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Events

  • February 22 – Lovisa Augusti performs at a concert in Gothenburg directed by a musician of the Hovkapellet.
  • September 11 – Eleven-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, his father Leopold, his mother Anna Maria, and his older sister Nannerl) left Salzburg for Vienna, travelling via Melk (where young Wolfgang plays the organ). A few weeks later, an outbreak of smallpox in Vienna causes them to flee the city, and they travel to Brno.
  • October 26 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is diagnosed with smallpox. He recovers by November 10, but Nannerl then contracts the disease; she also survives.
  • Dictionnaire de musique by Jean-Jacques Rousseau is published.
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composes the first act of an oratorio, Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots, to be completed by Michael Haydn and Anton Cajetan Adlgasser.
  • Joseph Haydn enters his Sturm und Drang period - writing symphonies in minor keys with turbulent expressive content.
  • James Hook's first collection of songs for the Vauxhall Gardens.

Opera

  • Felice Alessandri – Ezio
  • Michael Arne – Cymon
  • Christoph Willibald Gluck – Alceste
  • Johann Adam Hiller – Lottchen am Hofe
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Apollo et Hyacinthus
  • Josef Mysliveček
  • Il Bellerofonte
  • Farnace , ED.10:D5
  • Giovanni Paisiello – L'idolo cinese, R.1.10
  • Johann Adolph Hasse – Partenope

Classical music

  • Carl Friedrich Abel – 6 Symphonies, Op. 7
  • Thomas Arne – Four Symphonies
  • Luigi Boccherini – Symphony in D major, G.500
  • Joseph Haydn
  • Symphony No.35 in B-flat major, Hob.I:35
  • Symphony no 39
  • 6 Flute Quartets, Op. 5 (Amsterdam: J. J. Hummel)
  • String Trio in E-flat major, Hob.V:4
  • Divertimento in C major, Hob.XIV:3
  • Divertimento in G major, Hob.XVI:11 (attribution in contest)
  • Divertimento in A major, Hob.XVI:12
  • Michael Haydn – Divertimento for 2 basset-horns, 2 horns and bassoon in C
  • Gabriele Leone – 6 Sonatas for mandolin and basso continuo, Book 1 opus 1
  • Antonio Lolli – 6 Violin Sonatas, Op. 3
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  • Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebotes, K.35
  • Piano Concerto No.1 in F major, K.37
  • Piano Concerto No.3 in D major, K.40
  • A Berenice, K.70/61c
  • Josef Mysliveček – 6 String Quartets, Op. 2
  • Giuseppe Paolucci – Preces octo vocibus concinendae in oratione quadraginta horarum
  • Antonio Sacchini – Sinfonia in D major
  • William Selby – 10 Voluntarys

Methods and music theory

  • Johann Daniel Berlin – Anleitung zur Tonometrie (Kopenhagen and Leipzig: Friedrich Christian Pelt)
  • Johann Philipp Kirnberger – Der allezeit fertige Polonoisen- und Menuettencomponist (Berlin: George Ludewig Winter), a method for composing by throwing dice
  • Johannes Schmidlin – Deutliche Anleitung zum gründlichen Singen der Psalmen (Zürich: Bürgkli)
  • Granville Sharp – A Short Introduction to Vocal Musick
  • Georg Andreas Sorge – Anleitung zur Fantasie

Births

  • March 17 – Luigi Capotorti, Italian composer (died 1842)
  • March 19 – Leonhard von Call, Austrian composer (died 1815)
  • April 27 – Andreas Romberg, violinist and composer (died 1821)
  • May 4 – Tyagaraja – composer and singer (died 1848)
  • September 17 – Henri Montan Berton, composer, teacher and writer, son of Pierre Montan Berton (died 1844)
  • September 20 – José Maurício Nunes Garcia, composer (died 1830)
  • September 26 – Wenzel Müller, composer (died 1835)
  • November 13 – Bernhard Romberg, cellist and composer (died 1841)
  • December 8 – Fabre d'Olivet, French poet and composer (died 1825)
  • December 10 – Johannes Spech, Hungarian composer (died 1836)
  • December 13 – August Eberhard Müller, German composer (died 1817)
  • date unknown
  • Gottlieb Graupner, musician, composer, educator and publisher (died 1836)
  • Filip Višnjić, poet and guslar player (died 1834)
  • Luigi Zamboni, operatic bass-baritone (died 1837)
  • probable
  • Lewis Lavenu, music seller and publisher (died 1818)

Deaths

  • January 3 – Luca Antonio Predieri, composer (born 1688)
  • April 7 – Franz Sparry, composer (born 1715)
  • June 22 – Johan Henrik Freithoff, violinist and composer (born 1713)
  • June 25 – Georg Philipp Telemann, composer (born 1681)
  • July 3 – Matthew Dubourg, violinist, conductor and composer (born 1707)
  • August 28 – Johann Schobert, harpsichordist and composer (b. c. 1720)
  • September 10 – Charles John Frederick Lampe, organist and composer (born 1739)

References