- Jan 21 Henri Duparc, French composer, born in Paris, France (d. 1933)
- Feb 6 Luigi Mancinelli, Italian orchestral composer, born in Orvieto, Italy (d. 1921)
- Feb 23 Thomas Payne Westendorf, American songwriter ("I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen"), born in Bowling Green, Virginia (d. 1923)
- Feb 27 Hubert Parry, English musicologist and composer (Jerusalem), born in Bournemouth, England (d. 1918)
- Mar 9 Martin Pierre Joseph Marsick, Belgian composer, born in Jupille-sur-Meuse, Liège, Belgium (d. 1924)
- Mar 17 Horace Nicholl, British composer, born in Tipton, England (d. 1922)
- Mar 31 John Henry Roberts, Welsh organist, hymn composer, and pedagogue, born in Pen-rallt, Caernarfonshire, Wales (d. 1924)
- Apr 28 Ludvig Schytte, Danish pianist, composer, and educator, born in Aarhus, Denmark (d. 1909) [1] [2]
- May 5 Adalbert von Goldschmidt, Austrian composer, born in Vienna, Austrian Empire (d. 1906)
- May 12 Cyrill Kistler, German composer, educator, and music theorist, born in Großaitingen, Swabia, Germany (d. 1907)
- Jun 1 Otto Valdemar Malling, Danish organist and composer (Det hellige Land, opus 46), born in Copenhagen, Denmark (d. 1915)
- Jul 16 Henri Viotta, Dutch conductor and composer (Lexicon of Music), born in Amsterdam, Netherlands (d. 1933)
- Jul 27 Vladimir de Pachmann, Russian-German pianist, born in Odessa, Ukraine (d. 1933)
- Jul 31 Jean Robert Planquette, French composer (Bells of Corneville), born in Paris (d. 1903)
- Aug 1 František Kmoch, Czech composer and conductor, born in Zásmuky, Austrian Empire (d. 1912)
- Sep 5 Manuel Giro, Spanish composer, born in Lérida, Catalonia, Spain (d. 1916)
- Nov 24 Lilli Lehmann, German opera singer (Tristan und Isolde), born in Würzburg, Kingdom of Bavaria (d. 1929)
- Dec 17 Frederick Grant Gleason, American composer, born in Middletown, Connecticut (d. 1903)
- Dec 18 Karl Schröder II, German composer, born in Quedlinburg, Prussian Saxony (d. 1935)
- Dec 21 Edward Everett Rice, American pioneer producer and composer of musical theater, born in Brighton, Massachusetts (d. 1924)
- Dec 30 Mary Frances Allitsen, British composer, born in London, England (d. 1912)
Country Singers
Jazz Singers
Opera Singers
Pop Singers
Rappers
Rock Singers