1870 in music

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Events

January 6 – The Musikverein concert hall opens in Vienna
March 16 – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's fantasy-overture Romeo and Juliet debuts in Moscow, conducted by Nikolai Rubinstein
May 25 – Léo Delibes' ballet Coppélia is debuted by the Théâtre Impérial de l'Opéra at the Salle Le Peletier in Paris
June 26 – Richard Wagner's opera Die Walküre premieres at the Königliches Hof- und National-Theater, Munich
September – Siege of Paris (1870–71) begins: Georges Bizet, Gabriel Fauré and Camille Saint-Saëns are among those enrolled in the National Guard for defence of the city
Madame Rentz's Female Minstrels established in the United States by Michael B. Leavitt
Richard Wagner nears completion of his opera Siegfried

"Come In Old Adam, Come In!" w. Alice Cary m. C. F. Shattuck
"Just Touch the Harp Gently, My Pretty Louise" w. Samuel N. Mitchell m. Charles Blamphin

Max Bruch – Symphony No. 2 in F minor, Op. 36 (premiered September 4)^[1]
Antonín Dvořák
- Dramatic Overture (overture to the opera Alfred) (B. 16a)
- String Quartet no. 3 in D, B. 18
- String Quartet no. 4 in E minor, B. 19
Charles Gounod – Messe des Orphéonistes
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – Romeo and Juliet overture (first version)
Valentin Zubiaurre – Symphony in E major

Antonín Dvořák
- Alfred, B. 16 (libretto by Karl Theodor Körner, premiered in 1938 in Olomouc)^[2]
Karel Miry
- La Saint-Lucas (opera in 1 act, libretto by J. Story, premiered on February 17 in Ghent)
- Het Driekoningenfeest (opera in 1 act, libretto by P. Geiregat, premiered in Brussels)
Emile Pessard – La cruche cassée (comic opera in 1 act, libretto by Hyppolite Lucas and Emile Abraham, premiered on February 21 at the Théâtre de l'Opéra-Comique in Paris)
Bedřich Smetana – Prodana Nevesta (eng. The Bartered Bride)
Richard Wagner – Die Walküre

January 3 – Henry Eichheim, conductor, violinist and composer (d. 1942)
January 20 – Guillaume Lekeu, composer (d. 1894)
January 22 – Charles Tournemire, French composer and organist (d. 1939)
January 30 – Rudolf Louis, critic, conductor and author (d. 1914)
February 12 – Marie Lloyd, British music-hall singer (d. 1922)
February 13 – Leopold Godowsky, Polish American pianist, composer, and teacher (d. 1938)
March 6 – Oscar Straus, Viennese composer of operettas (d. 1954)
April 7 – Joseph Ryelandt, Belgian composer (d. 1965)
April 28 – Hermann Suter, Swiss composer and conductor (d. 1926)
April 30 – Franz Lehár, composer of operettas and waltzes (d. 1948)
May 4 – Zygmunt Stojowski, Polish pianist and composer (d. 1946)
July 18 – Emil Młynarski, Polish conductor, violinist, composer, and pedagogue (d. 1935)
August 4 – Harry Lauder, Scottish singer, comedian and songwriter (d. 1950)
August 12 – Arthur J. Lamb, lyricist and actor (d. 1928)
September 28 – Florent Schmitt, French composer (d. 1958)
October 7 – Uncle Dave Macon, banjo player, singer and songwriter (d.1952)
October 8 – Louis Vierne, French organist and composer (d. 1937)
October 24 – August Brunetti-Pisano, Austrian composer (d. 1943)
November 30 – Cecil Forsyth, composer and musicologist (d. 1941)
December 5 – Vítězslav Novák, Czech composer (d. 1949)
December 16 – Alfred Hill, Australian composer (d. 1960)

^ Wood, Thomas (8 November 2005). "Max Bruch Catalog of Works – Symphony No. 2". Archived from the original on 29 January 2008. Retrieved 9 February 2008.
^ Beckerman, Michael (1993). Dvořák and His World. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. pp. 109–112. ISBN 0-691-00097-2. OCLC 27937811. Retrieved 9 February 2008.