1864 in music

List of years in music (table)
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Events

• February 24 – Bedřich Smetana's symphonic poem Hakon Jarl is premiered in Prague
• February 29 – Composer Gioachino Rossini celebrates his 72nd (18th) birthday with a party.
• December 17 – Jacques Offenbach's operetta La Belle Hélène receives its first performance at the Paris Variétés
• Hans von Bülow takes over from Franz Lachner at the Munich opera.
• Mili Balakirev begins sketching his Symphony No. 1. It would not be performed till 1898.

Published popular music

Cover of the 1864 publication of the sheet music of "Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!"

• "Beautiful Dreamer" by Stephen Foster
• "Der Deitcher's Dog" ("O Where, O Where Has My Little Dog Gone?") by Septimus Winner
• "The Picture on the Wall" by Henry Clay Work
• "Pretty Polly Perkins of Paddington Green" w. Harry Clifton m. traditional?
• "Shall We Gather at the River?" w.m. Robert Lowry
• "Somebody's Darling" w.m. John Hill Hewitt
• "Tramp! Tramp! Tramp! (The Boys Are Marching)" by George F. Root

Classical music

• Johannes Brahms – Piano Quintet Op. 34
• Anton Bruckner – Symphony in D minor ("Die Nullte")
• Niels Gade – 3 Fantasie pieces for clarinet and piano, Op. 43
• Louis Gottschalk – The Dying Poet
• Friedrich Kiel – Piano Concerto
• Franz Strauss – Nocturno for Horn and Piano
• Thomas Tellefsen – Trio for piano, violin and cello (Opus 31)
• Robert Volkmann – Symphony no. 2
• Peter Tchaikovsky – The Storm

Opera

• Flor van Duyse – Rosalinde (libretto by Karel Versnaeyen, premiered in Antwerp)
• Karel Miry – Bouchard-d'Avesnes (opera in 5 acts, libretto by Hippoliet van Peene, premiered on March 6 in Ghent)
• Jacques Offenbach – Die Rheinnixen (The Rhine Fairies)

Musical theatre

• La Belle Hélène (Lyrics: Henri Meilhac & Ludovic Halévy Music: Jacques Offenbach) opens at the Théâtre des Variétés, Paris, on December 17.

Births

• February 7 – Arthur Collins, singer (d. 1933)
• April 10 – Eugen d'Albert, composer, pianist (d. 1932)
• May 23 – Louis Glass, composer (d. 1936)
• June 11 – Richard Strauss, composer, conductor (d. 1949)
• July 6 – Alberto Nepomuceno, composer and conductor (d. 1920)
• August 18 – Gemma Bellincioni, operatic soprano (d. 1950)
• October 7 – Louis F. Gottschalk, composer (d. 1934)
• date unknown – Alice Esty, operatic soprano (d. 1935)

Deaths

• January 13 – Stephen Foster, songwriter (b. 1826) (domestic accident)
• January 26 – Otto Lindblad, composer (b. 1809)
• February 16 – Václav Jindřich Veit, lawyer and composer (b. 1806)
• March 30 – Louis Schindelmeisser, clarinettist, conductor and composer (b. 1811)
• May 2 – Giacomo Meyerbeer, composer (b. 1791)
• October 1 – Christian Friedrich Ludwig Buschmann, musical instrument maker (b. 1805)
• October 7 – Apollon Grigoryev, poet and songwriter (b. 1822) (alcoholism)
• December 20 – Josef Proksch, pianist and composer (b. 1794)