- Jan 6 Nicolas-Charles Bochsa, French harpist, composer, forger, and bigamist, dies at 66
- Jan 17 Thomas Attwood Walmisley, English organist, composer and educator (Cathedral Music), dies at 41
- Feb 17 Heinrich Heine, German poet and lyricist (Schubert, Liszt), dies at 58
- Feb 17 John Braham, English tenor singer and composer, dies at 81
- Mar 28 Pyotr Ivanovich Turchaninov, Russian church composer, and choirmaster, dies at 76
- May 3 Adolfo Fumagalli, composer, dies at 27
- May 3 Adolphe Charles Adam, French composer/critic (Giselle), dies at 52
- Jul 11 Josef Kajetán Tyl, Czech playwright, writer and author of the Czech national anthem (Kde domov můj), dies of an unknown illness at 48
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Jul 29 German pianist, composer (Humoresque), and music critic (Neue Zeitschrift für Musik - New Journal for Music), dies at 46
- Aug 4 Johann Gottlieb Schneider, German composer, dies at 59
- Aug 5 Robert Lucas Pearsall, English composer, dies at 61
- Aug 20 Philipp Jakob Riotte, German composer, dies at 80
- Aug 21 Peter Josef von Lindpaintner, German composer, dies at 64
- Oct 10 Mikhail Vielgorsky, Russian composer, dies at 67
- Nov 17 William Knyvett, British singer and composer, dies at 77
Country Singers
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