1786 in music

Events

• January 21 – Luigi Boccherini becomes an official composer to Prince Frederick William of Prussia.^[1]
• February 7 – Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, presents a festival at Schönbrunn Palace, at which new compositions by both Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri are performed.^[1]
• April 28 – Leopold Mozart writes to his daughter, Maria Anna Mozart, predicting failure for his son's latest opera, The Marriage of Figaro.^[1] In fact its premiere on May 1 under the composer's baton at the Burgtheater in Vienna is a success with encores demanded.^[2] The libretto is by Lorenzo da Ponte.
• October 18 – Leopold Mozart is given a blood test on the same day that his daughter-in-law Constanze Mozart gives birth to her third child, Johann Thomas Leopold; the baby dies a month later, Leopold the following year.^[1]
• November 7 – America's oldest singing society is founded as the Stoughton Musical Society.
• November 24 – Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf unsuccessfully seeks employment with the newly enthroned King Frederick William II of Prussia.^[1]
• In Britain, William Parsons succeeds John Stanley as Master of the King's Musick.
• In Benares, Jiwan Shah and Francis Fowke conduct an experiment comparing the pitch of the harpsichord with that of a traditional Indian instrument.
• Georg Joseph Vogler is appointed Kapellmeister to King Gustav III of Sweden.

Publications

• Johann Wilhelm Hässler – 6 Leichte Sonaten, Theil 1
• Leopold Kozeluch – Three Piano Sonatas, Op. 20
• Maria Theresia von Paradis – Zwölf Lieder auf ihrer Reise in Musik gesetzt, composed on tour over the previous two years
• Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart – Musicalische Rhapsodien

Classical music

• Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach – Funeral music for A. Schulte^[1]
• Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach – Ino, BR G 48
• Cecilia Maria Barthélemon
  • Op. 1: Three Sonatas for the Piano-Forte, or Harpsichord, the Second with an Accompaniment for the Violin
  • 6 English and Italian Songs, Op.2
• Luigi Boccherini – Symphony in C major, G.515
• Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf
  • Der Apotheker und der Doktor (singspiel)
  • Giobbe (oratorio)
• Xaver Hammer – Gamba Sonata No.1 in D major
• Joseph Haydn
  • Symphony No. 82 in C ("Bear")
  • Symphony No. 84 in Eb
  • Symphony No. 86 in D
  • Concerto for 2 "Lyra organizzata" Hob.VIIh:3
  • Cavatina: "Sono Alcina e sono ancora" Hob.XXIVb:9
  • Recit: "Ah, tu non senti, amico" and Aria: "Qual destra omicida" Hob.XXIVb:10
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  • Rondo in D for Keyboard, K. 485
  • Piano Concerto No. 23 in A, K. 488
  • Duet for Soprano and Tenor, “Spiegarti no poss'io”, K. 489
  • Scena and Rondo for Soprano, “Non più, tutti ascoltai”, K. 490
  • Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K. 491
  • Quartet in E♭ for Piano and Strings, K. 493
  • Concerto No. 4 in E♭ for Horn and Orchestra, K. 495
  • Trio No. 2 in G for Piano, Violin and Violoncello, K. 496
  • Concerto No. 25 in C for Piano and Orchestra, K. 503
  • Symphony No. 38 in D "Prague", K. 504
  • Canon for 3 Voices in F major, K.507
• Giovanni Paisiello – Amor vendicato, R.2.7
• Ignaz Pleyel – Symphony in C major, B.128
• Corona Schröter – 25 Lieder
• Michel Yost – Clarinet Concerto No.14

Opera

• Gioacchino Albertini – Virginia
• Bonifazio Asioli – Le nozze in villa
• Dmitri Stepanovich Bortniansky – Le Faucon
• Nicolas Dalayrac – Nina, premiered May 15 in Paris
• François-Joseph Gossec – Rosine, ou L’épouse abandonnée
• André Grétry – Amphitryon
• Lucille Grétry – Le mariage d’Antonio
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  • Der Schauspieldirektor (The Impresario)
  • Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro)
• Antonio Salieri
  • Les Horaces
  • Prima la musica e poi le parole
• Giuseppe Sarti – Armida e Rinaldo
• Johann Christoph Vogel – La Toison d'or, premiered Sept. 5 in Paris

Published popular music

• First edition of Elias Mann's Worcester Collection

Methods and theory writings

• Francesco Azopardi – Il musico prattico
• Henry Beck – Flute Book
• Antonio D. R. Borghese – L’art musical ramené à ses vrais principes
• João Ribeiro de Almeida Campos – Elementos de Musica
• Johann Adam Hiller – Nachricht von der Aufführung des Händelschen Messias
• Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg – Legende einiger Musikheiligen
• James Nares – A Concise and Easy Treatise on Singing, with a Set of English Duets for Beginners
• Joseph Riepel – Baßschlüssel
• Ignaz Schweigl – Grundlehre der Violin

Births

• January 3 – Johann Christian Friedrich Schneider, composer
• February 16 – Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia, amateur composer and patron (died 1859)
• April 11 – Johann Friedrich Kelz, composer (died 1862)
• April 18 – Franz Xaver Schnyder von Wartensee, composer (died 1868)
• June 20 – Marceline Desbordes-Valmore, lyricist (died 1859)
• June 21 – Charles Edward Horn, singer and composer (died 1849)
• July 25 – Giacomo Cordella, composer (died 1847)
• September 11 – Friedrich Kuhlau, composer (died 1832)
• September 12 – Jean-Louis Tulou, composer (died 1865)
• September 26 – August Mühling, German composer (died 1847)
• September 27 – José Mariano Elízaga, composer (died 1842)
• October 3 – Carl Almenräder, bassoonist (died 1846)
• October 21 – Henry Lemoine, composer (died 1854)
• November 10 – Carl Eberwein, violinist and composer (died 1868)
• November 18
  • Carl Maria von Weber, composer (or December 18)
  • Sir Henry Bishop, Professor of Music at Oxford
• December 20 – Pietro Raimondi, composer
• date unknown
  • Konstantinos Nikolopoulos, composer (died 1841)
  • Elena Pucić-Sorkočević, composer (died 1865)

Deaths

• January 4 – Moses Mendelssohn, philosopher and grandfather of composers Felix Mendelssohn and Fanny Mendelssohn (born 1729)
• January 14 – Michael Arne, composer (born c.1740)
• February 16 – Johann Georg Schürer, composer (born 1720)
• March 7 – Frantisek Benda, composer (born 1709)
• March 21 – Johann Gottlieb Preller, cantor and composer (born 1727)
• April 13 – Jan Tomáš Kuzník, composer and music teacher (born 1716)
• May 19 – John Stanley, composer (born 1712)
• June 2 – Giovanni Battista Lampugnani, composer (born 1706)
• July – Sophia Baddeley, actress and singer (born 1745)
• July 5 – Michel Yost, composer (born 1754)
• July 29 – Franz Asplmayr, composer (born 1728)
• August 2 – François-Louis Gand Le Bland Du Roullet, librettist (born 1716)
• August 17 – King Frederick II of Prussia, amateur composer (born 1712)
• August 26 – Christoph Christian Sturm, lyricist (born 1786)
• September 6 – Karl von Ordóñez, composer (born 1734)
• September 18 – Giovanni Battista Guadagnini, musical instrument maker (born 1711)
• September 29 – Dietrich Ewald von Grotthuss pianist and composer (born 1751)
• October 6 – Antonio Sacchini, composer (born 1730)
• December 25 – Christoph Sonnleithner, composer (born 1734)