This article is about music-related events in 1869.

This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (March 2019)

• February 28 – The premiere of Brahms' Rinaldo took place in Vienna at a concert of the Akademischer Gesangverein. The composer conducted, with the tenor Gustav Walter, a student chorus numbering 300, and the Court Opera orchestra.
• April 3 – Edvard Grieg's Piano Concerto is premiered at Copenhagen's Casino.
• May 25 – The Vienna State Opera is inaugurated with a performance of Mozart's Don Giovanni.
• September 22 – Richard Wagner's opera Das Rheingold debuts at the Königlich Hof- und Nationaltheater in Munich.
• Approximate date – Start of "golden age" of flamenco.^{[citation needed]}
• Tchaikovsky completes the initial version of Romeo and Juliet. It will be revised the next year and in 1880.

• "The Little Brown Jug" by J. Eastburn Winner
• "Now the Day is Over" w. Sabine Baring-Gould m. Joseph Barnby
• "Shoo Fly, Don't Bother Me" attributed to T. Brigham Bishop (possibly w. Billy Reeves m. Frank Campbell)
• "Sweet Genevieve" w. George Cooper m. Henry Tucker

• Mili Balakirev – Islamey an "Oriental Fantasy" for piano.
• Johannes Brahms
  • Ein deutsches Requiem
  • Hungarian Dances
• Anton Bruckner
  • Mitternacht, WAB 80
  • Symphony in D minor ("Die Nullte")
• Teresa Carreño – Un bal en rêve, Op.26
• Henri Duparc
  • Feuilles volantes, Op.1
  • Soupir
• Louis Moreau Gottschalk – Grande fantaisie triomphale sur l'hymne national brésilien, Op.69
• Louis James Alfred Lefébure-Wély – Vade-mecum de l'organiste, Op. 187
• Heinrich Lichner – Figurinen, Op.57
• Joachim Raff – Fantaisie, Op.142
• Camille Saint-Saëns
  • Orient et occident, Op. 25
  • La coccinelle
  • Paraphrase sur Mandolinata de Paladilhe
• George Stephanescu – Symphony in A
• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – Six Romances, Op. 6 including None but the lonely heart

• Frederic Clay – Ages Ago
• Karel Miry – Een engel op wacht (opera in 1 act, libretto by P. Geiregat, premiered on December 8 in Brussels)
• Richard Wagner – Das Rheingold^[1]

• January 20 – George Hamlin, American opera singer (d. 1923)
• February 1 – Kerry Mills, American violinist and songwriter (d. 1948)
• February 3 – Giulio Gatti-Casazza, opera manager (d. 1940)
• February 12 – Theodor Bertram, German opera singer (d.1907)
• March 3 – Henry Wood, conductor (d. 1944)
• May 5 – Hans Pfitzner, composer (d. 1949)
• June 6 – Siegfried Wagner, composer (d. 1930)
• July 9 – Arnold Volpe, composer (d. 1940)
• July 13 – Florence Perry, opera singer (d. 1949)
• August 14 – Armas Järnefelt, Finnish composer and conductor (d. 1958)
• September 2 – Carlos Hartling, composer of the national anthem of Honduras (d. 1920)
• September 6 – Walford Davies, British composer and organist, Master of the King's Musick (d. 1941)
• September 21 – Henryk Melcer-Szczawiński, Polish composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher (d. 1928)
• September 30 – E. A. Couturier, American cornet virtuoso, composer, inventor and instrument manufacturer (d. 1950)
• October 8 (September 26 O.S.) – Komitas, born Soghomon Soghomonian, Turkish Armenian priest and ethnomusicologist (d. 1935)
• date unknown
  • Kate Carney, born Catherine Pattinson, English music hall singer (d. 1950)
  • Maximilian Maksakov, born Max Schwartz, Austro-Russian operatic baritone (d. 1936)

• January 10 – Joan Aulí, organist and composer (b. 1796)
• January 17 – Alexander Dargomyzhsky, Russian composer (b. 1813)
• January 30 – Charlotte Alington Barnard ('Claribel'), English ballad composer (b. 1830)
• March 8 – Hector Berlioz, composer (b. 1803)
• March 23 – Charles Lucas, cellist (b. 1808)
• April 1 – Alexander Dreyschock, pianist and composer (b. 1818)
• April 12 – Antonie Brentano, friend of Beethoven (b. 1780)
• April 15 – August Wilhelm Bach, German composer and organist (b. 1796)
• April 20 – Carl Loewe, composer, baritone, conductor (b. 1796)
• May 10 – Bernhard Molique, German violinist and composer (b. 1802)
• June 4 – Joseph Ascher, pianist and composer (b. 1829)
• June 15 – Albert Grisar, composer (b. 1808)
• July 18 – Louis Bouilhet, lyricist (born 1822)
• August 13 – Giuseppe Persiani, opera composer (b. 1799)
• August 24 – Macedonio Alcalá, pianist, violinist and songwriter (b. 1831)
• November 29 – Giulia Grisi, opera singer (b. 1811)
• December 18 – Louis Moreau Gottschalk, composer and pianist (b. 1829) (overdose of quinine)
• December 23 – Julian Fontana, pianist (b. 1810)
• December 31 – Louis James Alfred Lefébure-Wély, organist (b. 1817)