| |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
This article is about music-related events in 1881.
Specific locations
- 1881 in Norwegian music
Events
)
Ilya Repin's celebrated portrait of Mussorgsky, painted 2–5 March 1881, only a few days before the composer's death.
- 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
Bands formed
Published popular music
- "Good Bye!" by Francesco Paolo Tosti
- "My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean"
- "Slowly and Sadly" (President Garfield Memorial Tribute)" by Arabella M. Root
Classical music
- 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 – Hymne à Victor Hugo
- Charles-Marie Widor – First Sonata for Piano and Violin op. 50 ([1])
- Bernard Zweers – Symphony No. 1 in D major
Opera
- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – The Maid of Orleans
Musical theater
- 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
Births
- 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)
Deaths
- January 30 – Jacques-Nicolas Lemmens, Belgian, organist and composer, 58
- March 13 – Sophie Daguin, ballerina and choreographer, 79
- March 23 – Nikolai Rubinstein, pianist and composer, 45
- March 28 – Modest Mussorgsky, composer, 42 (alcohol-related)
- June 5 – Franjo Krežma, violinist and composer,19 (tuberculosis)
- June 6 – Henri Vieuxtemps, composer, 61
- June 7 – Marie Gabriel Augustin Savard, music teacher and composer, 66
- July 3 – Achille De Bassini, operatic baritone, 62
- September 7 – Sidney Lanier, poet and flautist, 39 (tuberculosis)
- October 9 – Richard Wüerst, composer and music teacher, 57
- November 25 – Theobald Boehm, inventor of the modern flute, 87
- December 17 – Giulio Briccialdi, composer, 63
- December 30 – Corrado Miraglia, opera singer, 60
- date unknown – Francisco de Sá Noronha, violinist and composer (b. 1820)