1820 in music

This is a list of music-related events in 1820.

Events

 * Pietro Raimondi returns to Naples and begins his career as an opera composer.
 * The Musical Fund Society is founded at Musical Fund Hall in Philadelphia. Its first public concert on April 22, 1821, featured Beethoven's 2nd Symphony.
 * Franz Liszt plays in public for the first time in Ödenburg.

Classical music

 * Ludwig van Beethoven – Piano Sonata No. 30
 * Franz Berwald – Violin Concerto in C sharp minor, Op. 2
 * Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel – "Annette", H-U 14
 * Friedrich Kuhlau
 * 3 Sonatinas, Op.20
 * Fantasy and Variations, Op.25
 * Felix Mendelssohn
 * "Raste Krieger, Krieg ist aus" MWV K 2
 * Violin Sonata in F major, MWV Q 7
 * Recitativo in E minor, MWV U 11
 * Piano Piece in E minor, MWV U 12
 * Piano Piece in E minor, MWV U 18
 * Ignaz Moscheles – Piano Concerto No.3, Op.58
 * Ferdinand Ries – Sextet, Op.100 (On "The Last Rose of Summer")
 * Friedrich Schneider – Das Weltgericht, Op.46
 * Franz Schubert
 * Lazarus, oratorio
 * Quartettsatz, D. 703
 * Psalm 23, D.706
 * Louis Spohr
 * Grand Rondo in G major for violin and piano, Op. 51
 * Potpourri on Irish Themes in A major, Op. 59
 * Potpourri on Themes from Mozart's Die Zauberflöte for violin and piano in F-sharp minor, Op. 50
 * Quintet for piano and winds in C minor, Op. 52
 * Symphony No. 2 in D minor, Op. 49
 * Violin Concerto No. 9 in D minor, Op. 55

Opera

 * Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga – Los Esclavos Felices
 * Friedrich Kuhlau – Elisa, Op.29 (premiered April 17)
 * Giovanni Pacini – La schiava di Bagdad (première October 28 at Teatro Carignano, Turin)
 * Gioacchino Rossini – Maometto II (premiered Dec. 3 in Naples)
 * Franz Schubert – Sakuntala, D. 701 (started, never finished)

Published popular music

 * "Hail to the Chief" – words, Sir Walter Scott; music James Sanderson
 * "D'ye Ken John Peel" – words, John Woodcock Graves. music traditional.

Births

 * January 9 – Pavel Křížkovský, conductor and composer (d. 1885)
 * February 10 – Cornelius Gurlitt, composer (d. 1901)
 * February 17 – Henri Vieuxtemps, violinist and composer (d. 1881)
 * March 24 – Fanny Crosby, American lyricist (d. 1915)
 * May 21 – Michel Lentz, lyricist of the Luxembourg national anthem (d. 1893)
 * June 22 – Franz Kroll, pianist (died 1877)
 * July 7 – George Cooper, organist (died 1876)
 * July 20 – Enrico Crivelli, Italian opera singer (d. 1870)
 * July 26 – Maria Severa Onofriana, Portuguese singer and guitarist, considered the founder of fado (d. 1846)
 * August 13 – George Grove, music writer (d. 1900)
 * August 30 – George Frederick Root, songwriter (d. 1895)
 * September 5 – Louis Köhler, pianist, composer and conductor (d. 1886)
 * October 6 – Jenny Lind, Swedish singer (d. 1887)
 * December 17 – Karl Anton Eckert, conductor and composer (d. 1879)
 * date unknown
 * Maria Severa Onofriana, fado singer (d. 1846)
 * Anna-Kajsa Norman, Swedish folk musician (d. 1903)

Deaths

 * February 2 – Peder Schall, composer (b. 1762)
 * March 26 – Jean-Étienne Despréaux, French dancer, choreographer and composer (b. 1748)
 * August 6 – Antonín Vranický, Bohemian violinist and composer (b. 1761)
 * August 28 – Antonín Kraft, cellist and composer (b. 1749)
 * October 3 – Ludwig Wenzel Lachnith, horn player and composer (b. 1746)
 * date unknown – Marie Bigot, piano teacher (b. 1786)
 * probable
 * Mikhail Matinsky, scientist, writer and composer (b. 1750)
 * Louis Joseph Saint-Amans, composer (b. 1749)