1883 in music

Events in the year 1883 in music.

Specific locations

 * 1883 in Norwegian music

Events

 * October 22 – Opening of the first Metropolitan Opera House.
 * Friedrich Kiel is involved in a traffic accident from which he never completely recovered.
 * The Gretsch Company, manufacturers of drums, banjos and guitars, opens in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Published popular music

 * "A Boy's Best Friend Is His Mother" w. Henry Miller m. Joseph P. Skelly
 * "The Farmer in the Dell" trad
 * "I Know Whom I Have Believed" w. Daniel W. Whittle m. James McGranahan
 * "La golondrina" m. Narciso Serradell Sevilla
 * "Polly Wolly Doodle (All The Day)" trad
 * "Ring Dem Heavenly Bells" by Sam Lucas
 * "She Does the Fandango All Over the Place" w.m. G. W. Hunt
 * "There Is a Tavern in the Town" anon
 * "Transit of Venus March" m. John Philip Sousa
 * "Must we leave the old home, mother?" w. by Arthur W. French, m. by William A Huntley

Classical music

 * Isaac Albéniz – Barcarola for piano No. 1
 * Anton Arensky
 * Piano Concerto in F minor, Op. 2
 * Symphony No. 1 in B minor
 * Johannes Brahms – Symphony No. 3
 * Emmanuel Chabrier – España, rapsodie pour orchestre
 * George Whitefield Chadwick – Thalia (concert overture)
 * Antonín Dvořák
 * Piano Trio No. 3, Op. 65 (B. 130)
 * Scherzo capriccioso, Op. 66 (B. 131)
 * Hussite Overture, Op. 67 (B. 132)
 * Cesar Franck – Le chasseur maudit
 * Benjamin Godard – Piano Trio No.2, Op.72
 * Charles Gounod – The Redemption (oratorio)
 * Augusta Mary Ann Holmès – Pologne
 * Hans Huber – Piano Trio No.2, Op.65
 * Franz Liszt – La lugubre gondola (possible date of early version)
 * Emilie Mayer – Notturno, Op.48
 * Max Meyer-Olbersleben – Fantaisie-Sonate, Op.17
 * David Popper – Im Walde Suite, Op.50
 * Pablo de Sarasate – Carmen Fantasy
 * Sergei Taneyev – Canzona for Clarinet and Strings in F minor
 * Emil Waldteufel –Estudiantina

Opera

 * Alfredo Catalani – Dejanice
 * César Cui – Prisoner of the Caucasus
 * Charles-Édouard Lefebvre – Le Trésor premiered in Angers
 * Miguel Marqués – La cruz de fuego
 * Karel Miry – De kleine patriot (opera in 4 acts, libretto by J. Hoste, premiered on December 23 in Brussels)

Musical theater

 * Cordelia's Aspirations (Edward Harrigan & David Braham) Broadway production opened at the New Theatre Comique on November 5 and ran for 176 performances
 * Johann Strauss II – Eine Nacht in Venedig (A Night In Venice) Berlin and Vienna productions

Births

 * January 1 – Floy Little Bartlett, American composer (d. 1956)
 * January 30 – Peeter Süda, Estonian organist and composer (d. 1920)
 * February 11 – Paul von Klenau, Danish-born composer (d. 1946)
 * March 10 – Maria Barrientos, Spanish operatic soprano (d. 1946)
 * March 15 - Ford Dabney, American composer and vaudevillian (d. 1953)
 * March 16 – Ernie Hare, U.S. bass/baritone (d. 1939)
 * March 19 – Josef Matthias Hauer, Austrian composer and theorist (d. 1959)
 * March 21 – Jules Van Nuffel, Belgian composer and choir conductor (d. 1953)
 * March 27 – Dimitrios Semsis, Greek violinist (d. 1950)
 * March 28 – William Henry Harris, English organist, choral trainer and composer (d. 1973)
 * April 1 – Malcolm McEachern, Australian-born concert bass singer (d. 1945)
 * April 6 – Vernon Dalhart, U.S. singer
 * April 13 (O.S. April 1) – Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov, Russian Soviet composer
 * May 4 – Nikolai Malko, Ukrainian conductor
 * May 5 – Petar Konjović, composer (d. 1970)
 * May 28
 * George Dyson, English musician and composer (d. 1964)
 * Václav Talich, Czech conductor
 * Riccardo Zandonai, opera composer (d. 1944)
 * July 7 – Toivo Kuula, Finnish conductor and composer
 * July 25 – Alfredo Casella, composer (d. 1947)
 * July 29 – Manuel Infante, pianist and composer (d. 1958)
 * August 13 – Joseph C. Smith, American dance band leader (d. 1965)
 * August 15 – Benjamin M. Kaye, librettist (died 1970)
 * August 19 – Emilius Bangert, Danish composer and organist (d. 1962)
 * September 18 – Gerald Tyrwhitt-Wilson, 14th Baron Berners, British composer
 * October 2 – Frico Kafenda, Slovak composer
 * October 22 – Victor Jacobi, operetta composer (d. 1921)
 * November 8 – Arnold Bax, English composer (d. 1953)
 * December 3 – Anton Webern, Austrian composer (d. 1945)
 * December 22 – Edgard Varèse, French(-born) composer (d. 1965)

Deaths

 * January 24 – Friedrich von Flotow, composer (b. 1812)
 * February 13 – Richard Wagner, German composer (b. 1813)
 * February 17 – Napoléon Coste, guitarist and composer (b. 1805)
 * April 10 – Emilie Mayer, composer (b. 1812)
 * April 26 – Napoleon Orda, pianist, composer and artist (b. 1807)
 * June 6
 * Ciprian Porumbescu, composer (b. 1853)
 * Per Lasson, composer (b. 1859)
 * June 10 – Karl Graedener, cellist, singing teacher and composer (b. 1812)
 * July 14 – Svend Grundtvig, Danish folk song collector (b. 1824)
 * July 27 – Franz Doppler, flute virtuoso and composer (b. 1821)
 * September 2 – Léon Halévy, librettist (born 1802)
 * October 4 – Giovanni Guicciardi, Italian opera singer (b. 1819)
 * October 30 – Robert Volkmann, composer (b. 1815)
 * December 7 – Auguste Offenbach, composer (born 1862)
 * December 3 – Gustav Hölzel, operatic bass-baritone (b. 1813)
 * December 11 – Mario, operatic tenor (b. 1810)
 * date unknown – Enrico Ceruti, violin maker (b. 1806)