- Dec 1 Ernest John Moeran, British composer, dies at 55
- Dec 2 Constantin "Dinu" Lipatti, Romanian classical pianist and composer, dies of Hodgkins disease complications at 33
- Dec 15 Robert Müller-Hartmann, German composer, dies at 66
- Dec 16 Otto Vrieslander, German composer and musicologist, dies at 70
- Dec 22 Julius Weismann, German pianist, conductor, and composer (Schwanenweiß), dies at 70
- Dec 22 Walter Damrosch, German-American conductor (New York Symphony, 1885-1928; commissioned Gershwin's Piano Concerto), and composer (The Man Without A Country), dies at 88
- Dec 23 Vincenzo Tommasini, Italian composer (Le donne de buon umore), dies at 72
- Dec 26 Emile Enthoven, Dutch composer and lawyer, dies at 47
- Dec 31 Charles Koechlin, French composer (The Jungle Book), dies at 83