1779 in music

Events

• February 16 – Composer William Boyce is buried in St Paul's Cathedral. The music at his funeral features the massed choirs of St Paul's itself, Westminster Abbey and the Chapel Royal.^[1]
• March 7 – Griffith Jones, aged about 21, is recommended for membership of the Royal Society of Musicians.^[2]
• April – The London Magazine reports on the organ-playing of three-year-old prodigy William Crotch.
• December 26 – Teatro alla Scala in Milan opens its operatic carnival season with Josef Mysliveček's new opera Armida.
• The opera house at Eszterháza burns down.
• Mezzo-soprano Luigia Polzelli and her violinist husband Antonio arrive at the Esterházy court, where she quickly becomes the lover of Joseph Haydn.

Opera

• Johann Christian Bach – Amadis de Gaule (premiered Dec. 14 in Paris)
• Domenico Cimarosa
  • L'infedeltà fedele
  • L'italiana in Londra (premiered Dec. 28 in Rome)
  • Il matrimonio per raggiro
• Christoph Willibald Gluck – Iphigénie en Tauride (premiered May 18 in Paris)
• André Ernest Modeste Grétry – L'amant jaloux (first published, premiered 1778)
• Joseph Haydn – L'isola disabitata
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Zaide
• Giovanni Paisiello – Demetrio, R.1.59
• Antonio Salieri – Il Talismano

Classical music

• Anna Amalia – Organ Trio in C major
• Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
  • Clavier-Sonaten für Kenner und Liebhaber, Wq.55
  • Rondo in E major, Wq. 57, H.265
  • Rondo in F major, Wq. 57, H.266
• Claude-Bénigne Balbastre – Sonates en Quatuor, Op. 3 (Paris)
• William Billings – Music in Miniature
• William Boyce – 10 Voluntaries for the Organ
• Muzio Clementi
  • 6 Sonatas, Op. 2
  • 3 Piano Duets and 3 Sonatas, Op. 3
• François Joseph Gossec – Symphonie Concertante du Ballet de Mirza, B.90
• Joseph Haydn
  • Symphony No. 70 in D major
  • Symphony No. 71 in B-flat major, Hob.I:71
  • Symphony No. 75 in D Major
  • Aria: "Quando la rosa"
• Michael Haydn – Symphony No.23 in D major, MH 287, P.43
• Johann Adam Hiller – "Lieder und Arien aus Sophiens Reise", compilation including pieces from Mozart.
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  • Kommet her, ihr frechen Sünder, K.146/317b
  • Mass in C major, K.317 (Composed March 23, Premiered April 4 in Salzburg)
  • Symphony No.32 in G major, K.318 (Composed April 26)
  • Symphony No.33 in B-flat major, K.319
  • Serenade in D major, "Posthorn" K.320
  • Vesperae solennes de Dominica in C. K.341
  • Church Sonata in C major, K.329/317a
  • 2 Marches, K.335/320a
  • Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra in E-flat major, K.364/320d
  • Concerto in E-flat major for Two Pianos, K.365/316a
• Johann Heinrich Rolle – Thirza und ihre Söhne (oratorio)
• Johann Adolph Hasse - Mass in E-flat major
• Joseph Bologne Saint-Georges – 2 Symphonies, Op.11
• Antonio Salieri – Organ Concerto in C major
• William Shrubsole – "Miles's Lane (All Hail The Power of Jesus' Name)", in The Gospel Magazine and Moral Miscellany, Vol.6.
• Maria Carolina Wolf – "Die Rose"
• Carl Friedrich Zelter – Viola Concerto in E-flat major

Methods and theory writings

• Joseph Amiot – Mémoire sur la musique des Chinois
• Anton Bemitzrieder – Nouvel essai sur l'harmonie
• François Vincent Corbelin – Méthode de Harpe
• Franz Paul Rigler – Anleitung zum Klavier
• Francisco Inácio Solano – Novo tratado de musica metrica, e rythmica
• Francesco Antonio Vallotti – Della scienza teorica e pratica della moderna musica (On the scientific theory and practice of modern music)

Births

• January 8 – John White, organist and composer
• January 15 – Jean Coralli, ballet producer and choreographer
• February 1 – Nikolaus von Krufft, Austrian composer (died 1818)
• February 2 – Georg Heinrich Lux, organist and composer (died 1861)
• February 5 – François van Campenhout, singer and composer (d. 1848)
• February 17 – Wilhelm Friedrich Riem, composer (died 1857)
• February 22 – Joachim Nicolas Eggert, composer (d. 1813)
• February 23 – Johann Caspar Aiblinger, composer (d. 1867)
• February 28 – Henry Darondeau, composer (died 1865)
• March 1 – Jacob Gottfried Weber, composer (d. 1839)
• March 13 – Oliver Shaw, composer (d. 1848)
• April 11 – Louise Reichardt, German composer (died 1826)
• April 21 – William Knyvett, composer
• May 28 – Thomas Moore, poet and lyricist
• June 23 – Johann Baptist Schiedermayr, composer (died 1840)
• July 20 – Ignaz Schuster, bass and composer (died 1835)
• August 1 – Francis Scott Key, songwriter (died 1843)^[3]
• September 8 – Johann Philipp Samuel Schmidt, composer (died 1853)
• September 10 – Louis Alexandre Piccinni, composer
• October 15
  • August Ferdinand Häser, composer (died 1844)
  • Johan Olof Wallin, songwriting bishop
• November 14 – Adam Oehlenschläger poet and lyricist (died 1850)
• date unknown
  • Georges-Joseph-Laurent Lambert, composer (died 1852)

Deaths

• January 20 – David Garrick, librettist (born 1717)
• February 7 – William Boyce, composer, 69^[4]
• February 12 – Hinrich Philip Johnsen, composer (born 1717)
• April 6 – Tommaso Traetta, composer, 52^[5]
• April 7 – Martha Ray, singer, 32/33 (murdered)^[6]
• June 6 – Joseph Inchbald, actor and singer, 44^[7]
• November 27 – Josse Boutmy, organist and harpsichordist, 82^[8]
• December 5 – Hermann Anton Gelinek, organist and violinist, 70^[9]
• December 28 – Gennaro Manna, composer, 64^[10]
• December - Richard Morris, collector of folk songs, 76^[11]
• unknown date – Edward Jones, Welsh composer, 49/50^[12]