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This article is about music-related events in 1881.

• 1881 in Norwegian music

• March 23 – A fire caused by a gas explosion destroys the Opéra de Nice in the south of France with fatalities.
• February 10 – Offenbach's Tales of Hoffmann debuts in Paris
• February 20 – Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 4 is given its public premiere in Vienna under the baton of Hans Richter
• June 11 – The National Theatre (Prague) receives a royal opening with the premiere of Smetana's opera Libuše (written 1871–72); however, a subsequent fire delays public opening for a further 2 years, when the same work reinaugurates the theatre
• September 3 – Anton Bruckner completes his Symphony No. 6; it will not be performed complete during the composer's lifetime
• November 9 – Johannes Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 2 is given its public premiere in Budapest
• December 4 – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto is premiered in Vienna

• Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band

• "Good Bye!" by Francesco Paolo Tosti
• "My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean"
• "Slowly and Sadly" (President Garfield Memorial Tribute)" by Arabella M. Root

• Victor Bendix – Symphony No. 1 in C op. 16 Mountain Climbing
• Alexander Borodin – String Quartet No. 2 in D
• Johannes Brahms
  • Tragic Overture op. 81 revised; Nänie op. 82
  • Piano Concerto No. 2 Op. 83
• Max Bruch – Kol Nidre for cello and orchestra finished
• Anton Bruckner – Symphony No. 6 (Bruckner)
• Emmanuel Chabrier – Pièces pittoresques for piano
• Ernest Chausson – Piano Trio in G minor, op. 3
• Gabriel Fauré & André Messager – Messe des pêcheurs de Villerville
• César Franck – Rébecca (oratorio)
• Robert Fuchs – Cello Sonata No.1, Op.29
• Franz Liszt – Nuages Gris
• Giuseppe Martucci – Fantasia for piano op. 51
• Camille Saint-Saëns – Hymne à Victor Hugo
• Eduard Strauss
  • Glockensignale, Op.198
  • Schleier und Krone, Op.200
• Richard Strauss
  • String Quartet in A major, Op.2
  • 5 Klavierstücke, Op.3
  • Cello Sonata, Op.6
• Charles-Marie Widor – First Sonata for Piano and Violin op. 50 ([1])
• Bernard Zweers – Symphony No. 1 in D major
• Władysław Żeleński – 2 Mazurkas, Op.31

• The Tales of Hoffmann (Les contes d'Hoffmann; Jacques Offenbach) – Paris production opened at the Opéra-Comique on February 10
• Johann Strauss Jr. – Der lustige Krieg, premiered November 24 in Vienna
• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – The Maid of Orleans
• Giuseppe Verdi – Simon Boccanegra, revised version of the 21st Verdi opera premieres at La Scala in Milan

• The Mascot (translation of Edmond Audran's La Mascotte) – Broadway production opened at the Bijou Theatre (Manhattan) on May 5
• Patience (Gilbert and Sullivan) – London production opened at the Opera Comique on April 23 and transferred to the new Savoy Theatre on October 10 for a total run of 578 performances

• January 4 – Nikolai Roslavets, Ukrainian composer (d. 1944)
• February 6 – Karl Weigl, Austrian composer (d. 1949)
• February 12 – Anna Pavlova, Russian ballerina and actress (d. 1931)^[1]
• February 21 – Kenneth J. Alford, English band composer (d. 1945)
• March 10 – Frank Mullings, English tenor (d. 1953)
• March 16 – Fannie Charles Dillon, American composer (d. 1947)^[2]
• March 18 – Paul Le Flem, French composer (d. 1984)
• March 23 – Egon Petri, Dutch-born pianist (d. 1962)
• March 25 – Béla Bartók, Hungarian composer (d. 1945)
• April 15 – David Thomas, Welsh composer (d. 1928)
• April 17 – Anton Wildgans, lyricist and playwright (died 1942)
• April 20 – Nikolai Myaskovsky, Polish-born Russian composer and teacher (d. 1950)
• May 11 – Jan van Gilse, Dutch composer (d. 1944)
• May 29 – Frederick Septimus Kelly, Australian-born musician (k. 1916)
• July 6 – Nancy Dalberg, Danish composer (d. 1949)
• August 15 – Ted Snyder, American composer and music publisher (d. 1965)
• August 18 – Hermann Zilcher, German composer (died 1948)
• August 19 – George Enescu, Romanian composer (d. 1955)
• August 29 – Edvin Kallstenius, Swedish composer (d. 1967)
• November 22 – Ethel Levey, American singer, dancer and actress (d. 1955)
• November 28 – Stefan Zweig, Austrian librettist of Richard Strauss's Die schweigsame Frau (suicide 1942)
• December 3 – Henry Fillmore, American band composer (d. 1956)
• December 24 – Charles Wakefield Cadman, American composer and songwriter (d. 1946)

• January 30 – Jacques-Nicolas Lemmens, Belgian, organist and composer, 58
• March 13 – Sophie Daguin, ballerina and choreographer, 79
• March 23 – Nikolai Rubinstein, pianist and composer, 45
• March 28 – Modest Mussorgsky, composer, 42 (alcohol-related)
• June 5 – Franjo Krežma, violinist and composer, 18 (tuberculosis)
• June 6 – Henri Vieuxtemps, composer, 61
• June 7 – Marie Gabriel Augustin Savard, music teacher and composer, 66
• July 3 – Achille De Bassini, operatic baritone, 62
• September 7 – Sidney Lanier, poet and flautist, 39 (tuberculosis)
• October 9 – Richard Wüerst, composer and music teacher, 57
• November 25 – Theobald Boehm, inventor of the modern flute, 87
• December 17 – Giulio Briccialdi, composer, 63
• December 30 – Corrado Miraglia, opera singer, 60
• date unknown – Francisco de Sá Noronha, violinist and composer (b. 1820)