1894 in music

Specific locations

• 1894 in Norwegian music

Events

• March 14 – Johan Svendsen conducts the world premiere of Carl Nielsen's Symphony No. 1 in Copenhagen.
• April 19 – Jules Massenet's opera "Werther" is staged in New York City.
• September 22 – Opening of the Teatro Lirico Internazionale in Milan.
• December 22 – Claude Debussy's Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune is premiered in Paris

Published popular music

• "Airy, Fairy Lillian" w. Tony Raymond m. Maurice Levi
• "And Her Golden Hair Was Hanging Down Her Back" w. Monroe H. Rosenfeld m. Felix McGlennon
• "At Trinity Church I Met My Doom" w.m. Fred Gilbert
• "Don't Be Cross" by Karl Zeller from the operetta Der Obersteiger
• "Forgotten" w. Flora Wulschner m. Eugene Cowles
• "He's Got To Keep A-Movin'" w.m. T. W. Connor
• "His Last Thoughts Were Of You" w. Edward B. Marks m. Joseph W. Stern
• "The Honeymoon" m. George Rosey
• "I Don't Want To Play In Your Yard" w. Philip Wingate m. Henry W. Petrie
• "If It Wasn't For The 'Ouses In Between" w. Edgar Bateman m. George Le Brunn
• "I'll Be True To My Honey Boy" w.m. George Evans
• "I've Been Working on the Railroad" w.m. trad
• "I Can't Change It!" w.m. T.W. Connor
• "Kathleen" w.m. Helene Mora
• "Little Kinkies" w.m. M. Tobias
• "The Little Lost Child" w. Edward B. Marks m. Joseph W. Stern
• "Long Ago In Alcala" w. Frederick Edward Weatherley & Adrian Ross m. André Messager
• "My Friend The Major" w.m. E. W. Rogers
• "My Pearl Is A Bowery Girl" w. William Jerome m. Andrew Mack
• "Oh! That Gorgonzola Cheese" w. Fred W. Leigh m. Harry Champion
• "The Owls Serenade" w. Arthur J. Lamb, m. H.W. Petrie
• "She Is More To Be Pitied Than Censured" w.m. William B. Gray
• "She May Have Seen Better Days" w.m. James Thornton
• "Sweet Bunch of Daisies" w.m. Anita Owen
• "The Sidewalks of New York" w.m. Charles B. Lawlor & James W. Blake
• "Why Did Nellie Leave Home?" by George M. Cohan
• "Yale Society Two-Step" by C. VanBaar
• "You've Been A Good Old Wagon But You've Done Broke Down" by Ben Harney

Recorded popular music

• "And Her Golden Hair was Hanging Down Her Back" – Dan W. Quinn
• "Daisy Bell" – Edward M. Favor
• "Keep Movin'" – Standard Quartette
• "The Liberty Bell (march)" – United States Marine Band
• ”Marc Anthony's Curse” - David C. Bangs
• "My Pearl is a Bowery Girl" – Dan W. Quinn
• "The Black Knights Templar" – George J. Gaskin
• ”The Sword of Bunker Hill” – Samuel Ross
• ”The Village Blacksmith” – David C. Bangs
• "Yankee Doodle" – Vess Ossman

Classical music

• Anton Arensky – Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 32
• Agathe Backer-Grøndahl
• *Norske Folkeviser og Folkedanse, Op.33
• *Norwegian Folk Songs, Op.34
• *3 Claverstykker, Op.35
• Johannes Brahms – Two Clarinet Sonatas, Op. 120
• Claude Debussy
• * Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune
• * Proses lyriques
• Antonín Dvořák
• * Biblical Songs, Op.99
• * Humoresques (Dvořák) Op. 101 for piano
• * American Suite for piano
• Robert Fuchs – Serenade No. 5 in D, Op. 53
• Alexander Gretchaninov – String Quartet no 1 in G major, Op. 2
• Edvard Grieg
• * 5 Songs of Norway, Op.58
• * 5 Songs, Op.60
• Victor Herbert – Concerto for Cello no 2 in E minor
• Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov – Caucasian Sketches
• Joseph Jongen – Quartet for Strings no 1 in C minor, op. 3
• August Klughardt – String Quintet, Op.62
• Alexander Kopylov – String Quartet no 2 in F major, op. 23
• Theodor Leschetizky – 2 Pieces, Op.43
• Gustav Mahler – Symphony No. 2
• Carl Nielsen
• * Symphony No. 1 in G minor
• * Snefrid, CNW 4
• * Symfonisk Suite for piano, FS 19
• Josef Rheinberger – Sonata for Horn and Piano in E-flat major
• Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov – 2 Pieces, Op.38
• Adolphe Samuel – Symphony No. 7 Opus 48
• Alexander Scriabin – 12 Études, Op. 8
• Charles Villiers Stanford – 6 Elizabethan Pastorals, Op.53
• Wilhelm Stenhammar
• * Piano Concerto No.1, Op.1, premiered March 17 in Stockholm
• * String Quartet No. 1 in C major, Op. 2
• Sigismond Stojowski – 2 Orientales, Op.10
• Louis Vierne – String Quartet in D minor, Op. 12

[Opera]

• Granville Bantock – The Pearl of Iran
• Julius Bechgaard – Frau Inge
• Herman Bemberg – Cleopatra
• Frederick Delius – The Magic Fountain
• Charles-Édouard Lefebvre – Djelma premiered on May 25 at the Théâtre de l'Opéra in Paris
• Hamish MacCunn – Jeanie Deans
• Jules Massenet
• *La Navarraise
• *Le portrait de Manon
• *Thaïs (opera) 16 March at the Opéra Garnier
• Emile Pessard – Le muet
• Emil Nikolaus von Reznicek – Donna Diana
• Sergei Taneyev – ''Oresteia''

[Musical theater]

Births

• January 3 – Benito Canónico, Venezuelan composer
• January 31 – Isham Jones, American bandleader and composer
• February 1 – James P. Johnson, American jazz pianist and composer.
• February 11 – Alfonso Leng, Chilean dentist and part-time classical composer
• February 20 – Jimmy Yancey, American jazz pianist
• April 3 – Dooley Wilson, African American pianist and singer
• April 15 – Bessie Smith, American blues singer
• April 27 – Nicolas Slonimsky, Russian-born American conductor and composer
• May 10 – Dimitri Tiomkin, Russian-born American film music composer, pianist and conductor
• May 29 – Beatrice Lillie, Canadian actress and singer
• June 1 – Percival Mackey, English pianist, film music composer and bandleader
• June 4 – La Bolduc, Québécois singer
• June 10 – Punch Miller, American Dixieland jazz trumpeter
• July 10 – Jimmy McHugh, American songwriter and pianist
• August 15 – Harry Akst, American songwriter and pianist
• August 26 – Arthur Loesser, pianist and musicologist
• September 3 – Marie Dubas, French music-hall singer
• September 18 – Willard Robison, American songwriter and bandleader
• September 25 – J. Mayo Williams, African American blues music producer
• September 26 – Vaughn De Leath, American crooner, "The Original Radio Girl"
• December 31 – Ernest John Moeran, British composer

Deaths

• January 13 – Nadezhda von Meck, patron of Tchaikovsky
• January 21 – Guillaume Lekeu, composer
• January 24 - Laura Schirmer Mapleson, American opera singer
• January 30 – Giovanni Masutto, Italian musicologist and flautist
• February 4
• * Louis Lewandowski, composer
• * Adolphe Sax, Belgian instrument maker, inventor of the saxophone
• February 11 – Emilio Arrieta, composer
• February 12 – Hans von Bülow, pianist, conductor and composer
• February 18 – Camillo Sivori, violinist and composer
• March 21 – Jakob Rosenhain, pianist and composer
• April 12 – Ludwig Pfau, lyricist and revolutionary
• April 13
• * Marie Carandini, opera singer
• * Philipp Spitta, musicologist and biographer of Bach
• June 5 – Marcelina Czartoryska, pianist and aristocrat
• June 9 – Juventino Rosas, violinist and composer
• June 23 – Marietta Alboni, operatic contralto
• July 17 – Leconte de Lisle, lyricist
• July 26 – Eduard Tauwitz, composer
• September 13 – Emmanuel Chabrier, composer
• September 21 – Emma Fursch-Madi, operatic soprano
• October 16 – Johanna Jachmann-Wagner, opera singer, actress and music teacher
• October 27 – Carl Ploug, Danish lyricist, song writer, editor, and politician
• October 28 – Rudolf Hildebrand, historian of the German folk song
• November 4 – Eugène Oudin, composer
• November 20 – Anton Rubinstein, pianist and composer