1783 in music

Events

• August 23 – Maria Anna Mozart marries Johann Baptist Franz von Berchtold.
• September 24 – The Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia, opens with a performance of Giovanni Paisiello’s opera Il mondo della luna.^[1]
• John Broadwood patents a piano pedal in England.

Classical music

• Johann Adolph Hasse - Missa Ultima in g minor
• Carl Friedrich Abel – 6 Symphonies, Op. 17
• Johann Georg Albrechtsberger – Mass in D major
• Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach – 2 Sonaten, 2 Fantasien und 3 Rondos für Kenner und Liebhaber, Wq.58
• Ludwig van Beethoven – Three Piano Sonatas, WoO 47 ("Kurfuerstensonaten") in E-flat, F, and D
• Muzio Clementi
  • 3 Piano Sonatas, Op.9
  • 3 Piano Sonatas, Op.10
• Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf – Six Symphonies after Ovid's Metamorphoses
• Jane Mary Guest – 6 Sonatas, Op. 1
• Joseph Haydn
  • Baryton Trio Hob. XI:101, 103, and 108
  • Cello Concerto in D
• Michael Haydn – Symphony in E-flat major
• Anton Kraft – 3 Cello Sonatas, Op. 2
• Joseph Martin Kraus – String Quartets, Op.1 (published, Berlin: J.J. Hummel, Plate 561)
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  • Luci care, luci belle, K.346/439a
  • Mia speranza adorata, K.416
  • Vorrei spiegarvi, o Dio, K.418
  • Duo for Violin and Viola, K.423
  • Duo for Violin and Viola, K.424
  • Symphony No. 36 in C major, K. 425
  • Great Mass in C minor, K. 427
  • Così dunque tradisci, K.432/421a
  • Ecco quel fiero istante, K.436
  • Mi lagnerò tacendo, K.437
  • Due pupille amabili, K.439
  • Country Dance in G major, K.610
• Giovanni Paisiello – La passione di Gesù Cristo
• Antonio Rosetti – Sextet in D major, M.B24/II:19
• Daniel Gottlob Türk – 12 Leichte Klaviersonaten
• Giovanni Battista Viotti
  • Concerto for Piano No. 7 in G
  • Violin Concerto No.10 in B-flat major
• Samuel Wesley – Magnificat

Opera

• Felice Alessandri – Artaserse
• Pasquale Anfossi – La finta ammalata
• Domenico Cimarosa
  • I due baroni di Rocca Azzurra
  • Oreste
  • La villana riconosciuta
• Vincenzo Fabrizi – I tre gobbi rivali
• André Grétry – La Caravane du Caire
• Niccolò Piccinni – Didon
• Antonio Sacchini – Renaud
• William Shield – The Poor Soldier

Published popular music

• "I had a horse, I had nae mair", "The Rigs o' Barley", and other songs by Robert Burns

Methods and theory writings

• Anton Bemetzrieder
  • Abstract of the Talents and Knowledge of a Musician
  • New Lessons for the Harpsichord
• Johann Michael Weissbeck – Protestationschrift oder Exemplarische Widerlegung
• Georg Friedrich Wolf – Kurzer aber deutlicher Unterricht im Klavierspielen

Births

• January 12 – Erik Gustaf Geijer, writer and composer (d. 1847)
• January 20 – Justus Johann Friedrich Dotzauer, German cellist and composer (d. 1860)
• January 26 – Helmina von Chézy, librettist (d. 1856)
• February 9 – Vasily Zhukovsky, librettist and poet (died 1852)
• February 15 – Johann Nepomuk Poissl, composer
• March 8 – Gottfied Wilhelm Fink, German composer (died 1846)
• March 26 – Johann Baptist Weigl, composer
• April 21 – Reginald Heber, librettist and clergyman (died 1826)
• May 10 – Niccola Benvenuti, composer
• May 14 – Jacques Jules Bouffil, composer and musician (died 1868)
• May 22 – Thomas Forbes Walmisley, composer (died 1866)
• June 29 – August Alexander Klengel, pianist, organist and composer
• September 23 – Jane Taylor, librettist and poet (died 1824)
• October 13 – Frantiszek Soltyk, composer
• December 14 – Johann Christoph Kienlen, composer
• December 28 – Wenzel Robert von Gallenberg, composer
• date unknown – Charles-François-Jean-Baptiste Moreau, French librettist (died 1832)

Deaths

• January 5 – Friedrich Wilhelm Riedt, flautist, music theorist and composer (born 1710)
• January 10 – Phanuel Bacon, librettist and writer (born 1700)
• January 14 – Giacobbe Cervetto, cellist and composer (born 1682)
• January 31 – Caffarelli, castrato singer (born 1710)
• February 10 – James Nares, composer (born 1715)
• February 21 – Richard Duke, violin maker (born 1718)^[2]
• March 1 – Thomas Lowe, tenor (born c.1719)
• March 23 – Gaspard Fritz, composer
• April 7 – Franz Johann Habermann, composer (born 1706)
• April 7 – Ignaz Holzbauer, composer (born 1711)
• May 11 – Juliane Reichardt, composer and pianist (born 1752)
• May 18 – Lucrezia Aguiari, coloratura soprano (born 1741)
• July 27 – Johann Kirnberger, music theorist/violist (born 1721)
• October 7 – William Tans'ur, composer, teacher and arranger of hymn tunes (born c.1706)^[3]
• October 29 – Jean le Rond d'Alembert, music theorist and philosopher (born 1717)
• November 3 – Charles Collé, songwriter (born 1709)
• December 16 – Johann Adolph Hasse, singer, composer and music teacher (born 1699)
• December 20 – Antonio Soler, composer (born 1729)