- Jan 25 Elias Parish Alvars, British harpist and composer ("Voyage d'un Harpiste en Orient"), dies of pneumonia at 40
- Feb 8 Francois-Antoine Habeneck, composer, dies at 68
- Feb 9 Corneille Vander Planken, Belgian violinist and composer, dies at 76
- Feb 13 Christian Rummel, German conductor and composer, dies at 61
- Feb 22 Alexander Fesca, German pianist and composer, dies at 28
- May 11 Otto Nicolai, German composer & conductor, dies at 38 of a stroke
- Jun 3 Francois de Paule Jacques Raymond de Fossa, French classical guitarist and composer, dies at 73
- Jun 10 Friedrich Kalkbrenner, German-French pianist and composer, dies at 63
- Aug 26 Jacques- Féréol Mazas, French composer, conductor and violinist, dies at 66
- Sep 25 Johann Baptist Strauss, the elder, Austrian composer (Radetzky-Marsch), dies at 45
Frederic Chopin
Oct 17 [Fryderyk] Frédéric Chopin, Polish-French pianist and composer (Concert in F Minor), dies of tuberculosis at 39
- Dec 14 Conradin Kreutzer, German composer, dies at 69