- Jan 6 Vittorio Monti, Italian composer, born in Naples, Kingdom of Italy (d. 1922)
- Jan 16 Cyril Metodej Hrazdira, Czech composer and conductor, born in Rájec nad Svitavou, Moravia, Austro-Hungarian Empire (d. 1926)
- Jan 23 Juventino Rosas, Mexican composer and violinist, born in Santa Cruz de Juventino Rosas, Mexico (d. 1894)
- Jan 27 Cato Engelen-Sewing, Dutch soprano prima donna (Dutch Opera), born in Amsterdam (d. 1961)
- Jan 28 Frederic Lamond, Scottish composer, pupil of Liszt, born in Glasgow, Scotland (d. 1948)
- Jan 28 Julian Aguirre, Argentine composer, born in Buenos Aires, Argentina (d. 1924)
- Feb 3 Dámaso Ledesma, Spanish organist, composer, musicologist, and priest, born in Ciudad Rodrigo, Spain (d. 1928)
- Feb 5 Lodewijk Mortelmans, Belgian composer (Morgenstemming - Morning Mood), born in Antwerp, Belgium (d. 1952)
- Feb 26 Leonard Borwick, English concert pianist, born in Walthamstow, England (d. 1925)
- Mar 22 Hamish MacCunn, Scottish composer (The Land of the Mountain and the Flood), and teacher, born in Greenock, Scotland (d. 1916)
- Mar 27 Patty Smith Hill, American composer, teacher and songwriter ("Happy Birthday To You"), born in Anchorage, Kentucky (d. 1946)
- Mar 28 Wojciech Gawroński, Polish pianist and composer, born in Sejmany, Russian Empire (now Lithuania) (d. 1910)
- Apr 13 John Blackwood McEwen, Scottish classical composer, born in Hawick, Scotland (d. 1948)
- Apr 19 Max Von Schillings, German composer and conductor (Der Pfeifertag), born in Düren, Germany (d. 1933)
- Apr 22 José Vianna da Motta, Portuguese composer, born in São Tomé, São Tomé and Príncipe (d. 1948)
- Apr 28 Joel Engel, Russian musicologist (Jewish Folksongs), composer "Numi Numi"), and music publisher, born in Berdyansk, Russian Empire (d. 1917)
- May 6 Gaston Leroux, French writer (The Phantom of the Opera), born in Paris (d. 1927)
- May 13 Paolo Gallico, Italian-American pianist and composer (The Apocalypse), born in Trieste, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now Italy) (d. 1955)
- Jun 3 (Ivar) Henning Mankell, Swedish pianist and composer, born in Härnösand, Sweden (d. 1930)
- Jun 19 Heinrich Schenker, Austrian musicologist (Urlinie) know for his Schenkerian analysis of music, born in Wisniowczyki, Austrian Galicia (now Vyshnivchyk, Ukraine) (d. 1935)
- Aug 5 Oskar Merikanto [Ala-Kanto], Finnish pianist, organist, and composer, born in Helsinki, Grand Duchy of Finland (d. 1924)
- Aug 7 Granville Bantock, English composer and conductor (Hebridean Symphony), born in London (d. 1946)
- Aug 14 Leone Sinigaglia, Italian composer, born in Turin, Italy (d. 1944)
- Aug 16 Charles Sanford Skilton, American composer (Suite Primeval), born in Northhampton, Massachusetts (d. 1941)
- Sep 26 Henry F. Gilbert, American composer (The Dance in Place Congo), and musicologist, born in Somerville, Massachusetts (d. 1928)
- Oct 10 Guillermo M. Tomás, Cuban composer, born in Cienfuegos, Cuba (d. 1933)
- Oct 27 Annie Patterson, Irish organist, composer, and musicologist, born in Lurgan, Ireland (d. 1934)
- Nov 4 Carolina “La Belle” Otero, Spanish actress, singer and courtesan, born in Valga, Galicia, Spain (d. 1965)
- Nov 9 Andrea d'Angeli, Italian composer, born in Padua, Kingdom of Italy (d. 1940)
- Nov 13 Pierre Maurice, Swiss composer, born in Allaman, Switzerland (d. 1936)
- Nov 15 Ferruccio Giannini, Italian-American operatic tenor (one of the first to be recorded), teacher, and impresario (Verdi Opera House, Philadelphia), born in Barga, Italy (d. 1948)
Scott Joplin (1868-1917)
Nov 24 American ragtime entertainer and composer ("Maple Leaf Rag"; "The Entertainer"), born in Texarkana, Texas
- Nov 28 František Drdla, Czech composer, born in Žďár nad Sázavou, Czech Republic (d. 1944)
- Dec 10 Louis Victor Saar, Dutch-American composer, born in Rotterdam (d. 1937)
- Dec 11 Ernst Henrik Ellberg, Swedish composer, born in Söderhamn, Sweden (d. 1948)
- Dec 14 Richard Batka, Austrian music critic and composer, born in Prague, Kingdom of Bohemia (now Czech Republic) (d. 1922)
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