Events Arthur Sullivan scores his first operetta Cox and Box The Maple Leaf Forever written by Alexander Muir Giuseppe Verdi's opera Don Carlos premieres at the Paris Opéra (March 11) Jacques Offenbach's operetta La Grande-duchesse de Gérolstein debuts in Paris at the Théâtre des Variétés (April 12) Charles Gounod's opera Roméo et Juliette debuts at the Théâtre-Lyrique in Paris (April 27) Georges Bizet's opera La Jolie Fille de Perth premieres at Paris's Théâtre Lyrique (December 26) Top hits "Blue Danube Waltz" by Johann Strauss II "Champagne Charlie" by Alfred Lee & H. J. Whymark "The Man on the Flying Trapeze" by George Leybourne, Gaston Lyle, & Alfred Lee "Not For Joseph" w.m. Arthur Lloyd Births March 25 - Arturo Toscanini, noted conductor November 24 - Scott Joplin, ragtime composer Deaths December 6 - Giovanni Pacini, composer