Jan 18 (Alexis) Emmanuel Chabrier, French pianist and composer (España; Joyeuse marche; Le roi malgré lui), born in Ambert, Puy-de-Dôme, France (d. 1894)
Jan 28 Viktor Ernst Nessler, Alsatian composer, born in Baldenheim, Alsace (d. 1890)
Feb 10 Walter Parratt, British organist and composer, born in Huddersfield, West Riding of Yorkshire, England (d. 1924)
Feb 18 Samuel Prowse Warren, Canadian organist and composer, born in Montreal, Quebec (d. 1915)
Feb 19 Felipe Pedrell, Spanish guitarist, composer (Excelsior; La Celestina), and musical scholar, born in Tortosa, Spain (d. 1922)
Mar 1 Romualdo Marenco, Italian composer, chiefly of ballet music (Excelsior), and conductor, born in Novi Ligure, Italy (d. 1907)
Apr 25 Pauline Lucca, Austrian operatic soprano, born in Vienna, Austria (d. 1908)
May 15 Giovanni Bolzoni, Italian violinist and composer, born in Parma, Duchy of Parma (now Italy) (d. 1919)
May 21 Joseph Parry, Welsh composer and musician, born in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales (d. 1903)
May 24 Tito Mattei, Italian pianist and composer, born in Campobasso, Kingdom of Naples (d. 1914)
May 28 Giovanni Sgambati, Italian pianist and composer, born in Rome, Papal States (d. 1914)
Jun 3 Eduardo Caudella, Romanian composer, born in Iași, Moldavia (d. 1924)
Jul 9 Carl Lumbye, Danish composer, born in Copenhagen, Denmark (d. 1911)
Jul 11 Daniël de Lange, Dutch composer, born in Rotterdam, Netherlands (d. 1918)
Sep 8 Antonín Dvořák, Czech composer (Slavonic Dances; New World Symphony; Cello Concerto in b, Op. 104), born in Nelahozeves, Czech Republic (d. 1904)
Sep 26 Pavel Ivanovich Blaramberg, Russian composer, born in Orenburg (d. 1907)
Oct 1 Anatol' Vakhnyanyn, Ukrainian composer, born in Sin′yava, Galicia (d. 1908)
Oct 4 Stephen Albert Emery, American composer and pianist, born in Paris, Maine (d. 1891)
Oct 11 Friedrich Hegar, Swiss composer, born in Basel, Switzerland (d. 1927)
Nov 4 Carl Tausig, Polish pianist, student and protégé of Liszt, and composer noted for his transcriptions, born in Warsaw (d. 1871)
Nov 5 Alexander Sergeyevich Famintsin, Russian composer, born in Kaluga, Russia (d. 1896)