- Jan 20 Ernest Chausson, French Romantic composer (Poème; Solitude dance le bois), born in Paris, France (d. 1899)
- Jan 22 Ernst Kullak, German pianist, and composer of parlor music, born in Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia (d. 1914)
- Jan 26 Arthur Hervey, Irish orchestral and operatic composer, and musicologist, born in Paris, France (d. 1922)
- Feb 15 Gustav Hollaender, German violinist, conductor, and composer, born in Leobschütz, Germany (d. 1915)
- Feb 17 Aleksander Różycki, Polish pianist, composer, and music teacher, born in Zhitomir, Russian Empire (d. 1915)
- Mar 12 John White, American organist and composer based in Germany, born in West Springfield, Massachusetts (d. 1902)
- Apr 9 Joseph Hellmesberger Jr., Austrian composer, violinist, and conductor, born in Vienna, Austrian Empire (d. 1907)
- Apr 18 Josef Gruber, Austrian organist and composer, born in Wösendorf in the Wachau (d. 1933)
- Apr 29 Anatoly Liadov, Russian composer (Bewitched Lake), born in St. Petersburg, Russia (d. 1914)
- Apr 29 Edmund van der Straeten, German composer, born in Düsseldorf, Germany (d. 1934)
- May 2 Theodore Moses Tobani, German composer, born in Hamburg, German Confederation (now Germany) (d. 1933)
- May 9 Julius Röntgen, German-Dutch composer, born in Leipzig, Germany (d. 1932)
- May 12 Anatoly Lyadov, Russian composer (From the Apocalypse; Bewitched Lake), conductor, and pedagogue (St. Petersburg Conservatory, 1878-1914), born in Saint Petersburg, Russia (d. 1914)
- Jun 17 Fritz Steinbach, German conductor and composer, born in Grünsfeld, Germany (d. 1916)
- Jun 23 Maude Valérie White, French-born English composer, born near Dieppe, Normandy (d. 1937)
- Jul 3 Piotr Maszyński, Polish composer, born in Warsaw, Poland (d. 1934)
- Jul 9 Johann Zilcher, German composer (d. 1943)
- Jul 14 Richard Samuel Hughes, Welsh composer and pianist, born in Aberystwyth, Wales (d. 1893)
- Jul 16 C. F. Abdy Williams, British organist, composer, and musicologist, born in Dawlish, England (d. 1923)
- Jul 19 Emil Paur, Austrian conductor (Boston Symphony; New York Philharmonic; Pittsburgh Symphony; Berlin State Opera), born in Czernowitz, Austria (d. 1932)
- Jul 25 Edward Solomon, English pianist and composer, chiefly of operettas, born in Lambeth, London, England (d. 1895)
- Aug 31 Stefan Surzynski, Polish conductor and composer, born in Srem, Poland (d. 1919)
- Sep 6 Ferdinand Hummel, German composer, born in Berlin, Prussia (now Germany) (d. 1928)
- Sep 29 Michele Esposito, Italian composer who worked in Ireland, born in Castellamare di Stabia (d. 1929)
- Oct 12 Arthur Nikisch, Hungarian conductor (Berlin Philharmonic), born in Mosonszentmiklós, Hungary (d. 1922)
- Oct 14 George Edwardes, British composer (Gaiety Girl), born in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, England (d. 1915)
- Nov 1 Guido Adler, Bohemian-Austrian musicologist (Still in the Music), born in Eibenschütz, Moravia, Austrian Empire (d. 1942)
- Nov 6 Iosif Kotek, Russian composer and violinist, born in Kamenets-Podolsk, Ukraine (d. 1885)
- Nov 13 Daniel François Scheurleer, Dutch musicologist and banker, born in The Hague, Netherlands (d. 1927)
- Dec 11 Julian Edwards, American composer, born in Manchester, England (d. 1910)
- Dec 23 Alan Gray, British composer (Trinity College), born in York, England (d. 1935)
- Dec 26 Arnold Mendelssohn, German composer, born in Ratibor, Province of Silesia (now Poland) (d. 1933)
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