1870 in music
Encyclopedia
Events
- January 6 - The MusikvereinMusikverein, ViennaWiener Musikverein, , commonly shortened to The Musikverein, has a twofold meaning: it is the name of a famous Vienna concert hall, as well as the short name for the music society, Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde [Society of Music Friends], that owns the building.This building is located on...
opens in ViennaViennaVienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
. - March 16 - Pyotr Ilyich TchaikovskyPyotr Ilyich TchaikovskyPyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...
's fantasy-overture Romeo and Juliet debuts in MoscowMoscowMoscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, conducted by Nikolai Rubenstein - May 25 - Léo DelibesLéo DelibesClément Philibert Léo Delibes was a French composer of ballets, operas, and other works for the stage...
' balletBalletBallet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
Coppélia debuts at the ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
Opéra - June 26 - Richard WagnerRichard WagnerWilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
's Die WalküreDie WalküreDie Walküre , WWV 86B, is the second of the four operas that form the cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen , by Richard Wagner...
premieres at the MunichMunichMunich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
Court Theatre
Published popular music
- Come In Old Adam, Come In! by Alice Cary & C. F. Shattuck
- Just Touch the Harp Gently, My Pretty Louise by Samuel N. MitchellSamuel N. MitchellSamuel N. Mitchell was an American song lyricist and newspaperman who wrote lyrics for a number of popular songs in the 1870s., Skaneateles Democrat -Songwriter:Mitchell wrote lyrics...
& Charles BlamphinCharles BlamphinCharles Blamphin was a British composer and harpist. Among his popular compositions were When The Corn Is Waving, Annie Dear and Just Touch the Harp Gently, My Pretty Louise .. , The Day -External links:* by the Peerless Quartet...
Classical music
- Max BruchMax BruchMax Christian Friedrich Bruch , also known as Max Karl August Bruch, was a German Romantic composer and conductor who wrote over 200 works, including three violin concertos, the first of which has become a staple of the violin repertoire.-Life:Bruch was born in Cologne, Rhine Province, where he...
- Symphony No. 2 in F minor, op. 36 (premiered September 4) - Antonín DvořákAntonín DvorákAntonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many...
- Dramatic OvertureTragická/Dramatická ouverturaThe Tragic Overture, B. 16a is an orchestral composition written in 1870 by the Czech composer Antonín Dvořák. It was Dvořák's overture to his first, never published, opera Alfred....
(overture to the opera Alfred) (B. 16a); String Quartet no. 3 in D, B. 18; String Quartet no. 4 in E minor, B. 19 (see List of compositions by Antonín Dvořák) - Charles GounodCharles GounodCharles-François Gounod was a French composer, known for his Ave Maria as well as his operas Faust and Roméo et Juliette.-Biography:...
- Messe des Orphéonistes - Pyotr Ilyich TchaikovskyPyotr Ilyich TchaikovskyPyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...
- Romeo and Juliet overtureRomeo and Juliet (Tchaikovsky)Romeo and Juliet is an orchestral work composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. It is styled an Overture-Fantasy, and is based on Shakespeare's play of the same name. Like other composers such as Berlioz and Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky was deeply inspired by Shakespeare and wrote works based on The...
(first version)
Opera
- Antonín DvořákAntonín DvorákAntonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many...
- Alfred, B. 16 (libretto by Karl Theodor KörnerTheodor Körner (author)Karl Theodor Körner was a German poet and soldier. After some time in Vienna, where he wrote some light comedies and other works, he became a soldier and joined the German uprising against Napoleon...
, premiered in 1938 in OlomoucOlomoucOlomouc is a city in Moravia, in the east of the Czech Republic. The city is located on the Morava river and is the ecclesiastical metropolis and historical capital city of Moravia. Nowadays, it is an administrative centre of the Olomouc Region and sixth largest city in the Czech Republic...
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- Alfred, B. 16 (libretto by Karl Theodor Körner
- Karel MiryKarel MiryKarel Miry was a Belgian composer.He was one of the first Belgian composers to write operas to librettos in Dutch. He composed the music for De Vlaamse Leeuw the national anthem of Flanders, and for which Hippoliet van Peene wrote the lyrics...
- La Saint-Lucas (opera in 1 act, libretto by J. Story, premiered on February 17 in GhentGhentGhent is a city and a municipality located in the Flemish region of Belgium. It is the capital and biggest city of the East Flanders province. The city started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Lys and in the Middle Ages became one of the largest and richest cities of...
) - Het Driekoningenfeest (opera in 1 act, libretto by P. Geiregat, premiered in BrusselsBrusselsBrussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
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- La Saint-Lucas (opera in 1 act, libretto by J. Story, premiered on February 17 in Ghent
- Emile PessardEmile PessardÉmile Louis Fortuné Pessard was a French composer.He studied at the Paris Conservatoire where he won 1st prize in Harmony. In 1866 he won the Grand Prix de Rome with his cantata Dalila which was performed at the Paris Opera on February 21, 1867...
- La cruche cassée (comic opera in 1 act, libretto by Hyppolite Lucas and Emile Abraham, premiered on February 21 at the Théâtre de l'Opéra-ComiqueOpéra-ComiqueThe Opéra-Comique is a Parisian opera company, which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with, and for a time took the name of its chief rival the Comédie-Italienne at the Hôtel de Bourgogne, and was also called the...
in ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
) - Bedřich SmetanaBedrich SmetanaBedřich Smetana was a Czech composer who pioneered the development of a musical style which became closely identified with his country's aspirations to independent statehood. He is thus widely regarded in his homeland as the father of Czech music...
- Prodana NevestaThe Bartered BrideThe Bartered Bride is a comic opera in three acts by the Czech composer Bedřich Smetana, to a libretto by Karel Sabina. The opera is considered to have made a major contribution towards the development of Czech music. It was composed during the period 1863–66, and first performed at the...
(eng. The Bartered Bride) - Richard WagnerRichard WagnerWilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
- Die WalküreDie WalküreDie Walküre , WWV 86B, is the second of the four operas that form the cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen , by Richard Wagner...
Musical theater
- ChilpéricChilpéric (operetta)Chilpéric is an opéra bouffe with libretto and music by Hervé, first produced in Paris on 24 October 1868 at the Théâtre des Folies-Dramatique in Paris...
London production - La MascotteLa mascotteLa mascotte is an opéra comique by Edmond Audran. The French libretto was by Alfred Duru and Henri Charles Chivot. The story concerns a farm girl who is believed to bring good luck to whoever possesses her, so long as she remains a virgin...
Paris production - La PéricholeLa PéricholeLa Périchole is an opéra bouffe in three acts by Jacques Offenbach. Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy wrote the French-language libretto based on the 1829 one act play Le carrosse du Saint-Sacrement by Prosper Mérimée, which was revived on 13 March 1850 at the Théâtre-Français...
London production
Births
- January 3 - Henry EichheimHenry EichheimHenry Eichheim was an American composer, conductor, violinist, organologist, and ethnomusicologist. He is best known as one of the first American composers to combine the sound of indigenous Asian instruments with western orchestral colors.- Life :He was born in Chicago, where he studied at the...
, conductor, violinist and composer (d. 1942) - January 20 - Guillaume LekeuGuillaume LekeuGuillaume Lekeu was a Belgian composer of classical music.- Life :Lekeu, who was born in Verviers, Belgium, took his first lessons at the conservatoire in that city. In 1879, his parents moved to Poitiers, France. There, he finished school while he continued his music studies autodidactically...
, composer (d. 1894) - January 30 - Rudolf LouisRudolf LouisRudolf Louis was an influential German music critic and conductor. He was born in Schwetzingen on 30 January 1870. He studied in Geneva, where he was a pupil of Friedrich Klose, and continued his studies in Vienna and then Karlsruhe under Felix Mottl before becoming conductor of the theatre...
, critic, conductor and author (d. 1914) - February 12 – Marie LloydMarie LloydMatilda Alice Victoria Wood was an English music hall singer, best known as Marie Lloyd. Her ability to add lewdness to the most innocent of lyrics led to frequent clashes with the guardians of morality...
, British music-hall singer (d. 1922) - March 6 - Oscar StrausOscar Straus (composer)Oscar Nathan Straus was a Viennese composer of operettas and film scores and songs. He also wrote about 500 cabaret songs, chamber music, and orchestral and choral works...
, Viennese composer of operettas (d. 1954) - April 7 - Joseph RyelandtJoseph RyelandtJoseph Ryelandt was a Belgian classical composer.-Life:Joseph Victor Marie Ryelandt was born in Bruges, into a wealthy bourgeois family, for whom culture, tradition, and the Roman Catholic religion mattered. So did music, which the family practiced a lot...
, Belgian composer (d. 1965) - April 28 - Hermann SuterHermann SuterHermann Suter , was a Swiss composer and conductor.Born in Kaiserstuhl, Aargau, Suter studied in the conservatories at Basel, Stuttgart and Leipzig, under Hans Huber and Carl Reinecke. He was an organist and conductor in Zurich from 1892 to 1902, after which he moved to Basel, where he lived to his...
, Swiss composer and conductor (d. 1926) - April 30 - Franz LehárFranz LehárFranz Lehár was an Austrian-Hungarian composer. He is mainly known for his operettas of which the most successful and best known is The Merry Widow .-Biography:...
, composer of operettas and waltzes (d. 1948) - May 4 - Zygmunt StojowskiZygmunt StojowskiZygmunt Denis Antoni Jordan de Stojowski was a Polish pianist and composer.-Life:Born near the city of Kielce, Stojowski began his musical training with his mother, and with Polish composer Władysław Żeleński. In Kraków, as a seventeen-year-old student, he made his debut as a concert pianist...
, Polish pianist and composer (d. 1946) - August 4 - Harry LauderHarry LauderSir Henry Lauder , known professionally as Harry Lauder, was an international Scottish entertainer, described by Sir Winston Churchill as "Scotland's greatest ever ambassador!"-Early life:...
, Scottish singer, comedian and songwriter (d. 1950) - August 12 - Arthur J. LambArthur J. LambArthur J. Lamb was a British lyricist best known for the 1897 song "Asleep in the Deep" and the 1900 song "A Bird in a Gilded Cage". He collaborated with many song-writers, including Albert Von Tilzer, Harry Von Tilzer, Henry W. Petrie and Kerry Mills.-Selected works:* "Asleep in the Deep" m....
, lyricist and actor (d. 1928) - September 28 - Florent SchmittFlorent SchmittFlorent Schmitt was a French composer.-Early life:A Lorrainer, born in Meurthe-et-Moselle, Schmitt originally took music lessons in Nancy with the local composer Gustave Sandré. Subsequently he entered the Paris Conservatoire. There he studied with Gabriel Fauré, Jules Massenet, Théodore Dubois,...
, French composer (d. 1958) - October 7 - Uncle Dave MaconUncle Dave MaconUncle Dave Macon , born David Harrison Macon—also known as "The Dixie Dewdrop"—was an American banjo player, singer, songwriter, and comedian...
, banjo player, singer and songwriter (d.1952) - October 8 - Louis VierneLouis VierneLouis Victor Jules Vierne was a French organist and composer.-Life:Louis Vierne was born in Poitiers, Vienne, nearly blind due to congenital cataracts, but at an early age was discovered to have an unusual gift for music. Louis Victor Jules Vierne (8 October 1870 – 2 June 1937) was a French...
, French organist and composer (d. 1937) - October 24 - August Brunetti-PisanoAugust Brunetti-PisanoAugust Brunetti-Pisano , was an Austrian composer.Brunetti-Pisano was born in St. Gilgen. He was Georg Trakl's piano teacher. He was for a long time the president of the "Kunstgesellschaft Pan" in Salzburg...
, Austrian composer (d. 1943) - November 30 - Cecil ForsythCecil ForsythCecil Forsyth was an English composer and musicologist. He was born in Greenwich on November 30, 1870, and he died in New York on December 7, 1941. He studied at Edinburgh University and at the Royal College of Music , and played viola in various London Orchestras...
, composer and musicologist (d. 1941) - December 5 - Vítězslav NovákVítezslav NovákVítězslav Novák was one of the most well-respected Czech composers and pedagogues, almost singlehandedly founding a mid-century Czech school of composition...
, Czech composer (d. 1949) - December 16 - Alfred HillAlfred HillAlfred Francis Hill CMG OBE was an Australian/New Zealand composer, conductor and teacher.-Biography:Alfred Hill was born in Melbourne in 1869. His year of birth is shown in many sources as 1870, but this has now been disproven. He spent most of his early life in New Zealand...
, Australian composer (d. 1960)
Deaths
- January 26 - Cesare PugniCesare PugniCesare Pugni was an Italian composer of ballet music, a pianist and a violinist. In his early career he composed operas, symphonies, and various other forms of orchestral music. Pugni is most noted for the ballets he composed while serving as Composer of the Ballet Music to Her Majesty's Theatre...
, ballet composer - March 10 - Ignaz MoschelesIgnaz MoschelesIgnaz Moscheles was a Bohemian composer and piano virtuoso, whose career after his early years was based initially in London, and later at Leipzig, where he succeeded his friend and sometime pupil Felix Mendelssohn as head of the Conservatoire.-Sources:Much of what we know about Moscheles's life...
, Bohemian composer (b. 1794) - March 16 - Theodore OestenTheodore OestenTheodore Oesten was a German composer, musician, and music teacher.Oesten was born in Berlin. He learned to play wind and string instruments from the Stadtmusikus in Fürstenwalde . At the age of nineteen he studied composition with Böhmer, Carl Friedrich Rungenhagen, Schneider, and A. W...
, musician, composer and music teacher (b. 1813) - April 8 - Charles de BériotCharles de BériotCharles Auguste de Bériot was a Belgian violinist and composer.-Biography:Born in Leuven, where there is now a street named in his honour, he moved to France in 1810, where he studied violin with Jean-François Tiby, a pupil of Giovanni Battista Viotti...
, violinist (b. 1802) - July 22 - Josef StraussJosef StraussJosef Strauss was an Austrian composer.He was born in Vienna, the son of Johann Strauss I and Maria Anna Streim, and brother of Johann Strauss II and Eduard Strauss. His father wanted him to choose a career in the Austrian Habsburg military...
, composer (b. 1827) - August 14 - Manuel SaumellManuel SaumellManuel Saumell Robredo , was a Cuban composer of the highest importance for his invention and development of genuinely creolized forms of music...
, composer (b. 1818) - October 20 - Michael William BalfeMichael William BalfeMichael William Balfe was an Irish composer, best-remembered for his opera The Bohemian Girl.After a short career as a violinist, Balfe pursued an operatic singing career, while he began to compose. In a career spanning more than 40 years, he composed 38 operas, almost 250 songs and other works...
, composer (b. 1808) - October 31 - Mihály MosonyiMihály MosonyiMihály Mosonyi was a Hungarian composer. Born Michael Brand, he changed his name to Mosonyi in honor of the district of Moson , with Mihály being the Hungarian equivalent of "Michael"...
, composer (b. 1815) - November 23 - Giuseppina BozzachiGiuseppina BozzachiGiuseppina Bozzacchi was an Italian ballerina, noted for creating the role of Swanhilda in Léo Delibes' ballet Coppélia at the age of 16.Bozzacchi had come to Paris to study with Mme Dominique...
, ballerina (b. 1853) - December 7 - Mykhailo Verbytsky, composer (b. 1815)
- December 17 - Saverio MercadanteSaverio MercadanteGiuseppe Saverio Raffaele Mercadante was an Italian composer, particularly of operas. While Mercadante may not have retained the international celebrity of Gaetano Donizetti or Gioachino Rossini beyond his own lifetime, he composed as impressive a number of works as either; and his development of...
, composer (b. 1795) - December 18 - Eugène KettererEugène KettererEugène Ketterer was a French composer and pianist.In early youth he was a student at the Paris Conservatoire, where he won Second Prize for solfege in 1847 and a premier accessit in 1852, under Antoine François Marmontel...
, French composer and pianist (b. 1831) - December 28 - Alexei Lvov, Russian composer (b. 1799)
- date unknown - Joseph David JonesJoseph David JonesJoseph David Jones was a Welsh composer and schoolmaster, commonly known as J. D. Jones. He was the father of industrialist Sir Henry Haydn Jones....
, composer and schoolmaster (b. 1827)