istoryworld
Events relating to music
Mendelssohn's oratorio Elijah has its premiere in England, in the city of Birmingham
Oh! Susannah is in the first published collection of popular songs by Stephen Collins Foster
In Vienna the younger Johann Strauss succeeds his father as the Waltz King
Jenny Lind, the 'Swedish Nightingale', has a great success touring the USA in a show presented by P.T. Barnum
Giuseppe Verdi's opera Rigoletto, based on a play by Victor Hugo, is a huge success at its premiere in Venice
Richard Wagner writes an anti-semitic tract, Jewishness in Music
Giuseppe Verdi's opera Il Trovatore is a success at its premiere in Rome
Just six weeks after the success of Il Trovatore, Giuseppe Verdi's opera La Traviata is a disaster at its premiere in Venice
Robert Schumann throws himself into the Rhine, in an attempt to commit suicide, and spends the last two years of his life in an asylum
Kneller Hall is bought by the War Department and reopened as the Military School of Music, later the Royal Military School of music.
Hector Berlioz completes his 4-hour opera The Trojans (not performed as a complete work until 1890)
The opera Faust, by French composer Charles Gounod, has its premiere in Paris
An official National Eisteddfod is held for the first time in Wales, in Aberdare
Richard Wagner's opera Tristan and Isolde has its premiere in the Munich court theatre
Modest Mussorgsky composes his orchestral work St John's Night on the Bare Mountain, based on a story by Gogol
The first collection of 'Negro Spirituals' is published in book form in the US as Slave Songs of the United States
Richard Wagner's opera The Mastersingers of Nuremberg has its premiere in Munich
Johannes Brahms' German Requiem, setting passages from Luther's translation of the Bible, has its first complete performance in Leipzig
Das Rheingold, with its premiere in Munich, is the first part of Richard Wagner's Ring cycle to be staged
Coppélia, with choreography by Arthur Saint-Léon to music by Delibes, has its premiere at the Paris Opera
Richard Wagner marries Cosima, the daughter of the Hungarian composer Franz Liszt
Giuseppe Verdi's opera Aida, is commissioned for the Cairo opera house, part of the process of Egypt becoming westernized
Modest Mussorgsky's opera Boris Godunov has its premiere in St Petersburg
Johann Strauss's operetta Die Fledermaus has its premiere in Vienna
Mussorgsky composes Pictures at an Exhibition as a piece for piano in memory of an exhibition by the Russian painter Victor Hartmann
