1854 in music

Events

• February 27 – Robert Schumann attempts suicide by throwing himself from a bridge into the River Rhine.
• June 13 – Anthony Faas patents the 1st US accordion, having made improvements to both the keyboard, and to enhance the sound. US patent No.US11062A
• Anton Rubinstein begins a four-year concert tour of Europe, establishing his reputation as the leading piano virtuoso of his generation.
• Richard Wagner completes Das Rheingold.

Published popular music

• "Hard Times Come Again No More" w.m. Stephen Collins Foster
• "(I Dream of) Jeanie With the Light Brown Hair" w.m. Stephen Collins Foster
• "Maggie by My Side" Stephen Collins Foster
• "Old Dog Tray" Stephen Collins Foster
• "What Is Home Without A Mother" w.m. Septimus Winner
• "Willie We Have Missed You" Stephen Collins Foster

Classical music

• Hector Berlioz – L'enfance du Christ
• Charles Gounod – Chant de paix
• Franz Liszt
• *Les préludes
• *Première année: Suisse
• Robert Schumann - Geistervariationen
• Henri Wieniawski – Le carnaval russe for violin and piano
• Johannes Brahms
• *Piano Trio No. 1, Op. 8
• *Variations on a Theme by Robert Schumann in F-sharp minor, Op. 9, for piano. The theme is from Bunte Blätter.
• *Ballades, Op. 10
• *Fourteen Variations on a Hungarian Melody, in D major, Op. 21 No. 2
• Charles Sandys Packer – "City of Sydney Polka"

Opera

• Karel Miry – La Lanterne magique
• Franz Schubert – ''Alfonso und Estrella''

Births

• January 21 – Georges Ernest Street, composer
• January 31 – William Hall Sherwood, composer
• February 5 – Laura Emeline Newell, hymnist and songwriter
• March 10 – Dolores Paterno, composer
• March 14 – Fred Whishaw, musician
• April 13
• *António D'Andrade, opera singer
• *William Henry Drummond, lyricist
• April 30 – Alexandre Rey Colaço, pianist
• May 1 – Percy French, songwriter
• May 5 – Antonio Smareglia, composer
• May 6 – Laura Joyce Bell, contralto singer and actress
• May 13 – Paul Klengel, violinist
• May 15 – Pavel Pabst, pianist
• May 17 – Georges Gillet, oboist
• May 18 – Bernard Zweers, composer
• June 14 – Frederik Rung, composer
• June 19 – Alfredo Catalani, composer
• June 27 – Ladislao Bonus, Filipino composer
• July 3 – Leoš Janáček, composer
• July 10 – John Lloyd Williams, musician
• July 14 – Alexander Kopylov, violinist and composer
• August 23 – Moritz Moszkowski, composer
• August 24 – Alfred Dudley Turner, composer
• October 16 – Oscar Wilde, poet and lyricist
• October 22 – James A. Bland, minstrel performer
• October 30 – Julie Rivé-King, pianist
• September 1 – Engelbert Humperdinck, composer
• September 22 – Ovide Musin, violinist
• November 1 – W. Paris Chambers, composer
• November 6 – John Philip Sousa, composer
• November 14 – Dina Edling, opera singer

Deaths

• January 12 – Philip Klitz, composer
• February 4 – Iwan Müller, clarinetist
• March 3 – Giovanni Battista Rubini, operatic tenor
• March 26 – Emilie Hammarskjöld, pianist, singer and composer
• April 18 – Józef Elsner, composer and teacher
• April 30 – James Montgomery, hymnist
• May 1 – Jean Coralli, dancer and choreographer
• May 3 – William Beale, composer
• May 18 – Henry Lemoine, composer and music publisher
• May 31 – Vatroslav Lisinski, composer
• June 17 – Henriette Sontag, operatic soprano
• July 14 – Louis-Pierre Norblin, cellist
• August 21 – August Ferdinand Anacker, composer
• October – Luigi Tarisio, violin dealer and collector
• November 2 – Anton Pann, poet, musicologist and composer
• November 17 – Alberich Zwyssig, composer of the Swiss national anthem