1761 in music

Events

• Francesco Geminiani visits Dublin, where he is robbed of a valuable manuscript.
• Domenico Cimarosa enters the Conservatorio di Santa Maria di Loreto.
• Joseph Haydn enters the service of the Esterházy family

Popular music

• Mme Papavoine – '"Reviens, aimable Thémire"
• John Parry – ''A collection of Welsh, English & Scotch airs with new variations, also four new lessons for the harp or harpsichord... to which are added twelve airs for the guitar''

Opera

• Charles-Guillaume Alexandre – George et Georgette
• Johann Christian Bach – Catone in Utica, W.G 2
• Pasquale Cafaro – Ipermestra
• Florian Leopold Gassmann – Catone in Utica
• Baldassare Galuppi
• *Demetrio
• *Le Tre Amante Ridicoli
• Christoph Willibald Gluck – Le cadi dupé, Wq.29
• Niccolò Jommelli – L'Olimpiade
• Tommaso Traetta – Armida
• Johann Adolf Hasse – ''Zenobia''

Classical music

• Thomas Arne – Judith
• Charles Avison – 6 Sonatas for Harpsichord, 2 Violins and Cello, Op. 8
• Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
• *La Philippine, H.96
• *La Gabriel, H.97
• *La Caroline, H.98
• *La Complaisante, H.109
• *La Louise, H.114
• *La Xénophon et la Sybille, H.123
• *L'Ernestine, H.124
• Christoph Willibald Gluck – Don Juan
• François Joseph Gossec – Sei sinfonie a più stromenti, Op. 5
• Joseph Haydn
• *Symphony No. 6 ("Le matin")
• *Symphony No. 7 ("Le midi")
• *Symphony No. 8 ("Le soir")
• *Symphony No.11
• Michael Haydn – Symphony in C major
• Gottfried August Homilius – 32 Praeludia zu geistlichen Liedern vor zwey Claviere und Pedal
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart –
• *Andante in C major for harpsichord, K. 1a
• *Allegro in C major for harpsichord, K. 1b
• *Allegro in F major for harpsichord, K. 1c
• *Minuet in F major for harpsichord, K. 1d
• Simon Simon – Pièces de clavecin, Op. 1
• Ludwig Zoschinger – Concors digitorum discordia seu 4 Partiæ
• Johann Adolph Hasse
• *La Scusa
• *''Il Nome''

Methods and theory writings

• Jean-Philippe Rameau – ''Origine des sciences''

Births

• January 20 – Giovanni Domenico Perotti, composer
• January 22 – Georg Nikolaus von Nissen, biographer of Mozart
• January 23 – Friedrich von Matthisson, librettist
• January 26 – Jens Zetlitz, songwriter
• February 15 – Jacob Kimball, Jr., composer
• February 20 – Johann Christian Ludwig Abeille, pianist and composer
• February 22 – Erik Tulindberg, composer
• April 20 – Johann Gottlieb Karl Spazier, composer
• May 3 – August von Kotzebue, librettist
• June 13 – Antonín Vranický or Wranitzky, violinist and composer
• June 15 – Charles Henry Wilton, British musician
• July 20 – Joseph Lefebvre, composer
• September 24 – F.L.Æ. Kunzen, composer
• October 9 – Pierre Gaveaux, composer and operatic tenor
• date unknown
• *Antoine Hugot, composer
• *John Andrew Stevenson, composer

Deaths

• January 3 – Willem de Fesch, violinist and composer
• January 18 – Francesco Feo, opera composer
• February 15 – Carlo Cecere, composer
• March 7 – Antonio Palella, composer
• March 27 – Johann Ludwig Steiner, composer
• April 10 – Cecilia Elisabeth Würzer, German-Swedish singer
• June 12 – Meinrad Spiess, composer
• July 9 – Carl Gotthelf Gerlach, organist
• October 7 – Johann Pfeiffer, German composer
• date unknown
• *Adam Falckenhagen, lutenist and composer
• *Newburgh Hamilton, librettist