1853 in music

Events

• October - Louis Niedermeyer reorganizes and re-opens the school known as the École Choron, which becomes the École Niedermeyer.
• Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg sets up in business as a piano manufacturer in New York City, and the firm of Steinway and Sons is born.
• The piano manufacturer C. Bechstein Pianofortefabrik is founded by Carl Bechstein in Berlin.

Published popular music

• "Farewell My Lilly Dear" by Stephen Foster
• "My Cottage Home" w.m. Alice Hawthorne
• "My Old Kentucky Home" by Stephen Foster
• "P'tit quinquin" (in Picard) by Alexandre Desrousseaux

Classical music

• Liszt Piano Sonata in B minor

Opera

• Victor Massé - Les noces de Jeannette
• Karel Miry - Anne Mie (opera in 1 act, premiered on October 9 in Antwerp)
• Giuseppe Verdi
  • Il Trovatore (premiered on January 19 in Rome)
  • La Traviata (premiered on March 6 in Venice)

Births

• July 24 - Alessandro Parisotti, composer and music editor (d. 1913)
• November 23 - Giuseppina Bozzachi, ballerina (d. 1870)
• December 22 - Teresa Carreño, pianist, singer, conductor and composer (d. 1917)
• December 30 - André Messager, composer (d. 1929)
• date unknown - Alfonso Rendano, pianist (d. 1931)
• Carolina Östberg, opera singer (d. 1929)

Deaths

• January 16 - Matteo Carcassi, guitarist and composer (b. 1792)
• March 15 - Giovanni Ricordi, violinist (b. 1785)
• October 3 - George Onslow, composer (b. 1784)
• October 29 - Pierre-Joseph-Guillaume Zimmermann, pianist, composer and music teacher (b. 1785)
• October 30 - Pietro Raimondi, composer (b. 1786)
• December 5 - Johann Peter Heuschkel, oboist, organist and composer (b. 1773)
• December 5 - Jeanette Wässelius, operatic soprano
• date unknown - James Hill, folk musician (b. c. 1811)