1788 in music

Events

*January 9 – The elderly Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach reviews Johann Nikolaus Forkel's book ''Allgemeine Geschichte der Musik'' in the ''Hamburgischer unpartheyischer Correspondent''.
*January 22 – Composer Ignaz Pleyel marries Franziska Gabrielle Ignatia Lefebvre, daughter of a tapestry maker.
*January 26 – Australia Day: leads the First Fleet into landing at Sydney Cove (which will become Sydney) to begin the settlement of Australia; it carries Surgeon George Worgan's London-made square piano which will remain in the country and be donated to the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts collection in 2016.
*February 6 – The Kärntnertortheater in Vienna closes, after the German Opera Company disbands.
*February 12 – Antonio Salieri is appointed Imperial Royal Kapellmeister by Emperor Joseph II of Austria, in succession to Giuseppe Bonno, who is forcibly retired.
*March 6 – Domenico Cimarosa, recently invited to St Petersburg by the Empress Catherine II of Russia, premières his ''La felicità inaspetata'', which fails to impress his new patron.
*June 25 – Publication of three string quintets (K.406, 515, 516) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is postponed for a year because of a lack of take-up of subscriptions.
*July 17 – Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf is officially dismissed from his post as Amtshauptmann of Freiwaldau, but actually continues in the position for another seven years.
*November 25 – Three weeks before his death, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach writes his last known letter, to Johann Jacob Heinrich Westphal.

Opera

*Giuseppe Cambini – ''Le bon pére''
*Thomas Carter – ''The Constant Maid, or Poll of Plympton''
* Luigi Cherubini – ''Ifigenia in Aulide''
*Domenico Cimarosa
**''La felicità inaspettata''
**''La vergine del sole''
*Franz Danzi – ''Die Mitternachtsstunde''
*Giovanni Paisiello
**'' L'Amor Contrastato''
**''Fedra'', premiered Jan. 1 in Naples
*Antonio Sacchini – '' Arvire et Évélina'' (posthumous "tragédie lyrique", finished by Jean-Baptiste Rey), premiered April 29.
*Antonio Salieri
**''Axur, Re d'Ormus'' (libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte after Beaumarchais)
**''Il Talismano'' (libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte after Goldoni)
*Joseph Weigl – ''Il pazzo per forza''

Classical music

*William Billings – ''The Singing Master’s Assistant'' (including "Vermont" and "Washington")
* Henry Bishop – ''Six New Minuets and Twelve Country Dances'' (including "Knoll Park")
*Domenico Cimarosa – ''Atene edificata'' (cantata)
*Muzio Clementi
**3 Piano Trios, Op.21
**3 Piano Trios, Op.22
**Keyboard sonata op.24/1
*Michel Corrette – ''Messe pour le tems de Noël''
*Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf – 6 String Quartets
*Jan Ladislav Dussek
**3 Sonatas for Keyboard with Violin, Op.5
**Three piano sonatas C.41–43
* Joseph-Francois Garnier – Simphonie Concertante for 2 Oboes
*Joseph Haydn
**8 Nocturnes, Hob.II:25–32
**String Quartet in C major, Hob.III:57
**String Quartet in G major, Hob.III:58
**String Quartet in E major, Hob.III:59
**String Quartet in A major, Hob.III:60
**String Quartet in F minor, Hob.III:61
**String Quartet in B-flat major, Hob.III:62
**Baryton Trio in A major, Hob.XI:6
**Baryton Trio in A major, Hob.XI:8
** Symphony No.90 in C major, Hob.I:90
** Symphony No.91 in E-flat major, Hob.I:91
*Michael Haydn
**''Die Ährenleserin'' (singspiel)
**Symphony No.37 in D major, MH 476
*Pelham Humfrey – ''O Lord, My God''
*Frantisek Kotzwara – ''The Battle of Prague'' (piano with commentary)
*Leopold Kozeluch – Piano Sonata, Op.26 No.3
* Anton Kraft – 3 Cello Sonatas, Op. 1
*Rodolphe Kreutzer – Violin Concerto No.6 in E minor
* Jean-Baptiste Krumpholz – 6 Harp Sonatas, Opp. 13–14
*Vicente Martín y Soler – 12 Canzonette Italiane
*Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
**6 German Dances, K.536
**''Ein deutsches Kriegslied'', K.539
** Adagio in B minor, K.540 (dated March 19)
**''Un bacio di mano'', K.541 (dated May)
**Piano Trio in E major, K.542
**Symphony No. 39 in E flat major, K.543
**Piano Trio in C major, K.548
**''Più non si trovano'', K.549
**Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550
**Symphony No. 41 in C major, K.551, "Jupiter"
**Canon for 3 Voices in A major (''Caro bell'idol mio''), K.562
**Divertimento in E-flat major, K.563
**Piano Trio in G major, K.564
**6 German Dances, K.567
**12 Minuets, K.568
*Giovanni Paisiello – ''Duet for two violins''
* Ignaz Pleyel
**Violin Concerto in D major, B.103A
**3 Quintets, B.280–282
**6 Keyboard Trios, B.431–436
*Alexander Reinagle – Federal March
*Giuseppe Sarti – 3 Sonatas for Keyboard and Violin, Op. 4
*Giovanni Battista Viotti
**Violin Concerto No.13 in A major
**Violin Concerto No.14 in A minor
**6 Violin Sonatas, W 5.1–6 (Op. 4)

Methods and theory writings

* Johann Nikolaus Forkel – ''Allgemeine Geschichte der Musik''
* Ferdinand Kauer – ''Kurzgefaßte Anweisung das Violoncell zu spielen''
* Vincenzo Manfredini – ''Difesa della musica moderna e de' suoi celebri esecutori''
* Ernst Wilhelm Wolf – ''Musikalischer Unterricht''

Births

*January 5 – Caspar Ett, composer and musician (died 1847)
*January 8
** Erzherzog Rudolph, composer and archduke (died 1831)
** Duke Eugen of Württemberg, composer and general (died 1857)
*January 22 – George Gordon Byron, lyricist and poet (died 1824)
*January 31 – Felice Romani, librettist and writer (died 1865)
*February 10 – Johann Peter Pixis, composer (died 1874)
*March 10 – Joseph von Eichendorff, lyricist and poet (died 1857)
*May 16 – Friedrich Rückert, librettist and poet (died 1866)
*August 20 – José Bernardo Alcedo, composer (died 1878)
*August 26 – Aloys Schmitt, composer (died 1866)
*September 5 – George Macfarren, lyricist (died 1843)
*September 28 – Karl Christian Philipp Reichel composer (died 1857)
*October 11 – Simon Sechter, composer (died 1867)
*October 20 – Philip Knapton, composer (died 1833)
*November 6 – Giuseppe Donizetti, composer (died 1856)
*November 11 – Michał Wielhorski, Russian composer (died 1856)
*December 18 – Camille Pleyel, musician (died 1855)
*December 21 – Charles Chaulieu Sr., composer (died 1849)
*December 26 – Carl Anton Philipp Braun, composer (died 1835)
*''date unknown''
** Brita Catharina Lidbeck, Swedish concert singer and member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music (died 1864)
** John David Loder, composer and violinist (died 1846)

Deaths

*January 15 – Gaetano Latilla, composer (b. 1711)
*March 2 – Salomon Gessner, lyricist and poet (born 1730)
*March 29 – Charles Wesley, hymn-writer (b. 1707)
*April 12
**Carlo Antonio Campioni, composer (b. 1720)
** Carl Joseph Toeschi, composer (born 1731)
*April 15 – Giuseppe Bonno, composer (b. 1711)
*May 17 – Dorothea Biehl, librettist (born 1731)
*June 28 – Johann Christoph Vogel, composer
*July 14 – Johann Gottfried Müthel, composer (b. 1728)
*November 2 – Johann Samuel Schröter, German composer (born 1753)
*December 14 – Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach, composer (b. 1714)
*December 12 – Joseph Gibbs, composer (b. 1699)

References

{{reflist

18th century in music
Music by year