1838 in music

Events

• March 7 – Jenny Lind, the "Swedish Nightingale", debuts at the Royal Swedish Opera
• November 8 – The ailing Polish-born composer and pianist Frédéric Chopin begins an uncomfortable winter living with his lover, French novelist George Sand, on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca in the abandoned Carthusian monastery of Valldemossa. Here he writes his 24 Preludes.
• Giovanni Ricordi buys Giuseppe Verdi's copyrights.

Popular music

• "Annie Laurie", words William Douglas, music Lady John Scott
• "'Tis Home Where'er the Heart Is" – words by Robert Dale Owen, music by John Hill Hewitt
• "A Life on the Ocean Wave" - words by Epes Sargent, music by Henry Russell

Classical music

• William Sterndale Bennett – Piano Concerto No. 4, Op. 19
• Johanna Kinkel – Das Schloss Boncort, Op.9
• Franz Lachner – Frauenliebe und -leben
• Franz Liszt
• *'Études d'exécution transcendante d'après Paganini'
• *Grand galop chromatique
• Carl Loewe – 4 Fabellieder, Op.64
• Felix Mendelssohn – String Quartets Op. 44, No. 3 in D Major and No. 5 in E-Flat Major
• Robert Schumann
• *Kinderszenen, Op. 15
• *Kreisleriana, Op. 16
• Louis Spohr
• *String Quintet No.5, Op.106
• *3 Duette pour deux soparano & piano, Op.108

Opera

• Hector Berlioz – Benvenuto Cellini
• Albert Grisar – Lady Melvil
• Louis Spohr – ''Der Matrose''

Births

• January 6 – Max Bruch, German composer
• March 21 – Wilma Neruda, Moravian-born violinist
• July 9 – Philip Bliss, American Gospel composer
• October 25 – Georges Bizet, French composer

Deaths

• January 13 – Ferdinand Ries, composer and pianist
• March 2 – Ludwig Abeille, composer
• March 24 – Thomas Attwood, organist and composer
• April 29 – Joseph von Henikstein, patron of the arts and friend of Mozart
• May 28 – Thomas Busby, English composer
• July 28 – Bernhard Henrik Crusell, clarinet player and composer
• August 17 – Lorenzo Da Ponte, librettist
• August 21 – Adelbert von Chamisso, lyricist
• December 26 – Franciszek Lessel, composer