1787 in music

Events

 * Between January and April – Beethoven and Mozart: 16-year-old Ludwig van Beethoven goes to Vienna, intending to study with Mozart: it is possible that they meet and had some lessons together, but the declining health of Beethovens' mother forces him to return to Bonn.
 * February 1 – A posthumous performance of Antonio Sacchini's Œdipe à Colone at the Paris Opéra results in the previously unsuccessful opera becoming one of the most popular pieces in the repertoire for several decades.
 * August 10 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart completes his famous serenade Eine kleine Nachtmusik.
 * October 29 – Mozart's opera Don Giovanni is premiered under his baton at the Nostitzsches Nationaltheater in Prague, with libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte.
 * December
 * Mozart is appointed chamber composer to Emperor Joseph II in Vienna following the death of Gluck.
 * Angelo Tarchi is appointed music director and composer at the King's Theatre in London.
 * Luigi Boccherini becomes court composer in Berlin.
 * Luigi Cherubini settles in Paris.

Publications

 * Scots Musical Museum, vol. 1

Published popular music

 * Robert Burns – "The Battle of Sherramuir" (to a traditional tune)
 * "Ein Schifflein sah ich fahren" (Soldier Song ca.1787)

Classical music

 * Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
 * Fantasia in F-sharp minor, H.300
 * Neue Melodien, H.781
 * William Brown – 3 Rondos
 * Charles Burney – Preludes, Fugues and Interludes for the Organ
 * Muzio Clementi
 * Two Symphonies, Op. 18
 * Musical Characteristics, Op. 19
 * Piano Sonata, Op. 20
 * Michel Corrette – Pièces pour l’orgue dans un genre nouveau
 * Francois Devienne – Flute Concerto No.7 in E minor
 * Jean-Louis Duport – Cello Concerto No.1 in A major, Op. 1
 * Giuseppe Gherardeschi – Sonata for Organ "In the Guise of a Military Band..."
 * Joseph Haydn
 * The Seven Last Words of Christ
 * Symphony No. 88 in G
 * String Quartets, Op. 50 (String Quartets Nos. 36–41)
 * Franz Anton Hoffmeister – 2 Keyboard Sonatas, WeiH 80
 * Leopold Kozeluch
 * Three Symphonies, Op. 22
 * Three Symphonies, Op. 24
 * Moise in Egitto
 * Joseph Martin Kraus – Symphony in E minor
 * Jose Lidon – 6 Piezas o Sonatas sueltas para órgano
 * Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
 * Eine kleine Nachtmusik
 * String Quintet No. 3 in C major
 * String Quintet No. 4 in G minor
 * Rondo in A minor, K.511
 * Clarinet Quintet, K.Anh.91
 * Musikalisches Würfelspiel, K.516f
 * Ein musikalischer Spaß (A Musical Joke)
 * "Die Alte", K.517
 * "Die Verschweigung", K.518
 * "Das Lied der Trennung", K.519
 * "Als Luise die Briefe", K.520
 * "Abendempfindung", K.523
 * "Die kleine Spinnerin", K.531
 * 5 Country Dances, K.609
 * William Parsons – The Court Minuets for Her Majesty's Birth Day, 1787
 * Philip Phile – Violin Concerto (lost)
 * Ignaz Pleyel – 3 String Trios, B.401–403

Opera

 * Samuel Arnold – Inkle and Yarico (libretto by George Colman the Younger)
 * Domenico Cimarosa – Volodimiro
 * Giuseppe Gazzaniga – Don Giovanni
 * Vicente Martín y Soler – L'arbore di Diana
 * Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Don Giovanni
 * Antonio Salieri – Tarare (libretto by Beaumarchais)
 * Giovanni Paisiello – La modista raggiratrice, R.1.74

Methods and theory writings

 * Ferdinand Kauer – Kurzgefaßte Clavierschule für Anfänger
 * Edward Miller – Elements of Thorough Bass and Composition, Op. 5
 * Etienne Ozi – Nouvelle méthode de basson
 * Carl Leopold Röllig – Über die Harmonika

Births

 * January 31 – Ulric Guttinguer, librettist and writer (died 1866)
 * February 13 – James P. Carrell, singing teacher and composer (died 1854)
 * February 24 – Christian Frederik Barth, oboist and composer (died 1861)
 * March 1 – Tobias Haslinger, composer and publisher (died 1842)
 * April 14 – Charles-François Plantade, French composer (died 1870)
 * April 26 – Ludwig Uhland, librettist and poet (died 1862)
 * July 7 – César Malan, composer and theologian (died 1864)
 * August 15 – Alexander Alyabyev, composer (died 1851)
 * November 17 – Michele Carafa, composer (died 1872)
 * November 21 – Barry Cornwall, librettist and poet (died 1874)
 * November 25 – Franz Xaver Gruber, organist and composer of "Silent Night" (died 1863)
 * December 4 – Johan Fredrik Berwald, violinist, conductor and composer (died 1861)
 * December 13 – Anne-Honoré-Joseph Duveyrier, librettist and dramatist (died 1865)
 * December 14 – Maria Ludovika, patron of Beethoven and queen of Austria (died 1816)
 * date unknown
 * Franz Xaver Gebel, German composer (died 1843)
 * Catharina Torenberg, violinist (died 1866)

Deaths

 * February 21 – Antonio Rodríguez de Hita, composer (born 1722)
 * March 30 – Princess Anna Amalia of Prussia, musician, composer and music collector (born 1723)
 * April 22 – Josef Starzer, Austrian composer (born 1726)
 * May 20 – Giovan Gualberto Brunetti, Italian composer (born 1706)
 * May 28 – Leopold Mozart, violinist, music teacher and composer (born 1719)
 * June – Ignazio Fiorillo, opera composer (born 1715)
 * June 20 – Carl Friedrich Abel, viola da gamba player and composer (born 1723)
 * July 13 – Ignazio Cirri, composer and musician (born 1711)
 * July 27 – Mary Linley, singer (born 1758)
 * August 5 – François Francoeur, violinist and composer (born 1698)
 * August 18 – Stephen Paxton, composer and musician (born 1734)
 * November 15 – Christoph Willibald Gluck, composer (born 1714)
 * November 23 – Anton Schweitzer, opera composer (born 1735)
 * December 9 – Bernhard Joachim Hagen, composer, violinist and lutenist (born 1720)
 * date unknown – Edward Harwood (of Darwen), hymn-writer (born 1707)