1878 in music
Template:Year nav topic5 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 ʻOe" 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 H.M.S. 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
- "When the birds have gone to sleep," words by Arthur W. French, music by William A. Huntley<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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 – 2nd version
- Symphony No. 5
- 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)
- Three Slavonic Rhapsodies (op. 45/B. 86)
- Slavonic Dances, Set 1 (op. 46/B. 83)
- Bagatelles, Op.47
- String Sextet (Dvořák), (op. 48/B. 80)
- Gabriel Fauré – Chanson Après un rêve (Op. 7 No. 1)
- Zdeněk Fibich
- String Quartet No.2, Op.8
- Věčnost (Eternity), Concert Melodrama for Narrator and Piano, Op.14
- Niels Gade – Capriccio for violin and orchestra in A minor
- Edvard Grieg
- String Quartet No. 1 in G minor, Op. 27
- Improvisations on 2 Norwegian Folk Songs, Op.29
- Albumblad, EG 109
- Hans Huber – Piano Concerto No. 1 in C minor, Op. 36
- Vincent d'Indy – La forêt enchantée
- Joseph Joachim – Elegiac Overture 'In Memoriam Heinrich von Kleist', Op.13
- Cyrill Kistler – 4 Lieder, Op.20 (including "Am Waldessaume")
- Édouard Lalo
- Cello Concerto in D minor
- Fantaisie norvégienne
- Giuseppe Martucci
- Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor
- Piano Quintet in C major, Op. 45
- Siegfried Ochs – 'S kommt ein Vogel geflogen
- Ole Olsen – Asgårdsreien, Op. 10 (symphonic poems)
- Robert Radecke – Symphony in F major, Op. 50
- Joachim Raff
- Aus Thüringen, WoO. 45
- Symphony No. 9 Im Sommer, Op. 208
- Josef Rheinberger
- Cantus Missae, Mass in E-flat major for double choir, Op. 109
- Ouvertüre zu Schiller's Demetrius, Op. 110
- Organ Sonata No. 5 in F-sharp minor, Op. 111
- Piano Trio No. 2 in A major, Op. 112
- Piano Quintet, Op. 114<ref>Rheinberger quintet op. 114 given date 1878 at Sheetmusicplus.com.</ref>
- Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov – 6 Variations on the Theme B-A-C-H, Op.10
- Pablo de Sarasate – Spanish Dances for violin and piano, Book I
- Bernhard Scholz – String Quintet Op. 47<ref>Musgrave, Michael (1999). Template:Google books. Cambridge University Press. page 296. Template:ISBN.</ref>
- Richard Strauss – Alphorn, TrV 64
- 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.
- 6 Romances, Op.38
- Anton Urspruch – Variationen über ein eigenes Thema, Op.10
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 4 – Rosa Grünberg, Swedish actress and soprano (d. 1960)
- January 6 – Carl Sandburg, American poet and lyricist (died 1967)
- January 22 – Ben Deeley, American actor and lyricist (died 1924)
- January 23 – Rutland Boughton, English composer (d. 1960)
- January 26 – Rudolf Alexander Schröder, lyricist (died 1962)
- January 28 – Walter Kollo, Singspiele composer (died 1940)
- February 16 – Selim Palmgren, Finnish composer (d. 1951)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- February 26 – Emmy Destinn, Czech soprano (d. 1930)
- February 28 – Artur Kapp, Estonian composer (d. 1952)
- March 4 – Egbert Van Alstyne, American songwriter (d. 1951)
- March 23 – Franz Schreker, Austrian composer, conductor and teacher (d. 1934)
- March 29 – Albert Von Tilzer, American songwriter (d. 1956)
- May 24 – Louis Fleury, French flautist (d. 1926)
- May 25 – Bill Robinson, American tap dancer, singer, actor (d. 1949)
- July 3 – George M. Cohan, American songwriter, entertainer (d. 1942)
- July 5 – Joseph Holbrooke, English composer (d. 1958)
- July 9 – Eduard Sõrmus, Estonian violinist (d. 1940)
- July 12
- Bert Grant, composer (died 1951)
- Percy Hilder Miles, English composer, violinist and teacher (d. 1922)
- July 22 – Ernest Ball, American singer-songwriter (d. 1927)
- July 25 – Heinrich Gebhard, German-born composer (d. 1963)
- August 18 – Fritz Brun, Swiss composer and conductor (d. 1959)
- August 22 – Edward Johnson, Canadian operatic tenor (d. 1959)
- August 28 – Laura de Turczynowicz (née Laura Christine Blackwell), Canadian-born opera singer (d. 1953)
- September 7 – Adolphe Piriou, French composer and musician (died 1964)
- September 17 – Vincenzo Tommasini, Italian composer (d. 1950)
- October 18 – Blind Uncle Gaspard, American Cajun vocalist and guitarist (d. 1937)
- October 19
- Hermann Claudius, lyricist (died 1980)
- Alphonse Picou, American jazz clarinettist (d. 1961)
- November 4 – Jean Schwartz, Hungarian-born songwriter (d. 1956)
- November 23 – André Caplet, French composer and conductor (d. 1925)
- December 23 – Wilfred Sanderson, composer (died 1935)
- Undated – Ustad Qasim, Afghan musician (d. 1957)
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)
- May 24 – Franz Espagne, musicologist (born 1828)
- 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)