# 1787 in music
## Events

* Between January and April – Beethoven and Mozart: 16-year-old Ludwig van Beethoven goes to Vienna, intending to study with Mozart: it is possible that they meet and have some lessons together, but the declining health of Beethovens' mother forces him to return to Bonn.
* February 1 – A posthumous performance of Antonio Sacchini's Œdipe à Colone at the Paris Opéra results in the previously unsuccessful opera becoming one of the most popular pieces in the repertoire for several decades.
* August 10 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart completes his famous serenade Eine kleine Nachtmusik.
* October 29 – Mozart's opera Don Giovanni is premiered under his baton at the Nostitzsches Nationaltheater in Prague, with libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte.
* December
** Mozart is appointed chamber composer to Emperor Joseph II in Vienna following the death of Gluck.
** Angelo Tarchi is appointed music director and composer at the King's Theatre in London.
* Luigi Boccherini becomes court composer in Berlin.
* Luigi Cherubini settles in Paris.

## Publications

* Scots Musical Museum, vol. 1

## Published popular music

* Robert Burns – "The Battle of Sherramuir" (to a traditional tune)
* "Ein Schifflein sah ich fahren" (Soldier Song ca.1787)

## Classical music

* Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
** Fantasia in F-sharp minor, H.300
** Neue Melodien, H.781
* William Brown – 3 Rondos
* Charles Burney – Preludes, Fugues and Interludes for the Organ
* Muzio Clementi
** Two Symphonies, Op. 18
** Musical Characteristics, Op. 19
** Piano Sonata, Op. 20
* Michel Corrette – Pièces pour l’orgue dans un genre nouveau
* Francois Devienne – Flute Concerto No.7 in E minor
* Jean-Louis Duport – Cello Concerto No.1 in A major, Op. 1
* Giuseppe Gherardeschi – Sonata for Organ "In the Guise of a Military Band..."
* Joseph Haydn
** The Seven Last Words of Christ
** Symphony No. 88 in G
** String Quartets, Op. 50 (String Quartets Nos. 36–41)
* Franz Anton Hoffmeister – 2 Keyboard Sonatas, WeiH 80
* Leopold Kozeluch
** Three Symphonies, Op. 22
** Three Symphonies, Op. 24
** Moise in Egitto
* Joseph Martin Kraus – Symphony in E minor
* Jose Lidon – 6 Piezas o Sonatas sueltas para órgano
* Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
** Eine kleine Nachtmusik
** String Quintet No. 3 in C major
** String Quintet No. 4 in G minor
** Rondo in A minor, K.511
** Clarinet Quintet, K.Anh.91
** Musikalisches Würfelspiel, K.516f
** Ein musikalischer Spaß (A Musical Joke)
** "Die Alte", K.517
** "Die Verschweigung", K.518
** "Das Lied der Trennung", K.519
** "Als Luise die Briefe", K.520
** "Abendempfindung", K.523
** "Die kleine Spinnerin", K.531
** 5 Country Dances, K.609
* William Parsons – The Court Minuets for Her Majesty's Birth Day, 1787
* Philip Phile – Violin Concerto (lost)
* Ignaz Pleyel – 3 String Trios, B.401–403

## Opera

* Samuel Arnold – Inkle and Yarico (libretto by George Colman the Younger)
* Domenico Cimarosa – Volodimiro
* Giuseppe Gazzaniga – Don Giovanni
* Vicente Martín y Soler – L'arbore di Diana
* Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Don Giovanni
* Antonio Salieri – Tarare (libretto by Beaumarchais)
* Giovanni Paisiello – La modista raggiratrice, R.1.74

## Methods and theory writings

* Ferdinand Kauer – Kurzgefaßte Clavierschule für Anfänger
* Edward Miller – Elements of Thorough Bass and Composition, Op. 5
* Etienne Ozi – Nouvelle méthode de basson
* Carl Leopold Röllig [de] – Über die Harmonika

## Births

* January 31 – Ulric Guttinguer, librettist and writer (died 1866)
* February 13 – James P. Carrell, singing teacher and composer (died 1854)
* February 24 – Christian Frederik Barth, oboist and composer (died 1861)
* March 1 – Tobias Haslinger, composer and publisher (died 1842)
* April 14 – Charles-François Plantade, French composer (died 1870)
* April 26 – Ludwig Uhland, librettist and poet (died 1862)
* July 7 – César Malan, composer and theologian (died 1864)
* August 15 – Alexander Alyabyev, composer (died 1851)
* November 17 – Michele Carafa, composer (died 1872)
* November 21 – Barry Cornwall, librettist and poet (died 1874)
* November 25 – Franz Xaver Gruber, organist and composer of "Silent Night" (died 1863)
* December 4 – Johan Fredrik Berwald, violinist, conductor and composer (died 1861)
* December 13 – Anne-Honoré-Joseph Duveyrier, librettist and dramatist (died 1865)
* December 14 – Maria Ludovika, patron of Beethoven and queen of Austria (died 1816)
* date unknown
** Franz Xaver Gebel, German composer (died 1843)
** Catharina Torenberg, violinist (died 1866)

## Deaths

* February 21 – Antonio Rodríguez de Hita, composer (born 1722)
* March 30 – Princess Anna Amalia of Prussia, musician, composer and music collector (born 1723)
* April 22 – Josef Starzer, Austrian composer (born 1726)
* May 20 – Giovan Gualberto Brunetti, Italian composer (born 1706)
* May 28 – Leopold Mozart, violinist, music teacher and composer (born 1719)
* June – Ignazio Fiorillo, opera composer (born 1715)
* June 20 – Carl Friedrich Abel, viola da gamba player and composer (born 1723)
* July 13 – Ignazio Cirri, composer and musician (born 1711)
* July 27 – Mary Linley, singer (born 1758)
* August 5 – François Francoeur, violinist and composer (born 1698)
* August 18 – Stephen Paxton, composer and musician (born 1734)
* November 15 – Christoph Willibald Gluck, composer (born 1714)
* November 23 – Anton Schweitzer, opera composer (born 1735)
* December 9 – Bernhard Joachim Hagen, composer, violinist and lutenist (born 1720)
* date unknown – Edward Harwood (of Darwen), hymn-writer (born 1707)