# 1888 in music

This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1888.

## Specific locations

* 1888 in Norwegian music

## Events

* January 5 – The Neues deutsches Theater, Prague, is inaugurated with a performance of Wagner's opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.
* April 11 – The Concertgebouw in Amsterdam is inaugurated.
* June 29 – G. F. Handel's Israel in Egypt is recorded onto wax cylinder at The Crystal Palace in London, the earliest known recording of classical music.
* August 14 – A recording of Arthur Sullivan's "The Lost Chord" is played during a press conference introducing Thomas Edison's phonograph in London.
* October 5 – At the age of seven, George Enescu becomes the youngest student ever admitted to the Vienna Conservatory
* Gustav Mahler completes a projected symphonic poem, Totenfeier (Funeral Rites). It will eventually become the opening movement of his Symphony No. 2.

## Published popular music

* "Drill, Ye Tarriers, Drill" anonymous possibly Thomas F. Casey
* "Over The Waves" ("Sobre las Olas") w.m. Juventino Rosas
* "Where Did You Get That Hat?" w.m. Joseph J. Sullivan
* "The Whistling Coon" w.m. Sam Devere

## Classical music

* Johannes Brahms – Violin Sonata in D Minor (opus 108)
* Cécile Chaminade – Scarf Dance, Callirhoe (ballet)
* Claude Debussy - Arabesque No. 1, L. 66 for piano
* Frederick Delius – Hiawatha (tone poem)
* Gabriel Fauré – Requiem in D minor, Op. 48
* César Franck
** Symphony in D Minor
** Psyché, a symphonic poem with choir (based on the Greek myth), premiere March 10 1888
* Edvard Grieg
** Lyric Pieces for Piano, Book IV
** Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 Op. 46
* Augusta Holmes – La Nuit et l'amour
* Edwin Lemare
** Andantino in D-flat, also known as Moonlight and Roses, Op. 83 No. 2
* Gustav Mahler –
** Symphony No. 1
** Lieder aus "Des Knaben Wunderhorn" (song collection)
* Carl Nielsen – Suite for String Orchestra
* Ignacy Jan Paderewski – Piano Concerto in A minor
* Max Reger – String Quartet in D minor (with double bass obbligato; without op.) (1888–9)
* Joseph Rheinberger – Organ Sonata No. 12 in D-flat, Op. 154
* Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov –
** Sheherazade
** Russian Easter Festival Overture
* Erik Satie – Gymnopédie for piano
* Richard Strauss
** Don Juan, Macbeth and Death and Transfiguration (first version)
* Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
** Symphony No. 5
* Hugo Wolf
** Goethe-Lieder
** Mörike-Lieder

## Opera

* Karel Miry – La Napolitaine (opera in 1 act, libretto by J. de Bruyne), premiered on February 25 in Antwerp
* Emile Pessard – Tartarin sur les Alpes premiered on November 17 at the Théâtre de la Gaîté, Paris
* Camille Saint-Saëns – Ascanio
* Carl Maria von Weber, completed by Gustav Mahler – Die Drei Pintos

## Musical theater

* The Yeomen of the Guard by W. S. Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan, premiered on October 3 at the Savoy Theatre, London and on October 17 at the Casino Theatre (Broadway), New York

## Births

* January 20 – Huddie William Ledbetter (Lead Belly), American folk and blues singer (d. 1949)
* January 26 – Lisa Steier, Swedish ballerina (d. 1928)
* February 9 – Ernst Mehlich, German-Brazilian conductor and composer (d. 1977)
* February 27 – Lotte Lehmann, singer (d. 1976)
* May 10 – Max Steiner, composer (d. 1971)
* May 11 – Irving Berlin, composer (d. 1989)
* May 27 – Louis Durey, composer, member of Les Six (d. 1979)
* June 3 – Tom Brown, jazz trombonist (d. 1958)
* June 6 – Pete Wendling, American composer, pianist, and piano roll recording artist (d. 1974)
* June 16 – Bobby Clark, American comedian and singer (d. 1960)
* June 17 – Bernhard van den Sigtenhorst Meyer, Dutch composer (d. 1953)
* June 25 – Rosalie Housman, American composer (d. 1949)
* August 16 – Armand J. Piron, jazz musician (d. 1943)
* September 12 – Maurice Chevalier, French singer and actor (d. 1972)
* October 7 – Cecil Coles, composer (d. 1918)
* November 16 – Luis Cluzeau Mortet, Uruguayan composer (d. 1957)
* November 23 – Harpo Marx, American comedian, film star, mime artist and musician (d. 1964)
* November 26 – Francisco Canaro, Uruguayan-born Argentine violinist, composer (d. 1964)
* December 28 – Gabriel von Wayditch, American composer of operas (d. 1969)

## Deaths

* January 5 – Henri Herz, pianist and composer, 84
* January 14 – Stephen Heller, pianist and composer, 74
* February 7 – Aurore von Haxthausen, pianist and composer
* February 22 – Jean-Delphin Alard, violinist and music teacher, 72
* March 10 – Ciro Pinsuti, pianist and composer, 58
* March 21 – Thomas German Reed, composer and theatre manager, 72
* March 29 – Charles-Valentin Alkan, French pianist and composer, 74 (killed in freak accident, trapped beneath a falling coat-rack)
* April 21 – Julius Weissenborn, bassoonist, 51
* June 13 – Timoteo Pasini, Italian composer, conductor, and pianist, 59
* August 8 – Friedrich Wilhelm Jähns, composer, music teacher and cataloguer, 79
* August 31 – Blanche Cole, operatic soprano, 37 (dropsy)
* November 17 – Jakob Dont, violinist and composer, 73
* December 2 – Franz Xaver Witt, church musician and composer, 54
* December 26 – Alfred Vance, English music hall singer and comedian, 49 (died on stage)