Events in Music History in 1927

Octet opus 11

Jan 9 Dmitri Shostakovich' Octet opus 11 premieres in Moscow

Jan 21 1st national opera broadcast from a US opera house (Faust, Chicago)
Feb 2 Harry Tierney and Joseph McCarthy's musical "Rio Rita" premieres in NYC

Music History

Feb 16 Noël Coward's stage comedy "The Marquise", starring Marie Tempest, opens at the Criterion Theatre, London; runs for 129 performances

Playwright, Director and Singer Noël Coward

Feb 17 Deems Taylor's opera "The King's Henchman", with libretto by Edna St. Vincent Millay, premieres at the Metropolitan Opera, NYC
Feb 18 1st US radio broadcast of "Cities Service Concerts"

Der Zarewitsch

Feb 21 Franz Lehár's opera "Der Zarewitsch" premieres

Apr 22 Roger Sessions' 1st Symphony in E premieres with Serge Koussevitzky conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra
May 5 Dmitri Shostakovich's 1st Symphony premieres in Berlin
May 14 "Ain't She Sweet?" hits #1 on the singles chart by Ben Bernie
Jun 11 Noël Coward's stage comedy "The Marquise", starring Marie Tempest, closes at the Criterion Theatre, London, after 129 performances

Music History

Aug 1 Influential country music group the Carter Family make their first recording with producer Ralph Peer in Bristol, Tennessee

Sep 6 Buddy DeSylva & Lew Brown's musical "Good News" opens at The 46th Street Theatre, NYC; runs for 557 performance
Sep 12 Sigmund Romberg's musical "My Maryland," premieres in NYC
Sep 26 St James Theater (Erlanger) opens at 246 W 44th St, NYC

Jazz Singer Sounds Death Knell for Silent Movies

Oct 6 "The Jazz Singer", directed by Alan Crosland, starring Al Jolson and May McAvoy, released, 1st film with a soundtrack (Honorary Academy Award 1928)

An advertising poster for The Jazz Singer distributed by Warner Brothers

Creole Love Song

Oct 26 American jazz vocalist Adelaide Hall makes her 1st recordings - "Creole Love Call" and "Blues I Love to Sing" - with the Duke Ellington Orchestra, for Victor Records in Camden, New Jersey

Jazz Musician and Composer Duke Ellington

Connecticut Yankee

Nov 3 Rodgers & Hart's musical "Connecticut Yankee", based on Mark Twain's "A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court", opens at the Vanderbilt Theatre, NYC; runs for 421 performances

Funny Face

Nov 22 George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin's musical "Funny Face", starring Fred Astaire and his sister Adele Astaire, opens at the new Alvin Theatre, NYC; runs 244 performances

Nov 28 J McHugh & D Fields' musical "Delmar's Revels" premieres in NYC
Dec 4 Dmitri Shostakovich's 2nd Symphony premieres in Moscow
Dec 4 Duke Ellington opens at the Cotton Club in Harlem, NYC
Dec 10 "Grand Ole Opry" first named as such during Barn Dance radio broadcast, in Nashville, Tennessee

"Show Boat"

Dec 27 Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II's landmark musical "Show Boat", based on Edna Ferber's novel, opens at the Ziegfeld Theatre, NYC; runs for 572 performances

"Antigone"

Dec 28 Arthur Honegger's opera "Antigone" premieres with a libretto by Jean Cocteau, sets by Pablo Picasso and costumes by Coco Chanel at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, Brussels