- Jan 11 Pietro Romani, Italian conductor and composer, dies at 85
- Feb 1 Joseph-Leon Gatayes, composer, dies at 71
- Mar 12 Crystobal Oudrid y Segura, composer, dies at 52
- Mar 28 Vincenzo Fioravanti, Italian composer, dies at 77
- Apr 7 Errico Petrella, Italian composer, dies at 63
- May 14 John Roberts, Welsh composer, minister and poet, dies at 54
- Jun 3 Ludwig Ritter von Köchel, Austrian musicologist (b. 1800)
- Aug 3 Karl Georg Lickl, composer, dies at 75
- Sep 12 Julius Reitz, composer, dies at 64
- Oct 14 Antoine-Amable-Elie Elwart, French composer, dies at 68
- Oct 28 Johann Herbeck, composer, dies at 45
- Nov 13 Pietro Antonio Coppola, Italian composer, dies at 83
- Dec 10 Federico Ricci, Italian composer, dies at 68
- Dec 31 Alberto Mazzucato, composer, dies at 64