1831 in music

Events

• Frédéric Chopin arrives in Paris.
• The first opera, Deux mots by Nicolas Dalayrac in performed in Oslo directed by August Schrumpf with Augusta Smith in the main part. Emilie da Fonseca is employed at Christiania Theatre.

  Popular music

• William Crosswell – "Lord, Lead the Way the Saviour Went"

  Classical music

• Hector Berlioz
• *Overture 'King Lear', H 53
• *Intrata di Rob-Roy MacGregor, H 54
• *Méditation religieuse, H 56
• *La captive, H 60
• Frédéric Chopin – Arrangement of "Casta Diva"
• Carl Czerny – Piano Sonata No.10, Op. 268
• Franz Lachner – Fragen
• Felix Mendelssohn
• *Piano Concerto No. 1, Opus 25
• *Die erste Walpurgisnacht, secular cantata, Opus 60
• George Onslow – Symphony No. 2 in D Minor, Opus 42
• Gioachino Rossini – Stabat Mater
• Richard Wagner
• *7 Kompositionen zu Goethe's Faust, WWV 15
• *Concert Overture No.1 in D minor, WWV 20
• *Piano Sonata in B-flat major, WWV 21
• *Fantasia in F-sharp minor, WWV 22
• *Polonaise in D major, WWV 23
• *Incidental Music to 'König Enzio', WWV 24
• *Piano Sonata in A major, WWV 26

  Opera

• Vincenzo Bellini
• *Norma
• *La Sonnambula
• Carlo Coccia – Edoardo in Iscozia
• Louis Joseph Ferdinand Herold – Zampa
• Giacomo Meyerbeer – Robert le diable

  Births

• January 15 – Albert Niemann, operatic tenor
• February 21 – Henri Meilhac, opera librettist
• February 26 – Filippo Marchetti, opera composer
• February 28 – Carl Kölling, composer for piano
• May 24 – Richard Hoffman, composer and pianist
• June 10 – Silverio Franconetti, flamenco singer
• June 28 – Joseph Joachim, violinist
• July 7 – Eugène Ketterer, pianist and composer
• August 1 – Antonio Cotogni, operatic baritone
• August 13 – Salomon Jadassohn, composer, teacher and theorist
• August 28 – Ludvig Norman, Swedish composer
• December 10 – Philippe Gille, opera librettist
• December 25 – Johann von Herbeck, composer and musician

  Deaths

• January 6 – Rodolphe Kreutzer, violinist, conductor and composer
• January 8 – Franz Krommer, composer
• January 21 – Achim von Arnim, publisher and lyricist
• March 4 – Georg Michael Telemann, theologian and composer
• March 12 – Friedrich von Matthisson, dedicatee and lyricist
• April 13 – Ferdinand Kauer, pianist and composer
• June 23 – Mateo Albéniz, composer
• July 25 – Maria Agata Szymanowska, composer
• August 5 – Sébastien Érard, maker of pianos and harps
• September 8 – John Aitken, music publisher
• September 15 – Andrea Leone Tottola, Italian librettist
• September 18 – Peter Hänsel, German composer
• November 14 – Ignaz Pleyel, piano-maker and pupil of Joseph Haydn
• November 30 – Catharine Frydendahl, opera singer
• date unknown
• *Domenico Gilardoni, composer and librettist
• *Peter Anton Kreusser, composer
• *Guillaume Lasceux, composer and organist
• *Benedicto Sáenz the elder, cathedral organist of Guatemala