1850s
- 1859 in music - Faust by Charles Gounod premieres in Paris; Richard Wagner concludes Tristan und Isolde; In 1859, John Freeman Young published the English translation of Silent Night that is most frequently sung today.
- 1858 in music - Birth of Medardo Rosso and Giacomo Puccini, Italian opera composer, Orphée aux enfers by Jacques Offenbach, the first operetta, premieres in Paris; Hector Berlioz writes Les Troyens
- 1857 in music - First public performance of Franz Liszt's Piano Sonata in B Minor
- 1856 in music - Death of Robert Schuman, German composer and pianist; Richard Wagner, German composer, concludes Die Walküre
- 1855 in music – Birth of Ernest Chausson
- 1854 in music - Richard Wagner, German composer, concludes Das Rheingold
- 1853 in music - Il trovatore by Giuseppe Verdi premieres in Rome; La traviata by Verdi premieres in Venice
- 1852 in music – Birth of Charles Villiers Stanford, Irish composer, teacher and conductor; birth of Francisco Tárrega, Spanish composer and guitarist
- 1851 in music - Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi premieres in Venice
- 1850 in music - Lohengrin by Richard Wagner premieres in Weimar; Foster's Plantation Melodies by Stephen Foster, including "Camptown Races"
Read more about this topic: Timeline Of Musical Events