See also: 1897 in music, other events of 1898, 1899 in music and the list of 'years in music'.

Events

• Scott Joplin publishes "Swipsy Cakewalk"

Published popular music

• "Because" w. Charles Horwitz m. Frederick V. Bowers
• "The Boy Guessed Right" w.m. Lionel Monckton
• "Ciribiribin" w. Carlo Tiochet m. Albert Pestalozza
• "Gold Will Buy Most Anything But A True Girl's Heart" w. Charles E. Foreman m. Monroe H. Rosenfeld
• "Good-bye Dolly Gray" w. Will D. Cobb m. Paul Barnes
• "Goodnight, Little Girl, Goodnight" w. Julai M. Hays m. J. C. Macy
• "Gypsy Love Song" w. Harry B. Smith m. Victor Herbert from the musical The Fortune Teller
• "Honey on my Lips" Charles E. Trevathan
• "I Guess I'll Have To Telegraph My Baby" w.m. George M. Cohan
• "Just As The Sun Went Down" w. Karl Kennett m. Lyn Udall
• "Just One Girl" w. Karl Kennett m. Lyn Udall
• "Kiss Me Honey Do" w. Edgar Smith m. John Stromberg
• "The Lily Of Laguna" w.m. Leslie Stuart
• "'Mid The Green Fields Of Virginia" w.m. Charles K. Harris
• "Mister Johnson Don't Get Gay" w.m. Dave Reed Jr
• "The Moth And The Flame" w. George Taggart m. Max S. Witt
• "My Old New Hampshire Home" w. Andrew B. Sterling m. Harry Von Tilzer
• "Recessional" w. Rudyard Kipling m. Reginald DeKoven
• "Romany Life" w. Harry B. Smith m. Victor Herbert
• "The Rosary" w. Robert Cameron Rogers m. Ethelbert Nevin
• "Salome" m. William Lorraine
• "She Is The Belle Of New York" w. Hugh Morton m. Gustave Kerker
• "She Was Bred In Old Kentucky" w. Harry Braisted m. Stanley Carter
• "When You Were Sweet Sixteen" w.m. James Thornton
• "Who Dat Say Chicken In Dis Crowd" w. Paul Lawrence Dunbar m. Will Marion

Recorded popular music

• "The Amorous Goldfish" (w. Harry Greenbank m. Sidney Jones )
  - Syria Lamonte on Berliner Gramophone Records
  
• "At A Georgia Camp Meeting" (w.m. Kerry Mills)
  - Sousa's Band on Berliner Records
  
• "The Battle Cry Of Freedom" (w.m. George Frederick Root )
  - John Terrell on Berliner
  
• "Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms" (w. Thomas Moore m. trad)
  - J. W. Myers on Berliner
  
• "Break The News To Mother" (w.m. Charles K. Harris )
  - George J. Gaskin on Edison Records
  
• "Chin, Chin, Chinaman" (w. Harry Greenbank m. Sidney Jones)
  - James T. Powers on Berliner
  
• "Cotton Blossoms" (m. M. H. Hall)
  - Sousa's Band on Berliner
  
• "Don Jose Of Sevilla" (Smith, Herbert)
  - Jessie Bartlett Davis & W. H. MacDonald on Berliner
  
• "Happy Days In Dixie" (m. Kerry Mills)
  - Arthur Collins on Edison
  
• "The Harp That Once Thro' Tara's Halls" (w. Thomas Moore m. trad)
  - J. W. Myers on Berliner
  
• "A Hot Time In The Old Town" (w. Joseph Hayden m. Theodore A. Metz )
  - Sousa's Band on Berliner
  - Len Spencer with banjo Vess L. Ossman on Columbia Records
  - Roger Harding on Edison
  
• "In The Gloaming" (w. Meta Orred m. Annie Fortescue Harrison )
  - Roger Harding on Berliner
  
• "I'se Gwine Back To Dixie" (w.m. C. A. White)
  - Edison Male Quartette on Edison
  
• "Just Before The Battle, Mother" (w.m. George Frederick Root)
  - Frank C. Stanley on Edison
  
• "Killarney" (w. Edmund Falconer m. Michael William Balfe)
  - Arthur Gladstone on Berliner
  
• "Largo Al Factotum" (w. Cesare Sterbini m. Giaocchino Rossini )
  - Alberto Del Campo on Berliner
  
• "Love's Old Sweet Song" (w. George Clifton Bingham m. James Lyman Molloy )
  - Annie Carter on Berliner
  
• "The Miner's Dream Of Home" (w.m. Will Godwin & Leo Dryden )
  - Leo Dryden on Berliner Gramophone
  
• "Mister Johnson Don't Get Gay" (w.m. Dave Reed Jr )
  - Press Eldridge on Edison
  
• "Mister Johnson, Turn Me Loose" (w.m. Ben Harney)
  - Marguerite Newton on Edison
  - Len Spencer with Vess L. Ossman on Columbia
  
• "My Old Kentucky Home, Good Night" (w. m. Stephen Collins Foster)
  - Diamond Four on Berliner
  - Edison Male Quartette onEdison
  
• "Oh, Promise Me" (w. Clement Scott m. Reginald DeKoven )
  - Jessie Bartlett Davis on Berliner
  
• "Old Folks At Home" (w. m. Stephen Collins Foster)
  - Diamond Four on Berliner
  
• "On The Banks Of The Wabash Far Away" (w.m. Paul Dresser)
  - Annie Carter on Berliner
  
• "Orange Blossoms" (m. Arthur Pryor )
  - Sousa's Band on Berliner
  
• "The Palms" (m. Gabriel Fauré)
  - Diamond Four on Berliner
  
• "Rocked In The Cradle Of The Deep" (w. Mrs Emma Hart Willard m. Joseph Phillip Knight )
  - William Hooley on Edison
  
• "She Was Bred In Old Kentucky" (w. Harry Braisted m. Stanley Carter )
  - Albert C. Campbell on Edison
  
• "Smoky Mokes" (m. Abe Holzmann)
  - banjo Vess L. Ossman on Columbia
  
• "Stars And Stripes Forever" (m. John Philip Sousa)
  - Sousa's Band on Berliner
  
• "Sweet And Low" (w. Alfred, Lord Tennyson m. Sir Joseph Barnby)
  - Ladies Brass Quartette of Boston Fadettes on Berliner
  
• "Sweet Genevieve" (w. George Cooper m. Henry Tucker )
  - Jessie Bartlett Davis on Berliner
  
• "Sweet Rosie O'Grady" (w.m. Maude Nugent)
  - Steve Porter on Berliner
  
• "The Sweetest Story Ever Told" (w.m. R. M. Stults )
  - Diamond Four on Berliner
  - George J. Gaskin onEdison
  
• "Then You'll Remember Me" (w. Alfred Bunn m. Michael William Balfe)
  - James Norrie on Berliner Gramophone
  - Annie Carter on Berliner
  
• "There's A Little Star Shining For You" (w.m. James Thornton )
  - Dan W. Quinn on Edison
  
• "The Thunderer" (m. John Philip Sousa)
  - Sousa's Band on Berliner
  
• "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp" (w.m. George Frederick Root)
  - Frank C. Stanley on Edison
  
• "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" (w.m. Louis Lambert )
  - Frank C. Stanley on Edison
  
• "Yankee Doodle" (trad)
  - Frank C. Stanley on Edison
  

Classical music

• Samuel Coleridge Taylor - Hiawatha's Wedding Feast
• Alexander Glazunov - Ruses d'Amour (ballet)
• Paul Juon - Sonata for Violin and Piano no 1 in A major
• Christian Sinding - Concerto for Violin in A major

Opera

• Antonio Braga - Jupyra
• Umberto Giordano - Fedora
• Ivar Hallstrom - Little Karin
• Pietro Mascagni - Iris

Musical theater

• The Bride Elect Broadway production
• The Fortune Teller Toronto and London productions
• A Greek Slave London production
• Hurly-Burly Broadway production
• A Runaway Girl London and Broadway productions
• The Skirt Dancer London production
• Véronique (André Messager) - Paris production

Births

• February 20 - Jimmy Yancey, US jazz pianist
• April 3 - George Jessel, US actor, singer & songwriter
• May 14 - Zutty Singleton, jazz drummer
• July 4 - Gertrude Lawrence, English actress, singer and dancer
• July 15 - Noel Gay, English songwriter
• August 15 - Charles Tobias , US songwriter and singer
• August 24 - Fred Rose, songwriter, music publisher
• September 1 - Marilyn Miller , US actress, singer and dancer
• September 26 - George Gershwin, US composer
• September 27 - Vincent Youmans, US composer
• November 1 - Sippie Wallace, blues singer
• December 24 - Baby Dodds, jazz drummer

Deaths

• August 17 - Karl Zeller , Austrian composer