1887 in music

Specific locations

• 1887 in Norwegian music

  Events

Published popular music

• "Angels Without Wings" w.m. George Dance
• "Away In A Manger" w. anon m. James Ramsey Murray
• "Calvary" w. Henry Vaughn m. Paul Rodney
• "Comrades" Felix McGlennon & George Horncastle
• "The Song That Reached My Heart" w.m. Julian Jordan
• "Ti! Hi! Tiddelly Hi!", w.m. Joseph Tabrar
• From the score of Ruddigore :
• *"I Know A Youth Who Loves A Maid"
• *"I Shipped, D'Ye See, In A Revenue Sloop"
• *"My Boy, You May Take It From Me"
• *"There Grew A Little Flower"
• *"When The Night Wind Howls"

  [Classical music]

• Isaac Albéniz
• *Sonatas Nos. 3, 4 and 5 for piano
• *Concierto fantástico in A minor
• Johannes Brahms – Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra, Op. 102
• Anton Bruckner – Symphony No. 8
• Ruperto Chapi – La Bruja
• Gustave Charpentier – Didon
• Felix Draeseke – Sonata for Clarinet and Piano in B♭, Op. 38
• Antonín Dvořák – Piano Quintet No. 2 in A, Op. 81
• Gabriel Fauré
• *2 Songs, Op. 46
• *Pavane in F-sharp minor, Op. 50
• Robert Fuchs – Symphony No. 2 in E, Op. 45
• Edvard Grieg – Third Sonata for Violin and Piano in C minor, opus 45
• Asger Hamerik – Requiem
• Sergei Lyapunov – Symphony No. 1 in B minor, Op. 12
• José Vianna da Motta – Piano Concerto in A major
• Hans Pfitzner – Scherzo in C minor
• Josef Rheinberger
• *Organ Sonata No. 11 in D minor, op. 148
• *Suite for organ, violin and cello, op. 149
• Camille Saint-Saëns
• *Souvenir d'Italie, Op. 80
• *Feuillet d'album, Op. 81
• *Pas redoublé, Op. 86
• Alexander Scriabin – Étude in C-sharp minor, No. 1 from Trois morceaux, Op. 2
• Charles Villiers Stanford – An Irish Symphony, Op. 28
• Richard Strauss – Violin Sonata in E, Op. 18
• Hugo Wolf – Italian Serenade for string quartet

  Opera

• Aleksandr Borodin – Prince Igor
• Emmanuel Chabrier – Le roi malgré lui
• Charles Edouard Lefebvre – Zaïre premiered in Lille
• Adolf Neuendorff – Prince Waldmeister
• Camille Saint-Saëns – Proserpine
• Johann Strauss II – Simplicius
• Giuseppe Verdi – Otello

  [Musical theater]

• Dorothy Broadway production opened at the Standard Theatre on November 5 and transferred to the Grand Opera House on April 16, 1888, for a total run of 51 performances
• Ruddigore London and Broadway productions

  Births

• January 28 – Arthur Rubinstein, pianist
• February 3 – Georg Trakl, poet and lyricist
• February 7 – Eubie Blake, jazz pianist and composer
• February 23 – Oskar Lindberg, composer
• March 3 – Hart Wand, composer, fiddler, bandleader
• March 4 – Violet MacMillan, Broadway and silent movie actress
• March 5 – Heitor Villa-Lobos, Brazilian composer
• March 7 – Heino Eller, composer
• March 22 – Chico Marx, piano-playing comedian
• March 23 – Anthony van Hoboken, musicologist
• March 25 – Nicolae Bretan, opera composer
• March 31 – José María Usandizaga, opera and symphonic composer
• April 9 – Florence Price, composer
• April 10 – Heinz Tiessen, composer
• May 12 – Bertha Lewis, operatic contralto
• May 30 – Emil Reesen, Danish composer, conductor, and pianist
• June 25 – George Abbott, US librettist and director
• July 2 – Marcel Tabuteau, oboist
• July 29 – Sigmund Romberg, composer
• August 25 – Fartein Valen, composer
• September 14 – Paul Kochanski, violinist
• September 15 – Ernest Whitfield, 1st Baron Kenswood, violinist and welfare worker
• September 16 – Nadia Boulanger, composer, conductor and music teacher
• September 19 – Rosita Marstini, dancer and film actress
• October 6 – Maria Jeritza, operatic soprano
• October 11 – Oscar Shaw, actor and singer
• November 1 – Max Trapp, composer
• December 6 – Joseph Lamb, ragtime composer
• December 7 – Ernst Toch, composer
• December 8 – Vicente Emilio Sojo, musicologist and composer
• December 12 – Kurt Atterberg, composer
• December 24 – Lucrezia Bori, operatic soprano
• December 27
• *Gertie Gitana, music hall singer
• *Bernard van Dieren, composer
• date unknown
• *David Beigelman, violinist
• *Carlo Jachino, composer

  Deaths

• January 19 – Nelly Power, music hall performer
• January 30 – Frederick Lablache, singer
• February 7 – Hanna Brooman, composer, translator and educator
• February 21 – James Lorraine Geddes, songwriter
• February 27 – Alexander Borodin, composer
• March 2 – Wilhelm Troszel, operatic bass and composer
• March 11 – Ludvig Mathias Lindeman, composer
• March 24 – Justin Holland, classical guitarist and civil rights activist
• April 23 – John Ceiriog Hughes, lyricist and collector of folk tunes
• May 12 – Francesco Malipiero, composer
• June 24 – Filippo Filippi, music critic
• July 17 – Louis Mérante, dancer and choreographer
• August 15 – Hedvig Willman, opera singer
• August 16 – Alice May, singer and actress
• October 1 – Robert Stoepel, conductor and composer
• October 18 – Matteo Salvi, opera composer
• October 31 – George Alexander Macfarren, composer
• November 2 – Jenny Lind, singer, "the Swedish Nightingale"
• November 18 – Eduard Marxsen, pianist and composer
• December 2 – Thomas Philander Ryder, composer, organist, teacher, conductor, and organ builder
• December 5 – Eliza R. Snow, lyricist
• date unknown – Georg Unger, operatic tenor