1851 in music



This article is about music-related events in 1851.

Events

 * 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.
 * March 11 – Giuseppe Verdi's opera Rigoletto is first performed at La Fenice in Venice.
 * April 5 – Jenny Lind visits the Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, USA.
 * July 23 – Richard Wagner writes down the leitmotif for the "Ride of the Valkyries".
 * Operatic baritone Hans von Milde marries soprano Rosa Agthe.
 * Eight-year-old Adelina Patti sings in public for the first time.

Published popular music

 * "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

Classical music

 * 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

Opera

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

Births

 * 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)

Deaths

 * 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)