1911 in music

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 had contracted bacterial endocarditis and was running a fever of 104 degrees, conducts his last concert, with the New York Philharmonic, of which he had been principal conductor since 1909.
• April 8 – Gustav Mahler embarks from New York to 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 a double bill with Jules Massenet's 1907 opera Thérèse.
• May 24 – Edward Elgar conducts the premiere 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.
• *Gustav Holst wrote the Second Suite in F for concert band.

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 " w. William Dillon m. Harry Von Tilzer
• "I Want To Be In 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
• " 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 " 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" 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
• "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
• Eric Coates – Miniature Suite
• Frederick Delius – Summer Night on the River
• George Enescu –
• *Sonata for violin and piano, in A minor
• *Suite châtelaine, for orchestra
• Reinhold Glière – Symphony No. 3 Ilya Murometz
• 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.
• Carl Nielsen – Concerto for Violin and Orchestra
• Arnold Schoenberg – Sechs kleine Klavierstücke
• Alexander Scriabin
• *Piano Sonata No. 6
• *Piano Sonata No. 7
• 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

  Opera

• Béla Bartók – Bluebeard's Castle
• Scott Joplin – Treemonisha
• Maurice Ravel – L'Heure Espagnole
• Richard Strauss – Der Rosenkavalier, Dresden

  Operetta

• Leányvásár – 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 opened in Berlin. The Broadway production opened at the Globe Theatre on October 17 and ran for 31 performances
• Der Lila 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.

  Births

• January 10 – Sidney Griller, violinist and founder of the Griller Quartet
• January 18
• *Gábor Darvas, composer
• *Danny Kaye, actor, singer, dancer and comedian
• January 20
• *Roy Eldridge, jazz musician
• *Wendell J. Westcott, American carillon player and educator
• January 24
• *Evelyn Barbirolli, English oboist
• *Muir Mathieson, Scottish conductor and composer
• February 3 – Jehan Alain, organist and composer
• February 5 – Jussi Björling, Swedish tenor
• February 11 – Wesley Rose, record producer
• February 17 – Orrin Tucker, American saxophonist and bandleader
• February 20 – Robert McBride, composer
• March 7 – Stefan Kisielewski, Polish composer
• March 8 – Alan Hovhaness, composer
• March 9 – Clara Rockmore, born Clara Reisenberg, thereminist and violinist
• March 16 – Harper Goff, Disney special effects man and Dixieland musician
• March 18 – Smiley Burnette, singer-songwriter
• April 6 – Guillermo Portabales, singer-songwriter and guitarist
• April 8 – Ichirō Fujiyama, Japanese composer and singer
• May 8 – Robert Johnson, blues guitarist and singer
• May 13 – Maxine Sullivan, singer
• May 14 – Hans Vogt, composer and conductor
• May 18 – Big Joe Turner, blues shouter
• May 20 – Vet Boswell of the Boswell Sisters singing group
• June 4 – Faustino Oramas, Cuban singer, tres guitarist and composer
• June 9 – Frederick May, Irish composer
• June 24 – Portia White, contralto singer
• June 29 – Bernard Herrmann, film composer
• July 4 – Mitch Miller, arranger, conductor, record producer and oboe player
• July 7 – Gian Carlo Menotti, composer
• July 16 – Ginger Rogers, dancer, actress and singer
• July 26 – Buddy Clark, singer
• July 29 – Ján Cikker, composer
• July 31 – George Liberace, violinist and elder brother of Liberace
• August 5 – Roger Roger, film composer and bandleader
• August 6 – Lucille Ball, actress and singer
• August 27 – Kay Walsh, dancer and actress
• September 2 – Floyd Council, blues musician
• September 11 – Bola de Nieve, singer-songwriter and pianist
• September 19 – Allan Pettersson, Swedish composer
• September 24 – Marie Kraja, Albanian operatic and folk singer
• October 1 – Irwin Kostal, arranger
• October 7
• *Shura Cherkassky, pianist
• *Vaughn Monroe, singer and bandleader
• October 24 – Sonny Terry, blues musician
• October 26 – Mahalia Jackson, gospel singer
• October 29 – Nelson Cavaquinho, samba singer and composer
• November 5 – Roy Rogers, singer, actor
• December 3 – Nino Rota, composer
• December 14 – Spike Jones, bandleader
• December 15 – Stan Kenton, bandleader
• December 17 – André Claveau, French singer and Eurovision winner
• December 25 – Eric Gilder, musicologist
• December 27 – Anna Russell, singer and comedian
• December 28 – Max Jaffa, violinist and bandleader
• date unknown – Blanche Winogron, harpsichordist

  Deaths

• January 7 – William Hall Sherwood, pianist and music educator
• January 8 – Pietro Gori, anarchist poet and songwriter
• January 9 – Edwin Arthur Jones, composer
• January 16 – Wilhelm Berger, pianist, conductor and composer
• January 28 – Wilhelmina Fundin, Swedish operatic soprano
• February 1 – Ángel Mislan, composer
• February 20 – Alexander Kopylov, violinist and composer
• March 20 – Jean-Théodore Radoux, bassoonist and composer
• March 29 – Alexandre Guilmant, organist and composer
• April 7 – Wilhelm Thern, pianist
• April 10 – Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis, painter and composer
• April 15 – Wilma Neruda, violinist
• May 4 – Ronald Richardson Potter, organist and composer
• May 5 – James A. Bland, musician and songwriter
• May 18 – Gustav Mahler, composer
• May 29 – W. S. Gilbert, of Gilbert & Sullivan
• June 7 – Carlos Fernández Shaw, librettist
• June 13 – Patrick Heeney, composer
• June 14 – Johan Svendsen, conductor, composer and violinist
• June 18 – Franjo Kuhač, piano teacher, conductor and musicologist
• June 21 – Robert Radecke, composer
• June 22 – Bruno Klein, organist and composer
• July 2 – Felix Mottl, conductor and composer
• July 3 – Madeline Schiller, pianist
• July 7 – Samuel de Lange, composer, organist, pianist, conductor and music teacher, director of the Stuttgart music conservatory
• August 2
• *Bob Cole, composer
• *José Joaquín Palma, lyricist of the national anthem of Guatemala
• August 10 – Carl Christian Lumbye, Danish composer, son of Hans Christian Lumbye
• August 29 – Hildegard Werner, Swedish musician, conductor and journalist
• October 3 – Paul Sarebresole, ragtime composer
• October 13 – Harry Rickards, comedian, singer and theatre owner
• November 23 – Catalina Berroa, Cuban pianist, music teacher and composer