1881 in music

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This article is about music-related events in 1881.

Specific locations

March 23 – A fire caused by a gas explosion destroys the Opéra de Nice in the south of France with fatalities.
February 10 – Offenbach's Tales of Hoffmann debuts in Paris
June 11 – The National Theatre (Prague) receives a royal opening with the premiere of Smetana's opera Libuše (written 1871–72); however, a subsequent fire delays public opening for a further 2 years, when the same work reinaugurates the theatre
November 9 – Johannes Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 2 is given its public premiere in Budapest
December 4 – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto is premiered in Vienna

Victor Bendix – Symphony No. 1 in C op. 16 Mountain Climbing
Alexander Borodin – String Quartet No. 2 in D
Johannes Brahms – Tragic Overture op. 81 revised; Nänie op. 82
Max Bruch – Kol Nidre for cello and orchestra finished
Anton Bruckner – Symphony No. 6 (Bruckner)
Emmanuel Chabrier – Pièces pittoresques for piano
Ernest Chausson – Piano Trio in G minor, op. 3
Gabriel Fauré & André Messager – Messe des pêcheurs de Villerville
César Franck – Rébecca (oratorio)
Franz Liszt – Nuages Gris
Giuseppe Martucci – Fantasia for piano op. 51
Camille Saint-Saëns – Septet op. 65 for piano, trumpet and strings; Hymne à Victor Hugo
Charles-Marie Widor – First Sonata for Piano and Violin op. 50 ([1])
Bernard Zweers – Symphony No. 1 in D major

The Tales of Hoffmann (Les contes d'Hoffmann; Jacques Offenbach) – Paris production opened at the Opéra-Comique on February 10
The Mascot (translation of Edmond Audran's La Mascotte) – Broadway production opened at the Bijou Theatre (Manhattan) on May 5
Patience (Gilbert and Sullivan) – London production opened at the Opera Comique on April 23 and transferred to the new Savoy Theatre on October 10 for a total run of 578 performances

January 4 – Nikolai Roslavets, Ukrainian composer (d. 1944)
February 6 – Karl Weigl, Austrian composer (d. 1949)
February 21 – Kenneth J. Alford, English band composer (d. 1945)
March 10 – Frank Mullings, English tenor (d. 1953)
March 18 – Paul Le Flem, French composer (d. 1984)
March 23 – Egon Petri, Dutch-born pianist (d. 1962)
March 25 – Béla Bartók, Hungarian composer (d. 1945)
April 15 – David Thomas, Welsh composer (d. 1928)
April 20 – Nikolai Myaskovsky, Polish-born Russian composer and teacher (d. 1950)
May 11 – Jan van Gilse, Dutch composer (d. 1944)
May 29 – Frederick Septimus Kelly, Australian-born musician (k. 1916)
July 6 – Nancy Dalberg, Danish composer (d. 1949)
August 15 – Ted Snyder, American composer and music publisher (d. 1965)
August 19 – George Enescu, Romanian composer (d. 1955)
August 29 – Edvin Kallstenius, Swedish composer (d. 1967)
November 22 – Ethel Levey, American singer, dancer and actress (d. 1955)
November 28 – Stefan Zweig, Austrian librettist of Richard Strauss's Die schweigsame Frau (suicide 1942)
December 3 – Henry Fillmore, American band composer (d. 1956)
December 24 – Charles Wakefield Cadman, American composer and songwriter (d. 1946)