1870 in music

Events

• January 6 – The Musikverein concert hall opens in Vienna
• March 16 – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's fantasy-overture Romeo and Juliet debuts in Moscow, conducted by Nikolai Rubinstein
• May 25 – Léo Delibes' ballet Coppélia is debuted by the Théâtre Impérial de l'Opéra at the Salle Le Peletier in Paris
• June 26 – Richard Wagner's opera Die Walküre premieres at the Königliches Hof- und National-Theater, Munich
• September – Siege of Paris begins: Georges Bizet, Gabriel Fauré and Camille Saint-Saëns are among those enrolled in the National Guard for defence of the city
• Madame Rentz's Female Minstrels established in the United States by Michael B. Leavitt
• Richard Wagner nears completion of his opera Siegfried

  Published popular music

• "Come In Old Adam, Come In!" w. Alice Cary m. C. F. Shattuck
• "Just Touch the Harp Gently, My Pretty Louise" w. Samuel N. Mitchell m. Charles Blamphin

  Classical music

• Max Bruch – Symphony No. 2 in F minor, Op. 36
• Antonín Dvořák
• *Dramatic Overture
• *String Quartet no. 3 in D, B. 18
• *String Quartet no. 4 in E minor, B. 19
• Charles Gounod – Messe des Orphéonistes
• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – Romeo and Juliet overture
• Valentin Zubiaurre – Symphony in E major

  Opera

• Antonín Dvořák
• *Alfred, B. 16
• Karel Miry
• *La Saint-Lucas
• *Het Driekoningenfeest
• Emile Pessard – La cruche cassée
• Bedřich Smetana – Prodana Nevesta
• Richard Wagner – Die Walküre

  Musical theater

• Chilpéric London production
• La Mascotte Paris production
• Jacques Offenbach - La Périchole London production

  Births

• January 3 – Henry Eichheim, conductor, violinist and composer
• January 20 – Guillaume Lekeu, composer
• January 22 – Charles Tournemire, French composer and organist
• January 30 – Rudolf Louis, critic, conductor and author
• February 12 – Marie Lloyd, British music-hall singer
• February 13 – Leopold Godowsky, Polish American pianist, composer, and teacher
• March 6 – Oscar Straus, Viennese composer of operettas
• April 7 – Joseph Ryelandt, Belgian composer
• April 28 – Hermann Suter, Swiss composer and conductor
• April 30 – Franz Lehár, composer of operettas and waltzes
• May 4 – Zygmunt Stojowski, Polish pianist and composer
• July 18 – Emil Młynarski, Polish conductor, violinist, composer, and pedagogue
• August 4 – Harry Lauder, Scottish singer, comedian and songwriter
• August 12 – Arthur J. Lamb, lyricist and actor
• September 28 – Florent Schmitt, French composer
• October 7 – Uncle Dave Macon, banjo player, singer and songwriter
• October 8 – Louis Vierne, French organist and composer
• October 24 – August Brunetti-Pisano, Austrian composer
• November 30 – Cecil Forsyth, composer and musicologist
• December 5 – Vítězslav Novák, Czech composer
• December 16 – Alfred Hill, Australian composer

  Deaths

• January 26 – Cesare Pugni, ballet composer
• March 10 – Ignaz Moscheles, Bohemian composer
• March 16 – Theodore Oesten, musician, composer and music teacher
• April 8 – Charles de Bériot, violinist
• April 19 – Camille-Marie Stamaty, French pianist and composer
• July 22 – Josef Strauss, composer
• August 14 – Manuel Saumell, composer
• September 17 – Joseph David Jones, composer and schoolmaster
• October 20 – Michael William Balfe, composer
• October 31 – Mihály Mosonyi, composer
• November 23 – Giuseppina Bozzachi, ballerina
• December 7 – Mykhailo Verbytsky, composer
• December 17 – Saverio Mercadante, composer
• December 18 – Eugène Ketterer, French composer and pianist
• December 28 – Alexei Lvov, Russian composer