1902 in music

This is a list of notable events in music that took place in 1902.

List of years in music (table)
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In film 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905
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Original 1902 production of Pelléas et Mélisande; Mary Garden as Mélisande.

Specific locations

• 1902 in Norwegian music

Events

• January 25
  • Franz Schmidt's Symphony No. 1 in E Major premieres in Vienna
  • Alexander Scriabin's Symphony No. 2 in C Minor premieres with Anatoly Liadov conducting at the Russian Symphony Concerts in Saint Petersburg
• February 18 – Jules Massenet's Le jongleur de Notre-Dame premieres at the Casino Monte Carlo
• March 1 – Sergei Vassilenko's cantata Skazaniye o grade velikom Kitezhe i tikhom ozere Svetoyare (Tale of the Great City of Kitezh and the Quiet Lake Svetoyar) receives its first performance in Moscow
• March 8 – Jean Sibelius conducts the world première of his Symphony No. 2 in Helsinki
• March 9 – Austrian composer Gustav Mahler (41) marries his student Alma Maria Schnidler (23)
• March 10 – Ralph Vaughan Williams' four-movement orchestral Bucolic Suite premieres in Bournemouth, England
• March 18 – Arnold Schoenberg's string sextet Verklärte Nacht receives its world premiere in Vienna, by the Rose String Quartet with two players from the Vienna Philharmonic
• April 5 – Maurice Ravel's Jeux d'eau is premiered by pianist Ricardo Vines at the Societe Nationale de Musique in Paris
• April 9 – One-act opera by Ethel Smyth Der Wald to her own libretto premieres in Berlin
• April 11
  • Tenor Enrico Caruso makes the first million-selling recording, of "Vesti la giubba", for the Gramophone Company in Milan
  • Cambridge University bestows the honorary degree of Doctor of Music upon American composer Horatio Parker
• April 12 – The zarzuela Los amores de la Inés by Manuel de Falla and Amadeo Vives to a libretto by Emilio Dugi premieres at the Teatro Comico in Madrid
• April 18 – The cantata The Celestial Country by Charles Ives receives its first performance at Central Presbyterian Church, New York City
• April 30 – Claude Debussy's only opera Pelléas et Mélisande is premiered at the Opéra-Comique in Paris, with André Messager conducting
• May 17 – Pianist and conductor Alfred Cortot, after studying the music of Richard Wagner at Bayreuth in 1898, conducts the French premiere of Götterdämmerung at the Theatre du Chateau d'Eau
• June 9 – The first complete performance of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 3 is given in Krefeld (the longest symphony in the standard repertoire – 90 minutes)
• June 26 – Composer Hubert Parry receives a baronetcy in the 1902 Coronation Honours; another, Charles Villiers Stanford, is knighted
• August 17 – Camille Saint-Saens's incidental music Parysatis premieres at the Grand Roman Arena in Béziers, France
• October 14 – Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's Servilia premieres at the Imperial Opera in Saint Petersburg
• November 26 – The opera Adriana Lecouvreur by Francesco Cilea premieres at the Teatro Lirico in Milan
• November 28 – Carl Nielsen's first opera Saul og David is produced in Copenhagen (Denmark)
• December 1 – Carl Nielsen conducts the premiėre of his Symphony No. 2, The Four Temperaments, in Copenhagen
• December 16 – Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov's Potemkin Holiday is produced in Saint Petersburg
• December 25 – Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Kashchei the Immortal premieres in Moscow
• Lead Belly begins performing.
• Walter Damrosch replaces Emil Paur as music director of the New York Philharmonic Society; his appointment lasts one season

Published popular music

• "Any Rags?" w.m. Thomas S. Allen
• "Because" w. Edward Teschemacher m. Guy d'Hardelot
• "Bill Bailey Won't You Please Come Home" w.m. Hughie Cannon
• "Come Down Ma' Evenin' Star" w. Robert B. Smith m. John Stromberg
• "Could You Be True To Eyes Of Blue If You Looked Into Eyes Of Brown?" w.m. Will D. Cobb & Gus Edwards
• "Didn't Know Exactly What To Do" w. Frank Pixley m. Gustav Luders
• "Down On The Farm" w. Raymond A. Browne m. Harry Von Tilzer
• "Down The Line With Molly" w. George Totten Smith m. George L. Spaulding
• "Down Where The Wurzburger Flows" w. Vincent P. Bryan m. Harry Von Tilzer
• "The Entertainer" m. Scott Joplin
• "The Face In The Firelight" w.m. Charles Shackford

Frolic of the Frogs

• "The Gambling Man" w. William Jerome m. Jean Schwartz
• "The Glow Worm" w. Lilla Cayley Robinson (Ger) Heinz Bolten-Backers m. Paul Lincke
• "Happy Hooligan" m. Theodore Morse
• "Have You Seen My Sweetheart In His Uniform Of Blue?" w. Will D. Cobb m. Gus Edwards
• "Heidelberg Stein Song" w. Frank Pixley m. Gustav Luders
• "I Just Can't Help From Lovin' That Man" w. Andrew B. Sterling & Vincent P. Bryan m. Harry von Tilzer
• "I Sing A Little Tenor" w. Harry Linton m. John Gilroy
• "I Went To See Them March Away" w. S. E. Keisser m. R. J. Jose
• "I Wonder Why Bill Bailey Don't Come Home" w.m. Frank Fogerty, Matt C. Woodward & William Jerome
• "If Money Talks It Ain't On Speaking Terms With Me" w.m. J. Fred Helf
• "I'll Be There Mary Dear" w. Andrew B. Sterling m. Harry von Tilzer
• "I'll Be Waiting In The Gloaming, Sweet Genevieve" w.m. J. Fred Helf
• "I'll Be Your Rain-beau" w. Ed Gardinier m. J. Fred Helf
• "I'll Wed You In The Golden Summertime" w. Alfred Bryan m. Stanley Crawford
• "I'm The Man Who Makes The Money In The Mint" w.m. Will D. Cobb & Gus Edwards
• "I'm Unlucky" w. William Jerome m. Jean Schwartz
• "I've Been Sleeping On The Floor All Night" w.m. T.W. Connor
• "In Dear Old Illinois" by Paul Dresser
• "In Silence" w. Sydney Rosenfeld m. A. Baldwin Sloane
• "In The City Of Sighs And Tears" w. Andrew B. Sterling m. Kerry Mills
• "In The Good Old Summer Time" w. Ren Shields m. George Evans. Introduced by Blanche Ring in the musical The Defender.
• "In The Sweet Bye And Bye" w. Vincent P. Bryan m. Harry Von Tilzer
• "In The Valley Of Kentucky" w.m. Tony Stanford
• "It's A Nice Little Cosy Kitchen" w.m. T.W. Connor
• "It's Got To Be A Minstrel Show Tonight" w. Ren Shields m. George Evans
• "Jennie Lee" w. Arthur J. Lamb m. Harry Von Tilzer
• "Just Can't Help From Lovin' That Man" w. Andrew B. Sterling & Vincent P. Bryan m. Harry von Tilzer
• "Just For Tonight" w.m. Frank O. French
• "Just Next Door" w.m. Charles K. Harris
• "Kashmiri Song" w. Laurence Hope (Adela Florence Nicolson) 1901 m. Amy Woodforde-Finden
• "Katrina" w.m. Edward W. Corliss
• "Land Of Hope And Glory" w. Arthur C. Benson m. Edward Elgar
• "The Leader Of The Frocks And Frills" w. Robert H. Smith m. Melville Ellis
• "Less Than The Dust" w. Laurence Hope m. Amy Woodforde-Finden
• "Levee Rag" m. Charles Mullen
• "The Mansion of Aching Hearts" w. Arthur J. Lamb m. Harry Von Tilzer
• "May Sweet May" w. R. J. Jose m. Robert S. Roberts
• "The Meaning Of USA" w.m. Raymond A. Browne
• "Meet Me When The Sun Goes Down" w. Vincent P. Bryan m. Harry von Tilzer
• "The Message Of The Rose" w. Will A. Heelan m. Leo Edwards
• "The Message Of The Violet" w. Frank Pixley m. Gustav Luders
• "Mister Dooley" w. William Jerome m. Jean Schwartz
• "My Sulu Lulu Loo" w. George Ade m. Nat D. Mann
• "Nobody's Looking But The Owl And The Moon" w. Bob Cole & James Weldon Johnson m. J. Rosamond Johnson
• "Nursery Rhymes" w. William Jerome m. Jean Schwartz
• "Oh! Didn't He Ramble" w.m. Bob Cole & J. Rosamond Johnson
• "On A Sunday Afternoon" w. Andrew B. Sterling m. Harry Von Tilzer
• "On The Day King Edward Gets His Crown On" w.m. Mark Lorne & Harry Pleon
• "Paint Me A Picture Of Mama" w. Addison Burkhardt m. Raymond Hubbell
• "The Passing Of Rag-Time" m. Arthur Pryor
• "Pinky Panky Poo" w. Aaron S. Hoffman m. Andy Lewis
• "The Plan of Love" m. Annie P. Lumsden
• "Please Go 'Way And Let Me Sleep" w. Cecil Mack m. J. Tim Brymn
• "Pomp and Circumstance" by Edward Elgar
• "Pretty Little Dinah Jones" w.m. J. B. Mullen
• "R-E-M-O-R-S-E" w. George Ade m. Alfred G. Wathall
• "Rip Van Winkle Was A Lucky Man" w. William Jerome m. Jean Schwartz
• "Sal" w.m. Paul Rubens
• "Sammy" w. James O'Dea m. Edward Hutchinson
• "Since Sister Nell Heard Paderewski Play" w. William Jerome m. Jean Schwartz
• "Those Things Cannot Be Explained" w. Junie McCree m. Ben M. Jerome
• "The Troubles Of Reuben And The Maid" w. J. Cheever Goodwin m. Maurice Levi
• "Under The Bamboo Tree" w.m. Bob Cole & J. Rosamond Johnson
• "Under the Double Eagle" by Josef Franz Wagner
• "Wait At The Gate For Me" w. Ren Shields m. Theodore F. Morse
• "What's The Matter With The Moon Tonight?" w. Sydney Rosenfeld m. A. Baldwin Sloane
• "When Kate And I Were Comin' Thro' The Rye" w. Andrew B. Sterling m. Harry Von Tilzer
• "When The Fields Are White With Cotton" w. Robert F. Roden w. Max S. Witt
• "When The Troupe Gets Back To Town" w. George Totten Smith m. Harry von Tilzer
• "Where The Sunset Turns The Ocean's Blue To Gold" w. Eva Fern Buckner m. Henry W. Petrie

Recorded popular music

• "Arkansaw Traveler" – Len Spencer
• "In the Good Old Summer Time" – William Redmond

Classical music

• Granville Bantock – The Witch of Atlas
• Bela Bartok - Scherzo Burlesque for Piano and Orchestra, Op.2
• Georgy Catoire – Piano Trio in F minor, Op.14
• Edward Elgar – Dream Children, Op. 43
• Alexander Glazunov –
  • From the Middle Ages
  • Symphony No. 7, Op. 77 (Pastoral)
• Johannes Hanssen – Valdres March
• Alfred Hill – Hinemoa
• Joseph Jongen – Piano Quartet, Op.23
• Scott Joplin
  • A Breeze from Alabama
  • Cleopha
  • Elite Syncopations
  • The Entertainer
  • I Am Thinking of My Pickanniny Days
  • March Majestic
  • The Ragtime Dance
  • The Strenuous Life
• Serge Koussevitzky – Double Bass Concerto in F Sharp Minor
• Stephan Krehl – Quintet for Clarinet and Strings, Op.19
• Mykola Lysenko – 3 Pieces from 'Album from the Summer of 1902', Op.41
• Vítězslav Novák – In the Tatra Mountains
• Max Reger – 16 Gesänge, Op.62
• Camille Saint-Saëns - Cello concerto No.2 in D Minor for cello and orchestra
• Franz Schmidt - Symphony No. 1 in E major premiers in Vienna (January 25, 1902)
• Jean Sibelius – Symphony No. 2, Op. 43
• Leone Sinigaglia – Variations on a Theme by Brahms, Op.22
• Francisco Tárrega – Gran Vals
• Ralph Vaughan Williams – Blackmwore by the Stour

Opera

• Francesco Cilea – Adriana Lecouvreur
• Claude Debussy – Pelléas et Mélisande
• Manuel de Falla – Los amores de la Inés
• Alberto Franchetti – Germania
• Edward German – Merrie England
• Reynaldo Hahn – La Carmélite
• Engelbert Humperdinck – Dornröschen, premiered on November 12 in Frankfurt am Main
• Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov – Potemkin Holiday
• Franz Lehár – Der Rastelbinder, premiered on December 20 in Vienna
• Jules Massenet – Le Jongleur de Notre Dame premiered on February 18 at the Theatre de Casino in Monte Carlo
• Emile Pessard – L'armée des vierges premiered on October 15 at the Bouffes-Parisiens, Salle Choiseul, Paris
• Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov – Servilia
• Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov – Kashchei the Immortal
• George Stephanescu – Petra
• Ethel Smyth – Der Wald premiered on April 9 in Berlin

Ballet

• January 24 - Oskar Nedbal - Pohádka o Honzovi (The Tale of Honza) premieres at National theatre in Prague
• February 2 - Alexander Gorsky's revised version of Don Quixote opens in Moscow. Based on a staging of the ballet by Marius Petipa from 1871
• April 21 - In Japan is produced by the Alhambra Theater, London. Carlo Coppi choreographs music by Louis Ganne
• June 16 - Carlo Coppi's last piece of choreography for London Alhambra Ballet - Britannia's Realm premiers on the occasion of King Edward's VII's coronation

Musical theater

• Bob Herceg (Prince Bob) – by Jenö Huszka, with libretto by Ferenc Martos and Károly Bakonyi
• A Country Girl London production opened at Daly's Theatre on January 18 and ran for 729 performances
• The Defender (Music: Charles Dennée Book & Lyrics: Allen Lowe) Broadway production opened at the Herald Square Theatre on July 3 and ran for 60 performances. Starring Blanche Ring.
• The Emerald Isle Broadway production
• The Girl from Kays London production opened at the Apollo Theatre on November 15 and ran for 432 performances.
• Madame Sherry Berlin and Paris productions
• The Rogers Brothers At Harvard Broadway production
• Three Little Maids London production opened at the Apollo Theatre on May 10 and transferred to the Prince of Wales Theatre on September 8 for a total run of 348 performances.
• Tommy Rot Broadway production
• The Toreador Broadway production
• Twirly-Whirly Broadway production
• The Wild Rose Broadway production opened at the Knickerbocker Theatre on May 5 and ran for 136 performances. Starring Eddie Foy, Albert Hart, Junie McCree, Irene Bentley, Marguerite Clark and Marie Cahill.

Births

• January – Billy Pigg, Northumbrian piper (d. 1968)
• January 6 - Mark Brunswick, American composer (d.1971)
• January 9 - Rudolf Bing, Austrian operatic impresario (d.1997)
• January 11
  • Evelyn Dove, British singer (d. 1987)
  • Maurice Duruflé, French composer (d. 1986)
• January 21 – Webster Booth, English tenor (d. 1984)
• February 26 – Rudolf Moralt, German conductor (d. 1958)
• February 27 - Marian Anderson, American contralto (d.1993)
• March 16 – Leon Roppolo, US jazz clarinetist (d. 1943)
• March 21 – Son House, blues musician (d. 1988)
• March 29
  • William Walton - British composer (d. 1983)
  • Mario Rossi - Italian conductor (d.1992)
• March 31 – Hans Albrecht, musicologist (died 1961)
• April 4 – Adam Adrio, German musicologist (d. 1973)
• April 8
  • Maria Maksakova Sr. - Soviet opera singer (d. 1974)
  • Josef Krips - Austrian conductor (d.1974)
• April 24 – Rube Bloom, US pianist and composer (d. 1976)
• April 26 – Walter Dana, polka-music promoter (d. 2000)
• May 1 – Sonnie Hale, English actor and singer (d. 1959)
• May 7 – Marcel Poot, Belgien composer (d. 1988)
• May 11 – Bidu Sayão, Brazilian opera singer (d. 1999)
• May 17
  • Werner Egk, German composer (d. 1983)
  • Max Lorenz, German tenor (d. 1975)
• May 18 – Meredith Willson, US composer (d. 1984)
• May 18 – Henri Sauguet, French composer (d. 1989)
• May 19 – Lubka Kolessa, pianist and music teacher (d. 1997)
• May 31 – Billy Mayerl, English pianist, composer and conductor (d. 1959)
• June 2 – Rosa Rio, American organist and composer (d. 2010)
• June 6 – Jimmie Lunceford, bandleader (d. 1947)
• June 13 - Oliviero De Fabritiis, Italian conductor and composer (d. 1982)
• June 15 - Max Rudolf, German conductor (d.1995)
• June 17
  • Vivian Duncan, singer, songwriter and actress, member of the Duncan Sisters (d. 1986)
  • Sammy Fain, US composer (d. 1989)
• June 19 – Guy Lombardo, bandleader (d. 1977)
• June 21 – Skip James, blues musician (d. 1969)
• June 26 - Hugues-Adhemar Cuenod, Swiss tenor (d.2010)
• July 7 – Karl Gustav Fellerer, musicologist (died 1984)
• July 19 – Buster Bailey, jazz clarinetist (d. 1967)
• July 20 – Jimmy Kennedy, Irish-born British songwriter (d. 1984)
• July 21 – Omer Simeon, jazz musician (d. 1959)
• August 6
  • Jim Davidson, Australian bandleader (d. 1982)
  • Margarete Klose, German contralto (d. 1968)
• August 9
  • Zino Francescatti, violinist (d. 1991)
  • Solomon Cutner, English pianist (d. 1988)
• August 25 – Stefan Wolpe, German composer (d. 1972)
• October 25 – Eddie Lang, US jazz guitarist (d. 1933)
• November 1 – Eugen Jochum, German conductor (d. 1987)
• November 22
  • Ethel Smith, organist (d. 1996)
  • Emanuel Feuermann, Austrian cellist (d. 1942)
  • Joaquin Rodrigo, Spanish composer (d. 1999)
• December 11 – Alfred Rosé, composer (died 1975)
• December 15 – Mary Skeaping, British choreographer (d. 1984)
• December 19 – Dusolina Giannini, Italian-American soprano (d. 1986)
• December 27 – Sam Coslow, US songwriter and singer (d. 1982)

Deaths

• January 7 – Wilhelm Hertz, lyricist (born 1835)
• January 17 – Elias Blix, politician, poet and musician (b. 1836)
• January 11 – James James, composer of the Welsh national anthem, "Hen Wlad fy Nhadau" (b. 1833)
• January 18 – Filippo Marchetti, opera composer
• January 20 – Camilla Urso, violinist (b. 1842)
• February 1 – Salomon Jadassohn, composer and music teacher (b. 1831)
• February 9 – Ludwig von Brenner, conductor and composer (b. 1833)
• February 11 – Leonid Malashkin, conductor and composer (b. 1842)
• April 21 – Ethna Carbery, songwriter (b. 1866)
• June 17 – Karl Piutti, organist and composer (b. 1846)
• June 20 – Caspar Joseph Brambach (b. 1833)
• July 5 – John Stromberg, composer (b. 1858)
• July 6 – Leopoldo Miguez, composer (b. 1850)
• July 13 – Benjamin Bilse, conductor and composer (b. 1816)
• August 3 – August Klughardt, conductor and composer (b. 1847)
• August 11 – Charles E. Pratt, composer (born 1841)
• August 23 - Teresa Stolz, Czech soprano (b. 1834)
• September 7
  • Enrique Gaspar y Rimbau, zarzuela writer (b. 1842)
  • Franz Wüllner, German conductor and composer (b. 1832)
• September 11 – Émile Bernard, French composer and organist
• September 26 – Camille D'elmar, actress and opera singer (b. 1861)
• September 28 – Ion Ivanovici, bandleader and composer (b. 1845)
• December 4 – Fyodor Ignat'yevich Stravinsky, Russian bass (b. 1843)
• date unknown
  • Güllü Agop, Turkish theatre director
  • Jones Hewson, operatic baritone (b. 1874)
  • Franz Nachbaur, opera singer (b. 1835)
  • Ramon Delgado Palacios, Venezuelan pianist and composer
  • Cyrille Rose, clarinetist and teacher (b. 1830)