1921 in music

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This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1921.

Events

• January - Amelita Galli-Curci marries her accompanist, Homer Samuels, who had been named in her divorce from the Marchese Luigi Curci.
• June/July - The Harvard Glee Club takes its first trip to Europe, garnering international press attention.
• Clarence Williams makes his first recordings
• Mary Stafford becomes the first black woman to record for Columbia Records
• The 17-string koto, or "Jūshichi-gen", is invented by Michio Miyagi.
• Cyril Rootham dedicates his "Suite in Three Movements" for flute and piano to French flautist Louis Fleury.

Publications

• Ferruccio Busoni – The Essence of Oneness of Music

Published popular music

• "Ain't We Got Fun?" w.m. Richard A. Whiting, Raymond Egan & Gus Kahn
• "All by Myself" w.m. Irving Berlin
• "And Her Mother Came Too" w. Peter Dion Titheradge m. Ivor Novello
• "Any Time" w.m. Herbert Happy Lawson
• "April Showers" w. B. G. De Sylva m. Louis Silvers
• "Baltimore Buzz" w.m. Noble Sissle & Eubie Blake
• "Bandana Days" w.m. Noble Sissle & Eubie Blake
• "Bimini Bay" w. Gus Kahn & Raymond Egan m. Richard Whiting
• "Boy Wanted"
• "Dancing Time" w.(Eng) George Grossmith, Jr. (US) Howard Dietz m. Jerome Kern US words written 1924.
• "Dapper Dan" w. Lew Brown m. Albert Von Tilzer
• "Dear Old Southland" w. Henry Creamer m. Turner Layton
• "Down South" w. B. G. DeSylva m. Walter Donaldson. Introduced by Al Jolson in the musical Bombo
• "Down Yonder" w.m. L. Wolfe Gilbert
• "Everybody Step" w.m. Irving Berlin
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• "Hawaiian Chimes" w. Irving Bibo m. Eva Applefield
• "I Ain't Nobody's Darling" w. Elmer Hughes m. Robert A. King
• "I Found A Rose In The Devil's Garden" w.m. Fred Fisher & Willie Raskin
• "I Wonder If You Still Care For Me" w.m. Harry B. Smith & Francis Wheeler
• "I'll Forget You" w. Annelu Burns m. Ernest R. Ball
• "I'm Just Wild About Harry" w.m. Noble Sissle & Eubie Blake
• "I'm Missin' Mammy's Kissin'" w. Sidney Clare m. Lew Pollack
• "I'm Nobody's Baby" w.m. Benny Davis, Milton Ager & Lester Santly
• "Jazz Me Blues" m. Tom Delaney
• "Keep Movin'" Helen Trix
• "Kitten On The Keys" m. Zez Confrey
• "Laughin' Rag" S. Moore, H. Skinner
• "Learn To Smile" w. Otto Harbach m. Louis A. Hirsch
• "Leave Me With A Smile" w.m. Charles Koehler & Earl Burtnett
• "Love Will Find A Way" w.m. Noble Sissle & Eubie Blake
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• "Ma! He's Making Eyes at Me" w. Sidney Clare m. Con Conrad
• "Make Believe" w. Benny Davis m. Jack Shilkret
• "Mandy 'N' Me" w. Bert Kalmar m. Con Conrad
• "My Sunny Tennessee" w.m. Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby & Herman Ruby
• "Peggy O'Neill" w.m. Harry Pease, Ed G. Nelson & Gilbert Dodge
• "Puttin' on the Ritz" Irving Berlin
• "Sally" w. Clifford Grey m. Jerome Kern
• "Say It With Music" w.m. Irving Berlin
• "Second Hand Rose" w. Grant Clarke m. James F. Hanley
• "The Sheik of Araby" w. Harry B. Smith & Francis Wheeler m. Ted Snyder
• "She's Mine, All Mine" w.m. Bert Kalmar & Harry Ruby
• "Shuffle Along w.m. Noble Sissle & Eubie Blake
• "Shimmy With Me" w. P. G. Wodehouse m. Jerome Kern from the musical The Cabaret Girl
• "Song Of Love" w. Dorothy Donnelly m. Sigmund Romberg
• "Strut Miss Lizzie" w. Henry Creamer m. Turner Layton
• "Swanee River Moon" w.m. H. Pitman Clarke
• "Sweet Lady" w. Howard Johnson m. Frank Crumit & Dave Zoob
• "Ten Little Fingers And Ten Little Toes" w. Harry Pease & Johnny White m. Ira Schuster & Ed G. Nelson
• "There'll Be Some Changes Made" w. Billy Higgins m. Benton Overstreet
• "Tuck Me To Sleep In My Old 'Tucky Home" w. Sam H. Lewis & Joe Young m. George W. Meyer
• "Wabash Blues" w. Dave Ringle m. Fred Meinken
• "When Big Profundo Sang Low C" w. Marion T. Bohannon m. George Botsford
• "When Buddha Smiles" w. Arthur Freed m. Nacio Herb Brown
• "When Francis Dances With Me" w. Ben Ryan m. Sol Violinsky
• "When Shall We Meet Again" w. Raymond B. Egan m. Richard A. Whiting
• "Whip-poor-will" w. B. G. De Sylva m. Jerome Kern
• "Yoo-Hoo" w. B. G. De Sylva m. Al Jolson

Top Hit Recordings

• "Wang Wang Blues" by Paul Whiteman's Orchestra, featuring Gussie Mueller
• "Look for the Silver Lining" by Marion Harris
• "Margie" by Eddie Cantor
• "Margie, introducing Singing the Blues/Palesteena" by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band
• "The Wabash Blues" by Isham Jones & His Orchestra
• "Say It with Music" by Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra
• "All by Myself" by Ted Lewis & His Jazz Band
• "Everybody Step" by Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra

Classical music

• Agustín Barrios – La Catedral
• John Foulds – World Requiem (1919–21) (premiered 1923)
• Howard Hanson – Before the night
• Rued Langgaard – Music of the Spheres
• Carl Nielsen – Moderen (stage music)
• Sergei Prokofiev – Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Major
• Edgard Varèse – Offrandes; Amériques (1918–21)
• Ralph Vaughan Williams – A Pastoral Symphony (1921)
• Heitor Villa-Lobos – Fantasia de Movimentos Mistos, for violin & orchestra
• Arnold Schoenberg – Suite for Piano Op. 25
• John Ireland - Two Pieces for Piano (1921)

Opera

• Franco Alfano – La leggenda di Sakùntala
• Nicolae Bretan – Luceafarul
• Leoš Janáček – Katya Kabanova
• Hans Jelmoli – Die Badener Fahrt
• Emmerich Kalman – Die Bajadere
• Pietro Mascagni – Il Piccolo Marat

Musical theater

• Bombo, Broadway production opened at Jolson's 59th Street Theatre on October 6 and ran for 213 performances
• The Broadway Whirl, Broadway revue opened at the Times Square Theatre on June 8 and ran for 85 performances
• The Golden Moth (Music: Ivor Novello) London production opened at the Adelphi Theatre on October 5. Starring Bobbie Comber and Thorpe Bates.
• Good Morning, Dearie, Broadway production opened at the Globe Theatre on November 1 and ran for 347 performances
• Pot Luck London production opened at the Vaudeville Theatre on December 24.
• The League of Notions London revue opened at the Oxford Theatre on January 17
• The Rebel Maid London production opened at the Empire Theatre on March 12 and ran for 114 performances.
• The Rose Girl (Music: Anselm Goetzl Book & Lyrics: William Carey Duncan) Broadway production opened at the Ambassador Theatre on February 11 and ran for 99 performances. Starring Mabel Withee, Charles Purcell and May Boley.
• Sally, London production opened at the Winter Garden Theatre on September 10 and ran for 387 performances
• Shuffle Along, Broadway production opened at the Daly's 63rd Street Theatre on May 23 and ran for 504 performances
• Sybil, London production opened at Daly's Theatre on February 19 and ran for 346 performances

Births

• January 10 – Helen Bonchek Schneyer, folk musician (d. 2005)
• January 17 – Lorna Cooke deVaron, choral conductor
• January 22 – Arno Babajanian, composer (d. 1983)
• January 26 – Eddie Barclay, music producer (d. 2005)
• January 31
  • Mario Lanza, operatic tenor and film star (d. 1959)
  • Carol Channing, musical comedy star
• February 5 – Sir John Pritchard, British conductor (d. 1989)
• February 16 – Vera-Ellen, dancer and actress (d. 1981)
• February 26 – Betty Hutton, actress and singer (d. 2007)
• March 2 – Robert Simpson, musicologist and composer (d. 1997)
• March 6 – Julius Rudel, conductor
• March 8 – Cyd Charisse, dancer (d. 2008)
• March 11 – Ástor Piazzolla, tango composer (d. 1992)
• March 12 – Gordon MacRae, singer and actor (d. 1986)
• March 21
  • Arthur Grumiaux, violinist (d. 1986)
  • Antony Hopkins, composer and music writer (d. 2014)
• March 22 – Nino Manfredi, actor and film score composer (d. 2004)
• April 1
  • William Bergsma, composer (d. 1994)
  • Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith, musician, composer
• April 8
  • Alfie Bass, actor (Tevye in West End production of Fiddler on the Roof) (d. 1987)
  • Franco Corelli, operatic tenor (d. 2003)
• April 22 – Candido Camero, percussionist
• April 26 – Jimmy Giuffre, jazz musician (d. 2008)
• May 17
  • Dennis Brain, horn virtuoso (d. 1957)
  • Bob Merrill, US songwriter (d. 1998)
• May 23 – Humphrey Lyttelton, English jazz musician (d. 2008)
• May 25 – Hal David – US lyricist (d. 2012)
• June 1 – Nelson Riddle, US conductor, composer and arranger (d. 1985)
• June 3 – Betty Freeman, patron of classical music (d. 2009)
• June 15 – Erroll Garner, jazz pianist (d. 1977)
• June 21 – Judy Holliday, US actress and singer (d. 1965)
• June 24 – Peggy DeCastro, US singer born in the Dominican Republic, eldest of the DeCastro Sisters (d. 2004)
• June 25 – Celia Franca, dancer and choreographer (d. 2007)
• July 12 – Hilary Corke, writer and composer (d. 2001)
• July 17
  • George Barnes, jazz musician (d. 1977)
  • Mary Osborne, American guitarist (d. 1992)
• July 24 – Giuseppe Di Stefano, opera singer (d. 2008)
• August 3 – Richard Adler, American composer and lyricist
• August 4 – Herb Ellis, American guitarist (d. 2010)
• August 7
  • Manitas de Plata, French Gitano flamenco guitarist (d. 2014)
  • Karel Husa, Czech-born classical composer
• August 9 – Lola Bobesco, Belgian violinist (d. 2003)
• September 4 – Ariel Ramírez, Argentine composer (d. 2010)
• September 8 – Sir Harry Secombe, Welsh singer and comedian (d. 2001)
• September 19 – Billy Ward (The Dominoes) (d. 2002)
• September 21 – Chico Hamilton, jazz drummer
• October 1 – James Whitmore, actor in film musicals (d. 2009)
• October 21
  • Sir Malcolm Arnold, composer (d. 2006)
  • Jarmil Burghauser, conductor, composer and musicologist (d. 1997)
• October 25 – Little Hatch, blues musician (d. 2003)
• November 5 – Georges Cziffra, pianist (d. 1994)
• November 9 – Pierrette Alarie, soprano
• November 21 – Vivian Blaine, actress and singer (d. 1995)
• November 23 – Fred Buscaglione, Italian singer, musician and songwriter (d. 1960)
• December 3 – Phyllis Curtin, soprano
• December 4 – Deanna Durbin, singer and actress
• December 8 – Johnny Otis, blues musician
• December 15 – Alan Freed, disc jockey (d. 1965)
• December 26 – Steve Allen, musician and comedian (d. 2000)

Deaths

• January 23 – Władysław Żeleński, pianist, organist and composer (b. 1837)
• February 8
  • George Formby (Senior), singer (b. 1875)
  • Francisco D'Andrade, opera singer (b. 1856)
• March 14 – Gustave Barnes, artist and musician (b. 1877)
• March 24 – Déodat de Séverac, composer (b. 1872)
• April 3 – Annie Louise Cary, operatic contralto (b. 1842)
• April 5 – Alphons Diepenbrock, composer and writer (b. 1862)
• April 7 – Víctor Mirecki Larramat, cellist (b. 1847)
• April 20 – Tony Jackson, pianist, singer and composer (b. 1876)
• May 4 – Max Kalbeck, music writer and critic (b. 1850)
• June 8 - Natalie Bauer-Lechner, viola player (b. 1858)
• July 9 – Marianne Brandt, operatic contralto (b. 1842)
• August 2 – Enrico Caruso, operatic tenor (b. 1873)
• August 8 - Arthur Pougin, music critic (b. 1834)
• September 27
  • Engelbert Humperdinck, composer (b. 1854)
  • Zdzisław Birnbaum, violinist and conductor (b. 1878)
• September 28 – Princess Pauline von Metternich, patron of composers including Wagner and Smetana (b. 1836)
• October 4 - Sophie Stehle, operatic soprano (b. 1838)
• November 20 – Christina Nilsson, operatic soprano (b. 1843)
• November 25 – Théodore Lack, pianist (b. 1846)
• November 29 – Ivan Caryll, composer of operettas (b. 1861)
• December 10 – Victor Jacobi, composer of operettas (b. 1883)
• December 16 – Camille Saint-Saëns, composer (b. 1835)
• December 25 – Hans Huber, composer (b. 1852)