# 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: HMS Sirius (1786) 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)