1953 in Music - Deaths

Deaths

• January 1 – Hank Williams, country musician, 29
• January 18 – Arthur Wood, composer, 78
• February 2 – Gustav Strube, conductor and composer, 75
• March 5
  • Sergei Prokofiev, composer, 61
  • E. T. Cook, organist and composer, 72
• March 19 – Irène Bordoni, singer and actress, 68
• March 29 – Arthur Fields, singer and songwriter, 64
• April 23 – Peter DeRose, Tin Pan Alley composer, 53
• April 29 – Kiki, "The Queen of Montparnasse", 51 (drug- and alcohol-related)
• April 30 – Lily Brayton, musical theatre star, 76
• May 15 – Mabel Love, dancer, 78
• May 16 – Django Reinhardt, jazz guitarist, 43 (brain hemorrhage)
• May 30 – Dooley Wilson, actor, singer and pianist, 67
• June 10 – Grzegorz Fitelberg, conductor, violinist and composer, 73
• June 25 – Jules Van Nuffel, musicologist and composer, 70
• July 5 – Titta Ruffo, operatic baritone, 76
• August 14 – Friedrich Schorr, operatic bass-baritone, 64
• August 29 – Darrell Fancourt, bass-baritone, 67
• September 1 – Jacques Thibaud, violinist, 72
• September 21 – Roger Quilter, composer, 75
• October 3 – Sir Arnold Bax, composer, 69
• October 8 – Kathleen Ferrier, English contralto, 41 (cancer)
• October 18 – Marguerite d'Alvarez, operatic contralto, exact age unknown
• October 27 – Eduard Künneke, composer, 68
• November 10 – Theodora Morse, lyricist, 70
• November 18 – Ruth Crawford Seeger, composer, 52
• November 21 – Larry Shields, jazz musician, 60
• November 26 – Ivor Atkins, organist and choirmaster, 83
• December 5
  • Noel Mewton-Wood, pianist, 31 (suicide by poisoning)
  • Jorge Negrete, singer and actor, 42 (hepatitis)
• December 9 – Issay Dobrowen, pianist, conductor and composer, 62
• December 11 – Albert Coates, conductor and composer, 71
• December 29 – Violet MacMillan, Broadway star, 66