Events

• January 5 – In Paris, Antonio Salieri signs a contract with the Opéra for a work entitled Les Danaïdes.^[1]
• January 7 – Composer Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny marries Amélie de Villemagne.^[1]
• February 9 – The Piano Concerto No. 14 becomes the first entry in the catalogue of works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.^[1]
• March – 28-year-old Mozart gives the first performances of his Piano Concerto No. 15 at the Trattnerhof and Burgtheater in Vienna.
• April 24 – Mozart writes to his father Leopold, recommending the work of newcomer Ignaz Pleyel.^[1]
• April 29 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and violinist Regina Strinasacchi perform Mozart's Sonata in B-flat for Violin and Keyboard (K.454) for the first time, in the presence of Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor.
• May 27 – June 5 – Handel Commemoration concerts in Westminster Abbey, London.
• June 13 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 17 is performed for the first time, by his student, Barbara von Ployer. Giovanni Paisiello is in the audience.
• August 17 – Luigi Boccherini is given a pay rise of 12000 reals by his employer, the Infante Luis, Count of Chinchón.^[1]
• August 28 – In Vienna, Johann Georg Albrechtsberger's Mass in E flat is performed for the first time, with the orchestral arrangement replaced by organ accompaniment, in accordance with the preferences of Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor.^[1]
• December 11 – Mozart is received into the Masonic lodge "Beneficence".
• The first opera is mounted at the unfinished Teatro Nuovo in Bergamo, Lombardy, Giuseppe Sarti's Medonte, re di Epiro.

Classical music

• Jean-Jacques Beauvarlet-Charpentier – Journal d'orgue 1–9

• Niel Gow – A Collection of Strathspey Reels, etc.
• Joseph Haydn
  • 6 Divertimentos, Hob.IV:6–11
  • Keyboard Sonata in G major, Hob.XVI:40 (no. 54)
  • Keyboard Sonata in B-flat major, Hob.XVI:41 (no. 55)
  • Keyboard Sonata in D major, Hob.XVI:42 (no. 56)
  • 24 Lieder, Hob.XXVIa:13–24 (second book)
• Michael Haydn – Symphony in B-flat major; Symphony in C major
• Sabine Hitzelberger – Für fülende Seelen am Klavier
• Edward Jones – Musical and Poetical Relicks of the Welsh Bards, including "Deck the Halls"
• Leopold Kozeluch – Keyboard Concerto in F major, P.IV:1
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  • Piano Concerto No. 14
  • Piano Concerto No. 15
• Giovanni Paisiello – Six quartets, Op. 1
• Joseph Reicha – Cello Concerto in D major
• Giovanni Battista Viotti – Duetto concertante for 2 Violins in D major; Duetto concertante for 2 Violins in D minor

Opera

• Pasquale Anfossi – Issipile, May 8, King's Theatre, London.^[1]
• Luigi Cherubini – L'Idalide
• Domenico Cimarosa
  • L'apparenza inganna
  • Artaserse
  • I due supposti conti
  • I matrimoni impensati
  • L'Olimpiade, July 10, Teatro Eretenio, Vicenza.^[1]
  • La vanità delusa
• André Grétry
  • L'épreuve villageoise
  • Richard Coeur de Lion
• Joseph Haydn – Armida
• Thomas Linley – The Spanish Rivals
• Antonio Salieri
  • Les Danaïdes
  • Il ricco d'un giorno (libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte)
• Andrea Luchesi – Ademira
• Giovanni Paisiello – Il Re Teodoro
• Niccolò Piccinni – Diane et Endymion
• Antonio Sacchini – Dardanus

Births

• January 1 – William Beale, composer and organist (died 1854)
• January 27 – Martin-Joseph Mengal, composer (died 1851)
• January 29 – Ferdinand Ries, composer
• February 3 – John Fane, composer and diplomat
• February 27 – Job Plimpton, composer (died 1864)
• March 25 – François-Joseph Fétis, Belgian musicologist, composer, critic and teacher (died 1871)
• April 8 – Dionisio Aguado, guitarist and composer (died 1849)
• June 14 – Francesco Morlacchi, opera composer (died 1841)
• July 27 – George Onslow, composer (died 1853)
• August 5 – Louis Spohr, composer, violinist and conductor (died 1859)
• August 23
  • Jeanette Wässelius, operatic soprano (died 1853)
  • Henriette Löfman, composer (died 1836)
• October 15 – Thomas Hastings, composer (died 1872)
• October 16 – Karl Keller, composer and flautist (died 1855)
• November 7 – Friedrich Wilhelm Kalkbrenner, German pianist and composer
• date unknown – Samuel Simms, organist and composer (died 1868)
• November 28 – Ferdinand Ries, composer and friend of Beethoven (died 1838)

Deaths

• March 4 – Ann Cargill, opera singer (born 1760) (drowned)
• July 1 – Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, composer (born 1710)^[2]
• August – Louis Anseaume, opera librettist
• August 6 – Karl Kohaut, lutenist and composer (born 1726)
• August 4 – Giovanni Battista Martini, composer (born 1706)
• September
  • John Bennett, organist and composer (born c.1735)
  • Maria Linley, singer (born 1763)
• September 12 – Manuel Blasco de Nebra, organist and composer (born 1750)
• October 5 (or 1785) – Antonín Kammel, violinist and composer (born 1730)
• November 6 – Anine Frölich, ballet dancer (born 1762)
• date unknown
  • John Pixell, poet and composer (born 1725)
  • Yekaterina Sinyavina, pianist and composer (date of birth unknown)