1861 in music

Events

* Tannhäuser scandal in Paris.
*Giuseppe Verdi is elected a deputy in the first parliament of the new Italian nation.

Published popular music

* "Abide With Me", w. Rev Henry Francis Lyte m. William Henry Monk (Words 1847)
* "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 Chamber-Ketchum m. Harry MacCarthy
* "Eternal Father, Strong To Save", w. William Whiting m. Rev. John Bacchus Dykes
* "Go Down, Moses", trad spiritual
* "Holy! Holy! Holy! Lord God Almighty", w. Reginald Heber m. John Bacchus Dykes
* "I'm Going Home to Dixie", w. Dan Emmett a. C. S. Grafully
* "John Brown's Body", w. anon m. William Steffe
* "Maryland, My Maryland", w. James Ryder Randall m. Walter de Mapers (Music "Mini est Propositum" 12th century)
* "The Vacant Chair", w. Henry S. Washburne m. George Frederick Root

Classical music

*Hermann Goetz - "Piano Concerto in E-flat"

Opera

*Ferenc Erkel - "Bank Ban"
*Amilcare Ponchielli - "La Savoiarda"

Musical theater

* "Orpheus In The Underworld" by Offenbach, New York production

Births

*February 21 - Pierre de Bréville, composer (d. 1949)
*April 7 - Clara Novello Davies, singer, conductor and music teacher (d. 1943)
* May 19 - Nellie Melba, operatic soprano (d. 1931)
* June 15 - Ernestine Schumann-Heink, operatic contralto (d. 1936)
*June 17 - Sidney Jones, composer of musical comedies (d. 1946)
*June 27 - Fanny Davies, pianist (d. 1934)
* August 11 - Anton Arensky, pianist and composer (d. 1906)
*December 5 - James Thornton, English-born US songwriter and vaudeville comedian (d. 1938)
* December 18 - Lionel Monckton, English composer 9d. 1924)
*"date unknown"
**Camille D'elmar, opera singer (d. 1902)
**Giuseppe Fiorini, musical instrument maker (d. 1934)
**Sigismund Zaremba, composer (d. 1915)

Deaths

*January 17 - Lola Montez, dancer (b. 1821)
*January 22 - Giovanni Velluti, "castrato" singer (b. 1780)
*February 12 - Hippolyte André Jean Baptiste Chélard, conductor and composer (b. 1789)
*February 20 - Eugène Scribe, librettist (b. 1791)
*March 14 - Louis Niedermeyer, composer (b. 1802)
*August 9 - Vincent Novello, composer and music publisher (b. 1781)
*October 24 - Elisabeth Frösslind, opera singer (b. 1793)
*December 14 - Heinrich Marschner, composer (b. 1795)
*December 16 - Karol Lipiński, violinist and composer (b. 1790)
*December 18 - Ernst Anschütz, organist, composer and poet (b. 1780)
*December 25 - Natale Abbadia, composer (b. 1792)
*"date unknown" - Anthony Philip Heinrich, composer (b. 1781)