1897 in music

Events

• March 27 - Premiere of Sergei Rachmaninoff's First Symphony. The premiere was a complete disaster and left many wondering if Alexander Glazunov, the conductor for the event, was drunk or just disliked the music so much that he didn't care about a good performance. It would be years before Rachmaninoff would compose a major piece of music again.
• The Cakewalk matures into Ragtime music.
• John Philip Sousa's band makes phonograph recordings of Cakewalks and early Ragtime.
• Early publications by Scott Joplin.
• Gustav Mahler becomes director of the Vienna Court Opera, and is obliged to convert from Judaism to Roman Catholicism.
• André Messager becomes musical director of the Opéra-Comique.
• Ralph Vaughan Williams studies with Max Bruch in Berlin.

Published popular music

• "Asleep In The Deep"     w. Arthur J. Lamb m. Henry W. Petrie
• "At A Georgia Camp Meeting"     w.m. Kerry Mills
• "Badinage"     m. Victor Herbert
• "Beautiful Isle Of Somewhere"     w. Mrs Jessie Brown Pounds m. John S. Fearis
• "Break The News To Mother"     w.m. Charles K. Harris
• "Danny Deever"     w. Rudyard Kipling m. Walter Damrosch
• "Harlem Rag"     m. Tom Turpin
• "Louisiana Rag" m. Theodore H. Northrup
• "On The Banks Of The Wabash Far Away"     w.m. Paul Dresser
• "Our Lodger's Such A Nice Young Man"     w.m. Fred Murray & Laurence Barclay
• "Roustabout Rag"     m. Paul Sarebresole
• "The Shuffling Coon" by J. R. Todd
• "Song Of India"     m. Nikolai Rimsky Korsakov
• "Stars And Stripes Forever"     m. John Philip Sousa (Recorded on Berliner Records)
• "Syncopated Sandy" by Wayburn & Whiting
• "Take Back Your Gold"     w.m. Monroe H. Rosenfeld
• "There's A Little Star Shining For You"     w.m. James Thornton
• "Ye Boston Tea Party" by Arthur Pryor

Recorded popular music

• "A Hot Time in the Old Town"
  - Dan W. Quinn on Berliner Records
• "Little Kinkies" (w.m. M. Tobias)
  - Edison Concert Band on Edison Records brown wax cylinder № 155
• "My Mother Was a Lady"
  - Dan W. Quinn
• "There's a Little Star Shining for You"
  - Dan W. Quinn on Edison Records

Classical music

• Hugo Alfvén - Symphony No. 1
• Ferruccio Busoni - Violin Concerto
• Ernest Chausson - String Quartet
• Felix Draeseke - String Quintet in A "Stelzner-Quintett"
• Paul Dukas - The Sorcerer's Apprentice
• August Enna - Concerto for violin and orchestra in D major
• Asger Hamerik - Symphonie no. 6 (Spirituelle) for string orchestra
• Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov - Symphony No. 2 "Antar" (final version)
• Arnold Schoenberg - String Quartet in D major
• Richard Strauss - Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche
• Alexander von Zemlinsky - Symphony No. 2

Opera

• Frederick Delius - Koanga
• August Enna - The Little Match Girl
• Zdeněk Fibich - Sarka
• Eduard Holst - Our Flats, premiered in New York
• Wilhelm Kienzl - Don Quixote
• Luigi Mancinelli - Ero e Leandro
• Jules Massenet - Sapho

Musical theater

• The Belle of New York      Broadway production
• The Charlatan     Broadway production
• The Circus Girl     Broadway production
• The Glad Hand     Broadway production
• Pousse Café     Broadway production

Births

• January 2 - Jane Green, US singer
• January 10 - Sam Chatmon, blues musician
• January 22 - Leslie Sarony, English singer, comedian and songwriter
• February 27 - Marian Anderson, contralto
• March 9 - Pedro Flores, composer
• March 11 - Henry Cowell, composer
• March 26 - David McCallum, Sr., violinist and father of David McCallum
• April 1 - Lucille Bogan, blues singer
• April 17 - Harald Sæverud, composer
• April 19 - Vivienne Segal, US actress and singer
• May 2 - J. Fred Coots, US composer
• May 14 - Sidney Bechet
• May 29 - Erich Wolfgang Korngold, composer
• June 3 - "Memphis Minnie", blues singer
• June 12 - Alexandre Tansman, pianist and composer
• July 11
  • Blind Lemon Jefferson
  • Johnny Marvin, US singer & songwriter
• August 4 - Abe Lyman, US bandleader, composer and drummer
• August 24 - Fred Rose, US composer, singer and pianist
• August 29 - Helge Rosvaenge, operatic tenor
• September 3 - Francisco Mignone, composer
• September 8 - Jimmie Rodgers
• September 18 - Sam H. Stept, Russian-born US composer, pianist and conductor
• October 11 - Leo Reisman
• November 2 - Dennis King, British singer and actor
• November 25 - Willie 'The Lion' Smith, US jazz pianist
• December 9 - Hermione Gingold, actress and singer
• December 18 - Fletcher Henderson, jazz musician
• December 30 - Alfredo Bracchi, Italian lyricist
• date unknown - Rosa Ponselle, soprano
• date unknown - Aileen Stanley, singer

Deaths

• February 10 - Antonio Bazzini, violinist, composer and music teacher (b. 1818)
• February 23 - Woldemar Bargiel, composer and teacher (b. 1828)
• February 25 - Cornélie Falcon, opera singer (b. 1812)
• March 7 - Leonard Labatt, operatic tenor (b. 1838)
• April 3 - Johannes Brahms, composer (b. 1833)
• May 21 - Carl Mikuli, pianist and composer
• June 9 - Pavel Pabst, pianist and composer (b. 1854)
• June 18 - Franz Krenn, composer and music teacher (b. 1816)
• August 1 - Gaetano Antoniazzi, violin-maker (b. 1825)
• September 16 - Edward Edwards, choirmaster and composer (b. 1816)
• September 20 - Karel Bendl, composer (b. 1838)
• October 11 - Léon Boëllmann, organist and composer (b. 1862)
• October 27 - Alphons Czibulka, pianist, conductor and composer (b. 1842)
• November 6 - Edouard Deldevez, conductor, composer and violinist (b. 1817)
• November 14 - Giuseppina Strepponi, operatic soprano (b. 1815)
• December 4 - Adolf Neuendorff, German-American composer, conductor, pianist and violinist (b. 1843)