1883 in music

Events

• October 22 - Opening of the first Metropolitan Opera House.
• Friedrich Kiel is involved in a traffic accident from which he never completely recovered.
• The Gretsch Company, manufacturers of drums, banjos and guitars, opens in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Published popular music

• "A Boy's Best Friend Is His Mother"     w. Henry Miller m. Joseph P. Skelly
• "The Farmer In The Dell"     trad
• "La Golondrina"      m. Narciso Serradell
• "Polly Wolly Doodle (All The Day)"     trad
• "Ring Dem Heavenly Bells" by Sam Lucas
• "She Does The Fandango All Over The Place"     w.m. G. W. Hunt
• "There Is A Tavern In The Town"     anon
• "Transit Of Venus March"     m. John Philip Sousa

Classical music

• Isaac Albéniz - Barcarola for piano No. 1
• Anton Arensky - Piano Concerto in F minor, op. 2; Symphony No. 1 in B minor
• Johannes Brahms - Symphony No. 3
• Emmanuel Chabrier - España, rapsodie pour orchestre
• George Whitefield Chadwick - Thalia (concert overture)
• Antonín Dvořák - Scherzo capriccioso, op. 66/B. 131
• Charles Gounod - The Redemption (oratorio)
• Franz Liszt - La lugubre gondola (possible date of early version)
• Pablo de Sarasate - Carmen Fantasy
• Sergei Taneyev - Canzona for Clarinet and Strings in F minor
• Emil Waldteufel -Estudiantina

Opera

• Alfredo Catalani - Dejanice
• César Cui - Prisoner of the Caucasus
• Charles-Édouard Lefebvre - Le Trésor premiered in Angers
• Miguel Marqués - La cruz de fuego
• Karel Miry - De kleine patriot (opera in 4 acts, libretto by J. Hoste, premiered on December 23 in Brussels)

Musical theater

• Cordelia's Aspirations (Edward Harrigan & David Braham) Broadway production opened at the New Theatre Comique on November 5 and ran for 176 performances
• Eine Nacht in Venedig (A Night In Venice) Berlin and Vienna productions

Births

• February 11 - Paul von Klenau, Danish composer
• March 10 - Maria Barrientos, operatic soprano (d. 1946)
• March 19 - Josef Matthias Hauer, Austrian composer and theorist
• April 1 - Malcolm McEachern, concert singer (d. 1945)
• April 6 - Vernon Dalhart, U.S. singer
• April 13 (O.S. April 1) - Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov, Russian Soviet composer
• May 4 - Nikolai Malko, Ukrainian conductor
• May 5 - Petar Konjović, composer (d. 1970)
• May 26 - Mamie Smith, U.S. singer (d. 1946)
• May 28:
  • George Dyson, English musician and composer (d. 1964)
  • Václav Talich, Czech conductor
  • Riccardo Zandonai, opera composer (d. 1944)
• July 7 - Toivo Kuula, Finnish conductor and composer
• July 25 - Alfredo Casella, composer (d. 1947)
• July 29 - Manuel Infante, pianist and composer (d. 1958)
• September 18 - Gerald Tyrwhitt-Wilson, 14th Baron Berners, British composer
• October 2 - Frico Kafenda, Slovak composer
• October 22 - Victor Jacobi, operetta composer (d. 1921)
• November 8 - Arnold Bax, English composer (d. 1953)
• December 3 - Anton Webern, Austrian composer (d. 1945)
• December 22 - Edgard Varèse, French(-born) composer (d. 1965)

Deaths

• January 24 - Friedrich von Flotow, composer (b. 1812)
• February 13 - Richard Wagner, German composer (b. 1813)
• February 17 - Napoléon Coste, guitarist and composer (b. 1805)
• April 10 - Emilie Mayer, composer (b. 1812)
• April 26 - Napoleon Orda, pianist, composer and artist (b. 1807)
• June 6 - Ciprian Porumbescu, composer (b. 1853)
• June 10 - Karl Graedener, cellist, singing teacher and composer (b. 1812)
• July 14 - Svend Grundtvig, Danish folk song collector (b. 1824)
• July 27 - Franz Doppler, flute virtuoso and composer (b.1821)
• October 30 - Robert Volkmann, composer (b. 1815)
• December 3 - Gustav Hölzel, operatic bass-baritone (b. 1813)
• December 11 - Mario, operatic tenor (b. 1810)
• date unknown
  • Enrico Ceruti, violin maker (b. 1806)
  • Per Lasson, composer (b. 1859)