1891 in music

Specific locations

• 1891 in Scandinavian music

Events

• February 23 – Fourteen-year-old cellist Pablo Casals gives a solo recital in Barcelona.
• March 16 – A performance of the Budapest Opera is interrupted by a spontaneous demonstration in support of musical director Gustav Mahler, at the time in conflict with intendant Géza Zichy and already negotiating for a position elsewhere.
• May 5 – The Music Hall in New York City has its grand opening and first public performance, with Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky guest-conducting his own work.
• May 10 – Danish classical composer Carl Nielsen marries his compatriot, the sculptor Anne Marie Brodersen, in St Mark's English Church, Florence, Italy, the couple having first met on March 2 in Paris.
• June 24 - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky finished his ballet The Nutcracker
• October 16 – The Chicago Symphony Orchestra gives its inaugural concert.
• The Peabody Mason Concerts are inaugurated with a performance by Ferruccio Busoni.
• The ensemble attached to the Glasgow Choral Union is formally recognised as the Scottish Orchestra, predecessor of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.

Published popular music

• "Actions Speak Louder Than Words" w. George Horncastle m. Felix McGlennon
• "Don't mind, my Darling!" w.m. Paul Steinmark
• "Hey, Rube!" w. J. Sherrie Matthews m. Harry Bulger
• "High School Cadets March" m. John Philip Sousa
• "Little Boy Blue" w. Eugene Field m. Ethelbert Nevin
• "The Man Who Broke The Bank At Monte Carlo" w.m. Fred Gilbert
• "The Miner's Dream Of Home" w.m. Will Godwin & Leo Dryden
• "Molly O!" w.m. William J. Scanlan
• "Narcissus" m. Ethelbert Nevin
• "The Pardon Came Too Late" w.m. Paul Dresser
• "The Picture That's Turned To The Wall" w.m. Charles Graham
• "Reuben And Cynthia" w.m. Percy Gaunt
• "Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay" w.m. Henry J. Sayers
• "Wot Cher! Knocked 'em in the Old Kent Road" w. Albert Chevalier m. Charles Ingle

Recorded popular music

• "Bell Buoy" – J. W. Myers
• "The Church Across The Way" – Len Spencer
• "The Cobbler" – George J. Gaskin
• "College Songs" – Gilmore's Band
• "Cujus Animam" – David B. Dana & Edward Issler
• "Dance of the Owls" – A. T. Van Winkle & Edward Issler
• "Drill, Ye Tarriers, Drill" – George J. Gaskin
• "Farewell to Dresden" – United States Marine Band
• "Five Minutes With The Minstrels" – Voss' First Regiment Band
• "Home, Sweet, Home" – John York AtLee
• "La Media Noche " – United States Marine Band
• "The Laughing Song" – George W. Johnson
• "Little 'Liza Loves You" – Len Spencer
• "Michael Casey as a Physician" – Russell Hunting
• "The Mocking Bird" – John York AtLee and Fred Gaisberg
• "Nannon Waltz" – Issler's Orchestra
• "One Minute Too Late" – Voss' First Regiment Band
• "Paddy's Wedding" – Dan Kelly
• "Pat Brady as a Police Justice" – Dan Kelly
• "Pat Brady on a Spree" – Dan Kelly
• "The Picture Turned to the Wall" – George J. Gaskin
• "The Picture Turned to the Wall" – Manhansett Quartette
• "Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep" – Holding's Parlor Orchestra
• "Sally in Our Alley" – Manhansett Quartette'
• "Saving Them All for Mary" – Al Reeves
• "Sweet Marie" – George J. Gaskin
• "Third verse of Mary & John, The Lover's Quarrel" – Will White
• "Turkey in the Straw" – Billy Golden
• "Uncle Jefferson – Billy Golden
• "Vienna Dudes March" – Duffy and Imgrund's Fifth Regiment Band

Classical music

• Anton Arensky – Cantata on the 10th Anniversary of the Coronation
• Claude Debussy – Two Arabesques
• Johannes Brahms – Clarinet Quintet in B Minor, Op. 115
• Max Bruch – Concerto for Violin No. 3
• Heinrich von Herzogenberg – Requiem, Op. 72
• Carl Nielsen – Fantasy Pieces for Oboe and Piano
• Ethelbert Nevin – Water Scenes
• Camille Saint-Saëns – Africa, Op. 89
• Erik Satie – 6 Gnossiennes for piano
• Alphons Czibulka – Wintermärchen Waltzes Op. 366

Opera

• Frederick Delius – Irmelin
• Robert Fuchs – Die Teufelsglocke
• Miguel Marqués – El monaguillo
• Pietro Mascagni – L'amico Fritz
• Emile Pessard – Les folies amoureuses premiered on April 15 at the Théâtre de l'Opéra-Comique, Paris

[Musical theater]

Births

• January 25 – Wellman Braud, jazz musician
• February 5 – Dino Borgioli, operatic tenor
• March 22 – Alexis Roland-Manuel, French composer and critic
• March 28 – Leah Frances Russell, Australian opera singer
• April 2 – Jack Buchanan, Scottish singer, actor, dancer and director
• April 15 – Väinö Raitio, Finnish composer
• April 23 – Sergei Prokofiev, Russian composer
• May 16 – Richard Tauber, Austrian singer
• May 26 – Mamie Smith, blues singer
• May 30 – Ben Bernie, US bandleader
• June 3 – Georges Guibourg, French singer, actor and writer
• June 9 – Cole Porter, songwriter
• June 10 – Al Dubin, Swiss-born American lyricist
• June 21 – Hermann Scherchen, German conductor
• July 14 – Fréhel, French singer and actress
• July 16 – Blossom Seeley, US singer and vaudeville performer
• August 2 – Arthur Bliss, composer
• September 11 – Noël Gallon, French composer and music educator
• September 14 – Czesław Marek, Polish composer, pianist, and piano teacher
• September 16 – Milton Schwarzwald, American film director and composer
• September 26 – Charles Munch, Alsatian symphonic conductor and violinist
• October 1 – Morfydd Llwyn Owen, Welsh singer and composer
• October 29 – Fanny Brice, US actress, comedian and singer
• November 27 – Giovanni Breviario, operatic tenor date unknown
• * Charles McCarron, composer and lyricist
• * Margaret Morris, dancer and choreographer

Deaths

• January 5 – Emma Abbott, singer
• January 8 – Fredrik Pacius, composer and conductor
• January 17 – Johannes Verhulst, conductor and composer
• January 16 – Léo Delibes, composer
• January 21 – Calixa Lavallée, composer
• May 23 – Ignace Leybach, pianist, organist and composer
• June 14 – Count Nicolò Gabrielli, Italian opera composer
• July 21 – Franco Faccio, composer and conductor
• August 5/6 – Henry Litolff, keyboard virtuoso and composer
• September 2 – Ferdinand Praeger, composer, music teacher, pianist and writer
• October 27
• *Charles Constantin, conductor
• *Johann Dubez, Viennese violinist and composer
• November 9 – Frederick Mathushek, piano maker
• November 20 – Franz Hitz, Swiss pianist and composer
• December 28 – Alfred Cellier, composer
• date unknown
• *Harvey B. Dodworth, bandmaster and conductor
• *Fanny Salvini-Donatelli, operatic soprano