1878 in music

List of years in music (Table)
… 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 …
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… 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 … … 1840s 1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s … … 18th century 19th century 20th century …
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Events

• April 9? – Franz Berwald's Symphony No. 4 receives its premiere performance, conducted by Ludvig Norman.
• May 28 – Gilbert & Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore debuts in London

Published popular music

• "Aloha `Oe" w.m. Queen Liliuokalani of Hawaii
• "Carry Me Back To Old Virginny" w.m. James A. Bland
• "De Gospel Raft" by Frank Dumont
• "Emmet's Lullaby" Joseph K. Emmet
• From HMS Pinafore: (words by W. S. Gilbert, music by Arthur Sullivan)
  • "I Am The Captain Of The Pinafore"
  • "I Am The Ruler Of The Queen's Navee"
  • "I'm Called Little Buttercup"
  • "Kind Captain"
  • "Never Mind the Why and Wherefore"
  • "When I Was a Lad"
• "In The Evening By the Moonlight" w.m. James A. Bland
• "Keep In De Middle Ob De Road"     w.m. Will Hays
• "Ten Little Injuns" w. & m. Septimus Winner

Classical music

• Johannes Brahms - Motets Op. 74; Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77
• Anton Bruckner - Symphony No. 4 (Bruckner) - 2nd version; Symphony No. 5 (Bruckner)
• Ferruccio Busoni – Piano Concerto in D, op. 17, for piano and string orchestra
• George Whitefield Chadwick - String Quartet No. 1
• Felix Otto Dessoff - String Quartet in F, Op. 7
• Antonín Dvořák -
  • Serenade for Wind Instruments (Dvořák) (op. 44/B. 77)
  • String Sextet (Dvořák), (op. 48/B. 80)
  • Slavonic Dances, Set 1 (op. 46/B. 83)
  • Three Slavonic Rhapsodies (op. 45/B. 86)
• Gabriel Fauré - Chanson Apres un rêve (Op. 7 No. 1)
• Niels Gade – Capriccio for violin and orchestra in A minor
• Hans Huber - Piano Concerto No. 1 in C minor, Op. 36
• Vincent d'Indy - La forêt enchantée
• Édouard Lalo - Fantaisie norvegienne
• Giuseppe Martucci - Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor; Piano Quintet in C major, Op. 45
• Joachim Raff - Symphony No. 9 Im Sommer, Op. 208
• Josef Rheinberger - Mass in E-flat (Cantus Missæ) for double choir, Op. 109; Organ Sonata No. 5 in F-sharp Minor, Op. 111; Trio for Piano and Strings No. 2 in A, Op. 112; Piano Quintet in C, Op. 114
• Bernhard Scholz - String Quintet Op. 47
• Sergei Taneyev – Symphony no 2 in B flat minor
• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
  • Symphony No. 4 in F minor, op. 36
  • Violin Concerto in D major

Opera

• Alfred Cellier – After All!
• Charles Gounod – Polyeucte (opera)
• Charles Edouard Lefebvre – Lucrèce
• Miguel Marqués – El anillo de hierro (libretto by Marcos Zapata, premiered in Madrid)
• Joseph Parry – Blodwen
• Emile Pessard
  • Le char premiered on January 18 at the Théâtre de l'Opéra-Comique, Paris
  • Le Capitaine Fracasse premiered on July 2 at the Théâtre Lyrique, Paris
• Joachim Raff - Benedetto Marcello

Musical theater

• Gilbert and Sullivan – H.M.S. Pinafore, London production
• Jacques Offenbach – Madame Favart, Paris production

Births

• January 23 - Rutland Boughton, English composer
• February 16 - Selim Palmgren, Finnish composer
• February 26 - Emmy Destinn, Czech soprano
• February 28 - Artur Kapp, Estonian composer
• March 4 – Egbert Van Alstyne, US songwriter
• March 23 - Franz Schreker, Austrian composer, conductor and teacher
• March 29 – Albert Von Tilzer, US songwriter
• May 25 – Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, American tap dancer, singer, actor
• July 3 – George M. Cohan, US songwriter, entertainer
• July 5 - Joseph Holbrooke, English composer
• July 12 - Percy Hilder Miles, composer, violinist and teacher
• July 22 – Ernest Ball, US composer
• July 25 – Heinrich Gebhard, composer
• August 18 - Fritz Brun, composer and conductor
• August 22 - Edward Johnson (tenor), Canadian tenor
• September 17 - Vincenzo Tommasini, Italian composer
• October 19 – Alphonse Picou, clarinettist
• November 4 – Jean Schwartz, songwriter
• November 23 - André Caplet, French composer and conductor

Deaths

• January 15 - Carlo Blasis, dancer and choreographer (b. 1797)
• February 2 – Josif Runjanin, composer (b. 1821)
• April 8 – Henriette "Jetty" Treffz, singer, first wife and business manager of Johann Strauss II (b. 1818)
• April 21 - Temistocle Solera, librettist and composer (b. 1815)
• May 6 - François Benoist, organist and composer (b. 1794)
• July 2 - François Bazin, opera composer (b. 1816)
• August 23 - Adolf Fredrik Lindblad, composer (b. 1801)
• October - Ludwig Wilhelm Maurer, violinist, conductor and composer (b. 1789)
• November - Marco Aurelio Zani de Ferranti, guitarist and composer (b. 1801)
• December 18 - Heinrich Proch, composer (b. 1809)
• December 28 – José Bernardo Alcedo, composer of the Peruvian national anthem (b. 1788)
• date unknown
  • Carl Heissler, violinist (b. 1826)
  • Robert Heller, pianist and magician (b. 1826)