1878 in music

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 `Oe" 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:
• * "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

  Classical music

• Johannes Brahms
• *Motets Op. 74
• *Eight Pieces 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
• * String Sextet,
• * Slavonic Dances, Set 1
• * Three Slavonic Rhapsodies
• Gabriel Fauré – Chanson Après un rêve
• Niels Gade – Capriccio for violin and orchestra in A minor
• Edvard Grieg – String Quartet No. 1 in G minor, Op. 27
• Hans Huber – Piano Concerto No. 1 in C minor, Op. 36
• Vincent d'Indy – La forêt enchantée
• Édouard Lalo – Fantaisie norvégienne
• Giuseppe Martucci
• * Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor
• * Piano Quintet in C major, Op. 45
• Ole Olsen – Asgårdsreien, Op 10
• Joachim Raff – Symphony No. 9 Im Sommer, Op. 208
• Josef Rheinberger
• * Mass in E-flat for double choir, Op. 109
• * 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
• Bernhard Scholz – String Quintet Op. 47
• 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.

  Opera

• Alfred Cellier – After All!
• Charles Gounod – Polyeucte
• Charles Edouard Lefebvre – Lucrèce
• Miguel Marqués – El anillo de hierro
• 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
• January 23 – Rutland Boughton, English composer
• February 16 – Selim Palmgren, Finnish composer
• February 26 – Emmy Destinn, Czech soprano
• February 28 – Artur Kapp, Estonian composer
• March 4 – Egbert Van Alstyne, American songwriter
• March 23 – Franz Schreker, Austrian composer, conductor and teacher
• March 29 – Albert Von Tilzer, American songwriter
• May 24 – Louis Fleury, French flautist
• May 25 – Bill Robinson, American tap dancer, singer, actor
• July 3 – George M. Cohan, American songwriter, entertainer
• July 5 – Joseph Holbrooke, English composer
• July 9 – Eduard Sõrmus, Estonian violinist
• July 12 – Percy Hilder Miles, English composer, violinist and teacher
• July 22 – Ernest Ball, American singer-songwriter
• July 25 – Heinrich Gebhard, German-born composer
• August 18 – Fritz Brun, Swiss composer and conductor
• August 22 – Edward Johnson, Canadian operatic tenor
• August 28 – Laura de Turczynowicz, Canadian-born opera singer
• September 17 – Vincenzo Tommasini, Italian composer
• October 18 – Blind Uncle Gaspard, American Cajun vocalist and guitarist
• October 19 – Alphonse Picou, American jazz clarinettist
• November 4 – Jean Schwartz, Hungarian-born songwriter
• November 23 – André Caplet, French composer and conductor
• Undated – Ustad Qasim, Afghan musician

  Deaths

• January 15 – Carlo Blasis, dancer and choreographer
• February 2 – Josif Runjanin, composer
• April 8 – Henriette "Jetty" Treffz, singer, first wife and business manager of Johann Strauss II
• April 21 – Temistocle Solera, librettist and composer
• May 6 – François Benoist, organist and composer
• July 2 – François Bazin, opera composer
• August 23 – Adolf Fredrik Lindblad, composer
• October 13-October 25 – Ludwig Wilhelm Maurer, violinist, conductor and composer
• November – Marco Aurelio Zani de Ferranti, guitarist and composer
• November 13 – Carl Heissler, violinist
• December 18 – Heinrich Proch, composer
• December 28 – José Bernardo Alcedo, composer of the Peruvian national anthem
• date unknown – Robert Heller, pianist and magician