- Jan 17 Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga, Spanish composer (b. 1806)
- Mar 11 Gervais-François Couperin, French composer, dies at 66
- Mar 27 Jakob Haibel, Austrian composer, dies at 63
- Apr 3 Reginald Heber, bishop & hymn writer, dies
- Apr 13 Franz Danzi, German composer & cellist, dies at 62
- May 10 Giuseppe Sigismondo, Italian historian and composer, dies at 86
- May 24 Friedrich Fesca, composer, dies at 37
- May 25 Christian Friedrich Ruppe, Dutch-German composer, dies at 72
- Jun 5 Carl Maria von Weber, German romantic composer (Der Freischutz), dies at 39
- Jul 7 Friedrich Dülon, German flautist and composer, dies at 56
- Jul 11 Carl Bernhard Wessely, composer, dies at 57
- Jul 17 Joseph Graetz, German composer, dies at 65
- Jul 24 Jacob Kimball, composer, dies at 65
- Jul 26 Friedrich Wilhelm Weis, German physician and composer, dies at 82
- Aug 30 Theodor Zwetler, Austrian composer, dies at 67
- Nov 17 Louise Reichardt, German composer, dies at 47
- Nov 22 Pavel Lambert Mašek, Czech composer, dies at 65
- Dec 10 Benedikt Emanuel Schack, composer, dies at 68