1839 in music

Events

• Felix Mendelssohn conducts the first performance of Franz Schubert's Great C Major Symphony

Classical music

• Johann Nepomuk Hummel – 2 Preludes and Fugue for Organ
• Joseph Lanner – Amazonen-Galopp; Malapou Galop
• Robert Schumann:
  • Arabesque in C, Op. 18
  • Blumenstück (Flower Piece) in D♭, Op. 19
  • Humoreske in B♭, Op. 20
  • 4 Nachtstücke (Night Pieces), Op. 23
  • Faschingsschwank aus Wien, Op. 26
  • 3 Romances, Op. 28 (B♭ minor, F♯, B)
• Louis Spohr – Concerto for Violin no 14 in A minor, Op. 110 "Sonst und Jetzt"
• Frédéric Chopin – Piano Sonata No. 2 "Funeral March"

Opera

• Alexander Dargomyzhsky – Esmeralda
• Gaetano Donizetti – L'ange de Nisida
• Giuseppe Lillo – Il conte di Chalais
• Giuseppe Verdi – Oberto, Conte di San Bonifacio

Published popular music

• "Kathleen Mavourneen" w. Annie Barry Crawford m. Frederick William Nicholls Crouch

Births

• January 1 – James Ryder Randall, popular songwriter
• January 9 – John Knowles Paine, composer and musicologist
• March 2 - Victoria Bundsen, alto
• March 17 – Josef Rheinberger, composer (d. 1901)
• March 19 – Gustav Roguski, composer and teacher of Mieczysław Karłowicz
• March 21 – Modest Mussorgsky, composer (d. 1881)
• April 12 – Victorin de Joncières, composer and music critic (d. 1903)
• May 19 – Alice Mary Smith, composer (d. 1884)
• July 14 – Sydney Smith, English composer and pianist
• August 24 – Eduard Nápravník, composer (d. 1916)
• November 24 – James Warren York, businessman, musical instrument maker

Deaths

• February 16 – Ludwig Berger, pianist, composer and music teacher (b. 1777)
• March 7 – Adolphe Nourrit, operatic tenor (b. 1802) (suicide)
• April 20 – Giuseppe Rossini, father of the composer Gioacchino Rossini
• May 3 – Ferdinando Paer, composer (b. 1771)
• June 8 – Aloysia Weber, operatic soprano (b. c. 1760)
• June 11 – Regina Strinasacchi, violinist (b. c. 1761)
• June 14 – Nicolas Mori, violinist, conductor and music publisher (b. 1796)
• June 15 – Hans Skramstad, pianist and composer (b. 1797)
• July 10 – Fernando Sor, guitarist and composer (b. 1778)
• September 21 – Gottfried Weber, music theorist (b. 1779)
• December 7 – Jan August Vitásek, composer (b. 1770)

Awards

• Prix de Rome – Charles Gounod