Events
- March 5 – The American-German piano company Steinway & Sons is founded by Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg.
- October – Louis Niedermeyer reorganizes and re-opens the choristers' school known as the École Choron, which becomes the École Niedermeyer de Paris.
- October 1 – The piano manufacturer C. Bechstein Pianofortefabrik is founded by Carl Bechstein in Berlin.
- October 22 – The overture to Tannhäuser is performed in Boston Music Hall by the Germania Musical Society conducted by Carl Bergmann. It is the first American performance.
- November 1 – Richard Wagner begins composing the music for The Ring of the Nibelung.
- Louis Moreau Gottschalk returns to the United States after eleven years in Europe.
- Brahms meets Joseph Joachim and Robert and Clara Schumann.
- Julius Blüthner founds Blüthner (piano manufacturer) in Leipzig, Germany.
Published popular music
- Danmarks gamle Folkeviser collected by Svend Grundtvig
- "Farewell My Lilly Dear" by Stephen Foster
- "My Cottage Home" w.m. Alice Hawthorne
- "My Old Kentucky Home" by Stephen Foster
- "P'tit quinquin" (in Picard) by Alexandre Desrousseaux
- "The Yellow Rose of Texas"
Classical music
- Franz Berwald
- Piano Trio No. 4 in C major
- Piano Quintet No. 1 in C minor
- Johannes Brahms – Piano Sonata No. 1, Piano Sonata No. 3
- Ida Henriette da Fonseca
- Der Abschied
- Byrons Statue
- Die Erwartung
- Granen ved Lougen
- Regnbuen
- Wechsellied zum Tanze
- Zum neuen Jahr
- William Henry Fry – Santa Claus, Christmas Symphony
- Louis Moreau Gottschalk – The Banjo, Op. 15
- Charles Gounod – Méditation sur le Premier Prélude de Piano de S. Bach, later known as Ave Maria (Bach/Gounod)
- Franz Liszt
- Camille Saint-Saëns
- Piano Quartet in E major
- Symphony No. 1 in E♭ major
- Robert Schumann - Gesänge der Frühe
- Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms and Albert Dietrich – F-A-E Sonata
- Henryk Wieniawski – Violin Concerto No. 1
Opera
- Victor Massé – Les noces de Jeannette
- Karel Miry – Anne Mie (opera in 1 act, premiered on October 9 in Antwerp)
- Giuseppe Verdi
- Il trovatore (premiered on January 19 at Teatro Apollo in Rome)
- La traviata (premiered on March 6 at La Fenice in Venice)
Births
- May 17 – Carolina Östberg, opera singer (d. 1929)
- July 24 – Alessandro Parisotti, composer and music editor (d. 1913)
- November 23 – Giuseppina Bozzachi, ballerina (d. 1870)
- December 22 – Teresa Carreño, pianist, singer, conductor and composer (d. 1917)
- December 30 – André Messager, composer (d. 1929)
- date unknown
- Alfonso Rendano, pianist (d. 1931)
- Maria Westberg, ballerina (d. 1893)
Deaths
- January 16 – Matteo Carcassi, guitarist and composer (b. 1792)
- March 15 – Giovanni Ricordi, violinist (b. 1785)
- October 3 – George Onslow, composer (b. 1784)
- October 29 – Pierre-Joseph-Guillaume Zimmermann, pianist, composer and music teacher (b. 1785)
- October 30 – Pietro Raimondi, composer (b. 1786)
- December 5
- Johann Peter Heuschkel, oboist, organist and composer (b. 1773)
- Jeanette Wässelius, operatic soprano
- date unknown – James Hill, folk musician (b. c. 1811)