1784 in music
Events
- January 5 – In Paris, Antonio Salieri signs a contract with the Opéra for a work entitled Les Danaïdes.
- January 7 – Composer Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny marries Amélie de Villemagne.
- February 9 – The Piano Concerto No. 14 becomes the first entry in the catalogue of works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
- March – 28-year-old Mozart gives the first performances of his Piano Concerto No. 15 at the Trattnerhof and Burgtheater in Vienna.
- April 24 – Mozart writes to his father Leopold, recommending the work of newcomer Ignaz Pleyel.
- April 29 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and violinist Regina Strinasacchi perform Mozart's Sonata in B-flat for Violin and Keyboard for the first time, in the presence of Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor.
- May 27 – June 5 – Handel Commemoration concerts in Westminster Abbey, London.
- June 13 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 17 is performed for the first time, by his student, Barbara von Ployer. Giovanni Paisiello is in the audience.
- August 17 – Luigi Boccherini is given a pay rise of 12000 reals by his employer, the Infante Luis, Count of Chinchón.
- August 28 – In Vienna, Johann Georg Albrechtsberger's Mass in E flat is performed for the first time, with the orchestral arrangement replaced by organ accompaniment, in accordance with the preferences of Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor.
- December 11 – Mozart is received into the Masonic lodge "Beneficence".
- The first opera is mounted at the unfinished Teatro Nuovo in Bergamo, Lombardy, Giuseppe Sarti's Medonte, re di Epiro.
Classical music
Opera
Births
- January 1 – William Beale, composer and organist
- January 27 – Martin-Joseph Mengal, composer
- January 29 – Ferdinand Ries, composer
- February 3 – John Fane, composer and diplomat
- February 27 – Job Plimpton, composer
- March 25 – François-Joseph Fétis, Belgian musicologist, composer, critic and teacher
- April 8 – Dionisio Aguado, guitarist and composer
- June 14 – Francesco Morlacchi, opera composer
- July 27 – George Onslow, composer
- August 5 – Louis Spohr, composer, violinist and conductor
- August 23
- *Jeanette Wässelius, operatic soprano
- *Henriette Löfman, composer
- October 15 – Thomas Hastings, composer
- October 16 – Karl Keller, composer and flautist
- November 7 – Friedrich Wilhelm Kalkbrenner, German pianist and composer
- date unknown – Samuel Simms, organist and composer
- November 28 – Ferdinand Ries, composer and friend of Beethoven
Deaths
- March 4 – Ann Cargill, opera singer
- July 1 – Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, composer
- August – Louis Anseaume, opera librettist
- August 6 – Karl Kohaut, lutenist and composer
- August 4 – Giovanni Battista Martini, composer
- September – John Bennett, organist and composer
- September 5 – Maria Linley, singer
- September 12 – Manuel Blasco de Nebra, organist and composer
- October 5 – Antonín Kammel, violinist and composer
- November 6 – Anine Frölich, ballet dancer
- date unknown
- *John Pixell, poet and composer
- *Yekaterina Sinyavina, pianist and composer