1746 in music

Events

 * April 8 Johann Sebastian Bach performs a copy he made of the Brockes Passion HWV 48 of George Frideric Handel at St. Thomas Church, Leipzig.
 * Elias Gottlob Haussmann completes his famous portrait of Johann Sebastian Bach
 * 1746–1747 Bach adds two Chorale preludes (BWV 664 and 665) to his manuscript of the Great Eighteen Chorale Preludes.

Classical music

 * Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
 * Harpsichord Concerto in A major, H.422
 * Harpsichord Concerto in C major, H.423
 * Viola da Gamba Sonata in D major, H.559
 * Johann Sebastian Bach
 * Sechs Choräle von verschiedener Art
 * Canon in G major, BWV 1076
 * Francesco Feo – S. Francesco di Sales (sacred oratorio) first performed
 * Francesco Geminiani
 * 6 Cello Sonatas, Op. 5
 * 6 Concertos, Op.7
 * Christoph Willibald Gluck – 6 Trio Sonatas, Wq.53
 * Christoph Graupner – Ach Herr, mich armen Suender (cantata)
 * Joannes de Gruytters – his carillon book.
 * George Frideric Handel
 * Occasional Oratorio, HWV 62 with words by Newburgh Hamilton
 * Concerto in D major, HWV 335a (contributed to the Music for the Royal Fireworks)
 * Niccolò Pasquali – Sonatas for two cellos
 * Giovanni Benedetto Platti – 6 Harpsichord Sonatas, Op. 4 (parts of which have been attributed to Benedetto Marcello)
 * Joseph-Nicolas-Pancrace Royer – Pièces de clavecin
 * Rudolf Straube – 2 Lute Sonatas
 * Giuseppe Tartini – 3 Violin Concertos, Libro 1

Opera

 * Andrea Adolfati – La pace fra la virtù e la bellezza
 * Thomas Arne – Neptune and Amphitrite
 * Matteo Capranica – Alcibiade
 * Carl Heinrich Graun – Demofoonte, GraunWV B:I:13
 * Niccolò Jommelli – Didone abbandonata
 * Jean-Marie Leclair – Scylla et Glaucus

Publications

 * Burke Thumoth – 12 English and 12 Irish Airs with Variations (London: J. Simpson)
 * Anonymous – The Compleat Tutor for the French Horn (London: John Simpson)

Methods and theory writings

 * William Tans'ur – A New Musical Grammar

Births

 * January 11 – František Adam Míča, Czech composer (died 1811)
 * January 23 – Pierre-Ulric Dubuisson, translator and actor (died 1794)
 * February 13 – Giuseppe Maria Cambini, Italian composer (died 1825)
 * April 4 – Alexandre-Louis Robineau, librettist (died 1823)
 * June 2– Wilhelm Cramer, composer and violinist (died 1799)
 * June 3 (probable) – James Hook (composer), composer (died 1827)
 * June 29 – Joachim Heinrich Campe, German librettist (died 1818)
 * July 2 – Hartenack Otto Conrad Zinck, Danish composer (died 1832)
 * August 21 – Ignaz Umlauf, Austrian composer (died 1796)
 * September 3 – Friedrich Wilhelm Gotter, librettist and poet (died 1797)
 * September 20 – Christian Benjamin Uber, German composer (died 1812)
 * September 26 – Giovanni Punto, composer and horn player (died 1803)
 * October 4 – Domenico Corri, Italian composer (died 1825)
 * October 7 – William Billings, American composer (died 1800)
 * October 12 – Emerico Lobo de Mesquita, composer and collaborator (died 1805)
 * October 22 – Hector Macneill, librettist and poet (died 1818)
 * November 15 – Joseph Quesnel, composer (died 1809)
 * December 19 – Venanzio Rauzzini, collector and opera singer (died 1810)
 * December 21 – Ludwig Christoph Heinrich Hölty, librettist and poet (died 1776)
 * unknown date - Avdotya Mikhaylova, opera singer (died 1807)

Deaths

 * March 16 – Jean Baptiste Matho, French composer (born 1663)
 * March 30 – Jean-Joseph Fiocco, composer (b. 1686)
 * May 15 – Giovanni Antonio Ricieri, composer
 * August 27 – Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer, German composer
 * October 14 – Domenico Alberti, Italian composer (born c. 1700)
 * December 6 – Grizel Baillie, librettist and composer (born 1665)
 * December 10 – Teodorico Pedrini, priest, musician and composer (b. 1671)
 * unknown date – Jean-Baptiste Malter, dancer (b. 1701)