Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
May 7 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Russian composer of the late-Romantic period (1812 Overture; Swan Lake), born in Votkinsk, Russia (d. 1893)
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
- May 10 Hadzhi Dimitar, Bulgarian revolutionist (d. 1868)
- May 11 Filippo Capocci, composer
- May 13 Alphonse Daudet, French writer (Tartarin of Tarascon), born in Nîmes, France (d. 1897)
- May 24 Frederick Walker, British social realist painter, born in London (d. 1875)
- May 28 Hans Makart, Austrian painter (Plague in Florenz), born in Salzburg, Austria (d. 1884)