1941 in music

This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1941.

Events
January 5 – Ernesto Bonino makes his début on Italian radio. January 15 – Olivier Messiaen's Quatuor pour la fin du temps is premiered by the composer and fellow prisoners-of-war in Stalag VIII-A in Silesia. January 20 – Béla Bartók's String Quartet No. 6 is premièred in New York City. February 11 – Glenn Miller receives his first gold disc, for Chattanooga Choo Choo. May – Woody Guthrie writes and records "Roll On, Columbia, Roll On" and "Grand Coulee Dam" among other folk songs in Portland, Oregon on a commission from the Bonneville Power Administration; these are released as The Columbia River Collection. May 10 – London's Queen's Hall, venue for The Proms, is bombed by the Luftwaffe. The concert series relocates to the Royal Albert Hall. August 18 – In a brutal police operation in Nazi Germany, over 300 Swing Kids are arrested, marking the end of tolerance to swing music. Alan Lomax (working for the Library of Congress) discovers Muddy Waters and Son House, among others Les Paul designs and builds the first solid-body electric guitar. Enrico Gentile leaves Quartetto Ritmo. Felice Chiusano replaces him and the group is renamed Quartetto Cetra. Dutch Leschan sisters of Trio Lescano become Italian citizens. The National Negro Opera Company is launched in Pittsburgh, USA.

Albums

 * 1) "The Midnight Special" and Other Southern Prison Songs Lead Belly and the Golden Gate Quartet
 * 2) Southern Exposure: An Album of Jim Crow Blues Sung by Joshua White Josh White
 * 3) Decca Presents One O'Clock Jump: An Album of "Jump" Music Played by Count Basie and His Orchestra Count Basie
 * 4) Talking Union The Almanac Singers
 * 5) Songs for John Doe The Almanac Singers
 * 6) Rhapsody in Blue Andre Kostelanetz and His Orchestra Featuring Alec Templeton
 * 7) Boogie Woogie Various Artists
 * 8) Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor NBC Symphony Orchestra/Arturo Toscanini/Vladimir Horowitz