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Events

  • January 20 – The new Théâtre du Palais-Royal (rue Saint-Honoré), the first purpose-built opera house in Paris, designed by Pierre-Louis Moreau-Desproux, is inaugurated with a performance of Rameau's Zoroastre.
  • May 16 – The new Opéra royal de Versailles, designed by Ange-Jacques Gabriel, is inaugurated.
  • Ballet is performed in Oslo for the first time, by Madame Stuart.
  • Musikalisches Vielerley is published; a collection of pieces from various composers, edited by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (Hamburg: Michael Christian Bock).

Classical music

  • Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach – Fantasia in D minor, H.224
  • Johann Christian Bach
  • 6 Keyboard Concertos, Op. 7
  • 6 Quartets, Op. 8
  • Luigi Boccherini – Cello Concerto in D major, G.479
  • Joseph Haydn – Baryton Trio in A major, Hob.XI:2
  • Gabriele Leone – Six sonatas for mandolin and bass marked with signs according to the new method, Op. 2
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Symphony 11
  • Pietro Nardini – Sonatas for 2 Flutes/Violins and Basso Continuo

Methods and theory writings

  • Johann Caspar Heck – The Art of Playing the Harpsichord
  • John Holden – An Essay Towards a Rational System of Music

Operas

  • Christoph Willibald Gluck – Paride ed Elena, Wq.39
  • André Grétry – Les deux avares
  • William Billings – The New England Psalm Singer, featuring the song Chester.

Births

  • February 18 – Christian Heinrich Rinck, composer (died 1846)
  • February 20 – Ferdinando Carulli, composer (died 1841)
  • February 22 – Jan Matyas Nepomuk August Vitasek, composer (died 1839)
  • February 26 – Antoine Reicha, composer (died 1836)
  • May 19 – Antoine-Charles Glachant, violinist and composer (died 1851)
  • June 4 – James Hewitt, composer (died 1827)
  • November 8 – Friedrich Witt, composer (died 1836)
  • November 29 – Peter Hänsel, composer
  • December 13 – John Clarke-Whitfeld, composer (died 1836)
  • December 15 or December 16 (baptized on December 17) – Ludwig van Beethoven, composer and pianist (died 1827)
  • December 17 – Johann Friedrich Schubert, composer

Deaths

  • February 26 – Giuseppe Tartini, violinist and composer, 77
  • April 19 – Esprit Antoine Blanchard, composer, 74
  • May 9 – Charles Avison, composer, 61
  • October 1 – Louis-Gabriel Guillemain, composer, 64
  • December 9 – Gottlieb Muffat, organist and composer, 80
  • December 13 – Johann Heinrich Hartmann Bätz, organ-builder, 61

References