1873 in music

• April – The Fisk Jubilee Singers, an African American a cappella ensemble, perform before Queen Victoria during their first European tour. • August 27 – Sir Arthur Sullivan's oratorio The Light of the World (inspired by William Holman Hunt's painting of the same name) is premièred at the Birmingham Festival. • December 7 – Première of Camille Saint-Saëns's symphonic poem Phaéton at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, performed by the Concert National conducted by Édouard Colonne. • Joseph Parry becomes Professor of Music at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. • Therese Malten makes her solo debut as Pamina in The Magic Flute at Dresden. == Published popular music ==

• "The German Polka" by Gus Williams (vaudeville) • "Good Sweet Ham" by Henry Hart • "Home on the Range" w. Brewster M. Higley m. Daniel E. Kelley • "I'se Gwine Back to Dixie" by Charles A. White (musician) • "Little sweetheart, come listen to me". Words and music by Arthur W. French • "Silver Threads Among the Gold" w. Eben Eugene Rexford m. Hart Pease Danks == Classical music ==

• Johannes Brahms • Two String Quartets, Op. 51 • Variations on a Theme by Haydn • Anton Bruckner – Symphony No. 3 • Antonín Dvořák – String Quartet No. 5; String Quartet no. 6 in A • Hermann Goetz – Symphony in F, Op. 9 (premiered 1874; some sources give 1866 for composition however) • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – The Tempest • Giuseppe Verdi – String Quartet in E minor • Camille Saint-Saëns's – Phaéton == Opera ==

• Léo Delibes — ''Le roi l'a dit'' • Karel Miry — ''Muziek in t'huisgezin'' (opera in 1 act, libretto by N. Destanberg) == Musical theater ==

• 1492 Up to Date, Libretto by R. A. Barnet, music by Carl Pflueger == Births ==

• January 8 — Grace Van Studdiford, American stage actress and opera singer (d. 1927) • February 1 — Joseph Allard, fiddler and composer (d. 1947) • February 13 — Feodor Chaliapin, operatic bass (d. 1938) • February 27 — Enrico Caruso, operatic tenor (d. 1921) • March 19 — Max Reger, German composer (d. 1916) • April 1 — Sergei Rachmaninoff, Russian composer (d. 1943) • April 18 — Jean Roger-Ducasse, French composer (d. 1954) • May 1 — Harry Evans, composer (d. 1914) • June 1 — Ada Jones, singer (d. 1922) • June 16 — Antonina Nezhdanova, operatic soprano (d. 1950) • July 11 — Nat M. Wills, singer, comedian, and actor (d. 1917) • August 11 — J. Rosamond Johnson, US composer and singer • August 18 — Otto Harbach, lyricist (d. 1963) • September 21 — Papa Jack Laine, bandleader (d. 1966) • October 14 — José Serrano, composer (d. 1941) • October 23 — Ricardo Villa, composer (d. 1935) • November 1 — Charles Quef, French organist and composer (d. 1931) • November 16 — W. C. Handy, songwriter (d. 1958) • December 9 — Carlo Zangarini, opera librettist and poet (d. 1943) • December 14 — Joseph Jongen, Belgian organist and composer (d. 1953) == Deaths ==

• January 3 — John Lodge Ellerton, composer (b. 1801) • January 28 — Henry Hugo Pierson, composer (b. 1815) • February 14 — Charles Samuel Bovy-Lysberg, composer and pianist (b. 1821) • March 31 — Domenico Donzelli, operatic tenor (b. 1790) • April 13 — Carlo Coccia, opera composer (b. 1782) • April 19 — Pierre-Chéri Lafont, actor and singer (b. 1797) • May 13 — Kašpar Mašek, composer (b. 1794) • June 2 — François George-Hainl, cellist, conductor and composer (b. 1807) • July 4 — Prince Józef Michal Poniatowski, operatic tenor and composer (b. 1816) • July 19 — Ferdinand David, violinist and composer (b. 1810) • August 26 — Karl Wilhelm, choral director (b. 1815) • September 26 — Roderich Benedix, librettist and singer (b. 1811) • October 6 — Friedrich Wieck, music teacher and father of Clara Schumann (b. 1785) • October 8 — Albrecht Agthe, music teacher (b. 1790) ==References==