1788 in music

List of years in music (table)
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Events

• January 9 – The elderly Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach reviews Johann Nikolaus Forkel's book Allgemeine Geschichte der Musik in the Hamburgischer unpartheyischer Correspondent.^[1]
• January 22 – Composer Ignaz Pleyel marries Franziska Gabrielle Ignatia Lefebvre, daughter of a tapestry maker.^[1]
• 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.^[1]
• February 12 – Antonio Salieri is appointed Imperial Royal Kapellmeister by Emperor Joseph II of Austria, in succession to Giuseppe Bonno, who is forcibly retired.^[1]
• 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.^[1]
• 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.^[1]
• 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.^[1]
• November 25 – Three weeks before his death, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach writes his last known letter, to Johann Jacob Heinrich Westphal.^[1]

Opera

• Giuseppe Cambini – Le bon pére
• Thomas Carter – The Constant Maid, or Poll of Plympton
• Luigi Cherubini – Ifigenia in Aulide^[1]
• 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.^[1]
• 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^[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^[1]
• 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)