1928 in music

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This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1928.

Specific locations

• 1928 in British music
• 1928 in Norwegian music

Specific genres

• 1928 in country music
• 1928 in jazz

Events

• Apollon musagète
  receives its première in Washington.
• May 5 – Composers Alban Berg and George Gershwin meet for the first time, in Vienna.^[1]
• June – 1928 International Columbia Graphophone Competition, sponsored by the Columbia Graphophone Company to mark Schubert's death centenary, is judged in Vienna. Kurt Atterberg's Sixth Symphony is the winner and becomes probably the first major piece to be premiered on disc.^[2]
• August 31 – The Threepenny Opera (Die Dreigroschenoper), adapted by Bertolt Brecht, Elisabeth Hauptmann and composer Kurt Weill (with set designer Caspar Neher) from The Beggar's Opera, receives its première in Berlin at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm with Harald Paulsen and Lotte Lenya (Weill's wife) in the principal rôles.
• September 11 – Leoš Janáček's String Quartet No. 2, Intimate Letters, receives its première in Brno.
• September 12 – Anton Webern's String Trio receives its première in Siena.
• September 14 – Carl Nielsen's Clarinet Concerto is given its first performance.
• September 21 – Al Jolson marries Ruby Keeler.
• Bolero receives its première in Paris at the Palais Garnier
  .
• Le Baiser de la fée
  receives its première in Paris.
• December 2 – Arnold Schoenberg's Variations for Orchestra receives its première in Berlin
• December 29 – Pinetop Smith records "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie" in Chicago; released in 1929 (the year of Smith's death) it becomes the first hit boogie-woogie recording.
• Edward German is knighted for services to music.
• Eric Fenby begins work as amanuensis for Frederick Delius.
• Maurice Ravel embarks on a concert tour of the United States, where he meets George Gershwin.
• Tampa Red's recording career begins.
• Scrapper Blackwell makes his first recordings for Vocalion Records.
• Leroy Carr's recording career begins with the release of "How Long, How Long Blues".
• The first commercial recordings of Cajun music are released.
• The Detroit Symphony Orchestra makes its Carnegie Hall début.

Published popular music

• "After My Laughter Came Tears" w.m. Charles Tobias & Roy Turk
• "Alabama Song" w. Bertolt Brecht m. Kurt Weill
• "All By Yourself In The Moonlight" w.m. Jay Wallis
• "Anything You Say" w.m. Walter Donaldson
• "Baby" w. Dorothy Fields m. Jimmy McHugh. Recorded and sung by Adelaide Hall
• "Back in Your Own Backyard" w.m. Dave Dreyer, Al Jolson & Billy Rose
• "Basin Street Blues" w.m. Spencer Williams
• "Because My Baby Don't Mean Maybe Now" w.m. Walter Donaldson
• "
  Big Rock Candy Mountain
  " Harry McClintock
• "Bill" w.
  P.G. Wodehouse & Oscar Hammerstein II m. Jerome Kern. Introduced by Helen Morgan in the musical Showboat and performed by Miss Morgan in the 1929 and 1936
  film versions.
• "
  Jimmie Rodgers^[3]
• "
  Bolero" m. Maurice Ravel
• "
  B.G. DeSylva & Lew Brown m. Ray Henderson. Introduced by Ruth Etting
  .
• "Calling To You" by Jack Lumsdaine^[4]
• "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" w. Oscar Hammerstein II m. Jerome Kern
• "Carolina Moon" w. Benny Davis m. Joe Burke
• "Cherry" w.m. Don Redman
• "Chiquita" w. L. Wolfe Gilbert m. Mabel Wayne^[3]
• "C-O-N-S-T-A-N-T-I-N-O-P-L-E" w.m. Harry Carlton^[3]
• "Coquette" w. Gus Kahn m. Carmen Lombardo & John Green
• "Cow Cow Blues" m. Cow Cow Davenport
• "Crazy Rhythm" w. Irving Caesar m. Joseph Meyer & Roger Wolfe Kahn. Introduced by Ben Bernie, Peggy Chamberlain and June O'Dea in the musical Here's Howe.
• "Dance, Little Lady" w.m Noël Coward. Introduced by Sonnie Hale in the revue This Year of Grace
• "Diga Diga Doo" w. Dorothy Fields m. Jimmy McHugh. Introduced by Adelaide Hall in the revue Blackbirds of 1928
• "Do I Hear You Saying?" w. Lorenz Hart m. Richard Rodgers. Introduced by Charles King and Flora Le Breton in the musical Present Arms.
• "Doin' The New Low-Down" w. Dorothy Fields m. Jimmy McHugh. Introduced by Bill Robinson in the revue Blackbirds of 1928.
• "Doin' The Raccoon" w. Raymond Klages m. J. Fred Coots
• "Don't Look At Me That Way" w.m. Cole Porter. Introduced by Irène Bordoni in the musical Paris.
• "Dusky Stevedore" w. Andy Razaf m. J. C. Johnson
• "Empty Bed Blues" w.m. J. C. Johnson
• "Fancy Our Meeting" w. Douglas Furber m. Joseph Meyer &
  Philip Charig. Introduced by Jack Buchanan and Elsie Randolph in the musical That's a Good Girl
  .
• "Forgetting You" w. B.G. DeSylva & Lew Brown m. Ray Henderson
• "From Monday On" w. Bing Crosby m. Harry Barris
• "
  A Garden In The Rain
  " w. James Dyrenforth m. Carroll Gibbons
• "A Gay Caballero" w.m. Frank Crumit & Lou Klein
• "
  Get Out And Get Under The Moon" w. Charles Tobias & William Jerome m. Larry Shay
• "Glad Rag Doll" w.m. Dan Dougherty and Milton Ager
• "De Glory Road" w. Clement Wood m. Jacques Wolfe
• "Golden Gate" by Billy Rose & Dave Dreyer
• "Henry's Made A Lady Out Of Lizzie" w.m. Walter O'Keefe
• "Honey" w. Seymour Simons & Haven Gillespie m. Richard A. Whiting
• "
  Robert Greig, Margaret Dumont and Groucho Marx in the musical Animal Crackers and also performed by them in the 1930
  film version.
• "How About Me?" w.m. Irving Berlin
• "How Long Has This Been Going On?" w. Ira Gershwin m. George Gershwin. Introduced by Bobbe Arnst in the musical Rosalie. Performed by Audrey Hepburn in the 1957 film Funny Face
• "
  I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby" w. Dorothy Fields m. Jimmy McHugh.^[3][5] Introduced by Adelaide Hall at Les Ambassedeurs Club, Broadway, January 1928 in the revue Lew Leslie's Blackbird Revue and in May at the Liberty Theatre, Broadway in Blackbirds of 1928
  .
• "I Kiss Your Hand, Madame" w. (Eng) Sam M. Lewis & Joe Young (Ger) Fritz Rotter m. Ralph Erwin
• "I Must Have That Man" w. Dorothy Fields m. Jimmy McHugh. Introduced by Adelaide Hall in the revue Blackbirds of 1928
• "I Wanna Be Loved by You" w. Bert Kalmar m. Harry Ruby & Herbert Stothart. Introduced by Helen Kane and Dan Healy in the musical Good Boy. Performed by Miss Kane dubbing for Debbie Reynolds in the 1950 film Three Little Words.
• "I'd Rather Be Blue Over You" w. Billy Rose m. Fred Fisher. Introduced by Fanny Brice in the film My Man.
• "If I Had You" w.m. Ted Shapiro, Jimmy Campbell & Reg Connelly
• "I'll Get By" w. Roy Turk m. Fred E. Ahlert
• "I'm a Ding Dong Daddy From Dumas" w.m. Phil Baxter
• "I'm Bringing A Red, Red Rose" w. Gus Kahn m. Walter Donaldson. Introduced by Paul Gregory and Frances Upton in the musical Whoopee!
• "I'm On The Crest Of A Wave" w. B.G. DeSylva & Lew Brown m. Ray Henderson. Introduced by Harry Richman in the revue George White's Scandals of 1928
• "I've Got a Crush on You" w. Ira Gershwin m. George Gershwin. Introduced by Clifton Webb and Mary Hay in the musical Treasure Girl.
• "Is There Anything Wrong In That?" w.m. Michael H. Cleary & Herb Magidson
• "It Goes Like This (That Funny Melody)" w. Irving Caesar m. Cliff Friend
• "It's Tight Like That" Georgia Tom, Hudson "Tampa Red" Whittaker
• "Jeannine, I Dream of Lilac Time" w. L. Wolfe Gilbert m. Nathaniel Shilkret
• "Jimmy, the Well-Dressed Man" w.m. Jimmy Durante
• "
  Irene Bordoni and Arthur Margetson in the musical Paris
  .
• "Let's Misbehave" w.m. Cole Porter
• "Life Upon The Wicked Stage" w. Oscar Hammerstein II m. Jerome Kern
• "Louisiana" w. Andy Razaf & Bob Schafer m. J. C. Johnson
• "Lovable" Holmes, Simons, Whiting
• "Love Me or Leave Me" w. Gus Kahn m. Walter Donaldson
• "Lover, Come Back to Me" w. Oscar Hammerstein II m. Sigmund Romberg
• "Ma Belle" w. Clifford Grey m. Rudolf Friml
• "
  Mack The Knife" w. (Eng) Marc Blitzstein (Ger) Bertolt Brecht m. Kurt Weill^[5]
• "Make Believe" w. Oscar Hammerstein II m. Jerome Kern^[3]
• "Makin' Whoopee" w. Gus Kahn m. Walter Donaldson
• "Malagueña" m. Ernesto Lecuona
• "March Of The Musketeers" w.
  theatre musical The Three Musketeers
• "Marie" w.m. Irving Berlin
• "Memories of France" by Al Dubin
• "My Blackbirds Are Bluebirds Now" w. Irving Caesar m. Cliff Friend^[3]
• "My Baby Just Cares for Me" w. Gus Kahn m. Walter Donaldson
• "My Lucky Star" w. B.G. DeSylva & Lew Brown m. Ray Henderson
• "My Mammy" w. Walter Donaldson, Joe Young & Sam M. Lewis. Sung by Al Jolson.^[3][5]
• "Nagasaki" w. Mort Dixon m. Harry Warren
• "Oh, So Nice!" w. Ira Gershwin m. George Gershwin from Treasure Girl
• "One Kiss" w. Oscar Hammerstein II m. Sigmund Romberg
• "Pine Top's Boogie Woogie" m. Clarence "Pine Top" Smith
• "Pirate Jenny" w. Bertolt Brecht m. Kurt Weill
• "A Precious Little Thing Called Love" w.m. Lou Davis & J. Fred Coots
• "Room 1411" m. Glenn Miller & Benny Goodman
• "'Round Evening" w. Herb Steiner &
  J. Fred Coots
  m. George Whiting
• "She's Funny That Way" w. Richard A. Whiting m. Neil Moret
• "Short'nin' Bread" adapt. w.m. Jacques Wolfe
• "
  Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise" w. Oscar Hammerstein II m. Sigmund Romberg. Introduced by William O'Neal in the operetta The New Moon. Performed in the 1940 film New Moon by Nelson Eddy
  .
• "The Song Of The Prune" Frank Crumit, De Costa
• "Sonny Boy" w.m. Al Jolson, B.G. DeSylva, Lew Brown & Ray Henderson^[3]
• "St James Infirmary" w.m. Joe Primrose
• "
  Stack O'Lee" trad arr. Cliff Edwards
• "Stouthearted Men" w. Oscar Hammerstein II m. Sigmund Romberg
• "
  Sugar (That Sugar Baby of Mine)" w.m. Maceo Pinkard & Sidney D. Mitchell
• "Sweet Lorraine" w. Mitchell Parish m. Cliff Burwell
• "Sweet Sue" w. Will J. Harris m. Victor Young
• "Sweetheart Of All My Dreams" w.m. Art Fitch, Kay Fitch & Bert Lowe
• "Sweethearts On Parade" w. Charles Newman m. Carmen Lombardo
• "'Tain't So, Honey, 'Tain't So" w.m. Willard Robison
• "That's My Weakness Now" w.m. Bud Green & Sam H. Stept
• "There Ain't No Sweet Man (That's Worth The Salt Of My Tears)" w.m. Fred Fisher
• "There's a Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder" w.m. Dave Dreyer, Billy Rose & Al Jolson
• "
  B.G. DeSylva & Lew Brown m. Ray Henderson
• "Wanting You" w. Oscar Hammerstein II m. Sigmund Romberg. Introduced by Evelyn Herbert and Robert Halliday in the operetta The New Moon. Performed in the 1930 film version by Grace Moore and Lawrence Tibbett.
• "West End Blues" w.m. Joseph Oliver & Clarence Williams^[3]
• "When You're Smiling" w.m. Mark Fisher, Joe Goodwin & Larry Shay
• "Willow Tree" w. Andy Razaf m. Thomas Waller from the musical Keep Shufflin'
• "World Weary" w.m. Noël Coward. Introduced by Beatrice Lillie in the revue This Year of Grace
• "You Are Love" w. Oscar Hammerstein II m. Jerome Kern
• "You Took Advantage of Me" w. Lorenz Hart m. Richard Rodgers
• "You Wouldn't Fool Me" w.
  B. G. De Sylva & Lew Brown m. Ray Henderson
• "
  B.G. DeSylva & Lew Brown m. Ray Henderson^[3]

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 1928:^[6] Numerical rankings are approximate, they are only used as a frame of reference.

1928 Harlem Hit Parade (non-official)

(created with Popular Music Chart Entries)^[6]

Other important recordings

• "The Mooche" by Duke Ellington
• "Muggles" by Louis Armstrong
• "Big Bill Blues" by Big Bill Broonzy
• "Prison Cell Blues" by Blind Lemon Jefferson
• "Statesboro Blues" by Blind Willie McTell (released 1929)
• "Playing With the Strings" by Lonnie Johnson
• "How Long, How Long Blues" by Leroy Carr
• "It's Tight Like That" by Tampa Red and Georgia Tom
• "I Used To Be Your Sweet Mama" by Bessie Smith
• "Son de la Loma" by Trio Matamoros

Classical music

• Aaron Avshalomov – Four Biblical Tableaux
• Granville Bantock – Pagan Symphony
• Samuel Barber – Serenade, Op. 1, for string quartet (or string orchestra)
• Béla Bartók – String Quartet No. 4
• Werner Egk – Concerto for Violin and Chamber Orchestra
• John Fernström – Symphony No. 2, Op. 15
• Gerald Finzi – Grand Fantasia and Toccata
• Roberto Gerhard
  – Wind Quintet
• Karl Amadeus Hartmann – Jazz Toccata and Fugue
• Gordon Jacob – String Quartet
• Dmitri Kabalevsky
  • String Quartet No. 1 in A minor, Op. 8
  • Piano Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 9
• Wilhelm Kienzl – String Quartet No. 3 in E major
• Uuno Klami – Karelian Rhapsody
• George Gershwin – An American in Paris (jazz-influenced symphonic poem)
• Ernst Krenek
  • Little Symphony
  • Piano Sonata No. 2
• Bolero
• Sergei Prokofiev
  • Symphony No. 3
  • The Prodigal Son
    (ballet)
• Albert Roussel – Psalm 80
• Dmitri Shostakovich – Tahiti Trot, Op. 16
• Roger Sessions – The Black Maskers Suite for Orchestra
• Leo Sowerby – Symphony No. 2
• Richard Strauss
  • Die Tageszeiten, Op.76
  • Gesänge des Orients, Op.77
• Ernst Toch – Piano Sonata, Op. 47
• Heitor Villa-Lobos
  • Chôros No. 11
  • Chôros No. 14
  • Quinteto (em forma de chôros)
• Pancho Vladigerov – Bulgarische Rhapsodie "Vardar"
• Felix Weingartner – Symphony No. 6, Op. 74

Opera

• Cyril Scott – The Alchemist
• Dmitri Shostakovich – The Nose (1927–28)
• Richard Strauss – Die ägyptische Helena premiered at the Dresden Semperoper on 6 June 1928.
• Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht – Die Dreigroschenoper premiered on 31 August 1928, at Berlin's Theater am Schiffbauerdamm.
• Stefan Wolpe – Zeus und Elida, premiered in Berlin

Film

• Irving Berlin – The Awakening (1928 film)
• Willy Schmidt-Gentner – Heimkehr
• Louis Silvers, Alois Reiser – Noah's Ark (1928 film)
• Werner Richard Heymann – Alraune (1928 film)

Jazz

Musical theater

• Angela Broadway production
• Liberty Theatre
  on May 9 and ran for 518 performances
• Blue Eyes London production opened at the Piccadilly Theatre on April 27 and ran for 278 performances
• Casanova Berlin production
• Hello, Daddy (Music:
  Erlanger's Theatre
  on May 6, 1929, for a total run of 198 performances
• Here's Howe Broadway production opened at the Broadhurst Theatre on May 1 and ran for 71 performances.
• Hold Everything! Broadway production opened at the Broadhurst Theatre on October 10 and ran for 409 performances.
• Keep Shufflin' Broadway production opened at Daly's Theatre on February 27 and ran for 104 performances
• Casino Theatre
  on November 18 and ran for a total of 509 performances.
• Paris (Cole Porter) Broadway production opened at the Music Box Theatre on October 8 and ran for 195 performances.
• Lew Fields' Mansfield Theatre
  on April 26 and ran for 155 performances.
• Rain or Shine Broadway production opened at George M. Cohan's Theatre on February 9 and ran for 356 performances
• Rainbow Broadway production opened at the
  Gallo Opera House
  on November 21 and ran for 29 performances
• Show Boat (Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II) – London production
• So This Is Love London production opened on April 25 at the Winter Garden Theatre and ran for 321 performances
• Sunny Days Broadway production opened at the
  Century Theatre
  on October 1 for a further run of 32 performances.
• This Year of Grace by Noël Coward opens on 22 March 1928 at the London Pavilion and ran for nearly 10 months
• Lyric Theatre
  on March 13 and ran for 319 performances.
• Alvin Theatre
  on November 8 and ran for 68 performances
• Ups-a-Daisy Broadway production opened at the Shubert Theatre on October 8 and ran for 64 performances. Starring Marie Saxon, Luella Gear, William Kent, Bob Hope and Roy Royston.
• Virginia London production opened at the Palace Theatre on October 24.
  • London revue opened at the Pavilion on March 22 and ran for 316 performances.
  • Broadway production opened at the
    Selwyn Theatre
    on November 7 and ran for 158 performances.
• White Lilacs opened at the
  Jolson's 59th Street Theatre
  on October 8 for a total run of 136 performances
• Whoopee! Broadway production opened at the New Amsterdam Theatre on December 4 and ran for 407 performances