1561 in music

	… 1551; 1552; 1553; 1554; 1555; 1556; 1557; ; 1558; 1559; 1560; 1561; 1562; 1563; 1564; ; 1565; 1566; 1567; 1568; 1569; 1570; 1571 …;
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Events

May – Luzzasco Luzzaschi is appointed assistant organist at the Este court in Ferrara.^[1]
20 December – Virtuoso bass-tenor Alessandro Merlo joins the Cappella Sistina in Rome^[2]
date unknown –
- Rodrigo de Ceballos succeeds Bernardino de Figueroa as maestro de capilla at the Royal Chapel of Granada.
- Philibert Jambe de Fer sues the Lyonnais printer Jean d'Ogerelles for failing to give his name on the title page of a volume of his psalm settings.^[3]

Il terzo libro della muse, a collection of secular music^{[full citation needed]}
Jacques Arcadelt – Quatorsième livre de chansons (Paris: Le Roy & Ballard)
Jacquet de Berchem – Primo Secundo e Terzo Libro del Cappricio for four voices (Venice: Antonio Gardano), a madrigal cycle setting stanzas of Orlando Furioso, and the first musical work to be titled "Cappricio"
Ippolito Chamaterò – First book of madrigals for four voices (Venice: Antonio Gardano)
Ippolito Ciera – First book of madrigals for five voices (Venice: Antonio Gardano)
Nicolao Dorati – Third book of madrigals for five voices (Venice: Antonio Gardano)
Jacquet of Mantua
- First book of messe del fiore for five voices (Venice: Girolamo Scotto), published posthumously
- Second book of messe del fiore for five voices (Venice: Girolamo Scotto), published posthumously
Jacobus de Kerle
- Liber psalmorum ad vesperas (Book of Vespers Psalms) for four voices (Venice: Antonio Gardano)
- First book of Magnificats for four voices (Venice: Antonio Gardano)
Gerardus Mes – Souter liedekens (Antwerp: Tielman Susato), a collection of psalms
Jan Nasco – Lamentations for four voices (Venice: Antonio Gardano)
Christoph Praetorius – Melodia epithalamii for five voices (Wittenberg), a wedding motet

January 24 – Camillo Cortellini, Italian composer, singer, and violinist (d. 1630)
July 17 – Jacopo Corsi, Italian composer and patron of the arts (d. 1602)
August – Sebastian Aguilera de Heredia, Spanish monk, organist and composer (d. 1627)
August 20 – Jacopo Peri, Italian singer and composer of early opera (d. 1633)^[4]
date unknown – Juan Blas de Castro, Spanish singer, musician, and composer (d. 1631)
probable
- Elias Mertel, German lutenist, composer and intabulator (d. 1626)
- Peter Philips (c.1560/1561), eminent English composer, organist, and Catholic priest, the most published English composer in his time (d. 1628).
- Philippe Rogier, Franco-Flemish composer at the Spanish court (d. 1596).

February 15 – Cornelius Canis, Franco-Flemish composer, singer, and choir director (b. c. 1500/1510)
date unknown – Jan Nasco, Franco-Flemish composer and writer on music (b. c. 1510)
probable
- Louis Bourgeois, French composer, famous for his Protestant hymn tunes (b. c. 1510)
- Ippolito Ciera, Italian composer
- Luis de Milán, Spanish Renaissance composer, vihuelist and writer on music (b. c. 1500)
- Hendrik Niehoff, Dutch pipe organ builder (b. 1495)

^ Edmond Strainchamps, "Luzzaschi, Luzzasco", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001).
^ Richard Sherr, "Merlo, Alessandro [Alexander]", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001).
^ Howard Mayer Brown, "Jambe de Fer, Philibert", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001).
^ "Jacopo Peri | Italian composer". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 7 May 2019.