See also: 1777 in music, other events of 1778, 1779 in music, list of years in music.
Events
Opera
Classical music
Published popular music
Births
- January 5 - Fortunato Santini, composer
- January 13 - Anton Fischer, composer
- February 12 - Franz Joseph Volkert, composer
- February 13 (or 14) - Fernando Sor, composer
- February 15 - Johann Gottlieb Gorner, composer
- March 8 - Friedrich August Kanne, composer
- April 6 - Joseph Funk, composer
- May 8 - Johann Gansbacher, composer
- May 28 - Friedrich Westenholz, composer
- July 10 - Sigismund Ritter von Neukomm, composer and royal kapellmeister
- July 25 - Heinrich Gebhard, composer
- July 29 - Carl Borromaus Neuner
- September 3 - Jean Nicolas Auguste Kreutzer, composer
- November 14 - Johann Nepomuk Hummel
Deaths
- March 5 - Thomas Arne, best known for Rule, Britannia
- April 7 - Johann Balthasar Kehl, composer
- June 7 - Johann Georg Zechner, composer
- June 26 - Angelo Antonio Caroli, composer
- July 28 - Arvid Niclas Hopken, composer
- August 5 - Thomas Linley, composer, aged 22
- August 14 - Augustus Montague Toplady, hymn-writer
- November 26 - Jean-Noel Hamal, composer