- Jan 18 (Alexis) Emmanuel Chabrier, French pianist and composer (España; Joyeuse marche; Le roi malgré lui), born in Ambert, Puy-de-Dôme, France (d. 1894)
- Jan 28 Viktor Ernst Nessler, Alsatian composer, born in Baldenheim, Alsace (d. 1890)
- Feb 10 Walter Parratt, British organist and composer, born in Huddersfield, West Riding of Yorkshire, England (d. 1924)
- Feb 18 Samuel Prowse Warren, Canadian organist and composer, born in Montreal, Quebec (d. 1915)
- Feb 19 Felipe Pedrell, Spanish guitarist, composer (Excelsior; La Celestina), and musical scholar, born in Tortosa, Spain (d. 1922)
- Mar 1 Romualdo Marenco, Italian composer, chiefly of ballet music (Excelsior), and conductor, born in Novi Ligure, Italy (d. 1907)
- Apr 25 Pauline Lucca, Austrian operatic soprano, born in Vienna, Austria (d. 1908)
- May 15 Giovanni Bolzoni, Italian violinist and composer, born in Parma, Duchy of Parma (now Italy) (d. 1919)
- May 21 Joseph Parry, Welsh composer and musician, born in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales (d. 1903)
- May 24 Tito Mattei, Italian pianist and composer, born in Campobasso, Italy (d. 1914)
- May 28 Giovanni Sgambati, Italian pianist and composer, born in Rome (d. 1914)
- Jun 3 Eduardo Caudella, Romanian composer, born in Iași, Moldavia (d. 1924)
- Jul 9 Carl Lumbye, Danish composer, born in Copenhagen, Denmark (d. 1911)
- Jul 11 Daniël de Lange, Dutch composer, born in Rotterdam, Netherlands (d. 1918)
- Sep 8 Antonín Dvořák, Czech composer (Slavonic Dances; New World Symphony; Cello Concerto in b, Op. 104), born in Nelahozeves, Czech Republic (d. 1904)
- Sep 26 Pavel Ivanovich Blaramberg, Russian composer, born in Orenburg (d. 1907)
- Oct 1 Anatol' Vakhnyanyn, Ukrainian composer, born in Sin′yava, Galicia (d. 1908)
- Oct 4 Stephen Albert Emery, American composer and pianist, born in Paris, Maine (d. 1891)
- Oct 11 Friedrich Hegar, Swiss composer, born in Basel, Switzerland (d. 1927)
- Nov 4 Carl Tausig, Polish pianist, student and protégé of Liszt, and composer noted for his transcriptions, born in Warsaw (d. 1871)
- Nov 5 Alexander Sergeyevich Famintsin, Russian composer, born in Kaluga, Russia (d. 1896)
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