1879 in music

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This article is about music-related events in 1879.

Events

• January 1 - The Violin Concerto of Johannes Brahms is premiered in Leipzig. Joseph Joachim was the soloist with Brahms conducting.
• December 31 – Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera The Pirates of Penzance opens at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City (following a token performance the day before for U.K. copyright reasons in Paignton, Devon).
• Engelbert Humperdinck becomes the first winner of the Mendelssohn Award awarded by the Mendelssohn Stiftung (foundation) of Berlin.
• The Monte Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra gains a permanent home at the Garnier Palace.

Published popular music

• "O Dem Golden Slippers by James A. Bland
• "In the Morning By the Bright Light" by James A. Bland
• "My Visit to the Opera" by Joseph P. Skelly

Classical music

• Henri Duparc – Le Manoir de Rosemonde
• César Franck – Piano Quintet
• Asger Hamerik – Concert Romance for 'cello and piano
• Franz Lachner – Elegie for Flute and Organ
• Charles-Marie Widor – Symphony for Organ No. 5
• Bedřich Smetana – Ten Czech Dances (for piano)

Opera

• Giovanni Bottesini – Ero e Leandro
• Miguel Marqués – Camoens
• Viktor Nessler – Der Rattenfänger von Hameln
• Peter Tchaikovsky – Eugene Onegin

Musical theater

• The Mulligan Guards' Ball Broadway production opens at the Comique Theatre on January 13 and runs for 153 performances
• The Mulligan Guards' Chowder Broadway production opens at the Comique Theatre on August 11 and runs for 112 performances
• The Mulligan Guards' Christmas Broadway production opens at the Comique Theatre on November 17 and runs for 104 performances

Births

• January 3 – Lina Abarbanell, German-American soprano (d. 1963)
• February 9 – Natanael Berg, Swedish composer (d. 1957)
• February 26 – Frank Bridge, composer (d. 1941)
• April 1 – Louise Gunning, singer, Broadway and vaudeville (d. 1960)
• May 22
  • Jean Cras, French composer (d. 1932)
  • Eastwood Lane, composer (d. 1951)
• June 13 – Maria Gay, opera singer (d. 1943)
• June 21 – Henry Creamer, US songwriter (d. 1930)
• July 5 – Philippe Gaubert, composer (d. 1941)
• July 9 – Ottorino Respighi, composer (d. 1936)
• August 1 – Eva Tanguay, singer, vaudeville star (d. 1947)
• August 18 – Gus Edwards, Prussian-born US songwriter and entertainer (d. 1945)
• September 30 – Henri Casadesus, violist and music publisher (d. 1947)
• October 12 – Chris Smith, composer (d. 1949)
• October 18 – Grzegorz Fitelberg, Polish conductor, violinist and composer (d. 1953)
• October 21 – Joseph Canteloube, composer (d. 1957)
• December 1 – Beth Slater Whitson, US lyric writer (d. 1930)
• December 4 – Hamilton Harty, composer (d. 1941)
• December 19 – Otto Olsson, Swedish composer (d. 1964)
• December 26 - Julius Weismann, German conductor and composer (d. 1950)

Deaths

• January 8 – Ferdo Livadić, composer (born 1799)
• February 20 – John Orlando Parry, pianist, singer and comedian (born 1810)
• April 9 – Ernst Friedrich Eduard Richter, music theorist
• May 27 – E. S. Engelsberg, composer
• June 3 – Frances Ridley Havergal, hymn-writer
• July 6 – Henry Smart, organist and composer (born 1813)
• August 4 – Adelaide Kemble, opera singer
• September 12 – Peter Arnold Heise, composer
• October 14 – Karl Anton Eckert, conductor and composer (born 1820)
• November 30 – August Bournonville, Danish ballet-master and choreographer (born 1805)