- Jan 5 Ferdinando Orlandi, Italian musician and composer, dies at 73
- Apr 8 Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti, Italian composer, dies at 50
- Apr 24 Francois van Campenhout, Belgian composer (Brabanconne), dies at 69
- Jul 22 Karl Guhr, German composer, dies at 60
- Aug 6 Nicola Vaccai, Italian composer, dies at 58
- Aug 15 Timothy Olmstead, American fifer and composer, dies at 88
- Sep 11 Henri-Philippe Gerard, Belgian composer, dies at 87
- Oct 4 Louis Massonneau, composer, dies at 82
- Oct 27 Alexander Egorovich Varlamov, Russian composer, dies at 46
- Nov 23 Alfred Julius Becher, Austrian journalist and composer, dies at 45
- Dec 25 Johan Erik Nordblom, Swedish composer, dies at 60
- Dec 31 Oliver Shaw, early American composer, dies at 69