- Jan 10 Charles EH de Coussemaker, Belgian musicologist/historian, dies at 70
- Feb 10 Johan August Söderman, Swedish composer, dies at 43
- Feb 21 Henry John Gauntlett, English organist and composer, dies at 70
- Feb 28 Charles Edward Horsley, English composer, dies at 53
- Mar 4 Alfred Holmes, English violinist and composer, dies at 38
- Mar 5 Marie d'Agoult [pen name Daniel Stern], French author and mother of composer Franz Liszt's children, dies at 70
- Mar 19 Jozef Stefani, Polish composer, dies at 75
- Mar 31 Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield, American singer, known as "The Black Swan", who performed at Buckingham Palace for Queen Victoria, dies at about 57 [birthdate uncertain]
- Apr 16 Augustin-Philippe Peellaert, Belgian military officer, painter, composer, and librettist, dies at 83
- Apr 19 Samuel Sebastian Wesley, English organist and composer, dies at 65
- Jun 18 August Rockel, German composer, dies at 61
- Jun 25 John Patton, American trumpeter, dies at the Battle of the Little Bighorn at 24 or 25
- Jun 28 August Wilhelm Ambros, Austrian Czech musicologist (History of Music), dies at 59
- Jul 8 Josef Dessauer, Austrian composer, dies at 78
- Jul 24 Thomas Molleson Mudie, English composer, dies at 66
- Oct 1 Henri Bertini, French classical composer and pianist, dies at 77
- Oct 29 Jacques Gregoir, Belgian composer and pianist, dies at 59
- Nov 13 Pietro Antonio Coppola, Italian composer, dies at 82
- Dec 3 Hermann Goetz, German composer, dies at 35
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