1872 in music

	… 1862; 1863; 1864; 1865; 1866; 1867; 1868; ; 1869; 1870; 1871; 1872; 1873; 1874; 1875; ; 1876; 1877; 1878; 1879; 1880; 1881; 1882 …;
	Art; Archaeology; Architecture; Literature; Music; Philosophy; Science; +...

This article is about music-related events in 1872.

Events

June 5 – closure of the Teatro Re following its final performance, Rossini's The Barber of Seville
June 24 – Karl Müller-Hartung founds an "Orchesterschule" ("Orchestra School") at Weimar.
Friedrich Nietzsche takes up musical composition again after a long break.
Tomás Bretón and Ruperto Chapí receive the first prize of the Madrid Conservatory.
Anton Rubinstein begins a tour of the United States at the behest of Steinway and Sons.
Richard Wagner completes the full draft of Götterdämmerung.

"Moonlight on the Potomac" by John Philip Sousa
"Waste Not, Want Not [You Never Miss the Water Till the Well Runs Dry]" by Harry Linn & Rollin Howard
"Only a Dream" by George Cooper & William Vincent Wallace

Georges Bizet – Djamileh
Gialdino Gialdini – La secchia rapita premiered at the Teatro Goldoni, Florence
Alexandre Charles Lecocq – Les cent vierges
Miguel Marqués – Justos por pecadores
Karel Miry
- De dichter en zijn droombeeld (opera in 4 acts, libretto by Hendrik Conscience, premiered on December 2 in Brussels)
- De twee zusters (opera in 1 act, libretto by P. Geiregat, premiered in Brussels)
Modest Mussorgsky – Boris Gudonov, Revised Version
Jacques Offenbach – Fantasio
Camille Saint-Saëns – La princesse jaune, Op. 30

January 6 – Alexander Scriabin, composer (d. 1915)
January 11 – Paul Graener, conductor and composer (d. 1944)
January 16 – Henri Büsser, conductor and composer (d. 1973)
January 23 – Adelina de Lara, pianist and composer (d. 1961)
March 6 – Ben Harney, ragtime pianist and songwriter (d. 1938)
March 7 – Vasily Andreyevich Zolotaryov, composer
March 8 – Paul Juon, Russian-Swiss violinist and composer (d. 1940)
March 10 – Felix Borowski, composer and music teacher (d. 1956)
March 19 – Sergei Diaghilev, choreographer (d. 1929)
March 20 – Bernhard Sekles, composer and music teacher (d. 1934)
March 30 – Sergey Nikiforovich Vasilenko, composer (d. 1956)
April 1 – Tadeusz Joteyko, composer
April 29 – Eyvind Alnæs, composer (d. 1932)
May 1 – Hugo Alfvén, composer (d. 1960)
July 7 – Juan Lamonte de Grignon, pianist, conductor and composer (d. 1949)
July 8 – Harry Von Tilzer, songwriter (d. 1946)
July 18 – Julius Fučík, composer (d. 1916)
July 20 – Déodat de Séverac, composer (d. 1921)
August 10 – Bill Johnson, dixieland jazz double-bassist (d. 1972)
August 15
- Harold Fraser-Simson, composer and songwriter (d. 1944)
- Rubin Goldmark, composer (d. 1936)
October 12 – Ralph Vaughan Williams, composer (d. 1958)
November 29 – Anna von Mildenburg, Austrian soprano (d. 1947)
December 17 – Walter Loving, military bandleader (k. 1945)
December 20 – Lorenzo Perosi, Italian composer (d. 1956)

January 20 – Raffaele Sacco, lyricist (b. 1787)
February 16 – Henry Fothergill Chorley, music critic (b. 1808)
March 22 – Karolina Bock, singer, dancer and actress (b. 1792)
March 23? - Hugo Ulrich, composer, teacher and arranger (b. 1827) (poss. born May 23)
April 3 – Henriette Widerberg, operatic soprano (b. 1796)
April 12 – Nikolaos Mantzaros, composer (b. 1795)
May 5 – Johann Kulik, luthier (b. 1800)
May 9 – Viktorin Hallmayer, conductor and composer (b. 1831)
May 15 – Thomas Hastings, composer of hymns (b. 1784)
July 26 – Michele Carafa, opera composer (b. 1787)
August 4 – Wilhelm Friedrich Wieprecht, conductor and composer (b. 1802)
August 11 – Lowell Mason, organist and composer (b. 1792)
September 16 – Gall Morel, choirmaster (b. 1803)
November 21 – Myllarguten, folk musician (b. 1801)
November 29 – Giovanni Tadolini, composer