1879 in music

Specific locations

• 1879 in Norwegian music

  Events

• January 1 – The Violin Concerto of Johannes Brahms is premiered in Leipzig. Joseph Joachim was the soloist with Brahms conducting.
• December 31 – Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera The Pirates of Penzance opens at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City.
• Engelbert Humperdinck becomes the first winner of the Mendelssohn Award awarded by the Mendelssohn Stiftung of Berlin.
• The Monte Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra gains a permanent home at the Garnier Palace.

  Published popular music

• "O Dem Golden Slippers by James A. Bland
• "In the Morning By the Bright Light" by James A. Bland
• "My Visit to the Opera" by Joseph P. Skelly

  Classical music

• Henri Duparc – Le Manoir de Rosemonde
• Gabriel Fauré – Berceuse, for violin and piano
• César Franck – Piano Quintet
• Asger Hamerik – Concert Romance for Cello and Piano
• Franz Lachner – Elegie for Flute and Organ
• Charles-Marie Widor – Symphony for Organ No. 5
• Bedřich Smetana – Ten Czech Dances, for piano

  Opera

• Giovanni Bottesini – Ero e Leandro
• Miguel Marqués – Camoens
• Viktor Nessler – Der Rattenfänger von Hameln
• Camille Saint-Saëns – Étienne Marcel
• Peter Tchaikovsky – Eugene Onegin

  Musical theater

• The Mulligan Guards' Ball Broadway production opens at the Comique Theatre on January 13 and runs for 153 performances
• The Mulligan Guards' Chowder Broadway production opens at the Comique Theatre on August 11 and runs for 112 performances
• The Mulligan Guards' Christmas Broadway production opens at the Comique Theatre on November 17 and runs for 104 performances

  Births

• January 3 – Lina Abarbanell, German-American soprano
• January 10 – Armanda Degli Abbati, Italian opera singer
• February 9 – Natanael Berg, Swedish composer
• February 26 – Frank Bridge, composer
• April 1 – Louise Gunning, Broadway and vaudeville singer
• May 22
• *Jean Cras, French composer
• *Eastwood Lane, composer
• June 13 – Maria Gay, opera singer
• June 21 – Henry Creamer, US songwriter
• July 5 – Philippe Gaubert, composer
• July 9 – Ottorino Respighi, composer
• August 1 – Eva Tanguay, singer, vaudeville star
• August 18 – Gus Edwards, Prussian-born US songwriter and entertainer
• August 31 – Alma Mahler, born Alma Schindler, Viennese-born composer and wife of Gustav Mahler
• September 30 – Henri Casadesus, violist and music publisher
• October 12 – Chris Smith, composer
• October 18 – Grzegorz Fitelberg, Polish conductor, violinist and composer
• October 21 – Joseph Canteloube, composer
• November 2 – Ramón Montoya, Spanish flamenco guitarist
• December 1 – Beth Slater Whitson, US lyric writer
• December 4 – Hamilton Harty, composer
• December 7 – Rudolf Friml, pianist and composer of operettas and musicals
• December 19 – Otto Olsson, Swedish composer
• December 26 – Julius Weismann, German conductor and composer

  Deaths

• January 8 – Ferdo Livadić, composer
• February 20 – John Orlando Parry, pianist, singer and comedian
• April 9 – Ernst Friedrich Eduard Richter, music theorist
• May 27 – E. S. Engelsberg, composer
• June 3 – Frances Ridley Havergal, hymn-writer
• July 6 – Henry Smart, organist and composer
• August 4 – Adelaide Kemble, opera singer
• September 12 – Peter Arnold Heise, composer
• October 14 – Karl Anton Eckert, conductor and composer
• November 30 – August Bournonville, Danish ballet-master and choreographer
• December 24 – Anna Bochkoltz, German operatic soprano, voice teacher and composer