1862 in music

Events

• March 17 – Anton Rubinstein is named first director of the Saint Petersburg Conservatory in Russia, which opens in September. Tchaikovsky is in the first incoming class.
• March 24 – Fromental Halévy's funeral, in Paris, is attended by an estimated 15,000 people.
• April 24 – A letter from Giuseppe Verdi is published in The Times of London complaining about the rejection of a work commissioned from him for the Great Exhibition.
• May 17 – Teatro Comunale Florence inaugurated as an open-air amphitheatre, the Politeama Fiorentino Vittorio Emanuele, with a production of Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor.
• May 21 – Edvard Grieg gives his first concert in his home town of Bergen, Norway.
• August 4 – Louis-Albert Bourgault-Ducoudray wins the Prix de Rome in the Musical Composition category. Jules Massenet is one of the runners-up.
• August 9 – The première of Hector Berlioz's opera Béatrice et Bénédict inaugurates the new Theater Baden-Baden.
• November 2 – The Ride of the Valkyries and the overture to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg by Richard Wagner are publicly performed in Leipzig, conducted by the composer.
• November 10 – Giuseppe Verdi's opera La forza del destino is first performed, in the Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre of Saint Petersburg, Russia.
• November 18 – Antonín Dvořák is a member of the orchestra at the opening of the Provisional Theater in Prague.
• date unknown
• *Johannes Brahms and Johann Strauss II meet, at Baden-Baden.
• *Stephen Heller and Charles Hallé perform Mozart's E-flat concerto for two pianos at The Crystal Palace in London.
• *Ludwig von Köchel publishes Chonologisch-thematisches Verzeichnis sämtlicher Tonwerke Wolfgang Amadé Mozarts.

Published popular music

• "Angels We Have Heard on High" – James Chadwick and Edward Shippen Barnes
• "Battle Cry of Freedom" – George Frederick Root
• "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" – Julia Ward Howe, published in Atlantic Monthly.
• "Here's Your Mule" – C. D. Benson
• "Kingdom Coming" – Henry C. Work
• "The Merry, Merry Month of May" – Stephen Foster
• "We Are Coming, Father Abra'am, 300,000 More" – poem by James S. Gibbons, set to music by eight different composers, including Stephen Foster.
• "Blaydon Races" – traditional folk tune, 1862 lyrics by George Ridley
• Christ Is Risen! Christ Is Risen! – Archer Thompson GurneyTyneside Songs – Thomas Allan (publisher)

Classical music

• Alexander Borodin – Piano Quintet in C minor
• Johannes Brahms - First two movements of the Cello Sonata No. 1
• Emanuel Chabrier – Souvenirs de Brunehaut
• Felix Draeseke – Fantasiestücke in Walzerform, opus 3: Nr. 1 in B; Nr. 2 in A-flat
• Louis Moreau Gottschalk
• *Union, Op. 48
• *Home Sweet Home, Op.51
• *Le Papillon
• Asger Hamerik – Quintet
• Ferdinand Laub – Concert-Polonaise, Op. 8
• Karol Józef Lipiński – 2 Impromptus, Op.34
• Franz Liszt
• *Phantasiestück über Motive aus 'Rienzi', S. 439
• *Berceuse
• Henry Charles Litolff – Scherzo, Op. 115
• Giacomo Meyerbeer – Fest-Ouvertüre im Marschstyl
• Cesare Pugni – The Pharaoh's Daughter, ballet
• Joachim Raff – Piano Quintet, Op. 107 in A minor
• Napoleon Henri Reber – Piano Trio No. 4 'Sérénade', Op. 25
• Camille Saint-Saëns – Mazurka No. 1 for piano in G minor, Op. 21
• Henri Vieuxtemps – Violin Concerto No. 5, Op. 37
• Giuseppe Verdi - Hymn of the Nations
• Henri Wieniawski
• *Etudes-Caprices, Op. 18
• *Fantaisie orientale, Op. 24

Opera

• Julius Benedict – The Lily of Killarney
• Hector Berlioz – Béatrice et Bénédict
• Frederic Clay – Court and Cottage
• Charles Gounod – La reine de Saba
• Franz von Suppé – Die Kartenschlägerin
• Giuseppe Verdi – ''La forza del destino''

Births

• January 29 – Frederick Delius, composer
• January 30 – Walter Damrosch, conductor
• February 13 – Karel Weis, composer
• February 17 – Edward German, composer
• March 19 – Jef Denyn, carillon player
• March 21 – Elmer Samuel Hosmer, composer
• April 5 – Louis Ganne, conductor
• May 2 – Maurice Emmanuel, composer
• June 3 – Joseph Humfrey Anger, composer
• June 27 – May Irwin, actress and singer
• August 10 – Ernest Richard Kroeger, composer
• August 11 – Carrie Jacobs-Bond, US songwriter
• August 22 – Claude Debussy, composer
• August 29 – Maurice Maeterlinck, lyricist
• September 25 – Léon Boëllmann, composer and organist
• October 10 – Arthur De Greef, composer and pianist
• October 15 – Conrad Ansorge, composer
• November 1 – Johan Wagenaar, organist and composer
• December 9 – Karel Kovařovic, composer
• December 18 – Moriz Rosenthal, pianist
• December 23 – Hans Wessely, composer
• date unknown – Marcelle Lender, French singer-dancer and entertainer

Deaths

• February 5 – Ignaz Franz Castelli, dramatist and songwriter
• February 7 – František Škroup, composer
• February 16 – Leopold Schefer, composer and poet
• March 17 – Fromental Halévy, composer
• April 7 – Sydney Nelson, composer and arranger
• May 21 – Edwin Pearce Christy, founder of Christy's Minstrels
• May 23 – Friedrich Ruthardt, oboist and composer
• May 25 – Johann Nestroy, singer and actor
• July 2 – Charles Mayer, pianist and composer
• August 31 – Ignaz Assmayer, composer
• November 1 – Eleonora Zrza, Danish opera soprano
• December 2 – Marius Gueit, French organist, cellist and composer
• December 24 – Joseph Funk, composer and music teacher
• date unknown
• *Joseph Fonclause, bow-maker
• *Jon Eriksson Helland, Hardanger fiddle maker
• *Luigi Piccioli, singer and music teacher
• *Geltrude Righetti, operatic contralto