1781 in music

List of years in music (table)
… 1771 1772 1773 1774 1775 1776 1777 1778 1779 1780 1781 1782 1783 1784 1785 1786 1787 1788 1789 1790 1791 …
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Events

• March – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart moves to Vienna to pursue his career, but is passed over in favour of Antonio Salieri as music teacher of Princess of Württemberg.
• June 27 – Mozart writes of his new pupil and admirer, Josepha Barbara Auernhammer: "I am almost every day after dinner at H: v: Auernhammer – The freulle is a monster!"
• Christian Gottlob Neefe takes on the young Ludwig van Beethoven as a pupil.
• July 29 – Mozart receives the original libretto of his next opera, Die Entführung aus dem Serail from the director of the Nationalsingspiel, Gottlieb Stephanie.
• October 12 – First bagpipes competition in the Masonic Arms, Falkirk, Scotland.
• Étienne Méhul makes his first, unsuccessful attempts at orchestral composition.

Classical music

• Samuel Arnold – 6 Overtures in Eight Parts, Op. 8
• Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
  • 6 Fugues, Wq.119/2-7
  • Geistliche Gesänge, Book 2 Wq. 198, H. 752
• Johann Christian Bach – Sonata for Keyboard Duet, W.A 19 (Op. 18, No. 5)
• William Billings – The Psalm-Singer's Amusement
• Luigi Boccherini
  • 6 String Quartets, G.201–206 (Op. 32)
  • Stabat Mater, G.532
• Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf – Symphonies after Ovid's Metamorphoses, Kr.73–84
• Joseph Haydn
  • Symphony No.75 in D major, Hob.I:75
  • String Quartet in C major, Hob.III:39
  • Horn Concerto No.2 in D major, Hob.VIId:4 (could be by Michael Haydn)
  • 24 Lieder, Hob.XXVIa:1–24
  • Six String Quartets, Op. 33
• Leopold Kozeluch – Sonata for Keyboard in F, "La chasse", Op. 5
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  • 6 Variations on "Hélas, j'ai perdu mon amant", K.360/374b
  • Serenade in B-flat major, Gran Partita (or possibly 1782), K. 361
  • Misera, dove son!, K.369
  • Rondo in E-flat major, K.371
  • Serenade in E-flat major, K.375
  • Violin Sonata in F major, K.376/374d
  • Violin Sonata in F major, K.377/374e
  • Violin Sonata in G major, K.379/373a
  • Violin Sonata in E-flat major, K.380/374f
  • Sonata for 2 Pianos in D major, K.448/375a
• Giovanni Paisiello – Concerto for Keyboard No. 1 in C major
• John Parry – British harmony, being a collection of antient Welsh airs ... carefully compiled and now first published with some additional variations (Ruabon, London: John Parry & Peter Hodgson)
• Antonio Rosetti – 6 Flute Concerti
• Charlotte Amelie Sachsen-Gotha-Altenburg – Canzonette fürs Klavier mit Veränderungen
• Samuel Wesley – Concerto for Violin No. 2 in D major
• Paul Wranitzky – Sinfonie Périodique No.2 in C minor (op. 11)

Opera

• Miles Peter Andrews & Samuel Arnold – The Baron Kinkvervankotsdorsprakingatchdern
• Antonio Calegari – Deucalione e Pirra
• Domenico Cimarosa
  • Alessandro nell'Indie
  • L'amante combattuto dalle donne di punto
  • Giannina e Bernardone
  • Giunio Bruto
  • Il pittore parigino
• Elizabeth Craven et al. – The Silver Tankard
• Nicolas Dalayrac – Le Chevalier à la mode
• Marc-Antoine Désaugiers – Les Deux sylphes
• Joseph Haydn – La fedeltà premiata
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Idomeneo
• Niccolò Piccinni – Iphigenie en Tauride
• Antonio Salieri – Der Rauchfangkehrer
• Giuseppe Sarti – Giulio Sabino
• Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli – Montesuma

Methods and theory writings

• Marmaduke Overend – A Brief Account of, and an Introduction to, 8 Lectures in the Science of Music
• Christoph Benjamin Schmidtchen – Kurzgefaßte Anfangsgründe auf das Clavier für Anfänger

Births

• January 22 – François Antoine Habeneck, violinist and conductor (died 1849)
• March 11 – Anthony Philip Heinrich, composer (died 1861)
• March 18 – Gustave Vogt, composer and oboist (died 1870)
• May 24 – Louis-François Dauprat, French composer (died 1868)
• July 20 – Sophie Lebrun, pianist and composer, daughter of Ludwig August Lebrun (died 1863)
• July 27 – Mauro Giuliani, guitarist, cellist and composer (died 1829)
• September 1 – Antoine Romagnesi (composer and publisher (died 1850)
• September 5 – Anton Diabelli, music publisher, editor and composer (died 1858)
• September 6 – Vincent Novello, organist and conductor (died 1861)
• November 18 – Felice Blangini, organist and composer (died 1841)
• December 1 – Charles Philippe Lafont, violinist and composer (died 1839)

Deaths

• January 22 – Johann Siebenkas, composer
• February 4 – Josef Mysliveček, composer (b. 1737)
• March 17 – Johannes Ewald, librettist and dramatist (born 1743)
• May 22 – Garret Wesley Mornington, composer
• July 11 – Adolph Carl Kunzen, composer
• July 30 – Augustin Ullinger, composer
• August 16 – Johanna Carolina Bach, daughter of JS Bach (born 1737)
• October 9 – Thomas Erskine, 6th Earl of Kellie, musician and composer (b. 1732)
• October 27 – Herman-François Delange
• October – Anton Zimmermann, composer
• November 4 – Faustina Bordoni, operatic mezzo-soprano (b. 1697)
• date unknown
  • William Paxton, cellist (b. 1737)