1851 in music

• February – Operatic tenor Sims Reeves returns to perform in Dublin with his new wife, soprano Charlotte Emma Lucombe.
• February 6 – Schumann's Symphony No. 3 receives its première in Düsseldorf, the composer conducting.{{cite web|first=Geoff|last=Kuenning|title=Schumann: Symphony No. 3, Rhenish|year=1994|url=http://www.lasr.cs.ucla.edu/geoff/prognotes/schumann/symphony3.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051218152145/http://www.lasr.cs.ucla.edu/geoff/prognotes/schumann/symphony3.html|archive-date=18 December 2005|url-status=dead}}
• March 11 – Giuseppe Verdi's opera Rigoletto is first performed at La Fenice in Venice.{{cite book|first=John|last=Rosselli|title=The Life of Verdi|series=Musical Lives|location=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2000|isbn=978-0-52166-957-3|page=86|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9rMe04PNbZ4C}}
• April 5 – Jenny Lind visits the Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, USA.{{cn|date=February 2024}}
• July 23 – Richard Wagner writes down the leitmotif for the "Ride of the Valkyries".{{cn|date=February 2024}}
• Operatic baritone Hans von Milde marries soprano Rosa Agthe.{{cn|date=February 2024}}
• Eight-year-old Adelina Patti sings in public for the first time.{{cn|date=February 2024}}

• "Cora, the Indian Maiden's Song" – w. Shirley Brooks m. Alexander Lee
• "Old Folks at Home" (Way Down Upon the Swanee River) by Stephen Foster
• "Ring, Ring, de Banjo" by Stephen Foster
• "I Would Not Die in Summer Time" by Stephen Foster
• "Laura Lee" by Stephen Foster

• Woldemar Bargiel
• Piano Trio No. 1 in F major, Op. 6
• String Quartet No.3, Op.15b
• Johannes Brahms
• Scherzo in E-flat minor for solo piano, Op. 4
• Heimkehr (Homecoming) for voice and piano, Op. 7 No. 6
• Stephen Heller – Pensées fugitives, Op.30
• Franz Liszt
• Transcendental Études for Piano, S 139
• Grandes études de Paganini
• Johann Kaspar Mertz – Fantaisie über 'Don Juan', Op.28
• Jacques Offenbach – Concerto Rondo for cello and orchestra.
• George Onslow – Wind Quintet Op. 81
• Anton Rubinstein – Symphony No. 2 (Ocean) (first version)
• Robert Schumann
• Symphony No. 4 from 1841, revised
• Violin Sonata No. 1
• Violin Sonata No. 2
• Der Rose Pilgerfahrt, oratorio
• Mädchenlieder, Op. 103
• 7 Lieder, Op. 104
• 6 Gesänge, Op. 107
• Piano Trio No. 3, Op. 110
• 3 Gedichte, Op. 119
• Julius Cäsar Ouverture, Op. 128
• 3 Fantasiestücke, for piano
• Märchenbilder, for piano and viola
• Adrien-François Servais
• Souvenir de la Suisse, Op.10
• 6 Caprices for Cello, Op.11
• Hugo Staehle – 6 Lieder, Op.2

• Félicien-César David – La Perle du Bresil
• Charles Gounod – Sapho
• Albert Lortzing – Die Oprnprobe
• Joachim Raff – König Alfred
• Giuseppe Verdi – Rigoletto

• January 25 – Jan Blockx, pianist, composer and music teacher (d. 1912)
• January 27 – Gaspar Villate, composer (d. 1891)
• February 12 – Anna Yesipova, pianist (d. 1914)
• March 27
• Ruperto Chapí, composer (d. 1909)
• Vincent d'Indy, composer (d. 1931)
• May 1 – Ludvig Hegner, composer (d. 1923)
• May 6
• Aristide Bruant, French singer (d. 1925)
• Jean-Alexandre Talazac, operatic tenor (d. 1896)
• May 7 – Julius Buths, pianist, conductor and composer (d. 1920)
• May 17 – Victor Bendix, pianist, conductor and composer (d. 1926)
• June 3 – Theodore Baker, musicologist (died 1934)
• June 11 – Oscar Borg, composer (d. 1930)
• June 12 – Pol Plançon, operatic bass (d. 1914)
• August 8 – Walborg Lagerwall, Swedish violinist (d. 1940)
• October 11 – Josif Marinković, composer (d. 1931)
• October 16 – Viggo Bielefeldt, composer (d. 1909)
• November 5 – Émile Pierre Ratez, composer (d. 1934)
• November 16 – Minnie Hauk, operatic soprano (d. 1929)
• probable – Marie Heilbron, operatic soprano (d. 1886)

• January 21 – Albert Lortzing, composer (b. 1801)
• January 24 – Gaspare Spontini, composer (b. 1774)
• February 20 – Josef Alois Ladurner, Austrian composer and pedagogue (b. 1769)
• March 6
• Alexander Alyabyev, composer (b. 1787)
• Emma Hartmann, composer (b. 1807)
• April 8 – John Parry (Bardd Alaw), harpist and composer (b. 1776)
• July 4 – Martin-Joseph Mengal, composer (b. 1784)
• July 17 – Béni Egressy, composer and librettist (b. 1814)
• August 8 – James Shudi Broadwood, piano-maker (b. 1772)
• October 8 – George Alexander Lee, singer, songwriter and opera producer (b. 1802)
• December 1 – Carl Dahlén, ballet dancer and choreographer (b. 1770)

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Category:19th century in music

Category:Music by year