# 1786 in music
## Events

* January 21 – Luigi Boccherini becomes an official composer to Prince Frederick William of Prussia.
* 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.
* April 28 – Leopold Mozart writes to his daughter, Maria Anna Mozart, predicting failure for his son's latest opera, The Marriage of Figaro. In fact its premiere on May 1 under the composer's baton at the Burgtheater in Vienna is a success with encores demanded. 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.
* 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.
* 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
* 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
* Luigi Boccherini – La Clementina, G.540
* 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)