See also:
1897 in music,
other events of 1898,
1899 in music and the
list of 'years in music'.
Events
Published popular music
- "Because" w. Charles Horwitz m. Frederick V. Bowers
- "The Boy Guessed Right" w.m. Lionel Monckton
- "Ciribiribin" w. Carlo Tiochet m. Albert Pestalozza
- "Gold Will Buy Most Anything But A True Girl's Heart" w. Charles E. Foreman m. Monroe H. Rosenfeld
- "Good-bye Dolly Gray" w. Will D. Cobb m. Paul Barnes
- "Goodnight, Little Girl, Goodnight" w. Julai M. Hays m. J. C. Macy
- "Gypsy Love Song" w. Harry B. Smith m. Victor Herbert from the musical The Fortune Teller
- "Honey on my Lips" Charles E. Trevathan
- "I Guess I'll Have To Telegraph My Baby" w.m. George M. Cohan
- "Just As The Sun Went Down" w. Karl Kennett m. Lyn Udall
- "Just One Girl" w. Karl Kennett m. Lyn Udall
- "Kiss Me Honey Do" w. Edgar Smith m. John Stromberg
- "The Lily Of Laguna" w.m. Leslie Stuart
- "'Mid The Green Fields Of Virginia" w.m. Charles K. Harris
- "Mister Johnson Don't Get Gay" w.m. Dave Reed Jr
- "The Moth And The Flame" w. George Taggart m. Max S. Witt
- "My Old New Hampshire Home" w. Andrew B. Sterling m. Harry Von Tilzer
- "Recessional" w. Rudyard Kipling m. Reginald DeKoven
- "Romany Life" w. Harry B. Smith m. Victor Herbert
- "The Rosary" w. Robert Cameron Rogers m. Ethelbert Nevin
- "Salome" m. William Lorraine
- "She Is The Belle Of New York" w. Hugh Morton m. Gustave Kerker
- "She Was Bred In Old Kentucky" w. Harry Braisted m. Stanley Carter
- "When You Were Sweet Sixteen" w.m. James Thornton
- "Who Dat Say Chicken In Dis Crowd" w. Paul Lawrence Dunbar m. Will Marion
Recorded popular music
- "The Amorous Goldfish" (w. Harry Greenbank m. Sidney Jones)
- Syria Lamonte on Berliner Gramophone Records
- "At A Georgia Camp Meeting" (w.m. Kerry Mills)
- Sousa's Band on Berliner Records
- "The Battle Cry Of Freedom" (w.m. George Frederick Root)
- John Terrell on Berliner
- "Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms" (w. Thomas Moore m. trad)
- J. W. Myers on Berliner
- "Break The News To Mother" (w.m. Charles K. Harris)
- George J. Gaskin on Edison Records
- "Chin, Chin, Chinaman" (w. Harry Greenbank m. Sidney Jones)
- James T. Powers on Berliner
- "Cotton Blossoms" (m. M. H. Hall)
- Sousa's Band on Berliner
- "Don Jose Of Sevilla" (Smith, Herbert)
- Jessie Bartlett Davis & W. H. MacDonald on Berliner
- "Happy Days In Dixie" (m. Kerry Mills)
- Arthur Collins on Edison
- "The Harp That Once Thro' Tara's Halls" (w. Thomas Moore m. trad)
- J. W. Myers on Berliner
- "A Hot Time In The Old Town" (w. Joseph Hayden m. Theodore A. Metz)
- Sousa's Band on Berliner
- Len Spencer with banjo Vess L. Ossman on Columbia Records
- Roger Harding on Edison
- "In The Gloaming" (w. Meta Orred m. Annie Fortescue Harrison)
- Roger Harding on Berliner
- "I'se Gwine Back To Dixie" (w.m. C. A. White)
- Edison Male Quartette on Edison
- "Just Before The Battle, Mother" (w.m. George Frederick Root)
- Frank C. Stanley on Edison
- "Killarney" (w. Edmund Falconer m. Michael William Balfe)
- Arthur Gladstone on Berliner
- "Largo Al Factotum" (w. Cesare Sterbini m. Giaocchino Rossini)
- Alberto Del Campo on Berliner
- "Love's Old Sweet Song" (w. George Clifton Bingham m. James Lyman Molloy)
- Annie Carter on Berliner
- "The Miner's Dream Of Home" (w.m. Will Godwin & Leo Dryden)
- Leo Dryden on Berliner Gramophone
- "Mister Johnson Don't Get Gay" (w.m. Dave Reed Jr)
- Press Eldridge on Edison
- "Mister Johnson, Turn Me Loose" (w.m. Ben Harney)
- Marguerite Newton on Edison
- Len Spencer with Vess L. Ossman on Columbia
- "My Old Kentucky Home, Good Night" (w. m. Stephen Collins Foster)
- Diamond Four on Berliner
- Edison Male Quartette onEdison
- "Oh, Promise Me" (w. Clement Scott m. Reginald DeKoven)
- Jessie Bartlett Davis on Berliner
- "Old Folks At Home" (w. m. Stephen Collins Foster)
- Diamond Four on Berliner
- "On The Banks Of The Wabash Far Away" (w.m. Paul Dresser)
- Annie Carter on Berliner
- "Orange Blossoms" (m. Arthur Pryor)
- Sousa's Band on Berliner
- "The Palms" (m. Gabriel Fauré)
- Diamond Four on Berliner
- "Rocked In The Cradle Of The Deep" (w. Mrs Emma Hart Willard m. Joseph Phillip Knight)
- William Hooley on Edison
- "She Was Bred In Old Kentucky" (w. Harry Braisted m. Stanley Carter)
- Albert C. Campbell on Edison
- "Smoky Mokes" (m. Abe Holzmann)
- banjo Vess L. Ossman on Columbia
- "Stars And Stripes Forever" (m. John Philip Sousa)
- Sousa's Band on Berliner
- "Sweet And Low" (w. Alfred, Lord Tennyson m. Sir Joseph Barnby)
- Ladies Brass Quartette of Boston Fadettes on Berliner
- "Sweet Genevieve" (w. George Cooper m. Henry Tucker)
- Jessie Bartlett Davis on Berliner
- "Sweet Rosie O'Grady" (w.m. Maude Nugent)
- Steve Porter on Berliner
- "The Sweetest Story Ever Told" (w.m. R. M. Stults)
- Diamond Four on Berliner
- George J. Gaskin onEdison
- "Then You'll Remember Me" (w. Alfred Bunn m. Michael William Balfe)
- James Norrie on Berliner Gramophone
- Annie Carter on Berliner
- "There's A Little Star Shining For You" (w.m. James Thornton)
- Dan W. Quinn on Edison
- "The Thunderer" (m. John Philip Sousa)
- Sousa's Band on Berliner
- "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp" (w.m. George Frederick Root)
- Frank C. Stanley on Edison
- "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" (w.m. Louis Lambert)
- Frank C. Stanley on Edison
- "Yankee Doodle" (trad)
- Frank C. Stanley on Edison
Classical music
Births
- January 9 - Gracie Fields, singer and actress
- January 28 - Vittorio Rieti, composer
- February 3 - Lil Hardin Armstrong, wife and musical collaborator of Louis Armstrong
- February 7 - Dock Boggs, banjo player
- February 12 - Roy Harris, composer
- February 15 - Totò, actor and composer
- February 20 - Jimmy Yancey, US jazz pianist
- April 3 - George Jessel, US actor, singer & songwriter
- April 9 - Paul Robeson, singer
- May 14 - Zutty Singleton, jazz drummer
- May 15 - Arletty, actress and singer
- May 28 - Andy Kirk, jazz musician
- June 1 - Molly Picon, Broadway star
- June 6 - Dame Ninette de Valois, founder of the UK's Royal Ballet
- July 4 - Gertrude Lawrence, English actress, singer and dancer
- July 6 - Hanns Eisler, composer
- July 15 - Noel Gay, English songwriter
- August 15 - Charles Tobias, US songwriter and singer
- August 24 - Fred Rose, songwriter, music publisher
- September 1
- September 26 - George Gershwin, US composer
- September 27 - Vincent Youmans, US composer
- October 18 - Lotte Lenya, singer and actress, wife of Kurt Weill
- November 1 - Sippie Wallace, blues singer
- December 5 - Grace Moore, operatic soprano
- December 14 - Lillian Randolph, actress and singer
- December 24 - Baby Dodds, jazz drummer
Deaths