Events

March 17 – Anton Rubinstein is named first director of the Saint Petersburg Conservatory in Russia, which opens in September. Tchaikovsky is in the first incoming class.
March 24 – Fromental Halévy's funeral, in Paris, is attended by an estimated 15,000 people.^[1]
April 24 – A letter from Giuseppe Verdi is published in The Times of London complaining about the rejection of a work commissioned from him for the Great Exhibition.^[1]
May 17 – Teatro Comunale Florence inaugurated as an open-air amphitheatre, the Politeama Fiorentino Vittorio Emanuele, with a production of Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor.
May 21 – Edvard Grieg gives his first concert in his home town of Bergen, Norway.^[1]
August 4 – Louis-Albert Bourgault-Ducoudray wins the Prix de Rome in the Musical Composition category. Jules Massenet is one of the runners-up.^[1]
August 9 – The première of Hector Berlioz's opera Béatrice et Bénédict inaugurates the new Theater Baden-Baden.
November 2 – The Ride of the Valkyries and the overture to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg by Richard Wagner are publicly performed in Leipzig, conducted by the composer.
November 10 (November 22 N.S.) – Giuseppe Verdi's opera La forza del destino is first performed, in the Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre of Saint Petersburg, Russia.
November 18 – Antonín Dvořák is a member of the orchestra at the opening of the Provisional Theater in Prague.^[1]
date unknown
- Johannes Brahms and Johann Strauss II meet, at Baden-Baden.
- Stephen Heller and Charles Hallé perform Mozart's E-flat concerto for two pianos at The Crystal Palace in London.
- Ludwig von Köchel publishes Chonologisch-thematisches Verzeichnis sämtlicher Tonwerke Wolfgang Amadé Mozarts (Catalogue of Mozart's Works or "The Köchel Catalog").

Published popular music

"Battle Cry of Freedom" – George Frederick Root
"The Battle Hymn of the Republic" – Julia Ward Howe, published in Atlantic Monthly (February 1).
"Here's Your Mule" – C. D. Benson
"Kingdom Coming" – Henry C. Work
"The Merry, Merry Month of May" – Stephen Foster
"We Are Coming, Father Abra'am, 300,000 More", a poem by James S. Gibbons, set to music by eight different composers, including Stephen Foster.^[2]
Tyneside Songs – Thomas Allan (publisher)

Classical music

Alexander Borodin – Piano Quintet in C minor
Johannes Brahms - First two movements of the Cello Sonata No. 1
Emanuel Chabrier – Souvenirs de Brunehaut
Felix Draeseke – Fantasiestücke in Walzerform, opus 3: Nr. 1 in B; Nr. 2 in A-flat
Louis Moreau Gottschalk
- Union, Op.48
- Home Sweet Home, Op.51
- Le Papillon
Asger Hamerik – Quintet
Ferdinand Laub – Concert-Polonaise, Op.8
Karol Józef Lipiński – 2 Impromptus, Op.34 (published posthumously)
Franz Liszt – Phantasiestück über Motive aus 'Rienzi', S.439
Henry Charles Litolff – Scherzo, Op.115
Giacomo Meyerbeer – Fest-Ouvertüre im Marschstyl
Cesare Pugni – The Pharaoh's Daughter, ballet
Joachim Raff – Piano Quintet, Op. 107 in A minor
Napoleon Henri Reber – Piano Trio No.4 'Sérénade', Op.25
Camille Saint-Saëns – Mazurka No. 1 for piano in G minor, Opus 21
Henri Vieuxtemps – Violin Concerto No.5, Op.37
Henri Wieniawski
- Etudes-Caprices, Op.18
- Fantaisie orientale, Op.24

Opera

Julius Benedict – The Lily of Killarney
Hector Berlioz – Béatrice et Bénédict
Frederic Clay – Court and Cottage (libretto by Tom Taylor)
Charles Gounod – La reine de Saba
Franz von Suppé – Die Kartenschlägerin
Giuseppe Verdi – La forza del destino

Births

January 29 – Frederick Delius, composer (d. 1934)
January 30 – Walter Damrosch, conductor (d. 1950)
February 13 – Karel Weis, composer (d. 1944)
February 17 – Edward German, composer (d. 1936)
March 21 – Elmer Samuel Hosmer, composer (d. 1945)
April 5 – Louis Ganne, conductor (died 1923)
May 2 – Maurice Emmanuel, composer (d. 1938)
June 3 – Joseph Humfrey Anger, composer (died 1913)
June 27 – May Irwin, actress and singer (d. 1938)
August 10 – Ernest Richard Kroeger, composer (died 1934)
August 11 – Carrie Jacobs-Bond, US songwriter (d. 1946)
August 22 – Claude Debussy, composer (d. 1918)
August 29 – Maurice Maeterlinck, lyricist (died 1949)
September 25 – Léon Boëllmann, composer and organist (d. 1897)
October 10 – Arthur De Greef, composer and pianist (d. 1940)
October 15 – Conrad Ansorge, composer (died 1930)
November 1 – Johan Wagenaar, organist and composer (d. 1941)
December 9 – Karel Kovařovic, composer (died 1920)
December 18 – Moriz Rosenthal, pianist (d. 1946)
December 23 – Hans Wessely, composer (died 1926)
date unknown – Marcelle Lender, French singer-dancer and entertainer (d. 1926)

Deaths

February 5 – Ignaz Franz Castelli, dramatist and songwriter (b. 1780)
February 7 – František Škroup, composer (b. 1801)
February 16 – Leopold Schefer, composer and poet (b. 1784)
March 17 – Fromental Halévy, composer (b. 1799)
April 7 – Sydney Nelson, composer and arranger (born 1800)
May 21 – Edwin Pearce Christy, founder of Christy's Minstrels (b. 1815) (suicide)
May 23 – Friedrich Ruthardt, oboist and composer (b. 1800)
May 25 – Johann Nestroy, singer and actor (b. 1801)
July 2 – Charles Mayer, pianist and composer (b. 1799)
August 31 – Ignaz Assmayer, composer (b. 1790)
November 1 – Eleonora Zrza, Danish opera soprano (b. 1797)
December 2 – Marius Gueit, French organist, cellist and composer (b. 1808)
December 24 – Joseph Funk, composer and music teacher (b. 1778)
date unknown
- Joseph Fonclause, bow-maker (b. 1799)
- Jon Eriksson Helland, Hardanger fiddle maker (b. 1790)
- Luigi Piccioli, singer and music teacher (b. 1812)
- Geltrude Righetti, operatic contralto (b. 1793)

Events

Published popular music

Classical music

Opera

Births

Deaths

References