- 1501
| Jan 13 | The world's first hymnbook printed in the vernacular was published in Prague. It contained 89 hymns in the Czech language. (The name of the hymnal is no longer known, since the only surviving copy lacks the title page.) | Ref: 5 |
- 1581
| Oct 15 | First ballet de cour at Catherine de' Medici's court in France entitled "Le Ballet comique de la Reine." | Ref: 10 |
- 1600
| Dec 20 | Ottario Rinuccini/Giulio Caccini's opera "Euridice" published. | Ref: 5 |
- 1607
| Feb 24 | Claudio Monteverdi's opera "Orfeo" premieres in Mantua. | Ref: 5 |
- 1609
| Oct 12 | The song "Three Blind Mice" is published in London by teenage songwriter Thomas Ravenscroft, believed to be the earliest printed secular song. | Ref: 2 |
- 1649
| Jan 05 | Francesco Cavalli's opera "Giasone" premieres in Venice. | Ref: 5 |
- 1680
| Dec 31 | Amsterdam opera at Leidsegracht opens. | Ref: 5 |
- 1686
| Feb 15 | Jean Baptiste Lully's opera "Armide" premieres in Paris. | Ref: 5 |
- 1689
| Dec 30 | Henry Purcell & Tates opera "Dido & Aeneas" premieres in Chesea. | Ref: 5 |
- 1690
| Jan 14 | Clarinet is invented, in Nüremberg, Germany. | Ref: 5 |
- 1705
| Jan 08 | Georg F Händels first opera "Almira" premieres in Hamburg. | Ref: 5 |
- 1711
| Feb 14 | Händels opera Rinaldo, premieres. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 24 | Handel's opera "Rinaldo" premieres, London. | Ref: 5 |
- 1717
| Jul 17 | As King George I sails on Thames, George Frideric Handel first performs his Water Music. | Ref: 10 |
- 1721
| Mar 24 | In Germany, the supremely talented Johann Sebastian Bach publishes the Six Brandenburg Concertos. | Ref: 2 |
- 1723
| Jan 12 | Handel's opera "Ottone" premieres, London. | Ref: 5 |
- 1724
| Apr 07 | Johann S Bach's "John Passion" premieres in Leipzig. | Ref: 5 |
- 1725
| Mar 02 | Georg F Händels opera "Giulio Cesare in Egitto" premieres in London. | Ref: 5 |
- 1726
| May 05 | Marie de Camargo (16) premieres at Opéra of Paris France. | Ref: 5 |
- 1728
| Jan 29 | John Gays' "Beggar's Opera" premieres in London. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 28 | Georg F Händels opera "Siroe, re di Persia" premieres in London. | Ref: 5 |
| May 04 | Georg F Händels opera "Tolomeo, re di Egitto" premieres in London. | Ref: 5 |
- 1729
| Apr 15 | Johann S Bachs "Matthäus Passion" premieres in Leipzig. | Ref: 5 |
- 1731
| Dec 30 | First US music concert (Peter Pelham's great room in Boston). | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 30 | Boston News-letter becomes first publication to report news of a concert event. | Ref: 10 |
- 1735
| Feb 18 | The first opera performed in America, known as either "Flora" or "Hob in the Well", was presented in Charleston, SC. | Ref: 4 |
- 1739
| May 21 | Methodist hymnwriter Charles Wesley, 31, on the first anniversary of his religious conversion, penned the hymn, "O For a Thousand Tongues". | Ref: 5 |
- 1741
| Sep 14 | George Frederick Handel completed his The Messiah. It took the composer just 23 days to complete the timeless musical treasure which is still very popular during the Christmas holiday season. | Ref: 4 |
- 1742
| Apr 13 | George Frideric Händel's "Messiah" performed for first time (Dublin, Ireland). | Ref: 5 |
- 1743
| Mar 23 | It was the first London performance of Handel’s Messiah, and King King George II was in the audience. In the middle of the Hallelujah Chorus, the King rose to his feet in appreciation of the great piece! The entire audience followed suit out of respect for the King. And so began the custom of standing during the singing of the Hallelujah Chorus. | Ref: 4 |
- 1753
| May 29 | Joseph Haydn's "Krumme Teufel" premieres. | Ref: 5 |
- 1759
| Dec 13 | First music store in America opens (Philadelphia). | Ref: 5 |
- 1762
| Oct 05 | The opera "Orfeo Ed Euridice" is produced (Vienna). | Ref: 5 |
- 1763
| Sep 18 | An instrument named the spinet was mentioned in The Boston Gazette newspaper on this day. John Harris made the spinet, a small upright piano with a three to four octave range. There is no verifiable evidence to support the rumor that a man named Spinetti made the first spinet. | Ref: 4 |
- 1764
| Jan 01 | Eight-year old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart plays for the Royal Family at Versailles in France. | Ref: 4 |
- 1767
| May 13 | Mozart's opera "Apollo et Hyacinthus" premieres in Salzburg. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 16 | Van Ritter von Glucks opera "Alceste" premieres. | Ref: 5 |
- 1769
| Sep 18 | First piano, a spinet, produced in America by John Harris of Boston. | Ref: 10 |
- 1774
| Apr 19 | CW Glucks opera "Iphigenia in Aulis", premieres in Paris France. | Ref: 5 |
- 1778
| Jan 27 | Piccinni's opera "Roland" premieres, Paris. | Ref: 5 |
| Aug 03 | The La Scala Opera House in Milan Italy opens with Salieri's "L'Europa Riconosciuta". (The Smithsonian, p 17, Aug/2003) | |
- 1780
| Jan 03 | Danish national anthem "Kong Kristian", first sung. | Ref: 5 |
- 1781
| Jan 29 | Mozart's opera "Idomeneo" premieres, Munich. | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 08 | Premiere of Mozart's violin sonata K379. | Ref: 5 |
- 1784
| Apr 27 | "Marriage of Figaro" first performed in Vienna, later transformed by Mozart into opera. | Ref: 10 |
| Apr 29 | Premiere of Mozart's Sonata in B flat, K454 (Vienna). | Ref: 5 |
- 1785
| Jan 14 | Mozart completes "Dissonantenkwartet" (opus 10). | Ref: 5 |
| Jan 15 | Mozarts string quartet opus 10 premieres. | Ref: 5 |
- 1786
| May 01 | Mozart's opera "The Marriage of Figaro" premieres in Wien (Vienna). | Ref: 5 |
- 1787
| Oct 29 | Mozert's opera "Don Giovanni" opens in Prague. | Ref: 2 |
- 1790
| Jan 26 | Mozart's opera "Cosi Fan Tutte" premieres in Vienna. | Ref: 5 |
- 1791
| Sep 30 | Mozart's opera "The Magic Flute" at Theater-auf-der-Wieden premiers in Vienna, Austria. | Ref: 70 |
- 1792
| Feb 07 | D Cimarosa's opera "Il Matrimonio Segreto" premieres in Vienna. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 12 | In Vienna, Ludwig van Beethoven (21) receives first lesson in music composition from Franz Joseph Haydn. The fee was 19¢. | Ref: 5 |
- 1794
| Feb 10 | Joseph Haydn's 99th Symphony in E, premieres. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 03 | First performance of Joseph Haydn's 101st Symphony in D. | Ref: 5 |
- 1795
| Feb 02 | Joseph Haydns 102nd Symphony in B, premieres. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 29 | Beethoven (24) debuts as pianist in Vienna | Ref: 5 |
- 1796
| Mar 31 | Johann Wolfgang von Goethes "Egmont" premieres in Weimar. | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 18 | The Archers, the first opera written by an American composer, was performed in New York City. Benjamin Carr wrote the work. | Ref: 4 |
- 1797
| Feb 12 | Franz Haydn's AUSTRIAN HYMN was first performed for the Emperor Francis II's fifth birthday in Vienna. Today, AUSTRIAN HYMN is the most common melody to which we sing the popular hymn, "Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken." | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 13 | Cherubini's opera "Medée" premieres in Paris France. | Ref: 5 |
- 1799
| Mar 19 | Joseph Haydn's "Die Schöpfung" premieres in Vienna. | Ref: 5 |
- 1800
| Apr 02 | First performance of Ludwig von Beethoven's 1st Symphony in C. | Ref: 5 |
- 1801
| Apr 24 | First performance of Joseph Haydn's oratorio "Die Jahreszeiten". | Ref: 5 |
- 1802
| Mar 03 | "Moonlight Sonata" by Ludwig van Beethovan published. | Ref: 10 |
- 1803
| Apr 05 | First performance of Beethoven's 2nd Symphony in D. | Ref: 5 |
- 1805
| Apr 07 | Premiere of Beethoven's "Eroica" (conducted by himself). | Ref: 5 |
| Nov 20 | Beethoven's opera "Fidelio" is produced (Vienna). | Ref: 5 |
- 1807
| Mar 05 | First performance of Ludwig von Beethoven's 4th Symphony in B. | Ref: 5 |
- 1808
| Mar 27 | Joseph Haydns oratorio "Die Schöpfung" premieres in Vienna. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 31 | Beethoven and others in all-star gala concert in Vienna honoring Joseph Haydn's 76th birthday. | Ref: 10 |
| Apr 13 | William Henry Lane ("Juda") perfects the tap dance. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 22 | First performance of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony in Vienna. | Ref: 10 |
- 1810
| Mar 18 | "Converse", first US opera, premieres in New York. | Ref: 5 |
- 1812
| May 11 | Waltz introduced into English ballrooms Most observers consider it disgusting & immoral. No wonder it caught on!. | Ref: 5 |
- 1813
| Mar 08 | First concerto of Royal Philharmonic. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 08 | Ludwig von Beethoven's 7th Symphony in A, premieres. | Ref: 5 |
- 1814
| Feb 27 | Ludwig von Beethovens 8th Symphony in F, premieres. | Ref: 5 |
- 1815
| Dec 15 | Rossini gets assignment for Il barbiere di Siviglia. | Ref: 5 |
- 1816
| Feb 05 | Rossini's Opera "Barber of Seville" premieres in Rome. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 20 | Rossini's opera "The Barber of Seville" premieres in Rome. | Ref: 5 |
- 1817
| Jan 25 | Rossini's opera "La Cenerentola" premieres in Rome. | Ref: 5 |
- 1818
| Dec 24 | Franz Gruber of Oberndorf, Germany composes the music for Silent Night to words written by Josef Mohr. The traditional song was sung for the first time during Midnight Mass this night. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 25 | First US performance of Handel's Messiah, Boston. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 25 | First known Christmas carol ("Silent Night, Holy Night" by Franz Joseph Gruber & Joseph Mohr) is performed for the first time, at the Church of St. Nikolaus in Oberndorff, Austria. | Ref: 5 |
- 1819
| May 30 | Anglican bishop Reginald Heber, 36, penned the words to the missionary hymn, "From Greenland's Icy Mountains." | Ref: 5 |
- 1820
| May 13 | The opera "Die Jäearsbraut" is completed. | Ref: 5 |
- 1821
| Jun 18 | The opera "Der Freischotz" is produced (Berlin). | Ref: 5 |
- 1822
| Dec 01 | Franz Liszt, age 11, makes piano debut in Vienna. | Ref: 10 |
- 1823
| Feb 02 | Rossini's opera "Semiramide" premieres in Venice. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 03 | The opera "Semiramide" is produced (Venice). | Ref: 5 |
| May 08 | Song "Home Sweet Home,"popular song by American John H. Paine first performed in London. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 20 | Franz Schuberts "Ballet-Musik aus Rosamunde" premieres in Vienna. | Ref: 5 |
- 1824
| Mar 07 | Meyerbeers opera "Il Crociati in Egitto" premieres in Venice. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 26 | First performance of Beethoven's "Missa Solemnis". | Ref: 5 |
| May 07 | Beethoven's Ninth Symphony ("The Choral”) with famous tune "Ode to Joy" premieres in Vienna | Ref: 5 |
- 1825
| Mar 02 | First grand opera in US sung in English, New York NY. | Ref: 5 |
| Nov 29 | Rossini’s Barber of Seville was presented in NY City. It was the first Italian opera to be presented in the United States. | Ref: 4 |
- 1826
| Mar 21 | Beethoven's Quartet #13 in B flat major (Op 130) premieres in Vienna. | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 12 | Weber's opera "Oberon", premieres in London. | Ref: 5 |
- 1830
| Jan 28 | The opera "Fra Diavolo" is produced (Paris). | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 04 | V Bellini's opera "I Capuleti e i Montecchi" premieres in Venice. | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 11 | Robert Schumann attends piano concerto by Paganini. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 25 | Hector Berlioz's "Symphony Fantastic" premieres. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 26 | Gaetano Donizetti's opera "Anna Bolena" premieres in Milan. | Ref: 5 |
- 1831
| Mar 06 | Vincenzo Bellini's opera "La Sonnambula" premieres in Milan. | Ref: 5 |
| Nov 22 | The opera "Robert Le Diable" is produced (Paris). | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 26 | Vincenzo Bellini's opera "Norma" premieres in Milan. | Ref: 5 |
- 1832
| May 12 | Gaetano Donizetti's opera "L'Elisir D'amore" premieres in Milan. | Ref: 5 |
| Jul 04 | It was on this day that America was sung in public for the first time -- at the Park Street Church in Boston, MA. Dr. Samuel Francis Smith wrote the words, borrowing the tune from a German songbook. Ironically, and unknown to Dr. Smith at the time, the melody is the same as the British national anthem. | Ref: 4 |
- 1833
| Jan 10 | Felix Mendelssohn's "Die erste Walpurgisnacht" premieres in Berlin. | Ref: 5 |
| Jan 26 | Gaetano Donizetti's opera "Lucrezia Borgia" premieres in Milan. | Ref: 5 |
- 1835
| Jan 25 | Vincenzo Bellini's opera "I Puritani" premieres in Paris. | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 26 | Frédéric Chopin's "Grand Polonaise Brillante", premieres in Paris France. | Ref: 5 |
| Sep 26 | The opera "Lucia di Lammermoor" is produced (Naples). | Ref: 5 |
- 1836
| Feb 29 | Giacomo Meyerbeer's (Jakob Liebmann Beer) opera "Les Huguenots" premieres in Paris (Théâtre de l'Opéra, Paris). | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 19 | Nikolai Gogol's "Revisor", premieres in St Petersburg. | Ref: 5 |
| May 22 | Felix Mendelssohn's oratorium "St Paul" premieres in Düsseldorf. | Ref: 5 |
- 1838
| Mar 07 | Soprano Jenny Lind ("the Swedish Nightingale") makes her debut in Weber's opera Der Freischultz. | Ref: 2 |
- 1840
| Feb 11 | Gaetano Donizetti's Opera "La Fille du Regiment" premieres in Paris. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 02 | Gaetano Donizetti's opera "La Favorita" premieres in Paris. | Ref: 5 |
- 1841
| Mar 31 | First performance of Robert Schumann's 1st Symphony in B. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 06 | Robert Schumann's 4th Symphony in D, premieres. | Ref: 5 |
- 1842
| Jan 07 | Gioacchino Rossini's opera "Stabat Mater" premieres in Paris. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 03 | First performance of Felix Mendelssohn's 3rd "Scottish" Symphony. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 09 | Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Nabucco" premieres in Milan. | Ref: 5 |
| Nov 17 | The opera "Linda di Chamounix" is produced (London). | Ref: 5 |
- 1843
| Jan 02 | Wagner's opera "Der Fliegende Holländer" premieres, Dresden. | Ref: 5 |
| Jan 04 | Gaetano Donizetti's opera "Don Pasquale" premieres in Paris. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 11 | Giuseppe Verdi's Opera "I Lombardi" premieres in Milan. | Ref: 5 |
| Nov 27 | The opera "The Bohemian Girl" is produced (London). | Ref: 5 |
- 1844
| Feb 03 | The saxophone first played in public in Paris by Adolphe Sax. | Ref: 10 |
| Mar 09 | Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Hernani" premieres in Venice. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 30 | The opera "Stradella" is produced (Hamburg) after being rewritten. | Ref: 5 |
- 1845
| Jul 30 | The French Army introduced the saxophone to its military band. The musical instrument was the invention of Adolphe Sax of Belgium. | Ref: 4 |
| Jul 31 | The French Army introduced the saxophone to its military band. The musical instrument was the invention of Adolphe Sax of Belgium. | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 19 | Wagner's opera "Tanhauser" first performed in Dresden Opera House. | Ref: 5 |
| Nov 15 | The opera "Maritana" is produced (London). | Ref: 5 |
- 1846
| Dec 08 | Hector Berlioz's "La Damnation de Faust" premieres in Paris. | Ref: 5 |
- 1847
| Mar 17 | Dmitri Shostakovich's opera "Macbeth" is produced (Florence). | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 05 | The opera "Die Fledermaus" is produced (Vienna) | Ref: 5 |
| Sep 11 | Stephen Foster performed his "Oh! Susanna" for the very first time. The performance, for a crowd at the Eagle Saloon in Pittsburgh, PA, earned Foster a bottle of whiskey. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 22 | In New York, the Astor Place Opera House, the city's first operatic theater, opens. | Ref: 2 |
| Nov 25 | The opera "Marta" is produced (Vienna). | Ref: 5 |
- 1848
| Feb 12 | Ballet "Faust" premieres, Milan. | Ref: 5 |
- 1849
| Mar 09 | Carl Nikolais opera "Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor" premieres. | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 06 | Giacomo Meyerbeer's opera "Le Prophète", premieres in Paris France. | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 16 | The opera "Il Profeta" premieres (Paris France). | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 08 | Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Luisa Miller" premieres in Naples. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 14 | First chamber music group in US gives their 1st concert (Boston). | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 29 | The Christmas hymn by Edmund Sears, "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear," was first published in "The Christian Register." Sears' carol features the American emphasis in Christian living, that is, the social message of "peace on earth, good will toward men." | Ref: 5 |
- 1850
| Aug 28 | Weimar, Germany: Wagner's Lohengrin performed (Wagner still in hiding in Switzerland after German revolution fails) | Ref: 4 |
| Sep 11 | Soprano opera singer Jenny Lind, the "Swedish Nightingale," makes her American debut at New York's Castle Garden Theater. | Ref: 2 |
- 1851
| Feb 06 | Robert Schumann's 3rd Symphony "Rhenisch" premieres in Düsseldorf. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 11 | Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Rigoletto" premieres in Venice. | Ref: 5 |
| Nov 22 | The opera "La Perle Du Brasil" is produced (Paris). | Ref: 5 |
- 1852
| Apr 30 | Anton Rubinsteins opera "Dmitri Donskoi", premieres in St Petersburg. | Ref: 5 |
- 1853
| Jan 19 | Verdi's opera "Il Trovatore" premiered in Rome. | Ref: 70 |
| Mar 05 | Steinway Piano Factory opens in New York. | Ref: 10 |
| Mar 06 | Giuseppe Verdi's Opera "La Traviata" premieres in Venice, Italy. | Ref: 5 |
- 1854
| Feb 16 | Franz Liszts symphony "Orpheus" premieres. | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 16 | Franz Liszt's "Mazeppa", premieres. | Ref: 5 |
- 1855
| Jun 13 | The opera "Les Vˆpres Sicilenne" is produced (Paris). | Ref: 5 |
- 1857
| Mar 12 | Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Simon Boccanegra" premieres in Venice. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 29 | Franz Liszt's "Die Hunnenschlacht" premieres in Weimar. | Ref: 5 |
- 1858
| Jan 25 | Mendelssohn’s "Wedding March" was presented for the first time, as the daughter of Queen Victoria marries the Crown Prince of Prussia. | Ref: 4 |
| Jan 30 | Charles Hallé founds Hallé Orchestra in Manchester. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 08 | Leoncavallo's opera "I Pagliacci" is produced (Naples). | Ref: 5 |
- 1859
| Jan 22 | Brahms' first piano concerto (in D minor) premieres, Hanover. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 17 | Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Un Ballo in maschera" premieres at the Apollo Theatre in Rome. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 19 | The opera "Faust" by Charles Gounod premiered in Paris. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 28 | First performance of John Brahms' 1st Serenade for orchestra. | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 04 | The opera "Dinorah" is produced (Paris). | Ref: 5 |
| May 24 | Madame Caroline Miolan-Carvalho sang Charles Gounod’s "Ave Maria" in its first public performance. | Ref: 4 |
- 1860
| Feb 10 | John Brahms' 2nd Serenade in A, premieres. | Ref: 5 |
- 1861
| Nov 19 | Julia Ward Howe writes "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" while visiting Union troops near Washington. | Ref: 2 |
- 1862
| Feb 08 | Dion Boucicault's opera "The Lily of Killarney" is produced (London). | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 28 | The opera "La Reine de Saba" premieres (Paris). | Ref: 5 |
- 1863
| Sep 29 | The opera "Pescatori di Perle", more properly known as "Les Pêcheurs de Perles", is produced (Paris). | Ref: 5 |
- 1864
| Mar 19 | Charles Francois Gounod's opera "Mireille" is produced (Paris France). | Ref: 5 |
- 1865
| Feb 16 | English clergyman Sabine Baring-Gould, 31, first published the hymn, "Now the Day is Over." It was based on the text of Prov 3:24: 'When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid...and thy sleep shall be sweet.'. | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 28 | Giacomo Meyerbeer's opera "L'Africaine", premieres in Paris France. | Ref: 5 |
| Jun 10 | The Richard Wagner opera "Tristan und Isolde" premiers in Munich, Germany. (XDG, p 4A, 6/10/2000) | Ref: 83 |
| Dec 17 | Franz Schubert's "Unvolendete Symphony" premieres. | Ref: 5 |
- 1866
| Jan 15 | Bedrich Smetana's opera "Branibori vs Cechach" premieres in Prague. | Ref: 5 |
| May 30 | The opera "Die Verkaufte Braut" premieres (Prague). | Ref: 5 |
| Nov 17 | The opera "Mignon" is produced (Paris). | Ref: 5 |
| Nov 18 | English devotional writer Katherine Hankey, 32, penned the verses that we sing today as the hymn, "I Love to Tell the Story." | Ref: 5 |
- 1867
| Feb 13 | Johann Strauss’ magnificent Blue Danube Waltz was played for the first time at a public concert in Vienna, Austria. | Ref: 4 |
| Mar 11 | Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Don Carlos" premieres in Paris France. | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 27 | The opera "Roméo et Juliette" is produced (Paris France). | Ref: 5 |
- 1868
| Mar 05 | Arrigo Boito's opera "Mefistofele" premieres in Milan. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 09 | The opera "Hamlet" premieres in Paris France. | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 10 | First performance of John Brahms' "Ein german Requiem". | Ref: 5 |
| May 09 | Anton Bruckner's first Symphony in C, premieres. | Ref: 5 |
| May 16 | Bedrich Smetana's opera "Dalibor" premieres in Prague. | Ref: 5 |
- 1869
| Feb 07 | Connecticut Congregational clergyman Samuel Wolcott, 56, upon returning home from a YMCA evangelistic service, penned the words to the missionary hymn, "Christ for the World We Sing." | Ref: 5 |
| May 01 | The Folies-Bergere opens in Paris. | Ref: 5 |
| Jun 21 | The opera "Die Meistersinger" is produced (Munich). | Ref: 5 |
| Sep 22 | The opera "Das Rheingold" is produced (Munich). | Ref: 5 |
- 1870
| Mar 16 | Tchaikovsky's overture-fantasy Romeo and Juliet first performed in Moscow. | Ref: 10 |
| Mar 19 | Antonio Carlos Gomes's opera "Il Guarany" premieres in Milan Italy. | Ref: 5 |
| Jun 25 | The opera "Die Walkere" is produced (Munich). | Ref: 5 |
- 1871
| Apr 24 | Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Aida" is produced (Cairo). | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 23 | First Gilbert & Sullivan collaboration, Thespis | Ref: 62 |
| Dec 24 | Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Aida" had its world premiere in Cairo, Egypt, to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal. | Ref: 70 |
- 1872
| Nov 20 | The hymn penned by Annie Sherwood Hawks, 36,"I Need Thee Every Hour", was first sung at a National Baptist Sunday School Convention in Cincinnati, Ohio. | Ref: 5 |
- 1873
| May 24 | Leo Delibes' opera "Le Roi l'a Dit" premieres in Paris France. | Ref: 5 |
- 1874
| Apr 05 | Johann Strauss Sr's opera "Die Fledermaus", premieres in Vienna. | Ref: 5 |
- 1875
| Jan 05 | Charles Garnier's new Opera opens in Paris. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 03 | The Georges Bizet opera "Carmen" premiered in Paris. | Ref: 70 |
| Mar 14 | Smetana's "Vysehrad" premieres. | Ref: 5 |
- 1876
| Jan 17 | The saxophone was played by Etta Morgan at New York City’s Olympic Theatre. The instrument was little known at the time in the United States. | Ref: 4 |
| Apr 08 | Amiliare Ponchielli's opera "La Gioconda", premieres in Milan. | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 22 | Tchaikovsky completes his "Swan Lake" ballet. | Ref: 5 |
| May 10 | Richard Wagner’s Centennial Inaugural March was heard for the first time at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, PA. Wagner did just fine for creating the magnificent work. He received a paycheck of $5,000. | Ref: 4 |
| Aug 13 | Premiere of Wagner's "Der Ring des Nibelungen" in its entirety at Bayreuth. | Ref: 10 |
| Aug 16 | The opera "Siegfried" is produced (Bayreuth). | Ref: 5 |
- 1877
| Jan 20 | Tchaikovsky's ballet "Swan Lake' premieres in Moscow. | Ref: 10 |
| Mar 04 | The Russian Imperial Ballet stages the first performance of Tsjaikovski's incomplete ballet "Swan Lake" ("Zwanenmeer") in Moscow. | Ref: 2 |
| Apr 19 | The opera "Les Cloches de Corneville" is produced (Paris France). | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 27 | The opera "Le Roi de Lahore" is produced (Paris France). | Ref: 5 |
| Nov 17 | The first production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s opera, The Sorcerer, was presented -- in London. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 02 | Camille Saint-Saëns' opera "Samson et Dalila" premieres in Weimar. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 16 | Anton Bruckner's 3rd Symphony in D, premiers. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 30 | Johnannes Brahms' 2nd Symphony in D, premieres in Vienna. | Ref: 5 |
- 1878
| Feb 10 | Peter Tchaikovsky's 4th Symphony in F, premieres. | Ref: 5 |
| May 04 | Phonograph shown for first time at Grand Opera House. | Ref: 5 |
| May 25 | Gilbert & Sullivans opera "HMS Pinafore" premieres in London. | Ref: 5 |
- 1879
| Jan 01 | John Brahms' Violin Concerto in D major premieres in Leipzig. | Ref: 5 |
| Aug 25 | NY’s Madison Square Garden displayed a real floating ship in a gigantic water tank as Gilbert & Sullivan’s operetta, H.M.S. Pinafore, was performed. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 01 | Gilbert and Sullivan’s operetta, H.M.S. Pinafore, opened. Arthur Sullivan conducted the orchestra while William Gilbert played the role of a sailor in the chorus and in the Queen’s Nay-vee. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 26 | John Brahms' "Tragic Ouverture" premieres. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 30 | Gilbert & Sullivan's "Pirates of Penzance" premieres. | Ref: 5 |
- 1880
| Oct 01 | A new director of the United States Marine Corps Band was named. John Philip Sousa became the band’s 17th leader. | Ref: 4 |
- 1881
| Jan 02 | Camille Saint-Saëns' 3rd Concerto in B, premieres. | Ref: 5 |
| Jan 04 | Johannes Brahms' "Academic Festival Overture" premieres, Breslau. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 10 | Jacques Offenbach's opera "Les Contes d'Hoffman" premieres in Paris. | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 23 | Gilbert & Sullivan's opera "Patience or Bunthorne's Bride" produced in London. | Ref: 5 |
| May 11 | Bedrich Smetana's opera "Libusa" premieres in Prague. | Ref: 5 |
| Jun 14 | The player piano was patented by John McTammany, Jr. of Cambridge, MA. It was patent number 242,786. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 19 | Jules Massenet's opera "Hérodiade" is produced (Brussels). | Ref: 5 |
- 1882
| Jan 13 | Richard Wagner completes his opera "Parsifal". | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 10 | Rimski-Korsakovs opera "Snyegurochka" premieres in St Petersburg. | Ref: 5 |
| Jun 06 | Blind Scottish Presbyterian clergyman George Matheson penned the words to the hymn, 'O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go.' | Ref: 5 |
| Jul 26 | Richard Wagner's "Parsifal,"his last musical drama, premieres at Bayreuth. | Ref: 10 |
| Jul 28 | The opera "Parsifal" is produced (Bayreuth). | Ref: 5 |
| Aug 20 | Premiere of Tchaikovsky's ‘1812 Overture' in Moscow. | Ref: 10 |
- 1883
| Apr 14 | Leo Delibes' opera "Lakmé", premieres in Paris France. | Ref: 5 |
| Oct 22 | The original Metropolitan Opera House in NY held its grand opening with a performance of Gounod's "Faust." | Ref: 70 |
| Dec 02 | Johannes Brahms' 3rd Symphony in F, premieres. | Ref: 5 |
- 1884
| Jan 19 | Jules Massenet's opera "Manon" premieres in Paris. | Ref: 5 |
| Jan 26 | First Dutch Wagner version of Elizabeth aria. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 08 | First performance of Edward MacDowell's 2nd Piano suite. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 30 | Anton Bruckner's 7th Symphony in E, premieres in Leipzig. | Ref: 5 |
- 1885
| Mar 14 | Gilbert & Sullivan's opera "Mikado" premieres in London. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 20 | Yiddish theater opens in New York with Golldfaden operetta. | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 30 | Boston Pops Orchestra forms. | Ref: 5 |
| Jun 06 | The opera "Lakm‚" is produced (Paris). | Ref: 5 |
| Aug 20 | The Mikado, by Gilbert and Sullivan, opened at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 09 | The opera "Ermine" is produced (London). | Ref: 5 |
| Nov 30 | The opera "Le Cid" is produced (Paris). | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 02 | The opera "Regina di Saba" is produced (Vienna). | Ref: 5 |
- 1886
| Feb 23 | Tsjaikovski's symphony "Manfred" premieres. | Ref: 5 |
| May 19 | Camille Saint-Saëns' 3rd Symphony in C, premieres. | Ref: 5 |
| Jun 25 | Nineteen-year-old Arturo Toscanini moved from the cello section to the conductor’s stand of the Rio de Janeiro Orchestra. The maestro conducted Aida this day. | Ref: 4 |
| Jul 19 | 74 year-old piano virtuoso Franz Liszt gives last performance in Luxemburg. | Ref: 10 |
| Oct 27 | Musical fantasy "Night on Bald Mountain," performed in Russia. | Ref: 5 |
| Nov 30 | The Folies Bergere opens for the first time. | Ref: 3 |
- 1887
| Feb 05 | Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Otello" premieres at La Scala in Italy. | Ref: 5 |
| May 18 | Emmanuel Chabriers opera "Le Roi Malgré Luis" premieres in Paris France. | Ref: 5 |
| Nov 23 | The opera "The Trumpeter of Suckingen" first American production (NYC). | Ref: 5 |
- 1888
| May 07 | Edouard Lalo's opera "Le roi d'Ys" premieres in Paris France. | Ref: 5 |
| Jun 29 | World's first musical recording made in Britain at Crystal Palace Handel Festival. | Ref: 10 |
| Nov 10 | Fritz Kreisler, a 13-year-old violinist from Vienna, made his American debut in NY City. | Ref: 4 |
- 1889
| Feb 12 | César Francks Symphony in D, premieres. | Ref: 5 |
| May 18 | Jules Massenets opera "Esclarmonde" premieres in Paris France. | Ref: 5 |
| Nov 23 | The first ‘Nickel-in-a-Slot’ (jukebox) was placed in service on this day in 1889 in the Palais Royal Saloon in San Francisco, California. Juke, at the time, was a slang word for a a disorderly house, or house of ill repute. | Ref: 5 |
- 1890
| May 17 | Pietro Costanzi's opera "Rustic Chivalry" premieres in Rome. | Ref: 5 |
| Jun 09 | Oh Promise Me was sung by Jessie Bartlett Davis in the premiere of the operetta, Robin Hood, which opened at the Grand Opera House in Chicago, IL. | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 23 | The opera "Prince Igor" is produced (St Petersburg). | Ref: 5 |
- 1891
| Mar 23 | First jazz concert was held at Carnegie Hall. | Ref: 5 |
| May 15 | Jules Massenets opera "Griselde" premieres in Paris France. | Ref: 5 |
| Nov 17 | Poland’s premier and premier ivory tickler, Ignace Jan Paderewski, made his American debut at Carnegie Hall in NY City. In later years, Paderewski, who suffered from arthritis, settled in Paso Robles, CA. The hot mineral baths located there eased his pain. He played only Steinway grand pianos custom-built to his specifications. In fact, five were made just for his use. | Ref: 4 |
- 1892
| Feb 16 | The opera "Werther" is produced (Vienna). | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 28 | First performance of Antonin Dvorák's overture "Carneval". | Ref: 5 |
| May 21 | Ruggiero Leoncavallo's opera "I Pagliacci" premieres in Milan. | Ref: 5 |
| May 28 | Comedienne Marie Dressler made her New York City singing debut in the comic opera, The Robber of the Rhine. | Ref: 4 |
| Sep 26 | The ‘March King’ was introduced to the general public. John Philip Sousa and his band played the Liberty Bell March in Plainfield, New Jersey. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 17 | Tsjaikovski's ballet "Casse-noisette" premieres in St Petersburg. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 18 | Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker Suite" publicly premiered in St. Petersburg, Russia. | Ref: 70 |
| Dec 18 | Anton Bruckner's 8th Symphony, premieres. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 26 | The opera "Cristoforo Colombo" is produced (La Scala). | Ref: 5 |
- 1893
| Jan 10 | Richard Drigo's ballet "The Magic Flute" premieres, St Petersburg. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 01 | The opera "Manon Lescaut," by Giacomo Puccini, premiered in Turin, Italy. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 09 | Giuseppe Verdi's last opera, "Falstaff," was first performed, in Milan, Italy. | Ref: 5 |
| Jun 01 | The opera "Falstaff" is produced (Berlin). | Ref: 5 |
| Oct 16 | Song which later would become "Happy Birthday to You" first published by Hill Sisters in Kentucky. | Ref: 10 |
| Dec 16 | Anton Dvorak attended the first performance of his New World Symphony at Carnegie Hall in New York City. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 23 | The Engelbert Humperdinck opera "Haensel und Gretel" was first performed, in Weimar, Germany. | Ref: 5 |
- 1894
| Apr 09 | First performance of Anton Bruckner's 5th Symphony in B in Graz. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 23 | Debussy's ballet "L'apr‚s-midi d'un faune" premieres in Paris. | Ref: 5 |
- 1895
| Jan 15 | Tchaikovsky's ballet "Swan Lake" premieres, St Petersburg. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 08 | Tchaikovsky/Petipa's "Swan Lake" premieres in Petersburg. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 04 | Gustav Mahler's 2nd Symphony, premieres in Berlin. | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 14 | First performance of Gustav Mahler's (incomplete) 2nd Symphony. | Ref: 5 |
| Jul 04 | America the Beautiful, the famous song often touted as the true US national anthem, was originally a poem written by Katherine Lee Bates. The Wellesley College professor’s poem was first published this day in the Congregationalist, a church newspaper. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 13 | First complete execution of Gustav Mahlers 2nd Symphony. | Ref: 5 |
- 1896
| Jan 05 | Isaac Albeniz' opera "Pepita Jiminez" premieres in Barcelona. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 01 | Giacomo Puccini's Opera "La Boheme" premieres in Turin. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 07 | Gilbert & Sullivan's last operette "Grand Duke" premieres in London. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 23 | Umberto Giordano's opera "Andrea Chénier" premieres in Milan. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 28 | The opera "Andrea Chenier" is produced (Milan). | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 14 | John Philip Sousa's "El Capitan", premieres (NYC). | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 25 | Sidney Jones & Harry Greenbacks musical premieres in London. | Ref: 5 |
| Sep 26 | John Philip Sousa led band's first performance (Plainfield, NJ). | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 02 | Gerhart Hauptmann's "Die versunkene Glocke" premieres in Berlin. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 25 | John Philip Sousa writes the melody to "The Stars and Stripes Forever". | Ref: 4 |
- 1897
| Mar 09 | Premiere of (parts of) Gustav Mahler's 3rd Symphony (Berlin). | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 12 | Vincent d'Indy's opera "Fervaal" premieres in Brussel. | Ref: 5 |
| May 18 | Irish Music Festival first held (Dublin). | Ref: 5 |
- 1898
| Nov 22 | The opera "Iris" is produced (Rome). | Ref: 5 |
- 1899
| Mar 05 | First performance of Edward MacDowell's 2nd Concerto in D. | Ref: 5 |
- 1900
| Jan 02 | E Verlinger begins manufacturing 7" single-sided records (Montréal). | Ref: 5 |
| Jan 02 | Gustave Charpentiers opera "Louise" premieres in Paris. | Ref: 5 |
| Jan 03 | Giuseppe Verdi's "Aida" makes U.S. debut in New York. | Ref: 10 |
| Jan 14 | Puccini's opera "Tosca" received a mixed reception at its world premiere in Rome. | Ref: 17 |
| Feb 02 | Gustave Charpentiers opera "Louise" premieres in Paris. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 12 | National Negro Anthem, "Lift Every Voice & Sing" is composed. | Ref: 5 |
- 1901
| Feb 04 | Puccini's opera "Tosca"makes U.S. debut at Metropolital Opera House, New York. | Ref: 10 |
| Feb 25 | George Cohan's musical "Governor's Son" premieres in New York NY. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 14 | First performance of Anton Bruckner's 6th Symphony in A. | Ref: 5 |
| Nov 20 | The opera "Gris‚lidis" is produced (Paris). | Ref: 5 |
- 1902
| Jan 25 | Aleksandr Skriabin's 2nd Symphony in C premieres in St Petersburg. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 18 | The opera "Le Jongleur (Hunchback) de Notre Dame" is produced (Monte Carlo). | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 28 | Jules Massenets opera premieres in Monte Carlo. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 08 | First performance of Jean Sibelius' 2nd Symphony. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 18 | Enrico Caruso records 10 arias for the Gramophone Company. The recording session took place in Milan, Italy and Caruso walked away with $500 for his effort. He is the first well-known performer to make a record. | Ref: 4 |
| Apr 30 | Debussy's opera "Pelléas et Mélissande", premieres in Paris France. | Ref: 5 |
| Jun 09 | Gustav Mahler conducts the first complete performance of his Third Symphony. | Ref: 17 |
- 1903
| Jan 07 | Vincent d'Indy's opera "L'etranger" premieres in Brussel. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 11 | Anton Bruckner's 9th Symfonie premieres in Vienna. | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 30 | Victor Records made its first Red Seal recording this day. The premiere disk featured Ada Crossley, an opera contralto. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 23 | Enrico Caruso, famed Italian tenor, made his debut in the United States at the Metropolitan Opera House in NY City. He sang in the role of the Duke in Rigoletto. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 27 | The opera "Die Heugierigen Frauen" is produced (Munich). | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 27 | The barbershop quartet favorite, Sweet Adeline, was sung for the first time -- in NY City. The song was composed by Henry Armstrong with the words of Richard Gerard. The title of the song came from a theatre marquee that promoted the great operatic soprano, Adelina Patti. Now female barbershop quartets call themselves Sweet Adelines. | Ref: 4 |
- 1904
| Jan 21 | Leos Janacek's opera "Jenufa" premieres in Brno Czechoslovakia. | Ref: 5 |
| Jan 28 | Enrico Caruso signed his first contract with Victor Records. He had debuted at the Metropolitan Opera just two months before. | Ref: 4 |
| Jan 31 | Béla Bartók's symphony "Kossuth" premieres. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 01 | Enrico Caruso makes first U.S. recording for Victor Company "La Donna e Mobile" from "Rigoletto”. He did ten songs in the session … for $4,000. | Ref: 17 |
| Feb 17 | Giacomo Puccini's opera "Madama Butterfly" was poorly received at its world premiere at La Scala. | Ref: 70 |
| Feb 28 | Vincent d'Indy's 2nd Symphony in B, premieres. | Ref: 5 |
| Jun 09 | First concert of the London Symphony Orchestra. | Ref: 17 |
- 1905
| Sep 27 | First published blues composition goes on sale, WC Handy Memphis Blues. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 09 | Richard Strauss' opera "Salome" premieres in Dresden. | Ref: 5 |
- 1906
| Jan 08 | Arthur Rubinstein made his debut at Carnegie Hall in New York City. The concert received only a few favorable reviews. | Ref: 4 |
| May 27 | First outlining of Gustav Mahler's 6th symphony, in Essen. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 24 | Canadian physicist Reginald A Fessenden became the first person to broadcast music over radio, from Brant Rock, MA. | Ref: 5 |
- 1907
| Jan 22 | The Richard Strauss opera, Salome, was featured with the Dance of the Seven Veils. It was copied by vaudeville performers and, um, strip-tease performers, as well. Soon, performances of the opera were banned at the Metropolitan Opera House. | Ref: 4 |
| Feb 05 | Arnold Schönberg's first string quartet premieres in Vienna. | Ref: 5 |
| May 10 | Paul Dukas' opera "Ariane et Barbe Bleue" premieres in Paris France. | Ref: 5 |
| Oct 21 | The Merry Widow opened in NY. The play starred Ethel Jackson and Donald Brian. The operetta had been introduced in Europe two years before. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 03 | George Cohan's musical "Talk of the Town" premieres in NY NY. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 31 | G Mahler conducts the Metropolitan Opera. | Ref: 5 |
- 1908
| Jan 01 | Austrian composer Gustav Mahler makes U.S. conducting debut in "Tristan und Isolde" at Met. Opera. | Ref: 17 |
| Nov 16 | Conductor Arturo Toscanini made his debut in the United States this day. He appeared at the Metropolitan Opera House in NY, conducting Aida. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 03 | Edward Elgar's first Symphony in A, premieres. | Ref: 5 |
- 1909
| Mar 31 | Gustav Mahler conducts New York Philharmonic for his first time. | Ref: 5 |
| Nov 04 | The opera "Il Segreto di Susanna" is produced (Munich). | Ref: 5 |
- 1910
| Jan 13 | Enrico Caruso and Emmy Destinn were heard via a telephone transmitter; rigged by DeForest Radio-Telephone Company to broadcast from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. | Ref: 4 |
| Jan 22 | The opera "Germania" is first performed in New York City NY. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 18 | Hold on to your hats! The opera, Pipe of Desire, was first performed this day at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. Frederick Sheperd Converse wrote the work that turned out to be the first opera by an American composer to be performed at the Met. | Ref: 4 |
| Jun 25 | Igor Stravinsky's ballet score for "The Firebird"first performed at Paris Opera. | Ref: 10 |
| Nov 07 | Victor Herbert's sixth operetta, "Naughty Marietta"a triumph in U.S. opening. | Ref: 10 |
| Dec 10 | Tenor Enrico Caruso and conductor Arturo Toscanini were featured at the Metropolitan Opera House in NY City for the world premiere of Puccini’s The Girl of the Golden West. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 24 | Luisa Tetrazzini sings to 250,000 people at Lotta's Fountain. | Ref: 5 |
- 1911
| Jan 26 | The Richard Strauss opera "Der Rosenkavalier" premiered in Dresden, Germany. | Ref: 17 |
| Feb 05 | Society of Dutch Composers forms in Amsterdam. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 08 | Victor Herbert's opera "Natoma" premieres in New York NY. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 16 | William P. Merrill, 44, first published his hymn, "Rise Up, O Men of God," in the Presbyterian periodical, "The Continent." | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 21 | Gustav Mahler conducts his last concerto (Berceuse élégique). | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 25 | The opera "Natoma" is produced (Philadelphia). | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 22 | Hermann Jadlowker became the first opera singer to perform two major roles in the same day at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. | Ref: 4 |
| Mar 24 | Hermann Jadlowker became the first opera singer to perform two major roles in the same day at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. | Ref: 4 |
| Apr 19 | First performance by Diaghilev's Ballets Russes of "Le Spectre de la Rose"in Russia. | Ref: 10 |
| Nov 18 | The opera "Lobetanz" first American performance. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 07 | Leslie J Stuart's musical "Betsy" premieres in New York NY. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 23 | The opera "I Giojelli Della Madonna" is produced (Berlin). | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 23 | Frank Wedekind's "Oaha, die Satire der Satire" premieres in Munich. | Ref: 5 |
- 1912
| Apr 17 | First unofficial gold record (Al Jolson's "Ragging The Baby To Sleep") for Victor Records. | Ref: 5 |
| Sep 28 | W.C. Handy's "Memphis Blues" is published. | Ref: 2 |
- 1913
| Mar 04 | Gabriel Fauré's opera "Pénélope" premieres in Monte Carlo. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 06 | The word ‘jazz' first used in article in San Francisco Bulletin, | Ref: 10 |
| Mar 19 | Mussorgsky's "Boris Gudunov"opens at Metropolitan Opera, NY-39 years after Russian premiere. | Ref: 10 |
| May 29 | The premier of the Stravinsky/Najinsky ballet Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring) in Paris causes rioting in the theater. | Ref: 2 |
| Jul 19 | Billboard publishes earliest known "Last Week's 10 Best Sellers among Popular Songs" Malinda's Wedding Day is #1. | Ref: 5 |
- 1914
| Jan 24 | The opera "Madeleine" is produced (New York City NY). | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 02 | James Royce Shannon's musical "Shameen Dhu" premieres in New York NY. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 13 | The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, known as ASCAP, is founded in NY City by Victor Herbert & friends. | Ref: 39 |
| Feb 19 | Riccardo Zandonai's opera "Francesco da Rimini" premieres in Turin. | Ref: 5 |
| May 15 | Henri Rabauds opera "Marouf, Savetier de Caire" premieres in Paris France. | Ref: 5 |
| Jul 28 | Foxtrot first danced at New Amsterdam Roof Garden (NYC, by Harry Fox). | Ref: 5 |
| Oct 15 | ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers) founded. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 08 | "Watch Your Step," the first musical revue to feature a score composed entirely by Irving Berlin, opened in NY. | Ref: 5 |
- 1915
| Jan 25 | Giordano, Sardou & Moreau's opera "Madame Sans Gêne" premieres in New York City NY. | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 15 | Manuel de Falla's ballet "El Amor Brujo", premieres in Madrid. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 08 | Jean Sibelius' 5th Symphony in E, premieres. | Ref: 5 |
- 1916
| Jan 28 | The opera "Goyescas" is first performed (New York City NY). | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 05 | Enrico Caruso recorded "O Solo Mio" for the Victor Talking Machine Company, which eventually became Victor Records, then RCA Victor. | Ref: 4 |
| Feb 11 | The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra presented its first concert. The symphony was the first by a municipal orchestra to be supported by taxes. | Ref: 4 |
| Feb 17 | Romberg/Hanley/Atteridge/Smith' musical premieres in New York NY. | Ref: 5 |
| Oct 27 | First published reference to "jazz" appears (Variety). | Ref: 5 |
- 1917
| Jan 30 | The Original Dixieland Jazz Band recorded a classic for Columbia Records titled, The Darktown Strutters’ Ball. It was one of the first jazz compositions recorded. | Ref: 4 |
| Feb 20 | Kern, Bolton & Wodehouse's musical "Oh, Boy!" premieres in New York NY. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 05 | The first jazz recording for Victor Records was released. The Original Dixieland ‘Jass’ Band performed on the tune The Dixie Jass Band One Step. The word ‘Jass’ was later changed to ‘Jazz’ because it sounded, uh, jazzier. | Ref: 4 |
| Mar 07 | The 1st 78 rpm jazz record issued is "Dixie Jazz Band One Step", recorded by Nick LaRocca Original Dixieland Jazz Band, released by RCA Victor in Camden NJ. | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 06 | George M. Cohan writes famous song, "Over There.” | Ref: 10 |
| Apr 12 | Domenico Scarlatti & Jean Cocteau's ballet premieres in Rome. | Ref: 5 |
| May 03 | First performance of Ernest Bloch's symphony "Israel". | Ref: 5 |
| May 18 | Satie/Massine/Picasso's ballet "Parade" premieres in Paris France. | Ref: 5 |
| May 31 | First jazz record released (Dark Town Strutters Ball). | Ref: 5 |
| Oct 06 | A new word cropped up in the American lexicon: Jazz. The Literary Digest described jazz as music that caused people to, “shake, jump and writhe in ways to suggest a return to the medieval jumping mania.” | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 22 | Leopold Stokowski led the Philadelphia Orchestra in its first recording session -- for Victor Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 27 | Jascha Heifetz made his debut at Carnegie Hall in NY City. Heifetz was a 16-year-old sensation who had played the violin since age 5. | Ref: 4 |
- 1918
| Feb 01 | Franz Lehárs opera "Wo die Lerche singt" premieres in Budapest. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 16 | Geoffrey O'Hara's "K-K-K-Katy" song published. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 14 | Giacomo Puccini's opera "Il Trittico" premieres in New York NY. | Ref: 5 |
- 1919
| Mar 05 | Louis Hirsch & Harold Atteridge's musical premieres in New York NY. | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 19 | André Messager 's opera "Monsieur Beaucaire" is produced (London). | Ref: 5 |
- 1920
| Feb 21 | Darius Milhaud & Jean Cocteau's ballet, "Le Train Bleu" premieres in Paris. | Ref: 5 |
| May 04 | The Symphony Society of New York presented a concert at the Paris Opera House. It was the first American orchestra to make a European tour. | Ref: 4 |
| Sep 16 | Enrico Caruso made his last recording for Victor Records in Camden, NJ. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 18 | Conductor Arturo Toscanini made his first recording for Victor Records in Camden, New Jersey. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 24 | Enrico Caruso gave his last public performance, singing in Jacques Halevy's "La Juive" at the Metropolitan Opera in NY. | Ref: 70 |
- 1921
| Jan 05 | Wagner's "Die Walkyrie" opens in Paris. This is the first German opera performed in Paris since the beginning of World War I. | Ref: 2 |
| May 19 | The first opera presented in its entirety over the radio was broadcast by 9ZAF in Denver, CO. The opera, "Martha", aired from the Denver Auditorium. | Ref: 4 |
| Aug 22 | Amelita Galli-Curci makes N.Y. debut in "La Traviata"at the Metropolitan opera. | Ref: 70 |
| Nov 14 | KYW radio, Chicago, IL broadcast the first opera by a professional company. Listeners heard Samson Et Dilila as it was being performed at the Chicago Auditorium. | Ref: 4 |
- 1922
| Jan 20 | Arthur Honegger's ballet "Skating Rink" premieres, Paris. | Ref: 5 |
| Jan 26 | Ralph Vaughan Williams' "Pastoral Symphony" premieres in London. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 11 | "April Showers" by Al Jolson hits #1. | Ref: 5 |
| May 28 | Otto Krueger conducted the Detroit News Orchestra, the first known radio orchestra, which was heard on WWJ Radio in Detroit, MI. The Detroit News owned the radio station at the time. | Ref: 4 |
| May 30 | ‘Smilin’ Ed McConnell debuted on radio, smiling and playing his banjo. McConnell quickly became a legend in the medium. | Ref: 4 |
| Aug 30 | The New Orleans Rhythm Kings recorded Tiger Rag, one of the most familiar ragtime jazz tunes ever. It was released on the General record label. | Ref: 4 |
- 1923
| Feb 16 | Bessie Smith makes her first recording "Down Hearted Blues." | Ref: 2 |
| Feb 19 | Jean Sibelius' 6th Symphony, premieres. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 21 | André Charlot's musical "Rats" premieres in London. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 30 | The Audubon Ballroom in New York City was the scene of the first dance marathon. Alma Cummings danced the fox trot, one-step and waltz with half a dozen partners, sets record of 27 hours. | Ref: 4 |
| Mar 31 | The first U.S. dance marathon, held in New York City, ended with Alma Cummings setting a world record of 27 hours on her feet. | Ref: 70 |
| May 30 | Howard Hanson's first Symphony "Nordic" premieres. | Ref: 5 |
| Jun 14 | It was the beginning of the country music recording industry. Ralph Peer of Okeh Records recorded Fiddlin’ John Carson doing The Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane -- and the first country music recording was in the can. | Ref: 4 |
| Aug 08 | Benny Goodman was 14 years old as he began his professional career as a clarinet player. He took a job in a band on a Chicago-based excursion boat on Lake Michigan. | Ref: 4 |
| Sep 23 | Jan Savitt and his orchestra recorded 720 in the Books on Decca Records. | Ref: 4 |
- 1924
| Feb 12 | George Gershwin's groundbreaking symphonic jazz composition Rhapsody in Blue premieres with Gershwin himself playing the piano with Paul Whiteman's orchestra. | Ref: 2 |
| Feb 12 | Bandleader Paul Whiteman presented his unique symphonic jazz at the Aeolian Hall in New York City. The concert marked the first public performance of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody In Blue. The composer, himself, was at the piano this night. Distinguished guests included John Philip Sousa and Jascha Heifetz. | Ref: 4 |
| Mar 04 | "Happy Birthday To You" published by Claydon Sunny. | Ref: 5 |
| Jun 09 | Jelly-Roll Blues was recorded by blues great Jelly Roll Morton and his band for Gennett Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Aug 13 | The first country music record to sell one million copies reached that point on this day. It was "The Prisoner’s Song", recorded by Vernon Dalhart. "The Prisoner’s Song" and songs like "Molly Darling", "Death of Floyd Collins" and "New River Train" helped Dalhart outsell all others during his era (about 75 million records). He became a Country Music Hall of Famer in 1981. | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 21 | It was a big night for a big band in New York’s Cinderella Ballroom. The crowd loved the Wolverine Orchestra from Chicago and the guy on the cornet, Bix Beiderbecke, the ‘young man with a horn’. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 23 | Vincent Lopez and some 40 jazz musicians presented a concert of upbeat music at the Metropolitan Opera House in NYC. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 14 | Respighi's symphony "Pini di Roma" premieres in Paris. | Ref: 5 |
- 1925
| Jan 01 | Lucrezia Bori and John McCormack of the famous Metropolitan Opera in New York City made their singing debuts on radio this day. The broadcast over what was WEAF Radio (now WABC) encouraged others to sing on radio. People like: Hootie and the Blowfish, Fat Head Todd and Toad the Wet Sprocket, to name a few. Oh, and Barry Manilow. | Ref: 4 |
| Jan 08 | Russian composer, Igor Stravinsky, appears in his first American concert, as he conducts the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in a program of his own compositions. | Ref: 4 |
| Jan 14 | Alban Berg's atonale opera "Wozzeck" premieres in Berlin. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 28 | "Tea For Two" by Marion Harris hit #1. | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 06 | Eddie Cantor recorded the standard, If You Knew Susie, for Columbia Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Apr 23 | First London performance of operetta "Fasquita" staged. | Ref: 5 |
| Nov 12 | Louis Armstrong recorded My Heart, starting a career that brought him worldwide fame. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 28 | The forerunner of the Grand Ole Opry, called the WSM Barn Dance, opens in Nashville TN, making its radio debut on WSM-Radio. | Ref: 2 |
| Dec 03 | The first jazz concerto for piano and orchestra was presented at Carnegie Hall in NYC. Commissioned by Walter Damrosch, American composer George Gershwin presented his "Concerto In F", and was also the featured soloist playing a flugelhorn in a slow, bluesy style as one of his numbers. | Ref: 4 |
- 1926
| Apr 03 | First performance of Jean Sibelius' 7th Symphony in C. | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 25 | Giacomo Puccini's opera "Turandot", premieres at La Scala in Milan with Arturo Toscanini conducting. | Ref: 5 |
| May 12 | Dmitri Shostakovich's first Symphony, premieres in Leningrad. | Ref: 5 |
| May 22 | "Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue" by Gene Austin hits #1. | Ref: 5 |
| Nov 27 | Louis ‘Satchmo’ Armstrong recorded You Made Me Love You on Okeh Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 09 | Benny Goodman’s first recording session was this day. He played clarinet with the Ben Pollack and His CAns on a tune titled When I First Met Mary on Victor Records. Goodman was 17 years old. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 16 | Darius Milhaud's opera "Le Pauvre Matelot" premieres in Paris | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 17 | Benny Goodman played a clarinet solo. This was not unusual for Benny except that it was his first time playing solo within a group recording session. Goodman was featured with Ben Pollack and His Californians on He’s the Last Word. | Ref: 2 |
- 1927
| Jan 09 | Dmitri Shostakovich's Octet opus 11, premieres in Moscow. | Ref: 5 |
| Jan 21 | The first opera to be broadcast over a national radio network was presented in Chicago, IL. Listeners heard selections from Faust. | Ref: 4 |
| Feb 06 | Ten year-old violin prodigy Yehudi Menuhim a sensation in Paris debut;is paid $5,000 per concert. | Ref: 10 |
| Feb 09 | Dmitri Shostakovich's Octet opus 11, premieres in Moscow. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 21 | Franz Lehr's opera "Zarewitsch" premieres. | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 10 | Ballet Macanique was presented for the first time at Carnegie Hall in New York City. This was the first symphonic work that called for an airplane propeller and other mechanical contraptions not normally associated with the ballet. | Ref: 4 |
| Apr 15 | Serge Koussevitsky directed the Boston Symphony in the first performance of Frederick Converse’s symphony, Flivver Ten Million, a salute to the ‘Tin Lizzie’ automobile. | Ref: 4 |
| Apr 22 | First performance of Roger Sessions' Symphony in E. | Ref: 5 |
| May 05 | Dmitri Shostakovich's first Symphony, premieres in Berlin. | Ref: 5 |
| May 14 | "Ain't She Sweet?" hits #1 on the pop singles chart by Ben Bernie. | Ref: 5 |
| Jun 08 | Paul Whiteman and his orchestra recorded When Day is Done on Victor Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Jul 07 | Christopher Stone becomes the first British 'disc jockey' when he plays records for the BBC. | Ref: 2 |
| Sep 02 | Sophie Tucker recorded her signature song, Some of These Days, for Columbia Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Sep 14 | Gene Austin waxed one of the first million sellers. He recorded his composition, My Blue Heaven, for Victor Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 04 | Duke Ellington’s big band opened the famed Cotton Club in Harlem. It was the first appearance of the Duke’s new and larger group. He played the club until 1932. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 04 | Dmitri Shostakovich's 2nd Symphony, premieres in Moscow. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 10 | For the first time, famed radio announcer George Hay introduced the WSM Barn Dance as The Grand Ole Opry. The show’s title may have changed but it remained the home of country music. | Ref: 4 |
- 1928
| Jan 11 | Ol’ Man River was recorded on Victor Records this day by Paul Whiteman and his orchestra. Bing Crosby crooned as the song’s featured vocalist. The tune came from the Broadway musical, Showboat. | Ref: 4 |
| Jan 12 | Vladimir Horowitz debuted as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall in New York City. It was the very same night that Sir Thomas Beecham gave his first public performance in the United States. | Ref: 4 |
| Mar 01 | Paul Whiteman and his orchestra recorded Ol’ Man River for Victor Records. The featured vocalist on the track was 29-year-old Paul Robeson. The song became an American classic. | Ref: 4 |
| Mar 22 | Noël Coward's musical "This Year of Grace" premieres in London. | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 01 | First automatic changer for record players introduced. | Ref: 10 |
| Jun 11 | King Oliver and his band recorded Tin Roof Blues for Vocalion Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Aug 31 | Threepenny Opera by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht first performed in Berlin. | Ref: 2 |
| Sep 04 | Wingy Manone recorded Downright Disgusted for Vocalion Records. Playing drums for Wingy was a young sideman named Gene Krupa. | Ref: 4 |
| Sep 19 | The second talkie (the opposite of a silent movie) for Al Jolson was released. It was titled The Singing Fool, which he certainly was not. | Ref: 4 |
| Sep 28 | Glen Gray’s orchestra recorded Under a Blanket of Blue, with Kenny Sargeant on vocals. | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 01 | Duke Ellington recorded The Mooche on the Okeh label. | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 02 | This was a busy day at Victor Records Studios in Nashville, TN. DeFord Bailey cut eight masters. Three songs were issued, marking the first studio recording sessions in the place now known as Music City, USA. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 22 | "Bolero" by Maurice Ravel made its debut in Paris. (XDG, p 4A, 11/22/2003) | Ref: 83 |
| Dec 13 | George Gershwin's musical work "An American in Paris" had its premiere, at Carnegie Hall in NY. | Ref: 7 |
| Dec 28 | Last recording of Ma Rainey, "Mother of the Blues" is made. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 28 | Louis Armstrong makes 78rpm recording of "West End Blues". | Ref: 5 |
- 1929
| Feb 06 | Rudy Vallee and his orchestra recorded Deep Night (Victor disc #21868). It says in the fine print, under the artist’s name, that the tune was written by Vallee, himself. | Ref: 4 |
| Apr 18 | Red Nichols and his Five Pennies recorded the Glenn Miller arrangement of Indiana for Brunswick Records. Benny Goodman, Gene Krupa and Jack Teagarden were all part of the recording session that took place in New York City. | Ref: 4 |
| May 16 | Paul Whiteman and his orchestra backed Bing Crosby for the tune, Sposin’, which ‘Der Bingle’ recorded for Columbia Records. | Ref: 4 |
| May 21 | Sergei Prokoviev's ballet "Prodigal Son" premieres in Paris France. | Ref: 5 |
| Nov 05 | McKinney’s Cotton Pickers picked and fiddled their way to the Victor studios to record Plain Dirt. Among those pickin’ and grinnin’ were luminaries such as Fats Waller (on piano), Benny Carter and Coleman Hawkins. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 11 | Andy Kirk and His Twelve Clouds of Joy recorded Froggy Bottom -- in Kansas City. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 20 | Leo Reisman and his orchestra recorded Happy Days are Here Again for Victor Records. The classic was recorded just three weeks after the stock market crash that plunged the nation into the Great Depression. Some people have a unique sense of timing, don’t they? | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 12 | George Gershwin first conducts "An American in Paris"at Carnegie Hall. | Ref: 10 |
| Dec 13 | Hoagy Carmichael recorded with Louis Armstrong. They did Rockin’ Chair on Columbia records and cylinders. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 31 | Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians play Auld Lang Syne as a New Year’s Eve song for the first time. | Ref: 4 |
- 1930
| Jan 18 | Dmitri Shostakovich's opera "The Nose" premieres in Leningrad. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 01 | Arnold Schönbergs opera premieres in Frankfurt. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 08 | "Happy Days Are Here Again" by Benny Mereoff hits #1. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 28 | Ted Lewis and his orchestra recorded On the Sunny Side of the Street for Columbia Records on this day. Mr. Lewis was heard as the featured vocalist as well, on the tune that has been recorded hundreds of times and is an American music standard. | Ref: 4 |
| Mar 28 | First performance of Walter Piston's Suite for orchestra (Boston). | Ref: 5 |
| Aug 13 | Guy Lombardo and his orchestra put to wax "Go Home and Tell Your Mother", on Columbia Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Sep 15 | Hoagy Carmichael recorded Georgia on My Mind on the Victor label. Georgia on My Mind has been the official state song of Georgia since 1922. The song has been recorded by many artists over the years. | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 05 | The NY Philharmonic Orchestra was first heard on the air over CBS radio from Carnegie Hall. The Sunday afternoon concerts set CBS back $15,000. Not per week, but for the entire season! | Ref: 5 |
| Oct 29 | The tune, It Must Be True, was recorded on Victor by Bing Crosby, who sang with Gus Arnheim and his orchestra. | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 31 | In a rare recording, William ‘Count’ Basie sang with Bennie Moten’s orchestra, Somebody Stole My Gal, on Victor. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 07 | The Waltz You Save for Me, by ‘The Waltz King’ himself, Wayne King, was recorded on Victor. It became King’s theme. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 03 | Richard Rodgers/L Hart's musical "Evergreen" premieres in London. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 10 | Duke Ellington and his orchestra recorded the haunting Mood Indigo on Victor Records. It became one of the Duke’s most famous standards. | Ref: 4 |
- 1931
| Jan 22 | Clyde McCoy and his orchestra recorded Sugar Blues on this day. The tune became McCoy’s theme song, thanks to its popularity on Columbia Records, and later on Decca, selling over a million copies. (McCoy was said to be related to the feudin’ and a-fightin’ McCoys of Hatfield and McCoy fame.) | Ref: 4 |
| Feb 07 | The American opera, Peter Ibbetson, by Deems Taylor, premiered at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. | Ref: 4 |
| Feb 22 | Maurice Chevalier recorded Walkin’ My Baby Back Home for Victor Records in New York City. The same tune was recorded 21 years later by Nat ‘King’ Cole and Johnny Ray. It became a major hit for both artists. | Ref: 4 |
| Mar 03 | Cab Calloway and his orchestra record "Minnie the Moocher" on Brunswick Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Mar 05 | Without a Song was recorded by Lawrence Tibbett for Victor Records. This wonderful melody came from the film, The Southerner and has been a hit for many, including Willie Nelson, Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett. | Ref: 4 |
| Mar 25 | Hal Kemp and his orchestra recorded Whistles, with Skinnay Ennis, for Brunswick Records. Both Kemp and Ennis sang in the Dorsey Brothers Concert Orchestra, under the direction of Dr. Eugene Ormandy (later, conductor of the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra). The pair were part of the orchestra vocal quartet that also featured Nye Mayhew and Saxey Dowell in 1928. | Ref: 4 |
| Apr 08 | Dmitri Shostakovich's ballet "The Arrow", premieres. | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 20 | Louis Armstrong recorded the classic, When It’s Sleepy Time Down South, for Okeh Records. Satchmo would use the tune as his theme song for decades. The song was waxed in Chicago, IL. | Ref: 4 |
| May 01 | Singer Kate Smith begins her long and illustrious radio career with CBS on this, her birthday. The 22-year-old Smith started out with no sponsors and a paycheck of just $10 a week for the nationally broadcast daily program. However, within 30 days, her salary increased to a more respectable $1,500 a week! | Ref: 4 |
| May 08 | Operette "Land of Smiles" premieres in London. | Ref: 5 |
| Aug 28 | You Rascal You was recorded by Henry Allen, with the Luis Russell Band, for the Victor label. | Ref: 4 |
| Sep 02 | The radio show 15 Minutes with Bing Crosby debuted on CBS. The singer became a super-hot property after the debut. | Ref: 4 |
| Sep 17 | RCA Victor began demonstrating a very early version of the long-playing (LP), 33-1/3 RPM phonograph record. It would be another 17 years before RCA rival Columbia would begin mass production of the LP. | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 09 | Russ Columbo’s Prisoner of Love was recorded -- on Victor Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 25 | NY's Metropolitan Opera broadcast an entire opera over radio for the first time: "Hansel and Gretel" by Engelbert Humperdinck. | Ref: 5 |
- 1932
| Jan 02 | Freddy Martin formed a new band and was hired to play the Roosevelt Grill in NY City. Martin became one of the big names in the music business. Merv Griffin later became Martin’s lead vocalist. | Ref: 4 |
| Jan 21 | Annunzio Paolo Mantovani gave a memorable concert at Queen’s Hall in England to ‘glowing notices’. This was the beginning of the musician’s successful recording career that provided beautiful music to radio stations for nearly five decades. Better known as just, Mantovani, his music still entertains us with hits like, Red Sails in the Sunset, Serenade in the Night, Song from Moulin Rouge and Charmaine. | Ref: 4 |
| Feb 29 | Bing Crosby and the Mills Brothers teamed up to record Shine for Brunswick Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Mar 12 | First stereo recording made at the Academy of Music in Philly; Stokowski conducts Poem of Fire. | Ref: 10 |
| Apr 12 | Emmanuel Chabriers & Balanchines ballet premieres in Monte Carlo. | Ref: 5 |
| Aug 09 | Helen Morgan joined the Victor Young orchestra to record Bill, a popular tune from Broadway’s Showboat. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 20 | Al Jolson recorded April Showers on Brunswick Records. | Ref: 4 |
- 1933
| Jan 07 | Louis Gruenberg's opera, "The Emporer Jones", is produced at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. | Ref: 17 |
| Mar 23 | Kroll Opera in Berlin opens. | Ref: 5 |
| May 17 | Country singer Jimmie Rodgers began to record a series of 24 songs for RCA Victor Records on this day. Rodgers was in failing health at the beginning of the session, but persevered to complete the job at hand. The singing star died nine days later (he was 35). Jimmie Rodgers was born in 1897 and was known as the Blue Yodeler and the Singing Brakeman. Rodgers was the first member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, elected in 1961 (along with Fred Rose and Hank Williams). His recording career began in 1927. His yodel became a trademark of his music. Jimmie Rodgers recorded over 100 songs and sold millions of 78 RPM records. His songs were about the Depression and many were about trains. Brakeman’s Blues, Blue Yodel, Tuck Away My Lonesome Blues and his famous ‘T’ for Texas are all classics. He died of tuberculosis. | Ref: 4 |
| May 30 | Sally Rand made a name for herself as she introduced her exotic and erotic fan dance to audiences at Chicago’s Century of Progress Exposition. Twisting and turning behind two huge fans, one might wonder just how exciting the fan dance could possibly be. It is important to realize that Ms. Rand was, um, naked during the performance. | Ref: 4 |
| Jul 22 | Caterina Jarboro became the first black prima donna of an opera company. The singer performed Aida with the Chicago Opera Company at the Hippodrome in New York City. | Ref: 4 |
| Jul 28 | The singing telegram was introduced on this day. The first person to receive a singing telegram was singer Rudy Vallee, in honor of his 32nd birthday. | Ref: 4 |
| Sep 27 | NBC radio debuted Waltz Time, featuring the orchestra of Abe Lymon. The program continued on the network until 1948. | Ref: 4 |
| Sep 30 | The theme song was Hail, Hail, the Gang’s All Here and it opened the National Barn Dance. The half-hour country music and comedy show, originally heard on WLS, Chicago since 1924, moved to the NBC Blue network this night. National Barn Dance was broadcast from the Eighth Street Theater in Chicago, where the stage was transformed into a hayloft every Saturday night. The host was Joe Kelly. Uncle Ezra was played by Pat Barrett who was known to say, “Give me a toot on the tooter, Tommy,” as he started dancing. A few of the other Barn Dance characters were Arkie, the Arkansas Woodchopper; Pokey Martin; the Hoosier Hotshots; the Prairie Ramblers; cowgirl, Patsy Montana; Pat Buttram; Lulu Belle and the Cumberland Road Runners. Gene Autry and Red Foley were heard early in their careers on National Barn Dance. Although there were plenty of sponsors (Alka Seltzer, One-A-Day vitamins, Phillips Milk of Magnesia), the National Barn Dance was one of the few radio shows to charge admission! | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 14 | Josephine Baker performs in Amsterdam. | Ref: 5 |
- 1934
| Jan 22 | Dmitri Shostakovich's opera "Lady MacBeth" premieres in Leningrad. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 10 | Thomson/Gertrude Stein's opera "Four Saints in Three Acts" premieres in New York NY. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 20 | Virgil Thomson's opera "4 Saints in 3 Acts" opens in New York NY. | Ref: 5 |
| May 12 | "Cocktails For Two" by Duke Ellington hits #1. | Ref: 5 |
| Jun 04 | The Dorsey Brothers, Tommy and Jimmy, recorded Annie’s Cousin Fanny on the Brunswick label. The track featured trombonist Glenn Miller, who also vocalized on the tune. | Ref: 4 |
| Jul 05 | "Love in Bloom", sung by Bing Crosby with Irving Aaronson’s orchestra, was recorded for Brunswick Records in Los Angeles. The song was fairly popular, but became a much bigger success when comedian Jack Benny made it a popular standard. | Ref: 4 |
| Aug 08 | Bing Crosby became the first singer to record for the newly created Decca Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Sep 17 | First 33 1/3 rpm recording released (Beethoven's 5th). | Ref: 5 |
| Sep 25 | Hot Lips was recorded by Henry Busse and his orchestra in Chicago, IL. | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 26 | Cole Porter recorded his own composition titled, You’re the Top, from the show Anything Goes, on Victor. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 04 | Ethel Merman recorded I Get a Kick Out of You, from Cole Porter’s musical, Anything Goes. She was backed by the Johnny Green Orchestra. The tune was recorded for Brunswick Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 18 | Willie Smith sang with Jimmy Lunceford and his orchestra on Rhythm is Our Business on Decca Records (serial number 369). | Ref: 4 |
- 1935
| Jan 04 | Bert Ambrose and his orchestra recorded the song that became the group’s theme song. It was titled, Hors d’oeuvres and was cut in London for Decca Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Jan 05 | We proudly remind you that Phil Spitalny’s All-Girl Orchestra was featured on CBS radio this day on the program, The Hour of Charm. | Ref: 4 |
| Mar 10 | Nelson Eddy recorded Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life for Victor Records. The song came from the film, Naughty Marietta. Later, Eddy recorded the classic tune with Jeanette MacDonald. | Ref: 4 |
| Apr 08 | Bartóks 5th String quartet premieres in Washington DC. | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 10 | Vaughan Williams' 4th Symphony premieres in London. | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 12 | "Your Hit Parade", debuts on radio. | Ref: 5 |
| Jun 12 | Ella Fitzgerald recorded her first sides for Brunswick Records. The tunes were Love and Kisses and I’ll Chase the Blues Away. She was featured with Chick Webb and his band. Ella was 17 at the time and conducted the Webb band for three years following his death in 1939. | Ref: 4 |
| Jul 01 | Benny Goodman and his band recorded the King Porter Stomp for Victor Records on this day. Many people considered this Goodman classic the beginning of the swing era. | Ref: 4 |
| Sep 08 | The Hoboken Four, featuring Frank Sinatra as lead singer, appeared on Major Bowes Amateur Hour on WOR radio. The group won the competition held at the Capitol Theatre in NY City. | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 18 | Victor record #25236 was recorded by Tommy Dorsey and orchestra. It would become one of the most familiar big band themes of all time, I’m Getting Sentimental Over You. | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 26 | A talented twelve-year-old, Judy Garland (Frances Gumm), sang on Wallace Beery’s NBC radio show on NBC. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 23 | Ethel Leginska became the first woman to write an opera -- and conduct it. Her original work, titled Gale, opened at the Chicago City Opera Company. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 27 | Eeny Meeny Miney Mo was recorded by Ginger Rogers and Johnny Mercer. The tune was recorded at Decca Records in Los Angeles. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 26 | Stalin views Dmitri Shostakovich's opera "Lady Macbeth". | Ref: 5 |
- 1936
| Jan 04 | The first pop music chart based on national sales is published by Billboard magazine. | Ref: 4 |
| Jan 24 | Benny Goodman and his orchestra recorded one of the all-time greats, Stompin’ at the Savoy, on Victor Records. The song became such a standard, that, literally, hundreds of artists have recorded it, including a vocal version by Barry Manilow; believe it or not. The ‘King of Swing’ recorded the song in a session at the Congress Hotel in Chicago. | Ref: 4 |
| Jan 28 | Pravda criticizes Shostakovich's "Lady Macbeth" opera. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 06 | Pravda criticizes Shostakovich's ballet "Clear Brook". | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 20 | Benny Goodman and his orchestra recorded Christopher Columbus on Victor Records in, where else, Chicago, IL. | Ref: 4 |
| Apr 24 | Benny Goodman and his trio recorded China Boy for Victor Records. Gene Krupa, Teddy Wilson and Goodman recorded the session in Chicago. | Ref: 4 |
| Apr 26 | Dmitri Shostakovitch completes his 4th Symphony. | Ref: 5 |
| May 02 | Peter and the Wolf, a symphonic tale for children by Sergei Prokofiev, had its world premier in Moscow. (XDG, p 4A, 5/02/2002) | Ref: 83 |
| Jul 10 | Billie Holiday recorded Billie’s Blues for Okeh Records in New York. Bunny Berigan, Artie Shaw and Cozy Cole supported Holiday, instrumentally, on the track. | Ref: 4 |
| Sep 19 | The classic, Indian Love Call, was recorded by Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald, on Victor Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 06 | This was the day that big band icon Woody Herman played in his first recording session. He waxed Wintertime Dreams (Decca disc #1056). | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 05 | Bing Crosby took over as host of The Kraft Music Hall. Jimmy Dorsey (who would later be host, himself) led the Kraft Orchestra. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 26 | Israel Philharmonic Orchestra forms. | Ref: 5 |
- 1937
| Jan 29 | Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra waxed the famous Song of India on Victor Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Feb 02 | Guy Lombardo and his orchestra recorded one of Guy’s most famous tunes. Boo Hoo was waxed on Victor Records and became one of the group’s all-time great hits. | Ref: 4 |
| Feb 04 | Glen Gray and his Casa Loma Orchestra recorded A Study in Brown, on Decca Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Feb 23 | Bing Crosby sang with Lani McIntyre and his band, as Sweet Leilani was recorded on Decca Records. The Academy Award-winning song was featured in the movie Waikiki Wedding. | Ref: 4 |
| Mar 10 | An audience of 21,000 jitterbuggers jammed the Paramount Theatre in New York City to see a young clarinetist whom they would crown, ‘King of Swing’ on this night. The popular musician was Benny Goodman. | Ref: 4 |
| Mar 31 | Phil Harris recorded one of his best-known songs in Los Angeles, CA. That’s What I Like About the South was recorded on a 78 RPM disk. Harris would move to TV stardom and continue as a popular vocalist during the 1950s with such hit songs as The Thing. | Ref: 4 |
| May 14 | Duke Ellington and his band recorded the classic, Caravan, for Brunswick Records. | Ref: 4 |
| May 26 | Lionel Hampton and his band recorded the classic, Flying Home, for Decca Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Jul 06 | The big band classic, Sing, Sing, Sing was recorded by Benny Goodman and his band. Sitting in on this famous Victor Records session was Gene Krupa, Ziggy Elman and Harry James. | Ref: 4 |
| Jul 22 | Hal Kemp and his orchestra recorded the now-standard tune, Got a Date with an Angel, for Victor Records in Hollywood, California. The distinctive vocal on the tune is provided by Skinnay Ennis. | Ref: 4 |
| Aug 02 | Benny Goodman and his quartet recorded Smiles for Victor Records. Playing with Goodman’s clarinet on the famous song were Lionel Hampton, Teddy Wilson and Gene Krupa. | Ref: 4 |
| Aug 07 | Bunny Berigan and his orchestra recorded I Can’t Get Started for Victor Records. The song became Berigan’s longtime theme song. | Ref: 4 |
| Sep 06 | Benny Goodman and his orchestra recorded Sugar Foot Stomp on Victor Records. The tune was a Fletcher Henderson arrangement. | Ref: 4 |
| Sep 22 | Red Norvo and his orchestra recorded the Russian Lullaby on the Brunswick label. Norvo did more famous work at a later date, recording with a singer named Dinah Shore. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 13 | NBC forms first full-sized symphony orchestra exclusively for radio. | Ref: 5 |
| Nov 16 | Bob Crosby and his orchestra recorded South Rampart Street Parade -- on Decca Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 21 | Following Carnegie Hall performances in both 1906 and 1919, Artur Rubinstein presented another historic and highly acclaimed performance at the arts center this day. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 24 | Three lovely ladies, known as The Andrews Sisters, recorded Decca record number 1562 this day. It became one of their biggest hits: Bei Mir Bist Du Schön. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 24 | Music from the Raymor Ballroom in Boston, Massachusetts was beamed coast to coast on NBC radio. The special guests during this broadcast were Glenn Miller and his orchestra. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 25 | Arturo Toscanini conducts first Symphony of the Air over NBC Radio. | Ref: 5 |
- 1938
| Jan 06 | Trummy Young played trombone and sang with the Jimmy Lunceford Orchestra in New York City as Margie became Decca record number 1617. | Ref: 4 |
| Jan 10 | Eduard van Beinum becomes world's first conductor at Concert Hall. | Ref: 5 |
| Jan 13 | Singer Allan Jones recorded The Donkey Serenade for Victor Records. The song became the one most often associated with the singer. Allan sang and acted in several Marx Brothers films: A Night at the Opera, A Day at the Races; but the film that catapulted him to stardom was the operetta, Firefly, with Jeanette MacDonald. Singer Jack Jones is the son of Allan and wife, actress, Irene Hervey (The Count of Monte Cristo, Play Misty for Me). | Ref: 4 |
| Jan 16 | Benny Goodman refuses to play Carnegie Hall when black members of his band were barred from performing. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 11 | Larry Clinton and his Orchestra recorded Martha on Victor Records. Bea Wain was heard warbling the vocals on the tune. | Ref: 4 |
| Mar 16 | Noël Coward's musical "Operette" premieres in London. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 26 | NBC radio performance of Howard Hanson's 3rd Symphony. | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 11 | Founding of Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in U.S. | Ref: 10 |
| Apr 27 | Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra recorded I Hadn’t Anyone ’til You for Victor Records. Jack Leonard was featured as vocalist. | Ref: 4 |
| May 02 | Ella Fitzgerald recorded one of her biggest hits, A-Tisket, A-Tasket, with Chick Webb’s band. Following Webb’s death, Fitzgerald took over the band for some three years. | Ref: 4 |
| May 13 | Louis Armstrong and his orchestra recorded the New Orleans jazz standard, When the Saints Go Marching In, on Decca Records. | Ref: 4 |
| May 15 | Guy Lombardo and his orchestra recorded Ride, Tenderfoot, Ride, the group’s last side for Victor Records. Lombardo took disc number 25861 and moved the Royal Canadians over to Decca Records to make “the sweetest sound this side of heaven.” | Ref: 4 |
| May 24 | Art Kassel’s orchestra recorded a song for Bluebird Records that may not have been a smash hit, but had a title to die for: "So You Left Me for the Leader of a Swing Band". | Ref: 4 |
| May 28 | Hindemiths opera "Mathis der Maler" premieres in Zürich. | Ref: 5 |
| Jul 24 | Clarinet virtuoso and big band leader Artie Shaw recorded his now-classic, Begin the Beguine, for Bluebird Records in NY City. Shaw was married to Ava Gardner at the time. | Ref: 4 |
| Aug 21 | A classic recording was made this day. Fats Waller waxed Ain’t Misbehavin. | Ref: 4 |
| Aug 22 | Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers appear, dancing, on the cover of LIFE magazine, published on this day. | Ref: 4 |
| Aug 22 | Count Basie recorded the classic swing tune, Jumpin’ at the Woodside, for Decca Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Sep 16 | Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra recorded the swing classic Boogie Woogie for Victor Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Sep 27 | Thanks for the Memory was heard for the first time on The Bob Hope Show -- on the NBC Red radio network. | Ref: 4 |
| Sep 27 | Clarinet virtuoso Artie Shaw recorded the song that would become his theme song. Nightmare was waxed on the Bluebird Jazz label. | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 14 | One of the great songs of the big band era was recorded by Bob Crosby (Bing’s brother) and The Bob Cats. Big Noise from Winnetka on Decca Records featured Bob Haggart and Ray Bauduc. Haggart whistled and played bass, while Bauduc played the skins. | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 19 | The Bob Crosby Orchestra recorded I’m Free for Decca. Billy Butterfield was featured on trumpet. A few years later, the song would be retitled, What’s New. | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 21 | Quaker City Jazz was recorded on the Bluebird label by Jan Savitt’s orchestra. The tune would become the theme of the band. It was not, however, recorded in the Quaker City of Philadelphia. The song was waxed in New York City. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 04 | You’re a Sweet Little Headache, from the movie Paris Honeymoon, was recorded by Bing Crosby -- on Decca. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 17 | Orchestra leader Kay Kyser, speaking to an audience at the College of the City of NY (CCNY) told of the “inner workings and artistic features of swing music.” It marked the first of a series of lectures on swing music presented by Kyser, who went on to present The Kollege of Musical Knowledge on radio. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 22 | Bunny Berigan and his orchestra waxed Jelly Roll Blues on Victor Records. The tune became a standard for the band. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 23 | Bob Hope and Shirley Ross recorded a song for the film, The Big Broadcast of 1938. Thanks for the Memory became Decca record number 2219. It also became Hope’s theme song. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 29 | Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra waxed Hawaiian War Chant for Victor Records. | Ref: 4 |
- 1939
| Jan 12 | The Ink Spots gained national attention after five years together as they recorded, If I Didn’t Care, Decca record number 2286. Many other standards by the group soon followed. | Ref: 4 |
| Jan 18 | Louis Armstrong and his orchestra recorded Jeepers Creepers on Decca Records. Satchmo lent his vocal talents to this classic jump tune. | Ref: 4 |
| Jan 20 | Charles Ives' first sonata "Concord" premieres. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 01 | Benny Goodman and his orchestra recorded And the Angels Sing, on Victor Records. The vocalist on that number, who went on to find considerable fame at Capitol Records, was Martha Tilton. | Ref: 4 |
| Feb 24 | Roy Harris' 3rd Symphony, premieres in Boston. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 07 | Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians recorded one of the most popular songs of the century. The standard, Auld Lang Syne, was recorded for Decca Records ... about two months and a week late, we’d say. | Ref: 4 |
| Mar 12 | Artie Shaw and his band recorded the standard, Deep Purple, in New York for the Bluebird label. Listening carefully after the first minute or so, one can hear Helen Forrest sing the vocal refrain. Larry Clinton and his orchestra had a number one song with a similar arrangement of the same tune that same year. It later was a hit for saxophonist, Nino Tempo and his sister, April Stevens in 1963. Hundreds of versions of this song have been recorded through the years, making it one of the most popular standards of all time. | Ref: 4 |
| Mar 17 | Artie Shaw featured sidemen Tony Pastor and Buddy Rich on two classics. One Night Stand and One Foot in the Groove were recorded for Bluebird Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Mar 21 | Singer Kate Smith records "God Bless America" for Victor Records.
Singer Kate Smith records "God Bless America" for Victor Records. | Ref: 2 |
| Mar 25 | Billboard Magazine introduces hillbilly (country) music chart. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 28 | Hal Kemp and his orchestra recorded Three Little Fishies for Victor Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Apr 04 | Glenn Miller recorded his theme song, Moonlight Serenade, for Bluebird Records. Previously, the Miller theme had been Gone with the Dawn and, before then, Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep. | Ref: 4 |
| Apr 09 | Singer Marian Anderson performed a concert at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC after she was denied the use of Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution. | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 12 | One of the classic theme songs of the Big Band era was recorded for Decca. Woody Herman’s orchestra recorded Woodchopper’s Ball. | Ref: 4 |
| Apr 23 | First performance of Béla Bartók's 2nd Concerto for violin. | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 30 | Tropicana ballet of Havana Cuba, forms. | Ref: 5 |
| May 01 | The two-part Sy Oliver arrangement of Lonesome Road was recorded by the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. Listening carefully, one might note that the lead trombone is not that of Tommy Dorsey, but of Dave Jacobs, instead. | Ref: 4 |
| May 03 | Belly up to the bar for this one. Beer Barrel Polka, one of the standards of American music, was recorded by The Andrews Sisters for Decca Records. Patti, Maxine and LaVerne turned this song into a giant hit. | Ref: 4 |
| May 09 | Ray Eberle recorded Stairway to the Stars with the Glenn Miller Orchestra for Bluebird records. | Ref: 4 |
| May 17 | The Glen Island Casino in New Rochelle, NY was the scene of a memorable dual-network radio broadcast of Glenn Miller and his orchestra. Both NBC and Mutual carried the event, which was attended by 1,800 people in the casino ballroom. | Ref: 4 |
| May 20 | "3 Little Fishies" by Kay Kyser hits #1. | Ref: 5 |
| May 25 | An audience of 18,000 people waited patiently at Madison Square Garden in New York City to hear the piano virtuoso Ignace Jan Paderewski begin a much-anticipated piano recital. However, the 78-year-old former premier of Poland was unable to perform for the enormous crowd. Paderewski suffered from ‘chilled fingers’, a severe arthritic condition that made it impossible for him to play the piano. | Ref: 4 |
| May 29 | "When a Girl Marries" was first heard on CBS. The serial continued for eighteen years on radio. | Ref: 4 |
| Jun 07 | Larry Clinton and his orchestra recorded In a Persian Market on Victor Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Jun 13 | Lionel Hampton and his band recorded Memories of You for Victor Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Jun 22 | Bing Crosby and Connee Boswell joined in song to perform An Apple for the Teacher, on Decca Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Jul 13 | Frank Sinatra made his recording debut with the Harry James band. Frankie sang Melancholy Mood and From the Bottom of My Heart. | Ref: 4 |
| Jul 17 | Charlie Barnet and his orchestra recorded Cherokee for Bluebird Records. Listen carefully and you’ll hear the horn of Billy May on the piece. | Ref: 4 |
| Jul 19 | Jack Teagarden and his orchestra recorded Aunt Hagar’s Blues for Columbia Records. Teagarden provided the vocal on the session recorded in Chicago, IL. | Ref: 4 |
| Jul 26 | Sixteen-year-old singer Kay Starr got a big break. She recorded Baby Me with Glenn Miller and his orchestra on Victor Records. Starr was filling in for Marion Hutton who, at the last minute, was unable to attend the recording session. | Ref: 4 |
| Jul 28 | Judy Garland sang one of the most famous songs of the century with the Victor Young Orchestra. The tune became her signature song and will forever be associated with the singer-actress. Garland recorded Over the Rainbow for Decca Records. It was the musical highlight of the film, The Wizard of Oz. | Ref: 4 |
| Aug 15 | The MGM musical "The Wizard of Oz" premiered at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood. | Ref: 70 |
| Aug 19 | The Dick Jurgens Orchestra recorded Day Dreams Come True at Night on Okeh Records. Eddy Howard was the vocalist on the piece. It became Jurgens’ theme song. | Ref: 4 |
| Aug 20 | Orrin Tucker’s orchestra recorded Oh, Johnny, Oh, Johnny, Oh!, on Columbia Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Aug 26 | The radio program Arch Oboler’s Plays presented the NBC Symphony, for the first time, as the musical backdrop for the drama, This Lonely Heart. | Ref: 4 |
| Aug 27 | Singer Allan Jones recorded I’m Falling in Love with Someone on Victor Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Aug 31 | Frank Sinatra recorded All or Nothing at All with the Harry James Band. The tune failed to become a hit until four years later -- after Ol’ Blue Eyes had joined the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 02 | Flying Home was recorded by Benny Goodman and his six-man-band -- for Columbia Records. A chap named Fletcher Henderson tickled the ivories on this classic. It later became a big hit and a signature song for Lionel Hampton, who also played on this original version of the tune. | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 04 | A barber from Canonsburg (near Pittsburgh), PA, who had quite a singing voice, recorded That Old Gang of Mine with the Ted Weems Orchestra. That singer was the feature of the Weems band for many years before going solo as a radio, TV and stage star. You know him as ‘The Incomparable Mr. C.’, Perry Como. His string of hits for RCA Victor spans four decades. He was an NBC mainstay for years and years. | Ref: 5 |
| Oct 05 | As long as Ted Weems’ orchestra recorded on Decca Records, so did the featured vocalist in his band, the barber from Canonsburg, PA, Perry Como. Before becoming a star in his own right, and making the move to RCA Records and NBC, ‘Mr. C.’ recorded I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now with Weems on Decca. | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 11 | One of the classics was recorded this day. Body and Soul, by jazz great Coleman Hawkins, was waxed on Bluebird Records. It’s still around on CD compilations. | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 13 | Harry James and his band recorded On a Little Street in Singapore for Columbia Records. A kid singer named Frank Sinatra was the featured vocalist on what was his seventh recording. | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 14 | Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) was organized on this day -- to compete with ASCAP (American Society of Composers and Publishers). The two music licensing organizations’ goal is to ensure that composers, artists and publishers are properly paid for the use of their works. | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 20 | All the Things You Are was recorded by the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra -- for the Victor label. Jack Leonard was the featured vocalist. | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 24 | Let’s Dance was recorded on Columbia Records. It became the theme song for the band that recorded it, the Benny Goodman Band. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 08 | This day marked Frank Sinatra’s last recording session with the Harry James Band. Sides recorded were Every Day of My Life and Ciribiribin. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 10 | Muggsy Spanier and his band recorded Dipper Mouth Blues on Bluebird Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 30 | Harry James and his big band recorded Concerto for Trumpet -- on Columbia 78s. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 03 | Dmitri Shostakovich's 6th Symphony, premieres. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 06 | Cole Porter's musical "Du Barry was a Lady" premieres in NY NY. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 11 | Marlene Dietrich recorded Falling In Love Again -- on the Decca label. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 26 | W.C. Handy of Memphis, TN one of the legendary blues composers of all time, recorded the classic St. Louis Blues. W.C. and his band recorded in New York for Varsity Records. Handy was one of the first to use the flat third and seventh notes in his compositions, known in the music world as `blue' notes. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 27 | The Glenn Miller Show, also known as Music that Satisfies, started on CBS radio. The 15-minute, twice-a-week show was sponsored by Chesterfield cigarettes and was heard for nearly three years. | Ref: 4 |
- 1940
| Jan 03 | The Southland Shuffle was recorded on Bluebird Records by Charlie Barnet and his orchestra. A young trumpet player named Billy May was featured. | Ref: 4 |
| Jan 07 | The gate to Gene Autry’s Melody Ranch opened. The ‘singing cowboy’ would entertain on CBS radio for the next 16 years. | Ref: 4 |
| Jan 08 | Vincent Lopez and his orchestra recorded the third version of Lopez’ theme song titled Nola. This version, recorded in Hollywood on Bluebird Records, is recognized as his best rendition of the classic song. | Ref: 4 |
| Jan 11 | Sergei Prokofiev's ballet Romeo & Juliet premieres in Leningrad. | Ref: 5 |
| Jan 25 | Mary Martin recorded My Heart Belongs to Daddy -- for Decca Records. The song was her signature song until she starred in South Pacific in 1949. Then, Larry Hagman’s mother had a new trademark: “I’m gonna wash that man right out of my hair...” | Ref: 4 |
| Feb 01 | Frank Sinatra sang Too Romantic and The Sky Fell Down in his first recording session with the Tommy Dorsey Band. The session was in Chicago, IL. Frankie replaced Jack Leonard as lead singer with the band. | Ref: 4 |
| Feb 05 | One of the great classic songs of the Big Band era was recorded. Glenn Miller and his band played Tuxedo Junction at the RCA Victor studios in Manhattan. The flip side of the record (released on the Bluebird label) was Danny Boy. | Ref: 4 |
| Feb 10 | "In The Mood" by Glenn Miller hits #1. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 11 | NBC radio presented The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street for the first time. The famous Blue network series included several distinguished alumni -- among them, Dinah Shore and Zero Mostel. The chairman, or host, of The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street was Milton Cross. He would say things like, “A Bostonian looks like he’s smelling something. A New Yorker looks like he’s found it.” The show combined satire, blues and jazz and was built around what were called the three Bs of music: Barrelhouse, Boogie Woogie and Blues. | Ref: 4 |
| Feb 13 | Earl ‘Fatha’ Hines and his orchestra recorded the classic Boogie Woogie on St. Louis Blues. The tune was waxed on the famous Bluebird record label. | Ref: 4 |
| Feb 20 | Larry Clinton and his orchestra recorded Limehouse Blues on Victor Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Mar 03 | Artie Shaw records "Frenesi" on RCA Victor label. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 19 | Glen Gray and his orchestra recorded No Name Jive on Decca Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Apr 09 | Jimmy Dorsey and his orchestra, along with singer Helen O’Connell, recorded Six Lessons from Madame La Zonga for Decca Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Apr 16 | Heitor Villa-Lobos' opera "Izaht", premieres in Rio de Janeiro. | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 28 | Pennsylvania 6-5000, the classic Glenn Miller signature song, was recorded on Bluebird Records. Looking at the original label on the old 78-RPM disk, we find record number 10754, in fact. | Ref: 4 |
| Apr 30 | Jimmy Dorsey and his band recorded the bandleader’s signature song, Contrasts, for Decca Records. The song went on to become one of the most familiar big band themes of the era. | Ref: 4 |
| May 10 | Jimmy Dorsey and his orchestra recorded the classic, Perfidia, for Decca Records. The song would later be a hit for The Ventures (1960). | Ref: 4 |
| May 21 | Will Bradley and his orchestra recorded one of the best of the Big Band era. Ray McKinley played drums and did the vocal for the boogie-woogie tune, Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar. The song, on Columbia Records, was so long it took up both sides of the 78 rpm platter. | Ref: 4 |
| May 23 | Frank Sinatra, The Pied Pipers (with Jo Stafford) and the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra recorded the sentimental classic, I’ll Never Smile Again, for Victor Records. The tune remains one of Sinatra’s best-remembered performances. | Ref: 4 |
| Jun 11 | The Ink Spots recorded Maybe on Decca Records. By September, 1940, the song had climbed to the number two position on the nation’s pop music charts. | Ref: 4 |
| Jul 20 | Singles record charts first published by Billboard-Tommy Dorsey #1. | Ref: 5 |
| Aug 12 | Will Bradley and his trio record "Down the Road Apiece" on Columbia Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Aug 16 | Marching Along Together, by Frankie Masters and his orchestra, was recorded for Okeh Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Sep 03 | Artie Shaw and the Gramercy Five recorded Summit Ridge Drive for Victor Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Sep 07 | Artie Shaw and his orchestra recorded Temptation on the Victor label. | Ref: 4 |
| Sep 12 | Johnny Long’s orchestra recorded the classic A Shanty in Old Shanty Town for Decca Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Sep 24 | Flinging a Wing-Ding was recorded by Bob Chester. | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 07 | Artie Shaw and his Orchestra recorded Hoagy Carmichael's "Stardust" for RCA Victor. | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 10 | Moonlight and Roses, by Lanny Ross, was recorded on the Victor label. | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 11 | Glenn Miller recorded Make Believe Ballroom Time for Bluebird Records -- at the Victor studios in New York City. It would become the theme song for Make Believe Ballroom on WNEW, New York, with host Martin Block. Block created the aura of doing a ‘live’ radio program, complete with performers (on records) like Harry James or Frank Sinatra, from the ‘Crystal Studios’ at WNEW. His daily program was known to everyone who grew up in the NYC/NJ/Philadelphia area in the 1940s and 1950s. Miller had been so taken with the show’s concept that he actually paid for the Make Believe Ballroom Time recording session himself and hired the Modernaires to join in. | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 17 | One year before recording that memorable song, Fry Me Cookie, with a Can of Lard, Will Bradley’s orchestra recorded Five O’Clock Whistle, also on Columbia Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 25 | Cabin in the Sky opened for the first of 156 shows. Taking a Chance on Love is the one big hit that came from the musical. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 06 | Guy Lombardo and the Royal Canadians recorded one of their lesser-known songs for Decca. The Moon Fell in the River is no Stars Fell on Alabama, and it sure isn’t Auld Lang Syne, we’ll tell ya. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 26 | Xavier Cugat and his orchestra recorded Orchids in the Moonlight on the Columbia label. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 01 | Glenn Miller got a call from ASCAP (American Society of Composers and Publishers). He was informed that he couldn’t use his Moonlight Serenade as his band’s theme song. He had to use "Slumber Song" instead because of an ASCAP ban. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 13 | The two-sided jump tune, The Anvil Chorus, was recorded by Glenn Miller and his orchestra for Bluebird Records in New York. The 10-inch, 78 rpm record ran six minutes (including flipping). | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 16 | Bob Crosby and his Bobcats backed up brother Bing as New San Antonio Rose was recorded on Decca Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 31 | As a result of a dispute between the radio networks and ASCAP (the American Society of Composers and Publishers), the radio industry was prevented from playing any ASCAP-licensed music. The ban lasted for ten months. An ASCAP competitor, BMI (Broadcast Music Incorporated) made giant strides, expanding to include 36,000 copyrights. Many radio stations had to resort to playing public domain songs, such as marches and operas, to keep their stations on the air. Even kids songs were played over and over again until the ban was lifted. One of the most popular songs to be played was Happy Birthday to You; which was performed in many different languages just to get past the ban. The original song is now, in fact, a copyrighted piece of music, though it wasn’t at the time. | Ref: 4 |
- 1941
| Jan 02 | The Andrews Sisters recorded Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy on Decca Records. LaVerne, Maxene and Patti Andrews recorded in Los Angeles and the song was heard in the movie, Buck Privates, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. | Ref: 4 |
| Jan 03 | Sergei Rachmaninov's "Symphonic Dances" premieres in Philadelphia. | Ref: 5 |
| Jan 04 | Sergey Rachmaninov's "Symphonie Dances" premieres in Philadelphia. | Ref: 5 |
| Jan 05 | Decca record #23210 was recorded. The title: Chica Chica Boom Chic, by the lovely Carmen Miranda. It seems she sang the song in the film, That Night in Rio. | Ref: 4 |
| Jan 07 | Good-for-Nothin’-Joe was recorded by the sultry Lena Horne. She sang the classic song with Charlie Barnet and his orchestra on Bluebird Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Jan 09 | Sammy Kaye and his orchestra recorded Until Tomorrow on Victor Records. This song became the sign-off melody for Kaye and other big bands. | Ref: 4 |
| Jan 13 | The four Modernaires joined to sing with the Glenn Miller Band on a permanent basis beginning this day. They had a ‘solo’ hit in 1946 with To Each His Own. | Ref: 4 |
| Jan 20 | Béla Bartók's 6th string quartet, premieres in New York City NY. | Ref: 5 |
| Jan 23 | Artie Shaw and his orchestra recorded Moonglow on Victor Records. In the band were such sidemen as Johnny Guarnieri, Jack Jenney, Billy Butterfield and Ray Conniff (on trombone). | Ref: 4 |
| Feb 01 | Downbeat magazine reported this day that Glenn Miller had inked a new three-year contract with RCA Victor Records. The pact guaranteed Miller $750 a side, the fattest record contract signed to that time. | Ref: 4 |
| Feb 03 | Jimmy Dorsey and his orchestra recorded the classic, Amapola, on Decca Records. Helen O’Connell and Bob Eberly joined in a vocal duet on this very famous and popular song of the Big Band era. | Ref: 4 |
| Feb 07 | Frank Sinatra & Tommy Dorsey Orchestra record "Everything Happens to Me". | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 11 | 1st Gold record presented (Glenn Miller-Chattanooga Choo Choo). | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 15 | Duke Ellington and his orchestra recorded one of big band’s all time classics on this day. Take the "A" Train was recorded at Victor’s Hollywood studio and became the Duke’s signature song. | Ref: 4 |
| Feb 22 | Paul Creston's first Symphony, premieres. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 22 | Roy Harris' "Ballad of a Railroad Man" premieres. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 01 | Downbeat magazine scooped the entertainment world with news that Glenn Miller’s renewed contract with Chesterfield Cigarettes was worth $4,850 a week (for three 15-minute programs). | Ref: 4 |
| Mar 02 | Photoplay magazine urged readers to forget the fox trot and learn the lindy hop. A diagram of the new dance step was featured. | Ref: 4 |
| Mar 06 | Les Hite and his orchestra recorded The World is Waiting for the Sunrise on Bluebird Records. The instrumental became Hite’s most popular work. A decade later, Les Paul and Mary Ford added a vocal to the tune, making it one of their biggest-selling hit songs. | Ref: 4 |
| Mar 08 | Horace Heidt and his orchestra recorded G’bye Now for the nice folks at Columbia Records. The vocal on the piece was done by Ronnie Kemper. | Ref: 4 |
| Mar 14 | Years before Desi Arnaz would make the song Babalu popular on the I Love Lucy TV show, Xavier Cugat and his orchestra recorded it with Miguelito Valdes doing the vocal. The song was on Columbia Records, as was the Arnaz version years later. | Ref: 4 |
| Mar 19 | Jimmy Dorsey & his Orchestraestra record "Green Eyes" & "Maria Elena". | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 21 | Singer Paula Kelly joined Glenn Miller's band. Her husband, also a part of the Miller organization, was one of the four singing Modernaires. | Ref: 4 |
| Mar 22 | Glenn Miller began work on his first motion picture for 20th Century Fox. The film was Sun Valley Serenade. | Ref: 4 |
| Mar 26 | Jimmie Lunceford and his orchestra recorded the tune, Battle Axe, for Decca Records. Lunceford began with the Chickasaw Syncopaters, a 10-piece band, in the late 1920s. By 1934, he would add names like Sy Oliver, Willie Smith, Earl Caruthers, Joe Thomas, Al Norris, Moses Allen, and James Crawford to form orchestras that would entertain through the mid-1940s. | Ref: 4 |
| Apr 03 | Waltons overture "Scapino", premieres in Chicago. | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 14 | Hildegarde recorded the standard Darling Je Vous Aime Beaucoup on Decca Records. Hildegarde was the elegant singer with the long white gloves who was accompanied by the Harry Sosnik Orchestra. It took another 14 years, but Nat ‘King’ Cole turned the song into an even bigger hit, landing at number 7 on the pop music charts. | Ref: 4 |
| May 07 | Glenn Miller and His Orchestra recorded "Chattanooga Choo Choo" for RCA Victor. | Ref: 5 |
| May 08 | Anita O’Day recorded Let Me Off Uptown on Okeh Records with Gene Krupa and his band. | Ref: 4 |
| May 13 | Willy Lewis' US jazz band performs in Switzerland. | Ref: 5 |
| May 16 | First US/radio performance of Bennett's "Symphony in D for the Dodgers". | Ref: 5 |
| May 19 | The Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra backed the popular singing duo of Bob Eberly and Helen O’Connell as Decca record number 3859 turned out to be Time Was -- a classic. | Ref: 4 |
| May 20 | Harry James and his orchestra recorded the classic You Made Me Love You for Columbia Records. | Ref: 4 |
| May 28 | Frank Sinatra joined Tommy Dorsey’s orchestra in recording This Love of Mine for Victor Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Jun 05 | Roy Eldridge was featured on trumpet and vocal as drummer Gene Krupa and his band recorded After You’ve Gone for Okeh Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Jun 21 | Wayne King and his orchestra recorded Time Was, with Buddy Clark providing the vocal accompaniment, for Victor Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Jun 23 | Lena Horne recorded St. Louis Blues for Victor Records and launched an illustrious singing career in the process. She was 23 years old at the time. Horne continued performing well into her 60s. | Ref: 4 |
| Jul 03 | Cab Calloway and his orchestra recorded the standard, St. James Infirmary, for Okeh Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Jul 23 | Sonny Dunham and his orchestra recorded the tune that was to become Mr. Dunham’s theme song. Memories of You was Bluebird record #11239. | Ref: 4 |
| Aug 11 | Glenn Miller and his Orchestra recorded Elmer’s Tune on Bluebird Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Aug 15 | "Au Revoir, Pleasant Dreams" was recorded by Ben Bernie and his orchestra. | Ref: 4 |
| Aug 25 | Skinnay Ennis and his orchestra recorded the tune Don’t Let Julia Fool Ya. | Ref: 4 |
| Sep 08 | Harry James and his orchestra recorded Miserlou for Columbia Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Sep 30 | The Larry Clinton Orchestra recorded their version of That Solid Old Man, on Bluebird Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 06 | Claude Thornhill and his orchestra recorded Autumn Nocturne on Columbia Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 08 | The Benny Goodman Orchestra recorded Buckle Down Winsocki, with Tom Dix as featured vocalist, on the Columbia label. | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 16 | Fry Me Cookie, with a Can of Lard was recorded by the Will Bradley Orchestra on Columbia. Ray McKinley was featured. | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 23 | Clarinet a la King was recorded by Benny Goodman and his orchestra -- on Okeh Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 27 | Everything I Love, by Buddy Clark, was recorded this day -- on the Okeh label (number 6469). | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 30 | The song that would become the theme of bandleader Tony Pastor was recorded. It was Blossoms on the Bluebird label. If you don’t remember Blossoms, maybe you remember this one by Pastor: Dance with a Dolly (With a Hole in Her Stocking). | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 03 | The classic Jerry Gray arrangement of "String of Pearls" was recorded by the Glenn Miller Orchestra - on Bluebird 78s. The recording featured the trumpet of Bobby Hackett. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 12 | Hot Lips Page performed the vocal for Artie Shaw's very long and very slow version of St. James Infirmary on RCA Victor. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 08 | Ray Eberle and The Modernaires teamed with the Glenn Miller Orchestra to record Moonlight Cocktail on Bluebird Records. By April 1942, the song was a solid hit. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 15 | A musical standard was recorded this day on Victor Records. Lena Horne sang the torch classic that became her signature: Stormy Weather. “Don’t know why there’s no sun up in the sky. Stormy weather...” | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 21 | David Diamond's first Symphony, premieres. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 22 | Jimmie Lunceford and his orchestra recorded Blues in the Night on Decca. The song became one of Lunceford’s biggest hits. Between 1934 and 1946 Jimmy Lunceford had more hits (22) than any other black jazz band (except Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway). | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 27 | Siberia: Dmitri Shostakovich completes his 7th Symphony. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 28 | Siberia: Dmitri Shostakovich completes his 7th Symphony. | Ref: 5 |
- 1942
| Jan 15 | Kenny Sargent, “one of the handsomest singers ever to grace a bandstand,” vocalized with the Glen Gray Orchestra on Decca Records’ It’s the Talk of the Town. | Ref: 4 |
| Jan 16 | Kay Kyser and the band recorded A Zoot Suit (For My Sunday Gal) for Columbia Records. The tune is about the problems associated with wearing the garish, exaggerated ‘hep’ fashion. | Ref: 4 |
| Jan 20 | Harry Babbitt sang as Kay Kyser and his orchestra recorded, Who Wouldn’t Love You, on Columbia Records. The record went on to be a big hit for Kyser. | Ref: 4 |
| Jan 21 | Count Basie and His Orchestra recorded "One O'Clock Jump" in New York City for Okeh Records. | Ref: 70 |
| Feb 10 | First "Gold" Record awarded to Glenn Miller by RCA Victor for his ‘Chattanooga Choo Choo'. (XDG, p 4A, 2/10/2004) | Ref: 83 |
| Feb 10 | Ted Fio Rito’s orchestra recorded Rio Rita for Decca Records in Los Angeles. Bob Carroll sang on the disc that became the group’s theme song. Ole! | Ref: 4 |
| Feb 12 | Mildred Bailey recorded More Than You Know on Decca Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Feb 16 | Shep Fields and his orchestra recorded Jersey Bounce on Bluebird Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Feb 18 | The Mills Brothers waxed one of their three greatest hits. Paper Doll became Decca record #18318. In addition to Paper Doll, the other two classics by the Mills Brothers are: You Always Hurt The One You Love (1944) and Glow Worm (1952). | Ref: 4 |
| Feb 19 | If there was ever such a thing as a jam session, surely, this one was it: Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra recorded "I’ll Take Tallulah" (Victor Records). Some other musical heavyweights were in the studio too, including Frank Sinatra, Jo Stafford and the Pied Pipers, Ziggy Elman and drummer extraordinaire, Buddy Rich. | Ref: 4 |
| Mar 04 | Dick Jurgen’s orchestra recorded One Dozen Roses on Okeh Records in Chicago. | Ref: 4 |
| Mar 05 | Dmitri Shostakovich's 7th Symphony, premieres in Siberia. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 09 | Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra recorded Well, Git It! for Victor Records. Ziggy Elman was featured on the session which was recorded in Hollywood. Sy Oliver arranged the Dorsey classic. | Ref: 4 |
| Mar 11 | Vaughn Monroe and his orchestra recorded the classic, Sleepy Lagoon. It was the last song Monroe would record for Bluebird Records. Vaughn sang on the track while Ray Conniff played trombone. Both later moved to different record companies. Monroe went with RCA and Conniff to Columbia. The big-voiced baritone of Monroe was regularly heard on radio and he was featured in several movies in the 1950s. He died in May, 1973. Racing With the Moon and Ghost Riders in the Sky were two of his greatest contributions to popular music. | Ref: 4 |
| Mar 13 | Bing Crosby and Mary Martin were heard having a bit of fun as they joined together to record Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie for Decca Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Mar 16 | Fats Waller recorded The Jitterbug Waltz in New York for Bluebird Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Apr 02 | Glenn Miller and his orchestra recorded American Patrol for Victor Records. The jitterbug tune became one of Miller’s most requested hits. | Ref: 4 |
| May 14 | Aaron Copland's "Lincoln Portrait" was first performed by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. | Ref: 70 |
| May 29 | The biggest selling record of all time was recorded. A little out of season, perhaps, but White Christmas, the Irving Berlin classic, was recorded by Bing Crosby for Decca Records. The song was written for the film Holiday Inn. More than 30-million copies of Crosby’s most famous hit song have been sold and a total of nearly 70-million copies, including all versions of the standard, have been sold. | Ref: 4 |
| May 29 | The movie "Yankee Doodle Dandy" starring James Cagney, premiers at a war bonds benefit in New York. (XDG, p 4A, 5/29/2002) | Ref: 83 |
| Jun 04 | Capitol Record Co opens for business. | Ref: 5 |
| Jun 04 | Glenn Wallichs did what was called ‘promotion’ for Capitol Records in Hollywood. He came up with the idea that he could send copies of Capitol’s new records to influential radio announcers all around the US and, maybe, add to the chances that stations would play the records. The practice would soon become common among most record labels. | Ref: 4 |
| Jun 05 | Sammy Kaye and his orchestra recorded the classic "I Left My Heart at the Stage Door Canteen" for Victor Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Jun 12 | Paul Whiteman and his orchestra recorded Travelin’ Light on Capitol Records of Hollywood, California. On the track with Whiteman’s orchestra was the vocal talent of ‘Lady Day’, Billie Holiday. | Ref: 4 |
| Jul 02 | Jo Stafford joined Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra for Manhattan Serenade, which was recorded for Victor Records. The recording session, you may have guessed, took place in Manhattan. | Ref: 4 |
| Jul 04 | The Irving Berlin musical, This is the Army, opened at New York’s Broadway Theatre. Net profits of the show were $780,000. | Ref: 4 |
| Jul 14 | Helen O’Connell and Bob Eberly sang their last duet together as they recorded the famous Brazil with the Jimmy Dorsey band. | Ref: 4 |
| Jul 15 | Glenn Miller and his band recorded the classic Jukebox Saturday Night for Victor Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Jul 19 | The Seventh Symphony, by Shastakovich, was performed for the first time in the United States by Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony Orchestra. | Ref: 4 |
| Jul 25 | Capitol Records first number one hit made it to the top this day. It was one of their first six records released on July 1. The new company’s hit was Cow Cow Boogie, by Ella Mae Morse and Freddy Slack. | Ref: 4 |
| Jul 26 | Judy Garland joined Gene Kelly to record For Me and My Gal for Decca Records. The song is featured in the movie of the same name. | Ref: 4 |
| Jul 27 | Peggy Lee recorded her first hit record -- in New York City. With the backing of the Benny Goodman band, Miss Lee sang Why Don’t You Do Right for Columbia Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Jul 30 | Frank Sinatra recorded the last of 90 recordings with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra on Victor Records. His last side was There are Such Things, which became number one in January of 1943. Sinatra moved on to Columbia Records (1943-1952) as a solo singing sensation. | Ref: 4 |
| Jul 31 | Harry James and his band recorded the classic I’ve Heard that Song Before, for Columbia Records. Helen Forrest sang on the million-seller. | Ref: 4 |
| Aug 01 | Jimmy Dorsey and his orchestra recorded Charleston Alley, on Decca Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Sep 03 | Frank Sinatra bid adieu to the Tommy Dorsey Band as he started his solo singing career. | Ref: 4 |
| Sep 24 | Glenn Miller ended his CBS radio broadcasts for Chesterfield Cigarettes. It was time for Miller to go to war. The show had aired three times a week for three years. | Ref: 4 |
| Sep 27 | Just after leaving CBS radio, Glenn Miller led his civilian band for the last time at the Central Theatre in beautiful Passaic, NJ. Miller had volunteered for wartime duty. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 09 | The Aram Khachaturian ballet "Gayane," featuring the surging "Saber Dance," was first performed by the Kirov Ballet. (XDG, p 4A, 12/09/2003) | Ref: 83 |
| Dec 30 | Frank Sinatra opened at New York’s Paramount Theatre for what was scheduled to be a 4-week engagement (his shows turned out to be so popular that he was booked for an additional 4 weeks). An estimated 400 policemen were called out to help curb the excitement. It is said that some of the teenage girls were hired to scream, but many more screamed for free. Sinatra was dubbed ‘The Sultan of Swoon’, ‘The Voice that Thrills Millions’, and just ‘The Voice’. Whatever he was, it was at this Paramount Theatre engagement that modern pop hysteria was born. | Ref: 4 |
- 1943
| Jan 23 | Duke Ellington and the band played for a black-tie crowd at Carnegie Hall in New York City. It was the first of what was to become an annual series of concerts featuring the the Duke. | Ref: 4 |
| May 29 | "The Million Dollar Band" was heard for the first time on NBC radio. Charlie Spivak was the first leader of the band that featured Barry Wood as vocalist. The unusual feature of the show was the awarding each week of five diamond rings! | Ref: 4 |
| Jul 04 | The Rhythm Boys, Bing Crosby, Al Rinker and Harry Barris, were reunited for the first time since the 1930s on Paul Whiteman Presents on NBC radio. | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 25 | Benny Carter and his orchestra recorded Poinciana on the Capitol label. The real title, incidentally, is Poinciana (Song of the Tree). | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 13 | Leonard Bernstein replaced an indisposed Bruno Walter as conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 14 | Leonard Bernstein replaced an indisposed Bruno Walter as conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Thus began a legendary career and worldwide appreciation for Bernstein?s many compositions with the orchestra. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 19 | Stan Kenton and his orchestra recorded Artistry in Rhythm, the song that later become the Kenton theme. It was Capitol record number 159. The other side of the disk was titled, Eager Beaver. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 30 | Nat ‘King’ Cole and his trio recorded Straighten Up and Fly Right on Capitol Records. It was the first recording for the King Cole trio. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 03 | Howard Hanson's 4th Symphony, premieres. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 27 | The film "The Song of Bernadette" was released by 20th Century Fox. It told the true story of 14 year_old French Catholic peasant girl Bernadette Soubirous, who experienced 18 visions of the Virgin Mary at Lourdes, France in 1858. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 29 | San Fernando Valley was recorded by Bing Crosby. He chose the tune because he felt it would be a ba-ba-ba-big hit. Guess what? He was right. Within a week after its release, the song became a popular favorite everywhere, including the San Fernando Valley in California. | Ref: 4 |
- 1944
| Jan 18 | The first jazz concert was held at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. The stars of the concert were Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Artie Shaw, Roy Eldridge and Jack Teagarden. | Ref: 4 |
| Feb 07 | Bing Crosby records "Swinging on a Star" for Decca Records. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 03 | First performance of corporal Samuel Barber's 2nd Symphony. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 05 | First performance of Walter Piston's 2nd Symphony. | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 02 | Dmitri Shostakovitch's 8th Symphony, premieres in New York. | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 18 | Leonard Bernstein & Jerome Robbins' ballet "Fancy Free" premieres in NYC. | Ref: 5 |
| Jul 25 | Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters recorded Cole Porter's "Don't Fence Me In" in Los Angeles for Decca Records. | Ref: 6 |
| Oct 12 | Who could forget the picture of a huge crowd of swooning bobbysoxers stopping traffic in NY’s Times Square as Frank Sinatra made his triumphant return to the famed Paramount Theatre (he had played there for eight weeks starting on December 30, 1942). In what was called the ‘Columbus Day Riot’, 25,000 teenagers, mostly young women, blocked the streets, screaming and swooning for Frankie. Sinatra later explained, “It was the war years, and there was a great loneliness. And I was the boy in every corner drug store ... who’d gone off, drafted to the war. That was all.” | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 30 | The Martha Graham ballet "Appalachian Spring," with music by Aaron Copland, premiered at the Library of Congress, with Graham in a leading role. | Ref: 70 |
| Nov 11 | Frank Sinatra began a long and successful career with Columbia Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 14 | An outstanding array of musicians gathered in Hollywood to record a classic. Tommy Dorsey and orchestra made Opus No. 1, Victor record number 20-1608. Buddy Rich was the drummer in the session, Al Klink and Buddy DeFranco blew sax and Nelson Riddle played trombone on the Sy Oliver arrangement. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 21 | The Roy Rogers Show was first heard on the Mutual Broadcasting System. Singing along with Roy (‘The King of the Cowboys’), were the Whippoorwills and The Sons of the Pioneers. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 21 | I'm Beginning to See the Light, the song that would become the theme song for Harry James and his orchestra, was recorded this day. The song featured the lovely voice of Kitty Kallen (Little Things Mean a Lot). | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 28 | The MGM movie musical "Meet Me in St. Louis," starring Judy Garland, opened in NY. (XDG, p 4A, 11/28/2002) | Ref: 83 |
| Dec 01 | Béla Bartòk's Concerto for orchestra, premieres. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 01 | Prokofjev's 8th Piano sonata, premieres. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 03 | Frank Sinatra was in the Columbia Records studio recording Old Man River. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 06 | Red Bank Boogie, Count Basie’s salute to his hometown, was recorded on Columbia Records. The tune is a tribute to Red Bank, New Jersey. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 22 | Major Glenn Miller disappears crossing the English Channel. | Ref: 62 |
- 1945
| Jan 10 | Erskine Hawkins waxed a classic for Victor Records. The tune, with the Erskine Hawkins Orchestra, was titled Tippin’ In. | Ref: 4 |
| Jan 13 | Prokofchev's 5th Symphony premieres in Moscow. | Ref: 5 |
| Jan 25 | Richard Tucker debuted at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City in the production of La Gioconda. | Ref: 4 |
| Feb 10 | "Rum & Coca Cola" by Andrews Sisters hits #1. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 15 | Billboard publishes its 1st album chart (King Cole Trio is #1). | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 27 | Ella Fitzgerald & Delta Rhythm Boys record "It's Only a Paper Moon" | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 10 | William Schuman & Antony Tudors ballet "Undertow" premieres in NYC. | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 12 | Richard Strauss completes his "Metamorphosis". | Ref: 5 |
| May 04 | June Christy sang with the Stan Kenton band on one of the most famous of all big band hits, Tampico. The tune was waxed as Capitol record number 202. | Ref: 4 |
| Jul 03 | Victor Borge was first heard on NBC radio. The network gave the comedian/pianist the summer replacement slot for Fibber McGee and Molly. | Ref: 4 |
| Sep 11 | Ernest Tubb recorded It Just Doesn’t Matter Now and Love Turns to Hate on the Decca label. Tubb became the second recording artist to have made a commercial record in Nashville, TN. | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 03 | Stan Kenton and his orchestra recorded Painted Rhythm for Capitol Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 25 | A spoof of the Gilbert and Sullivan classic, H.M.S. Pinafore, was broadcast on radio on The Fred Allen Show. The spoof was titled, The Brooklyn Pinafore. Joining actress Shirley Booth in the skit was baseball great Leo ‘The Lip’ Durocher. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 01 | Burl Ives made his concert debut. He appeared at NY’s Town Hall. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 29 | Sheb Wooley recorded the first commercial record made in Nashville, TN. The song was recorded on the Bullet label; but it was 13 years before Wooley would finally score with a big hit (The Purple People Eater was #1 for six weeks in June and July, 1958). Wooley (whose first name is Shelby) played the part of Pete Nolan on TV's Rawhide, recorded novelty tunes under the name, Ben Colder, and acted in High Noon, Rocky Mountain, Giant and Hoosiers. The Country Music Association honored him with the title of Comedian of the Year in 1968. If you remember the TV show Hee Haw, with Buck Owens and Roy Clark, it was Sheb Wooley who wrote the theme song. | Ref: 4 |
- 1946
| Feb 08 | Béla Bartòks 3rd Concert for piano/orchestra premieres in Philadelphia PA. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 25 | First performance of Igor Stravinsky's "Ebony Concerto". | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 05 | First performance of Charles Ives' 3rd Symphony. | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 25 | The popular Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra records Cement Mixer for Majestic records. | Ref: 4 |
| May 26 | Darius Milhauds 3rd Concert for piano/orchestra premieres in Prague. | Ref: 5 |
| Aug 29 | Ella Fitzgerald and The Delta Rhythm Boys recorded It’s a Pity to Say Goodnight on Decca Records. The song turned out to be one of Lady Ella’s most popular. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 11 | Hank Williams begins to record on Sterling label. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 20 | Darius Milhaud's 2nd Symphony, premieres. | Ref: 5 |
- 1947
| Jan 21 | Arthur Honegger's 4th Symphony premieres in Basel. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 18 | Gian Carlo Menotti's opera "Telephone" premieres in New York NY. | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 26 | "Bless the Bride" musical opens in London. | Ref: 5 |
| Sep 18 | Country singers Ernest Tubb and Roy Acuff perform at Carnegie Hall in New York City. It was the first country show for the NYC venue. | Ref: 4 |
| Sep 29 | Dizzy Gillespie presented his first Carnegie Hall concert in NY, adding a sophisticated jazz touch to the famous concert emporium. Diz would become one of the jazz greats of all time. His trademark: Two cheeks pushed out until it looked like his face would explode. But, as the hepcats said, “Man, that guy can blow!” | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 05 | A small Northern California company got a major boost from Bing Crosby. The first show recorded on tape was broadcast on ABC radio. ‘Der Bingle’ was so popular, that his taped show promoted wide distribution of the new magnetic tape recorders that would become broadcast classics -- the venerable Ampex 200. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 01 | Eddy Arnold began a 21-week run at #1 on U.S. country music charts with I’ll Hold You in My Heart (Till I Can Hold You in My Arms). It was the biggest hit of Arnold’s illustrious career. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 07 | Billboard magazine began listing the top 15 popular records. Only 10 songs had been featured previously. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 29 | Louis Armstrong and his sextet lit up Carnegie Hall in New York City with a night of jazz -- and more. | Ref: 4 |
- 1948
| May 24 | Benjamin Brittens "Beggar's Opera" premieres in Cambridge. | Ref: 5 |
| Sep 20 | One of the most popular singing groups of the 1950s got their professional start on this day. The Four Freshmen did their first gig in Fort Wayne, IN and went on to major success with Capitol Records. Hits included It’s a Blue World, Charmaine and Love is Just Around the Corner. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 29 | The first opera to be televised was broadcast from the Metropolitan Opera House in NY City. Othello, by Verdi, was presented over WJZ-TV in NY. | Ref: 4 |
- 1949
| Jan 10 | RCA introduces the 45 RPM record. | Ref: 5 |
| Jun 07 | Due to an impending lawsuit that stemmed from Milton Berle’s TV show, comedienne Cathy Mastice held the first musical press conference. She sang her way into announcing the court action. Due to the publicity she received, Ms. Mastice became an overnight success. | Ref: 4 |
| Jun 11 | Hank Williams sang a show-stopper on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. He sang the classic Lovesick Blues, one of his most beloved songs. | Ref: 4 |
| Aug 18 | Ralph Flanagan and his orchestra recorded their first tune on wax, You’re Breaking My Heart. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 25 | Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer appeared on the music charts and became THE musical hit of the Christmas season. Although Gene Autry’s rendition is the most popular, 80 different versions of the song have been recorded, with nearly 20,000,000 copies sold. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 10 | Fats Domino recorded his first sides for Imperial Records. The legend from New Orleans recorded The Fat Man, one of the earliest rock and roll records. The title also turned into Domino’s nickname and stayed with him through his years of success. For those with a burning desire to know, Fats’ real name is Antoine. The Fat Man, incidentally, is thought to have been a million-seller, but that can’t be verified. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 20 | Harry Belafonte had his second session with Capitol Records. Included in the session were Whispering and Farewell to Arms. With eight tunes then recorded and little enthusiasm from record buyers, Capitol decided to part company with Belafonte by not renewing the singer’s contract. He went to RCA Victor in April, 1952 and the rest is musical history. Day-O! | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 20 | Maurice Ravel/John Cranko's ballet "Beauty & the Beast" premieres. | Ref: 5 |
- 1950
| Jan 04 | RCA Victor announced that it would manufacture long-playing (LP) records. This news came two years after Columbia Records debuted the ‘album’. | Ref: 4 |
| Jan 07 | Ernest Tubb and Hank Snow make their first appearances at The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, TN. | Ref: 4 |
| Feb 03 | Ed, Gene, Joe and Vic, The Ames Brothers, reached the #1 spot on the pop music charts for the first time, as Rag Mop became the most favorite song in the U.S. The brothers enjoyed many successes with their recording efforts: You You You [1953], The Man with the Banjo and The Naughty Lady of Shady Lane [1954], Tammy and Melody d’Amour [1957]. Ed Ames had been with the Russ Morgan Band and, after the brothers split in the late 1950s, went on to enjoy a lucrative television and recording career. He recorded My Cup Runneth Over and Who Will Answer, both hits in the 1960s. He also played Mingo on the Daniel Boone TV series. Ed is fondly remembered for one of the funniest moments of The Tonight Show on NBC when he competed with host Johnny Carson in a hand axe-tossing contest. Mingo won, with hilarious results that are still shown in every celebration of The Tonight Show. | Ref: 4 |
| Feb 11 | "Rag Mop" by The Ames Brothers hit #1. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 26 | Leonard Bernstein's "Age of Anxiety" premieres in New York NY. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 27 | Jazz pianist Erroll Garner became one of the first jazz instrumentalists to give a solo concert. He played the Music Hall in Cleveland, OH. In 1954, Garner would gain international applause for writing and recording a standard that has been presented many times since: Misty. Johnny Mathis and Sarah Vaughan are but two of many recording artists to offer vocal renditions of this renowned Garner composition. Play Misty for me. | Ref: 4 |
| May 12 | Darius Milhauds opera "Bolivar" premieres in Paris France. | Ref: 5 |
| May 22 | Richard Strauss' "4 Last Songs" (4 letzte Lieder) premieres in London. | Ref: 5 |
| Jul 10 | "Your Hit Parade" premiers on NBC (later CBS) TV | Ref: 5 |
| Nov 17 | Roberta Peters filled in for the lead in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, making her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in NY City. She would become one of the Met’s most famous stars. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 11 | Hindemiths Concerto for clarinet, premieres. | Ref: 5 |
- 1951
| Feb 10 | "John & Marsha" by Stan Freberg peaks at #21. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 27 | Frank Sinatra recorded "I'm a Fool to Want You" | Ref: 5 |
| May 10 | Frank Sinatra teamed with Axel Stordahl’s orchestra and Mitch Miller on Columbia Records. He sang with Dagmar, It’s a Long Way (From Your House to My House), and the equally forgettable, Mama Will Bark. Yes, friends, Mama Will Bark, by Frank Sinatra with vocal impressions of a dog by Donald Bain! This sure wasn’t a session like the ones that produced In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning, That’s Life, My Way or hundreds of other great tunes from Ol’ Blue Eyes. | Ref: 4 |
| Jun 09 | Joseph Haydn's opera "Orfeo et Euridice" premiers in Florence Italy, 160 years after it was written. | Ref: 17 |
- 1952
| Jan 01 | Dmitri Shostakovich completes his 5th string quartet. | Ref: 5 |
| Jan 30 | Paul Creston's 4th Symphony, premieres. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 25 | The complete choreographic score of Cole Porter’s Kiss Me Kate became the first musical choreography score given a copyright. The work was the effort of Hanya Holm. | Ref: 4 |
| Mar 21 | Alan Freed presents Moondog Coronation Ball at old Cleveland Arena, 25,000 attend first rock & roll concert ever. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 27 | Sun Records of Memphis begins releasing records. | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 03 | Harry Belafonte recorded his first songs for RCA Victor at Manhattan Center in New York City. Hugo Winterhalter backed up the singer with an 18-piece orchestra. Among the sides recorded were A-Roving and Chimney Smoke. | Ref: 4 |
| Apr 10 | The move "Singing In The Rain" with Gene Kelly, is first released. (XDG, p 4A, 4/10/2002) | Ref: 83 |
| May 02 | First performance of John Cage's "Water Music". | Ref: 5 |
| Jun 03 | Frank Sinatra recorded the classic Birth of the Blues for Columbia Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Sep 17 | Frank Sinatra sang at his final session with Mitch Miller and Columbia Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 20 | Jimmy Boyd reached the #1 spot on the record charts with the Christmas song of the year, "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus". | Ref: 4 |
- 1953
| Apr 10 | Eddie Fisher was discharged from the Army and arrived home to a nice paycheck of $330,000 in record royalties. Fisher sold 7 million records for RCA Victor while on furloughs. | Ref: 4 |
| Apr 30 | Frank Sinatra and Nelson Riddle became a team this day at Capitol Records in Hollywood. Sinatra’s new musical style, under Riddle’s direction, brought the crooner to the top of the record world for the second time in his illustrious career. | Ref: 4 |
| May 07 | "Can Can" opens at Shubert Theater NYC for 892 performances. | Ref: 5 |
| May 16 | Bill Haley and His Comets made it to the Billboard music charts for the first time with Crazy Man Crazy. The tune went to number six and became the first rock 'n' roll record to make the pop music chart. | Ref: 4 |
| Sep 25 | Following in the footlights of musical greats like Ignace Paderewski and Victor Borge, a piano player named Liberace made his debut at Carnegie Hall. Liberace performed before a sellout audience. His candelabra and concert grand piano were instant trademarks that lasted throughout his career. | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 17 | The first concert of contemporary Canadian music presented in the U.S. was performed by conductor Leopold Stokowski at Carnegie Hall in NY City. | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 19 | Julius LaRosa, popular singer of the time, is unceremoniously fired on the air by Arthur Godfrey. “Julie lacks humility,” Godfrey told the stunned audience, while putting his arm around LaRosa. He said, “So, Julie, to teach you a lesson, you’re fired!” | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 03 | Premier of Dmitri Shostakovich's 5th String Quartet. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 09 | Frank Sinatra recorded Young at Heart. The song was turned down by Nat ‘King’ Cole and other artists, believe it or not. It became a top hit in the U.S. in March of 1954. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 17 | Dmitri Shostakovich's 10th Symphony, premieres in Leningrad. | Ref: 5 |
- 1954
| Jan 14 | Sandy Wilson's musical "Boyfriend" premieres in London. | Ref: 5 |
| Jan 20 | Dmitri Shostakovich's "Concertino opus 94" premieres. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 17 | Doris Day’s single, Secret Love, became the #1 tune in the U.S. The song, from the motion picture, Calamity Jane, stayed at the top of the music charts for three weeks. | Ref: 4 |
| Feb 26 | Michigan Representative Ruth Thompson (R) introduces legislation to ban mailing "obscene, lewd, lascivious or filthy" phonograph (rock & roll) records. | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 04 | Maestro Arturo Toscanini conducted his last concert with the NBC Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Toscanini ended a 17-year association with the orchestra. | Ref: 4 |
| Apr 07 | Gee, by The Crows, became the first rhythm and blues single to gain attention on pop music charts. Gee, written by William Davis, the baritone of The Crows, made it to #17 on the pop music chart and stayed for one week. This was also one of the first songs by a black group to be played on white radio stations. The Crows came together in the late 1940s in New York City, singing on street corners. Daniel ‘Sonny’ Norton (lead singer), Harold Major (tenor), Gerald Hamilton (bass) and Davis entered a talent contest at the Apollo Theatre and that was the beginning of their recording career. The group split up in the late 1950s. | Ref: 4 |
| Apr 12 | Joe Turner releases "Shake, Rattle & Roll". | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 12 | Bill Haley & the Comets record "Rock Around the Clock". | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 24 | Billboard magazine, the music industry trade publication, headlined a change to come about in the music biz. The headline read, "Teenagers Demand Music with a Beat -- Spur Rhythm and Blues" ... a sign of times to come. Within a year, R&B music by both black and white artists caught the public’s fancy. | Ref: 4 |
| Apr 30 | Darius Milhauds 4th Concert for piano/orchestra premieres in Haifa. | Ref: 5 |
| May 10 | Bolshoi-ballet does not appear in Paris France. | Ref: 5 |
| Jul 17 | The first Newport Jazz Festival was held on the grass tennis courts of the Newport Casino in Newport RI. Eddie Condon and his band played Muskrat Ramble as the opening number of the world's first jazz fest. | Ref: 4 |
| Aug 17 | The Newport Jazz Festival opened at the Newport Casino in Rhode Island. It featured jazz legends Dizzy Gillespie, Gerry Mulligan and Ella Fitzgerald. | |
| Dec 03 | William Walton's opera "Troilus & Cressida" premieres in London. | Ref: 5 |
- 1955
| Jan 05 | A tune used in a Studio One production became the #1 song on the pop music charts this day. Joan Weber’s song, Let Me Go, Lover, rode the hit parade as the most popular record in U.S. for four weeks straight. Before being aired on television, the song had only been heard on a limited basis. In fact, the title was even different. It used to be known as Let Me Go, Devil. | Ref: 4 |
| Jan 07 | The first black singer at the Metropolitan Opera was Marian Anderson (in her debut), who appeared as Ulrica in Verdi’s The Masked Ball. | Ref: 4 |
| Jan 14 | Heitor Villa-Lobos' 8th Symphony, premieres in Philadelphia. | Ref: 5 |
| Jan 31 | RCA demonstrates first music synthesizer. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 12 | McGuire Sisters' "Sincerely" single goes to #1 & stays #1 for 10 weeks. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 19 | Dot Records launched Two Hearts, Two Kisses, One Love, the first single by Pat Boone. | Ref: 4 |
| Feb 27 | Billboard announced that seven-inch, 45-rpm, singles were outselling 78-rpm singles for the first time in the U.S. | Ref: 4 |
| Mar 12 | One of the great groups of jazz appeared for the first time at Carnegie Hall in New York City. The Dave Brubeck Quartet presented a magnificent concert for jazz fans. Joining with Brubeck, in what would become one of the most popular concert draws on college campuses, were names that would become legends in their own right, including Paul Desmond on alto sax, Joe Morello on drums and Eugene Wright on bass. | Ref: 4 |
| Apr 30 | Perez Prado's "Cherry Pink & Apple Blossom White" goes #1 for 10 weeks. | Ref: 5 |
| Sep 14 | The age of rock 'n roll begins as Little Richard records ‘Tutti Frutti' in New Orleans. | Ref: 10 |
| Sep 17 | Capitol Records released Magic Melody, Part Two. The tune consists only of the last two notes of the musical phrase, “Shave and a haircut, two bits,” making it the shortest tune ever to be released. | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 20 | “Day-O. Day-ay-ay-ay-o!” One of the most popular of the Harry Belafonte hits was recorded -- for RCA Victor. Day-O didn’t make it to the pop charts for over a year (January 1957), however, after its name had been changed to The Banana Boat Song (Day-O). | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 02 | The first pop song by Julie London appeared on the charts. London’s smoky and sultry rendition of Cry Me a River stayed on the pop chart for five months, reaching as high as #9. Julie was Mrs. Jack Webb (Dragnet) and Mrs. Bobby Troup (songwriter, trumpeter). | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 05 | The Vienna State Opera House in Austria formally opened, celebrating the end of 17 years of foreign occupation. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 09 | Harry Belafonte recorded Jamaica Farewell and Come Back Liza for RCA Victor. The two tunes completed the Calypso album which led to Belafonte's nickname, "Calypso King". | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 16 | "Sixteen Tons", by ‘TN’ Ernie Ford, hit #1 on the music charts. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 25 | Following a summer at the top of the American pop charts, Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley and His Comets became the #1 song in Great Britain. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 24 | The Lennon Sisters debut as featured vocalists on The Lawrence Welk Show on ABC-TV. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 29 | Barbra Streisand's first recording, "You'll Never Know" at age 13. | Ref: 5 |
- 1956
| Jan 14 | Little Richard releases "Tutti Frutti". | Ref: 5 |
| Jan 20 | Buddy Holly records "Blue Days Black Night" in Nashville. | Ref: 5 |
| Jan 26 | Buddy Holly had his first of three 1956 recording sessions for Decca Records and producer, Owen Bradley, in Nashville. Nothing much came out of those sessions. He formed the group, The Three Tunes (changed later to The Crickets), and went on to find fame and fortune when he hooked up with producer Norman Petty in New Mexico. Holly died in a plane crash near Mason City, IA, February 3, 1959 (“the day the music died”). He was 22. Holly was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. | Ref: 4 |
| Feb 02 | Coasters sign with Atlantic Records. | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 06 | Capitol Tower, the home of Capitol Records in Hollywood, CA, was dedicated. The building was the first circular office tower designed in America. It is 13 stories tall and 92 feet in diameter. At night, a light at the tip of the tower blinks the letters "H-O-L-L-Y-W-O-O-D" in Morse Code. | Ref: 4 |
| May 04 | Gene Vincent and his group, The Blue Caps, recorded Be-Bop-A Lula for Capitol Records in Los Angeles. Interesting note: Vincent had written the tune only three days before he auditioned in a record company talent search that won him first place. The record was rush-released just two days later and became a rock and roll classic. Vincent recorded two other charted songs in 1957 and 1958: Lotta Lovin’ and Dance to the Bop. | Ref: 4 |
| Jun 06 | Gogi Grant (born Audrey Brown) reached the top spot on the Billboard singles chart for the first and only time in her career. Her hit, The Wayward Wind, stayed at the top of the top-tune tabulation for eight weeks and on the music charts for 22 weeks. It was her second record release. The first, in October, 1955, was Suddenly There’s a Valley which climbed to number nine. | Ref: 4 |
| Jun 16 | Be-Bop-A-Lula, by Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps, was released on Capitol Records. Vincent was called Capitol’s answer to Elvis Presley. The tune became Vincent Eugene Craddock’s biggest hit of three (Lotta Lovin’, Dance to the Bop) to make the pop music charts. Vincent died in 1971. | Ref: 4 |
| Sep 05 | Johnny Cash hit the record running with I Walk the Line. Cash’s debut hit song climbed to #17 on the pop music charts. | Ref: 4 |
| Sep 08 | Harry Belafonte's album "Calypso," goes to #1 & stays #1 for 31 weeks. | Ref: 5 |
| Nov 28 | Holding the #1 spot on the music charts: Guy Mitchell singing Singing the Blues. The song remained at the top of the Hit Parade for 10 weeks. Here’s a bit of trivia: Ray Conniff whistled the intro to Singing the Blues. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 08 | Guy Mitchell's "Singing the Blues" single goes #1 for 10 weeks. | Ref: 5 |
- 1957
| Jan 01 | Benjamin Britten's ballet "Prince & the Pauper" premieres in London. | Ref: 5 |
| Jan 26 | Bernanos & Poulenc's opera "Dialogue des Carmelites" premieres. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 05 | Dmitri Shostakovich completes his 2nd Piano Concert. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 14 | Lionel Hampton’s only major musical work, King David, made its debut at New York’s Town Hall. The four-part symphony jazz suite was conducted by Dimitri Mitropoulos. | Ref: 4 |
| Feb 25 | Buddy Holly and The Crickets traveled to Clovis, NM, to record That’ll Be the Day (one of the classics of rock ’n’ roll) and I’m Looking for Someone to Love. Both songs were released on Brunswick Records in May of that year. | Ref: 4 |
| Mar 02 | Teenage heartthrob Tab Hunter’s song Young Love was number one in the U.S. | Ref: 4 |
| Mar 03 | Corry Brokken wins Eurovision Song festival with "Just as then". | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 08 | First performance of David Diamond's 6th Symphony in Boston. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 30 | First performance of Walter Piston's 4th Symphony. | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 04 | Heitor Villa-Lobos' 10th Symphony, premieres in Paris France. | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 09 | Howard Hanson's "Song of Democracy", premieres in Washington DC. | Ref: 5 |
| May 04 | Alan Freed hosts "Rock n' Roll Show" first prime-time network rock show. | Ref: 5 |
| May 10 | Dmitri Sjostakovitsch 2nd Piano concert, premieres in Moscow. | Ref: 5 |
| May 27 | That’ll be the Day, by The Crickets and featuring Buddy Holly, was released by Brunswick Records. On September 14th, the tune became the most popular record in the U.S. It was the first hit for Holly and his group after two previous releases went nowhere on Decca Records in 1956. | Ref: 4 |
| Aug 05 | "American Bandstand," hosted by Dick Clark, made its network debut on ABC-TV. | Ref: 5 |
| Nov 03 | Sam Phillips, owner of legendary Sun Records in Memphis, TN, releases Great Balls of Fire, by Jerry Lee Lewis. Looking carefully at the original label, one will find credit to Lewis and “his pumping piano.” | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 22 | The Miles Davis Quintet debuted with a jazz concert at Carnegie Hall in NY. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 01 | Sam Cooke and Buddy Holly and Crickets debut on Ed Sullivan Show. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 02 | Sam Cooke's "You Send Me" reaches #1. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 06 | Pat Boone was at the top of the pop charts for the first of six weeks with April Love. His other number one hits included Ain’t That a Shame, I Almost Lost My Mind, Don’t Forbid Me and Love Letters in the Sand. See what wearing white buck shoes and drinking lots of milk can do for you? | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 26 | Roger Sessions' 3rd Symphony premieres in London. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 28 | At the Hop, by Danny and The Juniors, hit #1 on the music charts. It stayed at the top spot for seven weeks. The title of the tune was originally Do the Bop, but was changed at the suggestion of ‘America’s Oldest Living Teenager’ Dick Clark. Trivia: Danny and The Juniors filled in for a group that failed to appear on Clark’s American Bandstand show in Philadelphia. He called The Juniors to come into the studio immediately. They did and lip-synced At The Hop (written by Junior, Dave White and a friend, John Medora). It took off like a rocket to number one. (A few years later, Danny and The Juniors handed stardom to Chubby Checker when they failed to appear on Clark’s show.) | Ref: 4 |
- 1958
| Jan 02 | Dmitri Shostakovich's 2nd Piano concert, premieres in NY. | Ref: 5 |
| Jan 06 | Gibson patents the Flying V Guitar. | Ref: 5 |
| Jan 10 | Jerry Lee Lewis' "Great Balls of Fire" reaches #1 on the country and r&b charts, #2 on the pop chart. | Ref: 5 |
| Jan 20 | The rock ’n’ roll classic, Get a Job, by The Silhouettes, was released. | Ref: 4 |
| Feb 03 | Royal Teens' "Short Shorts" enters Top 40 chart & peaks at #3. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 15 | Get A Job, by The Silhouettes, reached the top spot on the music Tunedex. It remained at #1 for two weeks. Talk about sudden change in American popular music! One week earlier, the number one song was Sugartime, by The McGuire Sisters, a song that definitely was not classified as rock ’n’ roll. Get A Job was replaced by Tequila, an instrumental by a studio group known as The Champs. | Ref: 4 |
| Feb 19 | Motown released first Miracles single, Got a Job b/w My Mama Done Told Me. | Ref: 4 |
| Feb 19 | Carl Perkins leaves Sun Records for Columbia Records. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 22 | Roy Hamilton’s record, Don’t Let Go, became #13 in its first week on the record charts. The song was the first stereo record to make the pop music charts. 1958 was the year for several stereo recordings, including Hang Up My Rock and Roll Shoes by Chuck Willis, Yakety Yak by the Coasters, Born Too Late by The Poni-Tails, It’s All in the Game by Tommy Edwards and What Am I Living For by Chuck Willis. Remember: If we were supposed to hear music in mono, we’d only have one ear! Thank you. | Ref: 4 |
| Mar 14 | The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certifies the first gold record. It was Perry Como’s "Catch A Falling Star" on RCA Victor Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Apr 05 | Johnny Mathis’ album, Johnny’s Greatest Hits, on Columbia Records, made it to the pop music charts for the first time. The LP remained on the charts for a record 490 weeks (nearly 9-1/2 years!) The record began its stay at number one (three weeks) on June 9, 1958. Mathis studied opera from age 13 and earned a track and field scholarship at San Francisco State College. He was invited to Olympic try-outs and chose a singing career instead. He was originally a jazz-style singer when Mitch Miller of Columbia switched Mathis to singing pop ballads. Johnny would chart over 60 albums in 30 years. | Ref: 4 |
| Apr 13 | The twenty-three year old Van Cliburn of Kilgore, Texas becomes the first American to win the Tchaikovsky International Piano Contest in Moscow. | Ref: 4 |
| Apr 14 | Laurie London reached the top spot on the music charts with He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands, knocking Perry Como’s Catch a Falling Star down a peg or two. | Ref: 4 |
| May 03 | WINS suspends Alan Freed for causing a riot in Boston, he quits. | Ref: 5 |
| May 07 | Pianist Van Cliburn signed an artist’s contract with RCA Victor Records. | Ref: 4 |
| May 12 | "Nee Nee Na Na Na Na Nu Nu" by Dicky Doo & The Dont's hits #40. | Ref: 5 |
| May 19 | Bobby Darin's single, Splish Splash, was released as the first eight-track master recording pressed to a plastic 45 RPM disc. | Ref: 4 |
| May 19 | "South Pacific" soundtrack album goes to #1 & stays #1 for 31 weeks. | Ref: 5 |
| May 22 | Wedding vows were taken by rock ’n’ roll star, Jerry Lee Lewis and his thirteen-year-old cousin, Myra. | Ref: 4 |
| May 31 | Dick Dale invents "surf music" with "Let's Go Trippin". | Ref: 5 |
| Jun 21 | Splish Splash was recorded by Bobby Darin. It was his first hit and it took Darin only ten minutes to write the song. | Ref: 4 |
| Jul 08 | The first gold record album presented by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) was awarded. It went to the soundtrack LP, OK!. The honor signified that the album had reached one million dollars in sales. The first gold single issued by the RIAA was Catch a Falling Star, by Perry Como, in March of 1958. | Ref: 4 |
| Jul 12 | Yakety Yak, by The Coasters, became the number one song in the U.S.A., according to Billboard magazine. It was the first stereo record to reach the top of the chart. | Ref: 4 |
| Jul 28 | Three years after his Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White reached number one, Cuban-born bandleader Perez Prado captured the top spot again, with Patricia. Prado was known as the Mambo King for his popular, Latin-flavored instrumentals. | Ref: 4 |
| Aug 18 | Perez Prado, the ‘Mambo King’, received one of the first gold records awarded by the Record Industry Association of America (RIAA). The single, Patricia, was certified as having sold over one million copies. | Ref: 4 |
| Aug 23 | Marie Ashton completes playing piano a female record 133 hours. | Ref: 5 |
| Oct 13 | This day was musically memorable as Warren Covington conducted the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra for what would be the last big band tune to climb the pop charts. Tea for Two Cha Cha, made it into the Top 10, peaking at #7. And that was the end of the Big Band Era. Rock ’n’ roll was here to stay. | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 21 | Orchestral strings were used for the first time in a rock and roll tune. Buddy Holly recorded It Doesn’t Matter Anymore, written by Paul Anka. Sadly, it would be Holly’s last studio session. The song wasn’t released until after his death in February of 1959. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 02 | Billboard magazine introduced a new chart. It ranked the top singles in order, from number 1 to 100. Previously, only 30 records had been on the weekly hit list. It would take Casey Kasem to count ’em down backwards from #40 to #1 years later. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 24 | Harold Jenkins, who changed his name to Conway Twitty, got his first #1 hit on this day. It’s Only Make Believe was the most popular song in the U.S. for one week. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 24 | Jackie Wilson's Lonely Teardrops was released, as was a disk by Richie Valens featuring Donna on one side and La Bamba on the other. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 22 | The Chipmunks were at the #1 position on the music charts. Alvin, Simon, and Theodore sang with David Seville. "The Chipmunk Song", the novelty tune that topped the charts for a month, is still a Christmas favorite today. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 25 | Alan Freed's Christmas Rock & Roll Spectacular opens. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 28 | Chipmunks (Alvin, Simon & Theodore with David Seville) hit #1. | Ref: 5 |
- 1959
| Jan 05 | Buddy Holly releases his last record "It Doesn't Matter". | Ref: 5 |
| Jan 21 | The Kingston Trio (Bob Shane, Nick Reynolds and Dave Guard) received a gold record for Tom Dooley. The single could be considered an early folk-form of rap music, considering its less than wholesome message about a guy named Tom Dooley who was going to be hanged - “Poor boy, you’re bound to, die.” The Kingston Trio recorded many hits, including: Greenback Dollar, M.T.A., Reverend Mr. Black, Tijuana Jail, and the war protest song, Where Have All the Flowers Gone?. | Ref: 4 |
| Jan 30 | Paul Hindemith's symphony "Pittsburgh" premieres. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 02 | Buddy Holly's last performance. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 02 | The Coasters tune, Charlie Brown, was released. The tune went to #2 and stayed there for three weeks, but didn’t make it to the top spot of the charts. A catchy song (“Fee fee fi fi fo fo fum. I smell smoke in the auditorium...”), it was on the charts for a total of 12 weeks. And what song was at number one, preventing Charlie Brown from reaching the top, you ask? Venus, by Frankie Avalon. | Ref: 4 |
| Feb 09 | Coasters's "Charlie Brown" peaks at #2. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 28 | Cash Box magazine, a trade publication for the music/radio industry, began using a red ‘bullet’ on its record charts to indicate those records that have the strongest upward movement each week. The phrase, “Number one with a bullet” designates those hits that have reached the pinnacle of statistical chartdom. To be so means to be at the top of the list and still climbing higher. | Ref: 4 |
| Mar 11 | Teddy Scholten wins Eurovision Song festival with "A Little Bit". | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 19 | Singer Harry Belafonte appeared in the first of two benefit concerts for charity at Carnegie Hall in New York City. | Ref: 4 |
| Apr 24 | Netherlands Dance Theater opens (Rudi of Dantzig & Cut Flier). | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 27 | Lloyd Price’s song, Personality, was released. Price had 10 songs that made it on the nation’s pop music charts in the 1950s through early 1960s. | Ref: 4 |
| May 11 | "Kookie, Kookie Lend Me Your Comb" by Byrnes & Connie Stevens hits #4. | Ref: 5 |
| May 18 | "Castin' My Spell" by Johnny Otis Show hits #52. | Ref: 5 |
| May 18 | "Judy" by David Seville hits #86. | Ref: 5 |
| May 18 | "Russian Band Stand" by Spencer & Spencer hits #91. | Ref: 5 |
| May 28 | Johnson & Bart's musical "Lock Up Your Daughters" premieres in London. | Ref: 5 |
| Jun 01 | Celebrating a solid year at the top of the album charts was Johnny’s Greatest Hits on Columbia Records. The LP stayed for several more years at or near the top of the album charts. It became the all-time album leader at 490 weeks. | Ref: 4 |
| Jun 22 | The Battle of New Orleans, by Johnny Horton, started week number four at the top of the nation’s music Tunedex. The song was number one for a total of six weeks. It was Horton’s only number one record and million-seller. He had big hits, however, with movie music: Sink the Bismarck and North to Alaska (from the film by the same title, starring John Wayne) -- both in 1960. Horton, from Tyler, TX, married Billie Jean Jones, Hank Williams’ widow. Tragically, Johnny Horton was killed in a car crash on November 5, 1960. | Ref: 4 |
| Jul 13 | Dedicated to the One I Love, by The Shirelles, was released. The tune went to number 83 on the Top 100 chart of "Billboard" magazine. The song was re-released in 1961 and made it to number three on the charts. That’s just one case for being in the right place at the right time. | Ref: 4 |
| Jul 27 | Brothers, Santo and Johnny (Farina) of Brooklyn, NY saw their one and only hit record, the instrumental Sleepwalk released. Sleepwalk was number one for two weeks. Their next song, Tear Drop, only made it to number 23 on the pop charts. Such is life in the pop music biz. | Ref: 4 |
| Sep 04 | Mack the Knife was banned from radio -- at least from WCBS Radio in NY City. Teenage stabbings in the city had people pretty uptight; therefore, the ban. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 20 | One of America’s great rock jocks is fired from WABC radio in New York. The ‘Moondoggy’ himself, Alan Freed, was axed in the midst of the payola music scandal. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 15 | Everly Brothers record "Let It Be Me". | Ref: 5 |
- 1960
| Jan 01 | Johnny Cash plays first of many free concerts behind bars. | Ref: 5 |
| Jan 02 | The US Federal Trade Commission charges seven record companies and eight distribution firms with paying disc-jockeys to play certain songs. (Payola Incident) | Ref: 17 |
| Jan 02 | Roger Sessions' 4th Symphony premieres. | Ref: 5 |
| Jan 03 | The Moscow State Symphony performs in New York City, becoming the first Russian orchestra to perform in the US. | Ref: 17 |
| Jan 10 | Marty Robbins’ hit tune, El Paso, held the record for the longest #1 song to that time. The song ran 5 minutes and 19 seconds, giving many radio station Program Directors fits; because the average record length at that time was around 2 minutes, and formats didn’t allow for records much longer than that, (e.g., 2-minute record, 3 minutes for commercials, 60 seconds for promo, 2-minute record, etc.). | Ref: 4 |
| Feb 04 | Lionel Bart's musical "Fings ain't wot they used t'be" premieres. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 08 | U.S. Congressional investigators began exploring the influence of payola in the radio and record industries. Alan Freed and American Bandstand host, Dick Clark, among others, were called to testify. | Ref: 4 |
| Mar 29 | Darius Milhaud's 9th Symphony, premieres. | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 29 | Dick Clark told a House of Representatives investigating committee looking into the payola scandal that he, the host of American Bandstand, never took payola for records featured on his daily TV show. Clark would, however, relinquish rights to music publishing that he owned. The value of those rights, Clark indicated 30 years later, amounted to about $80 million. | Ref: 4 |
| May 02 | House investigating committee, looking into payola questions. | Ref: 5 |
| May 02 | Harry Belafonte presented his second Carnegie Hall concert in New York City. | Ref: 4 |
| May 15 | Dmitri Shostakovich's 7th String quartet, premieres in Leningrad. | Ref: 5 |
| May 19 | Alan Freed & eight other DJs accused of taking radio payola. | Ref: 5 |
| May 23 | Don and Phil, the Everly Brothers, enjoyed the day as their recording of Cathy’s Clown made it to number one on the hit music charts. The song stayed at number one for 5 weeks -- a big hit for the duo. | Ref: 4 |
| May 23 | "Got A Girl" by The Four Preps hits #24. | Ref: 5 |
| May 29 | Everly Brothers "Cathy's Clown" hits #1. | Ref: 5 |
| Jun 06 | Roy Orbison releases "Only the Lonely". | Ref: 5 |
| Aug 01 | Chubby Checker’s The Twist was released. The song inspired the dance craze of the 1960s. | Ref: 4 |
| Aug 08 | Tell Laura I Love Her, by Ray Peterson, wasn’t a big hit in Great Britain. Decca Records in England said the song was “too tasteless and vulgar for the English sensibility.” They destroyed 25,000 of the platters this day. | Ref: 4 |
| Sep 13 | The U.S. Federal Communications Commission banned payola. A scandal, investigated by a Congressional committee, involved some of the biggest names in radio, including popular NY DJ Alan Freed. He lost his job at WABC for allegedly accepting gifts and money for playing certain records. There was substantial evidence to prove that the practice was quite widespread. | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 06 | Steve Lawrence and partner, Eydie Gorme, starred at the new Lotus Club in Washington, DC. | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 24 | Brenda Lee hit #1 for the second time in the year with I Want to Be Wanted. 1960 was a very good year for the young (age 15) songstress. In addition to her first #1 smash, I’m Sorry (July 18), Lee had two other songs on the charts: Sweet Nothin’s (#4, April 18) and That’s All You Gotta Do (#6, July 4). | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 06 | Eileen Farrell debuted at the Metropolitan Opera House in NYC in the title role of Gluck’s Alcestis. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 19 | Frank Sinatra recorded his first session with his very own record company. Frank did Ring-A-Ding-Ding and Let's Fall in Love for Reprise Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 19 | Neil Sedaka’s Calendar Girl was released on RCA Victor Records. The song became Sedaka’s fourth record to make the charts. Other hits from the guy who made money off of a love song for Carole King (Oh, Carol) include The Diary, Stairway to Heaven, Bad Girl, Next Door to an Angel, Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen, Laughter in the Rain and Breaking Up is Hard to Do. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 31 | After playing California nightclubs as The Pendletones, Kenny and the Cadets, and Carl and the Passions, a new group emerged this day: The Beach Boys. The group’s first national hit, Surfin’ Safari, was soon to be. They recorded for local (Los Angeles) Colpix Records and at the height of their popularity, Capitol Records. The Beach Boys also recorded under the Reprise Records banner. The revitalized group still tours and Capitol continues to reissue various greatest hits packages. The Beach Boys were inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. Surf’s (still) up! | Ref: 4 |
- 1961
| Jan 15 | Supremes signed with Motown Records. | Ref: 5 |
| Jan 27 | Leontyne Price made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. She sang in the role of Leonora in Il Trovatore. Price was only the seventh black singer to make a debut at the Met. Marian Anderson was the first (1955). | Ref: 4 |
| Jan 30 | Bobby Darin is youngest performer to headline a TV special on NBC. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 05 | The Shirelles were winding up their first week at #1 on the music charts with Will You Love Me Tomorrow. The song was at the top for two weeks. It was the group’s first #1 tune and the first #1 tune from the pen of a New York Brill Building songwriter who worked right down the hall from Neil Sedaka. She became a huge star in her own right with several #1 singles and albums in the 1970s. Her name: Carole King. | Ref: 4 |
| Feb 10 | Walter Piston's 7th Symphony, premieres. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 13 | Frank Sinatra launches Reprise label under Warner Brothers Records. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 01 | Cellist Jacqueline du Prés debut in Wigmore Hall. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 09 | Supremes release "I Want A Guy" & "Never Again". | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 11 | Folk singer Bob Dylan performs in Greenwich Village, New York City for the first time, opening for John Lee Hooker. He sang Blowin’ in the Wind. | Ref: 2 |
| May 15 | "Bonanza" by Al Caiola Orchestra hits #19. | Ref: 5 |
| May 20 | Henzes opera "Elegy for Young Lovers" premieres in Schwetzingen. | Ref: 5 |
| May 22 | Ernie K-Doe, aka Ernest Kador Jr., joined the growing list of one hit wonders (recording artists who had only one hit song). Mother-In-Law was Ernie’s one hit, and a number one tune on US pop music charts. | Ref: 4 |
| May 22 | "Touchables In Brooklyn" by Dickie Goodman hits #42. | Ref: 5 |
| May 29 | Ricky Nelson reached the top spot on the Billboard singles chart with Travelin’ Man. It was was Nelson’s second chart-topping hit. Poor Little Fool made it to the top in August of 1958. | Ref: 4 |
| May 31 | Rock ’n’ roll fans were ready for a good old-fashioned summertime as Chuck Berry’s amusement park, Berryland, opened near St. Louis, MO. | Ref: 4 |
| Jun 11 | Roy Orbison was wrapping up a week at number one on the Billboard record chart with Running Scared, his first number one hit. Orbison recorded 23 hits for the pop charts, but only one other song made it to number one: Oh Pretty Woman in 1964. He came close with a number two effort, Crying, number four with Dream Baby and number five with Mean Woman Blues. Orbison was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987; but suffered a fatal heart attack just one year later. | Ref: 4 |
| Jun 25 | Pat Boone spent this day at number one for one last time with Moody River. Boone, a teen heart-throb in the 1950s, had previously walked his way up the music charts, wearing white buck shoes, of course, with these other hits: Ain’t That a Shame, I Almost Lost My Mind, Don’t Forbid Me, Love Letters in the Sand and April Love. | Ref: 4 |
| Sep 05 | Bob Dylan gave one of his first performances at the Gaslight Cafe in Greenwich Village. The Gaslight was originally a ‘basket house’, where performers were paid from the contents of a basket that had been passed around. | Ref: 4 |
| Sep 11 | Bob Dylan's first NY performance. | Ref: 5 |
| Sep 26 | Nineteen-year-old Bob Dylan makes his NY singing debut at Gerde's Folk City. | Ref: 2 |
| Sep 29 | Bob Dylan signed to CBS recording contract by legendary Columbia Records exec. John Hammond. | Ref: 10 |
| Oct 21 | Bob Dylan records his first album in a single day at a cost of $400. | Ref: 2 |
| Oct 23 | Dion’s Runaround Sue was the #1 U.S. single. It remained at the top for two weeks until being knocked off by Jimmy Dean’s Big Bad John. | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 29 | The top, pop song on the charts belonged to Dion (DiMucci). Runaround Sue was in its second week at the tiptop of the top-tune tabulation (it was in the top 40 for three months). | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 19 | A year after Chubby Checker reached the #1 spot with The Twist, the singer appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show to sing the song again. The Twist became the first record to reach #1 a second time around -- on January 13, 1962. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 08 | Surfin’, The Beach Boys first record, was released on Candix Records. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 11 | "Please, Mr. Postman" by Marvelettes, released. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 13 | Jimmy Dean's Big Bad John album is country music's first million $ seller. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 14 | Jimmy Dean's "Big Bad John" is first country song to get a gold record. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 30 | Moscow: premier of Dmitri Shostakovich's 4th Symphony (out 1936). | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 31 | Beach Boys play their debut gig under that name. | Ref: 5 |
- 1962
| Jan 13 | "The Twist", by Chubby Checker, becomes the first record to reach #1 a second time around. | Ref: 4 |
| Jan 17 | Roy Harris' 8th Symphony, premieres in San Francisco. | Ref: 5 |
| Jan 26 | Bishop Burke of Buffalo Catholic dioceses declares Chubby Checker's "Twist" is impure & bans it from all Catholic schools. | Ref: 5 |
| Jan 26 | David Diamond's 7th Symphony, premieres in Philadelphia. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 16 | Darius Milhaud's 12th Symphony, premieres. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 17 | The Beach Boys started making waves with their first Southern California hit, Surfin’. Their new musical style swept the U.S. like a tidal wave when they hit nationally with Surfin’ Safari in August of this same year. | Ref: 4 |
| Feb 17 | Gene Chandler hit #1 with Duke of Earl on this day. The song stayed at the tippy-top for three weeks. It hit #1 on the rhythm & blues charts, as well. Duke of Earl was Chandler’s biggest hit out of a half-dozen he recorded. His only other million seller came with Groovy Situation in 1970. Curtis Mayfield wrote several hits for Chandler, including Just Be True, What Now and Nothing Can Stop Me. Chandler’s real name is Eugene Dixon. He owned his own record label, Mr. Chand, from 1969 to 1973, though "Groovy Situation" was recorded in 1970 for Mercury. | Ref: 4 |
| Mar 06 | Frank Sinatra recorded his final session for Capitol Records in Hollywood. Sinatra had been recording for his own record label, Reprise, for two years. His final side on Capitol was I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues, with Skip Martin’s orchestra. | Ref: 4 |
| Mar 19 | Bob Dylan's self-titled debut album was released. | Ref: 70 |
| Mar 24 | Mick Jagger & Keith Richards perform as Little Boy Blue & Blue Boys. | Ref: 5 |
| May 05 | "West Side Story" soundtrack album goes to #1 & stays #1 for 54 weeks which is more than 20 weeks longer than any other album. | Ref: 5 |
| May 19 | "John Birch Society" by Chad Mitchell Trio hits #99. | Ref: 5 |
| May 25 | Isley Brothers release "Twist & Shout". | Ref: 5 |
| May 30 | The King of Swing, Benny Goodman, turned 53 and led the first American jazz band to play in the Soviet Union. Goodman and his band played six concerts in the USSR. | Ref: 4 |
| Jun 27 | Two albums of melancholy music by Jackie Gleason received gold record honors. Music, Martinis and Memories and Music for Lovers Only got the gold. Both were issued by Capitol Records in Hollywood. | Ref: 4 |
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| Jul 07 | Orchestra leader David Rose reached the top spot on the popular music charts. The Stripper stayed at the pinnacle of musicdom for one week. Rose’s previous musical success on the charts was in 1944 with Holiday for Strings. | Ref: 4 |
| Jul 12 | Rolling Stones first performance (Marquee Club, London). | Ref: 5 |
| Jul 14 | Bobby Vinton’s Roses are Red became the top song in the U.S. The song stayed at the top for four weeks and was the first of four #1 hits for Vinton. The others were: Blue Velvet, There! I’ve Said It Again and Mr. Lonely. Roses are Red was also Vinton’s first million-seller. He had two others: I Love How You Love Me (which made it to #9 in 1968) and My Melody of Love (which hit #3 in 1974.) | Ref: 4 |
| Aug 11 | Beach Boys release "Surfin' Safari". | Ref: 5 |
| Aug 18 | Peter, Paul & Mary release their 1st hit "If I Had a Hammer". | Ref: 5 |
| Aug 28 | Tony Sheridan & the Beat Brothers record "Ya Ya (Parts 1 + 2)". | Ref: 5 |
| Sep 22 | It was a hootenanny of a good time in, of all places, NY’s famed Carnegie Hall. The cast included newcomer Bob Dylan making his first appearance at Carnegie Hall. | Ref: 4 |
| Sep 27 | Detroit secretary Martha Reeves cut a side with a group called The Vandellas and the result was I’ll Have to Let Him Go. Soon thereafter, the hits of Martha and The Vandellas just kept on comin’. | Ref: 4 |
| Sep 27 | After a concert that featured folk music at Carnegie Hall, The NY Times gave a glowing review in a story about “Bob Dylan: A Distinctive Folk Song Stylist.” | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 18 | Tony Sheridan & the Beat Brothers record "Let's Dance". | Ref: 5 |
| Oct 20 | Bobby “Boris” Picket and the Crypt Kickers reached the top of the charts this day (for two weeks) with "The Monster Mash". | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 03 | Billboard magazine dropped the “Western” from its chart title. The list has been known as Hot Country Singles ever since. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 04 | Bob Dylan gave his first major concert outside of Greenwich Village. The Carnegie Hall solo appearance was not well attended. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 17 | The 4 Seasons, with Frankie Valli as lead singer, began a five-week run at the top of the tunedex with Big Girls Don't Cry. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 18 | Dmitri Shostakovich's 13th Symphony, premieres in Moscow. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 20 | The Osmond brothers debut on the Andy Williams Show. | Ref: 5 |
- 1963
| Jan 12 | Songwriter Bob Dylan sang Blowin’ In the Wind on the BBC radio presentation of The Madhouse on Castle Street. The song soon became one of the classics of the 1960s protest movement. | Ref: 4 |
| Jan 12 | "Go Away Little Girl" by Steve Lawrence peaks at #1. | Ref: 5 |
| Jan 31 | Tony Sheridan & the Beat Brothers record "What'd I Say" & "Ruby Baby". | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 23 | The Chiffons recording of He’s So Fine was released. It later rose to the #1 position (March 30th) for a four-week stay. The song later became the center of one of the most publicized lawsuits in music history. The estate of songwriter Ronnie Marks won the suit against former Beatle George Harrison, saying that the song My Sweet Lord, was a note-for-note copy of He’s So Fine. The Chiffons also scored big with One Fine Day, Sweet Talkin’ Guy and others. | Ref: 4 |
| Mar 16 | Peter, Paul and Mary released the single, Puff The Magic Dragon. Through the years, controversy continually surrounded the song. It was banned by several radio stations whose management figured that the song was about the elicit joys of smoking marijuana. The group denied this startling assumption. | Ref: 4 |
| Mar 21 | David Hendon & Douglas Cross' musical premieres in London. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 30 | The Chiffons began a four-week stay at the top of the pop music charts as their hit single, He’s So Fine, became number one. The song stayed at the top of the top tune tabulation until Little Peggy March came along with I Will Follow Him on April 27th. | Ref: 4 |
| Apr 12 | Bob Dylan appeared in his first solo concert at Town Hall in New York City. | Ref: 4 |
| May 10 | The Rolling Stones produced their very first recordings this day. The session included Come On and I Wanna Be Loved. The Stones would make it to the American pop music charts in August, 1964. | Ref: 4 |
| May 11 | "Puff (The Magic Dragon)" by Peter, Paul & Mary hits #2. | Ref: 5 |
| May 12 | Bob Dylan walks off Ed Sullivan Show. | Ref: 5 |
| May 18 | "If You Wanna Be Happy" by Jimmy Soul hits #1. | Ref: 5 |
| May 27 | The album "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan," which featured the song "Blowin' in the Wind," was released. | Ref: 70 |
| Jun 07 | First Rolling Stones TV appearance (Thank Your Lucky Stars) & release 1st single, "Come on". | Ref: 5 |
| Jun 15 | Kyu Sakamoto from Kawasaki, Japan, reached the number one spot on the pop music charts with Sukiyaki. The popular song captivated American music buyers and was at the top of the Billboard pop chart for three weeks. In Japan, where Sakamoto was enormously popular, Sukiyaki was known as Ue O Muite Aruko (I Look Up When I Walk). The entertainer met an untimely fate in 1985. Kyu (cue) Sakamoto was one of 520 people who perished in the crash of a Japan Air Lines flight near Tokyo. He was 43 years old. | Ref: 4 |
| Jun 22 | Fingertips - Pt 2, by Little Stevie Wonder, was released. It became Wonder’s first number one single on August 10th. Wonder had 46 hits on the pop and R&B music charts between 1963 and 1987. Eight of those hits made it to number one. | Ref: 4 |
| Jun 27 | Brenda Lee inked a new recording contract with Decca Records. She was guaranteed one million dollars over the next 20 years. | Ref: 4 |
| Jul 20 | Ray Conniff received two gold-record awards -- for the albums, Concert in Rhythm and Memories are Made of This -- on Columbia Records. Conniff recorded dozens of albums of easy listening music for the label. He had been a trombonist and arranger with Bunny Berigan, Bob Crosby, Harry James, Vaughn Monroe and Artie Shaw. | Ref: 4 |
| Aug 03 | The Beach Boys’ Surfer Girl, was released on Capitol Records. It became one of their biggest hits. Surfer Girl made it to number seven on the hit music charts. | Ref: 4 |
| Aug 03 | Comedian Allan Sherman’s summer camp parody, Hello Mudduh, Hello Fadduh! (A Letter from Camp) was released on Warner Brothers Records. It went to number two on the pop charts. | Ref: 4 |
| Aug 08 | Kingsmen release "Louie, Louie," radio stations label it obscene. | Ref: 5 |
| Sep 03 | Reprise Records, owned by Frank Sinatra, became part of Warner Brothers Records. The ‘Chairman of the Board’ continued to record for the label. | Ref: 4 |
| Sep 19 | The Crystals: Then He Kissed Me debuted on U.K. charts this day. It had hit U.S. charts on Aug 17, and made it to #6 for three weeks (Sep 14, 21, 28) before fading away. | Ref: 4 |
| Sep 29 | Rolling Stones first tour (opening act for Bo Diddley & Everly Bros). | Ref: 5 |
| Oct 06 | Barbra Streisand appears on "The Judy Garland Show". | Ref: 5 |
| Oct 19 | Buck Owens started a 16-week run at top of the U.S. Country chart with Love’s Gonna Live Here. It eventually became the biggest of all the Buck Owens hits. | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 27 | Peter, Paul and Mary were sitting pretty at #1 and #2 on the U.S. album chart with Peter, Paul and Mary and In the Wind. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 02 | After giving benefit performances for years, singer Kate Smith presented her first full concert performance to a paying crowd -- at Carnegie Hall in NY City. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 28 | Merle Haggard's first appearance on country chart with "Sing a Sad Song". | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 31 | Jerry Garcia & Bob Weir played music together for the first time. | Ref: 5 |
- 1964
| Jan 06 | Rolling Stones' 1st tour as headline act (with Ronettes). | Ref: 5 |
| Jan 15 | The soundtrack album of the musical, The King and I, starring Yul Brynner, earned a gold record. | Ref: 4 |
| Feb 01 | Indiana Governor Mathew Walsh tries to ban "Louie Louie" for obscenity. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 07 | Roger Sessions' 5th Symphony, premieres. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 21 | Singer Judy Collins makes her debut at Carnegie Hall in New York City and establishes herself in the front rank of American balladeers.? She would first hit the Top 40 in 1968 with Both Sides Now, a Joni Mitchell song. Her versions of Amazing Grace and Send In the Clowns also became classics. | Ref: 4 |
| Mar 22 | Barbra Striesand appears on the cover of NY Times Magazine section. | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 16 | "The Rolling Stones (England's Newest Hitmakers)," the band's debut album, was released. | Ref: 70 |
| Apr 17 | Rolling Stones first album (self-titled) released in England. | Ref: 10 |
| May 09 | Hello Dolly! became the nation’s top pop record. The milestone put Louis Armstrong on the Billboard music chart in the top spot for the first time in his 41-year music career. Later, ‘Satchmo’ was cast in the movie version of Hello Dolly!. | Ref: 4 |
| May 09 | Peter & Gordon release "World Without Love". | Ref: 5 |
| May 15 | The Smothers Brothers, Dick and Tom, gave their first concert in Carnegie Hall in NY City. | Ref: 4 |
| May 28 | Dmitri Shostakovich completes his 9th String quartet. | Ref: 5 |
| Jun 02 | The Hollywood Palace on ABC-TV hosted the first appearance of the first US concert tour of The Rolling Stones in Lynn MA. Dean Martin emceed the show. One critic called the Stones “dirtier and streakier and more disheveled than The Beatles.” | Ref: 4 |
| Jun 02 | The original cast album of Hello Dolly! went gold -- having sold a million copies. It was quite a feat for a Broadway musical. | Ref: 4 |
| Jun 03 | The Hollywood Palace on ABC-TV hosted the first appearance of the first U.S. concert tour of The Rolling Stones. Dean Martin emceed the show. One critic called the Stones “dirtier and streakier and more disheveled than The Beatles.” | Ref: 4 |
| Jun 03 | Rolling Stones begin first US tour (with Bobby Goldsboro & Bobby Vee). | Ref: 5 |
| Jun 05 | Davie Jones & King Bees debut "I Can't Help Thinking About Me", group disbands but Davie Jones goes on to success as David Bowie. | Ref: 5 |
| Jul 11 | 18-year-old Millie Small was riding high on the pop music charts with My Boy Lollipop (#2, 7/04/64). Listen carefully to the tune and you’ll hear Rod Stewart playing harmonica. Millie Small was known as the ’Blue Beat Girl’ in Jamaica, her homeland. | Ref: 4 |
| Jul 18 | The 4 Seasons reached the top spot on the record charts with Rag Doll, the group's fourth hit to climb to the #1 position. The song stayed on top for two weeks. Other #1 hits by Frankie Valli and company include, Big Girls Don't Cry, Walk Like a Man, and December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night). | Ref: 4 |
| Jul 20 | First surfin' record to go #1-Jan & Dean's "Surf City". | Ref: 5 |
| Aug 29 | Roy Orbison’s Oh, Pretty Woman was released. It hit number one (for 3 weeks) on September 26th and became the biggest of his career. Oh, Pretty Woman was Orbison’s second #1 hit. The other was Running Scared (6/05/61). | Ref: 4 |
| Sep 05 | The Animal’s House of the Rising Sun made it to #1. It stayed at the top until it was replaced three weeks later by Roy Orbison’s Oh, Pretty Woman. Orbison’s smash was just entering the pop charts on this day, for a 14-week run. | Ref: 4 |
| Sep 10 | Rod Stewart recorded his first tune, titled Good Morning Little Schoolgirl, for Decca. It was not one of his more successful recordings. | Ref: 4 |
| Sep 17 | Supremes release "Baby Love". | Ref: 5 |
| Oct 20 | Riot at Rolling Stones show in Paris (150 arrested). | Ref: 5 |
| Oct 25 | The Rolling Stones were introduced to American audiences on The Ed Sullivan Show on CBS-TV. | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 26 | Rolling Stones appear on the Ed Sullivan Show. | Ref: 5 |
| Oct 30 | Roy Orbison went gold with his hit single, "Oh, Pretty Woman". | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 31 | The Supremes Baby Love was the number one single (for four weeks), while Barbra Streisand’s People was #1 on U.S. album charts (for five weeks). | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 14 | Michael Brown meets Rene Fladen, then writes "Walk Away Rene". | Ref: 5 |
- 1965
| Jan 15 | Rock group The Who releases first album "I Can't Explain". | Ref: 5 |
| Jan 16 | Searchers' "Love Potion #9" peaks at #3. | Ref: 5 |
| Jan 20 | The Byrds record "Mr Tambourine Man". | Ref: 5 |
| Jan 30 | "The Name Game" by Shirley Ellis hits #3. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 06 | Righteous Brothers "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" hits #1. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 08 | Supremes release "Stop In the Name of Love". | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 19 | Rod Stewart and his group The Soul Agents played their first major gig at a club in the London Borough of Harrow. | Ref: 4 |
| Mar 03 | Temptations' "My Girl" reaches #1. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 05 | First performance of Walter Piston's 8th Symphony. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 13 | Jeff Beck replaces Eric Clapton of the Yardbirds. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 22 | Bob Dylan's album "Bringing It All Back Home" his first featuring electric guitar - was released. | Ref: 70 |
| Apr 03 | Bob Dylan appeared on the pop music charts for the first time. Subterranean Homesick Blues entered the Top 40 at number 39. The song stayed on the charts for eight weeks. Dylan would chart a total of 12 singles on the pop charts between 1965 and 1979. He appeared in the films Don’t Look Back, Eat the Document and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. He made the film Renaldo and Clara in 1978. Dylan co-starred in the film Hearts of Fire in 1987. He became a member of the Traveling Wilburys and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. Dylan won the Grammy’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 1991. | Ref: 4 |
| Apr 24 | Game of Love, by Wayne Fontana and The Mindbenders, made it to the top spot on the Billboard music chart. Game of Love stayed for a short visit of one week, before Peter Noone and Herman’s Hermits took over the top spot with Mrs. Brown You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter. | Ref: 4 |
| Apr 26 | Ives' 4th Symphony premieres. | Ref: 5 |
| May 09 | Vladimir Horowitz played his first public concert in 12 years at Carnegie Hall in NY City. The audience applauded the piano virtuoso with a standing ovation that lasted for 30 minutes. | Ref: 4 |
| May 19 | Roger Miller received a gold record for the hit, King of the Road. The song was Miller's biggest hit record. It got to number four (3/20/65) on the pop charts and stayed on for 12 weeks. It was a number one country music hit (3/27/65) as well. Miller, a country singer, humorist, guitarist and composer from Fort Worth, TX and raised in OK, went to Nashville, TN in the mid-1950s to begin a songwriting career. He wrote songs and played drums for Faron Young in 1962, then won what was an unprecedented six Grammy Awards in 1965, had his own TV show in 1966; wrote Little Green Apples, a huge hit for O.C. Smith and had five tunes in the top ten in 1968. | Ref: 4 |
| May 22 | "Super-cali-fragil-istic-expi-ali-docious" hits #66. | Ref: 5 |
| Jun 17 | Kinks arrive in NYC beginning their first US tour. | Ref: 5 |
| Jun 19 | I Can’t Help Myself, by The Four Tops, topped the pop and R&B charts. The Motown group got their second and only other number one hit with Reach Out I’ll Be There in 1966. Their other hits include: It’s the Same Old Song, Standing in the Shadows of Love, Bernadette and Ain’t No Woman (Like the One I’ve Got) (their only million seller). The group called Motown (Detroit, MI) home and got their start in 1953 as the Four Aims. Levi Stubbs, Renaldo ‘Obie’ Benson, Lawrence Payton and Abdul ‘Duke’ Fakir placed 24 hits on the charts from 1964 to 1988. They first recorded as The Four Tops for Leonard Chess and Chess Records in 1956; then went to Red Top and Columbia before signing with Berry Gordy’s Motown label in 1963. The Tops, who had no personnel changes in their more than 35 years together were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990. | Ref: 4 |
| Jun 26 | Mr. Tambourine Man, by The Byrds, reached the number one spot on the pop music charts. The song was considered by many to be the first folk-rock hit. The tune was written by Bob Dylan, as were two other hits for the group: All I Really Want to Do and My Back Pages. The group of James Roger McGinn, David Crosby, Gene Clark, Chris Hillman and Mike Clarke charted seven hits. The Byrds were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991. | Ref: 4 |
| Jul 06 | Rock group "Jefferson Airplane" forms. | Ref: 5 |
| Jul 07 | Otis Redding records "Respect". | Ref: 5 |
| Jul 10 | Rolling Stones score their first #1, "I Can't Get No Satisfaction". | Ref: 5 |
| Jul 24 | Bob Dylan releases "Like a Rolling Stone". | Ref: 5 |
| Jul 25 | Bob Dylan appeared on stage at the Newport Jazz Festival with an electric guitar. He was not well received, even with the classic folk song, Blowin’ in the Wind. The electrified “poet laureate of a generation” was booed and hissed by the audience for being amplified. He was, in fact, booed right off the stage. | Ref: 4 |
| Aug 13 | Rock group Jefferson Airplane was formed | Ref: 62 |
| Aug 20 | Rolling Stones release "Satisfaction" (their 1st #1 US hit). | Ref: 5 |
| Sep 16 | San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral became the site of the first concert of sacred music presented by Duke Ellington. | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 02 | The McCoys’ Hang on Sloopy hit #1 in the U.S. The song snuck in at number one for one week, between Eve of Destruction, by Barry McGuire and Yesterday, by The Beatles. | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 05 | Adding to his many credits, accolades and honors, Henry Mancini received a gold record for the soundtrack LP from the movie, The Pink Panther. | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 06 | Supremes release "I Hear a Symphony". | Ref: 5 |
| Oct 25 | Rolling Stones release "Get Off of My Cloud". | Ref: 5 |
| Nov 06 | Jefferson Airplane headline first Bill Graham show, SF | Ref: 62 |
| Dec 10 | The Grateful Dead played their first concert, at the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco. | Ref: 70 |
| Dec 17 | Astrodome opens, first event is Judy Garland & Supremes concert. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 29 | Supremes release "My World is Empty Without You". | Ref: 5 |
- 1966
| Jan 01 | Simon & Garfunkel's "Sounds of Silence" reaches #1. | Ref: 5 |
| Jan 06 | Duke Ellington’s concert of sacred music, recorded at 5th Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City, was broadcast on CBS-TV. | Ref: 4 |
| Jan 14 | David Bowie releases his first record (Can't Help Thinking About Me). | Ref: 5 |
| Jan 19 | Neil Simon, Coleman & Fields' musical "Sweet Charity" premieres. | Ref: 5 |
| Jan 30 | Dmitri Shostakovich completes his 11th string quartet. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 17 | Staff Sgt. Barry Sadler received a gold record from RCA Victor, for both the album and the single of The Ballad of the Green Berets. Sadler, who recorded one other single (The "A" Team) for the label, had served in Vietnam until injuring a leg in a Viet Cong booby trap. Tragically, Sadler was shot in the head during a 1988 robbery attempt at his Guatemala home. He suffered irreparable brain damage and died of heart failure in November, 1989 in Tennessee. He was 49 years old. | Ref: 4 |
| Feb 25 | Nancy Sinatra was high-stepping this day with a gold record award for the hit, These Boots are Made for Walkin’. When she cracked open the wooden-framed award to check out the gold disk inside, she heard Pink Shoe Laces by Dodie Stevens. Nancy was reported to have been incensed. | Ref: 4 |
| Mar 03 | Rock group Buffalo Springfield forms in Los Angeles. (Steven Stills, Neil Young, et al). | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 06 | Barry Sadlers' "Ballad of the Green Berets" becomes #1 (13 weeks). | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 12 | Love's first album released "Love". | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 15 | The Rolling Stones release "Aftermath". | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 16 | Metropolitan Opera House at B‘way & 39th St. closes doors with 444th production of "La Boheme.” | Ref: 10 |
| Apr 27 | Dmitri Shostakovitch completes his 2nd cello concert. | Ref: 5 |
| May 07 | The Mamas & The Papas made the climb to the top of the Billboard pop music chart with Monday, Monday. For three weeks Monday, Monday stayed at the top of the pop music world. | Ref: 4 |
| May 13 | Rolling Stones release "Paint it Black". | Ref: 5 |
| May 14 | "A Lover's Concerto" by Mrs Miller hits #95. | Ref: 5 |
| May 16 | The album "Pet Sounds" by the Beach Boys was released. | Ref: 70 |
| May 16 | The album "Blonde on Blonde" by Bob Dylan was released. | Ref: 70 |
| May 19 | Country music came to New York’s Carnegie Hall this night. Eddy Arnold debuted with an array of popular country artists in the Big Apple. | Ref: 4 |
| May 21 | "Downtown" by Mrs Miller hits #82. | Ref: 5 |
| May 21 | "Louie Louie" by The Kingsmen reentered the chart & hits #97. | Ref: 5 |
| May 22 | Bruce Springsteen recorded his very first song, along with his band, The Castilles. It was titled, That’s What You’ll Get. The song was never released. Bruce was just practicing. He was just sixteen. | Ref: 4 |
| May 28 | Percy Sledge hit number one with his first -- and what turned out to be his biggest -- hit. When a Man Loves a Woman would stay at the top of the pop music charts for two weeks. It was the singer’s only hit to make the top ten and was a million seller. | Ref: 4 |
| May 28 | Dmitri Shostakovich's 11th String quartet, premieres in Leningrad. | Ref: 5 |
| May 28 | "Ballad Of Irving" by Frank Gallop hits #34. | Ref: 5 |
| Jun 10 | Janis Joplins first live concert (Avalon Ballroom in SF). | Ref: 5 |
| Jun 11 | Janis Joplin made her first onstage appearance -- at the Avalon ballroom in San Francisco. She began her professional career at the age of 23 with Big Brother and The Holding Company. The group was a sensation at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. Piece of My Heart was the only hit to chart for the group in 1968. Big Brother and The Holding Company disbanded in 1972, though Joplin continued in a solo career with hits such as Down on Me and Me and Bobby McGee. Janis ‘Pearl’ Joplin died of a heroin overdose in Hollywood in October, 1970. The movie The Rose, starring Bette Midler, was inspired by the life of the rock star. | Ref: 4 |
| Jul 15 | Singer Percy Sledge earned a gold record for When a Man Loves A Woman. It was his only song to make it to number one (5/28/66) and the only one of five to break into the top ten. | Ref: 4 |
| Jul 23 | Frank Sinatra hit the top of the pop album chart with his Strangers in the Night. It was the first #1 Sinatra LP since 1960. The album’s title song had made it to number one on the pop singles chart on July 2nd. | Ref: 4 |
| Jul 23 | Napoleon XIV releases "They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha! Ha!". | Ref: 5 |
| Jul 25 | Supremes release "You Can't Hurry Love". | Ref: 5 |
| Sep 16 | The Metropolitan Opera opened its new opera house at New York's Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. | Ref: 70 |
| Sep 18 | Herb Alpert’s European tour culminated in a performance before Princess Grace and the royal family in Monaco. From Washington to the Riviera, it seemed that no place was out of place for Alpert’s ‘Ameriachi’ sound. | Ref: 4 |
| Sep 23 | Jefferson Airplane/Muddy Waters headline first Winterland dance, SF | Ref: 62 |
| Oct 01 | I Love My Dog was released by Cat Stevens. He was 19 years old. Five years later, he recorded such hits as Wild World, Morning Has Broken, Peace Train and Oh Very Young. By 1979, Cat Stevens [born, Steven Demitri Georgiou], disenchanted with the music business, converted to the Islamic religion and changed his name to Yusef Islam. He may not have liked the music biz anymore but Cat still loves his dog. | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 22 | The Supremes rocketed to the top of the pop-album charts with Supremes A’ Go-Go. They were the first all-female vocal group to hit the top of the LP chart. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 28 | “Oh fodie oh doe...” The New Vaudeville Band received a gold record for Winchester Cathedral this day. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 02 | Love, Moby Grape & Lee Michaels perform at Fillmore East. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 10 | The Beach Boys made a one-week stop at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 as Good Vibrations made it to #1. It was the third #1 hit the group scored. The others were I Get Around and Help Me, Rhonda. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 16 | Jimi Hendrix Experience releases its first single, "Hey Joe", in the | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 21 | The Beach Boys received a gold record for the single, "Good Vibrations". A-one, and a-two and... “...I’m pickin’ up good vibrations. She’s givin’ me excitations...” | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 31 | Monkee's "I'm a Believer" hits #1 & stays there for 7 weeks. | Ref: 5 |
- 1967
| Jan 03 | Carl Wilson of the Beach Boys is indicted for draft evasion. | Ref: 5 |
| Jan 14 | Sonny & Cher release "The Beat Goes On". | Ref: 5 |
| Jan 15 | Ed Sullivan tells the Rolling Stones to change the lyrics AND the title to the song, Let’s Spend the Night Together. The Stones gave in... changing the tune to Let’s Spend Some Time Together. | Ref: 4 |
| Jan 28 | Rolling Stones release "Let's Spend the Night Together". | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 03 | "Purple Haze" recorded by Jimi Hendrix. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 04 | "Wild Thing" hits #20 on the pop singles chart by Senator Bobby. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 08 | Peter (Asher) & Gordon (Waller) discontinue their singing partnership. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 14 | Aretha Franklin records "Respect". | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 27 | Pink Floyd recorded Arnold Layne, their first single (released Mar 11, 1967). | Ref: 4 |
| Mar 11 | Pink Floyd release their first single "Arnold Layne" (recorded Feb 27, 1967). | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 20 | Supremes release "The Happening". | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 25 | The Turtles' "Happy Together" goes #1. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 25 | Who & Cream make US debut at Murray the K's Easter Show. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 31 | Jimi Hendrix begins his tradition of burning his guitar. | Ref: 5 |
| Apr 14 | Herman’s Hermits, featuring lead singer Peter Noone, went gold with the single, There’s a Kind of Hush. It was a two-sided hit, with the flip-side, No Milk Today, also receiving considerable play. Hush, however, was a top five song, while the ‘B’ side just made it into the top 40 at number 35. | Ref: 4 |
| Apr 19 | Nancy Sinatra and her dad, Frank, found a gold record award in the mailbox, for their collaboration on the hit single, Something Stupid. | Ref: 4 |
| Apr 29 | Aretha Franklin releases "Respect". | Ref: 5 |
| May 28 | Dmitri Shostakovich completes his 2nd Violin concerto. | Ref: 5 |
| Jun 09 | The Monkees appear at the Hollywood Bowl. | Ref: 5 |
| Jun 10 | 15,000 attend Fantasy Faire & Magic Mountain Music Festival, Calif. | Ref: 5 |
| Jun 16 | The Monterey Pop Festival got underway at the Monterey Fairgrounds in Northern CA. Fifty thousand spectators migrated to the site that featured Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Mamas and the Papas and The Who. | Ref: 4 |
| Jun 17 | Barbra Striesand: A Happening in Central Park performed. | Ref: 5 |
| Jun 19 | First Monterey Pop Festival; 50,000 hippies converge; Byrds, Jefferson Airplane perform. | Ref: 10 |
| Jul 11 | Kenny Rogers formed The First Edition just one day after he and members Thelma Camacho, Mike Settle and Terry Williams left The New Christy Minstrels. The First Edition hosted a syndicated TV variety show in 1972. Hits made popular by the group include: Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In), But You Know I Love You, Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town, Ruben James, and Something’s Burning. | Ref: 4 |
| Jul 17 | Monkees perform at Forest Hills NY, Jimi Hendrix is opening act. | Ref: 5 |
| Jul 22 | The Billboard singles chart showed that Windy, by The Association, was the most popular record in the U.S. for the fourth straight week. The Los Angeles-based sextet would make way for Jim Morrison and The Doors a week later when Light My Fire became the hottest record of the mid-summer. | Ref: 4 |
| Aug 05 | Bobby Gentry releases her only hit "Ode to Billy Joe". | Ref: 5 |
| Aug 12 | Fleetwood Mac makes their stage debut at the National Blues and Jazz Festival in Great Britain. | Ref: 4 |
| Aug 18 | Rolling Stones release "We Love You". | Ref: 5 |
| Sep 23 | The Box Tops from Memphis hit #1 with The Letter. Though the song was #1 for four weeks and remained on the charts for 13 weeks. The Box Tops reorganized right after that first hit and never made it to #1 again. | Ref: 4 |
| Oct 02 | Grateful Dead members arrested by narcotic agents | Ref: 5 |
| Nov 09 | The first issue of Rolling Stone was published. John Lennon was on the cover. The magazine said it was not simply a music magazine but was also about “...the things and attitudes that music embraces.” | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 14 | The Monkees received a gold record for Daydream Believer. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 18 | Lulu's To Sir with Love, from the movie of the same name, started its fifth and final week at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Lulu was born Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie (November 3, 1948). She changed her name to Lulu (and The Luvvers) in Scotland, early in her career. | Ref: 4 |
| Nov 27 | The Association, a California group, earned a gold record for the hit Never My Love, on Warner Bros. Records. The group also earned worldwide fame for other hits including Windy, Cherish and Along Comes Mary. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 07 | Otis Rescue records "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay". | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 09 | Jim Morrison, arrested on stage for disturbing the peace. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 16 | The Lemon Pipers released Green Tambourine on an unsuspecting psychedelic world this day. The tune made #1 on February 3, 1968. Far out, man! | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 20 | Ian Anderson & Glenn Cornick form rock group Jethro Tull. | Ref: 5 |
| Dec 21 | The Rolling Stones LP, Their Satanic Majesties Request, was released. It cost $50,000 to produce and came complete with a 3-D photograph of the Stones on the cover. | Ref: 4 |
| Dec 26 | A sad day for jazz fans, as the Dave Brubeck Quartet formally disbanded after sax man Paul Desmond left the group. Desmond was a fixture with the quartet for 16 years and can be heard on all the immortal Brubeck standards, including Take Five. | Ref: 4 |
- 1968
| Jan 01 | A group known as The Blue Velvets decided to change its name this day and it’s a good thing they did. The new name soon became a national pop music favorite as Creedence Clearwater Revival climbed to stardom. | Ref: 4 |
| Jan 27 | The Bee Gees played their first American concert, as a group. They earned $50,000 to entertain at the Anaheim Convention Center in California. This is identical to what the Beatles were paid to perform at the Hollywood Bowl a few years earlier. | Ref: 4 |
| Jan 27 | Otis Redding’s (Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay was released on this day, seven weeks after the singer’s death. It became #1 on March 16, 1968 and remained at the top spot for a month. Redding began his recording career in 1960 with Johnny Jenkins and The Pinetoppers (on Confederate Records). He sang duet with Carla Thomas and had 11 chart hits. Redding of Dawson, GA was killed in a plane crash at Lake Monona near Madison, WI. Four members of the Bar-Kays were also killed in the crash. The Dock of the Bay, his only number one song, was recorded just three days before his death. | Ref: 4 |
| Jan 30 | Bobby Goldsboro records his biggest hit, "Honey". | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 10 | "Spooky" by Classics IV hits #3. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 12 | Singer and famed guitarist, Jimi Hendrix, received an honorary high school diploma from Garfield High School in Seattle, WA, where he had dropped out at the age of 14. | Ref: 4 |
| Feb 18 | David Gilmour joins rock group Pink Floyd. | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 22 | Rock group Genesis release their first record "The Silent Sun". | Ref: 5 |
| Feb 29 | Howard Hanson's 6th Symphony, premieres. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 01 | Elton John’s first record, I’ve Been Loving You, was released by Philips Records in England. Philips, not realizing the potential of the soon-to-be superstar, released him in 1969, just prior to his teaming with lyricist Bernie Taupin. Elton then signed a contract with Uni Records and began to turn out what would become a string of more than 50 hits over the next 25 years. | Ref: 4 |
| Mar 11 | Dmitri Shostakovich completes his 12nd string quartet. | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 11 | Otis Redding posthumously receives gold record for "(Sittin' On) the Dock of the Bay". | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 13 | The Byrds received a gold record for the album, Greatest Hits, which featured Turn! Turn! Turn!, written by Pete Seeger (excerpted from the Book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible); Eight Miles High; Mr. Spaceman; Mr. Tambourine Man; All I Really Want To Do; and My Back Pages. The group consisted of Jim McGuinn, David Crosby, Gene Clark, Chris Hillman and Mike Clarke. Kevin Kelly, Gram Parsons, Clarence White, John York and Gene Parsons were also members of the group through the years. The Byrds were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991. | Ref: 4 |
| Mar 15 | LIFE magazine calls Jimi Hendrix "most spectacular guitarist in the world". | Ref: 5 |
| Mar 18 | Dean Martin received a gold record for the album, Houston. Martin charted 17 hits on the pop music charts in the 1950s and 1960s. Houston was his 12th. | Ref: 4 |
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Music History Chronology