1786 in music - Definition and Overview

See also: 1785 in music, other events of 1786, 1787 in music, list of years in music.

Events

• 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

Classical music

• Der Apotheker und der Doktor, singspiel by Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf
• Mozart's piano concertos nos. 23 and 24
• Joseph Haydn - Symphony no. 82 ("Bear")

Opera

• Le Faucon by Dmitri Stepanovich Bortniansky
• Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) was first performed in Vienna. Music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte.

Symphony

• Symphony no.38 in D 'Prague'. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Births

• January 3 - Johann Christian Friedrich Schneider, composer
• April 18 - Franz Xaver Schnyder von Wartensee, composer
• July 25 - Giacomo Cordella, composer
• September 11 - Friedrich Kuhlau
• November 7 - Francisco Andrevi y Castellar, composer
• November 10 - Carl Eberwein, composer
• November 18 (or December 18) - Carl Maria von Weber
• November 18 - Sir Henry Rowley Bishop, Professor of Music at Oxford
• December 20 - Pietro Raimondi, composer

Deaths

• January 14 - Michael Arne
• February 20 - Johann Wolfgang Kleinknecht, composer
• March 7 -Frantisek Benda, composer
• May 19 - John Stanley
• July 22 - Vaclav Kalous, composer
• July 29 - Franz Asplmayr, composer
• August 7 - Friedrich Schwindl, composer
• August 17 - King Frederick II of Prussia, amateur composer
• October 6 - Antonio Maria Gasparo Giaccino Sacchini, composer
• October 19 - Pietro Alessandro Pavona, composer