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

 * Johann Adolph Hasse - Missa Ultima in g minor
 * 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 ("Kurfuerstensonaten") 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 (published, Berlin: J.J. Hummel, Plate 561)
 * 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 (d. 1847)
 * January 20 – Justus Johann Friedrich Dotzauer, German cellist and composer (d. 1860)
 * January 26 – Helmina von Chézy, librettist (d. 1856)
 * February 9 – Vasily Zhukovsky, librettist and poet (died 1852)
 * February 15 – Johann Nepomuk Poissl, composer
 * March 8 – Gottfied Wilhelm Fink, German composer (died 1846)
 * March 26 – Johann Baptist Weigl, composer
 * April 21 – Reginald Heber, librettist and clergyman (died 1826)
 * May 10 – Niccola Benvenuti, composer
 * May 14 – Jacques Jules Bouffil, composer and musician (died 1868)
 * May 22 – Thomas Forbes Walmisley, composer (died 1866)
 * June 29 – August Alexander Klengel, pianist, organist and composer
 * September 23 – Jane Taylor, librettist and poet (died 1824)
 * 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 (died 1832)

Deaths

 * January 5 – Friedrich Wilhelm Riedt, flautist, music theorist and composer (born 1710)
 * January 10 – Phanuel Bacon, librettist and writer (born 1700)
 * January 14 – Giacobbe Cervetto, cellist and composer (born 1682)
 * January 31 – Caffarelli, castrato singer (born 1710)
 * February 10 – James Nares, composer (born 1715)
 * February 21 – Richard Duke, violin maker (born 1718)
 * March 1 – Thomas Lowe, tenor (born c.1719)
 * March 23 – Gaspard Fritz, composer
 * April 7 – Ignaz Holzbauer, composer (born 1711)
 * May 11 – Juliane Reichardt, composer and pianist (born 1752)
 * May 18 – Lucrezia Aguiari, coloratura soprano (born 1741)
 * July 27 – Johann Kirnberger, music theorist/violist (born 1721)
 * October 7 – William Tans'ur, composer, teacher and arranger of hymn tunes (born c.1706)
 * October 29 – Jean le Rond d'Alembert, music theorist and philosopher (born 1717)
 * November 3 – Charles Collé, songwriter (born 1709)
 * December 16 – Johann Adolph Hasse, singer, composer and music teacher (born 1699)
 * December 20 – Antonio Soler, composer (born 1729)