- Jan 14 Heinrich Schenker, Austrian musicologist (Urlinie) know for his Schenkerian analysis of music, dies at 66
- Jan 16 Richard Wetz, German composer (Requiem, Op. 50 in B minor), dies of lung cancer at 59
- Jan 28 Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov, Russian composer and musician (Armenian Rhapsody), dies at 75
- Feb 9 Karl Nef, Swiss musicologist, dies at 61
- Feb 28 (Francisca) "Chiquinha" Gonzaga, Brazilian pianist, composer, and 1st female conductor in Brazil, dies at 87
- Mar 30 Romanos Melik'yan, Armenian composer, dies at 51
- Apr 5 Emil Młynarski, Polish conductor and composer, dies at 64
- Apr 24 Paul Klengel, German pianist, violinist, composer and educator, dies at 80
- Apr 28 Alexander Campbell Mackenzie, Scottish composer, dies at 87
- Apr 29 Leroy Carr, American blues piano player and singer-songwriter ("How Long, How Long Blues"), dies of nephritis of the kidneys at 30
- May 17 Paul Dukas, French composer (The Sorcerer's Apprentice), dies at 69
- May 19 Charles Martin Tornow Loeffler, German-American violinist and composer, dies at 74
- May 29 Josef Suk, Czech violinist (Bohemian String Quartet, 1891-1933), composer (Asrael Symphony; Ripening; Serenade for Strings), and educator, dies at 61
- May 30 Lothar Windsperger, German composer and editor, dies at 49
- Jun 1 Alberto Cametti, Italian composer, dies at 64
- Jun 6 Jacques Urlus, Dutch dramatic tenor (Opera of Leipzig, 1900-14; Tristan und Isolde; Song of the Earth), dies at 68
- Jun 18 August Reusner, German composer, dies at 64
Carlos Gardel (1890-1935)
Jun 24 French-Argentine singer-songwriter and prominent figure in the history of tango, dies in a plane crash at 44
- Aug 6 Alexander Winkler, Russian composer, dies at 70
- Aug 15 Gerard Brucken Fock, Dutch composer and painter, dies at 75
- Aug 20 Otakar Ostrčil, Czech composer (Křížova cesta - Way of the Cross), and conductor (National Theater, 1920-35), dies at 56
- Aug 21 Josef Cyril Sychra, Czech composer, dies at 76
- Aug 29 Charles Lee Williams, English composer (Gloucester Cathedral), dies at 82
- Sep 22 Karl Schröder II, German composer, dies at 86
- Sep 27 Alan Gray, British composer, dies at 79
- Oct 4 Marie Gutheil-Schoder, German operatic soprano (Vienna State Opera, 1920-26), and pedagogue, dies at 61
- Oct 6 Frederic Hymen Cowen, composer, dies at 83
- Oct 22 Komitas [Soghomon Soghomonian], Armenian priest, composer (Patarag), and musicologist, dies at 66
- Oct 26 Akos Buttykai, Hungarian composer, dies at 64
- Nov 4 Miklós Radnai, Hungarian composer (Symphony of the Magyars), music writer, and critic, dies at 43
- Nov 16 Kurt Schindler, composer, dies at 53
- Nov 28 Erich von Hornbostel, Austrian ethnomusicologist, dies at 58
- Dec 4 Johan Halvorsen, Norwegian violinist, conductor (Nationaltheatret Orchestra, 1899-1929), and composer (Bergensiana), dies at 71
- Dec 24 Alban Berg, Austrian composer (Wozzeck; Lulu), dies of sepsis at 50
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