1868 in music

Events

* Modest Mussorgsky begins work on "Boris Godunov", which is completed six years later.
* Johannes Brahms completes his work for soloists, chorus and orchestra, "Ein deutsches Requiem" (his Opus 45).
* Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 1 ("Winter Dreams") is first performed in Moscow (February 3).
* June 21 - Richard Wagner's opera "Die Meistersinger" debuts in Munich's Hoftheater. The conductor is Hans von Bülow.

Published popular music

* "Come Back To Erin" by Claribel
*"Her Bright Smile Haunts Me Still" w. J.E. Carpenter m. W.T. Wrighton
* "I Cannot Sing The Old Songs" w.m. Claribel (Charlotte Alington [Mrs. Charles Barnard] )
*"Little Footsteps" w. Michael Bennett Leavitt m. James A. Barney
* "The Man on the Flying Trapeze" by George Leybourne, Gaston Lyle, & Alfred Lee (first published the previous year)
* "Sweet Bye and Bye" w. S. Fillmore m. Joseph P. Webster
*"Walking In The Zoo" w. Hugh Willoughby Sweny m. Alfred Lee
* "The Whispering Hope" by Septimus Winner
* "The Widow In The Cottage By The Sea" w.m. Charles A. White
*"Yield Not To Temptation" w.m. Horatio R. Palmer

Classical music

*Jean-Baptiste Accolay - "Concerto for Violin no 1 in A minor"
*Georges Bizet - "Variations chromatiques de concert" for piano
*Ignaz Brüll - "Piano Concerto No. 2 in C", op. 24
*Peter Tchaikovsky - Songs Without Words; "Fatum"

Opera

*Arrigo Boito - "Mefistofele"
*Gaetano Braga - "Ruy Blas"
*Gialdino Gialdini - "Rosmunda" premiered March 5 at the Teatro Pergola, Florence
*Jacques Offenbach - "The Island of Tulipatan"
*Richard Wagner - "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg", premièred in the Königliches Hof- und National-Theater, Munich

Musical theater

* "La Belle Hélène" (Music by Jacques Offenbach Libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy) New York production opened at Pike's Opera House on November 2 and ran for 14 performances
* "Ixion" Broadway production opened at Wood's Museum and Metropolitan on September 28 and ran for 120 performances. Starring Lydia Thompson.
* "The White Fawn" Broadway production opened at Niblo's Garden on January 17 and ran for 176 performances

Births

* January 26 - Juventino Rosas, composer, band leader
* April 19 - Max von Schillings, composer, conductor
* April 22 - José Vianna da Motta, composer, pianist (d. 1948)
* August 7 - Granville Bantock, composer
* August 21 - Vess Ossman, ragtime banjo artist
* September 12 - Jan Brandts Buys, composer
*November 24 - Scott Joplin, US composer and pianist

Deaths

*January 3 - Moritz Hauptmann, composer (b. 1792)
*February 25 - Sophie Schröder, actress and singer (b. 1781)
*April 3 - Franz Berwald, composer (b. 1796)
*July 6 - Samuel Lover, songwriter (b. 1797)
*August 11 - Halfdan Kjerulf, composer (b. 1815)
*November 13 - Gioacchino Rossini, composer (b. 1792)
*November 25 - Franz Brendel, music critic (b. 1811)
*December 23 - Karl Ferdinand Adam, composer and cantor (b. 1806)
*"date unknown"
**Berl Broder, singer/troubadour (b. 1815)
**Erik Jonsson Helland, Hardanger fiddle maker (b. 1816)
**Karel Strakatý, singer (b. 1804)