrong and his Hot Seven.
 * Big Bill Broonzy.
 * The Carter Family.
 * Jim Jackson.
 * Blind Willie McTell.
 * The Soul Stirrers.

Published popular music

 * "Adios Muchachos" w. Cesar Felipe Vedani m. Julio Cesar Sanders (aka Lenny Sanders)
 * "Ain't She Sweet" w. Jack Yellen m. Milton Ager
 * "Among My Souvenirs" w. Edgar Leslie m. Horatio Nicholls
 * "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" w. Roy Turk m. Lou Handman
 * "At Sundown" w.m. Walter Donaldson
 * "The Babbitt And The Bromide" w. Ira Gershwin m. George Gershwin
 * "The Best Things In Life Are Free" w. B. G. De Sylva & Lew Brown m. Ray Henderson
 * "Black And Tan Fantasy" m. Duke Ellington
 * "Bless This House" w. Helen Taylor m. May Brahe
 * "Blue Skies" w.m. Irving Berlin
 * "Broken Hearted" w. B. G. De Sylva & Lew Brown m. Ray Henderson
 * "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" w. Oscar Hammerstein II m. Jerome Kern. Introduced by Helen Morgan in the musical Show Boat
 * "Changes" w.m. Walter Donaldson
 * "Chlo-e (Song of the Swamp)" w. Gus Kahn m. Neil Moret
 * "Creole Love Call" w.m. Edward "Duke" Ellington with vocal by Adelaide Hall
 * "Dew-Dew-Dewy Day" w.m. Al Sherman, Charles Tobias & Howard Johnson
 * "Diane" w.m. Ernie Rapee & Lew Pollack
 * "Did You Mean It?" w. Abe Lyman & Sid Silvers m. Phil Baker
 * "The Doll Dance" m. Nacio Herb Brown
 * "Everywhere You Go" w.m. Larry Shay, Joe Goodwin & Mark Fisher
 * "Fifty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong" w. Willie Raskin & Billy Rose m. Fred Fisher
 * "Four Or Five Times" w.m. Byron Gay
 * "Funny Face" w. Ira Gershwin m. George Gershwin
 * "Girl Of My Dreams" w.m. Sunny Clapp
 * "Good News" w. B. G. De Sylva & Lew Brown m. Ray Henderson
 * "Hallelujah!" w. Leo Robin & Clifford Grey m. Vincent Youmans
 * "He Loves and She Loves" w. Ira Gershwin m. George Gershwin. Introduced by Adele Astaire and Allen Kearns in the musical Funny Face.  Performed in the 1957 film version by Fred Astaire.
 * "High Hat" w. Ira Gershwin m. George Gershwin
 * "Hoosier Sweetheart" w.m. Billy Baskette, Paul Ash & Joe Goodwin
 * "I Don't Know How" w. Lorenz Hart m. Richard Rodgers
 * "I Feel At Home With You" w. Lorenz Hart m. Richard Rodgers
 * "I Left My Sugar Standing In The Rain" w. Irving Kahal m. Sammy Fain
 * "(I Scream You Scream, We All Scream for) Ice Cream" w.m. Robert King, Howard Johnson & Billy Moll
 * "I Still Suits Me" w. Oscar Hammerstein II m. Jerome Kern
 * "I'll Take Care Of Your Cares" w. Mort Dixon m. James V. Monaco
 * "I'm Gonna Meet My Sweetie Now" w. Benny Davis m. Jesse Greer
 * "I'm Looking Over A Four Leaf Clover" w. Mort Dixon m. Harry Woods
 * "I'm Proud Of A Baby Like You" Schoenberg, Stevens, Helmick
 * "In A Mist" m. Bix Beiderbecke
 * "It All Belongs To Me" w.m. Irving Berlin
 * "Just Like A Butterfly" w. Mort Dixon m. Harry Woods
 * "Let A Smile Be Your Umbrella" w. Irving Kahal & Francis Wheeler m. Sammy Fain
 * "Let's Kiss And Make Up" w. Ira Gershwin m. George Gershwin. Introduced by Fred Astaire and Adele Astaire in the musical Funny Face
 * "Lindbergh (The Eagle of the U.S.A.)" w.m. Al Sherman & Howard Johnson
 * "The Lonesome Road" w. Gene Austin m. Nathaniel Shilkret
 * "Lucky Lindy" w. L. Wolfe Gilbert m. Abel Baer
 * "Mary, (What Are You Waiting For)" w.m. Walter Donaldson
 * "Maybe It's Me" w. Lorenz Hart m. Richard Rodgers
 * "Me And My Shadow" w.m. Dave Dreyer, Billy Rose & Al Jolson
 * "Miss Annabelle Lee" w.m. Lew Pollack, Sidney Clare & Harry Richman
 * "Mississippi Mud" w. James Cavanaugh m. Harry Barris
 * "My Blue Heaven" w. George A. Whiting m. Walter Donaldson
 * "My Heart Stood Still" w. Lorenz Hart m. Richard Rodgers
 * "My One And Only" w. Ira Gershwin m. George Gershwin
 * "Ol' Man River" w. Oscar Hammerstein II m. Jerome Kern
 * "Plenty Of Sunshine" w. B. G. De Sylva & Lew Brown m. Ray Henderson
 * "Preludes" by George Gershwin
 * "Rain" w.m. Eugene Ford, Carey Morgan & Arthur Swanstrom
 * "Ramona (Song)" w. L. Wolfe Gilbert m. Mabel Wayne
 * "The Rangers' Song" w. Joseph McCarthy m. Harry A. Tierney. Introduced in the musical Rio Rita by J. Harold Murray, Harry Ratcliffe, Donald Douglas and chorus.  Performed in the 1929 film version by John Boles and chorus.
 * "A Room with a View" w.m. Noël Coward
 * "Rosy Cheeks" w.m. Seymour Simons & Richard A. Whiting
 * "Russian Lullaby" w.m. Irving Berlin
 * "'S Wonderful" w. Ira Gershwin m. George Gershwin
 * "Shaking The Blues Away" w.m. Irving Berlin
 * "Side By Side" w.m. Harry Woods
 * "Sometimes I'm Happy" w. Irving Caesar m. Vincent Youmans from the musical Hit the Deck
 * "The Song Is Ended" w.m. Irving Berlin
 * "Strike Up The Band" w. Ira Gershwin m. George Gershwin
 * "Struttin' With Some Barbecue" w.m. Louis Armstrong & Lillian Hardin Armstrong
 * "Thou Swell" w. Lorenz Hart m. Richard Rodgers. Introduced by William Gaxton and Constance Carpenter in the musical A Connecticut Yankee.  Performed in the 1948 film Words and Music by June Allyson and The Blackburn Twins.
 * "The Varsity Drag" w. B. G. De Sylva & Lew Brown m. Ray Henderson
 * "Washboard Blues" m. Hoagy Carmichael & Irving Mills
 * "What Does It Matter?" w.m. Irving Berlin
 * "Where's That Rainbow?" Lorenz Hart m. Richard Rodgers
 * "Why Do I Love You?" w. Oscar Hammerstein II m. Jerome Kern
 * "You Remind Me Of A Naughty Springtime Cuckoo" w.m. Leslie Sarony
 * "Your Land And My Land" w. Dorothy Donnelly m. Sigmund Romberg
 * "You're Always In My Arms" w. Joseph McCarthy m. Harry Tierney

Top Popular Recordings 1927
The following songs achieved the highest positions in Joel Whitburn's Pop Memories 1890-1954 and record sales reported on the "Discography of American Historical Recordings" website during 1927: Numerical rankings are approximate, they are only used as a frame of reference.

Classical music

 * Béla Bartók – String Quartet No. 3
 * Havergal Brian – Symphony No. 1 "Gothic"
 * Frank Bridge – Rhapsody: Enter Spring
 * John Alden Carpenter – String Quartet
 * Aaron Copland – Piano Concerto
 * Pierre-Octave Ferroud – Sérénade pour orchestre
 * Gerald Finzi – Violin Concerto
 * André Fleury – Allegro symphonique
 * Reinhold Glière – The Red Poppy
 * Leopold Godowsky – 4 Poems (no. 1–3)
 * Karl Amadeus Hartmann – Two Sonatas for Unaccompanied Violin
 * Paul Hindemith – 8 Pieces for Solo Flute
 * Dmitri Kabalevsky – Piano Sonata No. 1
 * Albert Ketèlbey – By the Blue Hawaiian Waters
 * Zoltán Kodály – Suite from the opera Háry János
 * Józef Koffler – Musique. Quasi una sonata; 15 variations on a 12 tone series (15 variations d'après une suite de douze tons) (opp. 8 & 9)
 * Bohuslav Martinů – La Revue de Cuisine
 * Darius Milhaud
 * Violin Concerto No. 1, Op. 93
 * 3 Caprices de Paganini for violin and piano, Op. 97
 * Sonatina for clarinet and piano, Op. 100
 * Carl Nielsen – An Imaginary Trip to the Faroe Islands (orchestral)
 * Dane Rudhyar – Paeans
 * Henri Sauguet – La Chatte (ballet)
 * Arnold Schoenberg – String Quartet No. 3
 * Roger Sessions – Symphony No. 1
 * Dmitri Shostakovich – Symphony No. 2 in B major, Op. 14
 * Igor Stravinsky – Oedipus Rex
 * Karol Szymanowski – String Quartet No. 2
 * Alexander Tcherepnin
 * Symphony No. 1, Op. 42
 * Quintet, for Piano and Strings, Op. 44
 * Edgard Varèse – Arcana (1925–27)
 * Anton Webern – String Trio, Op. 20

Opera

 * Paul Hindemith – Hin und zurück
 * Erich Wolfgang Korngold – Das Wunder der Heliane
 * Ernst Krenek – Jonny spielt auf
 * Franz Lehár – Der Zarewitsch
 * Darius Milhaud – 3 Opéras-minutes
 * L'enlèvement d'Europe, Op. 94; 1 act, 8 scenes; libretto by Henri Hoppenot
 * L'abandon d'Ariane, Op. 98; 1 act, 5 scenes; libretto by Henri Hoppenot
 * La délivrance de Thésée, Op. 99; 1 act, 6 scenes; libretto by Henri Hoppenot
 * Sergei Prokofiev – The Fiery Angel
 * Jaromír Weinberger – Švanda the Bagpiper

Film

 * Gottfried Huppertz – Metropolis (1927 film)
 * Edmund Meisel – Berlin: Die Sinfonie der Großstadt
 * Henri Rabaud – Le joueur d'échecs

Musical theater

 * Burlesque Broadway production opened at the Plymouth Theatre on September 1 and ran for 372 performances
 * Clowns in Clover London revue opened at the Adelphi Theatre on December 1 and ran for 508 performances
 * The Desert Song (Sigmund Romberg) – London production opened at the Drury Lane Theatre on April 7 and ran for 432 performances
 * Enchanted Isle (Music, Lyrics and Book: Ida H. Chamberlain). Broadway production opened at the Lyric Theatre on September 19 and ran for 32 performances.  Starring Marga Waldron and Greek Evans.
 * The Five O'Clock Girl opened at the 44th Street Theatre on October 10 and transferred to the Shubert Theatre on April 16, 1928, for a total run of 280 performances
 * Funny Face Broadway production opened at the Alvin Theatre on November 22 and ran for 250 performances
 * Golden Dawn Broadway operetta opened at the Hammerstein Theatre on November 30 and ran for 184 performances
 * Good News! Broadway production opened at the 46th Street Theatre on September 6 and ran for 557 performances
 * Hit The Deck (Vincent Youmans and Clifford Grey)
 * Broadway production opened at the Belasco Theatre on April 25 and ran for 532 performances
 * London production opened at the Hippodrome on November 3 and ran for 277 performances
 * Just Fancy Broadway production opened at the Casino Theatre on October 11 and ran for 79 performances. Starring Mrs Thomas Whiffen, Peggy O'Neill, Ivy Sawyer, Joseph Santley, Eric Blore and Raymond Hitchcock.
 * The Merry Malones Broadway production opened at the Erlanger's Theatre on September 26 and ran for 216 performances
 * My Maryland Broadway production opened at the Jolson Theatre on September 12 and ran for 312 performances
 * Oh, Kay! London production opened at His Majesty's Theatre on September 21 and ran for 214 performances
 * One Dam Thing After Another London production opened at the Pavilion Theatre on May 20
 * Peggy-Ann London production opened at Daly's Theatre on July 27 and ran for 130 performances
 * Polly of Hollywood Broadway production opened at George M. Cohan's Theatre on February 21 and ran for 24 performances. Starring Midge Miller.
 * Rio Rita Broadway production opened at the Ziegfeld Theatre on February 2 and ran for 494 performances
 * Show Boat (Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II) – Broadway production opened at the Ziegfeld Theatre on December 27 and ran for 572 performances
 * The Vagabond King London production opened at the Winter Garden Theatre on April 19 and ran for 480 performances
 * The White Eagle Broadway production opened at the Casino Theatre on December 26 and ran for 48 performances
 * Yes, Yes, Yvette Broadway production opened at the Sam H. Harris Theatre on October 3 and ran for 40 performances

Musical film

 * The Jazz Singer released October 6, starring Al Jolson

Births

 * January 10
 * Johnnie Ray, singer, pianist and songwriter (d. 1990)
 * Guillermo Rubalcaba, Cuban musician and bandleader (d. 2015)
 * January 14 – Zuzana Růžičková, Czech harpsichord player (d. 2017)
 * January 17 – Eartha Kitt, singer (d. 2008)
 * January 18 – S. Balachander, Indian actor, singer and veena player (d. 1990)
 * January 27 – Billy Barnes, American actor and composer (d. 2012)
 * January 28 – Ronnie Scott, jazz saxophonist and club owner (d. 1996)
 * February 2
 * Stan Getz, jazz musician (d. 1991)
 * Richard Maxfield, composer (d. 1969)
 * February 3 – Val Doonican, singer (d. 2015)
 * February 7
 * Juliette Gréco, cabaret singer and actress (d. 2020)
 * Laurie Johnson, television theme composer and arranger (d. 2024)
 * February 9 – Joe Maneri, composer (d. 2009)
 * February 10 – Leontyne Price, opera singer
 * February 11 – Michel Sénéchal, French tenor (d. 2018)
 * February 21 – Walter Hartley, American composer (d. 2016)
 * February 23
 * Régine Crespin, French operatic soprano (d. 2007)
 * Ivan Hrušovský, composer (d. 2001)
 * February 25 – Ralph Stanley, bluegrass banjo player and vocalist (d. 2016)
 * February 27 – Guy Mitchell, singer (d. 1999)
 * March 1 – Harry Belafonte, mento and crossover pop singer (d. 2023)
 * March 3 – Junior Parker, blues musician (d. 1971)
 * March 16 – Ruby Braff, jazz trumpeter (d. 2003)
 * March 18 – John Kander, composer of musicals
 * March 20 – John Joubert (composer), composer (d. 2019)
 * March 27 – Mstislav Rostropovich, cellist (d. 2007)
 * April 3 – Ladislav Burlas, Slovak composer (d. 2024)
 * April 6 – Gerry Mulligan, American jazz saxophonist (d. 1996)
 * April 17 – Junior Collins, American-French horn player (d. 1976)
 * April 22 – Laurel Aitken, Cuban-Jamaican ska singer (d. 2005)
 * May 1 – Gary Bertini, conductor (d. 2005)
 * May 5 – Beverley Sisters Babs (d. 2018) and Teddie, close harmony singers
 * May 13 – Fred Hellerman, folk singer (d. 2016)
 * May 26 – Rafael Escalona, vallenato composer and performer (d. 2009)
 * June 3 – Boots Randolph, session musician (d. 2007)
 * June 11 – Ronald Barnes, carillonist (d. 1997)
 * June 17 – Martin Böttcher, German composer, arranger, conductor (d. 2019)
 * June 23 – Bob Fosse, choreographer (d. 1987)
 * July 3 – Ken Russell, controversial director of composer biopics (d. 2011)
 * July 4 – Wilfred Josephs, composer (d. 1997)
 * July 6
 * Dolores Claman, Canadian composer and pianist (d. 2021)
 * Alan Freeman, Australian radio DJ (d. 2006)
 * July 7
 * Charlie Louvin, country singer and songwriter (d. 2011)
 * Doc Severinsen, jazz trumpeter
 * July 9 – Ed Ames, American singer and actor (Ames Brothers)
 * July 11 - Herbert Blomstedt, Swedish conductor
 * July 16 – Mindy Carson, singer
 * July 18
 * Don Bagley, American bassist (d. 2012)
 * Kurt Masur, Silesian-born orchestral conductor (d. 2015)
 * July 20 – Michael Gielen, conductor (d. 2019)
 * July 27 – Guy Carawan, American folk musician and musicologist (d. 2015)
 * July 30 – Tony Hiller, songwriter and record producer (d. 2018)
 * August 4
 * Eddie Kamae, American ukuleleist (d. 2017)
 * Johnny Maddox, American pianist (d. 2018)
 * Del Shankel, American microbiologist, academic administrator (d. 2018)
 * Jess Thomas, American tenor (d. 1993)
 * August 11 – Raymond Leppard, conductor (d. 2019)
 * August 12 – Porter Wagoner, country singer (d. 2007)
 * September 11 – Vernon Corea, Sri Lankan radio DJ, "Golden Voice of Radio Ceylon" (d. 2002)
 * September 13 – Melitta Muszely, Austrian soprano (d. 2023)
 * September 19 – Peter Van Wood, Dutch guitarist, singer, songwriter, actor and astrologer (d. 2010)
 * September 21 – Ward Swingle, American-born vocalist (d. 2015)
 * September 25 – Sir Colin Davis, orchestral conductor (d. 2013)
 * September 27 – Red Rodney, jazz trumpeter (d. 1994)
 * October 7 – Al Martino, singer (d. 2009)
 * October 13 – Anita Kerr, singer and arranger (d. 2022)
 * October 25 – Barbara Cook, singer and actress (d. 2017)
 * October 27 – Dominick Argento, composer (d. 2019)
 * October 28 – Cleo Laine, singer
 * November 3 – Jan Stoeckart, Dutch composer, conductor, trombonist and radio producer (d. 2017)
 * November 5 – Ellie Mannette, Trinidadian steel pan musician (d. 2018)
 * November 8 – Patti Page, singer (d. 2013)
 * November 10
 * Richard Connolly, Australian hymnodist (d. 2022)
 * Sabah, Lebanese esinger (d. 2014)
 * November 11 – Mose Allison, jazz pianist (d. 2016)
 * November 16 – Dolo Coker, American jazz pianist and composer (d. 1983)
 * November 18 – Hank Ballard, R&B singer (d. 2003)
 * November 19 – Allan Smethurst, "The Singing Postman", folk singer (d. 2000)
 * November 21 – Charlie Palmieri, salsa musician (d. 1988)
 * November 22 – Jimmy Knepper, jazz trombonist (d. 2003)
 * December 5 – W. D. Amaradeva, Sri Lanka maestro (d. 2016)
 * December 9 – Pierre Henry, musique concrète composer (d. 2017)
 * December 23 – Alexander Vedernikov, Russian singer and teacher (d. 2018)
 * December 25 – Ram Narayan, Indian sarangi player
 * December 26 – Denis Quilley, musical theatre actor (d. 2003)

Deaths

 * January 29 – Grace Van Studdiford, operatic singer (born 1873)
 * January 30 – Friedrich Koch, operatic singer (born 1862)
 * February 9 – James Warren York, businessman and musical instrument maker (b. 1839)
 * February 19 – Robert Fuchs, composer and teacher (b. 1847)
 * February 23 – Sveinbjörn Sveinbjörnsson, composer (b. 1847)
 * February 26 – Isabel Jay, singer and actress with the d'Oyly Carte Opera Company (b. 1879)
 * March 3 – Alberto Zelman, musician and conductor (b. 1874)
 * March 17 – James Scott Skinner, violinist (b. 1843)
 * March 31 – Edward Lloyd, concert and oratorio tenor (b. 1845)
 * April 16 – Rosa Sucher, Soprano opera singer (b. 1849)
 * May 3 – Ernest Ball, singer and songwriter (b. 1878)
 * May 4 – Jakob Aljaž, priest and composer (b. 1845)
 * May 16 – Sam Bernard, star of vaudeville and comic opera (b. 1863)
 * May 29 – Jesse Shepard, composer and pianist (b. 1848)
 * July 2 – Frank Curzon, theatre manager (b. 1869)
 * July 17 – Luise Adolpha Le Beau, composer (b. 1850)
 * August 13
 * Hermann Abert, music historian (b. 1871)
 * Árpád Doppler, composer (b. 1857)
 * August 20 – Fannie Bloomfield Zeisler, pianist (b. 1863)
 * September 4 – Isadora Duncan, dancer (b. 1877) (strangled in freak accident)
 * September 18 – Marie Mattfeld, opera singer (b. 1870)
 * October 1 – Wilhelm Harteveld, composer (b. 1859)
 * October 4 – John William Boone, composer and pianist (born 1864)
 * October 21 – John Stillwell Stark, music publisher (b. 1841)
 * November 2 – Fred Billington, Baritone opera singer and actor with the d'Oyly Carte (b. 1854)
 * November 3 – George Dallas Sherman, bandleader (b. 1844)
 * November 9 – Ole Olsen, organist, composer and conductor (b. 1850)
 * November 18 – Emma Carus, contralto (b. 1879)
 * November 20 – Wilhelm Stenhammar, composer, pianist and conductor (b. 1871)
 * December 21 – Courtice Pounds, singer and actor with the d'Oyly Carte (b. 1862)
 * date unknown
 * Bulbuljan, Azerbaijani folk musician (b. 1841)
 * Haldane Burgess, writer and musician (b. 1862)
 * Pierre-Émile Engel, operatic tenor (b. 1847)

title: 1927 in music


text:
Abraham Isaac Kook

Abraham Isaac Kook (אַבְרָהָם יִצְחָק הַכֹּהֵן קוּק; 7 September 1865 – 1 September 1935), known as HaRav Kook, and also known by the Hebrew-language acronym Hara'ayah, was an Orthodox rabbi, and the first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of British Mandatory Palestine. He is considered to be one of the fathers of religious Zionism and is known for founding the Mercaz HaRav Yeshiva.

Childhood
Kook was born in Griva (also spelled Geriva) in the Courland Governorate of the Russian Empire in 1865, today a part of Daugavpils, Latvia, the eldest of eight children. His father, Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Ha-Cohen Kook, was a student of the Volozhin yeshiva, the "mother of the Lithuanian yeshivas", whereas his maternal grandfather was a follower of the Kapust branch of the Hasidic movement, founded by the son of the third rebbe of Chabad, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn. His mother's name was Zlata Perl.

He entered the Volozhin Yeshiva in 1884 at the age of 18, where he became close to the rosh yeshiva, Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin (the Netziv). During his time in the yeshiva, he studied under Rabbi Eliyahu David Rabinowitz-Teomim (also known as the Aderet), the rabbi of Ponevezh (today's Panevėžys, Lithuania) and later Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi of Jerusalem. In 1886 Kook married Rabinowitz-Teomim's daughter, Batsheva.

Early career
In 1887, at the age of 23, Kook entered his first rabbinical position as rabbi of Zaumel, Lithuania. In 1888, his wife died, and his father-in-law convinced him to marry her cousin, Raize-Rivka, the daughter of the Aderet's twin brother. Kook's only son, Zvi Yehuda Kook, was born in 1891 to Kook and his second wife. In 1895, Kook became the rabbi of Bauska.

Between 1901 and 1904, he published three articles which anticipate the philosophy that he later more fully developed in the Land of Israel. Kook personally refrained from eating meat except on the Sabbath and Festivals, and a compilation of extracts from his writing, compiled by his disciple David Cohen, known as "Rav HaNazir" (or "the Nazir of Jerusalem") and titled by him "A Vision of Vegetarianism and Peace," depicts a progression, guided by Torah law, towards a vegetarian society.

Jaffa
In 1904, Kook was invited to become Rabbi in Jaffa, Ottoman Palestine, and he arrived there in 1905. During these years he wrote a number of works, mostly published posthumously, notably a lengthy commentary on the Aggadot of Tractates Berakhot and Shabbat, titled Eyn Ayah, and a brief book on morality and spirituality, titled Mussar Avicha.

It was in 1911 that Kook also maintained a correspondence with the Jews of Yemen, addressing some twenty-six questions to "the honorable shepherds of God's congregation" (Heb. ) and sending his letter via the known Zionist emissary, Shemuel Yavneʼeli. Their reply was later printed in a book published by Yavneʼeli. Kook's influence on people in different walks of life was already noticeable, as he engaged in kiruv ("Jewish outreach"), thereby creating a greater role for Torah and Halakha in the life of the city and the nearby settlements. In 1913 Kook led a delegation of rabbis, including several leading rabbinic figures such as Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, to the many newly established secular "moshavot" (settlements) in Samaria and Galilee. Known as the "Journey of the Rabbis" the rabbis' goal was to strengthen Shabbat observance, Torah education, and other religious observances, with an emphasis on the giving of 'terumot and ma'asrot' (agricultural tithes) as these were farming settlements.

London and World War I
When the First World War began, Kook was in Germany, where he was interned as an alien. He escaped to London via Switzerland, but the ongoing conflict forced him to stay in the UK for the remainder of the war. In 1916, he became rabbi of the Spitalfields Great Synagogue (Machzike Hadath, "upholders of the law"), an immigrant Orthodox community located in Brick Lane, Spitalfields, London, and Kook lived at 9 Princelet Street, Spitalfields.

Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem
Upon returning from Europe in 1919, he was appointed the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, and soon after, as first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Palestine in 1921.

In March 1924, in an effort to raise funds for Torah institutions in Palestine and Europe, Kook travelled to America with Rabbi Moshe Mordechai Epstein of the Slabodka Yeshiva and the Rabbi of Kaunas, Avraham Dov Baer Kahana Shapiro. In the same year, Kook founded the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva in Jerusalem.

Kook died in Jerusalem in 1935 and his funeral was attended by an estimated 20,000 mourners.

Thought
Kook wrote prolifically on both Halakha and Jewish thought.

In line with many orthodox interpreters of the Jewish religion, Kook believed that there was a fundamental difference between Jews and Gentiles. The difference between a Jewish and a Gentile soul was greater than the difference between the soul of a Gentile and an animal. "“The difference between the Israelite neshama [spiritual soul]...and the neshama of all the nations, in their various grades, is greater and deeper than the difference between the nefesh [biological soul]... of man and the nefesh of animals. For between the latter there is only a quantitative difference, while between the former there exists a qualitative, essential difference.”"

Kook maintained communication and political alliances with various Jewish sectors, including the secular Jewish Zionist leadership, the Religious Zionists, and more traditional non-Zionist Orthodox Jews.

Inauguration of Hebrew University
In 1928, Kook wrote a letter to Rabbi Joseph Messas (Chief Rabbi in Algeria), addressing certain misquotes which were erroneously being repeated in his name regarding a speech he gave at the inauguration of Hebrew University. The following are translated excerpts from the letter Kook wrote to Messas:

"...from the time that I came to the Holy Land, it has been my goal to the best of my ability to draw also those who are estranged and speak to their heart, so that they will come close to Torah and mitzvot – including even those young people who want to develop their physical health so that they will have the strength to protect our holy nation in times of violence, Heaven forbid, at a time when vicious enemies rise up against us...in regard to Hebrew University, Heaven forbid that I should say regarding secular studies that 'From Zion will come forth Torah.'

To the contrary, I told them explicitly that I am afraid lest there come forth, Heaven forbid, a stumbling block from their hands if they reject the Torah and the fear of G-d and 'please themselves in the brood of aliens' [i.e., studies antithetical to Torah such as Biblical Criticism]. I brought them examples of this from the past, from the incidents that took place due to people's sins [during the Berlin Enlightenment], from which came forth groups that turned away from G-d and abandoned the source of living waters. But they must guard the holiness of Israel, teachers and students alike, and not follow foreign ideas nor turn aside from the Torah and the mitzvos. And even then, it is not from secular subjects that Torah will come forth, but rather when we support the holy yeshivas, which are dedicated solely to the holiness of the Torah.

Together with this, [I told them that] they should elevate the power of the tzaddikim and Torah giants who fear G-d. And the Central Yeshiva [Mercaz HaRav] in our holy and beautiful city, which we are toiling to establish and expand with G-d's help, will stand in its great glory. Then, upon the foundation of the holy yeshivas, I said that the verse 'From Zion will come forth Torah' will be fulfilled.

These words are explicit in my speech that I spoke at that time before the people, before all of the important officials who came to the celebration, and to the entire great crowd of thousands who came from the far ends of the Holy Land and from the lands of the Diaspora. So how can malicious people come to distort the words of the living G-d in a way that is so filled with wickedness and folly?..."

Theodor Herzl eulogy
In 1904, Kook wrote a letter to his father-in-law, addressing certain misquotes which were erroneously being repeated in his name regarding a speech he gave after Theodor Herzl's passing:

"...Now, two gentlemen came to me… and requested me … since they were planning to gather in the bank building here to honor the memory of Dr. Herzl and it was their finding that even those opposed to Zionism would not deny that there were in his heart thoughts concerning the betterment of Israel. Although unfortunately [Herzl] did not find the straight path, nevertheless, 'The Holy One does not withhold credit for even good talk.' It would be poor manners not to arrange a memorial in his honor in a public meeting place, such as the Anglo-Palestine Bank here. Therefore I promised them I would attend.

Understandably, once I agreed to come, I did not want to refuse to speak some words. I assessed that, God willing, benefit would derive from my words, inasmuch as the other speakers would not have the audacity to belittle God, His Torah, and the sages of Israel.

Thank God, this assessment proved correct. Of course, I spoke pleasantly and politely, but I did reveal the fundamental failure of their [the Zionists'] entire enterprise, namely the fact that they do not place at the top of their list of priorities the sanctity of God and His great name, which is the power that enables Israel to survive ... In my remarks, I offered no homage to Dr. Herzl per se.

What I did say was that such a thought of improving the situation of Israel in Eretz Israel would be worthwhile if we would rise to the occasion. It would require a return to God by observing and honoring the Torah, and a consensus that the foundation of all must be the power of Torah. Repenting of baseless hatred, and wholehearted peace-seeking as obligated [by Torah] would result in success because it would be close to God's will. We must make amends toward the future that the power of the sanctity of Torah be at the top of our list of priorities, that 'the son of Yishai lead.' If the will to improve materially will rest on Torah – then God will shine His face upon us and crown our every deed with success. At first, the salvation will be gradual, as our holy Rabbis remarked upon witnessing daybreak over the valley of Arbel, but after it will gain momentum, appearing as a great and wondrous light, as in the days of our Exodus from Egypt.

After [the address], others came to me and reported that some people read into my words ideas that I never intended ..."

His empathy towards the non-religious elements aroused the suspicions of many opponents, particularly that of the traditional rabbinical establishment that had functioned from the time of Turkey's control of greater Palestine, whose paramount leader was Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld. However, Sonnenfeld and Kook deeply revered each other, evidenced by their respectful way of addressing each other in correspondence.

Kook remarked that he was fully capable of rejecting, but since there were enough practicing rejection, he preferred to fill the role of one who embraces. However, Kook was critical of the secularists on certain occasions when they violated Halacha (Jewish law), for instance, by not observing the Sabbath or kosher laws, or ascending the Temple Mount.

Kook wrote rulings presenting his strong opposition to people ascending the Temple Mount, due to the Jewish Laws of impurity. He felt that Jews should wait until the coming of the Messiah when it will be encouraged to enter the Temple Mount. However, he was very careful to express the fact that the Kotel and the Temple Mount were holy sites that belong to the Jewish people.

Kook also opposed the secular spirit of the Hatikvah anthem and penned another anthem with a more religious theme entitled haEmunah.

Attitude toward Zionism
While Kook is considered one of the most important thinkers in modern Religious Zionism, his attitude towards the "Zionism" of his time was complex.

Kook enthusiastically supported the settlement of the land which Zionists of his time were carrying out. In addition, his philosophy "la[id] a theological foundation for marrying Torah study to Zionism, and for an ethos of traditional Judaism engaged with Zionism and with modernity". And unlike many of his religious peers, he showed respect towards secular Zionists, and willingly engaged in joint projects with them (for instance, his participation in the Chief Rabbinate).

At the same time, he was critical of the religious-Zionist Mizrachi movement of his time for "tamping down religious fervor and willingly accepting secondary status within the Zionist movement". In 1917 he issued a proclamation entitled Degel Yerushalayim, where he distinguished between "Zion" (representing political sovereignty) and "Jerusalem" (representing holiness), and arguing that Zion (i.e. Zionism) must take a cooperative but eventually subservient role in relation to Jerusalem. He then went on to found a "Degel Yerushalayim" movement separate from the Zionist movement, though this initiative had little success.

Legacy
The Israeli moshav Kfar Haroeh, a settlement founded in 1933, was named after Kook, "Haroah" being a Hebrew acronym for "HaRav Avraham HaCohen". His son Zvi Yehuda Kook, who was also his most prominent student, took over teaching duties at Mercaz HaRav after his death, and dedicated his life to disseminating his father's writings. Many students of Kook's writings and philosophy eventually formed Hardal Religious Zionist movement which is today led by rabbis who studied under Kook's son at Mercaz HaRav.

In 1937, Yehuda Leib Maimon established Mossad Harav Kook, a religious research foundation and notable publishing house, based in Jerusalem. It is named after Kook.

Criticism from rabbinic scholars
In formulating religious Zionism, Kook broke with most other Orthodox rabbis. Most Orthodox rabbis saw nothing but evil in the early Zionist pioneers who were hostile to religion, and in their belief that their labor rather than God would save the Jewish people. Kook on the other hand, defended their behaviour in theological terms, and even hailed them as playing a role, by their labors, in hastening the messianic deliverance. His stance was deemed heretical by the traditional religious establishment.

Although Kook was a very learned man, he was never accepted by the Haredi leadership. In 1921 his detractors bought up the whole edition of his newly published Orot to prevent its circulation, plastering the offending passages on the walls of Meah Shearim. Later, an anonymous pamphlet entitled Kol Ha-Shofar appeared containing a declaration signed by rabbis Sonnenfeld, Diskin and others saying: "We were astonished to see and hear gross things, foreign to the entire Torah, and we see that which we feared before his coming here, that he will introduce new forms of deviance that our rabbis and ancestors could not have imagined …. It is to be deemed a sorcerer's book? If so, let it be known that it is forbidden to study [let alone] rely on all his nonsense and dreams." It also quoted Aharon Rokeach of Belz who stated "And know that the rabbi from Jerusalem, Kook - may his name be blotted out - is completely wicked and has already ruined many of our youth, entrapping them with his guileful tongue and impure books." Returning to Poland after a visit to Palestine in 1921, Rabbi Avraham Mordechai Alter of Ger wrote that he endeavoured to calm the situation by getting Kook to renounce any expressions which may have unwittingly resulted in a profanation of God's name. He then approached the elder rabbis of the Yishuv asking them to withdraw their denunciation. The rabbis claimed that their intention had been to reach a consensus on whether Kook's writings were acceptable, but their letter had been surreptitiously inserted by Kook's critics in to their inflammatory booklet without their knowledge.

In 1926 a harsh proclamation was issued against Kook that contained letters from three European rabbis in which Yosef Rosin referred to him as an "ignorant bore", Shaul Brach intimated that his Hebrew initials spelt the word "vomit" and likened him to King Jeroboam known for seducing the masses to idolatry, and Eliezer David Greenwald declared him an untrustworthy authority on Jewish law adding that his books were full of heresy and should be burnt.

When Jewish prayers at the Western Wall were broken up by the British in 1928, Kook called for a fast day, but the ultra-Orthodox community ignored his calls.

In response to a letter from Rabbi Yosef Tzvi Dushinsky of Eidah Hachareidit on whether they could partner with the Chief Rabbinate led by Kook, Rabbi Elchonon Bunim Wasserman wrote: "I have heard that there was a suggestion that there should be a partnership between the Eidah Hachareidis and the Chief Rabinate . . . It is well known that the monies from that fund go to raise deliberate heretics, and therefore someone who encourages people to support such a fund is a machti es harabim (causes the public to sin) on the most frightful level . . . thus, besides the prohibition of befriending a wicked person, since we see that he praises resha'im (evil doers), there would also be an issue of an enormous chillum Hashem (desecration of G-ds name) throughout the world..."

Rabbi Yitzchak Zelig Morgenstern, the Rebbe of Sokolov also wrote against Kook, saying, "Rav Kook, although he is a full and robust talmid chacham as well as an excellent orator, cannot be considered among the successors and perpetuators of the geonim (genius rabbinic scholars) and tzaddikim (righteous leaders) of the past generations. Rav Kook is already connected with the spirit of the time, and speaks greatly about the techiyas umaseinu (our national rebirth). And despite the moral and religious decline of our generation, he sees in his mind's eye the techiyas hale'um (nationalistic rebirth) and the like, and he assigns to the Chief Rabbinate an important role in that process."

It was claimed that Rabbi Solomon Eliezer Alfandari attributed the Chofetz Chaim's failed move to the land due to the disputes surrounding Rabbi Kook.

Support from rabbinic scholars
Although it seems that a majority of Orthodox rabbis opposed Kook,  there were some who spoke out in his support. In a letter to Kook, Isser Zalman Meltzer and Moshe Mordechai Epstein greeted Kook with "Our honored friend, the great gaon and glory of the generation, our master and teacher, Avraham Yitzchak Hacohen, shlita". Meltzer was also quoted as saying "Let them, any of us, pray on Yom Kippur the way Rav Kook prays on an average weekday."

There are also some rabbis who spoke very highly of Kook in greetings of the letters they sent to him.

Chaim Ozer Grodzinski: "Our friend, the gaon, our master and teacher, Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook, shlita" and "The Glory of Honor, My Dear Friend, Ha-Rav Ha-Gaon, Ha-Gadol, the Famous One... The Prince of Torah, Our Teacher, Ha-Rav Avraham Yitzchak Ha-Cohen Kook Shlita..."

Boruch Ber Leibowitz: "The true gaon, the beauty, and glory of the generation, the tzaddik, his holiness, Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak, may his light shine, may he live for length of good days and years amen, the righteous Cohen, head of the beis din [court] in Jerusalem, the holy city, may it soon be built and established."

Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn of Lubavitch: "The Gaon who is renowned with splendor among the Geonim of Ya'akov, Amud HaYemini, Patish HaChazak..."

Chatzkel Abramsky: "The honored man, beloved of Hashem and his nation, the rabbi, the gaon, great and well-known, with breadth of knowledge, the glory of the generation, etc., etc., our master Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Hacohen Kook, shlita, Chief Rabbi of the Land of Israel and the head of the Beis Din in the holy city of Jerusalem"

Yitzchak Hutner: "The glorious honor of our master, our teacher and rabbi, the great gaon, the crown and sanctity of Israel, Maran [our master] Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Hacohen Kook, shlita!"

Additionally, although the Chofetz Chaim never spoke in praise of Kook, he did condemn the pamphlet that was put out against him.

Orot ("Lights") books

 * Orot – organized and published by Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook, 1920. English translation by Bezalel Naor (Jason Aronson, 1993). ISBN 1-56821-017-5
 * Orot HaTeshuvah – English translation by Ben-Zion Metzger (Bloch Pub. Co., 1968). ASIN B0006DXU94
 * Orot HaEmuna
 * Orot HaKodesh - four volumes, organized and published by Rabbi David Cohen
 * Orot HaTorah - organized and published by Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook, 1940.

Jewish thought

 * Chavosh Pe'er – on the mitzvah of tefillin. First printed in Warsaw, 1890.
 * Eder HaYakar and Ikvei HaTzon - essays about the new generation and a philosophical understanding of God. First printed in Jaffa in 1906.
 * Ein Ayah – commentary on Ein Yaakov the Aggadic sections of the Talmud. Printed in Jerusalem, 1995.
 * Ma'amarei HaRe'iyah (two volumes) – a collection of articles and lectures, many originally published in various periodicals. Printed in Jerusalem, 1984.
 * Midbar Shur – sermons written by Rav Kook while serving as a rabbi in Zaumel and Boisk in 1894–1896.
 * Reish Millin – Kabbalistic discussion of the Hebrew alphabet and punctuation. Printed in London, 1917.

Halakha

 * Be'er Eliyahu – on Hilchos Dayanim
 * Orach Mishpat – Shu"t on Orach Chayim
 * Ezrat Cohen – Shu"t on Even HaEzer
 * Mishpat Kohen – Shu"t on issues relating to Eretz Yisrael
 * Zivchei R'Iyah- Shu"t and Chidushim on Zvachim and Avodat Beit HaBchira
 * Shabbat Haaretz hilchot shevi'it (shemittah)

Unedited and other

 * Shmoneh Kvatzim – volume 2 of which was republished as Arpilei Tohar
 * Olat Raiyah – Commentary on the Siddur
 * Igrot HaRaiyah – Collected letters of Rav Kook

Translation and commentary

 * (translation), Abraham Isaac Kook: The Lights of Penitence, The Moral Principles, Lights of Holiness, Essays, Letters, and Poems, Ben Zion Bokser, Paulist Press 1978. ISBN 0-8091-2159-X [Includes complete English translations of Orot ha-Teshuva ("The Lights of Penitence"), Musar Avicha ("The Moral Principles"), as well as selected translations from Orot ha-Kodesh ("The Lights of Holiness") and miscellaneous essays, letters, and poems.]
 * Online edition.
 * (translation), The Essential Writings of Abraham Isaac Kook, Ben Yehuda Press 2006 (reprint). ISBN 0-9769862-3-X
 * Rabbi Chanan Morrison, Gold from the Land of Israel: A New Light on the Weekly Torah Portion From the Writings of Rabbi Abraham Isaac HaKohen Kook, Urim Publications 2006. ISBN 965-7108-92-6.
 * Rabbi Chanan Morrison, Silver from the Land of Israel: A New Light on the Sabbath and Holidays From the Writings of Rabbi Abraham Isaac HaKohen Kook, Urim Publications 2010. ISBN 965-524-042-8.
 * Rabbi Chanan Morrison, The Splendor of Tefillin: Insights into the Mitzvah of Tefillin from the Writings of Rabbi Abraham Isaac HaKohen Kook, CreateSpace 2012. ISBN 148-001-997-6.
 * Rabbi Chanan Morrison, Sapphire from the Land of Israel: A New Light on the Weekly Torah Portion From the Writings of Rabbi Abraham Isaac HaKohen Kook, CreateSpace 2013. ISBN 149-090-936-2.
 * Rabbi Gideon Weitzman, Sparks of Light: Essays on the Weekly Torah Portions Based on the Philosophy of Rav Kook, Jason Aronson. ISBN 0-7657-6080-0 ISBN 978-0765760807.
 * Rabbi Gideon Weitzman, Light of Redemption: A Passover Haggadah Based on the Writings of Rav Kook, Urim Publications. ISBN 978-965-7108-71-0.
 * Rabbi Gideon Weitzman, Sparks of Light: Essays on the Weekly Torah Portions Based on the Philosophy of Rav Kook, Jason Aronson. ISBN 0-7657-6080-0 ISBN 978-0765760807.
 * Rabbi Gideon Weitzman, Light of Redemption: A Passover Haggadah Based on the Writings of Rav Kook, Urim Publications. ISBN 978-965-7108-71-0.

Also there is now a musical project that presents Kook's poetry with musical accompaniment. HA'OROT-THE LIGHTS OF RAV KOOK by Greg Wall's Later Prophets Featuring Rabbi Itzchak Marmorstein – released on Tzadik Records, April 2009.

Analysis

 * The Philosophy of Rabbi Kook, Zvi Yaron, Eliner Library, 1992.
 * Essays on the Thought and Philosophy of Rabbi Kook, ed. Ezra Gellman, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1991. ISBN 0-8386-3452-4
 * The World of Rav Kook's Thought, Shalom Carmy, Avi-Chai Publishers, 1991. ISBN 0-9623723-2-3
 * Rav Avraham Itzhak HaCohen Kook: Between Rationalism and Mysticism, Benjamin Ish-Shalom, translation Ora Wiskind Elper, SUNY Press, 1993. ISBN 0-7914-1369-1
 * Religious Zionism of Rav Kook Pinchas Polonsky, Machanaim, 2009, ISBN 978-965-91446-0-0
 * Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook and Jewish Spirituality , Lawrence J. Kaplan & David Shatz, NYU Press, 1994, ISBN 978-0814746530
 * Ghila Amati, "Discovering the Depths Within: Kook’s Zionism and the Philosophy of Life of Henri Bergson," Religions 2023, 14(2), 261; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14020261
 * Ephraim Chamiel, The Dual Truth - Studies in Nineteenth-Century Modern Religious Thought and its Influence on Twentiest-Century Jewish Philosophy, Academic Studies Press, Boston 2019, Vol II, pp. 449–499.
 * Ephraim Chamiel, Between Religion and Reason - The Dialectic Position in Contemporary Jewish Thought, Academic Studies Press, Boston 2020, part I, pp. 7–15.

Biography

 * Simcha Raz, Angel Among Men: Impressions from the Life of Rav Avraham Yitzchak Hakohen Kook Zt""L, translated (from Hebrew) Moshe D. Lichtman, Urim Publications 2003. ISBN 965-7108-53-5 ISBN 978-9657108536
 * Dov Peretz Elkins, Shepherd of Jerusalem: A Biography of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, 2005. ISBN 978-1420872613
 * Yehudah Mirsky, "An Intellectual and Spiritual Biography of Rabbi Avraham Yitzhaq Ha-Cohen Kook from 1865 to 1904," Ph.D. Dissertation, Harvard University, 2007.
 * Yehudah Mirsky, "Rav Kook: Mystic in a Time of Revolution (Jewish Lives)", Yale University Press, 2014, ISBN 978-0300164244

Quotes

 * Therefore, the pure righteous do not complain of the dark, but increase the light; they do not complain of evil, but increase justice; they do not complain of heresy, but increase faith; they do not complain of ignorance, but increase wisdom.
 * There could be a freeman with the spirit of the slave, and there could be a slave with a spirit full of freedom; whoever is faithful to himself – he is a freeman, and whoever fills his life only with what is good and beautiful in the eyes of others – he is a slave.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Abraham Isaac Kook


text:
1925 in music

This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1925.

Specific locations

 * 1925 in British music
 * 1925 in Norwegian music

Specific genres

 * 1925 in country music
 * 1925 in jazz

Events

 * January 1 – First day of radio broadcasting in Sweden: Gaston Borch conducts the Skandia Cinema Orchestra in the country's first broadcast of orchestral music.
 * February 25 – Art Gillham (The Whispering Pianist) records the first electrical recordings to be released for Columbia using the Western Electric system (Master 140125-7 issued on Columbia 328-D).
 * February 26 – Eight Popular Victor Artists record "A Miniature Concert," the first recorded (cf March 16 entry below) electrical recording by the Victor Talking Machine; the artists are Billy Murray, Frank Banta, Henry Burr, Albert Campbell, Frank Croxton, John Meyer, Monroe Silver, and Rudy Wiedoeft.
 * March 1 – Edgard Varèse's Intégrales is premiered in New York City.
 * March 16 – The Mask and Wig Club Double Male Quartet, with orchestra directed by Nathaniel Shilkret record "Joan of Arkansas," the first issued (cf February 26 entry above) electrical recording by the Victor Talking Machine, with catalog number 19626-A; the B-side, from the same Mask and Wig Club production, is recorded March 20 by the International Novelty Orchestra, also directed by Shilkret.
 * March 21 – Maurice Ravel's L'Enfant et les sortilèges is premiered in Monte Carlo.
 * April 3 – Gustav Holst's opera At the Boar's Head is premiered in Manchester.
 * June 6 – Sergei Prokofiev's Symphony No. 2 is premiered in Paris.
 * November 28 – The weekly country music radio program Grand Ole Opry is first broadcast on WSM radio in Nashville, Tennessee, as the "WSM Barn Dance".
 * December 11 – Carl Nielsen's Symphony No. 6, the Sinfonia semplice, is premiered in Copenhagen.
 * December 14 – Alban Berg's opera Wozzeck is given its first complete performance, in Berlin, conducted by Erich Kleiber.
 * Joseph Canteloube founds a group called La Bourrée in Paris to publicize the folklore and other attractions of the Auvergne.
 * Victor, Columbia, and HMV phonograph companies switch from old acoustic mechanical recording methods to new electric microphone technology, one of the most important advances in recording history (see Shilkret for a first-hand account of its benefits).
 * Blind Lemon Jefferson's recording career begins.
 * Lonnie Johnson's recording career begins.
 * Louis Armstrong leaves Fletcher Henderson's Orchestra, returns to Chicago, Illinois, and makes his first records under his own name, leading Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five.

Published popular music

 * "Adios, Mariquita Linda" w. (Eng 1939) Ray Gilbert (Sp) Marcos A. Jimenez m. Marcos A. Jimenez
 * "Alone at Last" w. Gus Kahn m. Ted Fio Rito
 * "Always" w.m. Irving Berlin
 * "Bam, Bam, Bamy Shore" w. Mort Dixon m. Ray Henderson
 * "Boneyard Shuffle" m. Hoagy Carmichael & Irving Mills
 * "Brown Eyes, Why Are You Blue?" w. Alfred Bryan m. George W. Meyer
 * "By the Light of the Stars" w.m. Arthur Sizemore, George A. Little, & Larry Shay
 * "Bye and Bye" w. Lorenz Hart m. Richard Rodgers
 * "Cecilia" w. Herman Ruby m. Dave Dreyer
 * "Cheatin' on Me" w. Jack Yellen m. Lew Pollack
 * "Clap Hands! Here Comes Charley!" w. Billy Rose & Ballard MacDonald m. Joseph Meyer
 * "Collegiate" w.m. Moe Jaffe & Nat Bonx
 * "A Cup of Coffee, a Sandwich and You" w. Billy Rose & Al Dubin m. Joseph Meyer
 * "Davenport Blues" m. Bix Beiderbecke
 * "The Death of Floyd Collins" w. Andrew Jenkins m. Irene Spain
 * "Dinah" w. Sam M. Lewis & Joe Young m. Harry Akst
 * "Don't Bring Lulu" w. Billy Rose & Lew Brown m. Ray Henderson
 * "Don't Wake Me Up, Let Me Dream" w. L.. Wolfe Gilbert m. Mabel Wayne
 * "Down by the Winegar Works" w.m. Don Bestor, Roger Lewis & Walter Donovan
 * "Drifting and Dreaming" w. Haven Gillespie, m. Egbert Van Alstyne, Erwin R. Schmidt & Loyal Curtis
 * "D'Ye Love Me?" w. Otto Harbach & Oscar Hammerstein II m. Jerome Kern. Introduced by Marilyn Miller in the musical Sunny
 * "Five Foot Two Eyes of Blue" w. Sam M. Lewis & Joe Young m. Ray Henderson
 * "Flamin' Mamie" w.m. Fred Rose & Paul Whiteman
 * "Footloose" w. Hal Cochran m. Carl Rupp
 * "Freshie" w. Harold Berg m. Jesse Greer
 * "Grandpa's Spells" m. Jelly Roll Morton
 * "Headin' for Louisville" w. B. G. De Sylva m. Joseph Meyer
 * "Here in My Arms" w. Lorenz Hart m. Richard Rodgers
 * "The Hills of Home" w. Floride Calhoun m. Oscar J. Fox
 * "I Found a New Baby" w.m. Jack Palmer & Spencer Williams
 * "I Lost My Heart in Heidelberg" w. Fritz Löhner-Beda & Ernst Neubach m. Fred Raymond
 * "I Love My Baby" w. Bud Green m. Harry Warren
 * "I Might Have Known" Lucas
 * "I Miss My Swiss" w. L. Wolfe Gilbert m. Abel Baer
 * "I Never Knew" w. Gus Kahn m. Ted Fio Rito
 * "I Wonder Where My Baby Is Tonight" w. Gus Kahn m. Walter Donaldson
 * "Ida, I Do" w. Gus Kahn m. Isham Jones
 * "If I Had a Girl Like You" w. Billy Rose & Mort Dixon m. Ray Henderson
 * "If You Knew Susie" w. B. G. De Sylva m. Joseph Meyer
 * "I'm A Little Bit Fonder of You" w.m. Irving Caesar
 * "I'm Gonna Charleston Back to Charleston" w.m. Roy Turk & Lou Handman
 * "I'm Gonna Cry" Martha Boswell
 * "I'm in Love Again" w.m. Cole Porter
 * "I'm Knee-Deep in Daisies (And Head Over Heels In Love)" Ash, Shay, Goodwin, Little, Stanley
 * "I'm Sitting on Top of the World" w. Sam M. Lewis & Joe Young m. Ray Henderson
 * "In Your Green Hat" w. Jack Yellen m. Milton Ager
 * "I've Confessed to the Breeze" w. Otto Harbach m. Vincent Youmans
 * "Jalousie" (a.k.a. "Jealousy") w. Vera Bloom m. Jacob Gade
 * "Just a Cottage Small" w. B. G. De Sylva m. James F. Hanley
 * "Keep Your Skirts Down, Mary Ann" w. Andrew B. Sterling m. Robert A. King & Ray Henderson
 * "Leander" w. Harry Graham m. Jean Gilbert from the musical theater production 'Katja The Dancer'
 * "Let It Rain! Let It Pour!" w. Cliff Friend m. Walter Donaldson
 * "Looking For a Boy" w. Ira Gershwin m. George Gershwin. Introduced by Queenie Smith in the musical Tip-Toes
 * "Love Me Tonight" w. Brian Hooker m. Rudolf Friml
 * "Manhattan" w. Lorenz Hart m. Richard Rodgers
 * "Masculine Women! Feminine Men!" w. Edgar Leslie m. James V. Monaco
 * "Moonlight and Roses" w. Ben Black m. Neil Moret (adapted without permission from a composition by Edwin Lemare)
 * "My Bundle of Love" w.m. Georgie Price & Abner Silver
 * "My Sweetie Turned Me Down" w. Gus Kahn m. Walter Donaldson
 * "My Yiddishe Momme" w. Jack Yellen m. Lew Pollack
 * "Neapolitan Nights (Nights Of Splendour)" w. Harry D. Kerr m. J. S. Zumecnik
 * "No, No, Nanette" w. Otto Harbach m. Vincent Youmans
 * "Oh, How I Miss You Tonight" w.m. Benny Davis, Joe Burke & Mark Fisher
 * "Only a Rose" w. Brian Hooker m. Rudolf Friml
 * "Paddlin' Madelin Home" w.m. Harry M. Woods
 * "Pal of My Cradle Days" w. Marshall Montgomery m. Al Piantadosi
 * "The Pearls" m. Jelly Roll Morton
 * "Poor Little Rich Girl" w.m. Noël Coward
 * "Remember" w.m. Irving Berlin
 * "Roll 'Em Girls" w.m. Archie Fletcher & Bobby Heath
 * "Rose of Samarkand" m. Eric Coates
 * "Save Your Sorrow (for Tomorrow)" w. B. G. De Sylva m. Al Sherman
 * "See See Rider Blues" by Ma Rainey
 * "Sentimental Me" w. Lorenz Hart m. Richard Rodgers
 * "Shake That Thing" Charlie Jackson
 * "She Showed Him This, She Showed Him That" Stone & David
 * "Show Me the Way to Go Home" w.m. Irving King
 * "Sleepy Time Gal" w. Joseph R. Alden & Raymond B. Egan m. Ange Lorenzo & Richard A. Whiting
 * "Some Day" w. Brian Hooker m. Rudolf Friml
 * "Sometime" w. Gus Kahn m. Ted Fio Rito
 * "Song of the Flame" w. Otto Harbach & Oscar Hammerstein II m. George Gershwin & Herbert Stothart
 * "Song of the Vagabonds" w. Brian Hooker m. Rudolf Friml
 * "Stack O'Lee Blues" trad w.m. Lopez, Colwell
 * "Sugar Foot Stomp" (adapted from "Dipper Mouth Blues" (1923)) w. Walter Melrose m. Joe "King" Oliver
 * "Sunny" w. Otto Harbach & Oscar Hammerstein II m. Jerome Kern
 * "Sweet and Low-Down" w. Ira Gershwin m. George Gershwin
 * "Sweet Georgia Brown" w.m. Ben Bernie, Maceo Pinkard & Kenneth Casey
 * "Tea for Two" w. Irving Caesar m. Vincent Youmans
 * "Thanks for the Buggy Ride" w.m. Jules Buffano
 * "That Certain Feeling" w. Ira Gershwin m. George Gershwin
 * "That Certain Party" w. Gus Kahn m. Walter Donaldson
 * "That Saxophone Waltz" w. Jules Mingo & Berry J. Sisk m. Berry J. Sisk
 * "Then I'll Be Happy" w. Sidney Clare & Lew Brown m. Cliff Friend
 * "Too Many Rings Around Rosie" w. Irving Caesar m. Vincent Youmans
 * "Two Little Bluebirds" w. Otto Harbach & Oscar Hammerstein II m. Jerome Kern
 * "Ukulele Lady" w. Gus Kahn m. Richard Whiting
 * "Valentine" w. Albert Willemetz (Fr) Herbert Reynolds (Eng) m. Henri Christin
 * "Waters of the Perkiomen" w. Al Dubin m. F. Henri Klickmann
 * "When the Sergeant Major's on Parade" w.m. Ernest Longstaffe
 * "Who Takes Care of the Caretaker's Daughter?" w.m. Chick Endor
 * "Who?" w. Otto Harbach & Oscar Hammerstein II m. Jerome Kern
 * "Why Do I Love You?" w. B. G. De Sylva & Ira Gershwin m. George Gershwin
 * "The Wreck of the Shenandoah" w.m. Vernon Dalhart, Carson Robison, and Elmer S. Hughes.
 * "Yearning" w. Benny Davis m. Joe Burke
 * "Yes Sir, That's My Baby" w. Gus Kahn m. Walter Donaldson

Top Popular Recordings 1925
The following songs achieved the highest positions in Joel Whitburn's Pop Memories 1890-1954 and record sales reported on the "Discography of American Historical Recordings" website during 1924: Numerical rankings are approximate, they are only used as a frame of reference.

Classical music

 * Isidor Achron – Violin Concerto No. 1
 * Pedro Humberto Allende –
 * Mientras baja la nieve, for voice and piano
 * El surtidor, for voice and piano
 * A las nubes, for voice and piano
 * Ojitas de pena, for voice and piano
 * Tres Tonadas, for orchestra
 * Tempo di minuetto in C major, for piano
 * Tempo de vals, for harp
 * Béla Bartók – Dance Suite (version for piano of an orchestral work written in 1923)
 * Ernest Bloch – Concerto Grosso No. 1, for piano and strings
 * Frank Bridge –
 * "Golden Hair", for voice and piano
 * "Journey's End", for tenor or high baritone and piano
 * The Pneu World, for cello and piano
 * Songs of Rabindranath Tagore (3), for voice and piano, or voice and orchestra
 * Vignettes de Marseille, for piano
 * Winter Pastorale, for piano
 * Carlos Chávez –
 * Cake Walk, for piano
 * Los cuatro soles, ballet, for soprano and chamber orchestra
 * Energía, for nine instruments
 * Foxtrot, for piano
 * 36, for piano
 * Aaron Copland – Music for the Theatre, for chamber orchestra
 * Henry Cowell –
 * The Banshee, for string piano
 * Ensemble, for two violins, two cellos, and thundersticks
 * Slow Jig, for piano
 * Frederick Delius – A Late Lark, for voice and orchestra
 * Edward Elgar –
 * "The Herald", part-song, SATB
 * "The Prince of Sleep", part-song, SATB
 * Eduardo Fabini –
 * A mi río, for mixed choir and orchestra
 * Luz mala, for soprano and orchestra
 * Triste No. 1, version for orchestra
 * John Fernström – Violin Concerto No. 1
 * Jacob Gade – Jalousie, for cello and piano
 * George Gershwin – Piano Concerto in F
 * Leopold Godowsky – Java Suite
 * William Henry Harris – Faire Is the Heaven
 * Gustav Holst –
 * "God Is Love, His the Care", for choir
 * Hymns (4) for Songs of Praise, for choir
 * Motets (2), for choir
 * Ode to C.K.S. and the Oriana, for choir
 * Terzetto for flute, oboe, and viola
 * Herbert Howells – Piano Concerto No. 2
 * Jacques Ibert – Concerto for cello and wind instruments
 * John Ireland – Two Pieces for Piano 1925
 * Ernst Krenek –
 * Die Jahreszeiten, Op. 35, for choir
 * Mammon, Op. 37, ballet, for orchestra
 * Der vertauschte Cupido, Op. 38, ballet, for orchestra
 * Bohuslav Martinů – String Quartet No. 2
 * Carl Nielsen – Symphony No. 6 Sinfonia Semplice
 * Juan Carlos Paz –
 * Chorale in F-sharp major, for piano
 * Cuatro fugas sobre un tema, for piano
 * Piano Sonata No. 2, in B-flat minor
 * Sergei Prokofiev – Symphony No. 2, Iron and Steel
 * Ottorino Respighi –
 * Concerto in modo misolidio, for piano and orchestra
 * Poema autunnale, for violinand orchestra
 * Rossiniana, suite for orchestra
 * Albert Roussel –
 * Duo, for bassoon and contrabass
 * Segovia, Op. 29, for guitar
 * Serenade, Op. 30, for flute, string trio, and harp
 * Arnold Schoenberg –
 * Drei Satiren, Op. 28, for SATB choir with viola, cello, and piano
 * Vier Stücke, Op. 27, for SATB choir with clarinet, mandolin, violin, and cello
 * Erwin Schulhoff – Symphony No. 1, String Quartet No. 2
 * Ruth Crawford Seeger –
 * The Adventures of Tom Thumb, for piano
 * Piano Preludes Nos. 1–5
 * Dmitri Shostakovich – Symphony No. 1
 * Jean Sibelius –
 * Ett ensamt skidspår, for reciting voice and piano
 * Herran siunaus, for choir and organ
 * Intrada, for organ, Op. 111, No. 1
 * Kolme johdantovuorolaulua, for choir and organ
 * Morceau romantique sur un motif de M. Jacob de Julin, for orchestra
 * Narciss, for voice and piano
 * Skolsång, for choir
 * Skyddskårsmarsch, for choir
 * Stormen [The Tempest], Op. 109, incidental music for Shakespeare's play
 * Igor Stravinsky –
 * Serenade in A, for piano
 * Suite No. 1, for small orchestra
 * Suite, "d’après thèmes, fragments et pièces de Giambattista Pergolesi", for violin and piano
 * Marcel Tournier – Images No. 1, Op. 29; Etude de Concert "Au Matin"
 * Joaquín Turina –
 * La oración del torero, Op. 34, for lute quartet, also arranged for string quartet or string orchestra
 * La venta de los gatos, Op. 32, for piano
 * Edgard Varèse – Intégrales
 * Ralph Vaughan Williams –
 * Concerto Accademico for violin and strings
 * Flos Campi, for viola, wordless choir, and small orchestra
 * Hymns (5) for Songs of Praise, for choir
 * Two Poems by Seumas O'Sullivan, for voice and piano
 * Three Songs from Shakespeare, for voice and piano
 * Three Poems by Walt Whitman, for baritone and piano
 * Heitor Villa-Lobos –
 * Chôros No. 3 ("Pica-páo"), for male choir or seven wind instruments, or both together
 * Chôros No. 5 ("Alma brasileira"), for piano
 * Chôros No. 8, for large orchestra and two pianos
 * Cirandinhas, for piano
 * O Martírio dos Insetos, for violin and orchestra
 * Sul America, for piano
 * William Walton – Portsmouth Point, concert overture
 * Kurt Weill – Violin Concerto
 * Alberto Williams –
 * Canciones pasionales, for voice and piano
 * Piezas modernas para los niños, for piano
 * Stefan Wolpe – Three Songs by Heinrich von Kleist

Opera

 * Alban Berg – Wozzeck
 * Armstrong Gibbs – Blue Peter
 * Reynaldo Hahn – Mozart
 * Maurice Ravel – L'enfant et les sortilèges

Film

 * Edmund Meisel – Battleship Potemkin

Musical theater

 * Big Boy Broadway production opened at the Winter Garden Theatre on January 7 and later moved to the 44th Street Theatre for a total run of 168 performances
 * Boodle London production opened at the Empire Theatre on March 10 and ran for 94 performances
 * By the Way Broadway revue opened at the Gaiety Theatre on December 28 and ran for 176 performances. Starring Cicely Courtneidge.
 * The Cocoanuts Broadway production opened at the Lyric Theatre on December 8 and ran for 375 performances
 * Dearest Enemy (Music: Richard Rodgers, Lyrics: Lorenz Hart, Book: Herbert Fields. Broadway production opened at the Knickerbocker Theatre on September 18 and ran for 286 performances.  Starring Helen Hart and Charles Purcell.
 * The Dollar Princess London revival
 * Garrick Gaieties Broadway revue opened at the Garrick Theatre on June 8 and ran for 211 performances
 * Katja the Dancer London production opened on February 21 at the Gaiety Theatre and ran for 505 performances
 * Mercenary Mary Broadway production opened at the Longacre Theatre on April 13 and ran for 136 performances
 * No, No, Nanette (Irving Caesar, Otto Harbach, and Vincent Youmans)
 * London production opened at the Palace Theatre on March 11 and ran for 665 performances
 * Broadway production opened at the Globe Theatre on September 16 and ran for 321 performances
 * On With the Dance London revue opened at the Pavilion on April 30 and ran for 229 performances
 * Rose-Marie London production opened at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on March 20 and ran for 851 performances
 * Sunny Broadway production opened at the New Amsterdam Theatre on September 22 and ran for 517 performances
 * Tip-Toes Broadway production opened at the Liberty Theatre on December 28 and ran for 194 performances
 * The Vagabond King Broadway production opened at the Casino Theatre on September 21 and ran for 511 performances

Births

 * January 13 – Gwen Verdon, singer and actress (d. 2000)
 * February 7 – Marius Constant, composer and conductor (d. 2004)
 * February 16 – Carlos Paredes, guitarist (d. 2004)
 * February 17 – Ron Goodwin, film composer (d. 2003)
 * February 19 – Jindřich Feld, composer and teacher (d. 2007)
 * February 26 – Delkash, singer (d. 2004)
 * March 4 – Paul Mauriat, French musician (Love Is Blue) (d. 2006)
 * March 8 – Dennis Lotis, South African-born British singer (d. 2023)
 * March 22 – Gerard Hoffnung, cartoonist, comedian, musician (d. 1959)
 * March 26 – Pierre Boulez, French composer, conductor and author (d. 2016)
 * April 2 – Wilf Doyle, accordionist (d. 2012)
 * April 14 – Gene Ammons, jazz saxophonist (d. 1974)
 * April 26 – Jørgen Ingmann, guitarist (d. 2015)
 * April 30 – Johnny Horton, American country music and rockabilly singer (d. 1960)
 * May 14 – Boris Parsadanian, Armenian-Estonian composer (d. 1997)
 * May 15 – Andrei Eshpai, composer (d. 2015)
 * May 22 – James King, tenor (d. 2005)
 * May 23 – Mac Wiseman, American bluegrass singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2019)
 * May 25 – Aldo Clementi, composer (d. 2011)
 * May 28 – Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Lieder singer (d. 2012)
 * June 1 – Marie Knight, American singer (d. 2009)
 * June 5 – Bill Hayes, American singer, later actor (d. 2024)
 * June 25 – Clifton Chenier, zydeco accordionist (d. 1987)
 * June 27
 * Fiora Contino, American opera conductor (d. 2017)
 * Doc Pomus, American songwriter (d. 1991)
 * July 4 – Cathy Berberian, American mezzo-soprano and composer (d. 1983)
 * July 6 – Bill Haley, American singer (d. 1981)
 * July 11
 * Charles Chaynes, French classical composer (d. 2016)
 * Mattiwilda Dobbs, African American coloratura soprano (d. 2015)
 * Nicolai Gedda, Swedish operatic tenor (d. 2017)
 * July 28
 * Kenneth Alwyn, conductor (d. 2020)
 * André Boucourechliev, composer (d. 1997)
 * July 29 – Mikis Theodorakis, composer (d. 2021)
 * July 30 – Antoine Duhamel, French composer (d. 2014)
 * August 1 – Cor Edskes, Dutch organ builder and restorer (d. 2015)
 * August 3 – Dom Um Romão, Brazilian jazz drummer (d. 2005)
 * August 7
 * Felice Bryant, American songwriter (d. 2003)
 * Julián Orbón, Spanish Cuban composer (d. 1991)
 * August 15
 * Aldo Ciccolini, pianist (d. 2015)
 * Robert Massard, French baritone
 * Oscar Peterson, pianist (d. 2007)
 * August 27 – Gordon Tobing, Indonesian folk singer (d. 1993 in music)
 * August 28 – Donald O'Connor, dancer, singer and actor (d. 2003)
 * September 1 – Art Pepper, American jazz musician (d. 1982)
 * September 2 – Russ Conway, English pianist (d. 2000)
 * September 3 – Hank Thompson, American country musician (d. 2007)
 * September 6 – Jimmy Reed, American blues singer (d. 1976)
 * September 8 – Peter Sellers, English comic actor and novelty singer (d. 1980)
 * September 9 – Soňa Červená, Czech mezzo-soprano (d. 2023)
 * September 10 – Boris Tchaikovsky, Russian composer (d. 1996)
 * September 11
 * Alan Bergman, American songwriter
 * Cliff Hall, English folk singer (The Spinners) (d. 2008)
 * Harry Somers, Canadian composer (d. 1999)
 * September 13 – Mel Tormé, American singer (d. 1999)
 * September 16 – B. B. King, American blues musician (d. 2015)
 * September 26 – Marty Robbins, American country singer (d. 1982)
 * September 28 – Cromwell Everson, South African composer (d. 1991)
 * October 3 – George Wein, American jazz promoter and pianist (d. 2021)
 * October 5 – Herbert Kretzmer, South African-born English songwriter (d. 2020)
 * October 15 – Mickey Baker, American guitarist, half of the duo Mickey & Sylvia (d. 2012)
 * October 16 – Angela Lansbury, English actress and singer (d. 2022)
 * October 20 – Tom Dowd, American recording engineer/record producer (d. 2002)
 * October 21 – Virginia Zeani, Romanian soprano (d. 2023)
 * October 24 – Luciano Berio, Italian composer (d. 2003)
 * October 29 – Zoot Sims, American jazz saxophonist (d. 1985)
 * November 17 – Sir Charles Mackerras, conductor (d. 2010)
 * November 22 – Gunther Schuller, composer, horn player and conductor (d. 2015)
 * December 8 – Sammy Davis, Jr., entertainer (d. 1990)
 * December 13 – Dick Van Dyke, American actor, singer, dancer and comedian
 * December 19 – Robert B. Sherman, songwriter, brother of Richard M. Sherman, son of songwriter Al Sherman (d. 2012)
 * December 31 – Daphne Oram, composer (d. 2003)
 * date unknown – Julito Collazo, percussionist (d. 2004)

Deaths

 * January 6 – Ferdinand Löwe, Austrian conductor (b. 1865)
 * January 8 – Jimmy Palao, African-American jazz multi-instrumentalist, leader of the Original Creole Band (born 1879)
 * February 11 – Aristide Bruant, French singer and nightclub owner (b. 1851)
 * February 14 – Giuseppe Donati, inventor of the ocarina (b. 1836)
 * February 17 – Alwina Valleria, operatic soprano (b. 1848)
 * February 20 – Marco Enrico Bossi, organist and composer (b. 1861)
 * February 21 – Fernando de Lucia, operatic tenor (b. 1860)
 * February 24 – John Palm, Curaçao-born composer (b. 1885)
 * March 4 – Moritz Moszkowski, Polish composer (b. 1854)
 * March 22 – Marie Brema, operatic mezzo-soprano (b. 1856)
 * April 3 – Jean de Reszke, operatic tenor (b. 1850)
 * April 22 – André Caplet, conductor and composer (b. 1878)
 * April 25 – George Stephănescu, Romanian composer (b. 1843)
 * May 12 – Arthur Napoleão dos Santos, Brazilian composer and pianist (b. 1843)
 * May 25 – Henry W. Petrie, US songwriter (b. 1857)
 * June 16 – Emmett Hardy, jazz musician (b. 1903)
 * July 1 – Erik Satie, composer (b. 1866)
 * July 9 – Leverett DeVeber, politician and singer (b. 1849)
 * August 4 – Charles W. Clark, American baritone (b. 1865)
 * August 11 – Theodore Spiering, violinist and conductor (b. 1871)
 * August 16 – Edna Hicks, blues singer (b. 1895) (killed in fire)
 * September 16 – Leo Fall, composer (b. 1873)
 * December 9 – Eugène Gigout, composer and organist (b. 1844)
 * December 13 – Caroline von Gomperz-Bettelheim, pianist and opera singer (b. 1845)
 * December 19 – José Ignacio Quintón, Puerto Rican composer and pianist (b. 1881)
 * December 27 – Guido Menasci, opera librettist (b. 1867)
 * date unknown – Hans Winderstein, conductor and composer (b. 1859)

title: 1925 in music


text:
User:Kai Hawk

Kai Hawk (a pseudonym) is a freelance writer from Wyoming.

title: User:Kai Hawk


text:
1938 in music

This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1938.

Specific locations

 * 1938 in British music
 * 1938 in Norwegian music

Specific genres

 * 1938 in country music
 * 1938 in jazz

Events

 * January 16
 * Benny Goodman plays the first jazz concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City, considered a legitimisation of the genre. It is recorded live and issued in 1950 as The Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert.
 * Béla Bartók's Sonata for two pianos and percussion is premièred in Basel.
 * First recording of Mahler's Symphony No. 9, a live performance by the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Bruno Walter at the Musikverein, the same location, conductor and orchestra that had presented the première 26 years earlier, but now in the face of the Anschluss.
 * May 12 – Arthur Honegger's oratorio Jeanne d'Arc au Bûcher is premièred in Basel, with Ida Rubinstein as Jeanne.
 * June 5 – Glenn Gould plays in public for the first time at a church service held at the Business Men's Bible Class in Uxbridge, Ontario to a congregation of about two thousand people.
 * September 22
 * Anton Webern's String Quartet is premièred in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
 * Olsen and Johnson's musical comedy revue Hellzapoppin begins its 3-year run on Broadway.
 * October 5 – Ralph Vaughan Williams' Serenade to Music is premièred at the Royal Albert Hall in London to mark the 50th anniversary of conductor Henry Wood's first concert.
 * October 31 – Sister Rosetta Tharpe makes her first recording.
 * December 17 – Consolidated Film Industries, Inc. consummates the sale of its subsidiary American Record Corp. to Columbia Broadcasting on December 17, 1938, for a reported price of $700,000. American Record embraces the Brunswick, Vocalion and Columbia labels.
 * December 30 – The ballet Romeo and Juliet (with music by Prokofiev) receives its first full performance, at the Mahen Theatre in Brno, Czechoslovakia.
 * In West Java, Daeng Soetigna tunes the traditional pentatonic angklung to play the diatonic scale.
 * English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams begins an affair with writer Ursula Wood; they will marry in 1953.
 * Roy Acuff and the Crazy Tennesseans win a contract with the Grand Ole Opry.
 * Pete Seeger drops out of college to begin his career as a folk singer.
 * Jelly Roll Morton speaks, sings and plays piano for an eight-hour Library of Congress recorded sound documentary produced by Alan Lomax.
 * Italian performer Fred Buscaglione and songwriter Leo Chiosso meet.
 * The Andrews Sisters enjoy their first major hit with "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen".
 * John Serry Sr. appears with Shep Fields in Paramount Pictures film extravaganza The Big Broadcast of 1938.
 * Roman Catholic hymnal Kirchenlied first published in Germany.

Albums released

 * Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert – Benny Goodman

Top popular recordings
The twenty popular records listed below were extracted from Joel Whitburn's Pop Memories 1890–1954, record sales reported on the "Discography of American Historical Recordings" website, and other sources as specified. Numerical rankings are approximate, they are only used as a frame of reference.

Top Christmas hits

 * "Don't Wait 'Till The Night Before Christmas" – Eddy Duchin and His Orchestra

Top blues records

 * "Sunnyland" – Sonny Boy Williamson

Published popular music

 * "And the Angels Sing" words: Johnny Mercer, music: Ziggy Elman
 * "At Long Last Love" w.m. Cole Porter
 * "At The Roxy Music Hall" w. Lorenz Hart m. Richard Rodgers
 * "Back Bay Shuffle" m. Artie Shaw & Teddy McRae
 * "Be A Good Scout" w. Harold Adamson m. Jimmy McHugh Introduced by Deanna Durbin in the film That Certain Age
 * "Big Noise From Winnetka" w.m. Ray Bauduc, Bob Crosby, Bob Haggart & Gil Rodin
 * "The Biggest Aspidistra In The World" w.m. Thomas Connor, W. G. Haines & James S. Hancock
 * "Bolero at the Savoy" w.m. Charles Carpenter, Gene Krupa & James Mundy
 * "Boum!" w.m. E. Ray Goetz & Charles Trenet
 * "Boomps-A-Daisy" w.m. Annette Mills
 * "Boum!" w.m. Charles Trenet
 * "Change Partners" w.m. Irving Berlin introduced by Fred Astaire in Carefree
 * "Cherokee" m. Ray Noble
 * "Cinderella, Stay In My Arms" w. Jimmy Kennedy m. Michael Carr
 * "Colorado Sunset" w. L. Wolfe Gilbert m. Con Conrad
 * "Daydreaming (All Night Long)" w. Johnny Mercer m. Harry Warren. Introduced by Rudy Vallée in the film Gold Diggers in Paris.
 * "Dearest Love" w.m. Noël Coward
 * "Deep In A Dream" w. Eddie DeLange m. Jimmy Van Heusen
 * "Do You Wanna Jump Children?" w.m. Jimmy Van Heusen, Willie Bryant & Victor Selsman
 * "Doin' the Jive" m.w. Glenn Miller & Chummy MacGregor
 * "Don't Be That Way" w. Mitchell Parish m. Edgar Sampson & Benny Goodman
 * "Don't Let That Moon Get Away" w. Johnny Burke m. James V. Monaco
 * "Don't Worry 'Bout Me" w. Ted Koehler m. Rube Bloom
 * "Double Trouble" w. Leo Robin m. Ralph Rainger & Richard A. Whiting
 * "Exhibition Swing" m. Chalmers Wood
 * "F.D.R. Jones" w.m. Harold Rome. Introduced by Rex Ingram in the revue Sing Out the News.
 * "Falling In Love With Love" w. Lorenz Hart m. Richard Rodgers. Introduced by Muriel Angelus in the musical The Boys from Syracuse. Performed in the 1940 film by Allan Jones.
 * "Ferdinand the Bull" w. Larry Morey m. Albert Hay Malotte. Performed by Sterling Holloway in the animated film of the same name.
 * "Flat Foot Floogie (with a Floy Floy)" w.m. Slim Gaillard, Slam Stewart & Bud Green
 * "Get Out of Town" w.m. Cole Porter from the musical Leave It to Me!
 * "Hawaiian War Chant" w. (Eng) Ralph Freed m. Johnny Noble & Prince Leleiohaku
 * "Heart And Soul" w. Frank Loesser m. Hoagy Carmichael
 * "Hi-Yo Silver" Erickson, De Leath
 * "Hold Tight – Hold Tight" w.m. Leonard Kent, Edward Robinson, Leonard Ware, Jerry Brandow & Willie Spotswood
 * "Hong Kong Blues" w.m. Hoagy Carmichael
 * "Hooray for Hollywood" w. Johnny Mercer m. Richard A. Whiting
 * "I Can Dream, Can't I?" w. Irving Kahal m. Sammy Fain. Performed by Tamara in the 1938 musical Right This Way
 * "I Hadn't Anyone Till You" w.m. Ray Noble
 * "I Have Eyes" w. Leo Robin m. Ralph Rainger
 * "I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart" w. Henry Nemo, John Redmond & Irving Mills m. Duke Ellington
 * "I Love To Whistle" Harold Adamson, Jimmy McHugh
 * "I Married An Angel" w. Lorenz Hart m. Richard Rodgers
 * "I Must See Annie Tonight" w.m. Cliff Friend & Dave Franklin
 * "I'll Be Seeing You" w. Irving Kahal m. Sammy Fain
 * "I'll Tell the Man in the Street" w. Lorenz Hart m. Richard Rodgers. Introduced by Vivienne Segal and Walter Slezak in the musical I Married an Angel. Performed in the film version by Nelson Eddy.
 * "I'm Gonna Lock My Heart" w. Jimmy Eaton m. Terry Shand
 * "I'm In Love With Vienna" w. Oscar Hammerstein II m. Johann Strauss II
 * "In A Little Toy Sailboat" Mandell, Littau
 * "In My Little Red Book" w.m. Ray Bloch, Nat Simon & Al Stillman.
 * "I've Got a Pocketful of Dreams" w. Johnny Burke m. James V. Monaco
 * "Jeepers Creepers" w. Johnny Mercer m. Harry Warren. Introduced by Louis Armstrong in the film Going Places.
 * "Joseph! Joseph!" w.(Eng) Sammy Cahn & Saul Chaplin m. Nellie Casman & Samuel Steinberg
 * "Jumpin' at the Woodside" m. Count Basie
 * "Just Let Me Look at You" w. Dorothy Fields m. Jerome Kern. Introduced by Irene Dunne in the film Joy of Living
 * "Knees Up Mother Brown" w.m. Harris Weston & Bert Lee
 * "Love Walked In" w. Ira Gershwin m. George Gershwin
 * "March of the Bob Cats" m. The Bob Cats
 * "Mister Crosby And Mister Mercer" w. Johnny Mercer m. Ed Gallagher & Al Shean
 * "Moments Like This" w. Frank Loesser m. Burton Lane. Introduced by Florence George in the film College Swing.
 * "Most Gentlemen Don't Like Love" w.m. Cole Porter. Introduced by Sophie Tucker in the musical Leave It to Me!
 * "Music, Maestro, Please" w. Herb Magidson m. Allie Wrubel
 * "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" w.m. Cole Porter. Introduced by Mary Martin in the musical Leave It to Me!. Miss Martin also performed it in the 1946 film Night and Day. Marilyn Monroe sang the song in the 1960 film Let's Make Love.
 * "My Heart Is Taking Lessons" w. Johnny Burke m. James V. Monaco. Introduced by Bing Crosby in the film Doctor Rhythm
 * "My Heaven On Earth" w. Charles Tobias m. Phil Baker & Samuel Pokrass. Introduced by Gertrude Niesen in the film Start Cheering
 * "My Own" w. Harold Adamson m. Jimmy McHugh from the film That Certain Age
 * "My Reverie" w.m. Larry Clinton
 * "Nice People" w.m. Nat Mills & Fred Malcolm
 * "Nightmare" m. Artie Shaw
 * "Now it Can Be Told" w.m. Irving Berlin
 * "Oh! Ma-Ma!" w. (Eng) Lew Brown & Rudy Vallée m. Paolo Citorello
 * "One Day When We Were Young" w. Oscar Hammerstein II m. Johann Strauss II arr. Tiomkin
 * "The One I Love Will Come Along Some Day" w. Gus Kahn m. Bronislaw Kaper & Walter Jurmann. Introduced by Allan Jones in the film Everybody Sing
 * "Paradise In The Moonlight" w.m. Gene Autry & Fred Rose from the film Western Jamboree
 * "Penny Serenade" w. Hal Halifax m. Melle Weersma
 * "Please Be Kind" w.m. Sammy Cahn & Saul Chaplin
 * "Ride, Tenderfoot, Ride" w. Johnny Mercer m. Richard A. Whiting
 * "Rockin' The Town" w. Ted Koehler m. Johnny Green from the film Start Cheering
 * "San Antonio Rose" m. Bob Wills
 * "Says My Heart" w. Frank Loesser m. Burton Lane. Introduced by Harriet Hilliard with Harry Owens & his Orchestra in the film Cocoanut Grove
 * "Sent for You Yesterday, and Here You Come Today" w.m. Count Basie, Eddie Durham & Jimmy Rushing
 * "September Song" w. Maxwell Anderson m. Kurt Weill
 * "Shadows on the Moon" w. Gus Kahn m. Sigmund Romberg from the film The Girl Of The Golden West
 * "Sing for Your Supper" w. Lorenz Hart m. Richard Rodgers. Introduced by Marcy Westcott, Muriel Angelus and Wynn Murray in the musical The Boys from Syracuse. Performed in the 1940 film by Martha Raye.
 * "Small Fry" w. Frank Loesser m. Hoagy Carmichael. Introduced by Bing Crosby, Fred MacMurray and Donald O'Connor in the film Sing You Sinners.
 * "Sold American" m. Glenn Miller & Chummy MacGregor
 * "Spring Is Here" w. Lorenz Hart m. Richard Rodgers. Introduced by Dennis King and Vivienne Segal in the musical I Married an Angel
 * "Start Cheering" w. Milton Drake m. Ben Oakland. Introduced by Gertrude Niesen in the film Start Cheering.
 * "The Stately Homes Of England" w.m. Noël Coward
 * "Thanks for the Memory" w. Leo Robin m. Ralph Rainger
 * "That Certain Age" w. Harold Adamson m. Jimmy McHugh from the film That Certain Age
 * "This Can't Be Love" w. Lorenz Hart m. Richard Rodgers
 * "This Is My Night To Dream" w. Johnny Burke m. James V. Monaco
 * "Ti-Pi-Tin" w. (English) Raymond Leveen, w. (Spanish) María Grever, m. María Grever
 * "Two Sleepy People" w. Frank Loesser m. Hoagy Carmichael
 * "The Umbrella Man" w. James Cavanaugh m. Vincent Rose & Larry Stock
 * "Undecided" w. Sid Robin m. Charlie Shavers
 * "We're Off to See the Wizard" w. E. Y. Harburg m. Harold Arlen
 * "When I Strut Away In My Cutaway" w.m. Jimmy Durante from the film Start Cheering
 * "Where Are the Songs We Sung?" w.m. Noël Coward
 * "Where the Dog Sits on the Tuckerbox" w.m. Jack O'Hagan
 * "While a Cigarette Was Burning" w.m. Charles Kenny & Nick Kenny
 * "Who Are We to Say? (Obey Your Heart)" w. Gus Kahn m. Sigmund Romberg from the film The Girl Of The Golden West
 * "You Couldn't Be Cuter" w. Dorothy Fields m. Jerome Kern Introduced by Irene Dunne in the film Joy of Living
 * "You Go To My Head" w. Haven Gillespie m. J. Fred Coots
 * "You Leave Me Breathless" w. Ralph Freed m. Friedrich Hollaender. Introduced by Fred MacMurray in the film Cocoanut Grove.
 * "You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby" w. Johnny Mercer m. Harry Warren
 * "You're A Sweet Little Headache" w. Leo Robin m. Ralph Rainger
 * "You're As Pretty As A Picture" w. Harold Adamson m. Jimmy McHughfrom the film That Certain Age
 * "You're What's The Matter With Me" w.m. Jimmy Kennedy and Michael Carr. Introduced by Harry Richman and Evelyn Dall in the film Kicking the Moon Around.

Compositions

 * Jean Absil – Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 1
 * Alan Bush – Piano Concerto, Op. 18, with baritone and male choir in last movement
 * Aaron Copland – Billy the Kid (ballet)
 * Hanns Eisler – Roman Cantata
 * George Enescu – Orchestral Suite No. 3 "Villageoise" in D major, Op. 27
 * Hamilton Harty – The Children of Lir
 * Roy Harris – Symphony No. 3
 * Herbert Howells – Hymnus Paradisi
 * Janis Ivanovs – Symphony No. 3
 * Frank Martin – Sonata da chiesa
 * Carl Orff – Carmina Burana
 * Walter Piston – Symphony No. 1
 * Silvestre Revueltas – Sensemayá (Canto para matar una culebra [Chant for the Killing of a Snake])
 * Dmitri Shostakovich – String Quartet No. 1
 * Ernst Toch – Cantata of Bitter Herbs
 * Heitor Villa-Lobos – String Quartet No. 6 (Quarteto brasileiro no. 2)
 * Leó Weiner – Divertimento for Strings No. 2

Opera

 * Jenő Ádám – Mária Veronika
 * Paul Frederic Bowles – Denmark Vesey
 * Paul Hindemith – Mathis der Maler
 * Dmitri Kabalevsky – Colas Breugnon
 * Jeronimas Kacinskas – Nonet
 * Ernst Krenek – Karl V (composed 1931–33), Neues Deutsches Theater in Prague, 22 June 1938
 * Mark Lothar – Tailor Wibbel
 * Douglas Stuart Moore – The Devil and Daniel Webster

Film

 * George Gershwin – The Goldwyn Follies
 * Erich Korngold – The Adventures of Robin Hood
 * Sergei Prokofiev – Alexander Nevsky (film)

Musical theatre

 * The Boys from Syracuse (Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart) – Broadway production opened at the Alvin Theatre on November 23 and ran for 235 performances
 * Great Lady Broadway production opened at the Majestic Theatre on December 1 and ran for only 20 performances
 * Maritza aka Countess Maritza, London production opened at the Palace Theatre on July 6
 * The Fleet's Lit Up, London opened at the London Hippodrome and ran for 191 performances
 * Hellzapoppin', Broadway revue opened at the 46th Street Theatre on September 22 and ran for 1404 performances
 * I Married an Angel, Broadway production opened at the Sam S. Shubert Theatre on May 11 and ran for 338 performances
 * Knickerbocker Holiday, Broadway production opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on October 19 and ran for 168 performances
 * Leave It to Me!, Broadway production opened at the Imperial Theatre on November 9 and ran for 291 performances
 * Nine Sharp, London production opened at The Little Theatre on January 26 and ran for 405 performances
 * Operette, London production opened at His Majesty's Theatre on March 16
 * Right This Way, Broadway production opened at the 46th Street Theatre on January 5 and ran for 14 performances
 * Sing Out The News, Broadway revue opened at the Music Box Theatre on September 24 and ran for 105 performances
 * These Foolish Things London revue opened at the Palladium on September 29
 * You Never Know, Broadway production opened at the Winter Garden Theatre on September 21 and ran for 78 performances

Musical films

 * The Big Broadcast of 1938, starring W. C. Fields, Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour and Martha Raye
 * Carefree, starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers
 * Champagnegaloppen, starring Svend Methling and Valdemar Møller.
 * Cocoanut Grove, starring Fred MacMurray, Harriet Hilliard, Ben Blue and Eve Arden.
 * Cowboy from Brooklyn, starring Dick Powell and Priscilla Lane
 * Doctor Rhythm, starring Bing Crosby, Mary Carlisle and Beatrice Lillie.
 * Dos amigos y un amor, directed by Lucas Demare
 * Es leuchten die Sterne, starring Ernst Fritz Fürbringer and Fridtjof Mjøen
 * Freshman Year, starring Constance Moore, William Lundigan and Dixie Dunbar. Directed by Frank McDonald.
 * The Girl Of The Golden West, starring Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy
 * Going Places, starring Dick Powell, Anita Louise, Allen Jenkins and Ronald Reagan and featuring Louis Armstrong and Maxine Sullivan
 * Gold Diggers in Paris, starring Rudy Vallée, Rosemary Lane, Hugh Herbert and Allen Jenkins. Directed by Ray Enright.
 * The Great Waltz, released November 4 starring Luise Rainer and Miliza Korjus. Oscar Hammerstein II contributed new English lyrics to the music of Johann Strauss II
 * Happy Landing, starring Sonja Henie, Don Ameche and Ethel Merman and featuring the Raymond Scott Quintet
 * Hold That Co-ed, starring John Barrymore, George Murphy and Joan Davis
 * Honeysuckle, starring Hugo del Carril and Libertad Lamarque
 * It's in the Air, starring George Formby, Polly Ward and Jack Hobbs. Directed by Anthony Kimmins.
 * Jettatore, starring Tito Lusiardo, directed by Luis Bayon Herrera
 * Joy of Living, starring Irene Dunne and Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
 * Kicking the Moon Around, starring Bert Ambrose, Evelyn Dall, Harry Richman and Florence Desmond.
 * Kilómetro 111, starring Delia Garcés and Pepe Arias, directed by Mario Soffici
 * La Route Enchantée, starring Charles Trenet, directed by Pierre Caron
 * La Valentina starring Jorge Negrete and Esperanza Baur
 * Love Finds Andy Hardy starring Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland
 * Mad About Music, starring Deanna Durbin. Directed by Norman Taurog.
 * My Irish Molly, directed by Alex Bryce, starring Binkie Stuart, Tom Burke and Maureen O'Hara
 * My Lucky Star, starring Sonja Henie, Richard Greene, Joan Davis and Art Jarrett
 * Napoli d'altri tempi, starring Vittorio De Sica, Emma Gramatica and Elisa Cegani.
 * Outside of Paradise, starring Phil Regan and Penny Singleton
 * Radio City Revels, released February 11, starring Bob Burns, Jack Oakie and Kenny Baker and featuring Jane Froman performing with Hal Kemp's orchestra.
 * Romance in the Dark, starring Gladys Swarthout, John Boles, John Barrymore and Claire Dodd. Directed by H. C. Potter.
 * Sally, Irene and Mary, starring Alice Faye, Tony Martin, Fred Allen, Jimmy Durante, Joan Davis and Marjorie Weaver
 * Sing You Sinners, starring Bing Crosby, Fred MacMurray and Donald O'Connor.
 * The Singing Cop, starring Keith Falkner, Marta Labarr, Ivy St Helier and Bobbie Comber
 * Start Cheering, released March 3, starring Jimmy Durante, Gertrude Niesen and the Three Stooges.
 * Sweethearts, starring Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy
 * That Certain Age, released October 7, starring Deanna Durbin. Songs by (lyrics) Harold Adamson and (music) Jimmy McHugh
 * Tropic Holiday, released July 1, starring Bob Burns, Dorothy Lamour, Ray Milland and Martha Raye
 * Volga-Volga, starring Lyubov Orlova, directed by Grigori Aleksandrov
 * We're Going to Be Rich starring Gracie Fields, Victor McLaglen and Brian Donlevy

Births

 * January 6 – Adriano Celentano, singer-songwriter
 * January 8 – Yevgeny Nesterenko, opera singer and educator (died 2021)
 * January 11 – Narvel Felts, country singer
 * January 13
 * Daevid Allen, Australian musician (died 2015)
 * Paavo Heininen, Finnish composer
 * Shivkumar Sharma, santoor player
 * January 14
 * Jack Jones, singer
 * Allen Toussaint, songwriter and record producer (died 2015)
 * January 18 – Hargus "Pig" Robbins, session piano player
 * January 21 – Wolfman Jack, DJ (died 1995)
 * January 25
 * Etta James, blues singer (died 2012)
 * Vladimir Vysotsky, singer, songwriter, poet and actor (died 1980)
 * February 11
 * Edith Mathis, Swiss operatic soprano
 * Bobby "Boris" Pickett, singer ("Monster Mash") (died 2007)
 * February 16 – John Corigliano, composer
 * February 22 – Bobby Hendricks, R&B singer (The Drifters) (died 2022)
 * February 27
 * Mobarak Hossain Khan, surbahar player and musicologist (died 2019)
 * Jake Thackray, singer-songwriter (died 2002)
 * March 2
 * Simon Estes, operatic bass
 * Lawrence Payton, Motown tenor (The Four Tops) (died 1997)
 * March 5 – Paul Evans, singer and songwriter
 * March 3 – Douglas Leedy, composer (died 2015)
 * March 9 – Lill-Babs, pop singer (died 2018)
 * March 12 – Dimitri Terzakis, composer
 * March 13
 * Hans-Joachim Hespos, composer (died 2022)
 * Jean-Claude Risset, composer (died 2016)
 * March 18 – Charley Pride, country singer (died 2020)
 * March 25 – Hoyt Axton, country singer-songwriter and actor (died 1999)
 * April 2 – Booker Little, jazz trumpeter and composer (died 1961)
 * April 3 – Jeff Barry, songwriter
 * April 4 – Declan Mulligan, rock guitarist (The Beau Brummels) (died 2021)
 * April 7
 * Spencer Dryden, rock drummer (Jefferson Airplane, The Dinosaurs) (died 2005)
 * Freddie Hubbard, jazz trumpeter (died 2008)
 * April 13 – Frederic Rzewski, composer (died 2021)
 * April 19 – Jonathan Tunick, composer
 * April 26
 * Duane Eddy, rock guitarist (died 2024)
 * Maurice Williams, doo-wop vocalist (Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs)
 * April 29 – Klaus Voormann, rock guitarist, producer and sleeve designer (Manfred Mann)
 * May 4 – Tyrone Davis, singer (died 2005)
 * May 10
 * Henry Fambrough, R&B vocalist (The Spinners)
 * Maxim Shostakovich, orchestral conductor
 * May 11 – Bruce Langhorne, folk guitarist (died 2017)
 * May 13
 * Dumitru Fărcaș, Romanian tárogató player (died 2018)
 * Frankie Smith, African-American doo-wop bass vocalist (The Monotones) (died 2000)
 * Lucille Starr, French-Canadian singer (died 2020)
 * May 15 – Lenny Welch, singer
 * May 26 – Teresa Stratas, operatic soprano
 * May 27 – Elizabeth Harwood, operatic soprano (died 1990)
 * May 28 – Prince Buster, ska musician (died 2016)
 * June 9 – Charles Wuorinen, composer (died 2020)
 * June 13 – Gwynne Howell, opera singer
 * June 14 – Julie Felix, folk singer (died 2020)
 * June 15 – Jean-Claude Éloy, composer
 * June 20 – Mickie Most, record producer (died 2003)
 * June 23 – Alan Vega, American rock singer, musician (Suicide) (died 2016)
 * June 24 – Edoardo Vianello, Italian singer and composer
 * June 26 – Billy Davis Jr., pop singer (The 5th Dimension)
 * July 1 – Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, bansuri player
 * July 4 – Bill Withers, singer-songwriter (died 2020)
 * July 5 – Ronnie Self, American singer-songwriter (died 1981)
 * July 9 – Paul Chihara, American composer
 * July 14 – Tommy Vig, Hungarian composer, arranger and vibraphonist
 * July 27 – Isabelle Aubret, singer
 * July 28 – George Cummings, rock guitarist and songwriter (Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show)
 * July 31 – Bonnie Brown (The Browns) (died 2016)
 * August 1 – Paddy Moloney, traditional Irish musician (The Chieftains) (died 2021)
 * August 4 – Simon Preston, organist (died 2022)
 * August 8 – Jacques Hétu, composer (died 2010)
 * August 13 – Dave "Baby" Cortez, pop keyboard player
 * August 21 – Kenny Rogers, country singer (died 2020)
 * August 23 – Roger Greenaway, singer-songwriter (David & Jonathan)
 * August 24
 * David Freiberg, rock musician (Quicksilver Messenger Service)
 * Mason Williams, guitarist and composer
 * August 26 – Jet Black, punk rock/new wave drummer (The Stranglers) (died 2022)
 * September 3 – Larry Grossman, composer of Broadway musicals
 * September 6 – Joan Tower, composer and singer
 * September 19 – Zygmunt Krauze, pianist and composer
 * September 21
 * Atli Heimir Sveinsson, composer (died 2019)
 * Yuji Takahashi, composer
 * September 28 – Ben E. King, singer (died 2015)
 * October 3 – Eddie Cochran, singer (died 1960)
 * October 15
 * Marv Johnson, singer (died 1993)
 * Fela Kuti, Afrobeat multi-instrumentalist (died 1997)
 * October 16 – Nico, singer-songwriter, actress and model (died 1988)
 * October 18 – Ronnie Bright, The Coasters (died 2015)
 * November 2 – Jay Black (Jay and the Americans) (died 2021)
 * November 4 – Harry Elston (Friends Of Distinction)
 * November 6
 * Jim Pike (The Lettermen) (died 2019)
 * P. J. Proby, singer
 * November 7 – Dee Clark, soul singer (died 1990)
 * November 16 – Troy Seals, singer, songwriter
 * November 17 – Gordon Lightfoot, singer-songwriter (died 2023)
 * November 19 – Hank Medress, doo-wop vocalist and producer (The Tokens) (died 2007)
 * December 1 – Sandy Nelson, drummer (died 2022)
 * December 5 – J. J. Cale, singer-songwriter (died 2013)
 * December 8 – Bernie Krause, bioacoustician
 * December 10 – Yuri Temirkanov, conductor (died 2023)
 * December 11 – McCoy Tyner, jazz pianist (died 2020)
 * December 12 – Connie Francis, singer
 * December 15 – Fela Kuti, Afrobeat pioneer (died 1997)
 * December 18 – Chas Chandler, musician, record producer and manager (died 1996)
 * December 20 – John Harris Harbison, composer
 * December 24 – Mesías Maiguashca, composer
 * December 28 – Charles Neville (The Neville Brothers) (died 2018)
 * date unknown
 * Fanta Damba, jalimosolu singer
 * Abdul Jabbar, singer (died 2017)
 * Atli Heimir Sveinsson, composer (died 2019)

Deaths

 * January 19 – Rosa Mayreder, feminist writer, artist and musician, 79
 * January 20 – Nikolai Zhilyayev, musicologist, 56
 * January 29 – Carl Venth, violinist and composer, 77
 * February 4 – Dominique Heckmes, composer and music critic, 59
 * February 25 – Růžena Maturová, operatic contralto, 68
 * February 27 – Gianni Bettini, phonograph maker (born 1860)
 * March 2 – Ben Harney, ragtime composer & entertainer, 65
 * March 12 – Lyda Roberti, actress and singer, 31 (heart attack)
 * March 18 – Cyril Rootham, composer, 62
 * April 5 – Reine Davies, actress and singer, 51 (heart attack)
 * April 8 – Joe "King" Oliver, jazz trumpeter & band leader, 52
 * April 12 – Feodor Chaliapin, operatic bass, 65
 * April 18 – Richard Runciman Terry, musicologist, 72
 * May 7 – Papa Charlie Jackson, blues musician, 50
 * June 26 – James Weldon Johnson, US songwriter, author, diplomat and educationalist, 67
 * July 9 – H. Benne Henton, American ragtime and early jazz saxophonist songwriter, 60
 * July 24 – Anatole Friedland, American composer and songwriter, 57
 * July 27 – James Thornton, English-born US songwriter and vaudeville comedian, 76
 * August 14 – Landon Ronald, pianist and composer, 65
 * August 16 – Robert Johnson, blues musician, 27 (suspected strychnine poisoning)
 * August 30 – James Scott, ragtime composer, 53
 * September 2 – Fleta Jan Brown Spencer, songwriter, composer, pianist, and singer, 56
 * September 4 – Oreste Candi, violin-maker, 72
 * September 8 – Agustín Magaldi, tango singer, 39
 * September 12 – Mary Elizabeth Turner Salter, American soprano singer and composer, 82
 * September 28 – Con Conrad, songwriter, 47
 * October 22 – May Irwin, vaudeville star, 76
 * October 23 – Fred Barnes, music hall entertainer, 53 (Tuberculosis)
 * October 27
 * Alma Gluck, soprano, 54 (liver failure)
 * Khadija Gayibova, Azerbaijani pianist, 45 (executed)
 * November 21 – Leopold Godowsky, pianist and composer, 68
 * December 10 – Mario Pilati, composer, 35
 * December 21 – James Milton Black, hymn-writer and choir-master, 82
 * date unknown
 * Minnie Egener, operatic mezzo-soprano (born 1881)
 * Attilio Salvaneschi, operatic tenor (born 1873)
 * probable – Oskar Böhme, trumpeter and composer (born 1870)

title: 1938 in music