1899 in music

Events

• April 26
  • Jean Sibelius's Symphony No. 1 is premiered in Helsinki.
  • Tenor Antonio Paoli makes his début in Rossini's William Tell in Paris.
• May 27 - Maurice Ravel conducts the first performance of his song cycle Shéhérazade.
• June 19 - Edward Elgar's Enigma Variations are premiered in London.
• September 18 - Scott Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag is registered for copyright as ragtime music enjoys mainstream popularity in the United States.
• Claude Debussy marries Rosalie Texier, having lived for nine years with her best friend; the marriage lasts only five years.
• Adelina Patti marries Baron Rolf Cederström.
• Dame Marie Tempest marries actor-playwright Cosmo Stuart.
• Samuel Coleridge-Taylor marries Jessie Walmisley.

Published popular music

• "Absent"     w. Catherine Young Glen m. John W. Metcalf
• "Always!"     w. Charles Horwitz m. Frederick V. Bowers
• "Cake Walk In The Sky" by Ben Harney
• "Come Home Dewey We Won't Do A Thing To You"     w.m. Paul Dresser
• "A Coon Band Contest"     m. Arthur Pryor
• "Cotton Pickers Rag & Cakewalk" by William Braun
• "Doan Ye Cry, Mah Honey"     w.m. Alfred W. Noll
• "Hands Across The Sea"     m. John Philip Sousa
• "Hearts And Flowers"     w. Mary D. Brine m. Theodore Moses Tobani
• "Hello! Ma Baby"     w.m. Ida Emerson & Joseph E. Howard
• "I'd Leave My Happy Home For You"     w. Will A. Heelan m. Harry Von Tilzer
• "If Only You Were Mine"     w. Harry B. Smith m. Victor Herbert
• "I'll Be Your Sweetheart" w.m. Harry Dacre
• "Impecunious Davis" by Kerry Mills
• "Mandy Lee" w.m. Thurland Chattaway
• "Maple Leaf Rag" by Scott Joplin
• "Mosquito Parade"     m. Howard Whitney
• "My Little Georgia Rose"     w. Robert F. Roden m. Max S. Witt
• "My Wild Irish Rose"     w.m. Chauncey Olcott
• "'O Sole Mio!"     w. Giovanni Capurro m. Eduardo di Capua
• "A Picture No Artist Can Paint"     w.m. J. Fred Helf
• "She Was Happy Till She Met You"     w. Charles Graham m. Monroe H. Rosenfeld
• "Smoky Mokes"     m. Abe Holzmann
• "Stay In Your Own Back Yard"     w. Karl Kennett m. Lyn Udall
• "The Story Of The Rose" (aka "Heart Of My Heart")      w. "Alice" m. Andrew Mack
• "Telephone Me, Baby" w.m. George M. Cohan
• "There's Where My Heart Is Tonight"     w.m. Paul Dresser
• "Where The Sweet Magnolias Grow"     w. Andrew B. Sterling m. Harry Von Tilzer
• "Whistling Rufus"     w. W. Murdock Lind m. Kerry Mills
• "You Tell Me Your Dream, I'll Tell You Mine" w. Seymore Rice & Albert H. Brown, m. Charles N. Daniels

Recorded popular music

• "Abide With Me" (w. Rev Henry Francis Lyte m. William Henry Monk)
  - Frank C. Stanley on Edison Records
• "Always!" (w. Charles Horwitz m. Frederick V. Bowers)
  - May Kelso on Edison Records
  - Harry Macdonough on Edison Records
• "Asleep In The Deep" (w. Arthur J. Lamb m. Henry W. Petrie)
  - William Hooley on Edison Records
• "At A Georgia Camp Meeting" (w.m. Kerry Mills)
  - John Terrell on Berliner Records
  - Dan W. Quinn on Edison Records
  - banjo Vess L. Ossman on Columbia Records
• "Ave Maria" (w. (Fr) Paul Bernard m. Charles Gounod)
  - M. A. Guarini on Edison Records
  - W. D. McFarland on Berliner Records
• "Because" (w. Charles Horwitz m. Frederick V. Bowers)
  - Albert C. Campbell on Edison Records
  - Sousa's Band on Berliner Records
• "Believe Me, if All Those Endearing Young Charms" (w. Thomas Moore m. trad)
  - J. J. Fisher on Edison Records
• "The Boy Guessed Right" (w.m. Lionel Monckton)
  - Albert C. Campbell on Edison Records & Berliner Records
• "The Cake Walk" (trad US)
  - Eugene Stratton with piano Leslie Stuart on Berliner Gramophone
• "Calvary" (w. Henry Vaughn m. Paul Rodney)
  - Albert C. Campbell on Berliner Records
• "Comin' Thro' The Rye" (w. Robert Burns m. trad)
  - Syria Lamonte with piano Fred Gaisberg on Berliner Gramophone
• "Curse of the Dreamer"
  - Dan W. Quinn on Columbia Records
• "Down The Road" (w.m. Fred Gilbert)
  - Gus Elen on Berliner Gramophone
• "Eli Green's Cakewalk" (w.m. David Reed & Sadie Koninsky)
  - banjo Vess L. Ossman on Edison Records
• "Emmet's Lullaby" (w.m. J. K. Emmet)
  - George P. Watson on Edison Records
• "Funiculi-Funicula" (w. G. Turco m. Luigi Denza)
  - Hotel Cecil Orchestra on Berliner Gramophone
• "The Future Mrs 'Awkins" (w.m. Albert Chevalier)
  - Albert Chevalier on Berliner Gramophone
• "God Save The Queen"
  - Frank C. Stanley on Edison Records
  - Sousa's Band on Berliner Records
• "Gypsy Love Song" (w. Harry B. Smith m. Victor Herbert)
  - Eugene Cowles on Berliner Records
  - William Hooley on Edison Records
• "Hands Across The Sea March" (m. John Philip Sousa)
  - Peerless Orchestra on Edison Records
  - Sousa's Band on Berliner Records
• "Hearts And Flowers" (w. Mary D. Brine m. Theodore Moses Tobani)
  - violin Chris De Arth on Berliner Records
• "Hello! Ma Baby" (w.m. Ida Emerson & Joseph E. Howard)
  - Arthur Collins on Edison Records
  - Len Spencer on Berliner Records & Columbia Records
• "The Holy City" (w. Frederick Edward Weatherly m. Stephen Adams)
  - Harry Macdonough on Edison Records
• "Home Sweet Home" (w. John Howard Payne m. Sir Henry Rowley Bishop)
  - whistling John Yorke Atlee on Berliner Records
• "I Dreamt I Dwelt In Marble Halls" (w. Alfred Bunn m. Michael William Balfe)
  - J. W. Myers on Berliner Records
• "I Guess I'll Have To Telegraph My Baby" (w.m. George M. Cohan)
  - Arthur Collins on Edison Records
  - Edward M. Favor on Berliner Records
  - George J. Gaskin on Columbia Records
• "I'd Leave My Happy Home For You" (w. Will A. Heelan m. Harry Von Tilzer)
  - Arthur Collins on Edison Records
• "If It Wasn't For The 'Ouses In Between" (w. Edgar Bateman m. George Le Brunn)
  - Gus Elen on Berliner Gramophone
• "If Only You Were Mine" (w. Harry B. Smith m. Victor Herbert)
  - Albert C. Campbell on Edison Records
• "It's A Great Big Shame" (w.Edgar Bateman m. George Le Brunn)
  - Gus Elen on Berliner Gramophone
• "Jack's The Boy" (Greenbank, Jones)
  - H. Scott Russell with p. Fred Gaisberg on Berliner Gramophone
• "Just As The Sun Went Down" (w. Karl Kennett m. Lyn Udall)
  - J. W. Myers on Berliner Records
  - S. H. Dudley & Harry Macdonough on Edison Records
• "Just One Girl" (w. Karl Kennett m. Lyn Udall)
  - Sousa's Band on Berliner Records
  - Albert C. Campbell on Edison Records
  - H. Scott Russell with p. Amy Williams on Berliner Gramophone
  - J. W. Myers on Columbia Records
• "Kathleen Mavourneen" (w. Annie Crawford (Barry) m. Frederick William Nichols Crouch)
  - William F. Hooley on Edison Records
• "Kiss Me, Honey Do" (w. Edgar Smith m. John Stromberg)
  - Albert C. Campbell on Berliner Records
  - Len Spencer on Berliner Records & Columbia Records
  - Arthur Collins on Edison Records
• "Little Dolly Daydream" (w.m. Leslie Stuart)
  - Eugene Stratton on Berliner Gramophone
• "Little Old New York is Good Enough For Me"
  - Dan W. Quinn on Berliner Records
• "The Lost Chord" (w. Adelaide Anne Procter m. Sir Arthur Sullivan)
  - William F. Hooley on Berliner Records
• "Mandy Lee" (w.m. Thurland Chattaway)
  - Albert C. Campbell on Edison Records
  - Arthur Collins on Edison Records
• "'Mid The Green Fields Of Virginia" (w.m. Charles K. Harris)
  - Albert C. Campbell on Berliner Records
  - S. H. Dudley & Harry Macdonough on Edison Records
  - George J. Gaskin on Columbia Records
• "Mister Johnson, Turn Me Loose" (w.m. Ben Harney)
  - John Terrell on Berliner Records
• "Molly's The Girl For Me"
  - J. Aldrich Libbey on Columbia Records
• "The Moth And The Flame" (w. George Taggart m. Max S. Witt)
  - Albert C. Campbell on Edison Records
  - J. J. Fisher on Edison Records
• "My Little Georgia Rose" (w. Robert F. Roden m. Max S. Witt)
  - Jere Mahoney on Edison Records
• "My Old Dutch" (w. Albert Chevalier m. Charles Ingle)
  - Albert Chevalier on Berliner Gramophone
• "My Old New Hampshire Home" (w. Andrew B. Sterling m. Harry Von Tilzer)
  - Jere Mahoney on Edison Records
  - Byron G. Harlan & A. D. Madeira on Edison Records
  - Albert C. Campbell on Berliner Records
  - George J. Gaskin on Berliner Records
  - The Greater New York Quartette on Columbia Records
• "My Wild Irish Rose" (w.m. Chauncey Olcott)
  - Albert C. Campbell on Edison Records
• "Night Hymn At Sea"
  - Clara Butt & Kennerley Rumford on Berliner Gramophone
• "The Old Brigade" (w. Fred E. Weatherly m. Orlando Barri)
  - H. Scott Russell with piano Fred Gaisberg on Berliner Gramophone
• "Old Man's Story"
  - J. Aldrich Libbey on Columbia records
• "The Old Oaken Bucket" (w. Samuel Woodworth m. E. Kaillmark)
  - Haydn Quartette on Berliner Records
• "The Organ Grinder's Serenade"
  - J. Aldrich Libbey on Columbia Records
• "A Picture No Artist Can Paint" (w.m. J. Fred Helf)
  - Albert C. Campbell on Edison Records
  - George J. Gaskin on Columbia Records
• "She Is The Belle Of New York" (w. Hugh Morton m. Gustave Kerker)
  - Frank Lawton with p. Fred Gaisberg on Berliner Gramophone
• "She Was Bred In Old Kentucky" (w. Harry Braisted m. Stanley Carter)
  - Albert C. Campbell on Berliner Records
  - George J. Gaskin on Columbia Records
• "She Was Happy Till She Met You" (w. Charles Graham m. Monroe H. Rosenfeld)
  - Jere Mahoney on Edison Records
  - Dan W. Quinn on Columbia Records
• "Smoky Mokes" (m. Abe Holzmann)
  - Len Spencer on Columbia Records
  - Dan W. Quinn on Edison Records
  - Vess L. Ossman on Columbia Records
• "The Soldiers Of The Queen" (w.m. Leslie Stuart)
  - Albert Christian with p. Leslie Stuart on Berliner Gramophone
• "Sweet Rosie O'Grady" (w.m. Maude Nugent)
  - Lil Hawthorne on Berliner Gramophone
• "Take A Pair Of Sparkling Eyes" (w. William S. Gilbert m. Arthur Sullivan)
  - Herbert Scott Russell with p. Fred Gaisberg on Berliner Gramophone
• "'Tis The Last Rose Of Summer" (w. Thomas Moore m. Richard Alfred Milliken)
  - J. W. Myers on Berliner Records
• "Toreador Song" (w. H. Meilac, Ludovic Halévy m. Georges Bizet)
  - Montague Borwell on Berliner Gramophone
• "Whistling Rufus" (w. W. Murdock Lind m. Kerry Mills)
  - Len Spencer on Berliner Records
  - Sousa's Band on Berliner Records
  - banjo Vess L. Ossman on Columbia Records & Berliner Records
  - Dan W. Quinn on Edison Records
• "Yes, Let Me Like A Soldier Fall" (w. Edward Fitzball m. Vincent Wallace)
  - Ferruccio Giannini on Berliner Records
• "You've Been A Good Old Wagon" (Harney)
  - Len Spencer on Columbia Records & Berliner Records

Classical music

• Amy Beach - Piano Concerto in C♯ minor, op. 45 (1898/9)
• Frederick Delius - Paris, Nocturne
• Ernő von Dohnányi - Sonata for Cello and Piano in B♭ minor
• Edward Elgar - In the South (Alassio), concert overture; Sérénade lyrique, for orchestra
• Axel Gade - Concerto No. 2 for violin and orchestra in F major
• Reinhold Glière - Symphony No. 1
• Johan Halvorsen - Norwegian Festival Overture
• Maurice Ravel - Pavane pour une Infante défunte, for piano
• Jean Sibelius – Symphony No. 1
• Arnold Schoenberg - Verklärte Nacht

Opera

• Eugen d'Albert - Kain
• Antonín Dvořák - The Devil and Kate
• Josef Bohuslav Foerster - Eva
• Isidore de Lara - Messaline
• Jules Massenet - Cendrillon (composed 1894-5, premiered 1899)

Musical theater

Floradora

• Die Landstreicher - Karl Michael Ziehrer
• El Capitan     London production
• Florodora (Music: Leslie Stuart Lyrics: Sidney Jones & Paul Rubens Book: Owen Hall)     London production opened at the Lyric Theatre on November 11
• A Gaiety Girl London revival opened at Daly's Theatre on June 5
• Helter-Skelter     Broadway production
• The Rogers Brothers In Wall Street     Broadway production
• The Rose of Persia (music by Sir Arthur Sullivan, libretto by Basil Hood) London production opened at the Savoy Theatre on November 29
• San Toy     London production opened at Daly's Theatre on October 21

Births

• January 7
  • Al Bowlly, singer (died 1941)
  • Francis Poulenc, composer (died 1963)
• January 14 - Herbert Sumsion, composer and organist (died 1995)
• January 21 - Alexander Tcherepnin, pianist and composer (died 1977)
• February 15 - Georges Auric, composer (died 1983)
• February 21 - Clara Clairbert, operatic soprano (died 1970)
• March 5 - Patrick Hadley, composer (died 1973)
• March 10 - Finn Høffding, composer (died 1997)
• April 5 - Leonard Falcone, baritone/eupohonium virtuosos and director of bands at Michigan State (died 1985)
• April 29 - Duke Ellington, jazz musician and composer (died 1974)
• May 1 - Jón Leifs, composer (died 1968)
• May 6 - Billy Cotton, bandleader (died 1969)
• May 10 - Fred Astaire, song-and-dance man (died 1987)
• May 30 - Jack Little, singer and songwriter (died 1956)
• June 1 - Werner Janssen, conductor and composer (died 1990)
• June 9 - Signe Amundsen, operatic soprano (died 1987)
• June 11 - George Frederick McKay, composer (died 1970)
• June 13 - Carlos Chávez, composer and conductor
• June 16 - Helen Traubel, opera singer (died 1972)
• June 19 - Pat Ballard, songwriter (died 1960)
• June 21 - Pavel Haas, composer (died 1944)
• June 30 - Harry Shields, jazz musician (died 1971)
• July 1 - Thomas A. Dorsey, "father of gospel music" (died 1993)
• July 3 - Benny Nawahi, ukulele player (died 1985)
• July 10 - André Souris, composer and writer (died 1970)
• July 17 - James Cagney, US actor, singer and dancer (died 1986)
• July 30 - John Woods Duke, composer (died 1984)
• August 6 - Margarete Klose, operatic mezzo-soprano (died 1968)
• August 12 - Leila Fletcher, pianist and composer (died 1988)
• September 6 - Billy Rose, Broadway producer and lyricist
• September 9 - Maria Yudina, pianist (died 1970)
• September 13 - Ephraim Amu, composer, musicologist and music teacher (died 1995)
• September 25 - Ricard Lamote de Grignon, conductor and composer (died 1965)
• September 26 - William Levi Dawson, composer (died 1990)
• October 9 - Mary Jarred, opera singer (died 1993)
• October 19 - Sidonie Goossens, harpist (died 2002)
• October 31 - Ted Shapiro, songwriter and pianist (died 1980)
• November 9 - Mezz Mezzrow, jazz musician (died 1972)
• November 18 - Eugene Ormandy, violinist and conductor (died 1985)
• November 22 - Hoagy Carmichael, composer, pianist and singer (died 1981)
• November 29 - Gustave Reese, musicologist (died 1977)
• November 30 - Hans Krása, Czech-German composer (died 1944)
• December 2 - Sir John Barbirolli, conductor (died 1970)
• December 11 - Julio de Caro, composer (died 1980)
• December 16 - Noël Coward, dramatist, actor, singer and composer (died 1973)
• December 18 - Muriel Brunskill, operatic contralto (died 1980 in music)
• December 21 - Silvestre Revueltas, composer (died 1940)
• date unknown - Sadettin Heper, composer (died 1980)

Deaths

• January 10 - Albert Becker, composer, 64
• February 4 - Eduard Holst, Danish composer, playwright, actor, dancer and dance master, 52
• April 17 - Hans Balatka, composer, 72
• May 29 - Frantz Jehin-Prume, violinist, composer, and music educator, 60
• June 3 - Johann Strauss II, composer, 73
• June 10 - Ernest Chausson, composer, 44 (bicycle accident)
• June 16 - August Winding, composer, 64
• August 17 - Erik Bøgh, journalist, dramatist and songwriter, 77
• October 10 - Allan James Foley, operatic bass, 62
• October 13 - Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, organ-builder, 88
• October 15 - Johann Nepomuk Fuchs, conductor and composer, 57
• October 22 - Ernst Mielck, composer, 21 (tuberculosis)
• October 23 - Ludwig Straus, violinist, 64
• October 31 - Hugh Talbot, singer and actor, 54
• November 16 - Vincas Kudirka, lyricist of the Lithuanian national anthem, 40 (tuberculosis)
• November 25 - Robert Lowry, hymn writer, 73
• December 7 - Anton de Kontski, pianist and composer, 82
• December 10 - Hans von Milde, operatic baritone, 78
• December 18 - Gussie Davis, songwriter, 36
• December 21
  • Joseph Dupont, violinist, theatre director and conductor, 61
  • Charles Lamoureux, conductor and violinist, 65
• December 23 - Marietta Piccolomini, operatic soprano, 65
• December 31 - Karl Millöcker, conductor and composer, 57
• date unknown - Romain Bussine, poet, baritone, and voice teacher