1870 in music
Events
Classical music
- Max Bruch – Symphony No. 2 in F minor, Op. 36
- Ignaz Brüll – Tarantella, Op.6
- Antonín Dvořák
- *Dramatic Overture
- *String Quartet no. 3 in D, B. 18
- *String Quartet no. 4 in E minor, B. 19
- Charles Gounod – Messe des Orphéonistes
- Heinrich Lichner – 3 Sonatinen, Op.66
- Robert Planquette – Le régiment de Sambre et Meuse
- Joachim Raff
- *Piano Trio No.3, Op.155
- *2 Piano Pieces, Op.157
- *Piano Trio No.4, Op.158
- Josef Rheinberger – Piano Trio No.1, Op.34
- Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov – 6 Romances, Op.8
- Giovanni Sgambati – Marcia-Inno, arranged for 4-hand piano
- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
- *Chorus of Flowers and Insects
- *Nature and Love
- *Romeo and Juliet overture
- *To Forget So Soon
- *Valse-Scherzo, Op.7
- *Capriccio, Op.8
- *3 Pieces, Op.9
- Valentin Zubiaurre – Symphony in E major
Opera
Musical theater
Chilpéric London productionLa Mascotte Paris productionJacques Offenbach - La Périchole London production
Births
- January 3 – Henry Eichheim, conductor, violinist and composer
- January 20 – Guillaume Lekeu, composer
- January 22 – Charles Tournemire, French composer and organist
- January 30 – Rudolf Louis, critic, conductor and author
- February 12 – Marie Lloyd, British music-hall singer
- February 13 – Leopold Godowsky, Polish American pianist, composer, and teacher
- March 6 – Oscar Straus, Viennese composer of operettas
- March 10 – George Evans, songwriter
- March 29 – Tom Lemoinier, composer and performer
- April 7 – Joseph Ryelandt, Belgian composer
- April 9 – Colin McAlpin, English composer
- April 28 – Hermann Suter, Swiss composer and conductor
- April 30 – Franz Lehár, composer of operettas and waltzes
- May 3 – Edouard Gregory Hesselberg, pianist
- May 4 – Zygmunt Stojowski, Polish pianist and composer
- June 16 – Mon Schjelderup, composer
- July 17 – Harry P. Guy, composer
- July 18 – Emil Młynarski, Polish conductor, violinist, composer, and pedagogue
- July 27 – Hilaire Belloc, lyricist
- August 4 – Harry Lauder, Scottish singer, comedian and songwriter
- August 12 – Arthur J. Lamb, lyricist and actor
- September 28 – Florent Schmitt, French composer
- October 7 – Uncle Dave Macon, banjo player, singer and songwriter
- October 8 – Louis Vierne, French organist and composer
- October 24 – August Brunetti-Pisano, Austrian composer
- November 30 – Cecil Forsyth, composer and musicologist
- December 5 – Vítězslav Novák, Czech composer
- December 16 – Alfred Hill, Australian composer
Deaths
- January 26 – Cesare Pugni, ballet composer
- March 9 – Théodore Labarre, composer
- March 10 – Ignaz Moscheles, Bohemian composer
- March 16 – Theodore Oesten, musician, composer and music teacher
- April 8 – Charles de Bériot, violinist
- April 19 – Camille-Marie Stamaty, French pianist and composer
- July 22 – Josef Strauss, composer
- August 14 – Manuel Saumell, composer
- September 17 – Joseph David Jones, composer and schoolmaster
- October 20 – Michael William Balfe, composer
- October 31 – Mihály Mosonyi, composer
- November 23 – Giuseppina Bozzachi, ballerina
- December 5
- *Alexandre Dumas, lyricist
- *Herman Severin Løvenskiold, composer
- December 7 – Mykhailo Verbytsky, composer
- December 17 – Saverio Mercadante, composer
- December 18 – Eugène Ketterer, French composer and pianist
- December 28 – Alexei Lvov, Russian composer