- Jan 22 Giovanni Battista Velluti, Italian castrato singer 'the last great castrato', dies at 80
- Feb 12 Hippolyte-André-Baptiste Chélard, French violist, composer and conductor, dies at 72
- Mar 10 Joseph-François Snel, Belgian composer, dies at 67
- Mar 14 Louis Niedermeyer, Swiss-French composer, dies at 58
- Mar 17 Petter Conrad Boman, Swedish composer, dies at 56
- Apr 18 August Neithardt, German composer, dies at 67
- Apr 18 Heinrich August Neithardt, German military bandleader (1816-40), choirmaster (Berlin Cathedral, 1843-61), and composer, dies at 67
- May 3 Anthony Philip Heinrich, America's 1st "full-time" composer, dies at 80
- May 12 Christian Heinrich Hohmann, German composer, dies at 50
- Jun 5 Tomás Genovés y Lapetra Spanish opera and zarzuela composer (The Abduction), dies at 55
- Aug 29 Franz Joseph Glæser, Czech-Danish composer, dies at 63
- Sep 14 Fortunato Santini, Italian priest and composer, dies at 83
- Nov 28 Robert Führer, Czech composer of sacred music, and music theorist, dies at 54
- Dec 14 Heinrich August Marschner, German opera composer, dies at 66
- Dec 15 Gualtiero Sanelli, Italian composer, dies at 45
- Dec 16 Karol Joseph Lipinski, Polish composer and virtuoso violinist, dies at 71