1879 in music

Events

• December 31 - Gilbert & Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance debuts in New York City
• Engelbert Humperdinck becomes the first winner of the Mendelssohn Award awarded by the Mendelssohn Stiftung (foundation) 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
• 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

Opera

• Giovanni Bottesini - Ero e Leandro
• Miguel Marqués - Camoens
• Viktor Nessler - Der Rattenfänger von Hameln
• Peter Tchaikovsky - Eugene Onegin

Musical theater

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

Births

• February 9 - Natanael Berg, Swedish composer (d. 1957)
• February 26 - Frank Bridge, composer (d. 1941)
• May 22 -
  • Jean Cras, French composer (d. 1932)
  • Eastwood Lane, composer (d. 1951)
• June 13 - Maria Gay, opera singer (d. 1943)
• June 21 - Henry Creamer, US songwriter (d. 1930)
• July 5 - Philippe Gaubert, composer (d. 1941)
• July 9 - Ottorino Respighi, composer (d. 1936)
• August 1 - Eva Tanguay, singer, vaudeville star (d. 1947)
• August 18 - Gus Edwards, Prussian-born US songwriter and entertainer (d. 1945)
• September 30 - Henri Casadesus, violist and music publisher (d. 1947)
• October 12 - Chris Smith, composer (d. 1949)
• October 18 - Grzegorz Fitelberg, Polish conductor, violinist and composer (d. 1953)
• October 21 - Joseph Canteloube, composer (d. 1957)
• December 1 - Beth Slater Whitson, US lyric writer (d. 1930)
• December 4 - Hamilton Harty, composer (d. 1941)
• December 19 - Otto Olsson, Swedish composer (d. 1964)

Deaths

• January 8 - Ferdo Livadić, composer (born 1799)
• February 20 - John Orlando Parry, pianist, singer and comedian (born 1810)
• 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 (born 1813)
• August 4 - Adelaide Kemble, opera singer
• September 12 - Peter Arnold Heise, composer
• October 14 - Karl Anton Eckert, conductor and composer (born 1820)
• November 30 - August Bournonville, ballet-master and choreographer