1781 in music

Events

• March – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart moves to Vienna to pursue his career, but is passed over in favour of Antonio Salieri as music teacher of Princess of Württemberg.
• June 27 – Mozart writes of his new pupil and admirer, Josepha Barbara Auernhammer: "I am almost every day after dinner at H: v: Auernhammer – The freulle is a monster!"
• Christian Gottlob Neefe takes on the young Ludwig van Beethoven as a pupil.
• July 29 – Mozart receives the original libretto of his next opera, Die Entführung aus dem Serail from the director of the Nationalsingspiel, Gottlieb Stephanie.
• October 12 – First bagpipes competition in the Masonic Arms, Falkirk, Scotland.
• Étienne Méhul makes his first, unsuccessful attempts at orchestral composition.

  Classical music

• Samuel Arnold – 6 Overtures in Eight Parts, Op. 8
• Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
• *6 Fugues, Wq.119/2-7
• *Geistliche Gesänge, Book 2 Wq. 198, H. 752
• Johann Christian Bach – Sonata for Keyboard Duet, W.A 19
• William Billings – The Psalm-Singer's Amusement
• Luigi Boccherini
• *6 String Quartets, G.201–206
• *Stabat Mater, G.532
• Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf – Symphonies after Ovid's Metamorphoses, Kr.73–84
• Joseph Haydn
• *Symphony No.75 in D major, Hob.I:75
• *String Quartet in C major, Hob.III:39
• *Horn Concerto No.2 in D major, Hob.VIId:4
• *24 Lieder, Hob.XXVIa:1–24
• *Six String Quartets, Op. 33
• Leopold Kozeluch – Sonata for Keyboard in F, "La chasse", Op. 5
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• *6 Variations on "Hélas, j'ai perdu mon amant", K.360/374b
• *Serenade in B-flat major, Gran Partita, K. 361
• *Misera, dove son!, K.369
• *Rondo in E-flat major, K.371
• *Serenade in E-flat major, K.375
• *Violin Sonata in F major, K.376/374d
• *Violin Sonata in F major, K.377/374e
• *Violin Sonata in G major, K.379/373a
• *Violin Sonata in E-flat major, K.380/374f
• *Sonata for 2 Pianos in D major, K.448/375a
• Giovanni Paisiello – Concerto for Keyboard No. 1 in C major
• John Parry – British harmony, being a collection of antient Welsh airs... carefully compiled and now first published with some additional variations
• Antonio Rosetti – 6 Flute Concerti
• :de: Charlotte von Sachsen-Meiningen|Charlotte Amelie Sachsen-Gotha-Altenburg – Canzonette fürs Klavier mit Veränderungen
• Samuel Wesley – Concerto for Violin No. 2 in D major
• Paul Wranitzky – Sinfonie Périodique No.2 in C minor

  Opera

• Miles Peter Andrews & Samuel Arnold – The Baron Kinkvervankotsdorsprakingatchdern
• Antonio Calegari – Deucalione e Pirra
• Domenico Cimarosa
• *Alessandro nell'Indie
• *L'amante combattuto dalle donne di punto
• *Giannina e Bernardone
• *Giunio Bruto
• *Il pittore parigino
• Elizabeth Craven et al. – The Silver Tankard
• Nicolas Dalayrac – Le Chevalier à la mode
• Marc-Antoine Désaugiers – Les Deux sylphes
• Joseph Haydn – La fedeltà premiata
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Idomeneo
• Niccolò Piccinni – Iphigenie en Tauride
• Antonio Salieri – Der Rauchfangkehrer
• Giuseppe Sarti – Giulio Sabino
• Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli – Montesuma

  Methods and theory writings

• Marmaduke Overend – A Brief Account of, and an Introduction to, 8 Lectures in the Science of Music
• Christoph Benjamin Schmidtchen – Kurzgefaßte Anfangsgründe auf das Clavier für Anfänger

  Births

• January 22 – François Antoine Habeneck, violinist and conductor
• March 11 – Anthony Philip Heinrich, composer
• March 18 – Gustave Vogt, composer and oboist
• May 24 – Louis-François Dauprat, French composer
• July 20 – Sophie Lebrun, pianist and composer, daughter of Ludwig August Lebrun
• July 27 – Mauro Giuliani, guitarist, cellist and composer
• September 1 – Antoine Romagnesi
• September 5 – Anton Diabelli, music publisher, editor and composer
• September 6 – Vincent Novello, organist and conductor
• November 18 – Felice Blangini, organist and composer
• December 1 – Charles Philippe Lafont, violinist and composer

  Deaths

• January 22 – Johann Siebenkas, composer
• February 4 – Josef Mysliveček, composer
• March 17 – Johannes Ewald, librettist and dramatist
• May 22 – Garret Wesley Mornington, composer
• July 11 – Adolph Carl Kunzen, composer
• July 30 – Augustin Ullinger, composer
• August 16 – Johanna Carolina Bach, daughter of JS Bach
• October 9 – Thomas Erskine, 6th Earl of Kellie, musician and composer
• October 27 – Herman-François Delange
• October – Anton Zimmermann, composer
• November 4 – Faustina Bordoni, operatic mezzo-soprano
• date unknown
• *William Paxton, cellist