Deaths
- January - Abe Holzmann, composer, 64
- January 12 - Hariclea Darclée, operatic soprano, 78
- February 9 - Herschel Evans, saxophonist, 29 (heart disease)
- February 11 - Franz Schmidt, cellist, pianist and composer, 64
- February 17 - Willy Hess, violinist, 79
- March 6 - Emma Juch, operatic soprano, 77
- March 9 - Ernie Hare, US singer, 55 (bronchopneumonia)
- April 8 - Emilio Serrano y Ruiz, pianist and composer, 89
- April 21
- Herman Finck, composer, 66
- Joe Young, US lyricist, 49
- May 20 - Alexandra Čvanová, operatic soprano, 42 (car accident)
- June 4 - Tommy Ladnier, jazz trumpeter, 39 (heart attack)
- June 16 - Chick Webb, jazz drummer, 34
- August 3 - August Enna, composer, 80
- August 19 - Achille Fortier, composer, 74
- August 25 - Geneviève Vix, operatic soprano, 60
- October 9 - Evelyn Parnell, operatic soprano, 51 (appendicitis)
- October 14 - Polaire, singer and actress, 65
- October 16 - Ludolf Nielsen, pianist, violinist, conductor and composer, 63
- October 19 - Marie Renard, operatic mezzo-soprano, 75
- October 27 - Nelly Bromley, singer and actress, 89
- October 28 - Alice Brady, actress, 46
- October 29 - Giulio Crimi, operatic tenor, 54
- November 3 (or 4) - Charles Tournemire, organist and composer, 69
- November 9 - Charles Goulding, operatic tenor
- December 6 - Charles Dalmorès, operatic tenor, 68
- December 8 - Ernest Schelling, pianist, composer and conductor, 63
- December 18
- Jeanne Granier, operatic soprano, 87
- Grikor Suni, composer, 63
- December 22 - Ma Rainey, blues singer, 53 (heart attack)
- date unknown
- Francisco de Paula Aguirre, composer of waltzes, 63
- José Perches Enríquez, composer
- Lena Wilson, blues singer
Read more about this topic: 1939 In Music
Famous quotes containing the word deaths:
“There is the guilt all soldiers feel for having broken the taboo against killing, a guilt as old as war itself. Add to this the soldier’s sense of shame for having fought in actions that resulted, indirectly or directly, in the deaths of civilians. Then pile on top of that an attitude of social opprobrium, an attitude that made the fighting man feel personally morally responsible for the war, and you get your proverbial walking time bomb.”
—Philip Caputo (b. 1941)
“Death is too much for men to bear, whereas women, who are practiced in bearing the deaths of men before their own and who are also practiced in bearing life, take death almost in stride. They go to meet death—that is, they attempt suicide—twice as often as men, though men are more “successful” because they use surer weapons, like guns.”
—Roger Rosenblatt (b. 1940)