1850 in music

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.
• Jenny Lind tours America, with Julius Benedict as her accompanist.
• Soprano Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient marries her third husband, landowner Heinrich von Bock.

Published popular music

• 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

Classical music

• Hector Berlioz – La Fuite en Égypte (from 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

Opera

• Daniel Auber – L'enfant prodigue
• Fromental Halévy – La Tempesta
• Robert Schumann – Genoveva
• Richard Wagner – Lohengrin

Births

• January 6 – Xaver Scharwenka, pianist and composer (d. 1924)
• 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)

Deaths

• February 15 – Elisabeth Forsselius, actress and singer (b. 1771)
• March 19 – Adalbert Gyrowetz, composer (b. 1763)
• March 25 – Francesco Basili, conductor and composer (b. 1767)
• April 3 – Václav Tomášek, pianist and composer (b. 1774)
• May – Ludwig Schuberth, composer (b. 1806)
• July 28 – Stefano Pavesi, composer (b. 1779)
• October 12 – Luigia Boccabadati, operatic soprano (b. 1800)
• October 14 – Alexandrine-Caroline Branchu, operatic soprano (b. 1780)
• December 3 – Andrei Sychra, guitarist and composer (b. c. 1773)