1861 in music

Events

• 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 13–24 – The only three performances of the Paris version of Wagner's opera Tannhäuser attract increasing disturbances.
• November – Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov is introduced by his teacher Feodor A. Kanille to Mily Balakirev. This completes The Five of composers. He begins his Symphony No. 1 in E flat under Balakirev's guidance.
• November 15 – Teaching begins at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, founded by conductor Henry Wylde, the oldest specialist performing arts school in the British Isles.
• Tchaikovsky starts to attend Russian Musical Society classes in music theory taught by Nikolai Zaremba at the Mikhailovsky Palace.

Published popular music

• "Go Down, Moses", traditional African American spiritual, heard as a rallying anthem for the Contrabands at Fort Monroe; first spiritual known to be recorded in sheet music.
• "Abide With Me", w. Rev Henry Francis Lyte, m. William Henry Monk
• "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 Chambers Ketchum m. Harry Macarthy
• "Eternal Father, Strong to Save", w. William Whiting m. Rev. John Bacchus Dykes
• "Holy! Holy! Holy! Lord God Almighty", w. Reginald Heber, m. John Bacchus Dykes
• "I'm Going Home to Dixie", w. Dan Emmett arr. C. S. Grafully
• "John Brown's Body", w. anon m. William Steffe
• "Maryland, My Maryland", w. James Ryder Randall m. Walter de Mapers, m. "Mini est Propositum"
• "The Privateer", w.m. anon
• "The Vacant Chair", w. Henry S. Washburn, m. George Frederick Root

Classical music

• Peter Benoit
• *Fantaisie No.4, Op.20
• *Piano Sonata, Op.34, premiered March 21 by Angèle Tailhardat
• *Hoogmis, premiered July 21 in Brussels
• Hermann Berens – 50 Piano Pieces for First Beginners, Op.70
• Alexander Borodin – Piano Trio in D major
• Johannes Brahms
• *Variations on a Theme by Robert Schumann Op.23
• *Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel Op.24
• *Piano Quartet No.1, Op.25
• *Piano Quartet No.2, Op.26
• Anton Bruckner
• *Afferentur regi, WAB 1
• *Am Grabe, WAB 2
• *Ave Maria, WAB 6
• *Du bist wie eine Blume, WAB 64, dated December 5
• *Fugue in D minor, WAB 125, dated November 8
• Antonín Dvořák – String Quintet No. 1 in A minor, Op. 1
• Hermann Goetz – Piano Concerto in E-flat
• Edvard Grieg – 4 Songs, Op.2
• Arthur Sullivan – The Tempest, premiered April 6 in Leipzig.
• Thomas Dyke Acland Tellefsen
• *Marche triomphale, Op.29
• *Grande Valses, Op.30
• *Piano Trio, Op.31
• Henri Vieuxtemps – Violin Concerto No. 5
• Robert Volkmann
• *Ungarische Skizzen, Op.24
• *String Quartet No.6, Op.43

Opera

• Daniel François Esprit Auber – La Circassienne, premiered February 2 in Paris
• Ferenc Erkel – Bánk bán
• Stanislaw Moniuszko – Verbum Nobile
• Amilcare Ponchielli – ''La Savoiarda''

Musical theater

Published Methods and Writings

• John Curwen – How to Observe Harmony
• John Hullah – The History of Modern Music
• Carl von Ledebur – Tonkünstler-Lexicon Berlin's
• Jean-Joseph Rodolphe – Solfège
• Eugène Sauzay – Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven
• Franz Xaver Schnyder von Wartensee – ''Aesthetische Betrachtungen über die Schöpfung''

Births

• February 1 – Emilio Pizzi, composer
• February 21 – Pierre de Bréville, composer
• April 7 – Clara Novello Davies, singer, conductor and music teacher
• April 26 – Ferdinand Buescher, instrument manufacturer
• April 27 – Georgy Catoire, composer
• May 10 – Francisco Cimadevilla González, guitarist and composer
• May 12 – Ivan Caryll, composer
• May 19 – Nellie Melba, operatic soprano
• June 11 – Sigismund Zaremba, composer
• June 15 – Ernestine Schumann-Heink, operatic contralto
• June 17 – Sidney Jones, composer of musical comedies
• June 27 – Fanny Davies, pianist
• July 16 – Franz von Blon, composer
• August 11 – Anton Arensky, pianist and composer
• August 19 – Sadie Martinot, actress and soprano singer
• September 7 – Thomas Whitney Surette, composer
• November 3 – Thomas O'Brien Butler, composer
• November 19 – Theodor Mannborg, organ maker
• November 29 – Spyridon Samaras, Greek opera composer, who also set to music the Olympic Anthem
• November 30 – Ludwig Thuille, composer
• December 5 – James Thornton, English-born US songwriter and vaudeville comedian
• December 18 – Lionel Monckton, composer of musical comedies
• date unknown
• *Camille D'elmar, opera singer
• *Giuseppe Fiorini, musical instrument maker
• *Ferdinand Ellsworth Olds, instrument manufacturer

Deaths

• January 17 – Lola Montez, dancer
• January 22 – Giovanni Velluti, castrato singer
• February 12 – Hippolyte André Jean Baptiste Chélard, conductor and composer
• February 20 – Eugène Scribe, librettist
• March 14 – Louis Niedermeyer, composer
• May 3 – Anthony Philip Heinrich, composer
• August 9 – Vincent Novello, composer and music publisher
• August 11 – Catherine Hayes, soprano
• October 24 – Elisabeth Frösslind, opera singer
• December 14 – Heinrich Marschner, composer
• December 16 – Karol Lipiński, violinist and composer
• December 18 – Ernst Anschütz, organist, composer and poet
• December 25 – Natale Abbadia, composer