1890 in music

Specific locations

January 15 – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty (ballet) premieres at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg.
January–June period – George W. Johnson becomes the first African American to record phonograph cylinders, in New York.
June 21 – Richard Strauss conducts the premiere of his symphonic poem Death and Transfiguration at the Eisenach Festival.
September 3 – Carl Nielsen makes the first entry in his diary.
September 9 – Edward Elgar's concert overture Froissart is premiered at the Three Choirs Festival in Worcester.
December 6 – 7 – First full performance of Hector Berlioz's opera Les Troyens takes place at Karlsruhe, 21 years after the composer's death.
Charles-Marie Widor succeeds César Franck as organ professor at the Paris Conservatoire.
The New York Phonograph Company opens the first recording studio.

February 25 – Myra Hess, pianist (d. 1965)
February 27 – Freddie Keppard, jazz cornetist (d. 1933)
March 12 – Evert Taube, writer, artist, composer and singer (d. 1976)
March 17 – Harold Morris, pianist and composer (d. 1964)
March 20
- Beniamino Gigli, operatic tenor (d. 1957)
- Lauritz Melchior, operatic tenor (d. 1973)
March 28 – Paul Whiteman, bandleader (d. 1967)
April 17 – Gussie Mueller, jazz clarinetist (d. 1965)
May 21 – Harry Tierney, songwriter, composer of "Irene" and "Rio Rita" (d. 1965)
June 6 – Ted Lewis, bandleader (d. 1971)
June 26 – Jeanne Eagels, Broadway star (d. 1929)
July 18 – Victor Dolidze, Soviet-Georgian composer (d. 1933)
August 12 – Lillian Evanti, operatic soprano (d. 1967)
August 15 – Jacques Ibert, composer (d. 1962)
August 28 – Ivor Gurney, poet and composer (d. 1937)
September 9 – Francis Bousquet, French composer of classical music (d. 1942)
September 15 – Frank Martin, composer (d. 1974)
September 26 – Papanasam Sivan, Carnatic music composer (d. 1973)
October 1 – Stanley Holloway, English actor and singer (d. 1982)
October 8 – Samuel Hoffenstein, screenwriter and composer (d. 1947)
October 13 – Gösta Nystroem, composer (d. 1966)
October 20 – Jelly Roll Morton, American pianist, bandleader and composer (d. 1941)
November 10 – Mischa Bakaleinikoff, musical director (d. 1960)
December 8 – Bohuslav Martinů, classical composer (d. 1959)

January 8 – Giorgio Ronconi, operatic baritone (b. 1810)
January 16 – Arthur Byron, operatic tenor (b. 1846)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
January 17 – Salomon Sulzer, cantor and composer (b. 1804)
January 20 – Franz Lachner, conductor and composer (b. 1803)
February 14 – Wilhelm Fitzenhagen, cellist and music teacher (b. 1848)
March 13 – Henry Wylde, conductor, composer, music teacher and critic (b. 1822)
April 16 – John Barnett, composer and music writer (b. 1802)
May 6 – Hubert Léonard, violinist (b. 1819)
May 28 – Viktor Nessler, composer (b. 1841)
June 3 – Oskar Kolberg, folklorist and composer (b. 1814)
June 30 – Samuel Parkman Tuckerman, composer (b. 1819)
July 22 – Caterina Canzi, opera singer (b. 1805)
October 7 – John Hill Hewitt, songwriter (b. 1801)
October 17 – Prosper Sainton, violinist (b. 1813)
October 28 – Alexander John Ellis, music theorist (b. 1814)
November 8 – César Franck, composer (b. 1822)
December 21 – Niels Gade, composer (b. 1817)
date unknown – Ostap Veresai, minstrel and kobzar (b. 1803)