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Events
- January 6 – Johannes Brahms' Piano Sonata no. 3 is premiered in Vienna, played by the 29-year-old composer. Richard Wagner is among the audience.
- January 29 – Established composer Giacomo Meyerbeer presents the young Jacques Offenbach to Augusta of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, the queen consort of Prussia.
- Johannes Brahms – Studies for Pianoforte: Variations on a Theme of Paganini Op. 35
- Max Bruch – 10 Songs for Voice and Piano, Op.17
- Anton Bruckner – Study Symphony in F minor
- Edvard Grieg
- Poetic Tone-Pictures, Op.3
- 4 Songs for Male Voices, EG 160
- Halfdan Kjerulf – 4 Sange, Op.10
- Franz Liszt
- Salve Polonia (S 518)
- Rhapsodie espagnole (S 254)
- 'Venezia e Napoli' – Tarantella
- Deux légendes
- Two Concert Études
- Joachim Raff
- Suite No.1 for Orchestra, Op.101
- Piano Trio No.2, Op.112
- Henrik Rung – Det Svundne og det Vundne
- Camille Saint-Saëns
- Piano Trio No. 1 in F major opus 18,
- Spartacus overture in E♭ major
- Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso Op. 28
- William Stanley – New South Wales volunteer Rifles Quick March
- Johann Strauss II
- Leitartikel (Leading Article) Op. 273
- Morgenblätter (Morning Journals), Op. 279
Opera
- Hector Berlioz – Les Troyens
- Georges Bizet – Les pêcheurs de perles (The Pearl Fishers)
- Max Bruch – Die Loreley
- Charles Gounod – Mireille (opera)
- Giovanni Pacini – Carmelita (not performed)
- Jacques Offenbach – Il signor Fagotto
- Semen Hulak-Artemovsky – Zaporozhets za Dunayem
Musical theater
- Ixion London production opened at the Royalty Theatre on September 28 and ran for 153 performances
Births
- February 4 – Pauline de Ahna, operatic soprano (died 1950)
- February 5 – Armand Parent, composer (died 1934)
- February 13 – Hugo Becker, composer (died 1941)
- February 19 – Emánuel Moór, composer (died 1931)
- February – George J. Gaskin, tenor (died 1920)
- March 20 – Ernesto Nazareth, pianist and composer (died 1934)
- March 21 – Hugo Kaun, conductor, composer and music teacher (died 1932)
- April 3 – Wilhelm Middelschulte, composer (died 1943)
- April 4 – Blanche Marchesi, operatic contralto (died 1940)
- April 9 – Ernst Heuser, German composer (died 1942)
- April 19 – Felix Blumenfeld, Russian composer, pianist (died 1931)
- May 10
- Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury, Bengali writer, painter, violin player and composer (died 1915)
- Charles René, composer (died 1935)
- May 12
- Charles Bordes, composer (died 1909)
- Henry Expert, musicologist (died 1952)
- June 2 – Felix von Weingartner, composer, conductor (died 1942)
- June 5
- Arthur Somervell (died 1937)
- Adolf Schuppan, composer (died c. 1931)
- June 13 – Josef Venantius Wöss, composer (died 1943)
- June 16 – Paul Antonin Vidal, composer (died 1931)
- July 20 – W. H. Neidlinger, composer (died 1924)
- July 28 – Carl Adolph Preyer, composer, pianist (died 1947)
- August 11 – Árpád Szendy, composer (died 1922)
- August 16 – Gabriel Pierné, composer (died 1937)
- September 2 – Isidor Philipp, composer (died 1958)
- September 15 – Horatio Parker, composer (died 1919)
- November 1 – Alfred Reisenauer, composer (died 1907)
- December 7 – Pietro Mascagni, composer (died 1945)
- December 17 – Ion Vidu, composer (died 1931)
- December 24 – Enrique Fernández Arbós, violinist, conductor and composer (died 1939)
Deaths
- February 4 – Giuseppe Lillo, composer, 38
- February 25 – Laure Cinti-Damoreau, operatic soprano, 62
- March 23 – Charles William Glover, composer (born 1806)
- April 8 – Joseph Netherclift, composer, 70
- May 14
- Ferdinand Beyer, composer (born 1803)
- Émile Prudent, composer, 46
- June – Filippo Colini, operatic baritone, 51
- June 7 – Franz Xaver Gruber, composer of "Silent Night", 75
- June 12 – Pietro Alfieri, Roman Catholic music writer, 61
- June 20 – Luigi Felice Rossi, composer, 57
- June 22 – Carl Schuberth, composer (born 1811)
- July 23 – Sophie Lebrun, pianist and composer, 82
- August 5 – Adolf Friedrich Hesse, composer, 53