Music History Events: Deaths
February 23, 1934 English composer Sir Edward Elgar dies of colorectal cancer aged 76.
December 22, 1930 American songwriter Charles K. Harris, known for "After The Ball," dies in New York City, at age 63.
June 8, 1929 Bliss Carman (the former William Bliss Carman), dies in New Canaan, Connecticut at age 68.
October 7, 1922 Marie Lloyd dies three days after collapsing on stage at a show in Edmonton, London.
July 22, 1922 Irving Berlin's mother dies, which results in him writing "All By Myself," "All Alone" and "What'll I Do?"
April 1, 1917 Ragtime composer Scott Joplin dies of syphilitic dementia at age 49 in New York City.
July 17, 1912 20-year-old Dorothy Goetz, the first wife of Irving Berlin, dies of typhoid fever in New York. They had been married less than 6 months. Berlin writes his first ballad: "When I Lost You."
May 5, 1911 James Bland dies of tuberculosis in Philadelphia.
October 18, 1899 Gussie Davis, the first popular black Tin Pan Alley composer, dies at age 35.
April 3, 1897 German composer and pianist Johannes Brahms dies at his Vienna apartment.
September 11, 1896 Folklorist Francis Child, known for his collection of Child Ballads, dies at age 71.
August 4, 1875 Hans Christian Andersen dies of liver cancer at age 70. His stories inspired songs by Kate Bush and Sinead O'Connor.
March 8, 1869 French Romantic composer Hector Berlioz dies aged 65. He is best known for his 1830 dream-like Symphonie fantastique.
January 16, 1853 Italian guitarist Matteo Carcassi dies in Paris.
April 23, 1616 William Shakespeare dies at 52. His play Romeo and Juliet becomes an archetype for songs about love that ends in tragedy.
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