This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1921.

Specific locations

  • 1921 in British music
  • 1921 in Norwegian music

Specific genres

  • 1921 in country music
  • 1921 in jazz

Events

  • January – Amelita Galli-Curci marries her accompanist, Homer Samuels, who had been named in her divorce from the Marchese Luigi Curci.
  • June–July – The Harvard Glee Club takes its first trip to Europe, garnering international press attention.
  • November – A month before his death, Camille Saint-Saëns, 86, gives a final recital.
  • Clarence Williams makes his first recordings
  • Mary Stafford becomes the first black woman to record for Columbia Records
  • The 17-string koto, or "Jūshichi-gen", is invented by Michio Miyagi.
  • Cyril Rootham dedicates his "Suite in Three Movements" for flute and piano to French flautist Louis Fleury.

w. — words, m. — music

  • "Ain't We Got Fun?" w.m. Richard A. Whiting, Raymond Egan and Gus Kahn
  • "All by Myself" w.m. Irving Berlin
  • "And Her Mother Came Too" w. Dion Titheradge m. Ivor Novello
  • "Any Time" w.m. Herbert Happy Lawson
  • "April Showers" w. B. G. De Sylva m. Louis Silvers
  • "Baltimore Buzz" w.m. Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake
  • "Bandana Days" w.m. Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake
  • "Bimini Bay" w. Gus Kahn and Raymond Egan m. Richard Whiting
  • "Boy Wanted" w. Ira Gershwin m. George Gershwin
  • "Dancing Time" w.(Eng) George Grossmith, Jr. (US) Howard Dietz m. Jerome Kern US words written 1924.
  • "Dapper Dan" w. Lew Brown m. Albert Von Tilzer
  • "Dear Old Southland" w. Henry Creamer m. Turner Layton
  • "Dirty Hands, Dirty Face" w. Al Jolson, Grant Clarke, Edgar Leslie m. James V. Monaco
  • "Down South" w. B. G. DeSylva m. Walter Donaldson. Introduced by Al Jolson in the musical Bombo
  • "Down Yonder" w.m. L. Wolfe Gilbert
  • "Everybody Step" w.m. Irving Berlin 200px|right
  • "Hawaiian Chimes" w. Irving Bibo m. Eva Applefield
  • I Ain't Nobody's Darling w. Elmer Hughes m. Robert A. King
  • "I Found A Rose In The Devil's Garden" w.m. Fred Fisher and Willie Raskin
  • "I Wonder If You Still Care For Me" w.m. Harry B. Smith and Francis Wheeler
  • "I'll Forget You" w. Annelu Burns m. Ernest R. Ball
  • "I'm Just Wild About Harry" w.m. Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake
  • "I'm Nobody's Baby" w.m. Benny Davis, Milton Ager and Lester Santly
  • "Jazz Me Blues" m. Tom Delaney
  • "Keep Movin'" Helen Trix
  • "Kitten On The Keys" m. Zez Confrey
  • "Learn To Smile" w. Otto Harbach m. Louis A. Hirsch
  • "Leave Me With A Smile" w.m. Charles Koehler and Earl Burtnett
  • "Love Will Find A Way" w.m. Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake 200px|right
  • "Ma! He's Making Eyes at Me" w. Sidney Clare m. Con Conrad
  • "Make Believe" w. Benny Davis m. Jack Shilkret
  • "Mandy 'N' Me" w. Bert Kalmar m. Con Conrad
  • "My Sunny Tennessee" w.m. Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby and Herman Ruby
  • "Sally" w. Clifford Grey m. Jerome Kern
  • "Say It With Music" w.m. Irving Berlin
  • "Second Hand Rose" w. Grant Clarke m. James F. Hanley
  • "The Sheik of Araby" w. Harry B. Smith and Francis Wheeler m. Ted Snyder
  • "She's Mine, All Mine" w.m. Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby
  • "Shuffle Along w.m. Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake
  • "Shimmy With Me" w. P. G. Wodehouse m. Jerome Kern from the musical The Cabaret Girl
  • "Song Of Love" w. Dorothy Donnelly m. Sigmund Romberg
  • "Strut Miss Lizzie" w. Henry Creamer m. Turner Layton
  • "Sweet Lady" w. Howard Johnson m. Frank Crumit and Dave Zoob
  • "Ten Little Fingers And Ten Little Toes" w. Harry Pease and Johnny White m. Ira Schuster and Ed G. Nelson
  • "There'll Be Some Changes Made" w. Billy Higgins m. Benton Overstreet
  • "Tuck Me To Sleep In My Old 'Tucky Home" w. Sam H. Lewis and Joe Young m. George W. Meyer
  • "Wabash Blues" w. Dave Ringle m. Fred Meinken
  • "When Big Profundo Sang Low C" w. Marion T. Bohannon m. George Botsford
  • "When Buddha Smiles" w. Arthur Freed m. Nacio Herb Brown
  • "When Shall We Meet Again" w. Raymond B. Egan m. Richard A. Whiting
  • "Whip-poor-will" w. B. G. De Sylva m. Jerome Kern
  • "Yoo-Hoo" w. B. G. De Sylva m. Al Jolson

The following songs achieved the highest positions in Joel Whitburn's Pop Memories 1890-1954 and record sales reported on the "Discography of American Historical Recordings" website during 1921:

Numerical rankings are approximate, they are only used as a frame of reference.

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%;"

! <big>Rank</big>

! <big>Artist</big>

! <big>Title</big>

! <big>Label</big>

! <big>Recorded</big>

! <big>Released</big>

! <big>Chart Positions</big>

|-

| 1 || Paul Whiteman and His Ambassador Orchestra || "Wang Wang Blues" || Victor 18694 || || || US Billboard 1921 #1, US #1 for 6 weeks, 17 total weeks, 457,000 sold 1921, later RCA Victor announced 1,000,000 || Brunswick 5065 || || || US Billboard 1921 #2, US #1 for 6 weeks, 12 total weeks, 1,750,000 sold 1921-1922

|-

| 3 || Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra || "Cherie" || Victor 18758 || || || US Billboard 1921 #3, US #1 for 6 weeks, 12 total weeks, 405,647 sales

|-

| 4 || Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra || "Song of India" || Victor 18777 || || || US Billboard 1921 #5, US #1 for 5 weeks, 14 total weeks, 1,000,000 sold

|-

| 5 || Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra || "Say It with Music" || Victor 18803 || || || US Billboard 1921 #4, US #1 for 5 weeks, 14 total weeks

|-

| 6 || Eddie Cantor || "Margie" || Emerson 10301 || || || US Billboard 1921 #6, US #1 for 5 weeks, 12 total weeks, 1,000,000 sold

|-

| 7 || Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra || "My Mammy-Beautiful Faces Medley" || Victor 18737 || || || US Billboard 1921 #7, US #1 for 5 weeks, 12 total weeks, 1,000,000 sales

|-

| 8 || Ted Lewis and His Band || "All by Myself" || Columbia 3434 || || || US Billboard 1921 #8, US #1 for 4 weeks, 12 total weeks

|-

| 9 || Al Jolson || "O-H-I-O (O My! O!)" || Columbia 3392 || || || US Billboard 1921 #10, US #1 for 3 weeks, 10 total weeks

|-

| 11 || Marion Harris || "Look for the Silver Lining" || Okeh 4169 || || || US Billboard 1920 #11, US #3 for 1 week, 11 total weeks, National Recording Registry 2005

|-

| 24 || Marion Harris || "I Ain't Got Nobody" || Victor 18717 || || || US Billboard 1921 #28, US #3 for 1 weeks, 5 total weeks

|}

Classical music

  • Agustín Barrios – La Catedral
  • George Enescu – Symphony No. 3 in C major, Op. 21 (revised version)
  • Gabriel Fauré
  • Cello Sonata No. 2
  • Piano Quintet No. 2 in C minor, Op. 115
  • John Foulds – A World Requiem (1919–21; premiered 1923)
  • Howard Hanson – Before the Night
  • Albert Ketèlbey
  • Bells Across the Meadows
  • In a Persian Market
  • Carl Nielsen – Moderen (stage music)
  • Henrique Oswald – String Quartet No. 4 in C minor, Op. 46
  • Willem Pijper
  • Symphony No. 2
  • Trio No. 2 for violin, violoncello & piano
  • Sergei Prokofiev – Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Major
  • Camille Saint-Saëns
  • Oboe Sonata, Op. 166
  • Clarinet Sonata, Op. 167
  • Bassoon Sonata, Op. 168
  • Edgard Varèse
  • Offrandes
  • Amériques (1918–21)
  • Ralph Vaughan Williams
  • The Lark Ascending, version for violin & orchestra
  • A Pastoral Symphony
  • Heitor Villa-Lobos – Fantasia de Movimentos Mistos, for violin & orchestra
  • Arnold Schoenberg – Suite for Piano Op. 25
  • John Ireland – Two Pieces for Piano

Opera

  • Franco Alfano – La leggenda di Sakùntala
  • Nicolae Bretan – Luceafarul
  • Paul Hindemith – Mörder, Hoffnung der Frauen and Das Nusch-Nuschi (premiered together June 4 at Württembergisches Landestheater, Stuttgart)
  • Leoš Janáček – Káťa Kabanová
  • Hans Jelmoli – Die Badener Fahrt
  • Emmerich Kálmán – Die Bajadere
  • Pietro Mascagni – Il piccolo Marat

Film

  • Paul Hindemith – Im Kampf mit dem Berge

Jazz

Musical theater

{|align=right

|

|}

  • Bombo, Broadway production opened at Jolson's 59th Street Theatre on October 6 and ran for 213 performances
  • The Broadway Whirl, Broadway revue opened at the Times Square Theatre on June 8 and ran for 85 performances
  • The Golden Moth (Music: Ivor Novello) London production opened at the Adelphi Theatre on October 5. Starring Bobbie Comber and Thorpe Bates.
  • Good Morning, Dearie, Broadway production opened at the Globe Theatre on November 1 and ran for 347 performances
  • Pot Luck London production opened at the Vaudeville Theatre on December 24.
  • The League of Notions London revue opened at the Oxford Theatre on January 17
  • The Rebel Maid London production opened at the Empire Theatre on March 12 and ran for 114 performances.
  • The Rose Girl (Music: Anselm Goetzl Book & Lyrics: William Carey Duncan) Broadway production opened at the Ambassador Theatre on February 11 and ran for 99 performances. Starring Mabel Withee, Charles Purcell and May Boley.
  • Sally, London production opened at the Winter Garden Theatre on September 10 and ran for 387 performances
  • Shuffle Along, Broadway production opened at the Daly's 63rd Street Theatre on May 23 and ran for 504 performances
  • Sybil, London production opened at Daly's Theatre on February 19 and ran for 346 performances

Births

  • January 10 – Helen Bonchek Schneyer, folk musician (died 2005)
  • January 17 – Lorna Cooke deVaron, choral conductor (died 2018)
  • January 22 – Arno Babajanian, composer (died 1983)
  • January 26 – Eddie Barclay, music producer (died 2005)
  • January 31
  • <!--January 31-->Carol Channing, musical comedy star (died 2019)
  • <!--January 31-->Mario Lanza, operatic tenor and film star (died 1959)
  • February 5 – Sir John Pritchard, British conductor (died 1989)
  • February 13 – Jeanne Demessieux, French organist and composer (died 1968)
  • February 16 – Vera-Ellen, dancer and actress (died 1981)
  • February 20 – Ruth Gipps, composer (died 1999)
  • February 26 – Betty Hutton, actress and singer (died 2007)
  • March 2 – Robert Simpson, musicologist and composer (died 1997)
  • March 6 – Julius Rudel, conductor (died 2014)
  • March 8 – Cyd Charisse, dancer (died 2008)
  • March 11 – Ástor Piazzolla, tango composer (died 1992)
  • March 12 – Gordon MacRae, singer and actor (died 1986)
  • March 21
  • <!--March 21-->Arthur Grumiaux, violinist (died 1986)
  • <!--March 21-->Antony Hopkins, composer and music writer (died 2014)
  • March 22 – Nino Manfredi, actor and film score composer (died 2004)
  • March 27 – Phil Chess, born Fiszel Czyż, record producer (died 2016)
  • March 28 – Rostislav Berberov, music theorist and musicologist (died 1984)
  • April 1
  • <!--April 1-->Douglas Allanbrook, composer (died 2003)
  • <!--April 1-->William Bergsma, composer (died 1994)
  • <!--April 1-->Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith, musician and composer (died 2014)
  • April 3 – Darío Moreno, Turkish singer and composer (died 1968)
  • April 8
  • <!--April 8-->Alfie Bass, actor (Tevye in West End production of Fiddler on the Roof) (died 1987)
  • <!--April 8-->Franco Corelli, operatic tenor (died 2003)
  • April 22 – Cándido Camero, percussionist (died 2020)
  • April 26 – Jimmy Giuffre, jazz musician (died 2008)
  • May 17
  • Dennis Brain, horn virtuoso (died 1957)
  • Bob Merrill, US songwriter (died 1998)
  • May 23 – Humphrey Lyttelton, English jazz musician (died 2008)
  • May 25 – Hal David – US lyricist (died 2012)
  • May 26 – Inge Borkh, German soprano (died 2018)
  • June 1 – Nelson Riddle, US conductor, composer and arranger (died 1985)
  • June 3 – Betty Freeman, patron of classical music (died 2009)
  • June 21
  • Judy Holliday, US actress and singer (died 1965)
  • Jane Russell, US actress and singer (died 2011)
  • June 24 – Peggy DeCastro, US singer born in the Dominican Republic, eldest of the DeCastro Sisters (died 2004)
  • June 25 – Celia Franca, dancer and choreographer (died 2007)
  • July 12 – Hilary Corke, writer and composer (died 2001)
  • July 15 – Jack Beeson, American pianist and composer (died 2010)
  • July 17
  • George Barnes, American swing jazz guitarist (died 1977)
  • Mary Osborne, American jazz guitarist (died 1992)
  • July 20 – Carmen Carrozza, accordionist (died 2013)
  • July 24 – Giuseppe Di Stefano, opera singer (died 2008)
  • July 30 – Grant Johannesen, American pianist (died 2005)
  • August 3 – Richard Adler, American composer and lyricist (died 2012)
  • August 4 – Herb Ellis, American guitarist (died 2010)
  • August 7
  • Manitas de Plata, French Gitano flamenco guitarist (died 2014)
  • Karel Husa, Czech-born classical composer (died 2016)
  • August 9 – Lola Bobesco, Belgian violinist (died 2003)
  • August 13 – Mary Lee, Scottish singer (died 2022)
  • September 3 – Thurston Dart, English musicologist, conductor and keyboard player (died 1971)
  • September 4 – Ariel Ramírez, Argentine composer (died 2010)
  • September 8 – Sir Harry Secombe, Welsh singer and comedian (died 2001)
  • September 19 – Billy Ward, R&B singer (The Dominoes) (died 2002)
  • September 21 – Chico Hamilton, jazz drummer (died 2013)
  • September 30 – Pedro Knight, Cuban musician, manager (died 2007)
  • October 1 – James Whitmore, American actor in film musicals (died 2009)
  • October 21
  • <!--October 21-->Sir Malcolm Arnold, English composer (died 2006)
  • <!--October 21-->Jarmil Burghauser, Czech conductor, composer and musicologist (died 1997)
  • October 23
  • Denise Duval, French soprano (died 2016)
  • İlhan Usmanbaş, Turkish composer (died 2025)
  • October 25 – Little Hatch, American blues musician (died 2003)
  • November 5 – Georges Cziffra, pianist (died 1994)
  • November 9 – Pierrette Alarie, soprano (died 2011)
  • November 21 – Vivian Blaine, actress and singer (died 1995)
  • November 23 – Fred Buscaglione, Italian singer, musician and songwriter (died 1960)
  • December 3 – Phyllis Curtin, soprano (died 2016)
  • December 4 – Deanna Durbin, singer and actress (died 2013)
  • December 8 – Johnny Otis, blues musician (died 2012)
  • December 15 – Alan Freed, disc jockey (died 1965)
  • December 26 – Steve Allen, musician and comedian (died 2000)

Deaths

  • January 23 – Władysław Żeleński, pianist, organist and composer (born 1837)
  • February 8
  • <!--February 8-->George Formby Sr, singer (born 1875; pulmonary tuberculosis)
  • <!--February 8-->Francisco D'Andrade, opera singer (born 1856)
  • March 14 – Gustave Barnes, artist and musician (born 1877)
  • March 24 – Déodat de Séverac, composer (born 1872)
  • April 3 – Annie Louise Cary, operatic contralto (born 1842)
  • April 5 – Alphons Diepenbrock, composer and writer (born 1862)
  • April 7 – Víctor Mirecki Larramat, cellist (born 1847)
  • April 20 – Tony Jackson, pianist, singer and composer (born 1876; cirrhosis of the liver)
  • May 4 – Max Kalbeck, music writer and critic (born 1850)
  • June 8 – Natalie Bauer-Lechner, viola player (born 1858)
  • July 9 – Marianne Brandt, operatic contralto (born 1842)
  • August 2 – Enrico Caruso, operatic tenor (born 1873; peritonitis)
  • August 8 – Arthur Pougin, music critic (born 1834)
  • September 3 – Rosa Linde, contralto
  • September 27
  • <!--September 27-->Engelbert Humperdinck, composer (born 1854; heart attack)
  • <!--September 27-->Zdzisław Birnbaum, violinist and conductor (born 1878)
  • September 28 – Princess Pauline von Metternich, patron of composers including Wagner and Smetana (born 1836)
  • October 4 – Sophie Stehle, operatic soprano (born 1838)
  • November 20 – Christina Nilsson, operatic soprano (born 1843)
  • November 25 – Théodore Lack, pianist (born 1846)
  • November 29 – Ivan Caryll, composer of operettas (born 1861; haemorrhage)
  • November 30 – Henry Behr, founder of the piano manufacturing company, Behr Brothers & Co. (born 1848)
  • December 10 – Victor Jacobi, composer of operettas (born 1883; illness)
  • December 16 – Camille Saint-Saëns, composer (born 1835; tuberculosis)
  • December 25 – Hans Huber, composer (born 1852)

References