1880 in music
This article is about music-related events in 1880.
Specific locations
Events
- April 3 – Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera The Pirates of Penzance has its London premiere at the Opera Comique on the Strand.
- June 12 – Richard Strauss completes composition of his first major work, his Symphony in D minor, at age 16.
- June–August – Gustav Mahler takes his first professional conducting job, in a small wooden theatre in the Austrian spa town of Bad Hall, conducting operetta.
- November 1 – Mahler completes composition of Das klagende Lied.
- November 27 – The Teatro Costanzi in Rome is inaugurated with a performance of Rossini's opera Semiramide.
Published popular music
- "The Beauty of Limerick" – David Braham
- "Blow the Man Down" trad
- "Funiculì Funiculà" w. G. Turco m. Luigi Denza
- "Keep the Horseshoe Over the Door" w. m. Joseph P. Skelly
- "Haste to the Wedding" published by Jean White
- "In The Evening By The Moonlight" w. m. James A. Bland
- "O Canada!" w. Adolphe-Basile Routhier m. Calixa Lavallée
- "Roses from the South" m. Johann Strauss II
- "Sailing, Sailing" w.m. Godfrey Marks
- "Softly and Tenderly" w.m. Will L. Thompson
- From The Pirates of Penzance, w. W. S. Gilbert m. Arthur Sullivan
- *"Away, Away! My Heart's On Fire"
- *"Now for The Pirates' Lair"
- *"Oh, Better Far To Live And Die"
- *"A Rollicking Band Of Pirates, We"
- *"To Gain A Brief Advantage"
- *"When A Felon's Not Engaged"
- *"When The Foeman Bares His Steel"
- *"When You Had Left Our Pirate Fold"
- *"Yes! I Am Brave! Oh, Family Descent"
- "Come and meet me, Rosa darling," w. by Samuel N. Mitchell, m. by William A. Huntley
Classical music
- Ján Levoslav Bella – String Quartet No. 2 in C minor
- Giovanni Bottesini – Gran Duo Concertante
- Johannes Brahms
- *Tragic Overture
- *Academic Festival Overture
- *2 Rhapsodies, Op.79, premiered January 20 in Krefeld.
- Alfons Czibulka – Stephanie-Gavotte, Op.312
- Felix Draeseke – Weihestunden. Six songs for baritone and piano
- Antonín Dvořák
- *Waltzes, Op.54
- *Violin Sonata, Op. 57
- *Symphony No. 6 in D major, Op. 60
- *Songs My Mother Taught Me
- Gabriel Fauré – Élégie, for cello and piano
- César Franck – Piano Quintet, premiered January 17
- Niels Gade – Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D minor, Op.56
- Edvard Grieg – 2 Elegiac Melodies, Op.34
- Gustav Mahler - Symphony No. 1
- Emilie Mayer – Faust Overture
- Ion Ivanovici – The Danube Waves
- Hubert Parry – Piano Concerto
- Giacomo Puccini – Messa di Gloria
- Hans Rott – Symphony in E major
- Camille Saint-Saëns
- *Suite algérienne in C major
- *Violin Concerto No. 3
- *Septet
- Pablo Sarasate – Spanish Dances for violin and piano, Book III
- Richard Strauss – Symphony in D minor
- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
- *1812 Overture
- *Italian Capriccio, Op.45, premiered December 18 in Moscow.
- *Serenade for Strings
Opera
- Dudley Buck – Deseret, or A Saint's Affliction
- Léo Delibes – Jean de Nivelle
- Miguel Marqués – Florinda
- Adolf Neuendorff – The Rat-Charmer of Hamelin/''Der Rattenfänger von Hameln
- Anton Rubinstein – The Merchant Kalashnikov
- George Stephănescu
- *Peste Dunare
- *Sinziana si Pepelea
- Johann Strauss, Jr. – Das Spitzentuch der Königin'', premiered October 10 in Vienna.
Musical theater
La Mascotte Paris productionThe Pirates of Penzance London productionPublished Writings
- Alexander John Ellis – ''The History of Musical Pitch''
Births
- January 3 – Lina Abarbanell, German-American singer and actress
- January 5 – Nikolai Medtner, Russian pianist and composer.
- January 6 – John McKenna, traditional Irish flute player
- February 19 – Arthur Shepherd, American composer
- April 7 – Fritz Grünbaum, Austrian Caberet artist
- June 13 – Vincent Rose, Italian-born American bandleader and composer
- July 5 – Jan Kubelík, Czech violinist
- July 24 – Ernest Bloch, Swiss-born American Jewish composer
- July 31 – Manuel Penella, Spanish composer
- September 19 – Zequinha de Abreu, Brazilian musician and composer
- September 20 – Ildebrando Pizzetti, Italian composer
- September 27 – Jacques Thibaud, French violinist
- October 12 – Healey Willan, English-born Canadian composer
- November 2
- *John Foulds, English-born composer
- *Brian Hooker, American lyricist and librettist
- Aunt Molly Jackson, American folk singer and union activist
Deaths
- January 24 – George Jackson Lambert, English organist and composer
- February 18 – Christina Enbom, Swedish operatic soprano
- March 20 – Joaquim Antônio da Silva Calado, choro composer and flautist
- March 31 – Henryk Wieniawski, violinist and composer
- May 1 – Samuel Naumbourg, composer
- May 9 – Hermann Berens, composer
- May 30 – James Planché, word artist
- August 16 – Ernst Ferdinand Wenzel
- August 17 – Ole Bull, Norwegian violinist
- October 5 – Jacques Offenbach, composer
- October 7 – Fredrika Stenhammar, operatic soprano
- November 24 – Napoléon Henri Reber, composer
- November 27 – William Saurin Lyster, opera impresario
- December 2 – Josephine Lang, composer
- December 27 – Alessandro Nini, composer
- date unknown – Knut Eriksson Helland, Hardanger fiddle maker