- Jan 17 Wilhelm Kienzl, Austrian composer (Der Evangelimann - The Evangelist; Der Kuhreigen), born in Waizenkirchen, Austria (d. 1941)
- Feb 28 Gustave Kerker, German born American composer for Broadway musicals (The Belle of New York), born in Hertford, Germany (d. 1923)
- Mar 3 Alfred Bruneau, French cellist, and composer, chiefly of opera (Le Rêve; Messidor), born in Paris, France (d. 1934)
- Apr 14 Edgar Stillman Kelley, American composer (Gulliver), born in Sparta, Wisconsin (d. 1944)
- Apr 23 Ruggero Leoncavallo, Italian composer (I pagliacci/Zaza), born in Naples, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (d. 1919)
- Apr 29 František Ondříček, Czech violinist and composer, born in PraguePrague, Kingdom of Bohemia (now Czech Republic) (d. 1922)
- May 2 Frederic Cliffe, English composer, born in Bradford, Yorkshire (d. 1931)
- May 9 Luigi Illica, Italian poet and opera librettist (Giacomo Puccini's "La bohème", "Tosca", and "Madama Butterfly"; Umberto Giordano's "Andrea Chénier"), born in Castell'Arquato, Duchy of Parma and Piacenza (now Italy) (d. 1919)
- May 16 Juan Morel Campos, Puerto Rican composer (Danza), born in Ponce, Puerto Rico (d. 1896)
Edward Elgar (1857-1934)
Jun 2 English composer (Coronation Ode, Pomp and Circumstance), born in Lower Broadheath, Worcestershire
- Jun 12 Achille Simonetti, Italian violinist and composer, born in Turin, Italy (d. 1928)
- Jul 2 Francesco Spetrino, Italian conductor and composer, born in Palermo, Italy (d. 1948)
- Jul 8 Rudolf Dellinger, German Bohemian composer, born in Graslitz, (d. 1910)
- Jul 29 Iacob Mureșianu, Romanian composer, born in Brașov, Austrian Empire (now Romania) (d. 1917)
- Aug 8 Cécile Chaminade, French pianist and 1st female composer awarded with Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur (1913), born in Paris, France (d. 1944)
- Aug 14 Max Wagenknecht, German composer, born in Woldisch Tychow, Pomerania, Free State of Prussia (now Tychowo, Poland) (d. 1922)
- Oct 4 Henry Schoenfeld, American composer, born in Milwaukee (d. 1936)
- Dec 7 Niccolò van Westerhout, Italian composer, born in Mola di Bari, Italy (d. 1898)
- Dec 15 Eugeniusz Pankiewicz, Polish composer, born in Siedlce, Poland (d. 1898)