See also: 1884 in music, other events of 1885, 1886 in music and the list of 'years in music'.

Events

• October 25 - Johannes Brahms' Symphony No. 4 is premiered in Meiningen.
• Tin Pan Alley group of popular song writers & publishers forms in New York City
• Gilbert & Sullivan's The Mikado premiers in London

Published popular music

• "American Patrol"     m. F. W. Meacham
• "The Boy In The Gallery"     w.m. George Ware
• "Coppelia Waltz" by Leo Delibes
• "Dars a Lock on de Chicken Coop Door" by Sam Lucas
• "The Flowers That Bloom In The Spring"     w. William S. Gilbert m. Arthur Sullivan
• "Funny Things They Do Upon The Sly"     w. G. W. Hunter & John Cooke Jnr m. G. W. Hunter
• "A More Humane Mikado"     w. W. S. Gilbert m. Arthur Sullivan
• "Open Road"     Johann Strauss II
• "Saffi's Aria"     Johann Strauss II
• "Some Sweet Day" by Edward L. Park & William Howard Doane
• "There Is Beauty In The Bellow Of The Beast"     w. W. S. Gilbert m. Arthur Sullivan
• "This Is The House That Jerry Built"     w. T. S. Lonsdale m. W. G. Eaton
• "Three Little Maids From School"     w. W. S. Gilbert m. Arthur Sullivan
• "A Wand'ring Minstrel I"     w. William Schwenck Gilbert m. Arthur Sullivan
• "What Cheer 'Ria"     w. Will Herbert m. Bessie Bellwood

Classical music

• Alexander Borodin - Sting Quartet No. 2 in D
• Alexander Glazunov - Stenka Razin

Opera

• Jules Massenet - Le Cid
• Amilcare Ponchielli - Marion Delorme

Musical theater

• Erminie      London production
• Gilbert & Sullivan - The Mikado     London production
• Der Zigeunerbaron (The Gypsy Baron )     Vienna production

Births

• January 13 - James V. Monaco, Italian-born US composer
• January 27 - Jerome Kern
• February 12 - James Scott
• February 16 - Will Fyffe , Scottish comedian and singer
• May 5 - Agustin Barrios Mangore, composer
• May 14 - Otto Klemperer, conductor
• July 12 - George Butterworth, composer
• October 25 - Sam M. Lewis , US lyricist
• December 19 - Joe "King" Oliver, jazz musician (d. 1938)

Deaths