February 18 – To celebrate the opening of the parliament of the new Italian nation at Turin, Giuseppe Verdi's opera La Favorita is performed in the Teatro Regio. Verdi himself is a deputy in the new parliament.
March 13 – Tannhäuser scandal in Paris.
November - Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov is introduced by his teacher Feodor A. Kanille to Mily Balakirev. This completes the Russian Five. He begins his Symphony in E flat under Balakirev's guidance.
"Abide With Me", w. Rev Henry Francis Lyte m. William Henry Monk (Words 1847)
"Alice, Where Art Thou", w. Wellington Guernsey m. Joseph Ascher
"Aura Lea", w. W. W. Fosdick m. George R. Poulton
"The Bonnie Blue Flag", w. Mrs Annie Chamber-Ketchum m. Harry MacCarthy
"Eternal Father, Strong to Save", w. William Whiting m. Rev. John Bacchus Dykes
"Go Down, Moses", trad spiritual
"Holy! Holy! Holy! Lord God Almighty", w. Reginald Heber m. John Bacchus Dykes
"I'm Going Home to Dixie", w. Dan Emmett a. C. S. Grafully
"John Brown's Body", w. anon m. William Steffe
"Maryland, My Maryland", w. James Ryder Randall m. Walter de Mapers (Music "Mini est Propositum" 12th century)
"The Vacant Chair", w. Henry S. Washburne m. George Frederick Root
Antonín Dvořák – String Quintet No. 1 in A-minor, Op. 1
Hermann Goetz – Piano Concerto in E-flat
Alexander Borodin - Piano Trio in D major
Johannes Brahms - Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel
Henri Vieuxtemps - Violin Concerto No. 5 (Vieuxtemps)
Ferenc Erkel – Bank Ban
Stanislaw Moniuszko – Verbum Nobile
Amilcare Ponchielli – La Savoiarda
Orpheus In The Underworld by Offenbach, New York production
February 21 – Pierre de Bréville, composer (d. 1949)
April 7 – Clara Novello Davies, singer, conductor and music teacher (d. 1943)
April 26 – Ferdinand Buescher, instrument manufacturer (d. 1937)
May 19 – Nellie Melba, operatic soprano (d. 1931)
June 11 – Sigismund Zaremba, composer (d. 1915)
June 15 – Ernestine Schumann-Heink, operatic contralto (d. 1936)
June 17 – Sidney Jones, composer of musical comedies (d. 1946)
June 27 – Fanny Davies, pianist (d. 1934)
August 11 – Anton Arensky, pianist and composer (d. 1906)
August 19 – Sadie Martinot, actress and soprano singer (d. 1923)
November 29 – Spyridon Samaras, Greek opera composer, who also set to music the Olympic Anthem (d. 1917)
December 5 – James Thornton, English-born US songwriter and vaudeville comedian (d. 1938)
December 18 – Lionel Monckton, English composer 9d. 1924)
date unknown
Camille D'elmar, opera singer (d. 1902)
Giuseppe Fiorini, musical instrument maker (d. 1934)
Ferdinand Ellsworth Olds, instrument manufacturer (d. 1928)
January 17 – Lola Montez, dancer (b. 1821)
January 22 – Giovanni Velluti, castrato singer (b. 1780)
February 12 – Hippolyte André Jean Baptiste Chélard, conductor and composer (b. 1789)
February 20 – Eugène Scribe, librettist (b. 1791)
March 14 – Louis Niedermeyer, composer (b. 1802)
May 3 – Anthony Philip Heinrich, composer (b. 1781)
August 9 – Vincent Novello, composer and music publisher (b. 1781)
October 24 – Elisabeth Frösslind, opera singer (b. 1793)
December 14 – Heinrich Marschner, composer (b. 1795)
December 16 – Karol Lipiński, violinist and composer (b. 1790)
December 18 – Ernst Anschütz, organist, composer and poet (b. 1780)
December 25 – Natale Abbadia, composer (b. 1792)
1861 in music Wikipedia (Text) CC BY-SA
