1761 in music

Events

 * Francesco Geminiani visits Dublin, where he is robbed of a valuable manuscript.
 * Domenico Cimarosa enters the Conservatorio di Santa Maria di Loreto.
 * Joseph Haydn enters the service of the Esterházy family

Popular music

 * Mme Papavoine – '"Reviens, aimable Thémire" (Paris)
 * John Parry – A collection of Welsh, English & Scotch airs with new variations, also four new lessons for the harp or harpsichord... to which are added twelve airs for the guitar (London: John Johnson)

Opera

 * Charles-Guillaume Alexandre – George et Georgette
 * Johann Christian Bach – Catone in Utica, W.G 2
 * Pasquale Cafaro – Ipermestra (revised version, premiered Dec. 26 in Naples)
 * Florian Leopold Gassmann – Catone in Utica
 * Baldassare Galuppi
 * Demetrio (revised version, premiered June in Padua)
 * Le Tre Amante Ridicoli (premiered Jan. 18 in Venice)
 * Christoph Willibald Gluck – Le cadi dupé, Wq.29
 * Niccolò Jommelli – L'Olimpiade
 * Tommaso Traetta – Armida
 * Johann Adolf Hasse – Zenobia

Classical music

 * Thomas Arne – Judith (oratorio) (first published; first performed 1744)
 * Charles Avison – 6 Sonatas for Harpsichord, 2 Violins and Cello, Op. 8
 * Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
 * La Philippine, H.96
 * La Gabriel, H.97
 * La Caroline, H.98
 * La Complaisante, H.109
 * La Louise, H.114
 * La Xénophon et la Sybille, H.123
 * L'Ernestine, H.124
 * Christoph Willibald Gluck – Don Juan (ballet)
 * François Joseph Gossec – Sei sinfonie a più stromenti, Op. 5
 * Joseph Haydn
 * Symphony No. 6 ("Le matin")
 * Symphony No. 7 ("Le midi")
 * Symphony No. 8 ("Le soir")
 * Symphony No.11
 * Michael Haydn – Symphony in C major
 * Gottfried August Homilius – 32 Praeludia zu geistlichen Liedern vor zwey Claviere und Pedal
 * Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart –
 * Andante in C major for harpsichord, K. 1a
 * Allegro in C major for harpsichord, K. 1b
 * Allegro in F major for harpsichord, K. 1c
 * Minuet in F major for harpsichord, K. 1d
 * Simon Simon – Pièces de clavecin, Op. 1
 * Ludwig Zoschinger – Concors digitorum discordia seu 4 Partiæ
 * Johann Adolph Hasse
 * La Scusa
 * Il Nome

Methods and theory writings

 * Jean-Philippe Rameau – Origine des sciences

Births

 * January 20 – Giovanni Domenico Perotti, composer (died 1825)
 * January 22 – Georg Nikolaus von Nissen, biographer of Mozart (died 1826)
 * January 23 – Friedrich von Matthisson, librettist (died 1831)
 * January 26 – Jens Zetlitz, songwriter (died 1821)
 * February 15 – Jacob Kimball, Jr., composer (died 1826)
 * February 20 – Johann Christian Ludwig Abeille, pianist and composer
 * February 22 – Erik Tulindberg, composer (died 1814)
 * April 20 – Johann Gottlieb Karl Spazier, composer
 * May 3 – August von Kotzebue, librettist (died 1819)
 * June 13 – Antonín Vranický or Wranitzky, violinist and composer (died 1820)
 * June 15 – Charles Henry Wilton, British musician (died 1832)
 * July 20 – Joseph Lefebvre, composer
 * September 24 – F.L.Æ. Kunzen, composer
 * October 9 – Pierre Gaveaux, composer and operatic tenor (died 1825)
 * date unknown
 * Antoine Hugot, composer (died 1803)
 * John Andrew Stevenson, composer (died 1833)

Deaths

 * January 3 – Willem de Fesch, violinist and composer (born 1687)
 * January 18 – Francesco Feo, opera composer (born 1691)
 * February 15 – Carlo Cecere, composer (born 1706)
 * March 7 – Antonio Palella, composer
 * March 27 – Johann Ludwig Steiner, composer
 * April 10 – Cecilia Elisabeth Würzer, German-Swedish singer
 * June 12 – Meinrad Spiess, composer
 * July 9 – Carl Gotthelf Gerlach, organist (born 1704)
 * October 7 – Johann Pfeiffer, German composer (born 1697)
 * date unknown
 * Adam Falckenhagen, lutenist and composer (born 1697)
 * Newburgh Hamilton, librettist (born 1691)