- Jan 14 Fabio Campana, Italian composer, born in Livorno, Grand Duchy of Tuscany (d. 1882)
- Feb 10 Richard Storrs Willis, American composer, mostly of hymns ("Carol"; "Fairest Lord Jesus"), born in Boston, Massachusetts (d. 1900)
- Feb 11 Samuel Parkman Tuckerman, American sacred music composer, born in Boston, Massachusetts (d. 1890)
- Feb 18 Joseph Philbrick Webster, American composer and songwriter (Lorena), born in Manchester, New Hampshire (d. 1875)
- Feb 22 Bernardo Calvo Puig, Spanish composer, born in Vic, Spain (d. 1880)
- Mar 4 Charles Oberthur, German composer and harpist, born in Munich (d. 1895)
- Mar 11 Marius Petipa, French ballet dancer and choreographer (Don Quiotte), born in Marseille, France (d. 1910)
- Mar 26 Francisco Eduardo da Costa, Portuguese composer, born in Lamego, Portugal (d. 1855)
- Apr 7 Hubert Léonard, Belgian violinist, and pedagogue (Brussels Conservatoire, 1848-67), born in Liège, Belgium (d. 1890)
- Apr 14 Charles Hallé, Anglo-German pianist, conductor and founder (Halle Orchestra), born in Hagen, Westphalia (d. 1895)
- Apr 18 Franz von Suppé, Austrian composer (Poet und Bauer), born in Spalato, Dalmatia, Austrian Empire (now Split, Crotia) (d. 1895)
- May 3 Nicola De Giosa, Italian composer, born in Bari, Italy (d. 1885)
- May 5 Stanisław Moniuszko, Polish conductor, composer (Straszny dwór - The Haunted Manor), and teacher, born in Ubiel, Minsk Governate, Russian Empire (now Belarus) (d. 1872)
- May 17 Johann Nepomuk Kafka, Bohemian pianist and composer, born in Neustadt an der Mettau (d. 1886)
- May 18 Julius Hopp, Austrian composer, born in Vienna (d. 1885)
- Jun 3 Thomas Ball, American sculptor, painter and musician, born in Charlestown, Massachusetts (d. 1911)
- Jun 6 William Howard Glover, English composer, born in London, England (d. 1875)
- Jun 20 Jacques Offenbach, German-French composer (Tales of Hoffmann), born in Cologne, Kingdom of Prussia (now Germany) (d. 1880)
- Jun 27 Carl Albert Löschhorn, German composer, born in Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia (now Germany) (d. 1905)
- Jul 2 Charles-Louis Hanon, French composer and piano pedagogue (The Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises), born in Renescure, France (d. 1900)
- Jul 3 Louis Théodore Gouvy, German-French composer, born in Sarre, Kingdom of Prussia (now Saarbrücken-Schafbrücke, Germany) (d. 1898)
- Jul 8 Vatroslav Lisinski [Ignatius Fuchs], Croatian composer (Love and Malice), born in Zagreb, Kingdom of Croatia, Austrian Empire (d. 1854)
- Jul 20 Paul Henrion, French composer, born in Paris (d. 1901)
- Sep 6 Carl Ferdinand Pohl, German-Austrian music historian and composer, born in Darmstadt, Grand Duchy of Hesse by the Rhine, German Confederation (d. 1887)
Clara Schumann (1819-1896)
Sep 13 German pianist and composer of the Romantic era, born in Leipzig, Germany
- Oct 20 Karol Mikuli, Polish composer, pianist, and friend of Frederic Chopin, born in Czerniowice, Bukovina (now Chernivtsi, Ukraine) (d. 1897)
- Oct 23 Isac Baker Woodbury, American composer, and musicologist (The Dulcimer: Or the New York Collection of Sacred Music), born in Beverly, Massachusetts, (d. 1858)
- Nov 5 Josef Rudolf Zavrtal, Czech composer, born in Polepy, Czech Republic (d. 1893)
- Dec 13 Edwin George Monk, English church organist and composer, born in Frome, Somerset (d. 1900)
- Dec 22 Franz Abt, German composer and choir conductor, born in Eilenburg, Prussian Saxony (d. 1885)
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