1850 in music

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Events

August 28 (anniversary of Goethe's birth) – Richard Wagner's romantic opera Lohengrin (including the Bridal Chorus) premières under the direction of Franz Liszt at the Staatskapelle Weimar. Hans von Bülow attends and makes the decision to give up law and pursue music. His mother is convinced by two letters she receives from Liszt and Wagner.
Jenny Lind tours America, with Julius Benedict as her accompanist.
Soprano Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient marries her third husband, landowner Heinrich von Bock.
Charles Gounod meets the soprano Pauline Viardot in Rome. She convinces him to compose opera.
Johannes Brahms meets the violinist Ede Reményi, whom he will accompany on several tours for the next couple of years.

Stephen Foster
- "Camptown Races"
- "Ah! May the Red Rose Live Alway"
- "Molly Do You Love Me?"
- "Nelly Bly"
M. S. Pike – "Home Again"
"I Have Got The Blues To Day!" w. Miss Sarah M. Graham, m. Gustave Blessner
"What Are The Wild Waves Saying" w. Joseph Edwards Carpenter m. Stephen Glover

Hector Berlioz – La Fuite en Égypte (later incorporated into l'Enfance du Christ)
Louise Farrenc – Sonata for violin and piano in A, Op. 39
Niels Gade – Symphony No. 4
Édouard Lalo – Piano Trio no. 1 in C minor
Franz Liszt – Prometheus
Anton Rubinstein – Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 25
Robert Schumann – Symphony No. 3 op. 97 in E-flat, Cello Concerto Op. 129 in A minor
Louis Spohr – String Quintet No. 7 in G minor (of 7)
Robert Volkmann – Piano Trio No. 2 op. 5 in B-flat minor

January 6 – Xaver Scharwenka, pianist and composer (d. 1924)
January 13 – Leon Francis Victor Caron French-Australian conductor and composer (d. 1907)
February 18 – Sir George Henschel, Prussia-born singer, conductor, composer, founder of London Symphony Orchestra (d. 1934)
March 5 – Daniel B. Towner, composer (d. 1919)
March 9 – Alexandre Luigini, composer (d. 1906)
March 18 – Olefine Moe, opera singer (d. 1933)
March 26 – Amalia Riégo, opera singer (d. 1926)
April 25 – Luise Adolpha Le Beau, German composer (d. 1927)
July 3 – Alfredo Keil, composer and painter (d. 1907)
July 4 – Ole Olsen, Norwegian composer (d. 1927)
September 9 – Leopoldo Miguez, composer (d. 1902)
September 21 – Hans Sitt, German violinist, teacher and composer (d. 1922)
November 10 – Arthur Goring Thomas, composer (d. 1892)
December 1 – Peter Erasmus Lange-Müller, Danish composer (d. 1926)
December 9 – Emma Abbott, singer (d. 1891)
December 13 – Iver Holter, conductor and composer (d. 1941)
December 20 – Theo Marzials, composer, singer and poet (d. 1920)
December 21 – Zdeněk Fibich, Czech composer (d. 1900)
December 29 – Tomás Bretón, composer (d. 1923)