1817 in music

This is a list of music-related events in 1817.

Events

 * Felix Mendelssohn begins studying composition with Carl Friedrich Zelter.
 * Improved form of ophicleide invented by Jean Hilaire Asté in France.

Classical music

 * Ludwig van Beethoven
 * String Quintet, Op.104
 * Fugue in D major, Op.137
 * Gesang der Mönche, WoO 104
 * So oder So, WoO 148
 * Resignation, WoO 149
 * Alexandre-Pierre-François Boëly – 30 Caprices, Op. 2
 * Ferdinando Carulli – 6 Duos for Guitar and Flute, Op. 109
 * Frederic Chopin – Two Polonaises
 * Muzio Clementi – Gradus ad Parnassum Volume I is published simultaneously in London, Paris and Leipzig on March 1.
 * Gaetano Donizetti
 * English Horn Concertino, A 459 (premiered June 19 in Bergamo)
 * Sinfonia for Winds in G minor, A 509 (composed April 19)
 * Friedrich Dotzauer – Pot-Pourri for Cello and Guitar, Op. 21
 * John Field
 * Nocturne No.4 in A major, H.36
 * Nocturne No.6 in F major ("Berceuse")
 * Georg Gerson – Symphony in E-flat major
 * Mauro Giuliani
 * Divertimenti, Op. 78
 * Preludes, Op. 83
 * Johann Nepomuk Hummel
 * Adagio, Variationen und Rondo über 'Pretty Polly', Op. 75
 * Variations sur un theme original, Op. 76
 * Anselm Hüttenbrenner – 6 Variations, Op. 2
 * Jean-Baptiste Krumpholtz – 2 Harp Duos, Op. 5
 * Iwan Müller – Clarinet Quartet No. 2
 * Niccolo Paganini – Violin Concerto No.1, Op.6
 * Anton Reicha – Andante for Wind Quintet no. 1 in E-flat major
 * Franz Schubert
 * Piano Sonata No.4, D.537
 * Allegro and Scherzo, D.570 (July)
 * String Trio in B-flat major, D. 581 (Autumn)
 * Notable Lieder
 * Trost, D.523
 * Schlaflied, D.527
 * Der Tod und das Mädchen, D.531
 * Ganymed, D.544
 * An die Musik, D.547
 * Die Forelle, D.550
 * Louis Spohr – String Quartet No.11, Op. 43
 * Václav Jan Tomášek – 6 Eglogues, Op. 47

Opera

 * Franz Danzi – Die Probe
 * Gioacchino Rossini
 * La Cenerentola
 * La Gazza Ladra
 * Armida
 * Adelaide di Borgogna

Publications

 * Francesco Galeazzi – Elementi di Musica

Published Popular Music

 * "Oft, in the Stilly Night" – w.m. (arr.) Thomas Moore
 * "Te souviens-tu?" – Émile Debraux and Joseph-Denis Doche

Births

 * February 3 – Émile Prudent, composer (died 1863)
 * February 22 – Niels Gade, composer (d. 1890)
 * March 2 – Hans Hansen, composer (d. 1878)
 * March 17
 * Karl Schroder I, violinist (died 1890)
 * Julius Stahlknecht, composer (died 1892)
 * March 24 – Aimé Maillart, composer (d. 1871)
 * March 28 – Mariano Soriano Fuertes, composer (died 1880)
 * May 26 – Emil Erslev, composer (died 1882)
 * May 27 – Giuseppe Bardari, librettist (died 1861)
 * May 31 – Édouard Marie Ernest Deldevez, composer (died 1897)
 * June 13 – Antonio Torres Jurado, Spanish guitar maker (d. 1892)
 * August 13 – Károly Thern, pianist, conductor and composer (d. 1886)
 * September 23 - Léon Charles François Kreutzer, music critic, music historian, and composer (d. 1868)
 * October 5 – Eduard Franck, German composer (died 1893)
 * November 12
 * Gustav Nottebohm, musicologist (d. 1882)
 * Carlo Pedrotti, composer and conductor (died 1893)
 * November 13
 * Louis James Alfred Lefébure-Wély, organist (d. 1869)
 * Henry Brinley Richards, composer (d. 1885)
 * November 24 – Fritz Spindler, pianist (died 1905)
 * December 19 – Charles Dancla, composer (died 1907)

Deaths

 * January 14 – Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny, composer (b. 1729)
 * January 28 – F.L.Æ. Kunzen, conductor and composer (b. 1761)
 * March 1 – Luigi Gatti, composer (b. 1740)
 * June 29 – Ernst Schulze, lyricist and poet (born 1789)
 * August 24 – Nancy Storace, operatic soprano (b. 1766)
 * October 11 – Franz Xaver Hammer, gambist, cellist and composer (b. 1741)
 * October 12 – Johann Franz Xaver Sterkel, composer and pianist (born 1750)
 * October 18 – Etienne Méhul, composer (b. 1763)
 * November 7 – Francesco Pasquale Ricci, composer (b. 1732)
 * December 1 – Justin Heinrich Knecht, organist and composer (b. 1752)
 * December 3 – August Eberhard Müller, German composer (born 1767)
 * December 11 – Max von Schenkendorf, poet and songwriter (born 1783)
 * date unknown –
 * John Peacock, Northumbrian piper (b. c. 1756)
 * Pedro Étienne Solère, composer (born 1753)