1878 in music
Encyclopedia
Events
- April 9? – Franz BerwaldFranz BerwaldFranz Adolf Berwald was a Swedish Romantic composer who was generally ignored during his lifetime. He made his living as an orthopedic surgeon and later as the manager of a saw mill and glass factory....
's Symphony No. 4 receives its premiere performance, conducted by Ludvig NormanLudvig NormanLudvig Norman was a Swedish composer, conductor, pianist, and music teacher. Together with Franz Berwald and Adolf Fredrik Lindblad, he ranks among the most important Swedish symphonists of the 19th century....
. - May 28 – Gilbert & Sullivan's H.M.S. PinaforeH.M.S. PinaforeH.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It opened at the Opera Comique in London, England, on 25 May 1878 and ran for 571 performances, which was the second-longest run of any musical...
debuts in LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
Published popular music
- "Aloha `Oe" w.m. Queen Liliuokalani of Hawaii
- "Carry Me Back To Old VirginnyCarry Me Back to Old Virginny"Carry Me Back to Old Virginny" is a song which was written by James A. Bland , an African American minstrel who wrote over 700 folk songs...
" w.m. James A. BlandJames A. BlandJames Alan Bland , also known as Jimmy Bland, was an African American musician and song writer.-Biography:... - "De Gospel Raft" by Frank DumontFrank DumontFrank Dumont was a popular American minstrel show performer and manager., by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania -Life:...
- "Emmet's Lullaby" Joseph K. Emmet
- From HMS Pinafore: (words by W. S. GilbertW. S. GilbertSir William Schwenck Gilbert was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his fourteen comic operas produced in collaboration with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, of which the most famous include H.M.S...
, music by Arthur SullivanArthur SullivanSir Arthur Seymour Sullivan MVO was an English composer of Irish and Italian ancestry. He is best known for his series of 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including such enduring works as H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado...
)- "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. BlandJames A. BlandJames Alan Bland , also known as Jimmy Bland, was an African American musician and song writer.-Biography:...
- "Keep In De Middle Ob De Road" w.m. Will HaysWilliam Shakespeare HaysWilliam Shakespeare Hays , was an American poet and lyricist. He wrote some 350 songs over his career and sold as many as 20 million copies of his works. These pieces varied in tone from low comedy to sentimental and pious; his material was sometimes confused with that of Stephen Foster as a result...
- "Ten Little InjunsTen Little Injuns"Ten Little Injuns" is a popular song written by Septimus Winner in 1870 for the minstrel trade. It was based on an 1870's minstrel skit about one John Brown whose Indian boy grows from "one little Injun" into "ten little Injuns," and then back to one, i.e.:...
" w. & m. Septimus WinnerSeptimus WinnerSeptimus Winner is best known as a songwriter of the nineteenth century. He used his own name, and also the pseudonyms Alice Hawthorne, Percy Guyer, Mark Mason, Apsley Street, and Paul Stenton...
Classical music
- Johannes BrahmsJohannes BrahmsJohannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
- Motets Op. 74; Violin Concerto in D majorViolin Concerto (Brahms)Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77 is a violin concerto in three movements composed by Johannes Brahms in 1878 and dedicated to his friend, the violinist Joseph Joachim...
, Op. 77 - Anton BrucknerAnton BrucknerAnton Bruckner was an Austrian composer known for his symphonies, masses, and motets. The first are considered emblematic of the final stage of Austro-German Romanticism because of their rich harmonic language, complex polyphony, and considerable length...
- Symphony No. 4 (Bruckner)Symphony No. 4 (Bruckner)Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 4 in E-flat major is one of the composer's most popular works. It was written in 1874 and revised several times through 1888. It was dedicated to Prince Konstantin of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst. It was premiered in 1881 by Hans Richter in Vienna with great success...
- 2nd version; Symphony No. 5 (Bruckner)Symphony No. 5 (Bruckner)The Symphony No. 5 in B flat major of Anton Bruckner was written in 1875–1876, with a few minor changes over the next few years. It was first performed in public on two pianos by Joseph Schalk and Franz Zottmann on 20 April 1887 at the Bösendorfersaal in Vienna... - Ferruccio BusoniFerruccio BusoniFerruccio Busoni was an Italian composer, pianist, editor, writer, piano and composition teacher, and conductor.-Biography:...
– Piano Concerto in D, op. 17, for piano and string orchestra - George Whitefield ChadwickGeorge Whitefield ChadwickGeorge Whitefield Chadwick was an American composer. Along with Horatio Parker, Amy Beach, Arthur Foote, and Edward MacDowell, he was a representative composer of what can be called the New England School of American composers of the late 19th century—the generation before Charles Ives...
- String Quartet No. 1 - Felix Otto DessoffFelix Otto DessoffFelix Otto Dessoff was a German conductor and composer.-Biography:Dessoff was born in Leipzig and entered the conservatory there where he studied composition, piano and conducting with some of the foremost teachers of the day, including Ignaz Moscheles for piano and Moritz Hauptmann and Julius...
- String Quartet in F, Op. 7 - Antonín DvořákAntonín DvorákAntonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many...
-- Serenade for Wind Instruments (Dvořák)Serenade for Wind Instruments (Dvorák)Serenade for wind instruments, cello and double-bass in D minor, Op. 44 , is a chamber composition by the Czech composer Antonín Dvořák....
(op. 44/B. 77) - String Sextet (Dvořák)String Sextet (Dvorák)Antonín Dvořák´s String Sextet in A major Op. 48, for two violins, two violas and two cellos was composed for the most part in May 1878. It was Dvořák's first work to be premièred abroad....
, (op. 48/B. 80) - Slavonic DancesSlavonic DancesThe Slavonic Dances are a series of 16 orchestral pieces composed by Antonín Dvořák in 1878 and 1886 and published in two sets as Opus 46 and Opus 72 respectively. Originally written for piano four hands, the Slavonic Dances were inspired by Johannes Brahms's own Hungarian Dances and were...
, Set 1 (op. 46/B. 83) - Three Slavonic Rhapsodies (op. 45/B. 86)
- Serenade for Wind Instruments (Dvořák)
- Gabriel FauréGabriel FauréGabriel Urbain Fauré was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th century composers...
- Chanson Apres un rêve (Op. 7 No. 1) - Niels Gade – Capriccio for violin and orchestra in A minor
- Hans HuberHans Huber (composer)Hans Huber was a composer from Switzerland.He was born in Eppenberg-Wöschnau . The son of an amateur musician, Huber became a chorister and showed an early talent for the piano. In 1870 he entered Leipzig Conservatory...
- Piano Concerto No. 1 in C minor, Op. 36 - Vincent d'IndyVincent d'IndyVincent d'Indy was a French composer and teacher.-Life:Paul Marie Théodore Vincent d'Indy was born in Paris into an aristocratic family of royalist and Catholic persuasion. He had piano lessons from an early age from his paternal grandmother, who passed him on to Antoine François Marmontel and...
- La forêt enchantée - Édouard LaloÉdouard LaloÉdouard-Victoire-Antoine Lalo was a French composer.-Biography:Lalo was born in Lille , in northernmost France. He attended that city's music conservatory in his youth. Then, beginning at age 16, Lalo studied at the Paris Conservatoire under Berlioz's old enemy François Antoine Habeneck...
- Fantaisie norvegienne - Giuseppe MartucciGiuseppe MartucciGiuseppe Martucci was an Italian composer, conductor, pianist and teacher. As a composer and teacher he was influential in reviving Italian interest in non-operatic music. As a conductor he helped to introduce Richard Wagner's operas to Italy and also gave important early concerts of English music...
- Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor; Piano Quintet in C major, Op. 45 - Joachim RaffJoachim RaffJoseph Joachim Raff was a German-Swiss composer, teacher and pianist.-Biography:Raff was born in Lachen in Switzerland. His father, a teacher, had fled there from Württemberg in 1810 to escape forced recruitment into the military of that southwestern German state that had to fight for Napoleon in...
- Symphony No. 9 Im Sommer, Op. 208 - Josef RheinbergerJosef RheinbergerJosef Gabriel Rheinberger was a German organist and composer, born in Liechtenstein.-Short biography:...
- 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 - Bernhard ScholzBernhard ScholzBernhard E. Scholz, was a German conductor, composer and teacher of music.- Life :Bernhard Scholz was born in Mainz in 1835. He was intended by his father to take over his father's business and studied to be a printer at Imp. Lemercier in Paris. But music became his career...
- String Quintet Op. 47 - Sergei TaneyevSergei TaneyevSergei Ivanovich Taneyev , was a Russian composer, pianist, teacher of composition, music theorist and author.-Life:...
– Symphony no 2 in B flat minor - Pyotr Ilyich TchaikovskyPyotr Ilyich TchaikovskyPyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...
- Symphony No. 4 in F minor, op. 36Symphony No. 4 (Tchaikovsky)Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36, was written between 1877 and 1878. The symphony's first performance was at a Russian Musical Society concert in Saint Petersburg on February 10 /February 22 1878, with Nikolai Rubinstein as conductor.- Form :The symphony is in four...
- Violin Concerto in D majorViolin Concerto (Tchaikovsky)The Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35, written by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1878, is one of the best known of all violin concertos. It is also considered to be among the most technically difficult works for violin.-Instrumentation:...
- Symphony No. 4 in F minor, op. 36
Opera
- Alfred CellierAlfred CellierAlfred Cellier was an English composer, orchestrator and conductor.In addition to conducting and music directing the original productions of several of the most famous Gilbert and Sullivan works and writing the overtures to some of them, Cellier conducted at many theatres in London, New York and...
– After All!After All!After All! is a one-act comic opera with a libretto by Frank Desprez and music by Alfred Cellier. It was first performed at the Savoy Theatre under the management of Richard D'Oyly Carte, along with H.M.S... - Charles GounodCharles GounodCharles-François Gounod was a French composer, known for his Ave Maria as well as his operas Faust and Roméo et Juliette.-Biography:...
– Polyeucte (opera)Polyeucte (opera)Polyeucte is an opéra by Charles Gounod based on the play about Saint Polyeuctus by Pierre Corneille. The libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré is more faithful to its source than Les martyrs, Scribe's adaptation for Donizetti, and Gounod hoped to express "the unknown and irresistable... - Charles Edouard Lefebvre – Lucrèce
- Miguel MarquésMiguel MarquésPedro Miguel Juan Buenaventura Bernadino Marqués y García was a Spanish composer and violinist.-Life:He was the son of a chocolate maker...
– El anillo de hierro (libretto by Marcos Zapata, premiered in Madrid) - Joseph ParryJoseph ParryJoseph Parry , was a Welsh composer and musician. Born in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, he is best known as the composer of Myfanwy and Aberystwyth used in Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika the National anthem of South Africa.The cottage at 4 Chapel Row, Merthyr Tydfil, where Parry was born, is now open to the...
– Blodwen - Emile PessardEmile PessardÉmile Louis Fortuné Pessard was a French composer.He studied at the Paris Conservatoire where he won 1st prize in Harmony. In 1866 he won the Grand Prix de Rome with his cantata Dalila which was performed at the Paris Opera on February 21, 1867...
- Le char premiered on January 18 at the Théâtre de l'Opéra-ComiqueOpéra-ComiqueThe Opéra-Comique is a Parisian opera company, which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with, and for a time took the name of its chief rival the Comédie-Italienne at the Hôtel de Bourgogne, and was also called the...
, Paris - Le Capitaine Fracasse premiered on July 2 at the Théâtre LyriqueThéâtre LyriqueThe Théâtre Lyrique was one of four opera companies performing in Paris during the middle of the 19th century . The company was founded in 1847 as the Opéra-National by the French composer Adolphe Adam and renamed Théâtre Lyrique in 1852...
, Paris
- Le char premiered on January 18 at the Théâtre de l'Opéra-Comique
- Joachim RaffJoachim RaffJoseph Joachim Raff was a German-Swiss composer, teacher and pianist.-Biography:Raff was born in Lachen in Switzerland. His father, a teacher, had fled there from Württemberg in 1810 to escape forced recruitment into the military of that southwestern German state that had to fight for Napoleon in...
- Benedetto Marcello
Musical theater
- Gilbert and SullivanGilbert and SullivanGilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan . The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S...
– H.M.S. PinaforeH.M.S. PinaforeH.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It opened at the Opera Comique in London, England, on 25 May 1878 and ran for 571 performances, which was the second-longest run of any musical...
, London production - Jacques OffenbachJacques OffenbachJacques Offenbach was a Prussian-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s–1870s and his uncompleted opera The Tales of Hoffmann. He was a powerful influence on later composers of the operetta genre, particularly Johann Strauss, Jr....
– Madame FavartMadame FavartMadame Favart is an opéra comique, or operetta, in three acts by Jacques Offenbach. The French libretto was written by Alfred Duru and Henri Charles Chivot.-Performance history:...
, Paris production
Births
- January 23 - Rutland BoughtonRutland BoughtonRutland Boughton was an English composer who became well known in the early 20th century as a composer of opera and choral music....
, English composer - February 16 - Selim PalmgrenSelim PalmgrenSelim Gustaf Adolf Palmgren , dubbed "The Finnish Chopin", was a Finnish composer, pianist, and conductor. Palmgren was born in Pori, Finland, February 16, 1878. He studied at the Conservatory in Helsinki from 1895 to 1899, then continued his piano studies in Berlin with Ansorge, Berger and Busoni...
, Finnish composer - February 26 - Emmy DestinnEmmy DestinnEmmy Destinn was a Czech operatic soprano with a strong and soaring lyric-dramatic voice. She had a career both in Europe and at the New York Metropolitan Opera.- Biography :...
, Czech soprano - February 28 - Artur KappArtur KappArtur Kapp was an Estonian composer.Born in Suure-Jaani, Estonia, then part of the Governorate of Livonia, Russian Empire, he was the son of Joosep Kapp, who was also a classically trained musician...
, Estonian composer - March 4 – Egbert Van AlstyneEgbert Van AlstyneEgbert Anson Van Alstyne was a United States songwriter and pianist. Van Alstyne was the composer of a number of popular and ragtime tunes from the early 20th century.He was born in Marengo, Illinois...
, US songwriter - March 23 - Franz SchrekerFranz SchrekerFranz Schreker was an Austrian composer, conductor, teacher and administrator. Primarily a composer of operas, his style is characterized by aesthetic plurality , timbral experimentation, strategies of extended tonality and...
, Austrian composer, conductor and teacher - March 29 – Albert Von TilzerAlbert Von TilzerAlbert Von Tilzer was an American songwriter, the younger brother of fellow songwriter Harry Von Tilzer. He wrote the music to many hit songs, including, most notably, "Take Me Out To The Ball Game"....
, US songwriter - May 25 – Bill "Bojangles" RobinsonBill RobinsonBill “Bojangles” Robinson was an American tap dancer and actor of stage and film. Audiences enjoyed his understated style, which eschewed the frenetic manner of the jitterbug in favor of cool and reserve; rarely did he use his upper body, relying instead on busy, inventive feet, and an expressive...
, American tap dancer, singer, actor - July 3 – George M. CohanGeorge M. CohanGeorge Michael Cohan , known professionally as George M. Cohan, was a major American entertainer, playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, singer, dancer, and producer....
, US songwriter, entertainer - July 5 - Joseph HolbrookeJoseph HolbrookeJoseph Charles Holbrooke was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was sometimes referred to as "the cockney Wagner".-Family:...
, English composer - July 12 - Percy Hilder MilesPercy Hilder MilesPercy Hilder Miles was an English composer, conductor and violinist. Among his students at the Royal Academy of Music was Rebecca Clarke, and among Miles' associates was Lionel Tertis.Miles had earlier been a student at the Royal Academy of Music, which he joined in June 1893 and where his teachers...
, composer, violinist and teacher - July 22 – Ernest BallErnest BallErnest R. Ball was a United States singer and songwriter, most famous for composing the music for the song "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" in 1912. He was not, himself, Irish....
, US composer - July 25 – Heinrich GebhardHeinrich GebhardHeinrich Gebhard was a German-American pianist, composer and piano teacher.-Performer:...
, composer - August 18 - Fritz BrunFritz BrunFritz Brun was a Swiss conductor and composer of classical music.Brun was born in Lucerne. He was a student of Franz Wüllner at the conservatory at Köln, and studied piano and theory there until 1902. The following year he became a piano teacher at the music school in Bern...
, composer and conductor - August 22 - Edward Johnson (tenor)Edward Johnson (tenor)Edward Patrick Johnson CBE was a Canadian operatic tenor who was billed outside North America as Edoardo Di Giovanni, and became director of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.- Early life :...
, Canadian tenor - September 17 - Vincenzo TommasiniVincenzo TommasiniVincenzo Tommasini was an Italian composer.Born in Rome, Tommasini studied philology and the Greek language at the University of Rome, at the same time pursuing equally intensive studies in music at the Academy of St. Cecilia. In 1902 he traveled extensively throughout Europe; during this time he...
, Italian composer - October 19 – Alphonse PicouAlphonse PicouAlphonse Floristan Picou was an important very early jazz clarinetist who also wrote and arranged music....
, clarinettist - November 4 – Jean SchwartzJean SchwartzJean Schwartz was a songwriter.Schwartz was born in Budapest, Hungary. His family moved to New York City when he was 13 years old...
, songwriter - November 23 - André CapletAndré CapletAndré Caplet was a French composer and conductor now known primarily through his orchestrations of works by Claude Debussy.-Biography:...
, French composer and conductor
Deaths
- January 15 - Carlo BlasisCarlo BlasisCarlo Blasis was an Italian dancer, choreographer and dance theoretician. He is well known for his very rigorous dance classes, sometimes lasting four hours long.Blasis was born in Naples...
, dancer and choreographer (b. 1797) - February 2 – Josif RunjaninJosif RunjaninJosif Runjanian or Josip Runjanin was a Serb composer from Croatia, most notably known for composing the melody of the Croatian national anthem and of the Serbian patriotic song "Rado Srbin ide u vojnike"...
, composer (b. 1821) - April 8 – Henriette "Jetty" TreffzHenrietta TreffzHenrietta "Jetty" Treffz was best known as the first wife of Johann Strauss II and a well-known mezzo-soprano appearing in England in 1849 to great acclaim.-Biography:...
, singer, first wife and business manager of Johann Strauss IIJohann Strauss IIJohann Strauss II , also known as Johann Baptist Strauss or Johann Strauss, Jr., the Younger, or the Son , was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas. He composed over 500 waltzes, polkas, quadrilles, and other types of dance music, as well as several operettas...
(b. 1818) - April 21 - Temistocle SoleraTemistocle SoleraTemistocle Solera was an Italian opera composer and librettist.He was born at Ferrara. He received his education at the Imperial College in Vienna and at the University of Pavia. Throughout his life he actively participated in anti-Austrian resistance. At one point, he was incarcerated for his...
, librettist and composer (b. 1815) - May 6 - François BenoistFrançois BenoistFrançois Benoist was a French organist, composer, and pedagogue.Benoist was born in Nantes. He studied music at the Conservatoire de Paris and won the Prix de Rome in 1815 for his cantata Œnone. In 1819, he became organist and professor of organ at the Conservatoire; he held the latter post for...
, organist and composer (b. 1794) - July 2 - François BazinFrançois BazinFrançois Emmanuel Joseph Bazin was a well-known French opera composer during the nineteenth century. His works are not widely performed today.-Biography:...
, opera composer (b. 1816) - August 23 - Adolf Fredrik LindbladAdolf Fredrik LindbladAdolf Fredrik Lindblad was a Swedish composer, mainly remembered for his songs.Lindblad composed one opera, Frondörerna , two symphonies, in C and D major, and chamber music including two string quintets, three violin sonatas and seven string quartets...
, composer (b. 1801) - October - Ludwig Wilhelm MaurerLudwig Wilhelm MaurerLudwig Wilhelm Maurer was a German composer, conductor, and violinist born in Potsdam. In 1802, he debuted in Berlin with his first major violin performance. After a brief period of studying French violin style in Mitau , Maurer went to Russia at age 17 in 1806, where he would stay for most of...
, violinist, conductor and composer (b. 1789) - November - Marco Aurelio Zani de FerrantiMarco Aurelio Zani de FerrantiMarco Aurelio Zani de Ferranti was a classical guitarist and composer.He was born in Bologna. He began on violin, but switched to guitar at 16. He moved to Paris in 1820 and later to Saint Petersburg before settling in Belgium. He later toured in France, England, Italy, and the United States...
, guitarist and composer (b. 1801) - December 18 - Heinrich ProchHeinrich ProchHeinrich Proch was an Austrian composer.Proch studied jurisprudence and completed his training as a violinist in Vienna. From 1834 to 1867, he was a member of the Vienna Hofkapelle...
, composer (b. 1809) - December 28 – José Bernardo AlcedoJosé Bernardo AlcedoJosé Bernardo Alcedo , was the most important Peruvian composer of the nineteenth century.Alcedo was born in Lima, Peru...
, composer of the Peruvian national anthem (b. 1788) - date unknown
- Carl HeisslerCarl HeisslerCarl or Karl Heissler was an Austrian violinist and violist.- Biography:He was studying with Joseph Hellmesberger, Sr., Matthias Durst and Joseph Böhm at the Academy of the Vienna music friends Society...
, violinist (b. 1826) - Robert HellerRobert HellerRobert Heller, also Joseph Heller, was an English magician, mentalist, and musician. The year of his birth is the subject of some speculation; some sources list it as 1829 while others claim 1830....
, pianist and magician (b. 1826)
- Carl Heissler