Events in Music
Music Premiere
Jan 25 Felix Mendelssohn's "Wedding March" first played, at wedding of Queen Victoria's daughter Princess Victoria, to crown prince of Prussia
Felix Mendelssohn
Victoria
- Jan 30 Charles Halle founds Halle Orchestra in Manchester, England
- May 15 Royal Italian Opera opens in Covent Garden, London
- Oct 21 Jacques Offenbach's operetta " Orpheus in the Underworld" (Orphée aux Enfers) premieres in Paris, includes "Infernal Galop" (can-can tune)
- Nov 9 1st performance of NY Symphony Orchestra
Birthdays in Music
- Jan 25 Giuseppi Radiciotti, composer
- Feb 14 C. B. Hawley, American organist and composer, born in Brookfield, Connecticut (d. 1915)
- Feb 17 Ernest Ford, English composer, born in Warminster, Wiltshire (d. 1919)
- Feb 24 Arnold Dolmetsch, Le Mans, musician
- Mar 7 Nikolai Artzibushev, composer
- Mar 27 Peter C. Lutkin, composer, born in Thompsonville, Wisconsin (d. 1931)
- Mar 30 Siegfried Alkan, German composer, born in Dillingen, Saarland (d. 1941)
- Apr 19 Siegfried Ochs, composer
- Apr 20 Auguste Chapuis, French composer, born in Dampierre-sur-Salon, France (d. 1933)
- Apr 22 Ethel Mary Smyth, composer
- May 1 Anthony Johnson Showalter, American composer, born in Cherry Grove, Virginia (d. 1924)
- May 6 Georges Adolphe Hue, composer
- May 10 Frederick Zech Jr, American composer and pianist, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1926)
- May 16 Frank Lynes, American composer, born in Cambridge, Massachusetts (d. 1913)
- May 16 Hanus Trnecek, composer
- Jun 8 Harry Rowe Shelley, American composer (known for his hymn music), born in New Haven, Connecticut (d. 1947)
- Jun 8 Antoni Nicolau, Spanish composer and conductor, born in Barcelona (d. 1933)
- Jul 10 Karl Flodin, Finnish composer and critic, born in Vassa (d. 1925)
- Jul 16 Eugene Ysaye, Belgian composer and violinist, born in Liège (d. 1931)
- Aug 1 Hans Rott, Austrian composer and organist, born in Vienna (d. 1884)
- Aug 2 Catharina van Rennes, Dutch composer, born in Utrecht, Netherlands (d. 1940)
- Aug 6 Albert Fuchs, composer
- Sep 13 Catherinus Elling, Norwegian composer, born in Oslo, Norway (d. 1942)
- Sep 15 Jenő Hubay, Hungarian composer, born in Pest, Hungary (d. 1937)
- Sep 29 Leopoldo Mugnone, composer
- Oct 15 Frank Valentine der Stucken, American-Belgian composer, born in Fredericksburg, Texas (d. 1929)
- Nov 12 Alexis Contant, Canadian pianist, organist and composer, born in Montreal, Quebec (d. 1918)
- Dec 13 Jakab Gyula Major, Hungarian pianist and composer, born in Kosice, Czech Republic (d. 1925)
Giacomo Puccini
Dec 22 Giacomo Puccini, Italian opera composer (La bohème, Tosca, Madame Butterfly), born in Lucca, Italy (d. 1924)
Giacomo Puccini
Deaths in Music
- Jan 3 Rachel Félix [Elisabeth "Eliza/Élisa"], French singer and actress (Muse), dies at 36
- Jan 8 Friedrich Karl Kuhmstedt, composer, dies at 48
- Feb 19 Alois Basil Nikolaus Tomasini, Italian violinist and composer, dies at 78
- Apr 3 Sigismund Ritter von Neukomm, Austrian composer and royal chaplain master, dies at 79
- Apr 7 Anton Diabelli, Austria publisher and composer, dies at 76
- Apr 16 Johann Baptist Cramer, Ger/British pianist/composer/publisher, dies at 87
- Jun 3 Julius Reubke, composer, dies at 24
- Jun 12 William Horsley, composer, dies at 83
- Jul 6 Jan Emmanuel Dulezalek, composer, dies at 78
- Sep 10 Henry Wellington Greatorex, composer, dies at 44
- Sep 11 Alexander Gurilyov, Russian composer, dies at 55
- Oct 26 Isac Baker Woodbury, composer, dies at 39
- Dec 18 Joseph-Henri-Ignace Mees, composer, dies at 81
- Dec 27 Alexandre Pierre Francois Boely, composer, dies at 73