1762 in music

Events

 * 6-year-old Mozart and his older sister Nannerl perform before Maximilian III Joseph, Elector of Bavaria, in Munich and the Empress Maria Theresa of Austria in Vienna.
 * Johann Christian Bach begins composing for the King's Theatre in London; here he meets Carl Friedrich Abel for the first time. He will spend the remaining 20 years of his life in the city.
 * Michael Haydn moves to Salzburg to become Konzertmeister to the Archbishop.
 * Death of Le Riche de La Pouplinière, patron of Jean-Philippe Rameau, Johann Stamitz and François-Joseph Gossec.
 * The first public concert with a glass harmonica is performed by Marianne Davies.

Classical music

 * Carl Friedrich Abel – Six Overtures in 8 Parts, Op. 4 (London)
 * Johann Albrechtsberger – Passione Domini
 * Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
 * L'Aly Rupalich, H.95
 * Harpsichord Concerto in C minor, H.448
 * Sonatina in D major, H.449
 * Solo für die Harfe H.563 Wq.139
 * Wilhelm Friedemann Bach – Trio in B-flat major, F.50
 * Franz Ignaz Beck – 6 Symphonies, Op. 3
 * Michel Corrette – 6 Symphonies en Quatuor sur les Noëls
 * Francesco Geminiani – The Second Collection of Pieces for the Harpsichord (London, arrangements by the composer from Opp.1, 2, 4, 5, 7, and treatises on the violin and the guitar)
 * Joseph Haydn
 * Horn Concerto No.1 in D major, Hob.VIId:3
 * Baryton Trio in G major, Hob.XI:116
 * Symphony No. 9 in C major, Hob.I:9
 * Louis Antoine Lefebvre – Andromède (secular cantata)
 * Leopold Mozart – Sacrament Litany in D
 * Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
 * Minuet in F for Piano, K. 2
 * Allegro in B♭ for Piano, K. 3
 * Minuet in F for Piano, K. 4
 * Minuet in F for Piano, K. 5
 * Georg Philipp Telemann – Christmas Oratorio

Opera

 * Thomas Arne – Artaxerxes
 * Johann Christian Bach – Alessandro nell'Indie, W.G 3
 * Domenico Cimarosa – La Cleopatra
 * Baldassare Galuppi – Antigono
 * Christoph Willibald Gluck – Orfeo ed Euridice
 * Johann Adolf Hasse – Il Trionfo di Clelia
 * Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny – Le Roi et le Fermier
 * Johann Gottlieb Naumann – Il tesoro insidiato
 * Niccolò Piccinni – Il Finto Turco
 * Giuseppe Sarti – Didone Abbandonata

Methods and theory writings

 * Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach – Versuch über die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen, Part II
 * François Clément – Essai sur la basse fondamentale
 * William Riley – Parochial Music Corrected
 * Antonio Soler – Llave de la modulación, y antigüedades de la musica (Madrid: Joachin Ibarra)

Births

 * January 20 – Jérôme-Joseph de Momigny, composer (died 1842)
 * January 21 – Giuseppe Antonio Silvani, composer
 * February 2 – Girolamo Crescentini, composer and castrato (died 1846)
 * February 19 – Friedrich Franz Hurka, composer
 * March 13 – Anine Frölich, ballet dancer (d. 1784)
 * March 24 – Marcos Antonio da Fonseca, Portugal, opera composer
 * March 25 – Francesco Giuseppi Pollini, composer
 * April 4 – Stephen Storace, composer (died 1796)
 * April 13 – Karl Friedrich Horn, composer
 * April 26 – Shyama Shastri, composer (died 1827)
 * June 24 – Johann Paul Wessely, composer
 * July 4 – Marco Santucci, composer
 * July 20 – Jakob Haibel, composer
 * August 10 – Santiago Ferrer, composer
 * October 15 – Samuel Adams Holyoke, composer (died 1820)
 * December 25 – Michael Kelly, editor and tenor (died 1826)
 * December 26 – Franz Wilhelm Tausch, composer
 * unknown date
 * Giovanna Bassi, ballet dancer
 * Michel Dieulafoy, French librettist (died 1823)
 * Christina Fredenheim, singer and member of the Swedish Royal Academy of Music (died 1841)

Deaths

 * January 13 – Leonhard Trautsch, composer
 * February 11 – Johann Tobias Krebs, composer (born 1690)
 * February 12 – Laurent Belissen, composer (born 1693)
 * c. March 25 – Johann Christian Schickhardt, German composer (born c. 1682)
 * April 2 – Vincenzo Legrenzio Ciampi, Italian composer (born 1719)
 * April 23 – Johann Samuel Endler, composer (born 1694)
 * May 16 – Ernst Christian Hesse, composer (born 1676)
 * May 24 – Joseph Umstatt, composer (born 1711)
 * June 19 – Johann Ernst Eberlin, composer (born 1702)
 * July 5 – Jakob Adlung, organist, instrument maker, music theorist and historian (born 1699)
 * July 16 – Jacques-Martin Hotteterre, composer (born 1674)
 * July 20 – Christoph Nichelmann, harpsichordist and composer (born 1717)
 * July 30 – Johann Valentin Görner, German composer (born 1702)
 * September 17 – Francesco Geminiani, violinist and composer (born 1687)
 * October 6 – Francesco Manfredini, composer (born 1684)
 * November 25 – Jacques-Christophe Naudot, flautist and composer (born c.1690)