Musicians Who Died in 1945

  • Jan 1 Vit Nejedly, Czech composer, dies at the front during WWII at 33
  • Jan 3 Théodore "Fyodor" Akimenko, Ukrainian composer, dies at 68
  • Jan 14 Sándor Vándor, Hungarian Jewish composer, murdered in the Holocaust at 43 [1]
  • Jan 22 Carlo Felice Boghen, composer, dies a day before 76th birthday
  • Jan 27 Gideon Klein, Moravian pianist and composer, dies in a Nazi labor camp at 26 (date approximate)
  • Jan 30 William Busch, British composer, dies at 43
  • Feb 3 José Roló, Mexican composer, dies at 61
  • Feb 11 Al Dubin, Swiss-American song lyricist ("Tiptoe Through The Tulips"; "I Only Have Eyes For You"), dies at 53 [1]
  • Mar 3 Jacobus H "Koos" Speenhoff, Dutch cabaret singer, killed in the RAF's bombing of the Bezuidenhout at 75
  • Mar 6 Rudolf Karel, Czech composer (Three Hairs of the Wise Old Man), dies of dysentery and pneumonia while in Theresienstadt concentration camp at 64
  • Mar 13 Herbert Bedford, English author and composer, dies at 78
  • Mar 19 Clyde Hart, American swing and bebop jazz piano player and arranger (Stuff Smith; Lionel Hampton; Roy Eldridge), dies of tuberculosis at 35
  • Mar 30 Karel Moor, Czech composer and conductor, dies at 71
  • Apr 24 Hubert Bath, British film composer and music director, dies at 61
  • May 1 Desider Antalffy-Zsiross, Hungarian organist and composer, dies at 59
  • May 13 Alfred "Tubby" Hall, American jazz drummer (King Oliver; Louis Armstrong), dies at 49
  • Jun 7 Rubén M. Campos, Mexican novelist (Claudio Oranos) and musicologist (El folklore y la musica mexicana), dies at 69
  • Jun 26 Erno Rapee, American conductor and composer (Radio City Music Hall), dies at 54
  • Jun 26 Nikolay Tcherepnin, Russian composer of ballets, dies at 72
  • Aug 2 Emil Nikolaus von Reznicek, Austrian composer (Donna Diana), dies at 85
  • Aug 2 Pietro Mascagni, Italian opera composer (Cavalleria Rusticana), dies at 81
  • Aug 16 Nico Richter, Dutch composer, dies at 29
  • Aug 17 Gino Marinuzzi, Sr., Italian opera conductor (Wagner; Puccini), and composer (Symphony in A), dies at 61
  • Sep 10 Väinö Raitio, Finnish composer, dies at 54
  • Sep 15 Anton von Webern, Austrian composer, dies at 61 after being shot by an American soldier on patrol
  • Sep 16 John McCormack, Irish-American tenor (Irish folksongs), dies at 61
  • Sep 18 "Blind" Willie Johnson, American gospel blues singer and guitarist ("Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground"), dies of malarial fever, syphilis and blindness at 48

Béla Bartok (1881-1945)

Sep 26 Hungarian pianist, composer (Concerto for Orchestra), and ethnomusicologist, dies of leukemia at 64

  • Nov 3 Alessandro Longo, Italian composer and musicologist, dies at 80

Jerome Kern (1885-1945)

Nov 11 American composer (Sally; Leave It To Jane), dies at 60

  • Dec 1 Harvey Bartlett Gaul, American composer, dies at 64
  • Dec 8 Alexander Siloti, Russian pianist and composer, dies at 82
  • Dec 8 Richard M. Jones, American jazz pianist, accompanist, songwriter ("Trouble In Mind"), record producer (Louis Armstrong) and label manager (Okeh; Decca; Mercury), dies at 53
  • Dec 14 Constantino Gaito, Argentinian composer, dies at 67
  • Dec 24 Francisco Pujol, Catalan singer, choirmaster (Orfeó Català), composer, and musicologist, dies at 67