# 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

## 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)