1879 in music

Specific locations

• 1879 in Norwegian music

Events

• January 1 – The Violin Concerto of Johannes Brahms is premiered in Leipzig. Joseph Joachim was the soloist with Brahms conducting.
• December 31 – Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera The Pirates of Penzance opens at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City.
• Engelbert Humperdinck becomes the first winner of the Mendelssohn Award awarded by the Mendelssohn Stiftung of Berlin.
• The Monte Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra gains a permanent home at the Garnier Palace.

Published popular music

• "Oh, Dem Golden Slippers" by James A. Bland
• "In the Morning By the Bright Light" by James A. Bland
• "My Visit to the Opera" by Joseph P. Skelly
• "Some Day I'll Wander Back Again", words by Arthur W. French, music by William A. Huntley

Classical music

• Henri Duparc – Le Manoir de Rosemonde
• Gabriel Fauré – Berceuse, for violin and piano
• César Franck – Piano Quintet
• Carl Goldmark
• *Penthesilea, Op.31
• *Piano Trio No.2, Op.33
• Asger Hamerik – Concert Romance for Cello and Piano
• Stephen Heller
• *4 Mazurkas, Op.148
• *20 Preludes, Op.150
• Hans Huber
• *10 Ländler vom Luzerner See, Op.47
• *Eine Lustspiel-Ouverture, Op.50
• Franz Lachner – Elegie for Flute and Organ
• Max Meyer-Olbersleben – Ballade, Op.9
• Pablo de Sarasate – Spanish Dances for violin and piano, Book II
• Bedřich Smetana – Ten Czech Dances, for piano
• Peter Tchaikovsky - Orchestral Suite No. 1
• Charles-Marie Widor – Symphony for Organ No. 5

Opera

• Giovanni Bottesini – Ero e Leandro
• Emmanuel Chabrier – Une éducation manquée, premiered May 1 in Paris
• Miguel Marqués – Camoens
• Viktor Nessler – Der Rattenfänger von Hameln
• Camille Saint-Saëns – Étienne Marcel
• Peter Tchaikovsky – ''Eugene Onegin''

Musical theater

Births

• January 3 – Lina Abarbanell, German-American soprano
• January 10 – Armanda Degli Abbati, Italian opera singer
• January 26 – Hugo Riesenfeld, film music composer
• February 9 – Natanael Berg, Swedish composer
• February 26 – Frank Bridge, composer
• April 1 – Louise Gunning, Broadway and vaudeville singer
• May 22
• *Jean Cras, French composer
• *Eastwood Lane, composer
• June 13 – Maria Gay, opera singer
• June 21 – Henry Creamer, US songwriter
• July 5
• *Philippe Gaubert, composer
• *Wanda Landowska, harpsichordist
• July 9 – Ottorino Respighi, composer
• August 1 – Eva Tanguay, singer, vaudeville star
• August 18 – Gus Edwards, Prussian-born US songwriter and entertainer
• August 31 – Alma Mahler, born Alma Schindler, Viennese-born composer and wife of Gustav Mahler
• September 29 – Willem Willeke, Dutch cellist and music editor
• September 30 – Henri Casadesus, violist and music publisher
• October 12 – Chris Smith, composer
• October 13 – Leopold Weninger, composer
• October 18 – Grzegorz Fitelberg, Polish conductor, violinist and composer
• October 21 – Joseph Canteloube, composer
• November 2 – Ramón Montoya, Spanish flamenco guitarist
• December 1 – Beth Slater Whitson, US lyric writer
• December 4 – Hamilton Harty, composer
• December 7 – Rudolf Friml, pianist and composer of operettas and musicals
• December 19 – Otto Olsson, Swedish composer
• December 26 – Julius Weismann, German conductor and composer

Deaths

• January 8 – Ferdo Livadić, composer
• February 20 – John Orlando Parry, pianist, singer and comedian
• April 9 – Ernst Friedrich Eduard Richter, music theorist
• May 27 – E. S. Engelsberg, composer
• June 3 – Frances Ridley Havergal, hymn-writer
• July 6 – Henry Smart, organist and composer
• August 4 – Adelaide Kemble, opera singer
• September 12 – Peter Arnold Heise, composer
• October 14 – Karl Anton Eckert, conductor and composer
• November 30 – August Bournonville, Danish ballet-master and choreographer
• December 24 – Anna Bochkoltz, German operatic soprano, voice teacher and composer