1870 in music

Events

 * January 6 – The Musikverein concert hall opens in Vienna
 * March 16 – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's fantasy-overture Romeo and Juliet debuts in Moscow, conducted by Nikolai Rubinstein
 * May 25 – Léo Delibes' ballet Coppélia is debuted by the Théâtre Impérial de l'Opéra at the Salle Le Peletier in Paris
 * June 26 – Richard Wagner's opera Die Walküre premieres at the Königliches Hof- und National-Theater, Munich
 * September – Siege of Paris (1870–71) begins: Georges Bizet, Gabriel Fauré and Camille Saint-Saëns are among those enrolled in the National Guard for defence of the city
 * Madame Rentz's Female Minstrels established in the United States by Michael B. Leavitt
 * Richard Wagner nears completion of his opera Siegfried

Published popular music

 * "Come In Old Adam, Come In!" w. Alice Cary m. C. F. Shattuck
 * "Just Touch the Harp Gently, My Pretty Louise" w. Samuel N. Mitchell m. Charles Blamphin
 * "More Love to Thee" w. Elizabeth P. Prentiss m. William H. Doane
 * "Pass Me Not O Gentle Savior" w. Fanny Crosby m. William H. Doane
 * "Rescue the Perishing" w. Fanny Crosby m. William H. Doane
 * "Waiting For Pa" w. & m. Henry Clay Work

Classical music

 * Max Bruch – Symphony No. 2 in F minor, Op. 36 (premiered September 4)
 * Ignaz Brüll – Tarantella, Op.6
 * Antonín Dvořák
 * Dramatic Overture (overture to the opera Alfred) (B. 16a)
 * String Quartet no. 3 in D, B. 18
 * String Quartet no. 4 in E minor, B. 19
 * Charles Gounod – Messe des Orphéonistes
 * Heinrich Lichner – 3 Sonatinen, Op.66
 * Robert Planquette – Le régiment de Sambre et Meuse
 * Joachim Raff
 * Piano Trio No.3, Op.155
 * 2 Piano Pieces, Op.157
 * Piano Trio No.4, Op.158
 * Josef Rheinberger – Piano Trio No.1, Op.34
 * Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov – 6 Romances, Op.8
 * Giovanni Sgambati – Marcia-Inno, arranged for 4-hand piano
 * Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
 * Chorus of Flowers and Insects
 * Nature and Love
 * Romeo and Juliet overture (first version)
 * To Forget So Soon
 * Valse-Scherzo, Op.7
 * Capriccio, Op.8
 * 3 Pieces, Op.9
 * Valentin Zubiaurre – Symphony in E major

Opera

 * Antonín Dvořák
 * Alfred, B. 16 (libretto by Karl Theodor Körner, premiered in 1938 in Olomouc)
 * Karel Miry
 * La Saint-Lucas (opera in 1 act, libretto by J. Story, premiered on February 17 in Ghent)
 * Het Driekoningenfeest (opera in 1 act, libretto by P. Geiregat, premiered in Brussels)
 * Emile Pessard – La cruche cassée (comic opera in 1 act, libretto by Hyppolite Lucas and Emile Abraham, premiered on February 21 at the Théâtre de l'Opéra-Comique in Paris)
 * Bedřich Smetana – Prodana Nevesta (eng. The Bartered Bride)
 * Pyotr Tchaikovsky – Undina, premiered March 28 in Moscow
 * Richard Wagner – Die Walküre

Musical theater

 * Chilpéric    London production
 * La Mascotte    Paris production
 * Jacques Offenbach - La Périchole    London production

Births

 * January 3 – Henry Eichheim, conductor, violinist and composer (d. 1942)
 * January 20 – Guillaume Lekeu, composer (d. 1894)
 * January 22 – Charles Tournemire, French composer and organist (d. 1939)
 * January 30 – Rudolf Louis, critic, conductor and author (d. 1914)
 * February 12 – Marie Lloyd, British music-hall singer (d. 1922)
 * February 13 – Leopold Godowsky, Polish American pianist, composer, and teacher (d. 1938)
 * March 6 – Oscar Straus, Viennese composer of operettas (d. 1954)
 * March 10 – George Evans, songwriter (died 1915)
 * March 29 – Tom Lemoinier, composer and performer (died 1945)
 * April 7 – Joseph Ryelandt, Belgian composer (d. 1965)
 * April 9 – Colin McAlpin, composed (died 1942)
 * April 28 – Hermann Suter, Swiss composer and conductor (d. 1926)
 * April 30 – Franz Lehár, composer of operettas and waltzes (d. 1948)
 * May 3 – Edouard Gregory Hesselberg, pianist (died 1935)
 * May 4 – Zygmunt Stojowski, Polish pianist and composer (d. 1946)
 * June 16 – Mon Schjelderup, composer (died 1934)
 * July 17 – Harry P. Guy, composer (died 1950)
 * July 18 – Emil Młynarski, Polish conductor, violinist, composer, and pedagogue (d. 1935)
 * July 27 – Hilaire Belloc, lyricist (died 1953)
 * August 4 – Harry Lauder, Scottish singer, comedian and songwriter (d. 1950)
 * August 12 – Arthur J. Lamb, lyricist and actor (d. 1928)
 * September 28 – Florent Schmitt, French composer (d. 1958)
 * October 7 – Uncle Dave Macon, banjo player, singer and songwriter (d.1952)
 * October 8 – Louis Vierne, French organist and composer (d. 1937)
 * October 24 – August Brunetti-Pisano, Austrian composer (d. 1943)
 * November 30 – Cecil Forsyth, composer and musicologist (d. 1941)
 * December 5 – Vítězslav Novák, Czech composer (d. 1949)
 * December 16 – Alfred Hill, Australian composer (d. 1960)

Deaths

 * January 26 – Cesare Pugni, ballet composer
 * March 9 – Théodore Labarre, composer (born 1805)
 * March 10 – Ignaz Moscheles, Bohemian composer (b. 1794)
 * March 16 – Theodore Oesten, musician, composer and music teacher (b. 1813)
 * April 8 – Charles de Bériot, violinist (b. 1802)
 * April 19 – Camille-Marie Stamaty, French pianist and composer (b. 1811)
 * July 22 – Josef Strauss, composer (b. 1827)
 * August 14 – Manuel Saumell, composer (b. 1818)
 * September 17 – Joseph David Jones, composer and schoolmaster (b. 1827)
 * October 20 – Michael William Balfe, composer (b. 1808)
 * October 31 – Mihály Mosonyi, composer (b. 1815)
 * November 23 – Giuseppina Bozzachi, ballerina (b. 1853)
 * December 5
 * Alexandre Dumas, lyricist (born 1802)
 * Herman Severin Løvenskiold, composer (born 1815)
 * December 7 – Mykhailo Verbytsky, composer (b. 1815)
 * December 17 – Saverio Mercadante, composer (b. 1795)
 * December 18 – Eugène Ketterer, French composer and pianist (b. 1831)
 * December 28 – Alexei Lvov, Russian composer (b. 1799)