1921 in music

Events

* Clarence Williams makes his first recordings
* The Harvard Glee Club takes its first trip to Europe, garnering international press attention.
* Amelita Galli-Curci marries her accompanist, Homer Samuels.

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
* "Coal-Black Mammy" by Laddie Cliff
* "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
* "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
* "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
* "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 Dawn"
*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

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"
*Sergei Prokofiev - "The Love for Three Oranges"

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 63rd Street Music Hall 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 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
*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
*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
*May 17 - Bob Merrill, US songwriter (d. 1998)
*May 23 - Humphrey Lyttelton, jazz musician
*May 25 - Hal David - US lyricist
*June 1 - Nelson Riddle, US conductor, composer and arranger (d. 1985)
*June 15 - Errol 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
*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)
*July 24 - Giuseppe Di Stefano, opera singer (d. 2008)
*August 3 - Richard Adler, US composer and lyricist
*August 4 - Herb Ellis, guitarist
*August 7 - Karel Husa, composer
*August 9 - Lola Bobesco, violinist (d. 2003)
*September 4 - Ariel Ramírez, composer
*September 8 - Sir Harry Secombe, 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
*October 21
** Sir Malcolm Arnold, composer (d. 2006)
** Jarmil Burghauser, conductor, composer and musicologist (d. 1997)
*October 25 - Little Hatch, blues musician
*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)
*"date unknown" - Betty Freeman, patron of classical music

Deaths

*January 23 - Władysław Żeleński, pianist, organist and composer (b. 1837)
*February 8 - George Formby (Senior), singer (b. 1875)
*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)
*July 9 - Marianne Brandt, operatic contralto (b. 1842)
* August 2 - Enrico Caruso, operatic tenor (b. 1873)
* September 27
** Engelbert Humperdinck, composer (b. 1854)
** Zdzisław Birnbaum, violinist and conductor (b. 1878)
*September 28 - Princess Pauline de Metternich, patron of composers including Wagner and Smetana (b. 1836)
* 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)
*"date unknown"
**Natalie Bauer-Lechner, viola player (b. 1858)
**Arthur Pougin, music critic (b. 1834)