Musicians Who Died in 1940

  • Jan 24 Emile van Bosch, Belgian revue, operetta and opera singer, dies at 52
  • Feb 28 Arnold Dolmetsch, French-Bohemian England-based musician, instrument builder, and promoter of early music, dies at 82
  • Mar 25 Ion Nonna Otescu, Romanian composer and educator (Bucharest Conservatory, 1913-40), dies at 51
  • Apr 6 Andrés Isasi, Spanish Basque composer, dies at 49
  • Apr 18 Florrie Forde [Flannagan], Australian singer and British music hall performer, dies of a cerebral hemorrhage at 64
  • May 28 Theodor Streicher, Austrian composer, dies at 65
  • Jun 8 Frederick Converse, American composer (The Pipe of Desire), dies at 69
  • Jun 16 Vitezslava Kapralova, Czech composer and conductor, dies from typhoid fever at 25
  • Jun 19 Maurice Jaubert, French composer and soldier, dies a few hours after being fatally wounded in action at 40
  • Jun 20 Jehan Alain, French organist and composer, dies fighting for the French Army in WWII Battle of Saumur at 29
  • Jul 2 Bertram Shapleigh, composer, dies at 69
  • Jul 10 Donald Francis Tovey, British musicologist and composer, dies at 64
  • Jul 28 Richard Ohlsson, Swedish composer, dies at 66
  • Aug 8 Johnny Dodds, American early jazz clarinetist, dies at 48
  • Aug 11 Alfred Zamara Austrian harpist, composer, and teacher, dies at 77
  • Aug 21 Paul Juon, Russian-Swiss violinist and composer, dies at 68
  • Aug 29 Arthur De Greef, Belgian composer, dies at 77
  • Aug 31 Johanna "Annie" Bakker, Dutch revue-artist, singer and actress, dies at 58
  • Sep 30 Walter Kollo, German operetta and popular song composer, dies at 62
  • Oct 5 Silvestre Revueltas, Mexican classical violinst, conductor, and composer (Cuauhnáhuac; Planos), dies of pneumonia at 40
  • Oct 6 Ferdinando Liuzzi, Italian composer and musicologist, dies at 55
  • Oct 24 Victor Hollaender, German composer, dies at 74
  • Oct 27 Fini Valdemar Henriques, composer, dies at 72
  • Oct 28 Andrea d' Angeli, Italian composer, dies at 71
  • Nov 12 Alejandro Garcia Caturla, Cuban composer, dies at 34
  • Nov 23 Catharina van Rennes, Dutch composer, dies at 82
  • Nov 30 Fritz Volbach, German conductor, musicologist and composer (Raffael), dies at 78
  • Dec 5 Jan Kubelik, Czech composer, dies at 60
  • Dec 16 William Wallace, Scottish composer, dies at 80
  • Dec 21 Hal Kemp, American jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, arranger and sweet jazz bandleader, dies as a result of a car accident at 36
  • Dec 24 Rudolf Piskáček, Czech composer, dies at 56