thumb | right | Overture from [[Don Giovanni by Mozart, 1787]]

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Events

  • Between January and April – Beethoven and Mozart: 16-year-old Ludwig van Beethoven goes to Vienna, intending to study with Mozart: it is possible that they meet and have some lessons together, but the declining health of Beethovens' mother forces him to return to Bonn.
  • February 1 – A posthumous performance of Antonio Sacchini's Œdipe à Colone at the Paris Opéra results in the previously unsuccessful opera becoming one of the most popular pieces in the repertoire for several decades.
  • August 10 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart completes his famous serenade Eine kleine Nachtmusik.
  • October 29 – Mozart's opera Don Giovanni is premiered under his baton at the Nostitzsches Nationaltheater in Prague, with libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte.
  • December
  • Mozart is appointed chamber composer to Emperor Joseph II in Vienna following the death of Gluck.
  • Angelo Tarchi is appointed music director and composer at the King's Theatre in London.
  • Luigi Boccherini becomes court composer in Berlin.
  • Luigi Cherubini settles in Paris.

Publications

  • Scots Musical Museum, vol. 1
  • Robert Burns – "The Battle of Sherramuir" (to a traditional tune)
  • "Ein Schifflein sah ich fahren" (Soldier Song ca.1787)

Classical music

  • Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
  • Fantasia in F-sharp minor, H.300
  • Neue Melodien, H.781
  • William Brown – 3 Rondos
  • Charles Burney – Preludes, Fugues and Interludes for the Organ
  • Muzio Clementi
  • Two Symphonies, Op. 18
  • Musical Characteristics, Op. 19
  • Piano Sonata, Op. 20
  • Michel Corrette – Pièces pour l’orgue dans un genre nouveau
  • Francois Devienne – Flute Concerto No.7 in E minor
  • Jean-Louis Duport – Cello Concerto No.1 in A major, Op. 1
  • Giuseppe Gherardeschi – Sonata for Organ "In the Guise of a Military Band..."
  • Joseph Haydn
  • The Seven Last Words of Christ
  • Symphony No. 88 in G
  • String Quartets, Op. 50 (String Quartets Nos. 36–41)
  • Franz Anton Hoffmeister – 2 Keyboard Sonatas, WeiH 80
  • Leopold Kozeluch
  • Three Symphonies, Op. 22
  • Three Symphonies, Op. 24
  • Moise in Egitto
  • Joseph Martin Kraus – Symphony in E minor
  • Jose Lidon – 6 Piezas o Sonatas sueltas para órgano
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  • Eine kleine Nachtmusik
  • String Quintet No. 3 in C major
  • String Quintet No. 4 in G minor
  • Rondo in A minor, K.511
  • Clarinet Quintet, K.Anh.91
  • Musikalisches Würfelspiel, K.516f
  • Ein musikalischer Spaß (A Musical Joke)
  • "Die Alte", K.517
  • "Die Verschweigung", K.518
  • "Das Lied der Trennung", K.519
  • "Als Luise die Briefe", K.520
  • "Abendempfindung", K.523
  • "Die kleine Spinnerin", K.531
  • 5 Country Dances, K.609
  • William Parsons – The Court Minuets for Her Majesty's Birth Day, 1787
  • Philip Phile – Violin Concerto (lost)
  • Ignaz Pleyel – 3 String Trios, B.401–403

Opera

  • Samuel Arnold – Inkle and Yarico (libretto by George Colman the Younger)
  • Luigi Boccherini – La Clementina, G.540
  • Domenico Cimarosa – Volodimiro
  • Giuseppe Gazzaniga – Don Giovanni
  • Vicente Martín y Soler – L'arbore di Diana
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Don Giovanni
  • Antonio Salieri – Tarare (libretto by Beaumarchais)
  • Giovanni Paisiello – La modista raggiratrice, R.1.74

Methods and theory writings

  • Ferdinand Kauer – Kurzgefaßte Clavierschule für Anfänger
  • Edward Miller – Elements of Thorough Bass and Composition, Op. 5
  • Etienne Ozi – Nouvelle méthode de basson
  • – Über die Harmonika

Births

  • January 31 – Ulric Guttinguer, librettist and writer (died 1866)
  • February 13 – James P. Carrell, singing teacher and composer (died 1854)
  • February 24 – Christian Frederik Barth, oboist and composer (died 1861)
  • March 1 – Tobias Haslinger, composer and publisher (died 1842)
  • April 14 – Charles-François Plantade, French composer (died 1870)
  • April 26 – Ludwig Uhland, librettist and poet (died 1862)
  • July 7 – César Malan, composer and theologian (died 1864)
  • August 15 – Alexander Alyabyev, composer (died 1851)
  • November 17 – Michele Carafa, composer (died 1872)
  • November 21 – Barry Cornwall, librettist and poet (died 1874)
  • November 25 – Franz Xaver Gruber, organist and composer of "Silent Night" (died 1863)
  • December 4 – Johan Fredrik Berwald, violinist, conductor and composer (died 1861)
  • December 13 – Anne-Honoré-Joseph Duveyrier, librettist and dramatist (died 1865)
  • December 14 – Maria Ludovika, patron of Beethoven and queen of Austria (died 1816)
  • date unknown
  • Franz Xaver Gebel, German composer (died 1843)
  • Catharina Torenberg, violinist (died 1866)

Deaths

  • February 21 – Antonio Rodríguez de Hita, composer (born 1722)
  • March 30 – Princess Anna Amalia of Prussia, musician, composer and music collector (born 1723)
  • April 22 – Josef Starzer, Austrian composer (born 1726)
  • May 20 – Giovan Gualberto Brunetti, Italian composer (born 1706)
  • May 28 – Leopold Mozart, violinist, music teacher and composer (born 1719)
  • June – Ignazio Fiorillo, opera composer (born 1715)
  • June 20 – Carl Friedrich Abel, viola da gamba player and composer (born 1723)
  • July 13 – Ignazio Cirri, composer and musician (born 1711)
  • July 27 – Mary Linley, singer (born 1758)
  • August 5 – François Francoeur, violinist and composer (born 1698)
  • August 18 – Stephen Paxton, composer and musician (born 1734)
  • November 15 – Christoph Willibald Gluck, composer (born 1714)
  • November 23 – Anton Schweitzer, opera composer (born 1735)
  • December 9 – Bernhard Joachim Hagen, composer, violinist and lutenist (born 1720)
  • date unknown – Edward Harwood (of Darwen), hymn-writer (born 1707)

References