1880 in music

Specific locations

• 1880 in Norwegian music

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

Published 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