1847 in music
Events
- February 28 – Fire breaks out during a performance and destroys the Großherzoglichen Hoftheater in Baden. Most of the audience perishes because the theatre doors cannot be opened from the inside.
- March 3 – I Lombardi alla prima crociata is performed at Palmo's Opera House in New York City, the first presentation of a Verdi opera in the United States.
- March 14 – Verdi's Macbeth is premiėred at the Teatro della Pergola in Florence, Italy.
- September – Franz Liszt gives up performing in public.
Publications
- Vladimir Stasov publishes a monograph on Mikhail Glinka's use of folk motifs in his music.
Popular music
- "Cantique de Noël" w. Placide Cappeau John Sullivan Dwight m. Adolphe Adam
- "Dinah Dear" by Philip Klitz
- "Miss Ginger" by Philip Klitz
- "Roll On Silver Moon" by Joseph W. Turner
Classical music
- Franz Berwald – A Rustic Wedding
- Frederic Chopin
- *Waltz Opus 64 No.1 (Minute)
- *Waltz Op. 64. No. 2
- *Cello Sonata
- August Freyer – Concert Variations, Op.2
- Franz Liszt
- *Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2
- *Glanes de Woronince
- * Most of the Harmonies poétiques et religieuses
- Felix Mendelssohn – String Quartet No. 6
- Jacques Offenbach – Concerto Militaire for cello and orchestra
- Robert Schumann
- *Symphony No. 2
- *Piano Trio No. 1
- Henryk Wieniawski – Grand Caprice Fantastique Op. 1
Opera
- Francisco Asenjo Barbieri – Il Buontempone
- Giovanni Bottesini – Cristoforo Colombo
- Friedrich von Flotow – Martha
- Ivar Hallstrom – Hvita frun på Drottningholm
- Karel Miry – Brigitta
- Jacque Offenbach - L'alcôve
- Giuseppe Verdi – Macbeth
- William Vincent Wallace – ''Matilda of Hungary''
Births
- January 1 – Rudolf Tillmetz, flute virtuoso, music teacher and composer
- February 15 – Robert Fuchs, composer and music teacher
- March 2 – Richard Temple, singer, actor and theatre director
- March 9 – Axel Grandjean, conductor and composer
- June 28 – Sveinbjörn Sveinbjörnsson, composer
- July 12 – Karl Heinrich Barth, pianist and music teacher
- July 21 – Víctor Mirecki Larramat, cellist and music teacher
- October 21 – Giuseppe Giacosa, librettist for some of Puccini's operas
- November 1 – Emma Albani, soprano
- November 30 – August Klughardt, conductor and composer
- December 1 – Agathe Backer Grøndahl, pianist and composer
- December 9 – George Grossmith, comic writer and performer
- December 18 – Augusta Holmès, composer
- December 28 – James Frederick Swift, organist and composer
- date unknown – Emma Fursch-Madi, operatic soprano
Deaths
- January 6 – Tyagaraja, Carnatic music composer
- April 23 – Erik Gustaf Geijer, writer and composer
- May 14 – Fanny Mendelssohn, pianist and composer
- June 11 – Heinrich Bärmann, clarinet virtuoso
- June 18 – Lisette Stenberg, actress and musician
- July 19 – Johann Wilhelm Wilms, composer
- September 4 – František Vladislav Hek, writer and composer
- September 25 – Emma Albertazzi, English contralto
- November 4 – Felix Mendelssohn, pianist, conductor and composer
- November 20 – Henry Francis Lyte, hymnist
- date unknown – Francesco Molino, guitarist and composer