- Jan 10 Benjamin Godard, French violinist, orchestral and opera composer (Symphonie légendaire; Jocelyn), dies at 45
- Jan 22 Edward Solomon, English pianist and composer, chiefly of operettas, dies of typhoid fever at 39
- Feb 4 Faustina Hasse Hodges, English-American composer, dies at 71
- Feb 24 Ignaz Lachner, German composer, dies at 87
- Mar 17 Adolphe Nibelle, French composer (Le Loup-Garou (The Werewolf)), dies at 69
- May 21 Franz von Suppé, Austrian composer (Poet und Bauer), dies at 76
- Jun 15 Richard Genée, Austrian playwright, librettist, and composer, dies at 72
- Jun 23 Joseph Paul Skelly, Irish-American composer ("Keep The Horseshoe Over The Door"), dies at 44
- Jul 2 William Rockstro, English composer and musicologist, dies at 72
- Jul 14 Alexander Ewing, Scottish composer (Jerusalem the Golden), dies at 65
- Aug 6 George Frederick Root, American songwriter ("The Battle Cry of Freedom"), dies at 74
- Sep 10 Harrison Millard, American composer, dies at 64
- Sep 15 Jan Kleczyński Sr., Polish pianist and composer, dies at 58
- Oct 8 Charles Oberthür, German composer and harpist, dies at 76
- Oct 25 Charles Hallé, Anglo-German pianist, conductor and founder (Halle Orchestra), dies at 76
- Nov 1 Aleksander Zarzycki, Polish composer (Warsaw Music Society), dies at 61
- Nov 11 Julius Tausch, German composer, dies at 68
- Nov 25 Edmond van der Straeten, Belgian lawyer and musicologist, dies at 68
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