1857 in music

Events

• Georges Bizet wins the Prix de Rome.
• Irish opera diva Catherine Hayes marries her manager, William Avery Bushnell, in San Francisco.

Published popular music

• "Does He Love Me?" w. Annie Chambers Bradford m. F. W. Smith
• "Lorena" w. Reverend Henry D. L. Webster m. Joseph Philbrick Webster
• James Pierpont - "Jingle Bells"
• Johann Strauss II - Le beau Monde

Classical music

• Charles-Valentin Alkan - Sonate de Concert in E, Op. 47 for cello and piano
• Georges Bizet - Herminie (cantata)
• Franz Liszt
  • Dante Symphony
  • Piano Concerto No. 1 in E flat
• Modest Mussorgsky - Souvenir d'Enfance
• Bedřich Smetana - Piano Trio in G minor, Op. 15 (revised version - original finished 1855)
• Julius Reubke - The 94th Psalm

Opera

• Karel Miry - Karel V (opera in 5 acts, libretto by Hippoliet van Peene, premiered on January 29 in Ghent)
• Giuseppe Verdi - Simon Boccanegra

Births

• January 17 - Wilhelm Kienzl, Austrian composer (d. 1941)
• February 28 - Gustav Kerker, German-born composer.
• March 3 - Alfred Bruneau, French composer (d. 1934)
• March 4 - Henry W. Petrie, US songwriter
• March 8 - Ruggiero Leoncavallo, Italian opera composer (d. 1919)
• April 21 - Paul Dresser, US composer
• April 29 - František Ondříček, Czech violinist and composer (d. 1922)
• May 2 - Frederic Cliffe, English composer (d. 1931)
• May 9 - Luigi Illica, librettist for Puccini, Catalani, Giordano and others (d. 1919)
• May 12 - Lillian Nordica, opera singer
• June 2 - Edward Elgar, English composer (d. 1934)
• June 5 - Árpád Doppler, composer (d. 1927)
• August 8 - Cécile Chaminade, French composer (d. 1944)
• September 8 - Olga Björkengren, opera singer (d. 1950)
• November 5 - Joseph Tabrar, songwriter (d. 1931)
• November 14 - Rosalind Ellicott, composer (d. 1924)
• December 27 - Charles Manners, operatic bass and opera company manager (d. 1935)
• December 30 - Sylvio Lazzari, Italian composer and conductor (d. 1944)

Deaths

• January 19 - Franz Limmer, conductor and composer (b. 1808)
• February 14 - Johannes Bernardus van Bree, violinist, conductor and composer (b. 1801)
• February 15 - Mikhail Glinka, composer (b. 1804)
• March 1 - Benjamin Cross, organist, singer, conductor and composer (b. 1786)
• April - Alessandro Curmi, pianist and composer (b. 1801)
• July 15 - Carl Czerny, pianist and composer (b. 1791)
• July 16 - Pierre-Jean de Béranger, songwriter (b. 1780)
• August 1 - Emilie Zumsteeg, pianist and songwriter (b. 1796)
• October 21 - Ananias Davisson, singing teacher and printer of shape note books (b. 1780)
• December 11 - Castil-Blaze, music critic, musicologist and composer (b. 1784)
• date unknown - John Diamond, dancer (b. 1823)
• probable - Ferdinand Prévôt, operatic baritone (b. c. 1800)