This article is about music-related events in 1878.

• April 9? – Franz Berwald's Symphony No. 4 receives its premiere performance, conducted by Ludvig Norman.
• May 25 – Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera H.M.S. Pinafore debuts in London at the Opera Comique with a first run of 571 performances.
• November 18 – Soprano Marie Selika Williams becomes the first African American artist to perform at the White House.
• A Dictionary of Music and Musicians edited by George Grove begins publication in the U.K.

• "Aloha ʻOe" w.m. Queen Liliuokalani of Hawaii
• "Carry Me Back To Old Virginny" w.m. James A. Bland
• "De Gospel Raft" by Frank Dumont
• "Emmet's Lullaby" Joseph K. Emmet
• From H.M.S. Pinafore: (words by W. S. Gilbert, music by Arthur Sullivan)
  • "I Am the Captain of the Pinafore"
  • "I Am the Ruler of the Queen's Navee"
  • "I'm Called Little Buttercup"
  • "Kind Captain"
  • "Never Mind the Why and Wherefore"
  • "When I Was a Lad"
• "In The Evening By the Moonlight" w.m. James A. Bland
• "Keep In De Middle Ob De Road"     w.m. Will Hays
• "Ten Little Injuns" w. & m. Septimus Winner
• "When the birds have gone to sleep," words by Arthur W. French, music by William A. Huntley^[1]

• Johannes Brahms
  • Motets Op. 74
  • Eight Pieces (for piano) Op. 76
  • Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77
• Anton Bruckner
  • Symphony No. 4 – 2nd version
  • Symphony No. 5
• Ferruccio Busoni – Piano Concerto in D, op. 17, for piano and string orchestra
• George Whitefield Chadwick – String Quartet No. 1
• Felix Otto Dessoff – String Quartet in F, Op. 7
• Antonín Dvořák
  • Serenade for Wind Instruments (Dvořák) (op. 44/B. 77)
  • Three Slavonic Rhapsodies (op. 45/B. 86)
  • Slavonic Dances, Set 1 (op. 46/B. 83)
  • Bagatelles, Op.47
  • String Sextet (Dvořák), (op. 48/B. 80)
• Gabriel Fauré – Chanson Après un rêve (Op. 7 No. 1)
• Zdeněk Fibich
  • String Quartet No.2, Op.8
  • Věčnost (Eternity), Concert Melodrama for Narrator and Piano, Op.14
• Niels Gade – Capriccio for violin and orchestra in A minor
• Edvard Grieg
  • String Quartet No. 1 in G minor, Op. 27
  • Improvisations on 2 Norwegian Folk Songs, Op.29
  • Albumblad, EG 109
• Hans Huber – Piano Concerto No. 1 in C minor, Op. 36
• Vincent d'Indy – La forêt enchantée
• Joseph Joachim – Elegiac Overture 'In Memoriam Heinrich von Kleist', Op.13
• Cyrill Kistler – 4 Lieder, Op.20 (including "Am Waldessaume")
• Édouard Lalo
  • Cello Concerto in D minor
  • Fantaisie norvégienne
• Giuseppe Martucci
  • Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor
  • Piano Quintet in C major, Op. 45
• Siegfried Ochs – 'S kommt ein Vogel geflogen
• Ole Olsen – Asgårdsreien, Op 10 (symphonic poems)
• Robert Radecke – Symphony in F major, Op.50
• Joachim Raff
  • Aus Thüringen, WoO.45
  • Symphony No. 9 Im Sommer, Op. 208
• Josef Rheinberger
  • Mass in E-flat (Cantus Missæ) for double choir, Op. 109
  • Ouvertüre zu Schillers Demetrius, Op.110
  • Organ Sonata No. 5 in F-sharp Minor, Op. 111
  • Trio for Piano and Strings No. 2 in A, Op. 112
  • Piano Quintet in C, Op. 114^[2]
• Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov – 6 Variations on the Theme B-A-C-H, Op.10
• Pablo de Sarasate – Spanish Dances for violin and piano, Book I
• Bernhard Scholz – String Quintet Op. 47^[3]
• Richard Strauss – Alphorn, TrV 64
• Sergei Taneyev – Symphony no 2 in B flat minor
• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
  • Symphony No. 4 in F minor, op. 36
  • Violin Concerto in D major
  • Piano Sonata in G major, Op. 37.
  • 6 Romances, Op.38
• Anton Urspruch – Variationen über ein eigenes Thema, Op.10

• Alfred Cellier – After All!
• Charles Gounod – Polyeucte (opera)
• Charles Edouard Lefebvre – Lucrèce
• Miguel Marqués – El anillo de hierro (libretto by Marcos Zapata, premiered in Madrid)
• Joseph Parry – Blodwen
• Emile Pessard
  • Le char premiered on January 18 at the Théâtre de l'Opéra-Comique, Paris
  • Le Capitaine Fracasse premiered on July 2 at the Théâtre Lyrique, Paris
• Joachim Raff – Benedetto Marcello

• Gilbert and Sullivan – H.M.S. Pinafore, London production
• Jacques Offenbach – Madame Favart, Paris production

• January 4 – Rosa Grünberg, Swedish actress and soprano (d. 1960)
• January 6 – Carl Sandburg, American poet and lyricist (died 1967)
• January 22 – Ben Deeley, American actor and lyricist (died 1924)
• January 23 – Rutland Boughton, English composer (d. 1960)
• January 26 – Rudolf Alexander Schröder, lyricist (died 1962)
• January 28 – Walter Kollo, Singspiele composer (died 1940)
• February 16 – Selim Palmgren, Finnish composer (d. 1951)^[4]
• February 26 – Emmy Destinn, Czech soprano (d. 1930)
• February 28 – Artur Kapp, Estonian composer (d. 1952)
• March 4 – Egbert Van Alstyne, American songwriter (d. 1951)
• March 23 – Franz Schreker, Austrian composer, conductor and teacher (d. 1934)
• March 29 – Albert Von Tilzer, American songwriter (d. 1956)
• May 24 – Louis Fleury, French flautist (d. 1926)
• May 25 – Bill Robinson, American tap dancer, singer, actor (d. 1949)
• July 3 – George M. Cohan, American songwriter, entertainer (d. 1942)
• July 5 – Joseph Holbrooke, English composer (d. 1958)
• July 9 – Eduard Sõrmus, Estonian violinist (d. 1940)
• July 12
  • Bert Grant, composer (died 1951)
  • Percy Hilder Miles, English composer, violinist and teacher (d. 1922)
• July 22 – Ernest Ball, American singer-songwriter (d. 1927)
• July 25 – Heinrich Gebhard, German-born composer (d. 1963)
• August 18 – Fritz Brun, Swiss composer and conductor (d. 1959)
• August 22 – Edward Johnson, Canadian operatic tenor (d. 1959)
• August 28 – Laura de Turczynowicz (née Laura Christine Blackwell), Canadian-born opera singer (d. 1953)
• September 7 – Adolphe Piriou, French composer and musician (died 1964)
• September 17 – Vincenzo Tommasini, Italian composer (d. 1950)
• October 18 – Blind Uncle Gaspard, American Cajun vocalist and guitarist (d. 1937)
• October 19
  • Hermann Claudius, lyricist (died 1980)
  • Alphonse Picou, American jazz clarinettist (d. 1961)
• November 4 – Jean Schwartz, Hungarian-born songwriter (d. 1956)
• November 23 – André Caplet, French composer and conductor (d. 1925)
• December 23 – Wilfred Sanderson, composer (died 1935)
• Undated – Ustad Qasim, Afghan musician (d. 1957)

• January 15 – Carlo Blasis, dancer and choreographer (b. 1797)
• February 2 – Josif Runjanin, composer (b. 1821)
• April 8 – Henriette "Jetty" Treffz, singer, first wife and business manager of Johann Strauss II (b. 1818)
• April 21 – Temistocle Solera, librettist and composer (b. 1815)
• May 6 – François Benoist, organist and composer (b. 1794)
• May 24 – Franz Espagne, musicologist (born 1828)
• July 2 – François Bazin, opera composer (b. 1816)
• August 23 – Adolf Fredrik Lindblad, composer (b. 1801)
• October 13-October 25 – Ludwig Wilhelm Maurer, violinist, conductor and composer (b. 1789)
• November – Marco Aurelio Zani de Ferranti, guitarist and composer (b. 1801)
• November 13 – Carl Heissler, violinist (b. 1826)
• December 18 – Heinrich Proch, composer (b. 1809)
• December 28 – José Bernardo Alcedo, composer of the Peruvian national anthem (b. 1788)
• date unknown – Robert Heller, pianist and magician (b. 1826)