Editing 1939 in music (section)

==Events==
* [[January 4]] – New band to be headed by [[Harry James]], first trumpet with [[Benny Goodman]] formed; goes into rehearsal January 6. It has already been dated for a short stay at the Statler Hotel, Boston, opening February 1. James has taken [[Buddy Rich]] from [[Bunny Berigan]]'s orchestra to handle the drums<ref>{{Cite news |date=January 4, 1939 |title=Harry James Pencilled In |pages=165 |work=Variety |url=https://archive.org/details/variety133-1939-01/page/n163/mode/2up?q=Harry+James |access-date=June 18, 2022}}</ref> and secures [[Frank Sinatra]] as vocalist.
* [[February]] – Recording of '[[A-Tisket, A-Tasket]]' turned out by [[Ella Fitzgerald]] and [[Chick Webb]] for [[Decca Records|Decca]] has established a new eight-year high in sales for the industry. The sales on this 35c have already gone over 250,000. The company's previous record had been the 160,000 copies achieved by [[Bing Crosby|Bing Crosby's]] version of '[[Sweet Leilani]].'<ref>{{Cite news |date=February 1939 |title=Some New Highs |pages=39 |work=Variety |url=https://archive.org/details/variety133-1939-02/page/n149/mode/2up?q=highs |access-date=June 18, 2022}}</ref>
* [[February 24]] – [[Symphony No. 3 (Harris)|Symphony No. 3]] by [[Roy Harris]], receives its world premiere in Boston, as [[Serge Koussevitzky]] conducts the [[Boston Symphony Orchestra]]
* [[April 9]] – African-American [[contralto]] [[Marian Anderson]] performs before 75,000 people at the [[Lincoln Memorial]] in Washington, D.C., after having been denied the use both of [[Constitution Hall]] by the [[Daughters of the American Revolution]], and of a public high school by the federally controlled [[District of Columbia]]. [[First Lady of the United States]] [[Eleanor Roosevelt]] resigns from the DAR because of their decision.
*[[May 17]] – [[Sergei Prokofiev]]'s ''[[Alexander Nevsky (Prokofiev)|Alexander Nevsky]]'' ([[Opus number|Op.]] 78) [[cantata]] debuts in Moscow. It is an adaptation from the 1938 film score to ''[[Alexander Nevsky (film)|Alexander Nevsky]]''.
*[[May 22]] – [[Columbia Records|Columbia Recording Corporation]] incorporated in Delaware.
*[[June 10]] – Première of [[Arthur Bliss]]'s [[Piano Concerto (Bliss)|Piano Concerto in B-flat]] with soloist [[Solomon (pianist)|Solomon]]; [[Arnold Bax]]'s [[Symphony No. 7 (Bax)|7th Symphony]]; and [[Ralph Vaughan Williams]]' ''[[Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus]]'', with the [[New York Philharmonic]] under Sir [[Adrian Boult]] at [[Carnegie Hall]].
*[[August 22]] – "[[You Are My Sunshine]]" first recorded.
*[[June 21]] – [[Francis Poulenc]]'s ''[[Organ Concerto (Poulenc)|Organ Concerto]]'' is premièred in Paris.
*[[November 1]] – [[Bruno Walter]] leaves Germany for the United States.
*December – [[Ali Akbar Khan]] accompanies [[Ravi Shankar]] on the sarod during the latter's debut performance at the annual music conference in [[Allahabad]].
*[[December 31]] – A special concert of music by [[Johann Strauss II]] is performed by the [[Vienna Philharmonic]] conducted by [[Clemens Krauss]] in the great hall of the [[Musikverein]] in [[Vienna]], predecessor of a continuing series of [[Vienna New Year's Concert]]s.
*The [[Nordstrom Sisters]] are the resident act at [[The Ritz Hotel, London]].
*[[Jo Stafford]] and [[The Pied Pipers]] join the [[Tommy Dorsey]] orchestra.
*[[The Squadronaires]] form.
*[[Dorothy Kirsten]] makes her professional concert debut at the [[1939 New York World's Fair|New York World's Fair]].
*[[Manuel de Falla]] leaves [[Granada]] for exile in [[Argentina]].