1881 in music

Events

* February 10 - Offenbach's "Tales of Hoffmann" debuts in Paris
* November 9 - Johannes Brahms' "Piano Concerto No. 2" is given its public premiere in Budapest
* December 4 - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's "Violin Concerto" is premiered in Vienna

Published popular music

* "Loch Lomond"
* "Good Bye!" by Francesco Paolo Tosti
* "My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean"
* "Slowly and Sadly" (President Garfield Memorial Tribute)" by Arabella M. Root

Classical music

* Victor Bendix - "Symphony No. 1 in C op. 16 Mountain Climbing"
*Alexander Borodin - "String Quartet #2 in D"
* Johannes Brahms - "Tragic Overture op. 81" revised; "Nänie op. 82"
* Max Bruch - "Kol Nidre" for cello and orchestra finished
* César Franck - "Rébecca" (oratorio)
* Franz Liszt - Nuages Gris
* Giuseppe Martucci - "Fantasia for piano op. 51"
* Camille Saint-Saëns - "Septet op. 65" for piano, trumpet and strings; "Hymne à Victor Hugo"
* Charles-Marie Widor - "First Sonata for Piano and Violin op. 50" ( [http://www.recordsinternational.com/RICatalogAug00.html] )

Opera

*Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - "Joan Of Arc"
*Leoš Janáček - "Šárka"

Musical theater

* "Les contes d'Hoffmann" (Jacques Offenbach) - Paris production
* "The Mascot" ("La Mascotte") Broadway production opened at the Bijou Theatre on May 5
* "Patience" (Gilbert and Sullivan) - London production opened at the Opera-Comique Theatre on April 23 and transferred to the Savoy Theatre on October 10 for a total run of 578 performances

Births

* January 4 (or 5) - Nikolai Roslavets, Ukrainian composer (d. 1944)
* February 6 - Karl Weigl, Austrian composer (d. 1949)
* March 16 - Ernie Hare, US singer
* March 18 - Paul Le Flem, French composer (d. 1984)
* March 23 - Egon Petri, pianist (d. 1962)
* March 25 - Béla Bartók
*April 20 - Nikolai Myaskovsky, Russian composer and teacher of Polish birth (d. 1950)
*May 11 - Jan van Gilse, Dutch composer (d. 1944)
*August 15 - Ted Snyder, US composer and music publisher
*August 29 - Edvin Kallstenius, Swedish composer (d. 1967)
*August 19 - George Enescu, Romanian composer (d. 1955)
*November 22 - Ethel Levey, US singer, dancer & actress
* November 28 - Stefan Zweig, librettist of Richard Strauss's "Die schweigsame Frau (The Silent Woman)"
* December 3 - Henry Fillmore
* December 24 - Charles Wakefield Cadman, composer and songwriter
* "unknown date" - David John Thomas, Welsh composer

Deaths

*January 30 - Jacques-Nicolas Lemmens, Belgian, organist and composer (b. 1823)
*March 23 - Nikolai Grigoryevich Rubinstein, pianist and composer (b. 1835)
*March 28 - Modest Mussorgsky, composer
*June 5 - Franjo Krežma, violinist and composer
*June 6 - Henri Vieuxtemps (b. 1820)
*July 3 - Achille De Bassini, operatic baritone (b. 1819)
*September 7 - Sidney Lanier, poet and flautist (b. 1842)
*October 9 - Richard Wüerst, composer and music teacher (b. 1824)
*November 25 - Theobald Boehm, inventor of the modern flute
*December 17 - Giulio Briccialdi, composer (b. 1818)