1928 in music

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Maurice Ravel at the piano with Éva Gauthier in 1928; George Gershwin listens at right.

Events

• April 27 - Igor Stravinsky's ballet Apollon musagète is premiered in Washington.
• September 11 - Leoš Janáček's String Quartet No. 2, Intimate Letters, is premiered in Brno.
• September 12 - Anton Webern's String Trio is premiered in Siena.
• September 14 - Carl Nielsen's Clarinet Concerto is given its first performance.
• September 21 - Al Jolson marries Ruby Keeler.
• November 22 - Maurice Ravel's Bolero is premiered in Paris.
• November 27 - Igor Stravinsky's ballet Le Baiser de la fée is premiered in Paris.
• December 2 - Arnold Schoenberg's Variations for Orchestra is premiered in Berlin
• Edward German is knighted for services to music.
• Eric Fenby begins work as amanuensis for Frederick Delius.
• Maurice Ravel embarks on a concert tour of the USA, where he meets George Gershwin.
• Tampa Red's recording career begins.
• Scrapper Blackwell makes his first recordings for Vocalion Records.
• Leroy Carr's recordng career begins with the release of "How Long, How Long Blues".
• Howlin' Wolf's musical career begins
• The first commercial recordings of Cajun music are released.
• The Detroit Symphony Orchestra makes its Carnegie Hall debut.

Published popular music

• "After My Laughter Came Tears" w.m. Charles Tobias & Roy Turk
• "Alabama Song" w. Bertolt Brecht m. Kurt Weill
• "All By Yourself In The Moonlight" w.m. Jay Wallis
• "Anything You Say" w.m. Walter Donaldson
• "Back In Your Own Backyard" w.m. Dave Dreyer, Al Jolson & Billy Rose
• "Basin Street Blues" w.m. Spencer Williams
• "Because My Baby Don't Mean Maybe Now" w.m. Walter Donaldson
• "Big Rock Candy Mountain" Harry McClintock
• "Bill" w. P.G. Wodehouse & Oscar Hammerstein II m. Jerome Kern. Introduced by Helen Morgan in the musical Showboat and performed by Miss Morgan in the 1929 and 1936 film versions.
• "Bolero" m. Maurice Ravel
• "Button Up Your Overcoat" w. B.G. DeSylva & Lew Brown m. Ray Henderson
• "Can't Help Loving Dat Man" w. Oscar Hammerstein II m. Jerome Kern
• "Carolina Moon" w. Benny Davis m. Joe Burke
• "Cherry" w.m. Don Redman
• "Chiquita" w. L. Wolfe Gilbert m. Mabel Wayne
• "C-O-N-S-T-A-N-T-I-N-O-P-L-E" w.m. Harry Carlton
• "Coquette" w. Gus Kahn m. Carmen Lombardo & John Green
• "Cow Cow Blues" m. Cow Cow Davenport
• "Crazy Rhythm" w. Irving Caesar m. Joseph Meyer & Roger Wolfe Kahn. Introduced by Ben Bernie, Peggy Chamberlain and June O'Dea in the musical Here's Howe.
• "Dance, Little Lady" w.m Noel Coward. Introduced by Sonnie Hale in the revue This Year of Grace
• "Diga Diga Doo" w. Dorothy Fields m. Jimmy McHugh. Introduced by Adelaide Hall in the revue Blackbirds of 1928
• "Do I Hear You Saying?" w. Lorenz Hart m. Richard Rodgers. Introduced by Charles King and Flora Le Breton in the musical Present Arms.
• "Doin' The New Low-Down" w. Dorothy Fields m. Jimmy McHugh. Introduced by Bill Robinson in the revue Blackbirds of 1928.
• "Doin' The Raccoon" w. Raymond Klages m. J. Fred Coots
• "Don't Look At Me That Way" w.m. Cole Porter. Introduced by Irene Bordoni in the musical Paris.
• "Dusky Stevedore" w. Andy Razaf m. J. C. Johnson
• "Empty Bed Blues" w.m. J. C. Johnson
• "Fancy Our Meeting" w. Douglas Furber m. Joseph Meyer & Philip Charig. Introduced by Jack Buchanan and Elsie Randolph in the musical That's a Good Girl.
• "Forgetting You" w. B.G. DeSylva & Lew Brown m. Ray Henderson
• "From Monday On" w. Bing Crosby m. Harry Barris
• "A Garden In The Rain" w. James Dyrenforth m. Carroll Gibbons
• "A Gay Caballero" w.m. Frank Crumit & Lou Klein
• "Get Out And Get Under The Moon" w. Charles Tobias & William Jerome m. Larry Shay
• "De Glory Road" w. Clement Wood m. Jacques Wolfe
• "Golden Gate" by Billy Rose & Dave Dreyer
• "Henry's Made A Lady Out Of Lizzie" w.m. Walter O'Keefe
• "Honey" w. Seymour Simons & Haven Gillespie m. Richard A. Whiting
• "Hooray for Captain Spaulding" w. Bert Kalmar m. Harry Ruby. Introduced by Zeppo Marx, Robert Greig, Margaret Dumont and Groucho Marx in the musical Animal Crackers and also performed by them in the 1930 film version.
• "How About Me?" w.m. Irving Berlin
• "How Long Has This Been Going On?" w. Ira Gershwin m. George Gershwin. Introduced by Bobbe Arnst in the musical Rosalie. Performed by Audrey Hepburn in the 1957 film Funny Face
• "I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby" w. Dorothy Fields m. Jimmy McHugh. Introduced by Aida Ward and Willard McLean in the revue Blackbirds of 1928.
• "I Kiss Your Hand, Madame" w. (Eng) Sam M. Lewis & Joe Young (Ger) Fritz Rotter m. Ralph Erwin
• "I Wanna Be Loved by You" w. Bert Kalmar m. Harry Ruby & Herbert Stothart. Introduced by Helen Kane and Dan Healy in the musical Good Boy. Performed by Miss Kane dubbing for Debbie Reynolds in the 1950 film Three Little Words.
• "I'd Rather Be Blue Over You" w. Billy Rose m. Fred Fisher. Introduced by Fanny Brice in the film My Man.
• "If I Had You" w.m. Ted Shapiro, Jimmy Campbell & Reg Connelly
• "If You Want the Rainbow" w. Mort Dixon & Billy Rose m. Oscar Levant.
• "I'll Get By" w. Roy Turk m. Fred E. Ahlert
• "I'm a Ding Dong Daddy From Dumas" w.m. Phil Baxter
• "I'm Bringing A Red, Red Rose" w. Gus Kahn m. Walter Donaldson. Introduced by Paul Gregory and Frances Upton in the musical Whoopee!
• "I'm On The Crest Of A Wave" w. B.G. DeSylva & Lew Brown m. Ray Henderson. Introduced by Harry Richman in the revue George White's Scandals of 1928
• "I've Got a Crush on You" w. Ira Gershwin m. George Gershwin. Introduced by Clifton Webb and Mary Hay in the musical Treasure Girl.
• "Is There Anything Wrong In That?" w.m. Michael H. Cleary & Herb Magidson
• "It Goes Like This (That Funny Melody)" w. Irving Caesar m. Cliff Friend
• "It's Tight Like That" Thomas A. Dorsey, Hudson "Tampa Red" Whittaker
• "Jeannine, I Dream of Lilac Time" w. L. Wolfe Gilbert m. Nathaniel Shilkret
• "Jimmy, the Well-Dressed Man" w.m. Jimmy Durante
• "Let's Do It" w.m. Cole Porter. Introduced by Irene Bordoni and Arthur Margetson in the musical Paris.
• "Let's Misbehave" w.m. Cole Porter
• "Life Upon The Wicked Stage" w. Oscar Hammerstein II m. Jerome Kern
• "Louisiana" w. Andy Razaf & Bob Schafer m. J. C. Johnson
• "Lovable" Holmes, Simons, Whiting
• "Love Me or Leave Me" w. Gus Kahn m. Walter Donaldson
• "Lover, Come Back to Me" w. Oscar Hammerstein II m. Sigmund Romberg
• "Ma Belle" w. Clifford Grey m. Rudolf Friml
• "Mack The Knife" w. (Eng) Marc Blitzstein (Ger) Bertolt Brecht m. Kurt Weill
• "Make Believe" w. Oscar Hammerstein II m. Jerome Kern
• "Makin' Whoopee" w. Gus Kahn m. Walter Donaldson
• "Malagueña" m. Ernesto Lecuona
• "March Of The Musketeers" w. P. G. Wodehouse & Clifford Grey m. Rudolf Friml. Introduced by Dennis King, Douglass Dumbrille, Detmar Poppen, Joseph Macauley and chorus in the theatre musical The Three Musketeers
• "Marie" w.m. Irving Berlin
• "Memories of France" by Al Dubin
• "My Blackbirds Are Bluebirds Now" w. Irving Caesar m. Cliff Friend
• "My Baby Just Cares for Me" w. Gus Kahn m. Walter Donaldson
• "My Lucky Star" w. B.G. DeSylva & Lew Brown m. Ray Henderson
• "Nagasaki" w. Mort Dixon m. Harry Warren
• "One Kiss" w. Oscar Hammerstein II m. Sigmund Romberg
• "Pine Top's Boogie Woogie" m. Clarence "Pine Top" Smith
• "Pirate Jenny" w. Bertolt Brecht m. Kurt Weill
• "A Precious Little Thing Called Love" w.m. Lou Davis & J. Fred Coots
• " 'Round Evening" w. Herb Steiner & J. Fred Coots m. George Whiting
• "She's Funny That Way" w. Richard A. Whiting m. Neil Moret
• "Short'nin' Bread" adapt. w.m. Jacques Wolfe
• "Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise" w. Oscar Hammerstein II m. Sigmund Romberg. Introduced by William O'Neal in the operetta The New Moon. Performed in the 1940 film New Moon by Nelson Eddy.
• "The Song Of The Prune" Frank Crumit, De Costa
• "Sonny Boy" w.m. Al Jolson, B.G. DeSylva, Lew Brown & Ray Henderson
• "St James Infirmary" w.m. Joe Primrose
• "Stack O'Lee" trad arr. Cliff Edwards
• "Stouthearted Men" w. Oscar Hammerstein II m. Sigmund Romberg
• "Sugar (That Sugar Baby of Mine)" w.m. Maceo Pinkard & Sidney D. Mitchell
• "Sweet Lorraine" w. Mitchell Parish m. Cliff Burwell
• "Sweet Sue" w. Will J. Harris m. Victor Young
• "Sweetheart Of All My Dreams" w.m. Art Fitch, Kay Fitch & Bert Lowe
• "Sweethearts On Parade" w. Charles Newman m. Carmen Lombardo
• "'Tain't So, Honey, 'Tain't So" w.m. Willard Robison
• "That's My Weakness Now" w.m. Bud Green & Sam H. Stept
• "There Ain't No Sweet Man (That's Worth The Salt Of My Tears)" w.m. Fred Fisher
• "There's A Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder" w.m. Dave Dreyer, Billy Rose & Al Jolson
• "Together" w. B.G. DeSylva & Lew Brown m. Ray Henderson
• "Wanting You" w. Oscar Hammerstein II m. Sigmund Romberg. Introduced by Evelyn Herbert and Robert Halliday in the operetta The New Moon. Performed in the 1930 film version by Grace Moore and Lawrence Tibbett.
• "West End Blues" w.m. Joseph Oliver & Clarence Williams
• "When You're Smiling" w.m. Mark Fisher, Joe Goodwin & Larry Shay
• "Willow Tree" w. Andy Razaf m. Thomas Waller from the musical Keep Shufflin'
• "World Weary" w.m. Noel Coward. Introduced by Beatrice Lillie in the revue This Year of Grace
• "You Are Love" w. Oscar Hammerstein II m. Jerome Kern
• "You Took Advantage of Me" w. Lorenz Hart m. Richard Rodgers
• "You Wouldn't Fool Me" w. B. G. De Sylva & Lew Brown m. Ray Henderson
• "You're The Cream In My Coffee" w. B.G. DeSylva & Lew Brown m. Ray Henderson

Top hits on record

• "Because My Baby Don't Mean Maybe Now" by Ruth Etting
• "Diga Diga Doo" by Duke Ellington & His Cotton Club Orchestra
• "Is There Anything Wrong In That?" by Helen Kane
• "I Wanna Be Loved By You" by Helen Kane
• "Jazz Holiday" by Ted Lewis & His Jazz Band
• "(Goodbye, Broadway) Hello, Montreal!" by Ted Lewis & His Jazz Band
• "Let's Misbehave" by Irving Aaronson & His Commanders
• "Let's Misbehave" by Helen Kane
• "Little Orphan Annie" by the Coon-Sanders' Nighthawks
• "Mississippi Mud" by Paul Whiteman's Orchestra
• "Makin' Whoopee" by Eddie Cantor
• "My Man" by Fanny Brice
• "That's My Weakness Now" by Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra featuring Bing Crosby

Other important recordings

• "The Mooche" by Duke Ellington
• "Muggles" by Louis Armstrong
• "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie" by Pinetop Smith
• "West End Blues" by Louis Armstrong
• "Big Bill Blues" by Big Bill Broonzy
• "Prison Cell Blues" by Blind Lemon Jefferson
• "Statesboro Blues" by Blind Willie McTell
• "Playing With the Strings" by Lonnie Johnson
• "How Long, How Long Blues" by Leroy Carr
• "It's Tight Like That" by Tampa Red and Georgia Tom Dorsey

Classical music

• Aaron Avshalomov - Four Biblical Tableaux
• Granville Bantock - Pagan Symphony
• Béla Bartók - String Quartet No. 4
• Werner Egk - Concerto for Violin and Chamber Orchestra
• Gerald Finzi - Grand Fantasia and Toccata
• Roberto Gerhard - Wind Quintet
• Karl Amadeus Hartmann - Jazz Toccata and Fugue
• Gordon Jacob – String Quartet
• Dmitri Kabalevsky
  • Piano Concerto No. 1
  • String Quartet No. 1
• Wilhelm Kienzl - String Quartet No. 3 in E major
• Uuno Klami - Karelian Rhapsody
• Ernst Krenek
  • Little Symphony
  • Piano Sonata No. 2
• Maurice Ravel - Bolero
• Sergei Prokofiev
  • Symphony No. 3
  • The Prodigal Son (ballet)
• Albert Roussel - Psalm 80
• Roger Sessions - The Black Maskers Suite for Orchestra
• Leo Sowerby - Symphony No. 2
• Heitor Villa-Lobos
  • Chôros bis
  • Chôros No. 11
  • Chôros No. 14
  • Quinteto em forma de chôros
• Pancho Vladigerov - Bulgarische Rhapsodie "Vardar"

Opera

• Erwin Dressel - Der arme Columbus
• Cyril Scott - The Alchemist
• Dmitri Shostakovich - The Nose (1927–28)
• Richard Strauss - Die ägyptische Helena premiered at the Dresden Semperoper on 6 June 1928.
• Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht - Die Dreigroschenoper premiered on 31 August 1928, at Berlin's Theater am Schiffbauerdamm.

Musical theater

• Angela Broadway production
• Blackbirds of 1928 Broadway production opened at the Liberty Theatre on May 9 and ran for 518 performances
• Blue Eyes London production opened at the Piccadilly Theatre on April 27 and ran for 278 performances
• Casanova Berlin production
• Hello, Daddy (Music: Jimmy McHugh, Lyrics: Dorothy Fields, Book: Herbert Fields) Broadway production opened at Lew Fields' Mansfield Theatre on December 26, transferred to George M. Cohan's Theatre on January 21, 1929 and transferred to Erlanger's Theatre on May 6, 1929 for a total run of 198 performances
• Here's Howe Broadway production opened at the Broadhurst Theatre on May 1 and ran for 71 performances.
• Hold Everything Broadway production opened at the Broadhurst Theatre on October 10 and ran for 409 performances.
• Keep Shufflin' Broadway production opened at Daly's Theatre on February 27 and ran for 104 performances
• The New Moon (Sigmund Romberg) - Broadway production opened at the Imperial Theatre on September 19, transferred to the Casino Theatre on November 18 and ran for a total of 509 performances.
• Paris (Cole Porter) Broadway production opened at the Music Box Theatre on October 8 and ran for 195 performances.
• Present Arms (Lorenz Hart and Richard Rodgers) Broadway production opened at Lew Fields' Mansfield Theatre on April 26 and ran for 155 performances.
• Rain or Shine Broadway production opened at George M. Cohan's Theatre on February 9 and ran for 356 performances
• Rainbow Broadway production opened at the Gallo Opera House on November 21 and ran for 29 performances
• Show Boat (Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II) - London production
• So This Is Love London production opened on April 25 at the Winter Garden Theatre and ran for 321 performances
• Sunny Days Broadway production opened at the Imperial Theatre on February 8 and ran for 101 performances. It re-opened at the Century Theatre on October 1 for a further run of 32 performances.
• This Year of Grace
• Ups-a-Daisy Broadway production opened at the Shubert Theatre on October 8 and ran for 64 performances. Starring Marie Saxon, Luella Gear, William Kent, Bob Hope and Roy Royston.
  • London revue opened at the Pavilion on March 22 and ran for 316 performances.
  • Broadway production opened at the Selwyn Theatre on November 7 and ran for 158 performances.
• The Three Musketeers Broadway production opened at the Lyric Theatre on March 13 and ran for 319 performances.
• Treasure Girl Broadway production opened at the Alvin Theatre on November 8 and ran for 68 performances
• Virginia London production opened at the Palace Theatre on October 24.
• White Lilacs opened at the Shubert Theatre on September 10 and transferred to Jolson's 59th Street Theatre on October 8 for a total run of 136 performances
• Whoopee! Broadway production opened at the New Amsterdam Theatre on December 4 and ran for 407 performances

Births

• January 9 - Domenico Modugno, Italian singer and songwriter (d. 1994)
• January 17 - Jean Barraqué, composer (d. 1973)
• January 29 - Bengt Hambraeus, composer (d. 2000)
• January 30 - Ruth Brown, R&B singer (d. 2006)
• January 31 - Chuck Willis, singer and songwriter (d. 1958)
• February 23 - Isabel Bigley, singer and actress (d. 2006)
• February 26 - Fats Domino, pianist and singer-songwriter
• March 4 - Samuel Adler, composer and conductor
• March 6 - Ronald Stevenson, composer and pianist
• March 12 - Aldemaro Romero, Venezuelan composer and pianist (d. 2007)
• March 13 - Ronnie Hazlehurst, conductor and composer (d. 2007)
• March 31 - Lefty Frizzell, country singer and songwriter (d. 1975)
• April 2 - Serge Gainsbourg, singer-songwriter (d. 1991)
• April 3 - Don Gibson, country singer and songwriter (d. 2003)
• April 4 - Monty Norman, singer and composer of the James Bond signature tune
• April 5 - Tony Williams, vocalist (The Platters) (d. 1992)
• April 19 - Alexis Korner, blues musician and historian (d. 1984)
• April 21 - Hillous Butrum, country musician (d. 2002)
• April 23 - Shirley Temple, actress, dancer and singer
• April 29 - Carl Gardner, vocalist (The Coasters)
• May 3 - Dave Dudley, country singer (d. 2003)
• May 4 - Maynard Ferguson, jazz trumpeter (d. 2006)
• May 12 - Burt Bacharach, songwriter
• May 23 - Rosemary Clooney, singer and actress (d. 2002)
• May 27 - Thea Musgrave, composer
• June 7 - Charles Strouse, lyricist and cmoposer
• June 12
  • Vic Damone, singer
  • Richard M. Sherman, songwriter
• June 26 - Jacob Druckman, composer (d. 1996)
• July 1 - Bobby Day, singer, songwriter (d. 1990)
• August 10:
  • Jimmy Dean, singer (d. 2010)
  • Eddie Fisher, singer (d. 2010)
• August 16 - Ann Blyth, actress and singer
• August 18 - Sonny Til, doo-wop singer (d. 1981)
• August 22 - Karlheinz Stockhausen, German composer (d. 2007)
• September 6 - Yevgeny Svetlanov, conductor, pianist and composer (d. 200)
• September 15 - Cannonball Adderley, jazz musician (d. 1975)
• September 24 - John Carter, jazz musician (d. 1991)
• October 3 - Erik Bruhn, dancer and choreographer (d. 1986)
• October 9 - Einojuhani Rautavaara, Finnish composer
• November 10 - Ennio Morricone, composer
• November 13 - Hampton Hawes, jazz pianist (d. 1977)
• November 23 - Jerry Bock, composer of Fiddler on the Roof
• November 27 - Walter Klien, pianist (d. 1991)
• December 28 - Moe Koffman, jazz musician (d. 2001)
• December 30 - Bo Diddley, singer, songwriter and guitarist (d. 2008)

Deaths

• January 1 - Loie Fuller, dancer (born 1862)
• January 11 - Valborg Aulin, pianist and composer (born 1860)
• February 16 - Eddie Foy, vaudeville star (born 1846)
• March 1 - Sir Herbert Brewer, organist and composer (born 1865)
• March 27 - Leslie Stuart, musical theatre composer (born 1863)
• April 24 - Ferdinand Hummel, harpist, pianist, conductor and composer (born 1855)
• April 27 - Ernst Seifert, organ builder (born 1855)
• May 6 - Juliusz Wertheim, pianist, conductor and composer (born 1880) (heart attack)
• May 13 - David Thomas, composer (born 1881)
• May 28 - Emma Howson, operatic soprano (born 1844)
• June - Marie Novello, pianist (born 1898)
• June 19 - Nora Bayes, singer, comedienne and actress (born 1880)
• August 12 - Leoš Janáček, composer (born 1854)
• September 12 - Howard Talbot, conductor and composer (born 1865)
• October 9 - Frank Ellsworth Olds, brass instrument manufacturer (born 1861)
• October 30
  • Percy Anderson, D'Oyly Carte stage designer (born 1851)
  • Oscar Sonneck, musicologist (born 1873)
• November 7 - Mattia Battistini, operatic baritone (born 1856)
• November 10 - Anita Berber, dancer (born 1899)
• November 13 - Enrico Cecchetti, dancer (born 1850)
• November 26 - Herbert Sullivan, nephew and biographer of Sir Arthur Sullivan (born 1868)
• December 3 - Theodor von Frimmel, musicologist (born 1853)
• December 24 - Nicolae Leonard, operatic tenor (born 1886)
• date unknown
  • Celeste Farotti, violin-maker (born 1864)
  • Lillie de Hegermann-Lindencrone, singer (born 1844)