1875 in music
This article is about music-related events in 1875.
Events
- January 5 – Palais Garnier, home of the Paris Opera, designed by Charles Garnier, opens.
- January 24 - Camille Saint-Saëns' orchestral Danse Macabre receives its première.
- March 3 – Georges Bizet's opera Carmen debuts, at the Opéra-Comique in Paris.
- May – The score for the ballet Swan Lake is commissioned from Tchaikovsky.
- May 6 – Richard Wagner conducts portions of Götterdämmerung in concert in Vienna.
- August 23 – Composer Zdeněk Fibich marries operatic contralto Betty Hanušová, sister of his first wife Růžena Hanušová.
- October 25 – The first performance of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 is given in Boston, Massachusetts, with Hans von Bülow as soloist.
- Robert Volkmann becomes professor of harmony and counterpoint at the National Academy of Music in Budapest, under Franz Liszt.
- T. B. Harms is established as a pioneering popular music publisher in New York City.
Published popular music
- "All the Way My Savior Leads Me" w. Fanny Crosby m. Robert Lowry
- "Angels, Meet Me At the Cross Road" w.m. Will Hays
- "Carve Dat Possum" by Sam Lucas & Herbert Hershy
- "Draw Me Nearer" w. Fanny Crosby m. William H. Doane
- "Dreaming Forever of Thee" w.m. John Hill Hewitt
- "I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen" w.m. Thomas P. Westendorf
- "Myfanwy" w.m. Joseph Parry
- "Nancy Lee" w. Frederic Edward Weatherly, m. Stephen Adams
- "The Spelling Bee" w.m. Septimus Winner
- "Take me back to home and mother," w. by Arthur W. French, m. by William A. Huntley
- "To God Be the Glory" w. Fanny Crosby m. William H. Doane
- "A Warrior Bold" w. Edwin Thomas m. Stephen Adams
- "The Witches Flight " by Henry M. Russell
Classical music
- Johannes Brahms
- *Fifteen Liebeslieder for piano duet
- *String Quartet No. 3
- Antonín Dvořák
- *Moravian duets
- *Piano Quartet No. 1
- *Piano Trio No. 1
- *Serenade for Strings
- *String Quintet
- *Symphony No. 5
- Gabriel Fauré
- *Allegro Symphonique
- *Suite for Orchestra
- *Les Djinns
- Edvard Grieg – incidental music to Ibsen's Peer Gynt
- Édouard Lalo – Allegro Symphonique
- Alexandre Luigini – Ballet égyptien
- Jules Massenet – oratorio Eve
- Modest Mussorgsky – Pesni i plyaski smerti, song cycle for bass voice and piano
- Amilcare Ponchielli – cantata A Gaetano Donizetti
- Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov – String Quartet No. 1 in F Major, Op.12
- Camille Saint-Saëns
- *Piano Quartet, Op. 41
- *Piano Concerto No. 4, Op. 44
- Bedřich Smetana – Má vlast – Six symphonic poems
- Tchaikovsky
- * Piano Concerto No. 1
- *Symphony No. 3
- *''Swan Lake''
Opera
Carmen first performed in Paris. Music by Georges Bizet and libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy.Die Königin von Saba, music by Karl Goldmark and libretto by Salomon Mosenthal Angelo, music by César CuiMusical theater
- Gilbert & Sullivan – Trial By Jury
- *London production opens at the Royalty Theatre on March 25
- *Philadelphia production opens at the Arch Street Theatre on October 22The Zoo, Lyrics and Book: Bolton Rowe Music: Arthur Sullivan, London production opened at St. James Theatre on June 5
Births
- February 2 – Fritz Kreisler, Austrian violinist and composer
- February 8 – Georgette Leblanc, operatic soprano
- February 26 – Richard Wetz, German composer
- February 28 – Viliam Figuš-Bystrý, Slovak composer
- March 7 – Maurice Ravel, French composer
- April 4 – Pierre Monteux, French conductor
- April 5 – Mistinguett, actress and singer
- May – Paul Sarebresole, ragtime composer
- July 17 – Donald Tovey, composer and musicologist
- August 9 – Albert Ketèlbey, composer
- August 18 – Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, composer
Deaths
- January 18 – Joseph Philbrick Webster, composer
- January 25 – Leopold Jansa, violinist, composer and music teacher
- February 1 – William Sterndale Bennett, composer
- February 23 – Louise Michaëli, opera singer
- March 3 – Adolf Reubke, organ builder
- March 9 – Apollon Hussakovskyi, composer
- March 15 – Christian Julius Hansen, composer
- March 17 – Ferdinand Laub, violinist
- March 19 – Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume, violin maker
- May 2 – Matthias Durst, violinist and composer
- June 3 – Georges Bizet, composer
- September 15 – Louise Farrenc, pianist and composer
- September 24 – William Walker, songwriter