1885 in music
Encyclopedia
Events
- October 25 - 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...
' Symphony No. 4Symphony No. 4 (Brahms)The Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98 by Johannes Brahms is the last of his symphonies. Brahms began working on the piece in 1884, just a year after completing his Symphony No...
is premiered in MeiningenMeiningenMeiningen is a town in Germany - located in the southern part of the state of Thuringia and is the district seat of Schmalkalden-Meiningen. It is situated on the river Werra....
. - Tin Pan AlleyTin Pan AlleyTin Pan Alley is the name given to the collection of New York City music publishers and songwriters who dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 19th century and early 20th century...
group of popular song writers & publishers forms in New York CityNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and... - Gilbert & Sullivan's The MikadoThe MikadoThe Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen operatic collaborations...
premieres 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
- "American PatrolAmerican Patrol"American Patrol" is a popular march written by F. W. Meacham in 1885. Written originally for piano, it was then arranged for wind band and published by Carly Discher in 1891. Meacham's widow renewed the copyright in 1912. It was later arranged for Glenn Miller's swing band by Jerry Gray in 1941,...
" m. F. W. MeachamF. W. MeachamFrank W. Meacham was an American composer and arranger of Tin Pan Alley.His most famous work is "American Patrol" , a popular march. Written originally for piano, it was then arranged for wind band and published by Carl Fischer in 1891... - "The Boy In The Gallery" w.m. George Ware
- "Dars a Lock on de Chicken Coop Door" by Sam LucasSam LucasSam Lucas was an African American actor, comedian, singer, and songwriter. His career began in blackface minstrelsy, but he later became one of the first African Americans to branch into more serious drama, with roles in seminal works such as The Creole Show and A Trip to Coontown...
- "Funny Things They Do Upon The Sly" w. G. W. Hunter & John Cooke Jnr m. G. W. Hunter
- "Open Road" 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...
- "Saffi's Aria" 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...
- "Some Sweet Day" by Edward L. Park & William Howard DoaneWilliam Howard DoaneWilliam Howard Doane was an industrialist who composed Christian hymn tunes. He held patents on wood-working machinery and in 1861 became President of J. A. Fay and Company. In religious work he headed the Ohio Baptist Convention Ministers Aid Society for the Midwest...
- "This Is The House That Jerry Built" w. T. S. Lonsdale m. W. G. Eaton
- "What Cheer 'Ria" w. Will Herbert m. Bessie Bellwood
- From the score of The Mikado:
- "A More Humane Mikado" ("Let the Punishment fit the Crime")
- "The Flowers That Bloom In The Spring"
- "There Is Beauty In The Bellow Of The Blast"
- "Three Little Maids From School"
- "A Wand'ring Minstrel I"
Classical music
- Alexander BorodinAlexander BorodinAlexander Porfiryevich Borodin was a Russian Romantic composer and chemist of Georgian–Russian parentage. He was a member of the group of composers called The Five , who were dedicated to producing a specifically Russian kind of art music...
- String Quartet No. 2 in DString Quartet No. 2 (Borodin)The String Quartet No. 2, written in 1881, by Alexander Borodin is a work in four movements:#Allegro moderato in D major and 2/2 time, with 304 bars;#Scherzo... - 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...
- Symphony No. 4 op. 98 in E minorSymphony No. 4 (Brahms)The Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98 by Johannes Brahms is the last of his symphonies. Brahms began working on the piece in 1884, just a year after completing his Symphony No... - 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. 3 in D - 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...
- Symphony No. 7 op. 70 in D minorSymphony No. 7 (Dvorák)Symphony No. 7 in D minor, Op. 70, B. 141, by Antonín Dvořák was first performed in London on April 22, 1885 shortly after the piece was completed on March 17, 1885.-Compositional structure:Allegro maestosoPoco adagio... - Alexander GlazunovAlexander GlazunovAlexander Konstantinovich Glazunov was a Russian composer of the late Russian Romantic period, music teacher and conductor...
- Stenka RazinStenka RazinStepan Timofeyevich Razin Тимофеевич Разин, ; 1630 – ) was a Cossack leader who led a major uprising against the nobility and Tsar's bureaucracy in South Russia.-Early life:... - Jean SibeliusJean SibeliusJean Sibelius was a Finnish composer of the later Romantic period whose music played an important role in the formation of the Finnish national identity. His mastery of the orchestra has been described as "prodigious."...
- String Quartet in E-flat - 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"...
- Manfred SymphonyManfred SymphonyThe Manfred Symphony in B minor, Op. 58, is a programmatic symphony composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky between May and September 1885. It is based on the poem "Manfred" written by Lord Byron in 1817... - José Vianna da MottaJosé Vianna da MottaJosé Vianna da Motta was a distinguished Portuguese pianist, teacher, and composer. He was one of the last pupils of Franz Liszt...
- Piano Concerto in A
OperaOperaOpera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
- Fromental HalévyFromental HalévyJacques-François-Fromental-Élie Halévy, usually known as Fromental Halévy , was a French composer. He is known today largely for his opera La Juive.-Early career:...
, completed by Georges BizetGeorges BizetGeorges Bizet formally Alexandre César Léopold Bizet, was a French composer, mainly of operas. In a career cut short by his early death, he achieved few successes before his final work, Carmen, became one of the most popular and frequently performed works in the entire opera repertory.During a...
- NoéNoé (opera)Noé was the last opera of the composer Fromental Halévy.The opera's libretto is by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges, who had written the book for the composer's first opera to reach performance, L'artisan...
given its first performance at KarlsruheKarlsruheThe City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...
. - Jules MassenetJules MassenetJules Émile Frédéric Massenet was a French composer best known for his operas. His compositions were very popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and he ranks as one of the greatest melodists of his era. Soon after his death, Massenet's style went out of fashion, and many of his operas...
- Le Cid - André MessagerAndré MessagerAndré Charles Prosper Messager , was a French composer, organist, pianist, conductor and administrator. His stage compositions included ballets and 30 opéra comiques and operettas, among which Véronique, had lasting success, with Les p'tites Michu and Monsieur Beaucaire also enjoying international...
- La BéarnaiseLa BéarnaiseLa Béarnaise is an opéra comique in three acts of 1885, with music by André Messager and a French libretto by Eugène Leterrier and Albert Vanloo.-History:... - 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...
- Tabarin premiered on January 12 at the Théâtre de l'OpéraPalais GarnierThe Palais Garnier, , is an elegant 1,979-seat opera house, which was built from 1861 to 1875 for the Paris Opera. It was originally called the Salle des Capucines because of its location on the Boulevard des Capucines in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, but soon became known as the Palais Garnier...
, Paris - Amilcare PonchielliAmilcare PonchielliAmilcare Ponchielli was an Italian composer, largely of operas.-Biography:Born in Paderno Fasolaro, now Paderno Ponchielli, near Cremona, Ponchielli won a scholarship at the age of nine to study music at the Milan Conservatory, writing his first symphony by the time he was ten years old.Two years...
- Marion Delorme - George StephanescuGeorge StephanescuGeorge Stephănescu was a Romanian composer, one of the main figures in Romanian national opera.He graduated from the Bucharest Academy of Music...
- Scaiul barbatilor
Musical theater
- Edward JakobowskiEdward JakobowskiEdward Jakobowski was an English composer best known for writing the comic opera Erminie. Jakobowski was a significant figure on the London musical stage during the last two decades of the 19th Century. He did not challenge Sullivan, nor quite equal Fred Clay or Alfred Cellier but his gift of...
- ErminieErminieErminie is a comic opera in two acts composed by Edward Jakobowski with a libretto by Claxson Bellamy and Harry Paulton, based loosely on Charles Selby's 1834 Robert Macaire...
(libretto by Claxson Bellamy and Harry Paulton) London production - William S. Gilbert & 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...
- The MikadoThe MikadoThe Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen operatic collaborations...
London production - 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...
- Der Zigeunerbaron (The Gypsy BaronThe Gypsy BaronThe Gypsy Baron is an operetta in three acts by Johann Strauss II which premiered at the Theater an der Wien on 24 October 1885. Its libretto was by the author Ignaz Schnitzer and in turn was based on Sáffi by Mór Jókai. During the composer's lifetime, the operetta enjoyed great success, second...
) Vienna production
Births
- January 13 - James V. Monaco, Italian-born US composer
- January 27 - Jerome KernJerome KernJerome David Kern was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over 100 stage works, including such classics as "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", "A...
- February 9 - Alban BergAlban BergAlban Maria Johannes Berg was an Austrian composer. He was a member of the Second Viennese School with Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern, and produced compositions that combined Mahlerian Romanticism with a personal adaptation of Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique.-Early life:Berg was born in...
, composer (d. 1935) - February 12 - James ScottJames Scott (musician)James Sylvester Scott was an African-American ragtime composer, regarded as one of the three most important composers of classic ragtime, along with Scott Joplin and Joseph Lamb....
- February 16 - Will FyffeWill FyffeWill Fyffe was a major star of the 1930s and 1940s, a star of stage, screen and shellac.Fyffe made his debut in his father's stock company at the age of six...
, Scottish comedian and singer - March 15 - Bertha RaffettoBertha RaffettoBertha Raffetto is best known for her song, "Home Means Nevada", which is the official state song for Nevada....
, American singer - May 5 - Agustín BarriosAgustín BarriosAgustín Pío Barrios , an eminent Paraguayan guitarist and composer, was born in the department of Misiones, Paraguay and died in San Salvador, El Salvador...
, composer - May 14 - Otto KlempererOtto KlempererOtto Klemperer was a German conductor and composer. He is widely regarded as one of the leading conductors of the 20th century.-Biography:Otto Klemperer was born in Breslau, Silesia Province, then in Germany...
, conductor and composer - July 12 - George ButterworthGeorge ButterworthGeorge Sainton Kaye Butterworth, MC was an English composer best known for the orchestral idyll The Banks of Green Willow and his song settings of A. E...
, composer - July 17 - Benjamin DaleBenjamin DaleBenjamin James Dale was an English composer and academic who had a long association with the Royal Academy of Music. Dale showed compositional talent from an early age and went on to write a small but notable corpus of works...
, composer - October 21 - Egon WelleszEgon WelleszEgon Joseph Wellesz was an Austrian-born British composer, teacher and musicologist, notable particularly in the field of Byzantine music.- Life :...
, AustriaAustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n composer - October 25 - Sam M. LewisSam M. LewisSam M. Lewis was a Jewish-American singer and lyricist, born in New York City, New York as Samuel Levine-Biography:...
, US lyricist - December 19 - Joe "King" Oliver, jazz musician (d. 1938)
Deaths
- February 15 - Leopold DamroschLeopold DamroschLeopold Damrosch was a German American orchestral conductor.- Biography :Damrosch was born in Posen , Kingdom of Prussia, and began his musical education at the age of nine, learning the violin against the wishes of his parents, who wanted him to become a doctor...
, conductor - March 31 - Franz Wilhelm AbtFranz Wilhelm AbtFranz Wilhelm Abt was a German composer and choral conductor. He composed roughly 3,000 individual works mostly in the area of vocal music. Several of his songs were at one time universally sung, and have obtained a more or less permanent place in the popular repertory...
, composer - May - Adolphe BlancAdolphe BlancAdolphe Blanc was a French composer of chamber music. At the age of 13 he was sent to study violin at the Paris Conservatoire...
, composer - May 1 - Henry Brinley RichardsHenry Brinley RichardsHenry Brinley Richards was a Welsh composer.Richards was born in Hall Street, Carmarthen, his father being organist at St Peter's Church in the town and an organiser of local musical events. Richards won a prize at the Gwent-Morgannwg Eisteddfod of 1834, held at Cardiff, for his arrangement of...
, composer - May 12 - Ferdinand HillerFerdinand HillerFerdinand Hiller was a German composer, conductor, writer and music-director.-Biography:Ferdinand Hiller was born to a wealthy Jewish family in Frankfurt am Main, where his father Justus was a merchant in English textiles – a business eventually continued by Ferdinand’s brother Joseph...
, GermanGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
composer, conductor and pianist (b. 1811) - June 29 - Samuel C. UphamSamuel C. UphamSamuel Curtis Upham was an American journalist, lyricist, merchant, and counterfeiter during the later part of the 19th century, sometimes known as "Honest Sam Upham".-Early life:...
, lyricist - September 11 - Julius Zarebski, PolishPolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
pianist and composer (b. 1854) - September 13 - Friedrich KielFriedrich KielFriedrich Kiel was a German composer and music teacher.Writing of the chamber music of Friedrich Kiel, the famous scholar and critic Wilhelm Altmann notes that it was Kiel’s extreme modesty which kept him and his exceptional works from receiving the consideration they deserved...
, GermanGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
composer (b. 1821) - October 21 - Michele NovaroMichele NovaroMichele Novaro was an Italian songwriter. He composed the Italian national anthem popularly known as the "Inno di Mameli", which was unofficially adopted in 1946 and confirmed in 2005.-External links:...
, songwriter - date unknown
- Henry Augustus RawesHenry Augustus RawesHenry Augustus Rawes was a Catholic hymn writer and preacher.Born at Easington, near Durham, England, he was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and entered the Anglican ministry in 1853. Converted to Catholicism in 1856. One of the original members of the Oblates of Saint Charles. Ordained a...
, hymn-writer - August Gottfried RitterAugust Gottfried RitterAugust Gottfried Ritter was a German romantic composer and organist.-Biography:Co-creator, together with Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, of the first example of Romantic Organ Sonata ; he moved in 1847 from being organist in Merseburg cathedral to become organist in Magdeburg cathedral...
, organist and composer
- Henry Augustus Rawes