1878 in music

This article is about music-related events in 1878.

Events

 * April 9? – Franz Berwald's Symphony No. 4 receives its premiere performance, conducted by Ludvig Norman.
 * May 25 – Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera H.M.S. Pinafore debuts in London at the Opera Comique with a first run of 571 performances.
 * November 18 – Soprano Marie Selika Williams becomes the first African American artist to perform at the White House.
 * A Dictionary of Music and Musicians edited by George Grove begins publication in the U.K.

Published popular music

 * "Aloha ʻOe" w.m. Queen Liliuokalani of Hawaii
 * "Carry Me Back To Old Virginny" w.m. James A. Bland
 * "De Gospel Raft" by Frank Dumont
 * "Emmet's Lullaby" Joseph K. Emmet
 * From H.M.S. Pinafore: (words by W. S. Gilbert, music by Arthur Sullivan)
 * "I Am the Captain of the Pinafore"
 * "I Am the Ruler of the Queen's Navee"
 * "I'm Called Little Buttercup"
 * "Kind Captain"
 * "Never Mind the Why and Wherefore"
 * "When I Was a Lad"
 * "In The Evening By the Moonlight" w.m. James A. Bland
 * "Keep In De Middle Ob De Road"    w.m. Will Hays
 * "Ten Little Injuns" w. & m. Septimus Winner
 * "When the birds have gone to sleep," words by Arthur W. French, music by William A. Huntley

Classical music

 * Johannes Brahms
 * Motets Op. 74
 * Eight Pieces (for piano) Op. 76
 * Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77
 * Anton Bruckner
 * Symphony No. 4 – 2nd version
 * Symphony No. 5
 * Ferruccio Busoni – Piano Concerto in D, op. 17, for piano and string orchestra
 * George Whitefield Chadwick – String Quartet No. 1
 * Felix Otto Dessoff – String Quartet in F, Op. 7
 * Antonín Dvořák
 * Serenade for Wind Instruments (Dvořák) (op. 44/B. 77)
 * Three Slavonic Rhapsodies (op. 45/B. 86)
 * Slavonic Dances, Set 1 (op. 46/B. 83)
 * Bagatelles, Op.47
 * String Sextet (Dvořák), (op. 48/B. 80)
 * Gabriel Fauré – Chanson Après un rêve (Op. 7 No. 1)
 * Zdeněk Fibich
 * String Quartet No.2, Op.8
 * Věčnost (Eternity), Concert Melodrama for Narrator and Piano, Op.14
 * Niels Gade – Capriccio for violin and orchestra in A minor
 * Edvard Grieg
 * String Quartet No. 1 in G minor, Op. 27
 * Improvisations on 2 Norwegian Folk Songs, Op.29
 * Albumblad, EG 109
 * Hans Huber – Piano Concerto No. 1 in C minor, Op. 36
 * Vincent d'Indy – La forêt enchantée
 * Joseph Joachim – Elegiac Overture 'In Memoriam Heinrich von Kleist', Op.13
 * Cyrill Kistler – 4 Lieder, Op.20 (including "Am Waldessaume")
 * Édouard Lalo
 * Cello Concerto in D minor
 * Fantaisie norvégienne
 * Giuseppe Martucci
 * Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor
 * Piano Quintet in C major, Op. 45
 * Siegfried Ochs – 'S kommt ein Vogel geflogen
 * Ole Olsen – Asgårdsreien, Op 10 (symphonic poems)
 * Robert Radecke – Symphony in F major, Op.50
 * Joachim Raff
 * Aus Thüringen, WoO.45
 * Symphony No. 9 Im Sommer, Op. 208
 * Josef Rheinberger
 * Mass in E-flat (Cantus Missæ) for double choir, Op. 109
 * Ouvertüre zu Schillers Demetrius, Op.110
 * Organ Sonata No. 5 in F-sharp Minor, Op. 111
 * Trio for Piano and Strings No. 2 in A, Op. 112
 * Piano Quintet in C, Op. 114
 * Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov – 6 Variations on the Theme B-A-C-H, Op.10
 * Pablo de Sarasate – Spanish Dances for violin and piano, Book I
 * Bernhard Scholz – String Quintet Op. 47
 * Richard Strauss – Alphorn, TrV 64
 * Sergei Taneyev – Symphony no 2 in B flat minor
 * Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
 * Symphony No. 4 in F minor, op. 36
 * Violin Concerto in D major
 * Piano Sonata in G major, Op. 37.
 * 6 Romances, Op.38
 * Anton Urspruch – Variationen über ein eigenes Thema, Op.10
 * Anton Urspruch – Variationen über ein eigenes Thema, Op.10

Opera

 * Alfred Cellier – After All!
 * Charles Gounod – Polyeucte (opera)
 * Charles Edouard Lefebvre – Lucrèce
 * Miguel Marqués – El anillo de hierro (libretto by Marcos Zapata, premiered in Madrid)
 * Joseph Parry – Blodwen
 * Emile Pessard
 * Le char premiered on January 18 at the Théâtre de l'Opéra-Comique, Paris
 * Le Capitaine Fracasse premiered on July 2 at the Théâtre Lyrique, Paris
 * Joachim Raff – Benedetto Marcello

Musical theater

 * Gilbert and Sullivan – H.M.S. Pinafore, London production
 * Jacques Offenbach – Madame Favart, Paris production

Births

 * January 4 – Rosa Grünberg, Swedish actress and soprano (d. 1960)
 * January 6 – Carl Sandburg, American poet and lyricist (died 1967)
 * January 22 – Ben Deeley, American actor and lyricist (died 1924)
 * January 23 – Rutland Boughton, English composer (d. 1960)
 * January 26 – Rudolf Alexander Schröder, lyricist (died 1962)
 * January 28 – Walter Kollo, Singspiele composer (died 1940)
 * February 16 – Selim Palmgren, Finnish composer (d. 1951)
 * February 26 – Emmy Destinn, Czech soprano (d. 1930)
 * February 28 – Artur Kapp, Estonian composer (d. 1952)
 * March 4 – Egbert Van Alstyne, American songwriter (d. 1951)
 * March 23 – Franz Schreker, Austrian composer, conductor and teacher (d. 1934)
 * March 29 – Albert Von Tilzer, American songwriter (d. 1956)
 * May 24 – Louis Fleury, French flautist (d. 1926)
 * May 25 – Bill Robinson, American tap dancer, singer, actor (d. 1949)
 * July 3 – George M. Cohan, American songwriter, entertainer (d. 1942)
 * July 5 – Joseph Holbrooke, English composer (d. 1958)
 * July 9 – Eduard Sõrmus, Estonian violinist (d. 1940)
 * July 12
 * Bert Grant, composer (died 1951)
 * Percy Hilder Miles, English composer, violinist and teacher (d. 1922)
 * July 22 – Ernest Ball, American singer-songwriter (d. 1927)
 * July 25 – Heinrich Gebhard, German-born composer (d. 1963)
 * August 18 – Fritz Brun, Swiss composer and conductor (d. 1959)
 * August 22 – Edward Johnson, Canadian operatic tenor (d. 1959)
 * August 28 – Laura de Turczynowicz (née Laura Christine Blackwell), Canadian-born opera singer (d. 1953)
 * September 7 – Adolphe Piriou, French composer and musician (died 1964)
 * September 17 – Vincenzo Tommasini, Italian composer (d. 1950)
 * October 18 – Blind Uncle Gaspard, American Cajun vocalist and guitarist (d. 1937)
 * October 19
 * Hermann Claudius, lyricist (died 1980)
 * Alphonse Picou, American jazz clarinettist (d. 1961)
 * November 4 – Jean Schwartz, Hungarian-born songwriter (d. 1956)
 * November 23 – André Caplet, French composer and conductor (d. 1925)
 * December 23 – Wilfred Sanderson, composer (died 1935)
 * Undated – Ustad Qasim, Afghan musician (d. 1957)

Deaths

 * January 15 – Carlo Blasis, dancer and choreographer (b. 1797)
 * February 2 – Josif Runjanin, composer (b. 1821)
 * April 8 – Henriette "Jetty" Treffz, singer, first wife and business manager of Johann Strauss II (b. 1818)
 * April 21 – Temistocle Solera, librettist and composer (b. 1815)
 * May 6 – François Benoist, organist and composer (b. 1794)
 * May 24 – Franz Espagne, musicologist (born 1828)
 * July 2 – François Bazin, opera composer (b. 1816)
 * August 23 – Adolf Fredrik Lindblad, composer (b. 1801)
 * October 13-October 25 – Ludwig Wilhelm Maurer, violinist, conductor and composer (b. 1789)
 * November – Marco Aurelio Zani de Ferranti, guitarist and composer (b. 1801)
 * November 13 – Carl Heissler, violinist (b. 1826)
 * December 18 – Heinrich Proch, composer (b. 1809)
 * December 28 – José Bernardo Alcedo, composer of the Peruvian national anthem (b. 1788)
 * date unknown – Robert Heller, pianist and magician (b. 1826)