1848 in music

List of years in music (Table)
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Events

• October - Frédéric Chopin writes his last will and testament at a friend's house in Edinburgh.
• November 16 - Frédéric Chopin makes his last public appearance on a concert platform at London's Guildhall.
• Richard Wagner begins writing libretto that will become Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung).
• Franz Liszt takes up full-time post as conductor to the Weimar court orchestra
• Charles Hallé settles in Manchester.
• Returning from exile, Cuban dance band leader Claudio Brindis de Salas is imprisoned for two years by the island's authorities.
• Giuseppe Verdi insists on replacing soprano Eugenia Tadolini as Lady Macbeth for the first Naples performance of his opera Macbeth on the grounds that her voice and appearance are too beautiful.

Classical music

• George Onslow - Quintet for Piano and Strings no 2 in G major
• Jules Perrot - Faust, ballet
• Pietro Raimondi - Putifar-Giuseppe-Giacobbe (oratorio)
• Johann Strauss I - Radetzky March

Opera

• Giuseppe Verdi - Il corsaro

Popular music

• "Give Me My Arrows And Give Me My Bow" by Samuel Lover
• "Oh! Susanna!" by Stephen Foster

Musical theater

• Maritana New York production opened at the Bowery Theatre on May 4 and ran for 3 performances

Births

• February 27 - Hubert Parry, composer, teacher and music historian (d. 1918)
• March 15 - William J. McCoy, composer (d. 1926)
• June 1 - Otto Malling, organist and composer (d. 1915)
• July 31 - Robert Planquette, composer and songwriter (d. 1903)
• August 1 - František Kmoch, conductor and composer (d. 1912)
• October 8 - Pierre De Geyter, composer
• November 11 - William Seidel, Band Instrument Manufacturer (d. 1922)
• December 27 - George Ratcliffe Woodward, composer (d. 1934)
• December 30
  • Frances Allitsen, composer (d. 1912)
  • David Jenkins, composer (d. 1915)
• unknown date
  • Wilhelm Fitzenhagen, cellist and composer (d. 1890)
  • Henri Duparc

Deaths

• January - Thomas Welsh, singer and composer (b. c. 1780)
• February 16 - Sophie Stebnowska, singer, actress and harpsichordist (b. 1753)
• April 8 - Gaetano Donizetti, composer (b. 1797) (syphilis)
• April 24 - François van Campenhout, opera singer, conductor and composer (b. 1779)
• August 5 (or 6) - Nicola Vaccai, opera composer (b. 1790)
• date unknown
  • Timothy Olmstead, psalmodist (b. 1759)
  • Márk Rózsavölgyi, violinist and composer (b. 1789)