This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1888.

• 1888 in Norwegian music

• January 5 – The Neues deutsches Theater, Prague, is inaugurated with a performance of Wagner's opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.
• April 11 – The Concertgebouw in Amsterdam is inaugurated.
• June 29 – G. F. Handel's Israel in Egypt is recorded onto wax cylinder at The Crystal Palace in London, the earliest known recording of classical music.
• August 14 – A recording of Arthur Sullivan's "The Lost Chord" is played during a press conference introducing Thomas Edison's phonograph in London.
• October 5 – At the age of seven, George Enescu becomes the youngest student ever admitted to the Vienna Conservatory
• Gustav Mahler completes a projected symphonic poem, Totenfeier (Funeral Rites). It will eventually become the opening movement of his Symphony No. 2.

• "Drill, Ye Tarriers, Drill"     anonymous possibly Thomas F. Casey
• "Over The Waves" ("Sobre las Olas")     w.m. Juventino Rosas
• "Where Did You Get That Hat?"     w.m. Joseph J. Sullivan
• "The Whistling Coon"     w.m. Sam Devere

• Johannes Brahms – Violin Sonata in D Minor (opus 108)
• Cécile Chaminade – Scarf Dance, Callirhoe (ballet)
• Claude Debussy - Arabesque No. 1, L. 66 for piano
• Frederick Delius – Hiawatha (tone poem)
• Gabriel Fauré – Requiem in D minor, Op. 48
• César Franck
  • Symphony in D Minor
  • Psyché, a symphonic poem with choir (based on the Greek myth), premiere March 10 1888
• Edvard Grieg
  • Lyric Pieces for Piano, Book IV
  • Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 Op. 46
• Augusta Holmes – La Nuit et l'amour
• Edwin Lemare
  • Andantino in D-flat, also known as Moonlight and Roses, Op. 83 No. 2
• Gustav Mahler –
  • Symphony No. 1
  • Lieder aus "Des Knaben Wunderhorn" (song collection)
• Carl Nielsen – Suite for String Orchestra
• Ignacy Jan Paderewski – Piano Concerto in A minor
• Max Reger – String Quartet in D minor (with double bass obbligato; without op.) (1888–9)
• Joseph Rheinberger – Organ Sonata No. 12 in D-flat, Op. 154
• Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov –
  • Sheherazade
  • Russian Easter Festival Overture
• Erik Satie – Gymnopédie for piano
• Richard Strauss
  • Don Juan, Macbeth and Death and Transfiguration (first version)
• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
  • Symphony No. 5
• Hugo Wolf
  • Goethe-Lieder
  • Mörike-Lieder

• Karel Miry – La Napolitaine (opera in 1 act, libretto by J. de Bruyne), premiered on February 25 in Antwerp
• Emile Pessard – Tartarin sur les Alpes premiered on November 17 at the Théâtre de la Gaîté, Paris
• Camille Saint-Saëns – Ascanio
• Carl Maria von Weber, completed by Gustav Mahler – Die Drei Pintos

• The Yeomen of the Guard by W. S. Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan, premiered on October 3 at the Savoy Theatre, London and on October 17 at the Casino Theatre (Broadway), New York^[1]

• January 20 – Huddie William Ledbetter (Lead Belly), American folk and blues singer (d. 1949)
• January 26 – Lisa Steier, Swedish ballerina (d. 1928)
• February 9 – Ernst Mehlich, German-Brazilian conductor and composer (d. 1977)
• February 27 – Lotte Lehmann, singer (d. 1976)
• May 10 – Max Steiner, composer (d. 1971)
• May 11 – Irving Berlin, composer (d. 1989)
• May 27 – Louis Durey, composer, member of Les Six (d. 1979)
• June 3 – Tom Brown, jazz trombonist (d. 1958)
• June 6 – Pete Wendling, American composer, pianist, and piano roll recording artist (d. 1974)
• June 16 – Bobby Clark, American comedian and singer (d. 1960)
• June 17 – Bernhard van den Sigtenhorst Meyer, Dutch composer (d. 1953)
• June 25 – Rosalie Housman, American composer (d. 1949)
• August 16 – Armand J. Piron, jazz musician (d. 1943)
• September 12 – Maurice Chevalier, French singer and actor (d. 1972)
• October 7 – Cecil Coles, composer (d. 1918)
• November 16 – Luis Cluzeau Mortet, Uruguayan composer (d. 1957)
• November 23 – Harpo Marx, American comedian, film star, mime artist and musician (d. 1964)
• November 26 – Francisco Canaro, Uruguayan-born Argentine violinist, composer (d. 1964)
• December 28 – Gabriel von Wayditch, American composer of operas (d. 1969)

• January 5 – Henri Herz, pianist and composer, 84
• January 14 – Stephen Heller, pianist and composer, 74
• February 7 – Aurore von Haxthausen, pianist and composer
• February 22 – Jean-Delphin Alard, violinist and music teacher, 72
• March 10 – Ciro Pinsuti, pianist and composer, 58
• March 21 – Thomas German Reed, composer and theatre manager, 72
• March 29 – Charles-Valentin Alkan, French pianist and composer, 74 (killed in freak accident, trapped beneath a falling coat-rack)
• April 21 – Julius Weissenborn, bassoonist, 51
• June 13 – Timoteo Pasini, Italian composer, conductor, and pianist, 59
• August 8 – Friedrich Wilhelm Jähns, composer, music teacher and cataloguer, 79
• August 31 – Blanche Cole, operatic soprano, 37 (dropsy)
• November 17 – Jakob Dont, violinist and composer, 73
• December 2 – Franz Xaver Witt, church musician and composer, 54
• December 26 – Alfred Vance, English music hall singer and comedian, 49 (died on stage)