See also: 1893 in music, other events of 1894, 1895 in music and the list of 'years in music'.

Events

• March 14 - Johan Svendsen conducts the world premiere of Carl Nielsen's Symphony No. 1 in Copenhagen
• December 22 - Claude Debussy's Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune is premiered in Paris
• Enrico Caruso makes his operatic debut
• George W. Johnson is said to have recorded over 25,000 phonograph records

Published popular music

Owls' Serenade 1894 sheet music cover

• "Airy, Fairy Lillian" w. Tony Raymond m. Maurice Levi
• "And Her Golden Hair Was Hanging Down Her Back" w. Monroe H. Rosenfeld m. Felix McGlennon
• "At Trinity Church I Met My Doom" w.m. Fred Gilbert
• "Don't Be Cross" by Karl Zeller from the operatta Der Obersteiger
• "Forgotten" w. Flora Wulschner m. Eugene Cowles
• "His Last Thoughts Were Of You" w. Edward B. Marks m. Joseph W. Stern
• "The Honeymoon" m. George Rosey
• "Humoresque" m. Anton Dvorák
• "I Don't Want To Play In Your Yard" w. Philip Wingate m. Henry W. Petrie
• "If It Wasn't For The 'Ouses In Between" w. Edgar Bateman m. George Le Brunn
• "I'll Be True To My Honey Boy" w.m. George Evans
• "I've Been Working On The Railroad" w.m. trad (first copyright 1894)
• "Kathleen" w.m. Helene Mora
• "Little Kinkies" w.m. M. Tobias
• "The Little Lost Child" w. Edward B. Marks m. Joseph W. Stern
• "Long Ago In Alcala" w. Frederick Edward Weatherley & Adrian Ross m. André Messager
• "My Friend The Major" w.m. E. W. Rogers
• "My Pearl Is A Bowery Girl" w. William Jerome m. Andrew Mack
• "Oh! That Gorgonzola Cheese" w. Fred W. Leigh m. Harry Champion
• "The Owls Serenade" w. Arthur J. Lamb, m. H.W. Petrie
• "She Is More To Be Pitied Than Censured" w.m. William B. Gray
• "She May Have Seen Better Days" w.m. James Thornton
• "The Sidewalks Of New York" w.m. Charles B. Lawlor & James W. Blake
• ""Why Did Nellie Leave Home?" by George M. Cohan
• "Yale Society Two-Step" by C. VanBaar
• "You've Been A Good Old Wagon But You've Done Broke Down" by Ben Harney

Classical music

• Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov - Caucasian Sketches
• Carl Nielsen - Symphony No. 1 in G minor

Opera

• Hamish MacCunn - Jeanie Deans

Musical theater

• A Gaiety Girl - Broadway production opened at Daly's Theatre on September 17 and ran for 81 performances
• Der Obersteiger - Austrian production opened at the Theater an der Wien on January 5
• The Passing Show - Broadway production opened at the Casino Theatre on May 5
• The Shop Girl - London production opened at the Gaiety Theatre on November 24 and ran for 546 performances
• A Trip To Chinatown - London production opened at Toole's Theatre on September 29 and ran for 125 performances

Births

• January 31 - Isham Jones, US bandleader and composer
• February 11 - Alfonso Leng
• April 3 - Dooley Wilson
• April 15 - Bessie Smith
• April 27 - Nicolas Slonimsky
• May 10 - Dimitri Tiomkin, Russian-born US composer, pianist and conducter
• May 29 -Beatrice Lillie, Canadian actress and singer
• June 4 - La Bolduc (Mary Travers), Quebecois singer (d. 1941)
• June 10 - Punch Miller
• July 10 - Jimmy McHugh, US composer and pianist
• August 15 - Harry Akst, US composer and pianist
• September 3 – Marie Dubas, French music-hall singer (d. 1972)
• September 18 - Willard Robinson, US songwriter and bandleader
• September 26 - Vaughn De Leath, US singer and radio pioneer

Deaths

• February 4 - Adolphe Sax
• February 11 - Pasqual Juan Emilio Arrieta y Corera
• June 9 - Juventino Rosas
• September 13 - Emmanuel Chabrier
• November 20 - Anton Rubinstein