1875 in music

Events

• January 5 – Palais Garnier opera house in Paris, designed by Charles Garnier, opens as the Salle des Capucines.
• March 3 – Georges Bizet's opera Carmen debuts, at the Opéra-Comique in Paris.
• May – The score for the ballet Swan Lake is commissioned from Tchaikovsky.
• May 6 – Richard Wagner conducts portions of Götterdämmerung in concert in Vienna.
• August 23 – Composer Zdeněk Fibich marries operatic contralto Betty Hanušová, sister of his first wife Růžena Hanušová.
• October 25 – The first performance of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 is given in Boston, Massachusetts, with Hans von Bülow as soloist.
• Robert Volkmann becomes professor of harmony and counterpoint at the National Academy of Music in Budapest, under Franz Liszt.

  Published popular music

• "Angels, Meet Me At the Cross Road" w.m. Will Hays
• "Carve Dat Possum" by Sam Lucas & Herbert Hershy
• "Dreaming Forever of Thee" w.m. John Hill Hewitt
• "I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen" w.m. Thomas P. Westendorf
• "Nancy Lee" w. Frederic Edward Weatherly, m. Stephen Adams
• "A Warrior Bold" w. Edwin Thomas m. Stephen Adams
• "The Witches Flight " by Henry M. Russell

  Classical music

• Johannes Brahms
• *Fifteen Liebeslieder for piano duet
• *String Quartet No. 3
• Antonín Dvořák
• *Moravian duets
• *Piano Quartet in D
• *Piano Trio in B
• *Serenade for Strings
• *String Quintet
• *Symphony No. 5
• Gabriel Fauré
• *Allegro Symphonique
• *Suite for Orchestra
• *Les Djinns
• Edvard Grieg – incidental music to Ibsen's Peer Gynt
• Édouard Lalo – Allegro Symphonique
• Alexandre Luigini – Ballet égyptien
• Jules Massenet – oratorio Eve
• Modest Mussorgsky – Pesni i plyaski smerti, song cycle for bass voice and piano
• Amilcare Ponchielli – cantata A Gaetano Donizetti
• Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov – String Quartet No. 1
• Camille Saint-Saëns
• *Piano Quartet, Op. 41
• *Piano Concerto No. 4, Op. 44
• Bedřich Smetana – Má vlast – Six symphonic poems
• Tchaikovsky
• *Symphony No. 3
• *Swan Lake

  Opera

• Carmen first performed in Paris. Music by Georges Bizet and libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy.
• Die Königin von Saba, music by Karl Goldmark and libretto by Salomon Mosenthal.
• Angelo, music by César Cui

  Musical theater

• Gilbert & Sullivan – Trial By Jury
• *London production opens at the Royalty Theatre on March 25
• *Philadelphia production opens at the Arch Street Theatre on October 22
• The Zoo, Lyrics and Book: Bolton Rowe Music: Arthur Sullivan, London production opened at St. James Theatre on June 5

  Births

• February 2 – Fritz Kreisler, Austrian violinist and composer
• February 8 – Georgette Leblanc, operatic soprano
• February 26 – Richard Wetz, German composer
• February 28 – Viliam Figuš-Bystrý, Slovak composer
• March 7 – Maurice Ravel, French composer
• April 4 – Pierre Monteux, French conductor
• April 5 – Mistinguett, actress and singer
• May – Paul Sarebresole, ragtime composer
• July 17 – Donald Tovey, composer and musicologist
• August 9 – Albert Ketèlbey, composer
• August 18 – Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, composer

  Deaths

• January 25 – Leopold Jansa, violinist, composer and music teacher
• February 1 – William Sterndale Bennett, composer
• February 23 – Louise Michaëli, opera singer
• March 3 – Adolf Reubke, organ builder
• March 15 – Christian Julius Hansen, composer
• March 17 – Ferdinand Laub, violinist
• March 19 – Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume, violin maker
• May 2 – Matthias Durst, violinist and composer
• June 3 – Georges Bizet, composer
• September 15 – Louise Farrenc, pianist and composer
• September 24 – William Walker, songwriter