1897 in music

Events

* March 27 - Premiere of Sergei Rachmaninoff's First Symphony. The premiere was a complete disaster and left many wondering if Alexander Glazunov, the conductor for the event, was drunk or just disliked the music so much that he didn't care about a good performance. It would be years before Rachmaninoff would compose a major piece of music again.
* The Cakewalk matures into Ragtime music.
* John Philip Sousa's band makes phonograph recordings of Cakewalks and early Ragtime.
* Early publications by Scott Joplin.
* Gustav Mahler becomes director of the Vienna Court Opera, and is obliged to convert from Judaism to Roman Catholicism.

Published popular music

* "Asleep In The Deep" w. Arthur J. Lamb m. Henry W. Petrie
* "At A Georgia Camp Meeting" w.m. Kerry Mills
* "Badinage" m. Victor Herbert
* "Beautiful Isle Of Somewhere" w. Mrs Jessie Brown Pounds m. John S. Fearis
* "Break The News To Mother" w.m. Charles K. Harris
* "Danny Deever" w. Rudyard Kipling m. Walter Damrosch
* "Harlem Rag" m. Tom Turpin
* "Louisiana Rag" m. Theodore H. Northrup
* "On The Banks Of The Wabash Far Away" w.m. Paul Dresser
* "Our Lodger's Such A Nice Young Man" w.m. Fred Murray & Laurence Barclay
* "Roustabout Rag" m. Paul Sarebresole
* "The Shuffling Coon" by J. R. Todd
* "Song Of India" m. Nikolai Rimsky Korsakov
* "Stars And Stripes Forever" m. John Philip Sousa (Recorded on Berliner Records)
* "Syncopated Sandy" by Wayburn & Whiting
* "Take Back Your Gold" w.m. Monroe H. Rosenfeld
* "There's A Little Star Shining For You" w.m. James Thornton
* "Ye Boston Tea Party" by Arthur Pryor

Recorded popular music

*"A Hot Time in the Old Town"
- Dan W. Quinn on Berliner Records
*"My Mother was a Lady"
- Dan W. Quinn
*"There's a Little Star Shining for You"
- Dan W. Quinn on Edison Records

Classical music

*Hugo Alfvén - "Symphony No. 1"
*Ferruccio Busoni - "Violin Concerto"
* Ernest Chausson - "String Quartet"
* Felix Draeseke - "String Quintet in A "Stelzner-Quintett"
* Paul Dukas - "The Sorcerer's Apprentice"
* August Enna - "Concerto for violin and orchestra in D major "
* Asger Hamerik - "Symphonie no. 6 (Spirituelle)" for string orchestra
* Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov - "Symphony No. 2 "Antar" " (final version)
* Arnold Schoenberg - "String Quartet in D major"
* Richard Strauss - "Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche"
* Alexander von Zemlinsky - "Symphony No. 2"

Opera

*Frederick Delius - "Koanga"
*August Enna - "The Little Match Girl"
*Zdeněk Fibich - "Sarka"
*Eduard Holst - "Our Flats", premiered in New York
*Wilhelm Kienzl - "Don Quixote"
*Luigi Mancinelli - "Ero e Leandro"
*Jules Massenet - "Sapho"

Musical theater

* "The Belle of New York" Broadway production
* "The Charlatan" Broadway production
* "The Circus Girl" Broadway production
* "The Glad Hand" Broadway production
* "Pousse Café" Broadway production

Births

*January 2 - Jane Green, US singer
*January 10 - Sam Chatmon, blues musician
*January 22 - Leslie Sarony, English singer, comedian and songwriter
*February 27 - Marian Anderson, contralto
*March 9 - Pedro Flores, composer
*March 11 - Henry Cowell, composer
*March 26 - David McCallum, Sr., violinist and father of David McCallum
*April 1 - Lucille Bogan, blues singer
*April 17 - Harald Sæverud, composer
* April 19 - Vivienne Segal, US actress and singer
*May 2 - J. Fred Coots - US composer
*May 14 - Sidney Bechet
*May 29 - Erich Wolfgang Korngold, composer
*June 3 - "Memphis Minnie", blues singer
*June 12 - Alexandre Tansman, pianist and composer
*July 11
**Blind Lemon Jefferson
**Johnny Marvin, US singer & songwriter
*August 4 - Abe Lyman, US bandleader, composer and drummer
*August 24 - Fred Rose, US composer, singer and pianist
*August 29 - Helge Rosvaenge, operatic tenor
*September 3 - Francisco Mignone, composer
*September 8 - Jimmie Rodgers
*September 18 - Sam H. Stept, Russian-born US composer, pianist and conductor
*October 11 - Leo Reisman
*November 2 - Dennis King, British singer and actor
*November 25 - Willie 'The Lion' Smith, US jazz pianist
*December 9 - Hermione Gingold, actress and singer
*December 18 - Fletcher Henderson, jazz musician
*December 30 - Alfredo Bracchi, Italian lyricist
*"date unknown" - Rosa Ponselle, soprano
*"date unknown" - Aileen Stanley, singer

Deaths

*February 10 - Antonio Bazzini, violinist, composer and music teacher (b. 1818)
*February 23 - Woldemar Bargiel, composer and teacher (b. 1828)
*February 25 - Cornélie Falcon, opera singer (b. 1812)
*March 7 - Leonard Labatt, operatic tenor (b. 1838)
*April 3 - Johannes Brahms, composer (b. 1833)
*May 21 - Carl Mikuli, pianist and composer
*June 9 - Pavel Pabst, pianist and composer (b. 1854)
*June 18 - Franz Krenn, composer and music teacher (b. 1816)
*August 1 - Gaetano Antoniazzi, violin-maker (b. 1825)
*September 16 - Edward Edwards, choirmaster and composer (b. 1816)
*September 20 - Karel Bendl, composer (b. 1838)
*October 11 - Léon Boëllmann, organist and composer (b. 1862)
*October 27 - Alphons Czibulka, pianist, conductor and composer (b. 1842)
*November 6 - Edouard Deldevez, conductor, composer and violinist (b. 1817)
*November 14 - Giuseppina Strepponi, operatic soprano (b. 1815)
*December 4 - Adolf Neuendorff, German-American composer, conductor, pianist and violinist (b. 1843)