This is a list of notable events in music that took place in 1902.
Specific locations
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 â Jules Massenet's Le jongleur de Notre-Dame premieres at the Casino Monte Carlo
- March 1 â 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 â Jean Sibelius conducts the world première of his Symphony No. 2 in Helsinki
- March 9 â Austrian composer Gustav Mahler (41) marries his student Alma Schindler (23)
- March 10 â Ralph Vaughan Williams' four-movement orchestral Bucolic Suite premieres in Bournemouth, England
- March 18 â 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 â Maurice Ravel's Jeux d'eau is premiered by pianist Ricardo Vines at the Societe Nationale de Musique in Paris
- April 9 â 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 â 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 â The cantata The Celestial Country by Charles Ives receives its first performance at Central Presbyterian Church, New York City
- April 30 â Claude Debussy's only opera Pelléas et Mélisande is premiered at the Opéra-Comique in Paris, with André Messager conducting
- May 17 â 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 â The first complete performance of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 3 is given in Krefeld (the longest symphony in the standard repertoire â 90 minutes)
- June 26 â Composer Hubert Parry receives a baronetcy in the 1902 Coronation Honours; another, Charles Villiers Stanford, is knighted
- August 17 â Camille Saint-Saens's incidental music Parysatis premieres at the Grand Roman Arena in Béziers, France
- October 14 â Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's Servilia premieres at the Imperial Opera in Saint Petersburg
- November 26 â The opera Adriana Lecouvreur by Francesco Cilea premieres at the Teatro Lirico in Milan
- November 28 â Carl Nielsen's first opera Saul og David is produced in Copenhagen (Denmark)
- December 1 â Carl Nielsen conducts the premiÃÂre of his Symphony No. 2, The Four Temperaments, in Copenhagen
- December 16 â Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov's Potemkin Holiday is produced in Saint Petersburg
- December 25 â 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
Recorded popular music
- "Arkansaw Traveler" â Len Spencer
- "In the Good Old Summer Time" â William Redmond
Classical music
- Granville Bantock â The Witch of Atlas
- Béla Bartók - Scherzo Burlesque for Piano and Orchestra, Op.2
- Georgy Catoire â Piano Trio in F minor, Op.14
- Edward Elgar â Dream Children, Op. 43
- Alexander Glazunov âÂÂ
- From the Middle Ages
- Symphony No. 7, Op. 77 (Pastoral)
- Alfred Hill â Hinemoa
- Joseph Jongen â 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 â Double Bass Concerto
- Stephan Krehl â Quintet for Clarinet and Strings, Op.19
- Mykola Lysenko â 3 Pieces from 'Album from the Summer of 1902', Op.41
- VÃÂtÃÂzslav Novák â In the Tatra Mountains
- Max Reger â 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 â Symphony No. 2, Op. 43
- Leone Sinigaglia â Variations on a Theme by Brahms, Op.22
- Francisco Tárrega â Gran Vals
- Ralph Vaughan Williams â Blackmwore by the Stour
Births
- January â 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 â Webster Booth, English tenor (d. 1984)
- February 9 â Blanche Calloway, American jazz singer (d. 1978)
- February 26 â Rudolf Moralt, German conductor (d. 1958)
- February 27 - Marian Anderson, American contralto (d.1993)
- March 16 â Leon Roppolo, US jazz clarinetist (d. 1943)
- March 21 â Son House, blues musician (d. 1988)
- March 29
- William Walton - British composer (d. 1983)
- Mario Rossi - Italian conductor (d.1992)
- March 31 â Hans Albrecht, musicologist (died 1961)
- April 4 â Adam Adrio, German musicologist (d. 1973)
- April 8
- Maria Maksakova Sr. - Soviet opera singer (d. 1974)
- Josef Krips - Austrian conductor (d.1974)
- April 24 â Rube Bloom, US pianist and composer (d. 1976)
- April 26 â Walter Dana, polka-music promoter (d. 2000)
- May 1 â Sonnie Hale, English actor and singer (d. 1959)
- May 7 â Marcel Poot, Belgien composer (d. 1988)
- May 11 â Bidu Sayão, Brazilian opera singer (d. 1999)
- May 17
- Werner Egk, German composer (d. 1983)
- Max Lorenz, German tenor (d. 1975)
- May 18 â Meredith Willson, US composer (d. 1984)
- May 18 â Henri Sauguet, French composer (d. 1989)
- May 19 â Lubka Kolessa, pianist and music teacher (d. 1997)
- May 31 â Billy Mayerl, English pianist, composer and conductor (d. 1959)
- June 2 â Rosa Rio, American organist and composer (d. 2010)
- June 6 â 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 â Guy Lombardo, bandleader (d. 1977)
- June 21 â Skip James, blues musician (d. 1969)
- June 26 - Hugues-Adhemar Cuenod, Swiss tenor (d.2010)
- July 7 â Karl Gustav Fellerer, musicologist (died 1984)
- July 19 â Buster Bailey, jazz clarinetist (d. 1967)
- July 20 â Jimmy Kennedy, Irish-born British songwriter (d. 1984)
- July 21 â 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 â Stefan Wolpe, German composer (d. 1972)
- September 14 â Giorgos Papasideris, Greek singer, composer, and lyricist (d. 1977)
- October 25 â Eddie Lang, US jazz guitarist (d. 1933)
- November 1 â 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 â Alfred Rosé, composer (died 1975)
- December 15 â Mary Skeaping, British choreographer (d. 1984)
- December 19 â Dusolina Giannini, Italian-American soprano (d. 1986)
- December 27 â Sam Coslow, US songwriter and singer (d. 1982)
Deaths
- January 7 â Wilhelm Hertz, lyricist (born 1835)
- January 14 â Richard M. Walters, piano and organ manufacturer
- January 17 â Elias Blix, politician, poet and musician (b. 1836)
- January 11 â James James, composer of the Welsh national anthem, "Hen Wlad fy Nhadau" (b. 1833)
- January 18 â Filippo Marchetti, opera composer
- January 20 â Camilla Urso, violinist (b. 1842)
- February 1 â Salomon Jadassohn, composer and music teacher (b. 1831)
- February 9 â Ludwig von Brenner, conductor and composer (b. 1833)
- February 11 â Leonid Malashkin, conductor and composer (b. 1842)
- April 21 â Ethna Carbery, songwriter (b. 1866)
- June 17 â Karl Piutti, organist and composer (b. 1846)
- June 20 â Caspar Joseph Brambach (b. 1833)
- July 5 â John Stromberg, composer (b. 1858)
- July 6 â Leopoldo Miguez, composer (b. 1850)
- July 13 â Benjamin Bilse, conductor and composer (b. 1816)
- August 3 â August Klughardt, conductor and composer (b. 1847)
- August 11 â 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 â ÃÂmile Bernard, French composer and organist
- September 26 â Camille D'elmar, actress and opera singer (b. 1861)
- September 28 â Ion Ivanovici, bandleader and composer (b. 1845)
- October 24 â Vladyslav Zaremba, composer and pianist (b. 1833)
- December 4 â 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)
References