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Events

  • February 16 – Composer William Boyce is buried in St Paul's Cathedral. The music at his funeral features the massed choirs of St Paul's itself, Westminster Abbey and the Chapel Royal.
  • March 7 – Griffith Jones, aged about 21, is recommended for membership of the Royal Society of Musicians.
  • April – The London Magazine reports on the organ-playing of three-year-old prodigy William Crotch.
  • December 26 – Teatro alla Scala in Milan opens its operatic carnival season with Josef Mysliveček's new opera Armida.
  • The opera house at Eszterháza burns down.
  • Mezzo-soprano Luigia Polzelli and her violinist husband Antonio arrive at the Esterházy court, where she quickly becomes the lover of Joseph Haydn.

Opera

  • Johann Christian Bach – Amadis de Gaule (premiered Dec. 14 in Paris)
  • Domenico Cimarosa
  • L'infedeltà fedele
  • L'italiana in Londra (premiered Dec. 28 in Rome)
  • Il matrimonio per raggiro
  • Christoph Willibald Gluck – Iphigénie en Tauride (premiered May 18 in Paris)
  • André Ernest Modeste Grétry – L'amant jaloux (first published, premiered 1778)
  • Joseph Haydn – L'isola disabitata
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Zaide
  • Giovanni Paisiello – Demetrio, R.1.59
  • Antonio Salieri – Il Talismano

Classical music

  • Anna Amalia – Organ Trio in C major
  • Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
  • Clavier-Sonaten für Kenner und Liebhaber, Wq.55
  • Rondo in E major, Wq. 57, H.265
  • Rondo in F major, Wq. 57, H.266
  • Claude-Bénigne Balbastre – Sonates en Quatuor, Op. 3 (Paris)
  • William Billings – Music in Miniature
  • William Boyce – 10 Voluntaries for the Organ
  • Muzio Clementi
  • 6 Sonatas, Op. 2
  • 3 Piano Duets and 3 Sonatas, Op. 3
  • François Joseph Gossec – Symphonie Concertante du Ballet de Mirza, B.90
  • Joseph Haydn
  • Symphony No. 70 in D major
  • Symphony No. 71 in B-flat major, Hob.I:71
  • Symphony No. 75 in D Major
  • Aria: "Quando la rosa"
  • Michael Haydn – Symphony No.23 in D major, MH 287, P.43
  • Johann Adam Hiller – "Lieder und Arien aus Sophiens Reise", compilation including pieces from Mozart.
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  • Kommet her, ihr frechen Sünder, K.146/317b
  • Mass in C major, K.317 (Composed March 23, Premiered April 4 in Salzburg)
  • Symphony No.32 in G major, K.318 (Composed April 26)
  • Symphony No.33 in B-flat major, K.319
  • Serenade in D major, "Posthorn" K.320
  • Vesperae solennes de Dominica in C. K.321
  • Church Sonata in C major, K.329/317a
  • 2 Marches, K.335/320a
  • Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra in E-flat major, K.364/320d
  • Concerto in E-flat major for Two Pianos, K.365/316a
  • Johann Heinrich Rolle – Thirza und ihre Söhne (oratorio)
  • Johann Adolph Hasse - Mass in E-flat major
  • Joseph Bologne Saint-Georges – 2 Symphonies, Op.11
  • Antonio Salieri – Organ Concerto in C major
  • William Shrubsole – "Miles's Lane (All Hail The Power of Jesus' Name)", in The Gospel Magazine and Moral Miscellany, Vol.6.
  • Maria Carolina Wolf – "Die Rose"
  • Carl Friedrich Zelter – Viola Concerto in E-flat major

Methods and theory writings

  • Joseph Amiot – Mémoire sur la musique des Chinois
  • Anton Bemitzrieder – Nouvel essai sur l'harmonie
  • François Vincent Corbelin – Méthode de Harpe
  • Franz Paul Rigler – Anleitung zum Klavier
  • Francisco Inácio Solano – '
  • Francesco Antonio Vallotti – Della scienza teorica e pratica della moderna musica (On the scientific theory and practice of modern music)

Births

  • January 8 – John White, organist and composer
  • January 15 – Jean Coralli, ballet producer and choreographer
  • February 1 – Nikolaus von Krufft, Austrian composer (died 1818)
  • February 2 – Georg Heinrich Lux, organist and composer (died 1861)
  • February 5 – François van Campenhout, singer and composer (d. 1848)
  • February 17 – Wilhelm Friedrich Riem, composer (died 1857)
  • February 22 – Joachim Nicolas Eggert, composer (d. 1813)
  • February 23 – Johann Caspar Aiblinger, composer (d. 1867)
  • February 28 – Henry Darondeau, composer (died 1865)
  • March 1 – Jacob Gottfried Weber, composer (d. 1839)
  • March 13 – Oliver Shaw, composer (d. 1848)
  • April 11 – Louise Reichardt, German composer (died 1826)
  • April 21 – William Knyvett, composer
  • May 28 – Thomas Moore, poet and lyricist
  • June 23 – Johann Baptist Schiedermayr, composer (died 1840)
  • July 20 – Ignaz Schuster, bass and composer (died 1835)
  • August 1 – Francis Scott Key, songwriter (died 1843)
  • September 8 – Johann Philipp Samuel Schmidt, composer (died 1853)
  • September 10 – Louis Alexandre Piccinni, composer
  • October 15
  • August Ferdinand Häser, composer (died 1844)
  • Johan Olof Wallin, songwriting bishop
  • November 14 – Adam Oehlenschläger poet and lyricist (died 1850)
  • date unknown
  • Georges-Joseph-Laurent Lambert, composer (died 1852)

Deaths

  • January 20 – David Garrick, librettist (born 1717)
  • February 7 – William Boyce, composer, 69
  • February 12 – Hinrich Philip Johnsen, composer (born 1717)
  • April 6 – Tommaso Traetta, composer, 52
  • April 7 – Martha Ray, singer, 32/33 (murdered)
  • June 6 – Joseph Inchbald, actor and singer, 44
  • November 27 – Josse Boutmy, organist and harpsichordist, 82
  • December 5 – Hermann Anton Gelinek, organist and violinist, 70
  • December 28 – Gennaro Manna, composer, 64
  • December - Richard Morris, collector of folk songs, 76
  • unknown date – Edward Jones, Welsh composer, 49/50

References