1781 in music - Definition and Overview

See also: 1780 in music, other events of 1781, 1782 in music, list of years in music.

Events

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart loses his position at court in Vienna and becomes a freelance music teacher.
• Christian Gottlob Neefe takes on the young Ludwig van Beethoven as a pupil.
• Étienne Méhul makes his first, unsuccessful attempts at orchestral composition.

Opera

• Idomeneo by Mozart
• La fedeltà premiata by Joseph Haydn
• Iphigenie en Tauride by Niccola Piccinni
• Der Rauchfangkehrer by Antonio Salieri

Classical music

• Oboe quartet by Mozart

Births

• January 22 - François-Antoine Habeneck, composer
• February 4 - Josef Myslivecek, composer
• March 11 - Anthony Philip Heinrich
• March 18 - Gustave Vogt, composer
• April 22 - Christian Friedrich Hermann Uber, composer
• May 24 - Louis-François Dauprat, composer and horn-player
• June 10 - Giovanni Battista Polledro, composer
• July 27 - Mauro Giuliani
• September 5 - Anton Diabelli
• November 3 - Johann Ernst Friedrich Wollank, composer
• November 18 - Felice Blangini, composer
• December 1 - Charles Philippe Lafont, composer
• unknown date - Vincent Novello

Deaths

• January 22 - Johann Siebenkas, composer
• February 4 - Josef Myslivecek, composer
• May 22 - Garret Wesley Mornington, composer
• July 11 - Adolph Carl Kunzen, composer
• July 30 - Augustin Ullinger, composer
• October 9 - Thomas Alexander Erskine Kelly, composer
• October 27 - Herman-François Delange
• October - Anton Zimmermann, composer