1846 in music

Events

• August 16 – Gioachino Rossini marries artist's model Olympe Pélissier.
• Adolphe Sax patents the "saxophone".
• Electric lighting is installed at the Paris Opéra.

Published popular music

• "The Indian's Prayer"     w. Anonymous, m. I.B. Woodbury
• "When the Swallows Homeward Fly"     w.m. Franz Abt

Oratorio

• Felix Mendelssohn – Elijah
• César Franck – Ruth

Classical music

• Hector Berlioz – La damnation de Faust
• Henry Litolff – Concerto Symphonique No 3 in E flat, Op. 45 (approximately 1846)
• Felix Mendelssohn – Lauda Sion, Op. 73
• Jules Perrot – Catarina or La Fille du Bandit (ballet)

Opera

• Julius Benedict – The Crusaders
• Albert Lortzing – Der Waffenschmied
• Saverio Mercadante – Orazi e Curiazi
• Karel Miry – Wit en zwart (opera in 1 act, with libretto by Hippoliet van Peene, premièred on January 18 in Ghent)

Births

• January 2 – Sándor Erkel, Hungarian composer, son of Ferenc Erkel
• February 24 – Luigi Denza, composer (d. 1922)
• February 27 – Joaquín Valverde Durán, flautist, conductor and composer (d. 1910)
• March 7 – Peppino Turco, songwriter (d. 1907)
• March 29 – Louise Pyk, Swedish opera singer (d. 1929)
• April 2 – Albert Périlhou, organist, pianist and composer (d. 1936)
• May 2 – Zygmunt Noskowski, conductor and composer (d. 1909)
• May 22 – Francis Hueffer, music critic (d. 1889)
• July 2 – Rosina Brandram, opera singer and actress (d. 1907)
• July 29 – Sophie Menter, pianist and composer (d. 1918)
• August 24 - Paul Rougnon, pianist and composer (d. 1934)
• September 21 – Catherine Chislova, ballerina (d. 1889)
• October 20 – Amanda Forsberg, ballerina (date of death unknown)
• November 7 – Ignaz Brüll, pianist and composer (d. 1907)
• November 23 – Ernst von Schuch, conductor (d. 1914)
• date unknown
  • Johan Amberg, composer (d. 1928)
  • Valentina Serova, composer (d. 1924)

Deaths

• February 3 – Joseph Weigl the younger, composer and conductor (b. 1766)
• February 13 – Johann Bernhard Logier, music teacher (b. 1777)
• February 18 – William Hawes, choirmaster (b. 1785)
• February 22 - Carel Anton Fodor, Dutch pianist and conductor (b. 1768)
• April 16 – Domenico Dragonetti, double-bass player (b. 1763)
• April 24 – Girolamo Crescentini, castrato singer (b. 1766)
• July 23 – Christian Heinrich Rinck, organist and composer (b. 1770)
• August 10 – Johann Simon Hermstedt, clarinettist (b. 1778)
• November 1 – Franz Anton Ries, violinist (b. 1755)
• December 25 – Swathi Thirunal Rama Varma, Maharajah of Travancore, musician, composer and patron of the arts (b. 1813)
• date unknown
  • Dede Efendi, composer (b. 1778)
  • Eliza Flower, musician and composer (b. 1803)
  • Mykola Ovsianiko-Kulikovsky, subject of a famous musical hoax
  • Sophie Weber, singer (b. c. 1763)