1878 in music

• April 9? – Franz Berwald's Symphony No. 4 receives its premiere performance, conducted by Ludvig Norman. • May 25 – Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera H.M.S. Pinafore debuts in London at the Opera Comique with a first run of 571 performances. • November 18 – Soprano Marie Selika Williams becomes the first African American artist to perform at the White House. • A Dictionary of Music and Musicians edited by George Grove begins publication in the U.K. == Published popular music ==

• "Aloha ʻOe" w.m. Queen Liliuokalani of Hawaii • "Carry Me Back To Old Virginny" w.m. James A. Bland • "De Gospel Raft" by Frank Dumont • "Emmet's Lullaby" Joseph K. Emmet • From H.M.S. Pinafore: (words by W. S. Gilbert, music by Arthur Sullivan) • "I Am the Captain of the Pinafore" • "I Am the Ruler of the Queen's Navee" • "I'm Called Little Buttercup" • "Kind Captain" • "Never Mind the Why and Wherefore" • "When I Was a Lad" • "In The Evening By the Moonlight" w.m. James A. Bland • "Keep In De Middle Ob De Road"     w.m. Will Hays • "Ten Little Injuns" w. & m. Septimus Winner • "When the birds have gone to sleep," words by Arthur W. French, music by William A. Huntley == Classical music ==

• Johannes Brahms • Motets Op. 74 • Eight Pieces (for piano) Op. 76 • Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77 • Anton Bruckner • Symphony No. 4 – 2nd version • Symphony No. 5 • Ferruccio Busoni – Piano Concerto in D, op. 17, for piano and string orchestra • George Whitefield Chadwick – String Quartet No. 1 • Felix Otto Dessoff – String Quartet in F, Op. 7 • Antonín Dvořák • Serenade for Wind Instruments (Dvořák) (op. 44/B. 77) • Three Slavonic Rhapsodies (op. 45/B. 86) • Slavonic Dances, Set 1 (op. 46/B. 83) • Bagatelles, Op.47 • String Sextet (Dvořák), (op. 48/B. 80) • Gabriel Fauré – Chanson Après un rêve (Op. 7 No. 1) • Zdeněk Fibich • String Quartet No.2, Op.8 • Věčnost (Eternity), Concert Melodrama for Narrator and Piano, Op.14 • Niels Gade – Capriccio for violin and orchestra in A minor • Edvard Grieg • String Quartet No. 1 in G minor, Op. 27 • Improvisations on 2 Norwegian Folk Songs, Op.29 • Albumblad, EG 109 • Hans Huber – Piano Concerto No. 1 in C minor, Op. 36 • Vincent d'Indy – La forêt enchantée • Joseph Joachim – Elegiac Overture 'In Memoriam Heinrich von Kleist', Op.13 • Cyrill Kistler – 4 Lieder, Op.20 (including "Am Waldessaume") • Édouard Lalo • Cello Concerto in D minor • Fantaisie norvégienne • Giuseppe Martucci • Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor • Piano Quintet in C major, Op. 45 • Siegfried Ochs – 'S kommt ein Vogel geflogen • Ole Olsen – Asgårdsreien, Op. 10 (symphonic poems) • Robert Radecke – Symphony in F major, Op. 50 • Joachim Raff • Aus Thüringen, WoO. 45 • Symphony No. 9 Im Sommer, Op. 208 • • Josef Rheinberger • Cantus Missae, Mass in E-flat major for double choir, Op. 109 • Ouvertüre zu Schiller's Demetrius, Op. 110 • Organ Sonata No. 5 in F-sharp minor, Op. 111 • Piano Trio No. 2 in A major, Op. 112 • Piano Quintet, Op. 114 • Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov – 6 Variations on the Theme B-A-C-H, Op.10 • Pablo de Sarasate – Spanish Dances for violin and piano, Book I • Bernhard Scholz – String Quintet Op. 47 • Richard Strauss – Alphorn, TrV 64 • Sergei Taneyev – Symphony no 2 in B flat minor • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky • Symphony No. 4 in F minor, op. 36 • Violin Concerto in D major • Piano Sonata in G major, Op. 37. • 6 Romances, Op.38 • Anton Urspruch – Variationen über ein eigenes Thema, Op.10 == Opera ==

• Alfred Cellier – After All! • Charles Gounod – Polyeucte (opera) • Charles Edouard Lefebvre – Lucrèce • Miguel Marqués – El anillo de hierro (libretto by Marcos Zapata, premiered in Madrid) • Joseph Parry – Blodwen • Emile Pessard • Le char premiered on January 18 at the Théâtre de l'Opéra-Comique, Paris • Le Capitaine Fracasse premiered on July 2 at the Théâtre Lyrique, Paris • Joachim Raff – Benedetto Marcello == Musical theater ==

• Gilbert and Sullivan – H.M.S. Pinafore, London production • Jacques Offenbach – Madame Favart, Paris production == Births ==

• January 4 – Rosa Grünberg, Swedish actress and soprano (d. 1960) • January 6 – Carl Sandburg, American poet and lyricist (died 1967) • January 22 – Ben Deeley, American actor and lyricist (died 1924) • January 23 – Rutland Boughton, English composer (d. 1960) • January 26 – Rudolf Alexander Schröder, lyricist (died 1962) • January 28 – Walter Kollo, Singspiele composer (died 1940) • February 16 – Selim Palmgren, Finnish composer (d. 1951) • February 26 – Emmy Destinn, Czech soprano (d. 1930) • February 28 – Artur Kapp, Estonian composer (d. 1952) • March 4 – Egbert Van Alstyne, American songwriter (d. 1951) • March 23 – Franz Schreker, Austrian composer, conductor and teacher (d. 1934) • March 29 – Albert Von Tilzer, American songwriter (d. 1956) • May 24 – Louis Fleury, French flautist (d. 1926) • May 25 – Bill Robinson, American tap dancer, singer, actor (d. 1949) • July 3 – George M. Cohan, American songwriter, entertainer (d. 1942) • July 5 – Joseph Holbrooke, English composer (d. 1958) • July 9 – Eduard Sõrmus, Estonian violinist (d. 1940) • July 12 • Bert Grant, composer (died 1951) • Percy Hilder Miles, English composer, violinist and teacher (d. 1922) • July 22 – Ernest Ball, American singer-songwriter (d. 1927) • July 25 – Heinrich Gebhard, German-born composer (d. 1963) • August 18 – Fritz Brun, Swiss composer and conductor (d. 1959) • August 22 – Edward Johnson, Canadian operatic tenor (d. 1959) • August 28 – Laura de Turczynowicz (née Laura Christine Blackwell), Canadian-born opera singer (d. 1953) • September 7 – Adolphe Piriou, French composer and musician (died 1964) • September 17 – Vincenzo Tommasini, Italian composer (d. 1950) • October 18 – Blind Uncle Gaspard, American Cajun vocalist and guitarist (d. 1937) • October 19 • Hermann Claudius, lyricist (died 1980) • Alphonse Picou, American jazz clarinettist (d. 1961) • November 4 – Jean Schwartz, Hungarian-born songwriter (d. 1956) • November 23 – André Caplet, French composer and conductor (d. 1925) • December 23 – Wilfred Sanderson, composer (died 1935) • Undated – Ustad Qasim, Afghan musician (d. 1957) == Deaths ==

• January 15 – Carlo Blasis, dancer and choreographer (b. 1797) • February 2 – Josif Runjanin, composer (b. 1821) • April 8 – Henriette "Jetty" Treffz, singer, first wife and business manager of Johann Strauss II (b. 1818) • April 21 – Temistocle Solera, librettist and composer (b. 1815) • May 6 – François Benoist, organist and composer (b. 1794) • May 24 – Franz Espagne, musicologist (born 1828) • July 2 – François Bazin, opera composer (b. 1816) • August 23 – Adolf Fredrik Lindblad, composer (b. 1801) • October 13-October 25 – Ludwig Wilhelm Maurer, violinist, conductor and composer (b. 1789) • November – Marco Aurelio Zani de Ferranti, guitarist and composer (b. 1801) • November 13 – Carl Heissler, violinist (b. 1826) • December 18 – Heinrich Proch, composer (b. 1809) • December 28 – José Bernardo Alcedo, composer of the Peruvian national anthem (b. 1788) • date unknown – Robert Heller, pianist and magician (b. 1826) == References ==