1897 in music

List of years in music (Table)
… 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 …
Related time period or subjects
… 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 … … 1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s … … 18th century 19th century 20th century …
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Events

• January 13 – At a memorial concert in Paris for composer Emmanuel Chabrier (died 1894), the first act of his uncompleted work, Briséïs, is performed for the first time.
• March 27 – Premiere of Sergei Rachmaninoff's First Symphony. The premiere was a complete disaster and left many wondering if Alexander Glazunov, the conductor for the event, was drunk or just disliked the music so much that he didn't care about a good performance. It would be years before Rachmaninoff would compose a major piece of music again.
• The Cakewalk matures into Ragtime music.
• John Philip Sousa's band makes phonograph recordings of Cakewalks and early Ragtime.
• Early publications by Scott Joplin.
• Gustav Mahler becomes director of the Vienna Court Opera, and is obliged to convert from Judaism to Roman Catholicism.
• André Messager becomes musical director of the Opéra-Comique.
• Ralph Vaughan Williams studies with Max Bruch in Berlin.
• Teatro Nuovo in Bergamo changes its name to Teatro Donizetti.
• The Tanzanian national anthem, "Mungu Ibariki Africa" (God Bless Africa), is composed by South African composer Enock Sontonga.
• Composer Alexander Scriabin marries pianist Vera Ivanovna.
• Otilie Dvořáková, daughter of Antonín Dvořák, marries her father's pupil, composer Josef Suk.

Publications

• Ben Harney – Ben Harney's Rag Time Instructor

Published popular music

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

Recorded popular music

• "A Hot Time in the Old Town"
  – Dan W. Quinn on Berliner Records
• "Little Kinkies" (w.m. M. Tobias)
  – Edison Concert Band on Edison Records brown wax cylinder № 155
• "My Mother Was a Lady"
  – Dan W. Quinn
• "There's a Little Star Shining for You"
  – Dan W. Quinn on Edison Records

Classical music

• Hugo Alfvén – Symphony No. 1
• Ferruccio Busoni – Violin Concerto
• Ernest Chausson – String Quartet
• Felix Draeseke – String Quintet in A "Stelzner-Quintett"
• Paul Dukas – The Sorcerer's Apprentice
• George Enescu –
  • Poème roumain, op. 1
  • Sonata no. 1 for violin and piano in D major, op. 2
• August Enna – Concerto for violin and orchestra in D major
• Asger Hamerik – Symphony no. 6 (Spirituelle) for string orchestra
• Alexander Mackenzie – Piano Concerto
• Carl Nielsen – Hymnus amoris
• Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov – Symphony No. 2 "Antar" (final version)
• Arnold Schoenberg – String Quartet in D major
• Richard Strauss – Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche
• Alexander von Zemlinsky – Symphony No. 2

Opera

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

Musical theater

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

Births

• January 2 – Jane Green, US singer
• January 10 – Sam Chatmon, blues musician
• January 22 – Leslie Sarony, English singer, comedian and songwriter
• February 27 – Marian Anderson, contralto (died 1993)
• March 9 – Pedro Flores, composer
• March 11 – Henry Cowell, composer
• March 26 – David McCallum, Sr., violinist and father of David McCallum
• April 1 – Lucille Bogan, blues singer
• April 17 – Harald Sæverud, composer
• April 19 – Vivienne Segal, US actress and singer
• May 2 – J. Fred Coots, US composer
• May 14 – Sidney Bechet
• May 29 – Erich Wolfgang Korngold, composer (died 1957)
• June 3 – "Memphis Minnie", blues singer
• June 12 – Alexandre Tansman, pianist and composer
• June 22 – Bulbul, opera and folk singer (died 1961)
• July 11 – Blind Lemon Jefferson, blues musician
• June 27 – Maceo Pinkard, composer, lyricist and music publisher (died 1962)
• August 4 – Abe Lyman, US bandleader, composer and drummer
• August 29 – Helge Rosvaenge, operatic tenor
• September 3 – Francisco Mignone, composer
• September 8 – Jimmie Rodgers
• September 18
  • Pablo Sorozábal, composer (died 1988)
  • Sam H. Stept, Russian-born US composer, pianist and conductor
• October 11 – Leo Reisman
• October 26 – Tiana Lemnitz, operatic soprano (died 1994)
• November 2 – Dennis King, British singer and actor (died 1971)
• November 12 – Karl Marx, conductor and composer (died 1985))
• November 20 – Margaret Sutherland, composer (died 1984)
• November 25 – Willie 'The Lion' Smith, US jazz pianist
• December 9 – Hermione Gingold, actress and singer
• December 18 – Fletcher Henderson, jazz musician
• December 30 – Alfredo Bracchi, Italian lyricist
• date unknown
  • Rosa Ponselle, soprano
  • Aileen Stanley, singer (died 1982)

Deaths

• February 10 – Antonio Bazzini, violinist, composer and music teacher (born 1818)
• February 23 – Woldemar Bargiel, composer and teacher (born 1828)
• February 25 – Cornélie Falcon, opera singer (born 1812)
• March 7 – Leonard Labatt, operatic tenor (born 1838)
• April 3 – Johannes Brahms, composer (born 1833)
• April 8 – George Garrett, composer (born 1834)
• May 21- Carl Mikuli, pianist and composer
• June 9 – Pavel Pabst, pianist and composer (born 1854)
• June 18 – Franz Krenn, composer and music teacher (born 1816)
• August 1 – Gaetano Antoniazzi, violin-maker (born 1825)
• September 16 – Edward Edwards, choirmaster and composer (born 1816)
• September 20 – Karel Bendl, composer (born 1838)
• October 11 – Léon Boëllmann, organist and composer (born 1862)
• October 27 – Alphons Czibulka, pianist, conductor and composer (born 1842)
• November 6 – Edouard Deldevez, conductor, composer and violinist (born 1817)
• November 14 – Giuseppina Strepponi, operatic soprano (born 1815)
• December 4 – Adolf Neuendorff, German-American composer, conductor, pianist and violinist (born 1843)