1581 in music

Events

• October 15 – Performance of Ballet Comique de la Reine, the first narrative ballet, devised by Louise of Lorraine, wife of Henry III of France, with music by the royal master of music Jacques Salmon and the bass singer Girard de Beaulieu and choreography by Balthasar de Beaujoyeulx, opens at the court of Catherine de' Medici in the Louvre Palace in Paris as part of the wedding celebrations for Marguerite of Lorraine.
• Ginés Pérez de la Parra becomes composer and musical director at Orihuela cathedral.
• Marc'Antonio Ingegneri becomes maestro di cappella of Cremona cathedral.

Publications

Music

• Lodovico Agostini – L'Echo et enigmi musicali for six voices, book 2
• Costanzo Antegnati – Sacrae cantiones for four voices
• Giammateo Asola – Secundus liber in quo reliquae missae octonis compositae tonis
• Joachim a Burck – Threnodia for four voices
• Severin Cornet
• *Cantiones musicae for five, six, seven, and eight voices
• *Chansons françoyses for five, six, and eight voices
• *Madrigals for five, six, seven, and eight voices
• Giovanni Dragoni – First book of madrigals for four voices
• Paolo Isnardi
• *Second book of masses for five voices
• *Third book of madrigals for five voices
• Orlande de Lassus
• *Masses for four and five voices
• *Book of villanelle, moresche, and other songs for four, five, six, and eight voices
• Giovanni de Macque – Madrigaletti et Napolitane for six voices
• Luca Marenzio
• *First book of madrigals for six voices
• *Second book of madrigals for five voices
• Rinaldo del Mel – First book of motets for four, five, six, seven, and eight voices
• Philippe de Monte
• *First book of madrigali spirituali for five voices
• *Tenth book of madrigals for five voices
• *Fourth book of madrigals for four voices
• Giovanni Maria Nanino & Annibal Stabile – Madrigals for five voices
• Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina — First book of madrigals for five voices
• Benedetto Pallavicino – First book of madrigals for five voices
• Christoph Praetorius – Fröliche und liebliche Ehrnlieder for four voices, in two volumes

Other

• Fabritio Caroso – Il Ballerino, Italian dance manual, containing much dance music
• Vincenzo Galilei – ''Dialogo della musica antica, et della moderna''

Classical music

• ''none listed''

Births

• July 2 – Johann Staden, German organist and composer

Deaths

• May 7 – Alexander Utendal, Flemish composer
• date unknown – Joachim Thibault de Courville, French composer, singer, lutenist and player of the lyre
• probable – Antoine de Bertrand