1894 in music

Specific locations

• 1894 in Norwegian music

  Events

• March 14 – Johan Svendsen conducts the world premiere of Carl Nielsen's Symphony No. 1 in Copenhagen.
• April 19 – Jules Massenet's opera "Werther" is staged in New York City.
• September 22 – Opening of the Teatro Lirico Internazionale in Milan.
• December 22 – Claude Debussy's Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune is premiered in Paris
• Enrico Caruso makes his operatic debut.
• The National College of Music, London, was formed by the Moss Family. The college still exists today as an examination board for music and drama.
• George H. Thomas develops the first illustrated song to promote The Little Lost Child, which goes on to sell more than two million copies of its sheet music nationwide.

  Published popular music

• "Airy, Fairy Lillian" w. Tony Raymond m. Maurice Levi
• "And Her Golden Hair Was Hanging Down Her Back" w. Monroe H. Rosenfeld m. Felix McGlennon
• "At Trinity Church I Met My Doom" w.m. Fred Gilbert
• "Don't Be Cross" by Karl Zeller from the operetta Der Obersteiger
• "Forgotten" w. Flora Wulschner m. Eugene Cowles
• "He's Got To Keep A-Movin'" w.m. T.W. Connor
• "His Last Thoughts Were Of You" w. Edward B. Marks m. Joseph W. Stern
• "The Honeymoon" m. George Rosey
• "I Don't Want To Play In Your Yard" w. Philip Wingate m. Henry W. Petrie
• "If It Wasn't For The 'Ouses In Between" w. Edgar Bateman m. George Le Brunn
• "I'll Be True To My Honey Boy" w.m. George Evans
• "I've Been Working on the Railroad" w.m. trad
• "I Can't Change It!" w.m. T.W. Connor
• "Kathleen" w.m. Helene Mora
• "Little Kinkies" w.m. M. Tobias
• "The Little Lost Child" w. Edward B. Marks m. Joseph W. Stern
• "Long Ago In Alcala" w. Frederick Edward Weatherley & Adrian Ross m. André Messager
• "My Friend The Major" w.m. E. W. Rogers
• "My Pearl Is A Bowery Girl" w. William Jerome m. Andrew Mack
• "Oh! That Gorgonzola Cheese" w. Fred W. Leigh m. Harry Champion
• "The Owls Serenade" w. Arthur J. Lamb, m. H.W. Petrie
• "She Is More To Be Pitied Than Censured" w.m. William B. Gray
• "She May Have Seen Better Days" w.m. James Thornton
• "The Sidewalks of New York" w.m. Charles B. Lawlor & James W. Blake
• ""Why Did Nellie Leave Home?" by George M. Cohan
• "Yale Society Two-Step" by C. VanBaar
• "You've Been A Good Old Wagon But You've Done Broke Down" by Ben Harney

  Recorded popular music

• "And Her Golden Hair was Hanging Down Her Back" – Dan W. Quinn
• "Daisy Bell" – Edward M. Favor
• "Keep Movin'" – Standard Quartette
• "The Liberty Bell " – United States Marine Band
• ”Marc Anthony's Curse” - David C. Bangs
• "My Pearl is a Bowery Girl" – Dan W. Quinn
• "The Black Knights Templar" – George J. Gaskin
• ”The Sword of Bunker Hill” – Samuel Ross
• ”The Village Blacksmith” – David C. Bangs
• "Yankee Doodle" – Vess Ossman

  Classical music

• Anton Arensky – Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 32
• Johannes Brahms – Two Clarinet Sonatas, Op. 120
• Claude Debussy – Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune
• Antonín Dvořák
• * Humoresques Op. 101 for piano
• * American Suite for piano
• Robert Fuchs – Serenade No. 5 in D, Op. 53
• Alexander Gretchaninov – String Quartet no 1 in G major, Op. 2
• Victor Herbert – Concerto for Cello no 2 in E minor
• Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov – Caucasian Sketches
• Joseph Jongen – Quartet for Strings no 1 in C minor, op. 3
• Alexander Kopylov – String Quartet no 2 in F major, op. 23
• Gustav Mahler – Symphony No. 2
• Carl Nielsen
• * Symphony No. 1 in G minor
• * Symfonisk Suite for piano, FS 19
• Josef Rheinberger – Sonata for Horn and Piano in E-flat major
• Adolphe Samuel – Symphony No. 7 Opus 48
• Alexander Scriabin – 12 Études, Op. 8
• Wilhelm Stenhammar – String Quartet No. 1 in C major, Op. 2
• Louis Vierne – String Quartet in D minor, Op. 12

  [Opera]

• Granville Bantock – The Pearl of Iran
• Julius Bechgaard – Frau Inge
• Herman Bemberg – Cleopatra
• Frederick Delius – The Magic Fountain
• Charles-Édouard Lefebvre – Djelma premiered on May 25 at the Théâtre de l'Opéra in Paris
• Hamish MacCunn – Jeanie Deans
• Jules Massenet
• *La Navarraise
• *Le portrait de Manon
• *Thaïs 16 March at the Opéra Garnier
• Emile Pessard – Le muet
• Emil Nikolaus von Reznicek – Donna Diana
• Sergei Taneyev – Oresteia

  [Musical theater]

• A Gaiety Girl – Broadway production opened at Daly's Theatre on September 17 and ran for 81 performances
• The Mine Foreman – Austrian production opened at the Theater an der Wien on January 5
• The Passing Show – Broadway production opened at the Casino Theatre on May 5
• Rob Roy, premiered in Detroit on October 1; Broadway production opened at the Herald Square Theatre on October 29 and ran for 168 performances
• The Shop Girl – London production opened at the Gaiety Theatre on November 24 and ran for 546 performances
• A Trip To Chinatown – London production opened at Toole's Theatre on September 29 and ran for 125 performances

  Births

• January 31 – Isham Jones, American bandleader and composer
• February 11 – Alfonso Leng, Chilean dentist and part-time classical composer
• February 20 – Jimmy Yancey, American jazz pianist
• April 3 – Dooley Wilson, African American pianist and singer
• April 15 – Bessie Smith, African American blues singer
• April 27 – Nicolas Slonimsky, Russian-born American conductor and composer
• May 10 – Dimitri Tiomkin, Russian-born American film music composer, pianist and conductor
• May 29 – Beatrice Lillie, Canadian actress and singer
• June 1 – Percival Mackey, English pianist, film music composer and bandleader
• June 4 – La Bolduc, Québécois singer
• June 10 – Punch Miller, American Dixieland jazz trumpeter
• July 10 – Jimmy McHugh, American songwriter and pianist
• August 15 – Harry Akst, American songwriter and pianist
• September 3 – Marie Dubas, French music-hall singer
• September 18 – Willard Robison, American songwriter and bandleader
• September 25 – J. Mayo Williams, African American blues music producer
• September 26 – Vaughn De Leath, American crooner, "The Original Radio Girl"
• December 31 – Ernest John Moeran, British composer

  Deaths

• January 13 – Nadezhda von Meck, patron of Tchaikovsky
• January 21 – Guillaume Lekeu, composer
• January 24 - Laura Schirmer Mapleson, American opera singer
• January 30 – Giovanni Masutto, Italian musicologist and flautist
• February 4
• * Louis Lewandowski, composer
• * Adolphe Sax, Belgian instrument maker, inventor of the saxophone
• February 11 – Emilio Arrieta, composer
• February 12 – Hans von Bülow, pianist, conductor and composer
• February 18 – Camillo Sivori, violinist and composer
• March 21 – Jakob Rosenhain, pianist and composer
• April 13
• * Marie Carandini, opera singer
• * Philipp Spitta, musicologist and biographer of Bach
• June 9 – Juventino Rosas, violinist and composer
• June 23 – Marietta Alboni, operatic contralto
• July 26 – Eduard Tauwitz, composer
• September 13 – Emmanuel Chabrier, composer
• September 21 – Emma Fursch-Madi, operatic soprano
• October 16 – Johanna Jachmann-Wagner, opera singer, actress and music teacher
• October 28 – Rudolf Hildebrand, historian of the German folk song
• November 4 – Eugène Oudin, composer
• November 20 – Anton Rubinstein, pianist and composer