- Jan 19 Ferdinand Laub, Czech composer and violinist, born in Prague, Kingdom of Bohemia (d. 1875)
- Jan 19 Salvador Giner y Vidal, Spanish composer, born in Valencia, Spain (d. 1911)
- Jan 28 Franz Wüllner, German composer and conductor, born in Münster, Germany (d. 1902)
- Mar 1 Friedrich Grutzmacher, German cellist and composer, born in Dessau, Germany (d. 1903)
- Mar 13 Alberto Randegger, Italian composer, born in Trieste, Austrian Empire (d. 1911)
- Jun 3 Alexander Charles Lecocq, French composer, born in Paris, France (d. 1918)
- Jul 17 (Johan) August Söderman, Swedish composer, born in Stockholm, Sweden (d. 1876)
- Jul 24 Johann Christoph Lauterbach, German violinist and concert master, born in Kulmbach, Germany (d. 1918)
- Jul 25 Simon Hassler, German-American composer, born in Bavaria, Kingdom of Bavaria (now Germany) (d. 1901)
- Aug 3 Ivan Zajc, Croatian composer and conductor, born in Rijeka, Croatia (d. 1914)
- Sep 20 Johann Joseph Abert, German composer, born in Gastorf, Bohemia (d. 1915)
- Sep 21 Friedrich Wilhelm Langhans, German musician and composer, born in Hamburg, German Confederation (now Germany) (d. 1892)
- Sep 26 Pyotr Petrovich Sokal'sky, Russian composer, born in Kharkiv, Ukraine (d. 1887)
- Oct 1 Henry Clay Work, American composer, born in Middletown, Connecticut (d. 1884)
- Oct 22 August Labitzky, Bohemian composer, born in Bečov nad Teplou, Czechia (d. 1903)
- Oct 22 Leopold Damrosch, German-American composer, and conductor (New York Oratorio Society; New York Symphony), born in Poznań, Kingdom of Prussia (d. 1885)
- Nov 1 Gottfred Matthison-Hansen, Danish composer, born in Roskilde, Denmark (d. 1909)
- Nov 11 Paolo Giorza, Italian-Australian composer, born in Milan, Italy (d. 1914)