The decade of the 1540s in music (years 1540–1549) involved some significant events.

• 1540
  • 4 April – Cristobal Morales leaves the position of master of the choristers at the Chapel of the Papal Basilica in St. Peter's, Rome
  • 23 April – Thomas Tallis loses his job at Waltham Abbey due to the Dissolution of the Monasteries
  • 27 April – Gioseffo Zarlino is elected capellini and mansionario of the Scuola di San Francesco in Chioggia
  • 1 May – Ambrose Lupo is taken on as a musician and composer at the court of Henry VIII
  • 30 December – Jacques Arcadelt is appointed maestro di cappella at the Sistine chapel in Rome
  • December – Nicolas Gombert dismissed from his position at the court chapel of the Emperor, Charles V
• 1541
  • 25 May – Cristobal Morales re-joined the Papal choir at St. Peter's, Rome
  • 15 July – Jacques Buus appointed second organist at the basilica of S Marco, Venice
• 1542
  • 3 April – Francisco Guerrero joined the Seville Cathedral choir as a contralto
• 1543: Thomas Tallis becomes a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal in England.
  • 20 July Tielman Susato is granted a three-year privilege to print music in the Netherlands.
• 1544
  • 28 October Giovanni Pierluigi Da Palestrina appointed organist at San Agapito Church, Palestrina
• 1545
  • 1 May Bartolomeo de Escobedo appointed maestro di cappella at the chapel of the Papal Basilica at St Peter's in Rome.
  • 1 May Cristobal Morales was granted 10 months leave from the Papal Chapel in Rome. He never returned.
  • 31 August Cristobal Morales succeeded Andres de Torrentes as maestro di capilla at Toledo Cathedral.
• 1547
  • 6 May Waclaw of Szamotuly joined the Chapel Royal of Sigismund II Augustus of Poland in Vilnius.
  • 28 May Jacques Arcadelt reappointed maestro di cappella at the Sistine chapel.
  • 12 June Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina marries Lucrezia de Goris in his home town of Palestrina, Lazio
  • 9 August Cristobal Morales leaves the position of maestro di cappella at Toledo Cathedral.
  • Bologna's first public theatre, the Teatro Della Sala, was opened. It burned down in 1623.
• 1548 François Roussel appointed maestro di cappella at St. Peter's, Rome
• 1549 Juan Francisco de Penalosa succeeded Francisca Sacedo as principal organist of Toledo Cathedral
  • Balint Bakfark appointed court lutenist to King Sigismund Augustus of Poland

• 1548: Staatskapelle Dresden formed in Saxony.

• Sebald Heyden – De arte canendi, third installment, important treatise on singing
• Francesco de Layolle – 25 canzoni for five voices (Lyon: Jacques Moderne)
• Hubert Naich – Exercitium Seraficum for four and five voices (Rome: Antonio Blado), a collection of madrigals
• Hans Neusidler – Ein newes Lautenbüchlein (Nuremberg: Hans Guldenmundt), a collection of lute music
• Alfonso dalla Viola – Il secondo libro di madrigali for four voices (Ferrara: Henrico De Campis)
• Claudio Veggio – Madrigali a quattro voci, published in Venice

• Martin Agricola – Book of Protestant hymns Sangbuchlein, published in Wittenberg.
• Jhan Gero – Il Primo Libro de Madrigali Italiani et Canzoni Francese a due voci (Venice: Antonio Gardano)
• Nicolas Gombert
  • Second book of motets for five voices (Venice: Girolamo Scotto)
  • Second book of motets for four voices (Venice: Girolamo Scotto)
• Giovanni Domenico da Nola – Canzone villanesche, books 1 and 2, for three voices (Venice: Girolamo Scotto)
• Giordano Passetto – Madrigali nuovi a voce pare, book 1 (Venice: Antonio Gardano)

• Benedictus Appenzeller – Des Chansons a Quattre Parties (Antwerp: Henry Loys & Jehan de Buys), a collection of chansons for 4 voices
• Jacques Arcadelt – First book of madrigals for three voices (Venice: Antonio Gardano), "together with some madrigals by Costanzo Festa along with twelve French chansons and six new motets"
• Pierre Certon
  • Second book of motets for four voices (Paris: Pierre Attaingnant & Hubert Jullet)
  • Third book of motets for four voices (Paris: Pierre Attaingnant & Hubert Jullet)
• Domenico Ferrabosco – First book of madrigals for four voices (Venice: Antonio Gardano)
• Silvestro Ganassi dal Fontego – Regola rubertina, Venice
• Johannes Lupi – Third book of motets for four voices (Paris: Pierre Attaingnant & Hubert Jullet), published posthumously
• Cipriano de Rore – First book of madrigals a5.

• Jacques Buus – First book of French chansons for six voices (Venice: Antonio Gardano)
• Sebastian z Felsztyna – Directiones musicae ad cathedralis ecclesia premislensis usum, Kraków
• Silvestro Ganassi dal Fontego – Lettione seconda [=second book of Regola rubertina], Venice
• Balthasar Resinarius – Responsorium numero orctoginta de tempore et festis...libri duo

• Jacques Arcadelt – Il Quinto Libro di Madrigali for 4 voices (Venice: Antonio Gardano)
• Paolo Aretino – Sacra responsoria (Venice: Gerolamo Scotto)
• Jacquet de Berchem – "Ala Dolc'ombra de le Belle Frondi" published by Antonio Gardano in Venice.
• Simon Boyleau – Motets for four voices (Venice: Girolamo Scotto)
• Francesco Corteccia – First book of madrigals for four voices (Venice: Girolamo Scotto)
• Cristóbal de Morales
  • First book of masses, for four and five voices (Rome: Valerio and Luigi Dorico)
  • Second book of masses, for four, five, and six voices (Rome: Valerio and Luigi Dorico)
• Hans Neusidler – three books of lute music: Das erst Buch: ein newes Lautenbüchlein, Das ander Buch: ein new künstlich Lautten Buch, and Das dritt Buch: ein new künstlich Lauten Buch.
• Georg Rhau – Newe Deudsche Geistliche Gesenge published in Wittemberg.
• Cipriano de Rore – Il secondo libro de madrigali for 5 voices published in Venice.
• Tielman Susato (ed.)
  • Third book of chansons, for four voices (Antwerp: Tielman Susato), contains only compositions by Thomas Crecquillon
  • Fifth book of chansons, for five and six voices (Antwerp: Tielman Susato), contains mostly compositions by Nicolas Gombert

• Perissone Cambio
  • Madrigals for five voices (Venice: Antonio Gardano)
  • Canzone villanesche alla napolitana for four voices (Venice: Antonio Gardano)
• Vincenzo Fontana – First book of canzone villanesche alla napolitana for three voices (Venice: Antonio Gardano)
• Guillaume Le Heurteur – 12 Motets (Paris: Pierre Attaingnant)
• Pierre de Manchicourt – Modulorum musicalium, tome one, for four voices (Paris: Pierre Attaingnant), a collection of motets
• Gian Domenico del Giovane da Nola – Madrigali for four voices (Venice)
• Cipriano de Rore – Motets for five voices
• Vincenzo Ruffo – Li madrigali a notte negre for four voices published in Venice
• Tielman Susato (ed.)
  • Ninth book of chansons, for four voices (Antwerp: Tielman Susato), contains only compositions by Pierre de Manchicourt
• The Lutheran hymnal Geistliche Lieder published by Valentin Babst in Leipzig

• Giovan Thomaso di Maio – Canzone villanesche a3, book 1.

• Giovanni Animuccia – First book of madrigals for 4, 5, and 6 voices (Venice: Antonio Gardano)
• Loys Bourgeois – First book of four-part psalms (Lyon: Godfroy & Marcelin Beringen frères), published for the Calvinists of Geneva using the French translations by Clément Marot.
• Jacques Buus – First book of ricercars for four voices or instruments (Venice: Antonio Gardano)
• Perissone Cambio – First book of madrigals for four voices (Venice: Antonio Gardano), also includes a few madrigals by Cipriano de Rore
• Francesco Corteccia
  • New expanded edition of the first book of madrigals for four voices, including pieces composed for intermedii for the comedy Il furto by Francesco d'Ambra (Venice: Antonio Gardano)
  • Second book of madrigals for four voices (Venice: Antonio Gardano)
  • First book of madrigals for five and six voices (Venice: Antonio Gardano)
• Claude Gervaise, ed. – Second book of dances for four instruments (Paris: Pierre Attaingnant)
• Heinrich Glarean – Dodecachordon published in Basel.
• Hoste da Reggio – First book of madrigals for four voices (Venice: Antonio Gardano)
• Hans Neusidler – Das erst Buch: ein newes Lautenbüchlein
• Caspar Othmayr
  • Bicinia sacra (Nuremberg: Johann Berg and Ulrich Neuber)
  • Symbola for five voices (Nuremberg: Johann Berg and Ulrich Neuber), a collection of motets
• Dominique Phinot – First book of motets for five voices (Lyon: Godefroy & Marcellin Beringen)
• Enriquez de Valderrabano – Book of vihuela music Libra de musica de vihuela intitulado Silva de Sirenas published in Valladolid

• Benedictus Appenzeller – A collection of sacred songs without a title (Augsburg: Philip Ulhart)
• Arnold Caussin – First book of motets for five voices (Venice: Antonio Gardano)
• Heinrich Faber – Beginner's music textbook Compendium Musicae published in Nuremberg.
• Didier Lupi Second
  • First book of spiritual chansons for four voices (Lyon: Beringen & Beringen), all texts by Guillaume Guéroult
  • Third Book, containing 35 chansons for four voices (Lyon: Beringen & Beringen)
• Tugdual Menon – Madrigali d'amore for four voices (Ferrara: Giovanni de Buglhat & Antonio Hucher)^[1]
• Jan Nasco – Madrigals for five voices (Venice: Antonio Gardano)
• Dominique Phinot
  • Second book of motets for six, seven, and eight voices (Lyon: Godefroy & Marcellin Beringer)
  • First book of thirty-seven chansons (Lyon: Godefroy & Marcellin Beringer)
  • Second book containing thirty-six chansons (Lyon: Godefroy & Marcellin Beringer)
• Francesco Portinaro – Primi frutti de motetti for five voices (Venice: Antonio Gardano)
• Cipriano de Rore – Il terzo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (Third Book of Madrigals for Five Voices) published in Venice.

• Gasparo Alberti – First book of masses (Venice: Girolamo Scotto), the first printed book of masses dedicated to a single Italian composer
• Paolo Aretino – Libro primo delli madrigali cromati (Venice: Girolamo Scotto)
• Jacques Buus
  • Second book of ricercars (Venice: Antonio Gardano)
  • First book of Intabolatura d'organo di recercari (Venice: Antonio Gardano), a collection of ricercars in organ tablature
  • First book of motets for five voices (Venice: Antonio Gardano)
• Ghiselin Danckerts – Canons for four voices (Augsburg: Melchior Kriesstein)
• Nicolao Dorati – First book of madrigals for five voices (Venice: Antonio Gardano)
• Jhan Gero
  • Libro primo delli madrigali a quatro voci (Venice: Girolamo Scotto)
  • Libro secondo delli madrigali a quatro voce (Venice: Girolamo Scotto)
• Claude Goudimel – book of chansons.
• Clement Janequin – XXX chansons nouvelles
• Didier Lupi Second – 30 Psalms for four voices (Lyon: Beringen & Beringen), French translations by Gilles D'Aurigny
• Hans Neusidler – Das ander Buch: ein new künstlich Lauten Buch
• Giovanni Domenico da Nola – First book of motets for five voices (Venice: Girolamo Scotto)
• Caspar Othmayr
  • Tricinia (Nuremberg: Johann Berg & Ulrich Neuber)
  • Reutterische unnd Jegerische Liedlein for four voices (Nuremberg: Johann Berg & Ulrich Neuber)
• Robert Wedderburn (probable) – The Complaynt of Scotland, including the earliest known references (in Middle Scots) to a number of Border ballads
• Gioseffo Zarlino – Moduli motecta vulga noncupata liber primus – book of motets for 5 voices

• Gasparo Alberti – Magnificat

• Gasparo Alberti – Magnificat

• Louis Bourgeois – published his first 4-voice psalms

• date unknown – Giovanni Maria Artusi, Italian composer and theorist (d. 1613)
• probable – William Byrd, English composer (d. 1623)
• probable – Jakob Regnart, Franco-Flemish composer (d. 1599)
• probable – Girolamo Dalla Casa, Italian composer, cornetist and writer (d. 1601)
• probable – William Daman, Flemish recorder player, organist and composer (d. 1591)
• probable – Giovanni Dragoni, Italian composer (d. 1598)
• probable – Noel Fagnient, Flemish composer and shopkeeper (d. c. 1600)
• probable – Johannes de Fossa, Flemish composer and choirmaster (d, 1603)
• probable – Marcin Leopolita, Polish composer and musician (d. c. 1585)
• probable – Francesco Rovigo, Italian composer and organist (d. 1597)
• probable – Alexander Utendal, Flemish singer, composer and choirmaster (d. 1581)
• probable – Matthaus Waissel, German lutenist, composer, Lutheran theologian, publisher, schoolteacher and writer (d. 1602)

• September 7 – Hernando de Cabezon, Spanish composer, publisher and editor (d. 1602)
• probable – Vincenzo Bellavere, Italian composer and organist (d. 1587)

• January 27 – Gioseffo Guami, Italian composer, organist, singer and teacher (d. 1611)
• February 22 – Santino Garsi da Parma, lutenist and composer (d. 1604)
• May 20 – Gasparo da Salo, Italian violin maker and double bass player (d. 1609)
• November 1 – Tarquinia Molza, Italian singer (d. 1617)
• probable – Cesare Bendinelli, Italian trumpeter (d. 1617)
• probable – Jakob Meiland, German composer, organist and choirmaster (d. 1577)

• Alfonso Ferrabosco the elder, Anglo-Italian composer (d. 1588)
• Andreas Pevernage, Flemish composer and choirmaster (d. 1591)
• Giovanni Maria Nanino, Italian composer, teacher, tenor and choirmaster (d. 1607)

• Maddelena Casulana, Italian composer, lutenist and singer. First female composer of the period to have her music printed and published.
• Ivo de Vento, Flemish composer and organist (d. 1575).

• October 19 – Giovenale Ancina – Italian priest and composer (d. 1604)
• probable
  • Gioseppe Caimo, Italian composer and organist (d. post 1584)
  • Luzzasco Luzzaschi, Ferrarese composer (d. 1607)
  • Lodovico Balbi, Italian composer, singer, choirmaster and Minorite friar (d. 1604)
  • Antoine Barbe II, Flemish organist and choirmaster (d. 1604)
  • Gioseppe Caimo, Italian composer and organist (d. 1584)
  • Bernardo Clavijo del Castillo, Spanish composer, organist, harpsichord player and teacher (d. 1626)
  • Anthony Holborne, English composer (d. 1602)

• date unknown – Luca Bati, Italian composer (d. 1608)

• April 8 – Lucrezia Bendidio, Italian noblewoman and singer (d. c. 1584)
• George de la Hele, Flemish composer (d. 1586).
• Manuel Mendes, Portuguese composer (d. 1605).

• Gines Perez De La Parra, Spanish composer (d. 1600).
• Lambert de Sayve, Flemish singer and composer (d. 1614).
• Tomas Luis de Victoria, Spanish composer, singer, organist, priest and choirmaster (d. 1611).

• December 9 – Costanzo Antegnati – Italian organ builder, organist, and composer (d. 1624).
• December 24 – Kaspar Ulenberg, German theologian, poet, and composer (d. 1617)
• Eustache du Caurroy, French composer and singer (d. 1609)
• Giovanni de Macque, French composer, singer, organist and choirmaster (d. 1614)

• 1540: Francesco De Layolle, Italian composer and organist (b. 1492)
• 1541:
  • Lupus Hellinck, Flemish composer (b. c. 1493/1494)
  • Hans Kotter, Organist and composer (b. 1480)
• 1542: Lodovico Fogliano, theorist and composer (c. 66)
• 1543: probable
  • Ludwig Senfl, Swiss composer (b. c. 1486)
  • Francesco Canova da Milano, composer and lutenist (b. 1497)
• Avery Burton, composer (c.73) died in England
• 1544:
  • Balthasar Resinarius, (b. c. 1483)
  • Benedictus Dulcis, (c. 52)
• 1545: April 10 – Constanzo Festa, Italian composer (b. c.1485–1490)
  • July 7 – William Crane, English composer, musician and merchant.
  • Pietro Aaron, Italian composer, theorist and priest (b. c. 1480)
  • Sebastian z Felsztyna, Polish composer and theorist (b. c. 1480-1490)
• 1546: October 18 – John Taverner, English composer (b. c. 1490)
• 1547: October or November – John Redford, English composer, poet and playwright (b. c. 1500)
• 1548: June 14 – Elzéar Genet de Carpentras, French composer (b. c. 1470)
  • January 23 – Bernardo Pisano, Italian composer and singer (b. 1490).
  • April 10 – Giacomo Fogliano, Italian composer, organist and teacher (b. c. 1468)
  • August 16 – Georg Rhau, printer, publisher and composer, died in Wittenberg (b. 1488)
  • October 21 – Sixt Dietrich, composer and teacher, died in St Gallen, Switzerland (c. 55)
  • Vincenzo Capirola, lutenist and composer, died in Brescia (b. 1474).
• 1549: Richard Pygott, English composer and choirmaster