1904 in music

Events

January 13 – Béla Bartók's symphonic poem Kossuth is premiered in Budapest, becoming his first major work to be performed.

February 17 – Puccini's Madama Butterfly debuts at La Scala in Milan to no great acclaim. On May 28 a revised version opens in Brescia to huge success.

June 9 – The Queen's Hall Orchestra, under Sir Henry Wood, plays its first concert under its new name of the London Symphony Orchestra.

July 15 – Soprano Agnes Nicholls marries conductor Hamilton Harty.

September 12 – Pianist Ignacy Jan Paderewski gives a concert in Wellington, New Zealand.

October

Alban Berg begins his studies under Arnold Schoenberg.

The Gramophone Company records the Bach-Gounod Ave Maria (G.C. 03033) performed by Dame Nellie Melba with Jan Kubelík on violin.

October 18 – Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 5 is premiered by the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne under the composer's baton; it is also first published this year.

November 10 – Ferruccio Busoni gives the world premiere of his Piano Concerto at the Beethoven-Saal in Berlin.

Claudio Monteverdi's opera L'Orfeo is given a modern debut in concert version in Paris.

Published popular music

"Abraham" w. Sterling m. Von Tilzer

"Absinthe Frappe" w. Glen MacDonough m. Victor Herbert

"Ain't It Funny What a Difference Just a Few Hours Make" w. Henry Blossom m. Alfred G. Robyn. Introduced by Raymond Hitchcock in the Broadway show The Yankee Consul

"Al Fresco" w. Glen MacDonough m. Victor Herbert

"Alexander" w. Andrew B. Sterling m. Harry Von Tilzer

"All Aboard For Dreamland" w. Andrew B. Sterling m. Harry Von Tilzer

"Back, Back To Baltimore" w. Harry H. Williams m. Egbert Van Alstyne

"Big Indian Chief" w. Bob Cole m. J. Rosamond Johnson

"Billy" w. Edgar Malone m. Ted S. Barron

"Blue Bell" w. Edward Madden, Dolly Morse m. Theodore F. Morse

"By The Old Oak Tree" w. George V. Hobart m. Max Hoffmann

"Come Back To Sorrento" (Original title "Torna A Surriento") w.m. Ernesto de Curtis & Claude Aveling

"Come Down From The Big Fig Tree" w. Edward Madden m. Theodore Morse

"Come Take A Trip In My Airship" w. Ren Shields m. George Evans

"Cordalia Malone" Jerome, Schwartz

"The Countess Of Alagazam" w.m. Bob Cole

"The Day That You Grew Colder" w.m. Paul Dresser

"Don't Cry, Katie, Dear" Mills

"Down In The Subway" Jerome, Schwartz

"Down On The Brandywine" w. Vincent P. Bryan m. J. B. Mullen

"Fascination" w. Dick Manning m. F. D. Marchetti Words 1932.

"Fishing" w. James Weldon Johnson m. J. Rosamond Johnson

"Following In Father's Footsteps" w.m. E. W. Rogers

"Fu' The Noo" w. Harry Lauder & Gerald Grafton m. Harry Lauder

"The Ghost That Never Walked" w. William Jerome m. Jean Schwartz

"Gimme De Leavins" w. James Weldon Johnson m. Bob Cole

"Give My Regards to Broadway" w.m. George M. Cohan

"Good-bye Flo" w.m. George M. Cohan

"Goodbye, Little Girl, Goodbye" w. Will D. Cobb m.. Gus Edwards

"Goodbye, My Lady Love" w.m. Joseph E. Howard

"The Goo-Goo Man" Stoddard, Schindler, Jerome

"Hannah, Won't You Open That Door" w. Andrew B. Sterling m. Harry von Tilzer

"Have You Seen Maggie Riley?" Von Tilzer

"He Done Me Wrong" w.m. Hughie Cannon

"Heinie" Rose, Snyder

"I Love You All The Time" w.m. Will R. Anderson

"I Want To Be A Soldier" w.m. William Cahill

"I'm Longing For My Old Kentucky Home" w. Vincent Bryan m. J. B. Mullen

"In The Days Of Old" w. Henry Blossom m. Alfred G. Robyn

"In Zanzibar – My Little Chimpanzee" w. Will D. Cobb m. Gus Edwards

"Just An Ever-Loving Girl" Bryan, Mullen

"Just For The Sake Of Society" w. Alfred Bryan m. Kerry Mills

"Kiss Me Good Night, Dear Love" w.m. Malcolm Williams & Israel Zangwill

"Let's All Go Up To Maud's" w. Joseph C. Farrell m. Kerry Mills

"Life's A Funny Proposition After All" w.m. George M Cohan

"A Little Boy Called "Taps"" w. Edward Madden m. Theodore F. Morse

"The Man Behind" w. Vincent Bryan m. J. B. Mullen

"The Man With The Ladder And Hose" w.m. T. Mayo Geary

"La Mattinata" m. Ruggiero Leoncavallo

"Maureen Of Ballinasloe" w. J. Francis Barron m. J. Airlie Dix

"Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis" w. Andrew B. Sterling m. Kerry Mills

"Mexico" w. James Weldon Johnson & Bob Cole m. Bob Cole

"Mister Wilson, That's All" w. Henry Williams m. Egbert Van Alstyne

"My Honey Lou" w.m. Thurland Chattaway

"My Kangaroo" Farrell & Kohlman

"Nan! Nan! Nan!" by Edward Madden

"Oh Bliss! Oh Joy!" Mullen

"Oh Gee! It's Great To Be Crazy" Carle, Bowers

"Oh! Oh! Sallie" Hartlett

"On The Warpath" Raymond A. Browne (composer)

"One Fine Day" (Original title "Un Bel Di") w. L. Illica & G. Giacosa m. G. Puccini

"Please Come And Play In My Yard" w. Edward Madden m. Theodore F. Morse

"The Preacher And The Bear" w.m. George Fairman

"Saint Louis Rag" m. Tom Turpin

"Scissors To Grind" w.m. Thomas S. Allen

"Seminole" w. Harry Williams m. Egbert Van Alstyne

"Shame On You" Larkin, Smith

"She Went to the City" by Paul Dresser

"Since Little Dolly Dimples Made A Hit" w. William Jerome m. Jean Schwartz

"St. Louis Tickle" m. Barney & Seymore

"The Story Of A Clothes Line" m. James W. Tate w. Frank Clifford Harris

"Sweet Thoughts Of Home" w. Stanislaus Stange m. Julian Edwards

"Teasing" w. Cecil Mack m. Albert Von Tilzer

"Those Songs My Mother Used To Sing" w.m. H. Wakefield Smith

"Three Green Bonnets" w. Harris m. Guy d'Hardelot

"Tippecanoe" w. Harry Williams m. Egbert Van Alstyne

"The Trumpeter" by Francis Barron

"What The Brass Band Played" Drislane, Morse

"Why Adam Sinned" w.m. Alex Rogers

"Won't You Fondle Me" w.m. James Kendis & Herman Paley

"The Yankee Doodle Boy" w.m. George M. Cohan

"Your Mother Wants You Home Boy" w.m. Paul Dresser

Classical music

Béla Bartók

Piano quintet

Rhapsody, Op. 1

Hakon Børresen – Concerto for violin and orchestra in G major

Alexander Glazunov – Violin Concerto in A minor

Hamilton Harty – An Irish Symphony

Gustav Mahler – Kindertotenlieder (Songs of the Death of Children) (song-cycle)

Max Reger – Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Hiller

Alexander Scriabin – Symphony No. 3

Petar Stojanović – Violin Concerto no 1

Igor Stravinsky – Piano Sonata in F sharp minor

Claude Debussy – La Mer

Opera

Franco Alfano – Risurrezione

Leoš Janáček – Jenůfa

Giacomo Puccini – Madama Butterfly

Sergei Rachmaninoff – The Miserly Knight

Amedeo Vives – Bohemios

Operetta

A rátartós királykisasszony (The Haughty Princess) by Victor Jacobi. First performed on December 17 at Budapest.

Musical theater

The Catch of the Season London production opened at the Vaudeville Theatre on September 9 and ran for 621 performances

The Cingalee (Lionel Monckton, Adrian Ross and Percy Greenbank) – London production opened at Daly's Theatre on March 5 and ran for 365 performances

It Happened in Nordland Broadway production opened at the Lew M. Fields Theatre on December 5 and ran for 254 performances

Little Johnny Jones (book, music, lyrics, direction and featuring George M. Cohan) Broadway production opened at the Liberty Theatre on November 7 and ran for 52 performances

Paris by Night (Music: Alfred Solmon Book: Harry Marshall) Broadway production opened at the Madison Square Roof Garden on July 2 and ran for 50 performances. Starring Ben Welch.

The Rogers Brothers In Paris Broadway production opened at the New Amsterdam Theatre on September 5 and ran for 72 performances

Sergeant Brue London production opened at the Strand Theatre on June 14

The Yankee Consul Broadway production opened at the Broadway Theatre on February 22 and ran for 115 performances

Births

January 10 – Ray Bolger, singer, and dancer (d. 1987)

January 13 – Richard Addinsell, composer (d. 1977)

January 15 – Eddie DeLange, bandleader and lyricist (d. 1949)

January 22 – George Balanchine, choreographer (d. 1983)

February 3 – Luigi Dallapiccola, composer (d. 1975)

February 23 – Allan Gray, film composer (d. 1973)

February 29 – Jimmy Dorsey, bandleader (d. 1957)

March 1 – Glenn Miller, trombonist and bandleader (m. 1944)

March 4 – Joseph Schmidt, Austrian-Hungarian tenor and actor (d. 1942)

April 9 – Sharkey Bonano, jazz musician (d. 1972)

April 16 – Fifi D'Orsay, actress and singer (d. 1983)

April 18 – Pigmeat Markham, all-round entertainer (d. 1981)

April 29

Russ Morgan, orchestra leader (d. 1969)

Pedro Vargas, Mexican singer and actor (d. 1989)

May 21 – Fats Waller, American pianist and comedian (d. 1943)

May 23 – Libby Holman, US singer and actress (d. 1971)

May 26 – George Formby, English music hall performer, singer, actor and songwriter (d. 1961)

May 28 – Margaret Harris, opera costume and set designer (d. 2000)

May 29 – León Zuckert, conductor, composer and arranger (d. 1992)

June 3 – Jan Peerce, American tenor (d. 1984)

June 6 – Raymond Burke, clarinettist (d. 1986)

June 7 – Don Murray, clarinettist (d. 1929)

June 11 – Pinetop Smith, jazz pianist (d. 1929)

June 15 – Anna Mahler, musician and sculptor (d. 1988)

June 21 – Mack Gordon, Polish-born US lyricist (d. 1959)

June 24 – Phil Harris, jazz musician (d. 1995)

July 16

Mabel Wayne, US composer

Goffredo Petrassi, composer (d. 2003)

July 24 – Leo Arnaud, film composer (d. 1991)

August 13 – Charles "Buddy" Rogers, actor and singer (d. 1989)

August 17 – Leopold Nowak, Austrian musicologist (d. 1991)

August 21 – Count Basie, bandleader (d. 1984)

September 17 – Sir Frederick Ashton, dancer and choreographer (d. 1988)

October 11 – Tita Merello, tango singer, dancer and actress (d. 2002)

October 20 – Anna Neagle, actress and singer (d. 1986)

October 24 – Moss Hart, musical theatre director (d. 1961)

October 29 – Vivian Ellis, English composer (d. 1996)

November 1 or November 14 – Aleksey Zhivotov, composer (d. 1964)

November 14 – Dick Powell, actor and singer (d. 1963)

November 18 – Masao Koga, Japanese composer (d. 1978)

November 21 – Coleman Hawkins, saxophonist (d. 1969)

November 25 – Toni Ortelli, Italian composer and alpinist (d. 2000)

December 9 – Elsie Randolph, English actress, dancer and singer

December 18 – Wilf Carter, country singer (d. 1966)

December 26 – Alejo Carpentier, musicologist (d. 1980)

December 31 – Umm Kulthum, Egyptian singer and actress (d. 1975)

Deaths

January 4 – Mitrofan Belyayev, music publisher (b. 1836)

January 10 – Antoinette Sterling, singer

January 15 – Eduard Lassen, composer (b. 1830)

January 20 – Maria Louisa Bustill, mother of Paul Robeson (b. 1853) (domestic accident)

March 10 – Giovanni Cesari, castrato singer (b. 1843)

March 11 – Charles Grisart, opera composer (b. 1837)

March 20 – Louisa Pyne, operatic soprano and opera company manager (b. 1832)

March 31 – Sophia Karp, actress and singer (b. 1861)

April 29 – Nellie Farren, burlesque actress and singer (b. 1848)

May 1 – Antonín Dvořák, composer (b. 1841)

May 19 – Korla Awgust Kocor, conductor and composer (b. 1822)

May 30 – Laura Joyce Bell, contralto singer and actress (b. 1854)

June 28 – Dan Emmett, founder of the Virginia Minstrels (b. 1815)

July 13 – Giulia Warwick, operatic soprano and actress (b. 1857)

August 6 – Eduard Hanslick, music critic (b. 1825)

October 31 – Dan Leno, English music hall comedian, clog dancer and singer (b. 1860)

November 30 – Aldine Silliman Kieffer, music teacher and publisher (b. 1840)

date unknown

Antonio Galassi, operatic baritone (b. 1845)

Arthur Lloyd, music hall entertainer and songwriter (b. 1839)