Events

• Joseph Haydn and Ludwig van Beethoven meet for the first time.
• Georg Joseph Vogler brings his invention, the orchestrion, to London.
• Beginnings of the Beijing Opera.
• Prince Nikolaus Esterházy dies; his son disbands the orchestra and the players disperse.

Opera

• Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf - Der Teufel als Hydraulikus
• Johann Nepomuk Hummel - Piano Quartet in D
• Étienne Méhul - Euphrosine et Corradin ou le Tyran corrigé
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Così fan tutte (at the suggestion of the Emperor Joseph II first produced at Vienna in 1790)
• Giovanni Paisiello - Nina (libretto by Giambattista Lorenzi)

Classical music

• Ludwig van Beethoven - Cantata on the Death of Joseph II
• Johann Ladislaus Dussek - Piano Trio
• Joseph Haydn - op. 64, Tost Quartets
• Claus Schall - Concerto No. 4 for violin and orchestra in D major

Published popular music

• "Rosy Hannah", song by James Hook

Births

• February 11 - Ignaz Assmayer, composer
• February 16 - Chretien Urhan, composer
• March 15 - Nicola Vaccai, composer
• May 6 - Vaclav Vilem Wurfel, composer
• June 10 - Louis Joseph Daussoigne-Mehul, composer
• June 21 - Wilhelm Speyer, composer
• October 8 - Waldemar Thrane
• October 10 - George Gerson, composer
• October 30 - Karol Joseph Lipinski, composer

Deaths

• January 6 - Johann Trier, composer
• January 7 - Antonio Corbisiero
• February 14 - Capel Bond, composer
• February 18 - Wilhelm Gottfried Enderle, composer
• February 19 - Jean-Baptiste Krumphultz, composer
• February 21 - Johann Friedrich Kloffler, composer
• June 8 - Charles-Joseph van Helmont, composer
• June 25- Lovisa Augusti
• July 31 - Johann Christian Frischmuth, composer
• September 3 - Thomas Norris, composer
• December 16 - Ludwig August Lebrun, composer
• date unknown - François-Henri Clicquot, organ builder