1893 in music

Specific locations

• 1893 in Norwegian music

Events

• February 9 – Première of Giuseppe Verdi's final opera Falstaff in La Scala in Milan with Victor Maurel in the title rôle.
• Summer – Gustav Mahler's first summer composing at his Komponierhäuschen at Steinbach am Attersee in the Salzkammergut region of Austria.
• August 14–15 – America's oldest music organization, the Stoughton Musical Society performs at the World's Columbian Exposition.
• October 16–28 – In Saint Petersburg, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky conducts the first performance of his Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74, Pathétique, nine days before his death. The second performance takes place 21 days later at a memorial concert conducted by Eduard Nápravník, incorporating minor revisions. Tchaikovsky wrote it between February and the end of August at Klin.
• December 16 – Antonín Dvořák's Symphony No. 9 "From the New World" receives its première at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
• December 29 – Claude Debussy's String Quartet is premièred in Paris.
• American sisters Patty and Mildred J. Hill publish Song Stories for the Kindergarten including "Good Morning to All", which later becomes known as "Happy Birthday to You".
• The first sousaphone is built by James Welsh Pepper at the request of bandmaster John Philip Sousa in the United States.

Published popular music

• "Can't Lose Me, Charlie" w.m. Harry S. Miller
• "The Cat Came Back" w.m. Harry S. Miller
• "Daisy Bell" – Edward M. Favor
• "December And May" w. Edward Marks m. William Lorraine
• "Do Do My Huckleberry Do" w. Harry Dillon m. John Dillon
• "The Fatal Wedding" w. W. H. Windom m. Gussie L. Davis
• "Good Morning to All" w. Patty Smith Hill m. Mildred J. Hill
• "I Long to See The Girl I Left Behind" w.m. John T. Kelly
• "The Liberty Bell" by John Philip Sousa
• "Mamie, Come Kiss Your Honey" w.m. May Irwin
• "Marguerite" by Charles A. White
• "Oh! Mr Porter" w. Thomas Le Brunn m. George Le Brunn
• "Private Tommy Atkins" w. Henry Hamilton m. S. Potter
• "Say 'Au Revoir', But Not 'Good-Bye'" by Harry Kennedy
• "Sweet Marie" w. Cy Warman m. Raymond Moore
• "They All Take After Me" w. T. W. Connor m. Harry Randall
• "Two Little Girls in Blue" w.m. Charles Graham
• "The Volunteer Organist" w. William G. Gray m. Henry Lamb
• "When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder" w.m. James M. Black
• "Zacatecas" by Genaro Codina

Recorded popular music

• "After the Ball (song)" – George J. Gaskin
• "After the Fair " – George H. Diamond
• "Anvil Chorus" – John York AtLee
• "Beau Ideal March" – Baldwin's Cadet Band of Boston
• "Blind Tom" – Brilliant Quartette
• "The Cat Came Back" – George H. Diamond
• "Chinese Picnic" – Vess Ossman
• "Cocoanut Dance" – Vess Ossman
• "The Commodore Song" – Edward M. Favor
• "Daisy Bell" – Dan W. Quinn
• "Darkie Tickle" – Vess Ossman
• "Down On The Farm" – Edward Clarance
• "Forge in the Forest" – Voss' First Regiment Band
• "Grover Cleveland March" – Issler's Orchestra
• "High School Cadets" – Vess Ossman
• "If I Was Only Just Behind Her" – George H. Diamond
• "The King's Song" – Edward M. Favor
• "Lanciers With Figures Called" – Issler's Orchestra
• "The Liberty Bell (march)" – John Philip Sousa
• "Love's Sweet Honor" – Vess Ossman
• "Lovely Woman" – Al Reeves
• "Mama's Black Baby Boy" – Unique Quartette
• "The Man That Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo” – George H. Diamond
• "Marriage Bells" – Vess Ossman
• "Mary Ann Medley" – Brilliant Quartette
• "O Promise Me" – George J. Gaskin
• "Parody On "After the Ball" – George H. Diamond
• "Pat Brady and the World Fair at Chicago" – Dan Kelly
• "Wang's Gavotte" – Issler's Orchestra
• "The Washington Post (march)" – Vess Ossman
• "When Summer Comes Again" – George H. Diamond
• "Why Should I Keep From Whistling?" – John York AtLee & Fred Gaisberg

Classical music

• Amy Beach – Gaelic Symphony
• Johannes Brahms
• *Six Pieces for Piano, Op. 118
• *Four Pieces for Piano, Op. 119
• Claude Debussy – String Quartet in G minor
• Antonín Dvořák – Symphony no. 9 in E minor, "From the New World"
• Edward German – Symphony in A minor, "Norwich"
• Johan Halvorsen – Entry of the Boyars
• Sergei Rachmaninoff
• * Fantaisie-Tableaux, for two pianos, Op. 5
• * Morceaux de salon for violin and piano, Op. 6
• Jean Sibelius – Lemminkäinen Suite
• William Stanley – Bay View Gavotte in A major
• Josef Suk – Quintet for Piano and Strings in G minor
• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – Symphony no. 6 in B minor, "Pathétique"
• Charles-Marie Widor - Symphony no. 3 for organ & orchestra, Op. 69

[Opera]

• Granville Bantock – Caedmar
• Julius Bechgaard – Frode premiered on May 11 in Copenhagen
• Engelbert Humperdinck – Hänsel und Gretel
• Isidore de Lara – Amy Robsart
• Emile Pessard
• *Une nuit de Noël premiered at the Ambigu, Paris
• *Mam'zelle Carabin premiered on November 3 at the Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens, Salle Choiseul, Paris
• Giacomo Puccini – Manon Lescaut
• Camille Saint-Saëns – Phryné
• Giuseppe Verdi – ''Falstaff''

[Musical theater]

Births

• February 10 – Jimmy Durante, American comedian and singer
• February 15 – Walter Donaldson, American songwriter
• February 21 – Andrés Segovia, Spanish classical guitarist
• March 8 – Mississippi John Hurt, American country blues singer and guitarist
• March 18 – Jean Goldkette, French-born American jazz pianist and bandleader
• April 2 – Sergei Protopopov, Russian composer and music theorist
• April 16 – Federico Mompou, Spanish classical composer
• April 18 – Georges Boulanger, Romanian violinist
• June 10 – Hattie McDaniel, singer and actress
• June 26 – Big Bill Broonzy, American blues singer, songwriter and guitarist
• June 28 – Luciano Gallet, Brazilian composer, pianist and conductor
• July 25 – Dorothy Dickson, American-born British singer and actress
• July 28 – Rued Langgaard, Danish composer and organist
• August 21 – Lili Boulanger, French composer
• August 22 – Dorothy Parker, American writer, poet and lyricist
• September 13 – Larry Shields, American Dixieland jazz clarinetist
• September 24 – Blind Lemon Jefferson, blues musician
• October 1 – Cliff Friend, American Tin Pan Alley songwriter
• October 23 – Jean Absil, Belgian composer and organist
• November 8 – Clarence Williams, American jazz pianist, composer, promoter, vocalist, theatrical producer and publisher
• December 7 — Fay Bainter, American actress
• December 24 – Harry Warren, born Salvatore Antonio Guaragna, American film songwriter

Deaths

• January 18 – Julius Eichberg, composer
• February 13 – George Lichtenstein, pianist and music teacher
• May 2 –, composer
• May 25 – Johann Rufinatscha, composer and music teacher
• June 10 – Elek Erkel, Hungarian composer, son of Ferenc Erkel
• June 25 – Ferenc Erkel, Hungarian composer
• July 16 – Antonio Ghislanzoni, librettist
• August 7 – Alfredo Catalani, composer
• August 31 – Sir William Cusins, instrumentalist, conductor and composer; Master of the Queen's Music
• September 8 – Michel Lentz, lyricist of the national anthem of Luxembourg
• September 13 – Carl Ludvig Gerlach, opera singer and composer
• October 16 – Carlo Pedrotti, conductor and composer
• October 18 – Charles Gounod, composer
• November 6 – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, composer
• December 23 – Benedict Randhartinger, composer
• date unknown – Félix Battanchon, cellist