Events in the year 1896 in music.
Events
- March 18 – Danish composer Carl Nielsen conducts a performance of his First Symphony in Dresden; the event marks the beginning of his international success.[1]
- March 19 – Leo Stern is soloist in the première of Dvořák's Cello Concerto, in B minor, Op. 104, B. 191, at the Queen's Hall in London.
- December 27 – Formal première of Ernest Chausson's Poème for violin and orchestra, Op. 25, with Eugène Ysaÿe as soloist, at Nancy, France.
- Engelbert Humperdinck is created a professor of music by the Kaiser.
- Gabriel Fauré takes over from Théodore Dubois as organist of the church of La Madeleine, Paris.
- In Moscow, Mariya Kerzina and her husband Arkadiy Kerzin form the Circle of Russian Music Lovers, a performance society.
Published popular music
Sambo at the Cakewalk, sheet music cover
John Bull and Uncle Sam
(words by Wm. Allan; music by J.B. Herbert)
Recorded popular music
- "All Coons Look Alike To Me" (w.m. Ernest Hogan)
- Dan W. Quinn on Edison Records
- "The Amorous Goldfish" (w. Harry Greenbank m. Sidney Jones)
- Dan W. Quinn on Edison Records
- "And Her Golden Hair Was Hanging Down Her Back" (w. Monroe H. Rosenfeld m. Felix McGlennon)
- Maud Foster on Berliner Records
- "Annie Laurie" (w. William Douglas m. Lady John Douglas Scott)
- George J. Gaskin on Edison
- Edison Male Quartette on Edison
- "Auld Lang Syne" (w. adapted Robert Burns)
- Edison Male Quartette on Edison
- "The Band Played On" (w. John F. Palmer m. Charles B. Ward)
- Dan W. Quinn on Columbia records and Berliner
- "The Belle Of Avenoo A" (w.m. Safford Waters)
- Dan W. Quinn on Berliner
- "Ben Bolt" (w. Thomas Dunn English m. Nelson Kneass)
- George J. Gaskin on Berliner
- "The Blue Danube" (m. Johann Strauss)
- Edison Grand Concert Band on Edison
- "Chin, Chin, Chinaman" (w. Harry Greenbank m. Sidney Jones)
- Dan W. Quinn on Edison
- "La Donna è Mobile" (w. Francesco Piave m. Giuseppe Verdi)
- Ferruccio Giannini on Berliner
- "Don't You Hear Dem Bells?" (w.m. D. S. McCosh)
- Brilliant Quartet on Berliner
- "Down In Poverty Row" (w. Gussie L. Davis m. Arthur Trevelyan)
- Dan W. Quinn on Berliner
- George J. Gaskin on Edison
- "Elsie From Chelsea" (w.m. Harry Dacre)
- Dan W. Quinn on Edison
- "Funiculì, Funiculà" (w. G. Turco m. Luigi Denza)
- Ferruccio Giannini on Berliner
- "The Future Mrs 'Awkins" (w.m. Albert Chevalier)
- George J. Gaskin on Berliner
- "The Gladiators" (m. John Philip Sousa)
- Edison Grand Concert Band on Edison
- "Hallelujah Chorus" (w. Charles Jennes m. George Frideric Handel)
- Edison Grand Concert Band on Edison
- "The Holy City" (w. Frederick Edward Weatherly m. Stephen Adams)
- Ferruccio Giannini on Berliner
- "Home Sweet Home" (w. John Howard Payne m. Sir Henry Rowley Bishop)
- George J. Gaskin on Edison
- "The Honeymoon" (m. George Rosey)
- Edison Grand Concert Band on Edison
- "I Don't Want To Play In Your Yard" (w. Philip Wingate m. Henry W. Petrie)
- George J. Gaskin on Berliner
- Maud Foster on Berliner
- "In The Baggage Coach Ahead" (w.m. Gussie L. Davis)
- George J. Gaskin on Edison
- Dan W. Quinn
- "I'se Gwine Back To Dixie" (w.m. C. A. White)
- Brilliant Quartet on Berliner
- "I've Been Hoodoed"
- Dan W. Quinn on Berliner
- "Just Tell Them That You Saw Me" (w.m. Paul Dresser)
- George J. Gaskin on Berliner
- Dan W. Quinn on Berliner
- "Kathleen" (w.m. Helene Mora)
- George J. Gaskin on Edison
- "Kathleen Mavourneen" (w. Annie Crawford (Barry) m. Frederick William Nichols Crouch)
- George J. Gaskin on Berliner
- "King Cotton March" (m. John Philip Sousa)
- Edison Grand Concert Band on Edison
- "Listen to the Mocking Bird" (w. Alice Hawthorne m. Richard Milburn)
- whistling Billy Golden on Edison
- "The Lost Chord" (w. Adelaide Anne Procter m. Sir Arthur Sullivan)
- Edison Grand Concert Band on Edison
- "Marching Through Georgia" (w.m. Henry Clay Work)
- George J. Gaskin on Berliner
- "La Marseillaise" (w.m. Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle)
- Ferruccio Giannini on Berliner
- "McKinley is our Man"
- Dan W. Quinn on U.S. Phonograph Records
- "My Angeline" (w. Harry B. Smith m. Victor Herbert)
- Frank Daniels on Berliner
- "My Best Girl's A New Yorker" (w.m. John Stromberg)
- Dan W. Quinn on Berliner
- "My Gal Is A High Born Lady" (w.m. Barney Fagan arr. Gustave Luders)
- George J. Gaskin on Edison
- Dan W. Quinn on Berliner
- "My Pearl Is A Bowery Girl" (w. William Jerome m. Andrew Mack)
- George J. Gaskin on Berliner
- "Nearer, My God, To Thee" (w. Sarah F. Adams m. Lowell Mason)
- J. W. Myers on Berliner
- Len Spencer & Roger Harding on Columbia
- "Onward, Christian Soldiers" (w. Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould m. Sir Arthur Sullivan)
- J. W. Myers on Berliner
- "The Palms" (Jean-Baptiste Faure)
- Ferruccio Giannini on Berliner
- "La Paloma" (w. anon m. Sebastian Yradier)
- Ferruccio Giannini on Berliner
- "Private Tommy Atkins" (w. Henry Hamilton m. S. Potter)
- George J. Gaskin on Berliner
- "Put Me Off at Buffalo" (Dillon Brothers, w. Harry Dillon m. John Dillon)
- Dan W. Quinn on Berliner
- "Rock Of Ages" (w. Augustus Montague Toplady m. Thomas Hasting)
- J. W. Myers on Berliner
- "'Round His Bed I'm Goin' To Creep" ()
- Len Spencer on Columbia
- "Sally In Our Alley" (w. Henry Carey m. trad)
- Edison Male Quartette on Edison
- George J. Gaskin on Berliner
- "She Is More To Be Pitied Than Censured" (w.m. William B. Gray)
- Steve Porter on Columbia
- "She May Have Seen Better Days" (w.m. James Thornton)
- Dan W. Quinn on Berliner
- "The Sidewalks Of New York" (w.m. Charles B. Lawlor & James W. Blake)
- George J. Gaskin on Edison and on Berliner
- "The Streets Of Cairo" (w.m. James Thornton)
- Dan W. Quinn on Berliner
- "The Sunshine Of Paradise Alley" (w. Walter H. Ford m. John Walter Bratton)
- George J. Gaskin on Berliner
- "Tenting On The Old Camp Ground" (w.m. Walter Kittredge)
- George J. Gaskin on Berliner
- "Then You'll Remember Me" (w. Alfred Bunn m. Michael William Balfe)
- Ferruccio Giannini on Berliner
- "There's Only One Girl In the World For Me" (w.m. Dave Marion)
- J. W. Myers on Berliner
- "They Are The Best Friends Of All"
- Helene Mora on US Phonograph Records
- "Toreador Song" (w. Henri Meilhac, Ludovic Halévy m. Georges Bizet)
- J. W. Myers on Berliner
- "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp" (w.m. George Frederick Root)
- George J. Gaskin on Berliner
- "Trilby Song"
- Maurice Farkoa with piano Frank Lambert on Berliner
- "Watchman Tell Us Of The Night" (Bowring, Mason)
- J. W. Myers on Berliner
- "'Way Down Yonder In The Cornfield"
- Columbia Quartette on Columbia
- "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" (w.m. Louis Lambert)
- George J. Gaskin on Berliner
- "Where Is My Wandering Boy, Tonight?" (w.m. Rev. R. Lowry)
- J. W. Myers on Berliner
- "Wot Cher!" (w. Albert Chevalier m. Charles Ingle)
- George J. Gaskin on Berliner
Births
- January 20 – Elmer Diktonius, poet and composer (d. 1961)
- January 25 – Florence Mills, cabaret and jazz performer (d. 1927)
- January 28 – Elsie Carlisle, English singer (d. 1977)
- February 3 – Kid Thomas Valentine, jazz trumpeter (d. 1987)
- February 22 – Nacio Herb Brown, US songwriter (d. 1964)
- March 1 – Dimitris Mitropoulos, pianist, conductor and composer (d. 1960)
- April 10 – Edith Day, US actress, singer and dancer (d. 1971)
- April 30 – Reverend Gary Davis (d. 1972)
- June 20 – Wilfrid Pelletier, conductor (d. 1982)
- August 2 – Lorenzo Herrera, singer and composer (d. 1960)
- August 15 – Léon Theremin, Russian inventor of the musical instrument named after him (d. 1993)
- September 2 – Amanda Randolph, actress and singer (d. 1967)
- September 8 – Howard Dietz, lyricist (d. 1983)
- September 10 – Adele Astaire, US dancer and singer (d. 1981)
- September 15 – Bert Ambrose, English bandleader and violinist
- September 25 – Roberto Gerhard, composer (d. 1970)
- October 7 – Phil Ohman, US bandleader (d. 1954)
- October 18 – Friedrich Hollaender, composer (d. 1976)
- October 28 – Howard Hanson, composer (d. 1981)
- October 31 – Ethel Waters, singer (d. 1977)
- November 23 – Ruth Etting, US singer (d. 1978)
- November 25 – Virgil Thomson, composer and critic (d. 1989)
- December 6 – Ira Gershwin, lyricist (d. 1983)
- December 12 – Jenö Ádám, conductor, composer and music teacher (d. 1982)
- December 21 – Leroy Robertson, composer and music teacher (d. 1971)
- December 28 – Roger Sessions, composer (d. 1985)
Deaths
- January 28 – Sir Joseph Barnby, conductor and composer (b. 1838)
- February 5 – Henry David Leslie, conductor and composer (b. 1822)
- February 12 – Ambroise Thomas, composer (b. 1811)
- February 13 – Carl Martin Reinthaler, organist, conductor and composer (b. 1822)
- March 5 – Hiromori Hayashi, composer (b. 1831)
- April 12 – Alexander Ritter, composer and violinist (b. 1833)
- May 12 – Juan Morel Campos, danza composer (b. 1857)
- May 20 – Clara Schumann, Austrian composer (b. 1819)
- June 7 – Pavlos Carrer, composer (b. 1829)
- June 22 – Sir Augustus Harris, librettist and impresario (b. 1852)
- June 28 – Jenny Hill, music hall performer (b. 1848; tuberculosis)[4]
- July 14 – Luther Whiting Mason, music educator (b. 1818)
- July 17 – Alfred Novello, music publisher (b. 1810)[5]
- July 26 – Théodore Salomé, organist and composer (b. 1834)
- August 1 – Wilhelm Herman Barth, violinist, composer and music theorist (b. 1813)
- August 18 – Frederick Crouch, cellist and composer (b. 1808)
- September 16 – Antônio Carlos Gomes, composer (b. 1836)
- September 22 – Katharina Klafsky, Wagnerian soprano (b. 1855)
- September 23 – Gilbert Duprez, operatic tenor (b. 1806)
- October 11 – Anton Bruckner, Austrian composer (b. 1824)
- October 17 – Henry Eugene Abbey, theatre manager (b. 1846)
- November 25 – Spyridon Xyndas, composer (b. 1812)
- December 3 – László Erkel, Hungarian composer, son of Ferenc Erkel
- December 17 – Richard Pohl, writer, critic and composer (b. 1826)
- date unknown