1896 in music

• February 1 - premiere of the opera Giacomo Puccini " Bohemia " at the Teatro Reggio
• March 19 - premiere of a concert for cello in B minor Antonin Dvorak in Queens Hall
• March 27 - premiere of "Poems" for violin and orchestra Ernest Chausson in Nancy , France
• Kaiser Proclaims Engelbert Humperdinck Professor of Music ^[1]
• Gabriel Foret takes the place of Theodore Dubois as an organist in the Madeleine Church ^[2]

• Richard Strauss - symphonic poem " So said Zarathustra "
• Alexander von Zemlinsky - trio for clarinet, cello and piano
• Antonin Dvořák - symphonic poems “Water”, “Midday”; quartet in A flat major, opus 105
• Evinn Alnes - Symphony No. 1
• Amy Beach - Gaelic Symphony in E Minor; sonata for cello
• Johannes Brahms - 4 strict tunes; 11 choral preludes, opus 122
• Anton Bruckner - Symphony No. 9
• Ernest Chausson - Poem for Violin and Orchestra
• Gustav Holst - Quintet for Piano and Winds
• Vincent d'Andy - symphonic variations Ishtar, opus 42
• Charles Ives - String Quartet No. 1 of Salvation Army
• Edward McDowell - Forest Sketches
• Hans Pfitsner - Trio for Piano in F Major, Op. 8
• Camille Saint-Saens - Piano Concerto No. 5 “Egyptian”; Sonata for violin No. 2
• Alexander Scriabin - 24 Preludes for Piano, Opus 11; 5 Preludes for Piano, Opus 15
• Jan Sibelius - “Coronation Cantata”; "Endless Day" for children's voices
• Francisco Tarrega - “Memoirs of the Alhambra”
• Alberic Manyar - Symphony No. 3, Opus 11

• Umberto Giordano - “ Andre Chenier ”
• Ruggiero Leoncavallo - Chatterton
• Friedrich Lux - The Queen of Athens
• Giacomo Puccini - Bohemia
• Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov - " Sadko "
• Arthur Sullivan - The Grand Duke
• Jan Sibelius - The Virgin in the Tower
• August Enna - Okassen and Nicolette
• Pavel Yuon - Aleko

Born

• January 20 - Elmer Dictonius , poet and composer (d. 1961)
• January 28 - Elsie Carlyle , singer (d. 1977)
• February 3 - Kid Thomas Valentine , a jazz trumpeter (d. 1987)
• February 22 - Nasio Herb Brown , songwriter (d. 1964)
• March 1 - Dimitris Mitropoulos , pianist, conductor and composer (d. 1960)
• April 10 - Edith Day , actress and singer (d. 1971)
• April 30 - Gary Davis , the blues and gospel musician (d. 1972)
• June 20 - Wilfried Pelletier , conductor (d. 1982)
• August 2 - Lorenzo Herrera , singer and composer (d. 1960)
• August 15 - Leo Theremin , creator of the Theremin tool (d. 1993)
• September 2 - Amanda Randolph , actress and singer (d. 1967)
• September 8 - Howard Dietz , poet and poet (d. 1983)
• September 10 - Adele Aster , dancer and singer (d. 1981)
• September 15 - Ambrose , violinist and bandleader
• September 25 - Roberto Gerhard , composer (d. 1970)
• October 7 - Phil Oman , bandleader (d. 1954)
• October 18 - Friedrich Hollander , composer (d. 1976)
• October 28 - Howard Hanson , composer (d. 1981)
• October 31 - Ethel Waters , singer (d. 1977)
• November 23 - Ruth Etting , singer (d. 1978)
• November 25 - Virgil Thomson , composer and critic (d. 1989)
• December 1 - Petko Steinov , Bulgarian composer, conductor, violinist, pianist, teacher and public figure (d. 1977).
• December 6 - Ira Gershwin , poet and lyric poet (d. 1983)
• December 12 - Jeno Adam , Hungarian composer, conductor, musicologist and teacher (d. 1982).
• December 21 - Leroy Robertson , composer and teacher (d. 1971)
• December 28 - Roger Sessions , composer (d. 1985)

Died

• January - Luigia Abbadia , opera singer mezzo-soprano (born 1821)
• January 28 - Joseph Barnby , conductor and composer (born 1838)
• February 5 - Henry David Leslie , conductor and composer (born 1822)
• February 12 - Ambroise of Thom , composer (born 1811)
• February 13 - Carl Martin Reintaler , organist, conductor and composer (born 1822)
• April 12 - Alexander Ritter , composer and violinist (born 1833)
• April 30 - Antonio Canyoni , composer (born 1828)
• May 12 - Juan Morel Campos , composer (born 1857)
• May 20 - Clara Schumann , composer (born 1819)
• June 7 - Pavlos Carrer , composer (born 1829)
• June 22 - Augustus Harris , librettist and impresario (born 1852)
• July 26 - Theodore Salome , organist and composer (born 1834)
• August 1 - Wilhelm Hermann Barth , violinist, composer and musicologist (born 1813)
• August 18 - Frederick Nichols Crouch , cellist and composer (born 1808)
• September 16 - Antonio Carlos Gomez , composer (born 1836)
• September 22 - Katharina Klafsky , opera singer- soprano (born 1855)
• September 23 - Gilbert Dupree , opera singer- tenor (born 1806)
• October 11 - Anton Bruckner , composer (born 1824)
• October 17 - Henry Eugene Abby , theater manager (born 1846)
• December 3 - Lazlo Erkel , composer
• December 17 - Richard Paul , writer, critic and composer (born 1826)
• Exact date unknown
  • Gopalakrishna Bharati , poet and composer (born 1811)
  • Hiromori Hayashi , composer (born 1831)
  • Kurmangazy Sagyrbayuly , musician and composer (born 1823)
  • F.V. Michem , composer and arranger (born c. 1850)
  • Spiridon Xindas , composer (born 1812)

• Biancolli, Louis Leopold. The opera reader . - McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1953.
• Phillips, Edward R. Gabriel Faure: A Guide to Research . - Taylor & Francis, 2011 .-- ISBN 9781135838973 .