Events

• The Bach- Abel concerts are founded.
• The Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra ("Harmonien") is founded.
• First flamenco school established in Spain.

Popular music

• James Hook – "I wish you all good night" (song)

Opera

• Johann Adolph Hasse - " Romolo ed Ersilla"
• Johann Friedrich Agricola – Achille in Sciro, premiered Sept. 16 in Berlin
• Samuel Arnold
  • Daphne and Amintor
  • The Summer's Tale
• Georg Benda – Xindo riconnosciuto
• Andrea Bernasconi – Semiramide riconosciuta
• Christoph Willibald Gluck –
  • Alexandre
  • Il Parnaso confuso, Wq.33
  • Semiramis
• Josef Mysliveček – Il Bellerofonte
• Antonio Sacchini
  • La contadina in corte
  • Creso
• Tommaso Traetta – Semiramide

Classical music

• Wilhelm Friedemann Bach – 12 Polonaises, F.12
• Joseph Haydn
  • Divertimento in E-flat major, Hob.II:6
  • Divertimento in F major, Hob.II:33
  • Divertimento in D major, Hob.II:35
  • Divertimento in G major, Hob.II:36
  • Divertimento in E major, Hob.II:37
  • String Trio in B-flat major, Hob.V:B1
  • Divertimento in G major, Hob.XIV:13
  • Divertimento in D major, Hob.XVI:4
  • Keyboard Sonata in C major, Hob.XVI:15 (authorship in question)
  • Keyboard Sonata in F major, Hob.XVI:47 (authorship in question)
  • Symphony No. 28
  • Cello Concerto No. 1
• Johann Ludwig Krebs – Sonata in A minor, Krebs-WV 838
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  • " God Is Our Refuge", K.20
  • " Conservati fedele", K.23
• Giovanni Marco Rutini – 6 Harpsichord Sonatas, Op.6
• Georg Philipp Telemann
  • Symphonie zur Serenate, TWV Anh.50:1
  • Grillen-Symphonie, TWV 50:1

Publications

• Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach – Clavierstücke verschiedener Art (Berlin), Wq.112
• Johann Christian Bach – Six Simphonies, Op. 3 (London)
• Placidus von Camerloher – Sei sonate a tre, due violini e basso (6 Trio Sonatas), Op. 2 (Paris: Le Clerc, Mme Boivin)
• Armand-Louis Couperin – Sonates en pièces de clavecin avec accompagnement de violon ad libitum, Op. 2 (Paris)
• Francesco Guerini – Six Solos (cello sonatas), Op. 9 (London, approximately this year)

Methods and theory writings

• Robert Crome – The Compleat Tutor for the Violoncello
• Pierre Simon Fournier – Traité historique et critique sur l’origine et les progrès des caractères de fonte pour l’impression de la musique
• Georg Simon Löhlein – Klavier-Schule
• Giuseppe Paolucci – Arte pratica di contrappunto
• Michael Johann Friedrich Weideburg – Der sich selbst informirende Clavierspieler

Births

• February 8 – Joseph Leopold Eybler, composer (died 1846)
• June 13 – Anton Eberl, composer (died 1807)
• June 26 – Franz Xaver Kleinheinz, composer (died 1832)
• September 18 – Oliver Holden, composer (died 1844)
• October 7 – Michał Kleofas Ogiński, Polish composer (died 1833)
• October 22 – Daniel Steibelt, pianist and composer (died 1823)
• October 26 – Jakub Jan Ryba, composer (died 1815)
• November 20 – Friedrich Heinrich Himmel, composer (died 1814)
• November 23 – Thomas Attwood, composer (died 1838)
• December 25 – Joseph Mazzinghi, British composer (died 1844)
• Date unknown – Sofia Liljegren Finnish soprano (died 1795)

Deaths

• January 12 – Johann Melchior Molter, German composer and violinist (born 1696)
• January 15 – Carlmann Kolb, composer (born 1703)
• January 19 – Johan Agrell, composer (born 1701)
• February 9 – Elisabetta de Gambarini, singer, composer and conductor (born 1730)
• March 20 – Paolo Antonio Rolli, librettist (born 1687)
• December 30 – Conrad Friedrich Hurlebusch, organist and composer (born c. 1691)
• date unknown
  • John Hebden, bassoonist, cellist and composer (born 1712)
  • Edward Henry Purcell, organist and music publisher
• probable – Louis-Antoine Dornel, harpsichordist, violinist and composer (born c.1685)