1889 in music

Events in the year 1889 in music.

Specific locations

 * 1889 in Norwegian music

Events

 * January 4 – Anton Seidl conducts Das Rheingold at the Metropolitan Opera, commencing the first performance of the Ring Cycle in the United States.
 * February 17 – César Franck's Symphony in D minor is premièred at the Paris Conservatory under the direction of Jules Garcin.
 * May 28 – The first ever pre-recorded wax cylinders of songs, instrumental music, and humorous monologues were introduced by Edison Records. Among them is Johannes Brahms speaking and playing his Hungarian Dance No. 1 and an extract from Josef Strauss's Polka-Mazurka 'Die Libelle' ('The Dragonfly') Op. 204 on the piano.
 * November 20 – Gustav Mahler premieres his Symphony No. 1 in Budapest at the Vigadó Concert Hall, at this time described as a "Symphonic-Poem in 2 Parts"; it is not favourably received in this form.
 * Emile Berliner markets the first commercial gramophone records.
 * Joseph Kekuku is credited with inventing the Hawaiian steel guitar.

Published popular music

 * "Ask A Policeman" w. E. W. Rogers m. A. E. Duran Deau
 * "Down Went McGinty" w.m. Joseph Flynn
 * "Four Little Curly Headed Coons" by James W. Wheeler
 * "Little Annie Rooney (Is My Sweetheart)" w.m. Michael Nolan
 * "Oh, Promise Me" w. Clement Scott m. Reginald de Koven
 * "Playmates" w.m. Harry Dacre
 * "Slide Kelly Slide" w.m. John W. Kelly
 * "Take a Pair of Sparkling Eyes" w. W. S. Gilbert m. Arthur Sullivan
 * "The Thunderer" m. John Philip Sousa
 * "The Washington Post (march)" m. John Philip Sousa

Recorded popular music

 * "22nd Regiment March" – Frank Goede
 * "Ain't Going to Rain No More" – Will Lyle (banjo)
 * "Amusement Polka" – John Mitthauer
 * "And the Phonograph is Listening" – Will Lyle (banjo)
 * "Anniversary March" – Max Franlin
 * "Arbucklenian Polka" – David B. Dana (cornet) & Edward Issler (piano)
 * "The Beggar Student" – Duffy & Imgrund's Fifth Regiment Band
 * "Colonel Wellington's March" – Voss' First Regiment Band
 * "Comin' Thro' the Rye" – George Schweinfest (flute) & Edward Issler (piano)
 * "Cujus Animam" – David B. Dana (cornet) & Edward Issler (piano)
 * "Dream After the Ball" – George Schweinfest (flute) & Edward Issler (piano)
 * "Dream of Love" – William Tuson (clarinet) & Edward Issler (piano)
 * "Down Went McGinty" – Issler's Orchestra
 * "For Right & Liberty" – Issler's Orchestra
 * "Hoboken Pioneers" – Issler's Orchestra
 * "Honeymoon Waltz" – Frank Goede
 * "Hornpipe Polka" – United States Marine Band
 * "Kentucky Jubilee" – Issler's Orchestra
 * "Jingle Bells" – Will Lyle (banjo)
 * "Jubilee March" – Duffy & Imgrund's Fifth Regiment Band
 * "The Men of Wall Street" – George Schweinfest (flute)
 * "The Minstrel Boy" – Theodore Hoch
 * "The Night Alarm" – Duffy & Imgrund's Fifth Regiment Band
 * "The Pattison Waltz" – Effie Stewart (1863 - 1904) (vocal) & Theo Wangemann (piano)
 * "Pearl of Pekin" – Henry Giese
 * "The Phonograph Serenade" – Duffy & Imgrund's Fifth Regiment Band
 * "Rattle on a Banjo" – Will Lyle (banjo)
 * "Right & Liberty March" – George Schweinfest (flute)
 * "Section from 'The Mikado'" – Issler's Orchestra
 * "Song of the Roses" – Duffy & Imgrund's Fifth Regiment Band
 * "Semper Fidelis" – Issler's Orchestra
 * "The Warbler" – Frank Goede
 * "Washington Centennial Parade" – Duffy & Imgrund's Fifth Regiment Band
 * "The Wren Polka" – George Schweinfest (flute) & Edward Issler (piano)

Classical music

 * Antonín Dvořák
 * Piano Quartet No. 2, Op. 87 (B. 162)
 * Symphony No. 8, Op. 88 (B. 163)
 * Edward Elgar – "Queen Mary's Song"
 * César Franck – "Symphony in D minor" premiers on 2.17.1889 in Paris
 * Enrique Granados – Danzas españolas
 * Augusta Holmès – Ode triomphale
 * Hubert Parry
 * Ode on Saint Cecilia's Day
 * Symphony No. 3, in C major, "The English" (first performance)
 * Symphony No. 4, in E minor (first performance, original version)
 * Guy Ropartz
 * Cinq pièces brèves, for orchestra
 * Carnaval, for orchestra
 * Johan Wagenaar – De Schipbreuk (cantata)
 * Valentin Zubiaurre – Ecos de Oiz

Opera

 * Francesco Cilea – Gina
 * Antonín Dvořák – Jakobín (premieres February 12,1889 at National Theatre in Prague)
 * Robert Fuchs – Die Königsbraut
 * Miguel Marqués – El plato del día (libretto by Andrés Ruesga, Manuel Lastra and Enrique Prieto, premiered in Madrid)
 * Louisa Melvin Delos Mars – Leoni, the Gypsy Queen (premiered in Providence, Rhode Island)
 * Giacomo Puccini – Edgar

Musical theater

 * The Gondoliers (Music: Sir Arthur Sullivan Book & Lyrics: W. S. Gilbert) London production opened at the Savoy Theatre on December 7 and ran for 554 performances
 * Love's Trickery London production

Births

 * January 31 – Michael Coleman, fiddler (d. 1945)
 * February 7 – Claudia Muzio, operatic soprano (d. 1936)
 * March 8 – Ina Boyle, Irish composer (d. 1967)
 * March 15 – Billy Jones, singer (d. 1940)
 * March 16 – Elsie Janis, musical comedy star and songwriter (d. 1956)
 * April 3 – Grigoraș Dinicu, Romanian composer and violinist (d. 1948)
 * April 8 – Adrian Boult, conductor (d. 1983)
 * April 11 – Nick LaRocca – jazz-band leader (d. 1961)
 * April 30 – Rudolph Simonsen – composer (d. 1947)
 * May 15 – Graziella Pareto, operatic soprano (d. 1973)
 * May 16 – Alfred Kalmus, music publisher (d. 1972)
 * May 20 – Felix Arndt, pianist & composer (d. 1918)
 * May 25 – Gilardo Gilardi, pianist, conductor and composer (d. 1962)
 * May 29 – Aksel Agerby, Danish composer, organist, and music administrator (d. 1942)
 * July 4 – Joe Young, US lyricist and singer (d. 1939)
 * July 10 – Noble Sissle, bandleader and singer (d. 1975)
 * August 10 – Cecil Armstrong Gibbs, composer (d. 1960)
 * September 10 – Vilém Petrželka, conductor and composer (d. 1967)
 * September 26 – Frank Crumit, singer (d. 1943)
 * October 3 – Manuel Manetta, jazz musician & teacher (d. 1969)
 * October 28 – Juliette Béliveau, actress and singer (d. 1975)
 * November 30 – Norman Cocker, organist and composer (d. 1953)
 * December 11 – Ben Black, composer and impresario (d. 1950)
 * December 25 – Nathaniel Shilkret, composer and musician (d. 1982)
 * December 28 – Vaslav Nijinsky, Ballet dancer (d. 1950)
 * date unknown – Nellie Briercliffe, singer and actress (d. 1966)

Deaths

 * January 23 – Selina Dolaro, actress and singer (b. 1849) (stroke)
 * January 31 – Joseph Gungl, composer and conductor (b. 1810)
 * March 3 – Sydney Smith, English composer and pianist (b. 1839)
 * March 13 – Felice Varesi, operatic baritone (b. 1813)
 * April 6 – Frederick Ouseley, organist, composer and musicologist (b. 1825)
 * April 9 – Jean-Baptiste Arban, cornet virtuoso (b. 1825)
 * April 30 – Carl Rosa, opera impresario (b. 1842)
 * May 30 – Silverio Franconetti, flamenco singer (b. 1831)
 * July 7 – Giovanni Bottesini, double bass player and composer (b. 1821)
 * July 14 – Elma Ström, Swedish opera singer (b. 1822)
 * July 20 – Gustav Lange, German composer (b. 1830)
 * October 5 – Karel Miry, Belgian composer (b. 1823)
 * October 10 – Adolf von Henselt, pianist and composer (b. 1814)
 * November 24 – Frederic Clay, composer (b. 1838) (stroke)
 * November 25 – Alojzy Gonzaga Jazon Żółkowski, actor and singer (b. 1814)
 * December 13 – Catherine Chislova, ballerina (b. 1846)
 * December 31 – Giuseppe Apolloni, composer (b. 1822)
 * date unknown
 * Jovo Ivanišević, composer (b. 1861)
 * Gustaw Lewita, pianist (b. 1855)
 * Jeanne-Catherine Pauwels, Belgian pianist (b. 1795)
 * Kurmangazy Sagyrbaev, Kazakh folk musician and composer (b. 1818)