Events in Music History in 1937

On Your Toes

Jan 23 George Abbott, Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart's musical "On Your Toes", choreographed by George Balanchine, and starring Ray Bolger and Tamara Geva, closes at the Majestic Theatre, NYC; after 515 performances

King of Swing

Mar 10 Benny Goodman unofficially crowned the “King of Swing” at New York City's Paramount Theater as his band plays before exuberant sell-out crowd filled with teenagers; unable to attend nightclub performances, kids dance in the aisles

Red, Hot And Blue

Apr 10 Cole Porter's musical "Red, Hot And Blue", starring Ethel Merman, Jimmy Durante, and Bob Hope, closes at the Alvin Theatre, NYC, after 183 performances

Room Service

May 19 John Murray and Allen Boretz's stage comedy "Room Service", starring Sam Levene, Eddie Albert, and Phillip Loeb, opens at the Cort Theatre, NYC; runs for 500 performances

  • Jun 8 "Carmina Burana", the first work of Carl Orff's Trionfi cantata trilogy, premieres at the Oper Frankfurt in Frankfurt, Germany

Music Recording

Jun 19 Second of two legendary recording sessions by Delta Blues musician Robert Johnson with producer Don Law at the Vitagraph Studios, Dallas, Texas

  • Jun 28 Spanish pianist José Iturbi and his sister Amparo have their US debut performance as a piano duo, with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Robin Hood Dell in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Music History

Jul 3 Del Mar Turf Club, with crooner Bing Crosby as president and actor Pat O'Brien as a club officer, opens for racing

Music History

Jul 10 Belgian-Romani-French jazz guitarist'Django Reinhardt's "Quintette du Hot Club" 'debuts at La Grosse Pomme nightclub in Montmartre, Paris

  • Nov 13 NBC forms first full-sized symphony orchestra exclusively for radio

Shostakovich's 5th Symphony

Nov 21 Dmitri Shostakovich's 5th Symphony premieres in Lenningrad, with the ovation lasting over an hour

  • Nov 27 Pro-labor musical revue "Pins & Needles" opens, produced by ILGWU

Hooray for What!

Dec 1 Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg's anti-war musical "Hooray for What!", starring Ed Wynn and directed by Vincente Minnelli, opens at the Winter Garden Theatre, NYC; runs for 200 performances

  • Dec 10 William Grant Still's Symphony No. 2 ("Song of a New Race") premieres at the Academy of Music by the Philadelphia Orchestra led by conductor Leopold Stokowski

First "Symphony of the Air"

Dec 25 Arturo Toscanini conducts 1st "Symphony of the Air" concert over NBC Radio