1875 in music

This article is about music-related events in 1875.

Events

 * January 5 – Palais Garnier, home of the Paris Opera, designed by Charles Garnier, opens.
 * March 3 – Georges Bizet's opera Carmen debuts, at the Opéra-Comique in Paris.
 * May – The score for the ballet Swan Lake is commissioned from Tchaikovsky (premiered in 1877).
 * May 6 – Richard Wagner conducts portions of Götterdämmerung in concert in Vienna (the complete opera is premiered in 1876).
 * August 23 – Composer Zdeněk Fibich marries operatic contralto Betty Hanušová, sister of his first wife Růžena Hanušová.
 * October 25 – The first performance of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 is given in Boston, Massachusetts, with Hans von Bülow as soloist.
 * Robert Volkmann becomes professor of harmony and counterpoint at the National Academy of Music in Budapest, under Franz Liszt.

Published popular music



 * "All the Way My Savior Leads Me" w. Fanny Crosby m. Robert Lowry
 * "Angels, Meet Me At the Cross Road"    w.m. Will Hays
 * "Carve Dat Possum" by Sam Lucas & Herbert Hershy
 * "Draw Me Nearer" w. Fanny Crosby m. William H. Doane
 * "Dreaming Forever of Thee"     w.m. John Hill Hewitt
 * "I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen"    w.m. Thomas P. Westendorf
 * "Myfanwy" w.m. Joseph Parry
 * "Nancy Lee" w. Frederic Edward Weatherly, m. Stephen Adams (pseudonym of Michael Maybrick)
 * "The Spelling Bee" w.m. Septimus Winner
 * "Take me back to home and mother," w. by Arthur W. French, m. by William A. Huntley
 * "To God Be the Glory" w. Fanny Crosby m. William H. Doane
 * "A Warrior Bold" w. Edwin Thomas m. Stephen Adams (pseudonym of Michael Maybrick)
 * "The Witches Flight (Galop Caprice)" by Henry M. Russell

Classical music

 * Johannes Brahms
 * Fifteen Liebeslieder for piano duet
 * String Quartet No. 3
 * Antonín Dvořák
 * Moravian duets (for voices and piano)
 * Piano Quartet No. 1
 * Piano Trio No. 1
 * Serenade for Strings
 * String Quintet (with double bass) (orig Op. 18)
 * Symphony No. 5
 * Gabriel Fauré
 * Allegro Symphonique (for orchestra)
 * Suite for Orchestra
 * Les Djinns (for chorus and orchestra)
 * Edvard Grieg – incidental music to Ibsen's Peer Gynt
 * Édouard Lalo – Allegro Symphonique
 * Alexandre Luigini – Ballet égyptien
 * Jules Massenet – oratorio Eve
 * Modest Mussorgsky – Pesni i plyaski smerti (Songs and Dances of Death), song cycle for bass voice and piano
 * Amilcare Ponchielli – cantata A Gaetano Donizetti
 * Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov – String Quartet No. 1
 * Camille Saint-Saëns
 * Piano Quartet, Op. 41
 * Piano Concerto No. 4, Op. 44
 * tone poem for orchestra Danse Macabre Op. 40
 * Bedřich Smetana – Má vlast (My Country) – Six symphonic poems
 * Tchaikovsky
 * Symphony No. 3
 * Swan Lake (ballet, composition begun)

Opera

 * Carmen first performed in Paris. Music by Georges Bizet and libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy.
 * Die Königin von Saba, music by Karl Goldmark and libretto by Salomon Mosenthal (at the Hofoper (now the State Opera) in Vienna, on 10 March 1875)
 * Angelo, music by César Cui

Musical theater

 * Gilbert & Sullivan – Trial By Jury
 * London production opens at the Royalty Theatre on March 25
 * Philadelphia production opens at the Arch Street Theatre on October 22
 * The Zoo, Lyrics and Book: Bolton Rowe Music: Arthur Sullivan, London production opened at St. James Theatre on June 5

Births

 * February 2 – Fritz Kreisler, Austrian violinist and composer (d. 1962)
 * February 8 – Georgette Leblanc, operatic soprano (d. 1941)
 * February 26 – Richard Wetz, German composer
 * February 28 – Viliam Figuš-Bystrý, Slovak composer
 * March 7 – Maurice Ravel, French composer
 * April 4 – Pierre Monteux, French conductor (d. 1964)
 * April 5 – Mistinguett, actress and singer (d. 1956)
 * May – Paul Sarebresole, ragtime composer (d. 1911)
 * July 17 – Donald Tovey, composer and musicologist (d. 1940)
 * August 9 – Albert Ketèlbey, composer (d. 1959)
 * August 18 – Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, composer (d. 1912)

Deaths

 * January 18 – Joseph Philbrick Webster, composer (b. 1819)
 * January 25 – Leopold Jansa, violinist, composer and music teacher (b. 1795)
 * February 1 – William Sterndale Bennett, composer (b. 1816)
 * February 23 – Louise Michaëli, opera singer (b. 1830)
 * March 3 – Adolf Reubke, organ builder (b. 1805)
 * March 15 – Christian Julius Hansen, composer (b. 1814)
 * March 17 – Ferdinand Laub, violinist (b. 1832)
 * March 19 – Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume, violin maker (b. 1798)
 * May 2 – Matthias Durst, violinist and composer (b. 1815)
 * June 3 – Georges Bizet, composer (b. 1838) (heart attack)
 * September 15 – Louise Farrenc, pianist and composer (b. 1804)
 * September 24 – William Walker, songwriter (b. 1809)