1846 in music explained

Events

Hector Berlioz – La damnation de Faust
- - Anton Bruckner Tantum ergo, WAB 41, 42
- "Ständchen", WAB 84.2
Frederic Chopin
Carl Czerny – Impromptu Fugué, Op.776
Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst – Rondo Papageno, Op.20
Henry Litolff – Concerto Symphonique No 3 in E-flat, Op. 45 (approximately 1846)
- - Fanny Mendelssohn 4 Lieder for Piano, Op.2
- Allegretto (C♯ minor), H-U 420 (Op.4, No.2)
Felix Mendelssohn – Lauda Sion, Op. 73
Jules Perrot – Catarina or La Fille du Bandit (ballet)
František Škroup – Clarinet Trio, Op.27

Julius Benedict – The Crusaders
Eduard James Loder – The Night Dancers
Albert Lortzing – Der Waffenschmied
Johan Peter Emilius Hartmann – Liden Kirsten, Op.44, premiered May 12 in Copenhagen
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)
Franz von Suppé – Poet and Peasant (24 August, Theater an der Wien, Vienna)

January 2 – Sándor Erkel, Hungarian composer, son of Ferenc Erkel
February 24 – Luigi Denza, composer (d. 1922)
February 26 – Amanda Forsberg, ballerina (date of death unknown)
February 27 – Joaquín Valverde Durán, flautist, conductor and composer (d. 1910)
March 7 – Peppino Turco, songwriter (d. 1907)
March 11 – Constance Bache, composer (died 1903)
March 29 – Louise Pyk, Swedish opera singer (d. 1929)
April 2 – Albert Périlhou, organist, pianist and composer (d. 1936)
April 5 – Arthur Byron, tenor (d. 1890)^[1]
May 2 – Zygmunt Noskowski, conductor and composer (d. 1909)
May 22 – Francis Hueffer, music critic (d. 1889)
June 23 – Anton Svendsen, violinist (died 1930)
July 2 – Rosina Brandram, opera singer and actress (d. 1907)
July 3 – Achilles Alferaki, composer (died 1919)
July 22 – Alfred Perceval Graves, lyricist (died 1931)
July 29 – Sophie Menter, pianist and composer (d. 1918)
August 17 – Marie Jaëll, composer (died 1925)
August 24 – Paul Rougnon, pianist and composer (d. 1934)
September 21
- Catherine Chislova, ballerina (d. 1889)
- Juliana Walanika, the "Hawaiian Nightingale", court singer (d. 1931)
October 20 – Johan Amberg, composer (d. 1928)
November 7 – Ignaz Brüll, pianist and composer (d. 1907)
November 23 – Ernst von Schuch, conductor (d. 1914)
date unknown
- José María de Arteaga y Pereira, composer (died 1913)
- Valentina Serova, composer (d. 1924)

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)
- Gottlob Schuberth, musician (born 1778)
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)
August 27 – Gottfried Wilhelm Fink, music theorist (born 1783)
September 14 – Carl Almenräder, bassoonist and composer (b. 1786)
November 1 – Franz Anton Ries, violinist (b. 1755)
November 30 – Maria Severa Onofriana, Portuguese singer and guitarist, considered the founder of fado (b. 1820)^[2]
December 12 – Eliza Flower, musician and composer (b. 1803)
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)
- Mykola Ovsianiko-Kulikovsky, subject of a famous musical hoax
- Sophie Weber, singer (b. c. 1763)

Book: Byron, Arthur (Edward George). Victorian Vocalists. Kurt Ganzl. 2017. 93. 9781351593663. Taylor & Francis.
Book: Paul Vernon. A History of the Portuguese Fado. 1998. Ashgate. 978-1-85928-377-6. 8.