Events

• November 26 – Joseph Haydn marries Maria Anna Keller,^[1] but he and his wife will live apart for most of their lives.
• John Newton leaves his job for the church, and begins composing hymns.
• Memoirs of the Life of the Late George Frideric Handel, by John Mainwaring, is published anonymously.
• John Alcock is forced to resign as organist and choirmaster of Lichfield Cathedral.
• Johann Christian Bach becomes organist of Milan Cathedral.
• John Garth publishes his Op. 1 cello concertos (written over the previous decade), the first time such compositions have been published in Britain.^[2]
• Johann Baptist Wanhal is brought to Vienna to receive lessons from Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf.

Popular music

Opera

• Thomas Arne – Thomas and Sally
• Johann Christian Bach – Artaserse
• Nicola Porpora - "Il trionfo di Camilla"
• Johann Adolph Hasse – Alcide al Bivio
• Vincenzo Manfredini – Semiramide
• Niccolò Piccinni – La buona figliuola
• Jean-Philippe Rameau – Les Paladins

Classical music

• Johann Albrechtsberger – String Quartet in D
• Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
  • Fantasia and Fugue in C minor, H.75.5
  • Sechs Sonaten für Clavier mit veränderten Reprisen, Wq.50 (H. 126, 136–140) (published, Berlin; composed 1758–59)
• William Boyce – Eight Symphonies, op. 2 (published, London: John Walsh; composed over the previous 21 years)
• François Joseph Gossec – Grande Messe des Morts
• Joseph Haydn
  • Symphony No.25 in C major, Hob.I:25
  • Partita in B-flat major, Hob.XVI:2
  • Partita in E major, Hob.XVI:13 (attribution in question)
• Michael Haydn – Concerto for Violin in B-flat major
• Pierre Hugard – La Toilette, suites for the pardessus de viole
• Ignacio de Jerusalem – Clarines sonad (misattributed)^{[clarification needed]}
• Franz Xaver Richter
  • 6 Harpsichord Trios
  • 6 Symphonies, Op. 2
• Christoph Schaffrath – Duetto for Bassoon and Harpsichord in F minor, CSWV F:18
• Georg Philipp Telemann – Lukas-Passion

Methods and theory writings

• John Alcock, Sr. – The Life of Miss Fanny Brown
• Giorgio Antoniotto – L'arte armonica
• Francesco Geminiani – The Art of Playing the Guitar or Cittra
• John Mainwaring – Memoirs of the Life of the Late George Frederic Handel
• Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg – Kritische Briefe über die Tonkunst
• Edward Miller – Institutes of Music, or Easy Instructions for the Harpsichord
• Nicolo Pasquali – The Art of Fingering the Harpsichord
• Jean-Philippe Rameau – Code de musique pratique
• Georg Andreas Sorge
  • Anleitung zum Generalbass und zur Composition
  • Compendium Harmonicum
• William Tans'ur – The Psalm-Singer's Jewel

Births

• January 10 – Johan Rudolf Zumsteeg, German composer (died 1802)
• January 19 – Melchor Lopez Jimenez, Spanish composer (died 1822)
• January 30 – Franz Xaver Partsch, Bohemian composer (died 1822)
• February 12 – Jan Ladislav Dussek, composer (died 1812)
• February 15 – Jean-François Le Sueur, French composer (died 1837)
• March 2 – Charlotta Cederström, born Christina Charlotta Mörner af Morlanda, Swedish patron of the arts (died 1832)
• March 27 – Ishmail Spicer, American composer (died 1832)
• April 4 – Juan Manuel Olivares, Venezuelan composer (died 1797)
• May 10 – Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, French composer of La Marseillaise (died 1836)
• May 29 – Charlotte Slottsberg, Swedish ballerina (died 1800)
• July 11 – François-Benoît Hoffman, librettist and playwright (died 1828)
• June 12 – Jean-Baptiste Louvet de Couvray, librettist and novelist (died 1797)
• June 14 – Cándido José Ruano, Spanish composer (died 1803)
• July 12 – Giuseppe Foppa, Italian librettist (died 1845)
• September 12 – Gaetano Valeri, Paduan organist and composer (died 1822)
• September 14 – Luigi Cherubini, Italian-born composer (died 1842)
• September 29 – Maria Hester Park, British composer (died 1813)
• October 1 – William Beckford, English novelist, patron of the arts and composer (died 1844)
• November 9 – Henri-Philippe Gérard, Liègeois composer
• November 14 – Johann Evangelist Brandl, composer (died 1837)
• November 30 – Catharine Frydendahl, opera singer (d. 1831)
• December 2 – Joseph Graetz, German composer (died 1826)

Deaths

• January 18 – Claudio Casciolini, Italian composer (born 1697)
• February 14 – François Colin de Blamont, French composer (born 1690)
• February 22 – Anna Magdalena Bach, German singer, second wife and assistant of Johann Sebastian Bach (born 1701)
• March 2 – François Bouvard, French composer (born 1760)
• March 14 – Anton Fils, German composer (born 1733)
• April 12 – Ernst Gottlieb Baron, German lutenist and composer (born 1696)
• April 24 – Michele Mascitti, music editor and violinist (born c. 1664)
• May – Girolamo Abos, Italian composer (born 1715)
• May 10 – Christoph Graupner, German composer (born 1683)
• August 8 – Henry Needler, English music transcriber (born 1685)
• October 24 – Giuseppe Maria Orlandini, Italian composer (born 1676)
• November 5 – Pierre Février, French organist, harpsichordist and composer (born 1696)
• Date unknown – Roque Ceruti, Italian composer (born c. 1683)