1878 in music

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This article is about music-related events in 1878.

Events

• April 9? – Franz Berwald's Symphony No. 4 receives its premiere performance, conducted by Ludvig Norman.
• May 25 – Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera H.M.S. Pinafore debuts in London at the Opera Comique with a first run of 571 performances.
• November 18 – Soprano Marie Selika Williams becomes the first African American artist to perform at the White House.
• A Dictionary of Music and Musicians edited by George Grove begins publication in the U.K.

Published popular music

• "Aloha `Oe" w.m. Queen Liliuokalani of Hawaii
• "Carry Me Back To Old Virginny" w.m. James A. Bland
• "De Gospel Raft" by Frank Dumont
• "Emmet's Lullaby" Joseph K. Emmet
• From HMS Pinafore: (words by W. S. Gilbert, music by Arthur Sullivan)
  • "I Am The Captain Of The Pinafore"
  • "I Am The Ruler Of The Queen's Navee"
  • "I'm Called Little Buttercup"
  • "Kind Captain"
  • "Never Mind the Why and Wherefore"
  • "When I Was a Lad"
• "In The Evening By the Moonlight" w.m. James A. Bland
• "Keep In De Middle Ob De Road"     w.m. Will Hays
• "Ten Little Injuns" w. & m. Septimus Winner

Classical music

• Johannes Brahms
  • Motets Op. 74
  • Eight Pieces (for piano) Op. 76
  • Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77
• Anton Bruckner
  • Symphony No. 4 (Bruckner) – 2nd version
  • Symphony No. 5 (Bruckner)
• Ferruccio Busoni – Piano Concerto in D, op. 17, for piano and string orchestra
• George Whitefield Chadwick – String Quartet No. 1
• Felix Otto Dessoff – String Quartet in F, Op. 7
• Antonín Dvořák
  • Serenade for Wind Instruments (Dvořák) (op. 44/B. 77)
  • String Sextet (Dvořák), (op. 48/B. 80)
  • Slavonic Dances, Set 1 (op. 46/B. 83)
  • Three Slavonic Rhapsodies (op. 45/B. 86)
• Gabriel Fauré – Chanson Après un rêve (Op. 7 No. 1)
• Niels Gade – Capriccio for violin and orchestra in A minor
• Edvard Grieg – String Quartet No. 1 in G minor, Op. 27
• Hans Huber – Piano Concerto No. 1 in C minor, Op. 36
• Vincent d'Indy – La forêt enchantée
• Édouard Lalo – Fantaisie norvégienne
• Giuseppe Martucci
  • Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor
  • Piano Quintet in C major, Op. 45
• Ole Olsen – Asgårdsreien, Op 10 (symphonic poems)
• Joachim Raff – Symphony No. 9 Im Sommer, Op. 208
• Josef Rheinberger
  • Mass in E-flat (Cantus Missæ) for double choir, Op. 109
  • Organ Sonata No. 5 in F-sharp Minor, Op. 111
  • Trio for Piano and Strings No. 2 in A, Op. 112
  • Piano Quintet in C, Op. 114^[1]
• Bernhard Scholz – String Quintet Op. 47^[2]
• Sergei Taneyev – Symphony no 2 in B flat minor
• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
  • Symphony No. 4 in F minor, op. 36
  • Violin Concerto in D major
  • Piano Sonata in G major, Op. 37.

Opera

• Alfred Cellier – After All!
• Charles Gounod – Polyeucte (opera)
• Charles Edouard Lefebvre – Lucrèce
• Miguel Marqués – El anillo de hierro (libretto by Marcos Zapata, premiered in Madrid)
• Joseph Parry – Blodwen
• Emile Pessard
  • Le char premiered on January 18 at the Théâtre de l'Opéra-Comique, Paris
  • Le Capitaine Fracasse premiered on July 2 at the Théâtre Lyrique, Paris
• Joachim Raff – Benedetto Marcello

Musical theater

• Gilbert and Sullivan – H.M.S. Pinafore, London production
• Jacques Offenbach – Madame Favart, Paris production

Births

• January 23 – Rutland Boughton, English composer
• February 16 – Selim Palmgren, Finnish composer^[3]
• February 26 – Emmy Destinn, Czech soprano
• February 28 – Artur Kapp, Estonian composer
• March 4 – Egbert Van Alstyne, American songwriter
• March 23 – Franz Schreker, Austrian composer, conductor and teacher
• March 29 – Albert Von Tilzer, American songwriter
• May 24 – Louis Fleury, flautist (d. 1926)
• May 25 – Bill Robinson, American tap dancer, singer, actor
• July 3 – George M. Cohan, American songwriter, entertainer
• July 5 – Joseph Holbrooke, English composer
• July 12 – Percy Hilder Miles, composer, violinist and teacher
• July 22 – Ernest Ball, American composer
• July 25 – Heinrich Gebhard, composer
• August 18 – Fritz Brun, composer and conductor
• August 22 – Edward Johnson (tenor), Canadian tenor
• August 28 – Laura de Turczynowicz (née Laura Christine Blackwell), Canadian-born opera singer
• September 17 – Vincenzo Tommasini, Italian composer
• October 18 – Blind Uncle Gaspard, American Cajun vocalist and guitarist (d. 1937)
• October 19 – Alphonse Picou, American jazz clarinettist
• November 4 – Jean Schwartz, songwriter
• November 23 – André Caplet, French composer and conductor

Deaths

• January 15 – Carlo Blasis, dancer and choreographer (b. 1797)
• February 2 – Josif Runjanin, composer (b. 1821)
• April 8 – Henriette "Jetty" Treffz, singer, first wife and business manager of Johann Strauss II (b. 1818)
• April 21 – Temistocle Solera, librettist and composer (b. 1815)
• May 6 – François Benoist, organist and composer (b. 1794)
• July 2 – François Bazin, opera composer (b. 1816)
• August 23 – Adolf Fredrik Lindblad, composer (b. 1801)
• October 13-October 25 – Ludwig Wilhelm Maurer, violinist, conductor and composer (b. 1789)
• November – Marco Aurelio Zani de Ferranti, guitarist and composer (b. 1801)
• November 13 – Carl Heissler, violinist (b. 1826)
• December 18 – Heinrich Proch, composer (b. 1809)
• December 28 – José Bernardo Alcedo, composer of the Peruvian national anthem (b. 1788)
• date unknown – Robert Heller, pianist and magician (b. 1826)

References

1. Rheinberger quintet op. 114 given date 1878 at Sheetmusicplus.com.
2. Musgrave, Michael (1999). The Cambridge Companion to Brahms at Google Books. Cambridge University Press. page 296. ISBN 978-0-521-48581-4.
3. "FIMIC Link About Selim Palmgren". Archived from the original on October 26, 2007. Retrieved 2009-01-05.