1911 in music

This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1911.

Specific locations

 * 1911 in Norwegian music

Specific genres

 * 1911 in jazz

Events

 * January 26 – Première of the opera Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss, in Dresden; the librettist is Hugo von Hofmannsthal and the director is Max Reinhardt.
 * February 21 – Gustav Mahler, who has contracted bacterial endocarditis and is running a fever of 104 degrees, conducts his last concert, with the New York Philharmonic, of which he has been principal conductor since 1909.
 * April 3 – Jean Sibelius conducts the world première of his Symphony No. 4 in Helsinki.
 * April 8 – Gustav Mahler embarks from New York for France; he enters a clinic in Paris, where he dies just over a month later.
 * May 19 – Maurice Ravel's opera L'heure espagnole is premiered at the Opéra-Comique in Paris, in a double bill with Jules Massenet's 1907 opera Thérèse.
 * May 24 – Edward Elgar conducts the première of his Symphony No. 2 in London.
 * June 15 – Igor Stravinsky's ballet Petrushka is premiered in Paris; the lead dancer is Vaslav Nijinsky.
 * July – Frank Bridge completes his orchestral suite The Sea, while staying at Eastbourne.
 * November 20 – Gustav Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde is premièred in Munich, after the composer's death, with his friend and former assistant Bruno Walter conducting at the request of Alma Mahler.
 * date unknown
 * Aino Ackté and other prominent opera singers found the Domestic Opera in Finland.
 * "Elsässisches Fahnenlied" is adopted as the anthem of the Republic of Alsace-Lorraine.
 * 16-year-old Carl Orff publishes his first compositions.
 * The Society of Women Musicians is co-founded by Marion Scott and others.

Published popular music

 * "After That I Want A Little More" w. Alfred Bryan m. Fred Fisher
 * "After The Honeymoon" w.m. Irving Berlin
 * "Alexander's Ragtime Band" w.m. Irving Berlin
 * "All Alone" w. William Dillon m. Harry Von Tilzer
 * "Any Old Iron" w.m. Charles Collins & Terry Sheppard
 * "Archibald, Certainly Not" w.m. Alfred Glover & John St John
 * "Baby Rose" by Louis Weslyn
 * "Billy" w. Joe Goodwin m. James Kendis & Herman Paley
 * "Bring Back My Lovin' Man" w.m. Irving Berlin
 * "Can't You Take It Back And Change It For A Boy?" w.m. Thurland Chattaway
 * "Core 'ngrato" w. Riccardo Cordiferro, m. Salvatore Cardillo
 * "Daly's Reel" m. Joseph M. Daly
 * "Down Home Rag" m. Wilbur Sweatman
 * "Down The Field" w. Caleb O'Connor m. Stanleigh P. Friedman
 * "El Choclo" w. Francice Luban m. Angel G. Villoldo
 * "Everybody's Doing it Now" w.m. Irving Berlin
 * "The Firebird" m. Igor Stravinsky
 * "The Floral Dance" w.m. Katie Moss
 * "The Gaby Glide" w. Harry Pilcer m. Louis Hirsch
 * "Hello! Susie Green" w. Lester Barrett m. Herman Darewski
 * "Honey Love" w. Jack Drislane m. George W. Meyer
 * "Honeysuckle Rag" m. George Botsford
 * "I Want a Girl (Just Like the Girl That Married Dear Old Dad)" w. William Dillon m. Harry Von Tilzer
 * "I Want To Be In Dixie" (also known as ""I'm Going Back To Dixie") w.m. Irving Berlin & Ted Snyder
 * "If Every Hour Were A Day" w. Anna Driver m. Alfred Bryan
 * "In The Land Of Harmony" w. Bert Kalmar m. Ted Snyder
 * "It's A Long Lane That Has No Turning" w. Arthur Penn m. Manuel Klein
 * "Jimmy Valentine" w. Edward Madden m. Gus Edwards
 * "The Little Grey Home In The West" w. D. Eardley-Wilmot m. Hermann Löhr
 * "Love Is Mine" w. Edward Teschemacher m. Clarence G. Gartner
 * "Make Me Love You Like I Never Loved Before" w. Alfred Bryan m. Fred Fisher
 * "Mary O'Hoolihan" Berlin
 * "(On) Moonlight Bay" w. Edward Madden m. Percy Wenrich
 * "Movin' Man Don't Take My Baby Grand" w. Bert Kalmar m. Ted Snyder
 * "My Beautiful Lady (Kiss Waltz)" w. C. M. S. McLellan m. Ivan Caryll
 * "My Hula Hula Love" w. Edward Madden m. Percy Wenrich
 * "My Rosary Of Dreams" w.m. E. F. Dusenberg & C. M. Denison
 * "Naughty, Naughty, Naughty" w. Harry Williams m. Egbert Van Alstyne
 * "The Oceana Roll" w. Roger Lewis m. Lucien Denni
 * "Oh Baby Mine" w.m. Cecille Boucher
 * "Oh, You Beautiful Doll" w. A. Seymour Brown m. Nat D. Ayer
 * "One O'Clock In The Morning I Get Lonesome" w.m. Irving Berlin
 * "Ragtime Violin!" w.m. Irving Berlin
 * "Red Rose Rag" w. Edward Madden m. Percy Wenrich
 * "A Ring On The Finger Is Worth Two On The Phone" w. Jack Mahoney m. George W. Meyer
 * "Roamin' In The Gloamin'" w.m. Harry Lauder
 * "Run Home And Tell Your Mother" w.m. Irving Berlin
 * "Sarnia Cherie" (anthem of Guernsey) w. George Deighton, m. Domenico Santangelo
 * "Somewhere a Voice is Calling" w. Eileen Newton m. Arthur F. Tate
 * "The Spaniard That Blighted My Life" w.m. Billy Merson
 * "Spanish Love" Irving Berlin, Vincent Bryan, Ted Snyder
 * "Texas Tommy Swing" Sid Brown & Val Harris
 * "That Baboon Baby Dance" w. Dave Oppenheim m. Joe Cooper
 * "That Hypnotizing Man" w. Lew Brown m. Albert Von Tilzer
 * "That Mysterious Rag" w.m. Irving Berlin, Ted Snyder
 * "That Was Before I Met You" w. Alfred Bryan m. George W. Meyer
 * "There's A Girl In Havana" Irving Berlin, E. Ray Goetz, A. Baldwin Sloane
 * "They Always Pick On Me" by Harry Von Tilzer and Stanley Murphy
 * "Till The Sands Of The Desert Grow Cold" w. George Graff Jr m. Ernest R. Ball
 * "To The Land Of My Own Romance" w. Harry B. Smith m. Victor Herbert
 * "Too Much Mustard" m. Cecil Macklin
 * "Virginia Lou" Irving Berlin, Earl Taylor
 * "A Wee Deoch-an-Doris" w.m. Gerald Grafton & Harry Lauder
 * "When I Was Twenty-One And You Were Sweet Sixteen" w. Harry Williams m. Egbert Van Alstyne
 * "When I'm Alone I'm Lonesome" w.m. Irving Berlin & Ted Snyder
 * "When It Rains, Sweetheart, When It Rains" w.m. Irving Berlin
 * "When Ragtime Rosie Ragged The Rosary" w. Edgar Leslie m. Lewis F. Muir
 * "When You Kiss An Italian Girl" w.m. Irving Berlin
 * "When You're Away" w. A. Seymour Brown & Joe Young m. Bert Grant
 * "When You're In Town" w.m. Irving Berlin
 * "The Whistling Rag" w.m. Irving Berlin
 * "Woodman, Woodman, Spare That Tree" w.m. Irving Berlin & Vincent Bryan
 * "Yiddisha Nightingale" w.m. Irving Berlin
 * "You've Got Me Hypnotized" w.m. Irving Berlin

Hit recordings

 * "Any Little Girl, That's a Nice Little Girl, Is the Right Little Girl for Me" – Billy Murray
 * "Let Me Call You Sweetheart" - the Peerless Quartet
 * "Turn Off Your Light, Mr. Moon Man" – Nora Bayes and Jack Norworth

Classical music

 * Joseph Achron – Hebrew Melody
 * Lili Boulanger – Les Sirènes
 * Frank Bridge – The Sea
 * George Butterworth – Two English Idylls
 * George Whitefield Chadwick – Suite Symphonique
 * Eric Coates – Miniature Suite
 * Frederick Delius – Summer Night on the River
 * George Enescu –
 * Sonata for violin and piano, in A minor (first-movement "Torso")
 * Suite châtelaine, for orchestra (unfinished)
 * Carl Engel – Sea-Shell
 * Reinhold Glière – Symphony No. 3 Ilya Murometz (completed)
 * Enrique Granados – Goyescas
 * Reynaldo Hahn – Aubade athénienne
 * Gustav Holst
 * Invocation for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 19/2
 * Second Suite in F, for military band
 * 2 Eastern Pictures, H. 112
 * Charles Ives – Requiem S. 333
 * Paul von Klenau – String Quartet No. 1 in E minor
 * Nikolai Medtner – Sonata for Piano in E minor, Op. 25 no 2 "Night Wind"
 * Nikolai Myaskovsky
 * Sinfonietta in A
 * Symphony No. 2
 * Cello Sonata No. 1 (later revised in 1945).
 * Carl Nielsen – Concerto for Violin and Orchestra
 * Arnold Schoenberg – Sechs kleine Klavierstücke
 * Alexander Scriabin
 * Piano Sonata No. 6
 * Piano Sonata No. 7
 * Cyril Scott
 * An Old Song Ended
 * Water-Wagtail, Op.71 No.3
 * Tallahassee, Op.73 No.4
 * Ethel Smyth – The March of the Women
 * John Philip Sousa – Tales of a Traveler
 * Charles Villiers Stanford
 * Symphony No. 7 in D minor, Op. 124
 * Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 126
 * Igor Stravinsky
 * The Firebird Suite No. 1
 * Petrushka
 * Two Poems of K. Balmont, for voice and piano
 * Amy Woodforde-Finden – "Stars of the Desert"

Opera

 * Béla Bartók – Bluebeard's Castle (first version composed; revised 1912 and 1917; not staged until 1918)
 * Scott Joplin – Treemonisha (composed; not staged until 1972)
 * Maurice Ravel – L'Heure Espagnole
 * Richard Strauss – Der Rosenkavalier, Dresden

Operetta

 * Leányvásár (The Marriage Market) – Victor Jacobi

Musical theater

 * The Count of Luxembourg London production opened at Daly's Theatre on May 20 and ran for 340 performances
 * The Fascinating Widow Broadway production opened at the Liberty Theatre on September 11 and transferred to the Grand Opera House on November 13 for a total run of 65 performances. Starring Julian Eltinge, Winona Winter, Natalia Ault and Eddie Garvie.
 * Gypsy Love (Zigeunerliebe) opened in Berlin. The Broadway production opened at the Globe Theatre on October 17 and ran for 31 performances
 * Der Lila Domino (Lilac Domino) – Leipzig production
 * Madame Sherry New York
 * Marriage a la Carte Broadway production opened at the Casino Theatre on January 2 and ran for 64 performances
 * Peggy, by Leslie Stuart, with a book by George Grossmith, Jr. and lyrics by C. H. Bovill, London production opens at the Gaiety Theatre under the management of George Edwardes, on 4 March, and runs for 270 performances, starring Grossmith, Edmund Payne, Phyllis Dare and Gabrielle Ray
 * The Pink Lady Broadway production opened at the New Amsterdam Theatre on March 13 and ran for 312 performances
 * The Quaker Girl Broadway production opened at the Park Theatre on October 23 and ran for 240 performances
 * The Revue of Revues Broadway revue opened at the Winter Garden Theatre on September 27 and ran for 55 performances. Starring Gaby Deslys, Harry Jolson, Ernie Hare and Frank Tinney.
 * Die Sirene by Leo Fall, based on a text by Leo Stein and A. M. Willner, first performed in Vienna on 5 January.
 * The Siren, a Broadway musical adaptation of Die Sirene is produced in New York by Charles Frohman and runs at the Knickerbocker Theatre from 28 August 1911 to 16 December (116 performances).

Births

 * January 10 – Sidney Griller, violinist and founder of the Griller Quartet (d. 1993)
 * January 18
 * Gábor Darvas, composer (d. 1985)
 * Danny Kaye, actor, singer, dancer and comedian (d. 1987)
 * January 20
 * Roy Eldridge, jazz trumpeter (d. 1989)
 * Wendell J. Westcott, American carillon player and educator (d. 2010)
 * January 24
 * Evelyn Barbirolli, English oboist (d. 2008)
 * Muir Mathieson, Scottish conductor and composer (d. 1975)
 * February 3 – Jehan Alain, organist and composer (d. 1940)
 * February 5 – Jussi Björling, Swedish tenor (d. 1960)
 * February 11 – Wesley Rose, record producer (d. 1990)
 * February 17 – Orrin Tucker, American saxophonist and bandleader (d. 2011)
 * February 20 – Robert McBride, composer (d. 2007)
 * March 7 – Stefan Kisielewski, Polish composer (d. 1991)
 * March 8 – Alan Hovhaness, composer (d. 2000)
 * March 9 – Clara Rockmore, born Clara Reisenberg, thereminist and violinist (d. 1998)
 * March 16 – Harper Goff, Disney special effects man and Dixieland musician (d. 1993)
 * March 18 – Smiley Burnette, singer-songwriter (d. 1967)
 * April 6 – Guillermo Portabales, singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1970)
 * April 8 – Ichirō Fujiyama, Japanese composer and singer (d. 1993)
 * May 8
 * Robert Johnson, blues guitarist and singer (d. 1938)
 * Blanche Winogron, harpsichordist (d. 2002)
 * May 13 – Maxine Sullivan, singer (d. 1987)
 * May 14 – Hans Vogt, composer and conductor (d. 1992)
 * May 18 – Big Joe Turner, blues shouter (d. 1985)
 * May 20 – Vet Boswell of the Boswell Sisters singing group (d. 1988)
 * June 4 – Faustino Oramas, Cuban singer, tres guitarist and composer (d. 2007)
 * June 9 – Frederick May, Irish composer (d. 1985)
 * June 24 – Portia White, contralto singer (d. 1968)
 * June 29 – Bernard Herrmann, film composer (d. 1975)
 * July 4 – Mitch Miller, arranger, conductor, record producer and oboe player (d. 2010)
 * July 7 – Gian Carlo Menotti, composer (d. 2007)
 * July 8 – Gertrude Niesen, American singer, actress, comedian and songwriter (d. 1975)
 * July 16 – Ginger Rogers, dancer, actress and singer (d. 1995)
 * July 26 – Buddy Clark, singer (d. 1949)
 * July 29 – Ján Cikker, composer (d. 1989)
 * July 31 – George Liberace, violinist and elder brother of Liberace (d. 1983)
 * August 5 – Roger Roger, film composer and bandleader (d. 2007)
 * August 6 – Lucille Ball, actress and singer (d. 1989)
 * August 26 – Deva Dassy, French opera singer (d. 2016)
 * August 27 – Kay Walsh, dancer and actress (d. 2005)
 * September 2 – Floyd Council, blues musician (d. 1976)
 * September 11 – Bola de Nieve, singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 1971)
 * September 19 – Allan Pettersson, Swedish composer (d. 1980)
 * September 24 – Marie Kraja, Albanian operatic and folk singer (d. 1999)
 * October 1 – Irwin Kostal, arranger (d. 1994)
 * October 7
 * Shura Cherkassky, pianist (d. 1995)
 * Vaughn Monroe, singer and bandleader (d. 1973)
 * October 24 – Sonny Terry, blues musician (d. 1986)
 * October 26 – Mahalia Jackson, gospel singer (d. 1972)
 * October 29 – Nelson Cavaquinho, samba singer and composer (d. 1986)
 * November 5 – Roy Rogers, singer, actor (d. 1998)
 * November 30 – Jorge Negrete, Mexican singer and actor (d. 1953)
 * December 3 – Nino Rota, composer (d. 1979)
 * December 14 – Spike Jones, bandleader (d. 1965)
 * December 15 – Stan Kenton, bandleader (d. 1979)
 * December 17 – André Claveau, French singer and Eurovision winner (d. 2003)
 * December 25 – Eric Gilder, musicologist (d. 2000)
 * December 27 – Anna Russell, singer and comedian (d. 2006)
 * December 28 – Max Jaffa, violinist and bandleader (d. 1991)

Deaths

 * January 7 – William Hall Sherwood, pianist and music educator (b. 1854)
 * January 8 – Pietro Gori, anarchist poet and songwriter (b. 1865)
 * January 9 – Edwin Arthur Jones, composer (b. 1853)
 * January 16 – Wilhelm Berger, pianist, conductor and composer (born 1861)
 * January 28 – Wilhelmina Fundin, Swedish operatic soprano (b. 1819)
 * February 1 – Ángel Mislan, composer (b. 1862)
 * February 20 – Alexander Kopylov, violinist and composer (b. 1854)
 * March 20 – Jean-Théodore Radoux, bassoonist and composer (b. 1835)
 * March 29 – Alexandre Guilmant, organist and composer (b. 1837)
 * April 7 – Wilhelm Thern, pianist (b. 1847)
 * April 10 – Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis, painter and composer (b. 1875)
 * April 15 – Wilma Neruda, violinist (b. 1838)
 * May 4 – Ronald Richardson Potter, organist and composer (b. 1879)
 * May 5 – James A. Bland, musician and songwriter (b. 1854)
 * May 18 – Gustav Mahler, composer (b. 1860)
 * May 29 – W. S. Gilbert, of Gilbert & Sullivan (b. 1836)
 * June 7 – Carlos Fernández Shaw, librettist (b. 1865)
 * June 13 – Patrick Heeney, composer (b. 1881)
 * June 14 – Johan Svendsen, conductor, composer and violinist (b. 1840)
 * June 16 – Frank Peabody Atherton, composer and educator (b. 1868)
 * June 18 – Franjo Kuhač, piano teacher, conductor and musicologist (b. 1834)
 * June 21 – Robert Radecke, composer (b. 1830)
 * June 22 – Bruno Klein, organist and composer (b. 1858)
 * July 2 – Felix Mottl, conductor and composer (b. 1856)
 * July 3 – Madeline Schiller, pianist (b. c. 1845)
 * July 7 – Samuel de Lange, composer, organist, pianist, conductor and music teacher, director of the Stuttgart music conservatory (b. 1841)
 * July 25 – Filippo Capocci, Italian organist and composer (b. 1840)
 * August 2
 * Bob Cole, composer (b. 1869)
 * José Joaquín Palma, lyricist of the national anthem of Guatemala (b. 1884)
 * August 10 – Carl Christian Lumbye, Danish composer, son of Hans Christian Lumbye
 * August 29 – Hildegard Werner, Swedish musician, conductor and journalist (b. 1834)
 * October 3 – Paul Sarebresole, ragtime composer (b. 1875)
 * October 13 – Harry Rickards, comedian, singer and theatre owner (b. 1843)
 * November 23 – Catalina Berroa, Cuban pianist, music teacher and composer (b. 1849)
 * December 29 – Rosamund Marriott Watson, lyricist (born 1860)