1845 in music

Events

• March 13 – Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto is premièred in Leipzig.
• April 21 – Albert Lortzing's opera Undine debuts in Magdeburg.
• June 4 – William Fry's opera Leonora debuts in Philadelphia.
• July – Pas de Quatre is premièred in London, bringing together four of the greatest ballerinas of the time: Lucile Grahn, Carlotta Grisi, Fanny Cerrito, and Marie Taglioni.
• July 19 – The National Anthem of Uruguay is first performed with music composed by Francisco José Debali with the collaboration of Fernando Quijano.
• October 19 – Richard Wagner's opera Tannhäuser debuts at the Dresden Hoftheater.
• Composer Henry Hugo Pierson goes to live in Germany.
• The Hutchinson Family Singers tour England with Frederick Douglass.

1845 caricature of Franz Liszt

Classical music

• Robert Schumann – Piano Concerto in A minor

Opera

• W. H. Fry – Leonora
• Albert Lortzing – Undine
• Temistocle Solera – La Hermana de Palayo
• Richard Wagner – Tannhäuser

Births

• February 25 – Eugène Goossens, père, conductor (d. 1906)
• March 5 – Alphonse Hasselmans, harpist and composer
• March 7 – Edward Lloyd, concert tenor (d. 1927)
• March 14 – August Bungert, opera composer (d. 1915)
• May 12 – Gabriel Fauré, composer (d. 1924)
• June 13 – Effie Germon, actress and singer (d. 1914)
• July 1 – Ika Peyron, composer (d. 1922)
• July 6 – Ángela Peralta, operatic soprano (d. 1883)
• August 10 – Abay Qunanbayuli, poet, composer and philosopher (d. 1904)
• August 25 – King Ludwig II of Bavaria, the great patron of Richard Wagner
• November 6 – Beniamino Cesi, pianist (d. 1907)
• date unknown – Antonio Galassi, operatic baritone (d. 1904)
• probable – Madeline Schiller, pianist (d. 1911)

Deaths

• May 11 – Carl Filtsch, pianist and composer (b. 1830)
• July 15 (or September 29) – J. Augustine Wade, conductor and composer (b. 1796)
• September 23 – Matija Ahacel, collector of folk songs (b. 1779)
• October 7 – Isabella Colbran, soprano and first wife of Gioacchino Rossini (b. 1785)
• October 16 – Martha Llwyd, hymn-writer (b. 1766)
• November 2 – Chrétien Urhan, violinist and organist (b. 1790)
• December 2 – Simon Mayr, composer (b. 1763)
• December 25 – Wilhelm Friedrich Ernst Bach, composer (b. 1759)
• date unknown – Alexander Juhan, violinist, conductor and composer (b. 1765)