February 17 - Franz Liszt gives the first performance of his Piano Concerto No. 1, conducted by Hector Berlioz.
March–June - Richard Wagner stays in London to conduct a series of concerts.
July 5 - Jacques Offenbach inaugurates performances of operettas as director of his own theater, the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens.
Late autumn - Mily Balakirev meets Mikhail Glinka in Saint Petersburg. Their friendship cements the former's ambition to foster Russian nationalist music.
November 27 - Piano Trio No. 1 of Brahms is given its first public performance at Dodsworth's Hall in Manhattan on Broadway at 11th Street. It is the earliest performance of Brahms' music in the United States
December 3 - The Piano Trio in G minor by Bedřich Smetana is given its first public performance in Prague.
Black Dyke Mills Band re-formed after failure of its immediate predecessor, the Queenshead Band in Queensbury, West Yorkshire, England.
Stephen Foster – "Come Where My Love Lies Dreaming"
George Martin Lane – "The Lone Fish Ball"
Mrs. Norton – "Juanita"
Septimus Winner ("Alice Hawthorn") – "Listen to the Mocking Bird"
Georges Bizet – Symphony in C
Franz Berwald – Piano Concerto in D
Eduard Franck – String Quartet in F minor op. 49 ([1])
Charles Gounod – Symphony No. 1 in D
Franz Liszt – Prelude and Fugue on B-A-C-H
Anton Rubinstein – Quintet for Piano and Winds op. 55 (probably from this year)
Camille Saint-Saëns
Six bagatelles for piano, Op. 3
Quintet for Piano and Strings , Op. 14
Bedřich Smetana - Piano Trio in G minor, Op. 15
Frédéric Chopin - Fantaisie-Impromptu in C-sharp minor op. posth. 66
George Frederick Bristow – Rip van Winkle
Fromental Halévy – L'inconsolable
Jacques Offenbach – one-act operettas
Ba-ta-clan
Les deux aveugles
Giuseppe Verdi – Les Vêpres Siciliennes
Po-Ca-Hon-Tas (Music: James Gaspard Maeder, Book and Lyrics: John Brougham) Broadway production opened Wallack's Lyceum Theatre on December 24 and transferred to the Bowery Theatre on June 28, 1856. Featuring John Brougham as John Smith.
January 20 – Ernest Chausson, composer (d. 1899)
February 18 – Vera Timanova, Russian pianist
May 9 – Julius Röntgen, composer (d. 1932)
May 11 – Anatoly Lyadov, conductor, composer and music teacher (d. 1914)
July 25 – Edward Solomon, pianist, conductor and composer (died 1895)
August 2 – Cornélie van Zanten, opera singer and teacher (d. 1946)
August 27 – Domenico Salvatori, castrato singer (d. 1909)
September 9 – Michele Esposito, pianist and composer (d. 1929)
November 6 – Paul Kalisch, singer (d. 1946)
December 7 – Gunhild Rosén, ballerina
January 25 – Gaetano Rossi, librettist (b. 1774)
February 1 – Claus Harms, researcher of Lutheran hymns (b. 1778)
February 27 – Louis Lambillotte, composer and music palaeographer (b. 1796)
March 17 – Ramon Carnicer, conductor and composer (b. 1789)
April 12 – Pedro Albéniz, pianist and composer (b. 1795)
September 27 – August Lanner, conductor and composer (b. 1835)
November 9 – Domenico Cosselli, operatic bass-baritone (b. 1801)
November 21 – Olea Crøger, collector of Norwegian folk tunes (b. 1801)
December 2 – Frédéric Bérat, songwriter and composer (b. 1801)
Marie Antoinette Petersén, singer and member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music (b. 1771)
1855 in music Wikipedia (Text) CC BY-SA
