On This Day

Year 1858 in Music History

Events in Music


Music releaseMusic Premiere

Jan 25 Felix Mendelssohn's "Wedding March" first played, at wedding of Queen Victoria's daughter Princess Victoria, to crown prince of Prussia

Composer and Pianist Felix Mendelssohn
Composer and Pianist
Felix Mendelssohn
Queen of the United Kingdom Queen Victoria
Queen of the United Kingdom
Queen Victoria
  • Jan 30 Charles Hallé 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, Italian musicologist & composer, born in Iesi, Italy (d. 1931)
  • 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, French-Bohemian musician, instrument builder, and promoter of early music, born in LeMans, France (d. 1940)
  • Mar 7 Nikolai Artzibushev, Russian composer, born in Tsarskoye Selo (d. 1937)
  • 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, German composer, born in Frankfurt, Germany (d. 1929)
  • Apr 20 Auguste Chapuis, French composer, born in Dampierre-sur-Salon, France (d. 1933)
  • Apr 22 Ethel Smyth, English composer, born in Sidcup, Kent (d. 1944)
  • May 1 Anthony Johnson Showalter, American composer, born in Cherry Grove, Virginia (d. 1924)
  • May 6 Georges Hüe, French composer, born in Versailles, France (d. 1948)
  • 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, Czech composer and conductor, born in Prague (d. 1914)
  • 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, Swiss-German composer, born in Basel, Switzerland (d. 1910)
  • Sep 13 Catherinus Elling, Norwegian organist, composer, educator, and ethno-musicologist, born in Christiania (now Oslo), Norway (d. 1942)
  • Sep 15 Jenő Hubay [Huber], Hungarian violinist, composer, and educator (Budapest Conservatory, 1886-1934) 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)

Person of interestGiacomo Puccini

Dec 22 Giacomo Puccini, Italian opera composer (La bohème; Tosca; Madame Butterfly), born in Lucca, Italy (d. 1924)

Composer Giacomo Puccini
Composer
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, German British pianist, composer and publisher, dies at 87
  • Jun 3 Julius Reubke, German organist, pianist, and composer (Sonata on the 94th Psalm in c), dies of tuberculosis at 24
  • Jun 12 William Horsley, English musician and composer, dies at 83
  • Jul 6 Jan Emmanuel Doležálek, Bohemian organist and composer, dies at 78
  • Sep 10 Henry Wellington Greatorex, English American composer (Gloria Patri), dies at 44
  • Sep 11 Alexander Gurilyov, Russian composer, dies at 55
  • Oct 26 Isac B. Woodbury, American church composer (The Dulcimer), dies at 39
  • Oct 26 Isac Baker Woodbury, American composer, and musicologist (The Dulcimer: Or the New York Collection of Sacred Music), dies at 39
  • Dec 18 Joseph-Henri-Ignace Mees, Flemish composer, dies at 81
  • Dec 27 Alexandre Pierre François Boëly, French composer, dies at 73