1879 in music

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This article is about music-related events in 1879.

Specific locations

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).^[1]
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.

"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
"Some Day I'll Wander Back Again", words by Arthur W. French, music by William A. Huntley^[2]^[3]

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

January 3 – Lina Abarbanell, German-American soprano (d. 1963)
January 10 – Armanda Degli Abbati, Italian opera singer (d. 1946)
February 9 – Natanael Berg, Swedish composer (d. 1957)
February 26 – Frank Bridge, composer (d. 1941)
April 1 – Louise Gunning, Broadway and vaudeville singer (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)
August 31 – Alma Mahler, born Alma Schindler, Viennese-born composer and wife of Gustav Mahler (d. 1964)
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)
November 2 – Ramón Montoya, Spanish flamenco guitarist (d. 1949)
December 1 – Beth Slater Whitson, US lyric writer (d. 1930)
December 4 – Hamilton Harty, composer (d. 1941)
December 7 – Rudolf Friml, pianist and composer of operettas and musicals (d. 1972)
December 19 – Otto Olsson, Swedish composer (d. 1964)
December 26 – Julius Weismann, German conductor and composer (d. 1950)

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)
December 24 – Anna Bochkoltz, German operatic soprano, voice teacher and composer (born 1815)

^ Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0.
^ Huntley, William A. (1879). "I'll Wander Back Again". imslp.org. F. A. North & Co.
^ Huntley, William A. (1879). "Some Day I'll Wander Back Again". digicoll.lib.berkeley.edu. F. A. North & Co.