1838 in music

List of years in music       (table)
... 1828 .  1829 .  1830 .  1831  . 1832  . 1833  . 1834 ... 1835 1836 1837 -1838- 1839 1840 1841 ... 1842 .  1843 .  1844 .  1845  . 1846  . 1847  . 1848 ...
Art . Archaeology . Architecture . Literature . Music . Science +...

Events

• March 7 – Jenny Lind, the "Swedish Nightingale" debuts at the Stockholm Opera
• Giovanni Ricordi buys Giuseppe Verdi's copyrights.
• Frédéric Chopin begins his affair with George Sand.

Popular music

• "Annie Laurie", words (1688) William Douglas, music Lady John Scott (Alicia Ann Spottiswoode)
• "'Tis Home Where'er the Heart Is" – words by Robert Dale Owen, music by John Hill Hewitt ([1])

Classical music

• Franz Lachner – Frauenliebe und -leben
• Felix Mendelssohn - String Quartets Op. 44, No. 3 in D Major and No. 5 in E-Flat Major
• Robert Schumann – Kinderszenen, Op. 15
• William Sterndale Bennett – Piano Concerto No. 4 op. 19

Opera

• Hector Berlioz – Benvenuto Cellini
• Albert Grisar – Lady Melvil

Births

• January 6 – Max Bruch, composer
• July 9 – Philip Bliss
• October 25 – Georges Bizet, French composer

Deaths

• January 13 – Ferdinand Ries, composer and pianist (born 1784)
• March 2 – Johann Christian Ludwig Abeille, composer (born 1761)
• March 24 – Thomas Attwood, organist and composer (b. 1765)
• April 29 – Joseph von Henikstein, patron of the arts and friend of Mozart (b. 1768)
• July 28 – Bernhard Henrik Crusell, clarinet player and composer (b. 1775)
• August 17 – Lorenzo Da Ponte, librettist
• December 26 – Franciszek Lessel, composer (born 1780)