1786 in music

Events

 * January 21 – Luigi Boccherini becomes an official composer to Prince Frederick William of Prussia.
 * February 7 – Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, presents a festival at Schönbrunn Palace, at which new compositions by both Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri are performed.
 * April 28 – Leopold Mozart writes to his daughter, Maria Anna Mozart, predicting failure for his son's latest opera, The Marriage of Figaro. In fact its premiere on May 1 under the composer's baton at the Burgtheater in Vienna is a success with encores demanded. The libretto is by Lorenzo da Ponte.
 * October 18 – Leopold Mozart is given a blood test on the same day that his daughter-in-law Constanze Mozart gives birth to her third child, Johann Thomas Leopold; the baby dies a month later, Leopold the following year.
 * November 7 – America's oldest singing society is founded as the Stoughton Musical Society.
 * November 24 – Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf unsuccessfully seeks employment with the newly enthroned King Frederick William II of Prussia.
 * In Britain, William Parsons succeeds John Stanley as Master of the King's Musick.
 * In Benares, Jiwan Shah and Francis Fowke conduct an experiment comparing the pitch of the harpsichord with that of a traditional Indian instrument.
 * Georg Joseph Vogler is appointed Kapellmeister to King Gustav III of Sweden.

Publications

 * Johann Wilhelm Hässler – 6 Leichte Sonaten, Theil 1
 * Leopold Kozeluch – Three Piano Sonatas, Op. 20
 * Maria Theresia von Paradis – Zwölf Lieder auf ihrer Reise in Musik gesetzt, composed on tour over the previous two years
 * Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart – Musicalische Rhapsodien

Classical music

 * Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach – Funeral music for A. Schulte
 * Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach – Ino, BR G 48
 * Cecilia Maria Barthélemon
 * Op. 1: Three Sonatas for the Piano-Forte, or Harpsichord, the Second with an Accompaniment for the Violin
 * 6 English and Italian Songs, Op.2
 * Luigi Boccherini – Symphony in C major, G.515
 * Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf
 * Der Apotheker und der Doktor (singspiel)
 * Giobbe (oratorio)
 * Xaver Hammer – Gamba Sonata No.1 in D major
 * Joseph Haydn
 * Symphony No. 82 in C ("Bear")
 * Symphony No. 84 in Eb
 * Symphony No. 86 in D
 * Concerto for 2 "Lyra organizzata" Hob.VIIh:3
 * Cavatina: "Sono Alcina e sono ancora" Hob.XXIVb:9
 * Recit: "Ah, tu non senti, amico" and Aria: "Qual destra omicida" Hob.XXIVb:10
 * Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
 * Rondo in D for Keyboard, K. 485
 * Piano Concerto No. 23 in A, K. 488
 * Duet for Soprano and Tenor, “Spiegarti no poss'io”, K. 489
 * Scena and Rondo for Soprano, “Non più, tutti ascoltai”, K. 490
 * Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K. 491
 * Quartet in E♭ for Piano and Strings, K. 493
 * Concerto No. 4 in E♭ for Horn and Orchestra, K. 495
 * Trio No. 2 in G for Piano, Violin and Violoncello, K. 496
 * Concerto No. 25 in C for Piano and Orchestra, K. 503
 * Symphony No. 38 in D "Prague", K. 504
 * Canon for 3 Voices in F major, K.507
 * Giovanni Paisiello – Amor vendicato, R.2.7
 * Ignaz Pleyel – Symphony in C major, B.128
 * Corona Schröter – 25 Lieder
 * Michel Yost – Clarinet Concerto No.14

Opera

 * Gioacchino Albertini – Virginia
 * Bonifazio Asioli – Le nozze in villa
 * Luigi Boccherini – La Clementina, G.540
 * Dmitri Stepanovich Bortniansky – Le Faucon
 * Nicolas Dalayrac – Nina, premiered May 15 in Paris
 * François-Joseph Gossec – Rosine, ou L’épouse abandonnée
 * André Grétry – Amphitryon
 * Lucille Grétry – Le mariage d’Antonio
 * Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
 * Der Schauspieldirektor (The Impresario)
 * Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro)
 * Antonio Salieri
 * Les Horaces
 * Prima la musica e poi le parole
 * Giuseppe Sarti – Armida e Rinaldo
 * Johann Christoph Vogel – La Toison d'or, premiered Sept. 5 in Paris

Published popular music

 * First edition of Elias Mann's Worcester Collection

Methods and theory writings

 * Francesco Azopardi – Il musico prattico
 * Henry Beck – Flute Book
 * Antonio D. R. Borghese – L’art musical ramené à ses vrais principes
 * João Ribeiro de Almeida Campos – Elementos de Musica
 * Johann Adam Hiller – Nachricht von der Aufführung des Händelschen Messias
 * Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg – Legende einiger Musikheiligen
 * James Nares – A Concise and Easy Treatise on Singing, with a Set of English Duets for Beginners
 * Joseph Riepel – Baßschlüssel
 * Ignaz Schweigl – Grundlehre der Violin

Births

 * January 3 – Johann Christian Friedrich Schneider, composer
 * February 16 – Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia, amateur composer and patron (died 1859)
 * April 11 – Johann Friedrich Kelz, composer (died 1862)
 * April 18 – Franz Xaver Schnyder von Wartensee, composer (died 1868)
 * June 20 – Marceline Desbordes-Valmore, lyricist (died 1859)
 * June 21 – Charles Edward Horn, singer and composer (died 1849)
 * July 25 – Giacomo Cordella, composer (died 1847)
 * September 11 – Friedrich Kuhlau, composer (died 1832)
 * September 12 – Jean-Louis Tulou, composer (died 1865)
 * September 26 – August Mühling, German composer (died 1847)
 * September 27 – José Mariano Elízaga, composer (died 1842)
 * October 3 – Carl Almenräder, bassoonist (died 1846)
 * October 21 – Henry Lemoine, composer (died 1854)
 * November 10 – Carl Eberwein, violinist and composer (died 1868)
 * November 18
 * Carl Maria von Weber, composer (or December 18)
 * Sir Henry Bishop, Professor of Music at Oxford
 * December 20 – Pietro Raimondi, composer
 * date unknown
 * Konstantinos Nikolopoulos, composer (died 1841)
 * Elena Pucić-Sorkočević, composer (died 1865)

Deaths

 * January 4 – Moses Mendelssohn, philosopher and grandfather of composers Felix Mendelssohn and Fanny Mendelssohn (born 1729)
 * January 14 – Michael Arne, composer (born c.1740)
 * February 16 – Johann Georg Schürer, composer (born 1720)
 * March 7 – Frantisek Benda, composer (born 1709)
 * March 21 – Johann Gottlieb Preller, cantor and composer (born 1727)
 * April 13 – Jan Tomáš Kuzník, composer and music teacher (born 1716)
 * May 19 – John Stanley, composer (born 1712)
 * June 2 – Giovanni Battista Lampugnani, composer (born 1706)
 * July – Sophia Baddeley, actress and singer (born 1745)
 * July 5 – Michel Yost, composer (born 1754)
 * July 29 – Franz Asplmayr, composer (born 1728)
 * August 2 – François-Louis Gand Le Bland Du Roullet, librettist (born 1716)
 * August 17 – King Frederick II of Prussia, amateur composer (born 1712)
 * August 26 – Christoph Christian Sturm, lyricist (born 1786)
 * September 6 – Karl von Ordóñez, composer (born 1734)
 * September 18 – Giovanni Battista Guadagnini, musical instrument maker (born 1711)
 * September 29 – Dietrich Ewald von Grotthuss pianist and composer (born 1751)
 * October 6 – Antonio Sacchini, composer (born 1730)
 * December 25 – Christoph Sonnleithner, composer (born 1734)