1783 in music

Events

• August 23 – Maria Anna Mozart marries Johann Baptist Franz von Berchtold.
• September 24 – The Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia, opens with a performance of Giovanni Paisiello’s opera Il mondo della luna.
• John Broadwood patents a piano pedal in England.

  Classical music

• Carl Friedrich Abel – 6 Symphonies, Op. 17
• Johann Georg Albrechtsberger – Mass in D major
• Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach – 2 Sonaten, 2 Fantasien und 3 Rondos für Kenner und Liebhaber, Wq.58
• Ludwig van Beethoven – Three Piano Sonatas, WoO 47 in E-flat, F, and D
• Muzio Clementi
• *3 Piano Sonatas, Op.9
• *3 Piano Sonatas, Op.10
• Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf – Six Symphonies after Ovid's Metamorphoses
• Jane Mary Guest – 6 Sonatas, Op. 1
• Joseph Haydn
• *Baryton Trio Hob. XI:101, 103, and 108
• *Cello Concerto in D
• Michael Haydn – Symphony in E-flat major
• Anton Kraft – 3 Cello Sonatas, Op. 2
• Joseph Martin Kraus – String Quartets, Op.1
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• *Luci care, luci belle, K.346/439a
• *Mia speranza adorata, K.416
• *Vorrei spiegarvi, o Dio, K.418
• *Duo for Violin and Viola, K.423
• *Duo for Violin and Viola, K.424
• *Symphony No. 36 in C major, K. 425
• *Great Mass in C minor, K. 427
• *Così dunque tradisci, K.432/421a
• *Ecco quel fiero istante, K.436
• *Mi lagnerò tacendo, K.437
• *Due pupille amabili, K.439
• *Country Dance in G major, K.610
• Giovanni Paisiello – La passione di Gesù Cristo
• Antonio Rosetti – Sextet in D major, M.B24/II:19
• Daniel Gottlob Türk – 12 Leichte Klaviersonaten
• Giovanni Battista Viotti
• *Concerto for Piano No. 7 in G
• *Violin Concerto No.10 in B-flat major
• Samuel Wesley – Magnificat

  Opera

• Felice Alessandri – Artaserse
• Pasquale Anfossi – La finta ammalata
• Domenico Cimarosa
• *I due baroni di Rocca Azzurra
• *Oreste
• *La villana riconosciuta
• Vincenzo Fabrizi – I tre gobbi rivali
• André Grétry – La Caravane du Caire
• Niccolò Piccinni – Didon
• Antonio Sacchini – Renaud
• William Shield – The Poor Soldier

  Published popular music

• "I had a horse, I had nae mair", "The Rigs o' Barley", and other songs by Robert Burns

  Methods and theory writings

• Anton Bemetzrieder
• * Abstract of the Talents and Knowledge of a Musician
• * New Lessons for the Harpsichord
• Johann Michael Weissbeck – Protestationschrift oder Exemplarische Widerlegung
• Georg Friedrich Wolf – Kurzer aber deutlicher Unterricht im Klavierspielen

  Births

• January 12 – Erik Gustaf Geijer, writer and composer
• January 20 – Justus Johann Friedrich Dotzauer, German cellist and composer
• January 26 – Helmina von Chézy, librettist
• February 9 – Vasily Zhukovsky, librettist and poet
• February 15 – Johann Nepomuk Poissl, composer
• March 8 – Gottfied Wilhelm Fink, German composer
• March 26 – Johann Baptist Weigl, composer
• April 21 – Reginald Heber, librettist and clergyman
• May 10 – Niccola Benvenuti, composer
• May 14 – Jacques Jules Bouffil, composer and musician
• May 22 – Thomas Forbes Walmisley, composer
• June 29 – August Alexander Klengel, pianist, organist and composer
• September 23 – Jane Taylor, librettist and poet
• October 13 – Frantiszek Soltyk, composer
• December 14 – Johann Christoph Kienlen, composer
• December 28 – Wenzel Robert von Gallenberg, composer
• date unknown – Charles-François-Jean-Baptiste Moreau, French librettist

  Deaths

• January 5 – Friedrich Wilhelm Riedt, flautist, music theorist and composer
• January 10 – Phanuel Bacon, librettist and writer
• January 14 – Giacobbe Cervetto, cellist and composer
• January 31 – Caffarelli, castrato singer
• February 10 – James Nares, composer
• March 1 – Thomas Lowe, tenor
• March 23 – Gaspard Fritz, composer
• April 7 – Ignaz Holzbauer, composer
• May 11 – Juliane Reichardt, composer and pianist
• May 18 – Lucrezia Aguiari, coloratura soprano
• July 27 – Johann Kirnberger, music theorist/violist
• October 7 – William Tans'ur, composer, teacher and arranger of hymn tunes
• October 29 – Jean le Rond d'Alembert, music theorist and philosopher
• November 3 – Charles Collé, songwriter
• December 20 – Antonio Soler, composer
• December 23 – Johann Adolph Hasse, singer, composer and music teacher