January 6 – The Musikverein concert hall opens in Vienna
March 16 – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's fantasy-overture Romeo and Juliet debuts in Moscow, conducted by Nikolai Rubinstein
May 25 – Léo Delibes' ballet Coppélia debuts at the Théâtre Impérial de l'Opéra at the Salle Le Peletier in Paris
June 26 – Richard Wagner's opera Die Walküre premieres at the Königliches Hof- und National-Theater, Munich
Madame Rentz's Female Minstrels established in the United States by Michael B. Leavitt
Richard Wagner completes Siegfried (opera).
"Come In Old Adam, Come In!" w. Alice Cary m. C. F. Shattuck
"Just Touch the Harp Gently, My Pretty Louise" w. Samuel N. Mitchell m. Charles Blamphin
Max Bruch – Symphony No. 2 in F minor, op. 36 (premiered September 4)
Antonín Dvořák
Dramatic Overture (overture to the opera Alfred) (B. 16a)
String Quartet no. 3 in D, B. 18
String Quartet no. 4 in E minor, B. 19
Charles Gounod – Messe des Orphéonistes
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – Romeo and Juliet overture (first version)
Valentin Zubiaurre - Symphony in E major
Antonín Dvořák
Alfred, B. 16 (libretto by Karl Theodor Körner, premiered in 1938 in Olomouc)
Karel Miry
La Saint-Lucas (opera in 1 act, libretto by J. Story, premiered on February 17 in Ghent)
Het Driekoningenfeest (opera in 1 act, libretto by P. Geiregat, premiered in Brussels)
Emile Pessard – 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-Comique in Paris)
Bedřich Smetana – Prodana Nevesta (eng. The Bartered Bride)
Richard Wagner – Die Walküre
Chilpéric London production
La Mascotte Paris production
Jacques Offenbach - La Périchole London production
January 3 – Henry Eichheim, conductor, violinist and composer (d. 1942)
January 20 – Guillaume Lekeu, composer (d. 1894)
January 22 – Charles Tournemire, French composer and organist (d. 1939)
January 30 – Rudolf Louis, critic, conductor and author (d. 1914)
February 12 – Marie Lloyd, British music-hall singer (d. 1922)
February 13 – Leopold Godowsky, Polish American pianist, composer, and teacher (d. 1938)
March 6 – Oscar Straus, Viennese composer of operettas (d. 1954)
April 7 – Joseph Ryelandt, Belgian composer (d. 1965)
April 28 – Hermann Suter, Swiss composer and conductor (d. 1926)
April 30 – Franz Lehár, composer of operettas and waltzes (d. 1948)
May 4 – Zygmunt Stojowski, Polish pianist and composer (d. 1946)
July 18 – Emil Młynarski, Polish conductor, violinist, composer, and pedagogue (d. 1935)
August 4 – Harry Lauder, Scottish singer, comedian and songwriter (d. 1950)
August 12 – Arthur J. Lamb, lyricist and actor (d. 1928)
September 28 – Florent Schmitt, French composer (d. 1958)
October 7 – Uncle Dave Macon, banjo player, singer and songwriter (d.1952)
October 8 – Louis Vierne, French organist and composer (d. 1937)
October 24 – August Brunetti-Pisano, Austrian composer (d. 1943)
November 30 – Cecil Forsyth, composer and musicologist (d. 1941)
December 5 – Vítězslav Novák, Czech composer (d. 1949)
December 16 – Alfred Hill, Australian composer (d. 1960)
January 26 – Cesare Pugni, ballet composer
March 10 – Ignaz Moscheles, Bohemian composer (b. 1794)
March 16 – Theodore Oesten, musician, composer and music teacher (b. 1813)
April 8 – Charles de Bériot, violinist (b. 1802)
July 22 – Josef Strauss, composer (b. 1827)
August 14 – Manuel Saumell, composer (b. 1818)
September 17 – Joseph David Jones, composer and schoolmaster (b. 1827)
October 20 – Michael William Balfe, composer (b. 1808)
October 31 – Mihály Mosonyi, composer (b. 1815)
November 23 – Giuseppina Bozzachi, ballerina (b. 1853)
December 7 – Mykhailo Verbytsky, composer (b. 1815)
December 17 – Saverio Mercadante, composer (b. 1795)
December 18 – Eugène Ketterer, French composer and pianist (b. 1831)
December 28 – Alexei Lvov, Russian composer (b. 1799)
1870 in music Wikipedia (Text) CC BY-SA
