1887 in music
Specific locations
Events
25 May – A fire during the 745th performance there of Mignon largely destroys the second Salle Favart, home of the Opéra-Comique in Paris; 84 people are recorded dead.
- "Angels Without Wings" w.m. George Dance
- "Away In A Manger" w. anon m. James Ramsey Murray
- "Calvary" w. Henry Vaughn m. Paul Rodney
- "Comrades" Felix McGlennon & George Horncastle
- "The Song That Reached My Heart" w.m. Julian Jordan
- "Ti! Hi! Tiddelly Hi!", w.m. Joseph Tabrar
- From the score of Ruddigore :
- *"I Know A Youth Who Loves A Maid"
- *"I Shipped, D'Ye See, In A Revenue Sloop"
- *"My Boy, You May Take It From Me"
- *"There Grew A Little Flower"
- *"When The Night Wind Howls"
- Isaac Albéniz
- *Sonatas Nos. 3, 4 and 5 for piano
- *Concierto fantástico in A minor
- Johannes Brahms – Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra, Op. 102
- Anton Bruckner – Symphony No. 8
- Ruperto Chapi – La Bruja
- Gustave Charpentier – Didon
- Felix Draeseke – Sonata for Clarinet and Piano in B♭, Op. 38
- Antonín Dvořák
- *Piano Quintet No. 2 in A, Op. 81
- *Mass in D major, Op. 86
- Gabriel Fauré
- *2 Songs, Op. 46
- *Pavane in F-sharp minor, Op. 50
- Robert Fuchs – Symphony No. 2 in E, Op. 45
- Edvard Grieg – Third Sonata for Violin and Piano in C minor, opus 45
- Asger Hamerik – Requiem
- Sergei Lyapunov – Symphony No. 1 in B minor, Op. 12
- José Vianna da Motta – Piano Concerto in A major
- Hans Pfitzner – Scherzo in C minor
- Josef Rheinberger
- *Organ Sonata No. 11 in D minor, op. 148
- *Suite for organ, violin and cello, op. 149
- Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov - Capriccio Espagnol, Op. 34
- Camille Saint-Saëns
- *Caprice sur des airs danois et russes, Op. 79
- *Souvenir d'Italie, Op. 80
- *Feuillet d'album, Op. 81
- *Pas redoublé, Op. 86
- Alexander Scriabin – Étude in C-sharp minor, No. 1 from Trois morceaux, Op. 2
- Charles Villiers Stanford – An Irish Symphony, Op. 28
- Richard Strauss – Violin Sonata in E, Op. 18
- Hugo Wolf – Italian Serenade for string quartet
Opera
Dorothy Broadway production opened at the Standard Theatre on November 5 and transferred to the Grand Opera House on April 16, 1888, for a total run of 51 performancesRuddigore London and Broadway productions
Births
- January 28 – Arthur Rubinstein, pianist
- February 3 – Georg Trakl, poet and lyricist
- February 7 – Eubie Blake, jazz pianist and composer
- February 23 – Oskar Lindberg, composer
- March 3 – Hart Wand, composer, fiddler, bandleader
- March 4 – Violet MacMillan, Broadway and silent movie actress
- March 5 – Heitor Villa-Lobos, Brazilian composer
- March 7 – Heino Eller, composer
- March 22 – Chico Marx, piano-playing comedian
- March 23 – Anthony van Hoboken, musicologist
- March 25 – Nicolae Bretan, opera composer
- March 31 – José María Usandizaga, opera and symphonic composer
- April 9 – Florence Price, composer
- April 10 – Heinz Tiessen, composer
- May 12 – Bertha Lewis, operatic contralto
- May 30 – Emil Reesen, Danish composer, conductor, and pianist
- June 25 – George Abbott, US librettist and director
- July 2 – Marcel Tabuteau, oboist
- July 29 – Sigmund Romberg, composer
- August 25 – Fartein Valen, composer
- September 14 – Paul Kochanski, violinist
- September 15 – Ernest Whitfield, 1st Baron Kenswood, violinist and welfare worker
- September 16 – Nadia Boulanger, composer, conductor and music teacher
- September 19 – Rosita Marstini, dancer and film actress
- October 6 – Maria Jeritza, operatic soprano
- October 11 – Oscar Shaw, actor and singer
- October 14 – Ernest Pingoud, composer
- November 1 – Max Trapp, composer
- December 6 – Joseph Lamb, ragtime composer
- December 7 – Ernst Toch, composer
- December 8 – Vicente Emilio Sojo, musicologist and composer
- December 12 – Kurt Atterberg, composer
- December 24 – Lucrezia Bori, operatic soprano
- December 27
- *Gertie Gitana, music hall singer
- *Bernard van Dieren, composer
- date unknown
- *David Beigelman, violinist
- *Carlo Jachino, composer
Deaths
- January 19 – Nelly Power, music hall performer
- January 30 – Frederick Lablache, singer
- February 7 – Hanna Brooman, composer, translator and educator
- February 21 – James Lorraine Geddes, songwriter
- March 2 – Wilhelm Troszel, operatic bass and composer
- March 11 – Ludvig Mathias Lindeman, composer
- March 24 – Justin Holland, classical guitarist and civil rights activist
- April 23 – John Ceiriog Hughes, lyricist and collector of folk tunes
- May 12 – Francesco Malipiero, composer
- June 1 – Joseph Philip Knight, composer
- June 24 – Filippo Filippi, music critic
- July 17 – Louis Mérante, dancer and choreographer
- August 15 – Hedvig Willman, opera singer
- August 16 – Alice May, singer and actress
- October 1 – Robert Stoepel, conductor and composer
- October 18 – Matteo Salvi, opera composer
- October 31 – George Alexander Macfarren, composer
- November 2 – Jenny Lind, singer, "the Swedish Nightingale"
- November 18 – Eduard Marxsen, pianist and composer
- December 2 – Thomas Philander Ryder, composer, organist, teacher, conductor, and organ builder
- December 5 – Eliza R. Snow, lyricist
- date unknown – Georg Unger, operatic tenor