# 1890 in music

Events in the year 1890 in music.

## Specific locations

* 1890 in Norwegian music

## Events

* January 15 – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty (ballet) premieres at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg.
* January–June period – George W. Johnson becomes the first African American to record phonograph cylinders, in New York.
* June 21 – Richard Strauss conducts the premiere of his symphonic poem Death and Transfiguration at the Eisenach Festival.
* September 3 – Carl Nielsen makes the first entry in his diary.
* September 9 – Edward Elgar's concert overture Froissart is premiered at the Three Choirs Festival in Worcester.
* December 6 – 7 – First full performance of Hector Berlioz's opera Les Troyens takes place at Karlsruhe, 21 years after the composer's death.
* Charles-Marie Widor succeeds César Franck as organ professor at the Paris Conservatoire.
* The New York Phonograph Company opens the first recording studio.

## Published popular music

* "The Commodore Song"
* "I was Dreaming" – August Juncker
* "Little Pig Went To Market" by J. Cheever Goodwin & Gustave Kerker
* "Maggie Murphy's Home" w. Edward Harrigan m. David Braham
* "Passing By" w. Robert Herrick m. Edward C. Purcell
* "Star of the East" w. George Cooper m. Amanda Kennedy
* "Throw Him Down McCloskey" w.m. John W. Kelly
* "You'll Miss Lots of Fun When You're Married" by John Philip Sousa & Edward M. Taber

## Recorded popular music

* "Banjo Duet" – Bohee Minstrels
* The Charge of the Light Brigade (bugle charge) – Trumpeter Martin Landfried
* "Down upon the Suwannee River" – Professor Baton's Brass and String Military Band
* "Everybody's Darling" – Duffy and Imgrund's Fifth Regiment Band
* "La Media Noche" – United States Marine Band
* "Semper Fidelis" – United States Marine Band
* "The Song That Reached My Heart" – Duffy & Imgrund's Fifth Regiment Band
* "The Thunderer" – United States Marine Band
* "The Washington Post" – United States Marine Band
* "The Whistling Coon" – George W. Johnson

## Classical music

* Ferruccio Busoni – Violin Sonata No. 1, Opus 29
* Ernest Chausson – Chansons de Shakespeare
* Antonín Dvořák –
** Requiem
** Symphony No. 8
* Edward Elgar – Froissart
* Alexander Glazunov – Symphony No. 3, Opus 33
* Armas Järnefelt – Ouverture Lyrique
* Carl Nielsen – String Quartet No. 2 in F minor
* Hans Pfitzner – Sonata in F-sharp minor for cello and piano
* Alexander Scriabin – Romance for Horn and Piano
* Jean Sibelius – Piano Quintet in G minor
* Johann Strauss II – Rathausball-Tänze
* Sergei Taneyev – String Quartet No. 1 Opus 4
* William Robert Knox – Gladys Gavotte

## Opera

* Cavalleria Rusticana by Pietro Mascagni
* Prince Igor begun by Alexander Borodin, completed by Alexander Glazunov and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
* Queen of Spades by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
* Thorgrim by Frederic H. Cowen with libretto by Joseph Bennett

## Musical theater

* The Gondoliers Broadway production
* Love And Law Broadway production
* Robin Hood Chicago production
* The Sentry London production
* Reilly And The 400 Broadway production

## Births

* February 25 – Myra Hess, pianist (d. 1965)
* February 27 – Freddie Keppard, jazz cornetist (d. 1933)
* March 12 – Evert Taube, writer, artist, composer and singer (d. 1976)
* March 17 – Harold Morris, pianist and composer (d. 1964)
* March 20
** Beniamino Gigli, operatic tenor (d. 1957)
** Lauritz Melchior, operatic tenor (d. 1973)
* March 28 – Paul Whiteman, bandleader (d. 1967)
* April 17 – Gussie Mueller, jazz clarinetist (d. 1965)
* May 21 – Harry Tierney, songwriter, composer of "Irene" and "Rio Rita" (d. 1965)
* June 6 – Ted Lewis, bandleader (d. 1971)
* June 26 – Jeanne Eagels, Broadway star (d. 1929)
* July 18 – Victor Dolidze, Soviet-Georgian composer (d. 1933)
* August 12 – Lillian Evanti, operatic soprano (d. 1967)
* August 15 – Jacques Ibert, composer (d. 1962)
* August 28 – Ivor Gurney, poet and composer (d. 1937)
* September 9 – Francis Bousquet, French composer of classical music (d. 1942)
* September 15 – Frank Martin, composer (d. 1974)
* September 26 – Papanasam Sivan, Carnatic music composer (d. 1973)
* October 1 – Stanley Holloway, English actor and singer (d. 1982)
* October 8 – Samuel Hoffenstein, screenwriter and composer (d. 1947)
* October 13 – Gösta Nystroem, composer (d. 1966)
* October 20 – Jelly Roll Morton, American pianist, bandleader and composer (d. 1941)
* November 10 – Mischa Bakaleinikoff, musical director (d. 1960)
* December 8 – Bohuslav Martinů, classical composer (d. 1959)

## Deaths

* January 8 – Giorgio Ronconi, operatic baritone (b. 1810)
* January 16 – Arthur Byron, operatic tenor (b. 1846)
* January 17 – Salomon Sulzer, cantor and composer (b. 1804)
* January 20 – Franz Lachner, conductor and composer (b. 1803)
* February 14 – Wilhelm Fitzenhagen, cellist and music teacher (b. 1848)
* March 13 – Henry Wylde, conductor, composer, music teacher and critic (b. 1822)
* April 16 – John Barnett, composer and music writer (b. 1802)
* May 6 – Hubert Léonard, violinist (b. 1819)
* May 28 – Viktor Nessler, composer (b. 1841)
* June 3 – Oskar Kolberg, folklorist and composer (b. 1814)
* June 30 – Samuel Parkman Tuckerman, composer (b. 1819)
* July 22 – Caterina Canzi, opera singer (b. 1805)
* October 7 – John Hill Hewitt, songwriter (b. 1801)
* October 17 – Prosper Sainton, violinist (b. 1813)
* October 28 – Alexander John Ellis, music theorist (b. 1814)
* November 8 – César Franck, composer (b. 1822)
* December 21 – Niels Gade, composer (b. 1817)
* date unknown – Ostap Veresai, minstrel and kobzar (b. 1803)