Events

• March 17 – Violinist Giovanni Battista Viotti makes his début at the Concert Spirituel in Paris.
• August 4 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart marries Constanze Weber in Vienna.
• September 30 – The Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm is inaugurated with a performance of Johann Gottlieb Naumann's Cora och Alonzo.
• William Shield is appointed resident composer to Covent Garden.
• Antoine Bournonville and his sister Julie Alix de la Fay join the Royal Swedish Ballet at Stockholm.

Published popular music

• James Aird (compiled and edited) – A Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs (including "The Miners of Wicklow", possibly the first published version of "Yankee Doodle")
• Robert Burns – John Barleycorn (original version from 16th century)

Classical music

• Ludwig van Beethoven
  • 9 Variations on a March by Dressler, WoO 63
  • Schilderung eines Mädchen, WoO 107
• Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Benda – 3 Flute Concertos, Op. 4
• Luigi Boccherini
  • Symphony in D major, Op. 35 no 1/G 509
  • Symphony in E-flat major, Op 35 no 2/G 510
  • Symphony in A major, Op. 35 no 3/G 511
  • Symphony in F major, Op. 35 no 4/G 512
  • Symphony in E-flat major, Op. 35 no 5/G 513
• Giuseppe Maria Cambini – Seconde et nouvelle suite de simphonies concertantes à plusieurs instruments
• Muzio Clementi
  • 3 Piano Sonatas, Op. 7
  • 3 Piano Sonatas, Op. 8
• François Joseph Gossec – Hymne à la Liberté, RH 628
• Joseph Haydn
  • Symphony No. 73 in D "La chasse"
  • Symphony No. 77 in B-flat major, Hob.I:77
  • Symphony No.78 in C minor, Hob.I:78
  • Divertimento in B-flat major, Hob.II:46 (authorship is disputed)
  • Keyboard Concerto in G major, Hob.XVIII:4
  • Keyboard Concerto in D major, Hob.XVIII:11
  • Mass in C major, Hob.XXII:8 "Mariazellermesse"
• Michael Haydn – Divertimento in D major, MH 319
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  • Symphony No. 35 in D "Haffner", K. 385
  • String Quartet in G, K. 387, No. 14
  • Fantasia in D minor, K.397/385g
  • Suite in C major, K.399/385i
  • Violin Sonata in C major, K.403/385c
  • Adagio in F major, K.410/484d
• Emanuel Johann Gottfried Pässler – Sechs Sonaten für das Klavier oder die Harfe
• Dieudonné-Pascal Pieltain – Violin Concerto No.3 in B-flat major
• Johann Friedrich Reichardt – Klavierstück über eine Petrarchische Ode
• Antonio Rosetti – 6 Symphonies, Op. 3
• Johann Abraham Peter Schulz – Lieder im Volkston
• Johannes Matthias Sperger – String Symphony in C
• Giovanni Battista Viotti
  • Concerto for Violin No. 2 in E major, G 44
  • Violin Concerto No.4 in D major
  • Violin Concerto No.5 in C major
• Ernst Wilhelm Wolf – Osterkantate

Opera

• Giuseppe Maria Cambini – Alcide
• Domenico Cimarosa
  • L'amor costante
  • La ballerina amante
  • Circe
  • Il convito
  • L'eroe cinese
• François-Joseph Gossec – Thésée
• Joseph Haydn – Orlando paladino
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Die Entführung aus dem Serail, 16 July, Burgtheater in Vienna.
• Giovanni Paisiello – Il barbiere di Siviglia
• Giuseppe Sarti – Fra i due litiganti il terzo gode

Methods and theory writings

• Anton Bemetzrieder – Abstract of a New Method of Teaching the Principles of Music
• Heinrich Philipp Bossler – Elementarbuch der Tonkunst zum Unterricht beim Klavier
• Michel Corrette – L’art de se perfectionner dans le violon
• Johann Kirnberger – Gedanken über die verschiedenen Lehrarten in der Komposition
• Louis-Toussaint Milandre – Méthode facile pour la viole d'amour, Op.5
• Johann Friedrich Reichardt – Musikalisches Kunstmagazin

Births

• January 29 – Daniel Auber, composer (died 1871)
• April 14 – Carlo Coccia, composer (died 1873)
• May 1 – Christopher Meineke, composer, organist (died 1850)
• July 19 – Jonathan Blewitt, composer and son of Jonas Blewitt (died 1853)
• July 26 – John Field, pianist and composer (died 1837)
• September 23 – Jacques Féréol Mazas, composer and musician (died 1849)
• October 27 – Niccolò Paganini, composer, violinist (died 1840)
• December 21 – Benoit Tranquille Berbiguier, flautist (died 1835)

Deaths

• January 1 – Johann Christian Bach, composer (b. 1735)
• April 12 – Metastasio, poet and lyricist (b. 1698)
• April 22 – Josef Ferdinand Norbert Seger, composer (b. 1716)
• May – Joseph Kelway, composer and organist (born c. 1702)
• May 6 – Herman Friedrich Voltmar, Danish composer (born 1707)
• June 17 – Kane O'Hara, Irish composer (b. 1711)
• July 15 – Robert Wainwright, composer
• August – Jean-Baptiste Forqueray, viol player and composer (b. 1699)
• August 6 – Nicolas Chédeville, composer (b. 1705)
• September 16 – Farinelli, castrato singer (b. 1702)
• October – John Parry, blind harpist (b. c. 1710)
• October 23 – Joseph Riepel, German composer (born 1709)
• December 28 – Maria Carolina of Savoy, composer and princess (born 1764)
• date unknown
  • Pedro António Avondano, Portuguese composer (b. 1714)
  • Jacob Raphael Saraval, writer and musician (b. c. 1707)

References