# 1881 in music

This article is about music-related events in 1881.

## Specific locations

* 1881 in Norwegian music

## Events

* March 23 – A fire caused by a gas explosion destroys the Opéra de Nice in the south of France with fatalities.
* February 10 – Offenbach's Tales of Hoffmann debuts in Paris
* February 20 – Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 4 is given its public premiere in Vienna under the baton of Hans Richter
* June 11 – The National Theatre (Prague) receives a royal opening with the premiere of Smetana's opera Libuše (written 1871–72); however, a subsequent fire delays public opening for a further 2 years, when the same work reinaugurates the theatre
* September 3 – Anton Bruckner completes his Symphony No. 6; it will not be performed complete during the composer's lifetime
* November 9 – Johannes Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 2 is given its public premiere in Budapest
* December 4 – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto is premiered in Vienna

## Bands formed

* Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band

## Published popular music

* "Good Bye!" by Francesco Paolo Tosti
* "My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean"
* "Slowly and Sadly" (President Garfield Memorial Tribute)" by Arabella M. Root

## Classical music

* Victor Bendix – Symphony No. 1 in C op. 16 Mountain Climbing
* Alexander Borodin – String Quartet No. 2 in D
* Johannes Brahms
** Tragic Overture op. 81 revised; Nänie op. 82
** Piano Concerto No. 2 Op. 83
* Max Bruch – Kol Nidre for cello and orchestra finished
* Anton Bruckner – Symphony No. 6 (Bruckner)
* Emmanuel Chabrier – Pièces pittoresques for piano
* Ernest Chausson – Piano Trio in G minor, op. 3
* Gabriel Fauré & André Messager – Messe des pêcheurs de Villerville
* César Franck – Rébecca (oratorio)
* Robert Fuchs – Cello Sonata No.1, Op.29
* Franz Liszt – Nuages Gris
* Giuseppe Martucci – Fantasia for piano op. 51
* Camille Saint-Saëns – Hymne à Victor Hugo
* Eduard Strauss
** Glockensignale, Op.198
** Schleier und Krone, Op.200
* Richard Strauss
** String Quartet in A major, Op.2
** 5 Klavierstücke, Op.3
** Cello Sonata, Op.6
* Charles-Marie Widor – First Sonata for Piano and Violin op. 50
* Bernard Zweers – Symphony No. 1 in D major
* Władysław Żeleński – 2 Mazurkas, Op.31

## Opera

* The Tales of Hoffmann (Les contes d'Hoffmann; Jacques Offenbach) – Paris production opened at the Opéra-Comique on February 10
* Johann Strauss Jr. – Der lustige Krieg, premiered November 24 in Vienna
* Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – The Maid of Orleans
* Giuseppe Verdi – Simon Boccanegra, revised version of the 21st Verdi opera premieres at La Scala in Milan

## Musical theater

* The Mascot (translation of Edmond Audran's La Mascotte) – Broadway production opened at the Bijou Theatre (Manhattan) on May 5
* Patience (Gilbert and Sullivan) – London production opened at the Opera Comique on April 23 and transferred to the new Savoy Theatre on October 10 for a total run of 578 performances

## Births

* January 4 – Nikolai Roslavets, Ukrainian composer (d. 1944)
* February 6 – Karl Weigl, Austrian composer (d. 1949)
* February 12 – Anna Pavlova, Russian ballerina and actress (d. 1931)
* February 21 – Kenneth J. Alford, English band composer (d. 1945)
* March 10 – Frank Mullings, English tenor (d. 1953)
* March 16 – Fannie Charles Dillon, American composer (d. 1947)
* March 18 – Paul Le Flem, French composer (d. 1984)
* March 23 – Egon Petri, Dutch-born pianist (d. 1962)
* March 25 – Béla Bartók, Hungarian composer (d. 1945)
* April 15 – David Thomas, Welsh composer (d. 1928)
* April 17 – Anton Wildgans, lyricist and playwright (died 1942)
* April 20 – Nikolai Myaskovsky, Polish-born Russian composer and teacher (d. 1950)
* May 11 – Jan van Gilse, Dutch composer (d. 1944)
* May 29 – Frederick Septimus Kelly, Australian-born musician (k. 1916)
* July 6 – Nancy Dalberg, Danish composer (d. 1949)
* August 15 – Ted Snyder, American composer and music publisher (d. 1965)
* August 18 – Hermann Zilcher, German composer (died 1948)
* August 19 – George Enescu, Romanian composer (d. 1955)
* August 29 – Edvin Kallstenius, Swedish composer (d. 1967)
* November 22 – Ethel Levey, American singer, dancer and actress (d. 1955)
* November 28 – Stefan Zweig, Austrian librettist of Richard Strauss's Die schweigsame Frau (suicide 1942)
* December 3 – Henry Fillmore, American band composer (d. 1956)
* December 24 – Charles Wakefield Cadman, American composer and songwriter (d. 1946)

## Deaths

* January 30 – Jacques-Nicolas Lemmens, Belgian, organist and composer, 58
* March 13 – Sophie Daguin, ballerina and choreographer, 79
* March 23 – Nikolai Rubinstein, pianist and composer, 45
* March 28 – Modest Mussorgsky, composer, 42 (alcohol-related)
* June 5 – Franjo Krežma, violinist and composer, 18 (tuberculosis)
* June 6 – Henri Vieuxtemps, composer, 61
* June 7 – Marie Gabriel Augustin Savard, music teacher and composer, 66
* July 3 – Achille De Bassini, operatic baritone, 62
* September 7 – Sidney Lanier, poet and flautist, 39 (tuberculosis)
* October 9 – Richard Wüerst, composer and music teacher, 57
* November 25 – Theobald Boehm, inventor of the modern flute, 87
* December 17 – Giulio Briccialdi, composer, 63
* December 30 – Corrado Miraglia, opera singer, 60
* date unknown – Francisco de Sá Noronha, violinist and composer (b. 1820)