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 have 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"
• "Ein Schifflein sah ich fahren"

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
• 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
• Ignaz Pleyel – 3 String Trios, B.401–403

Opera

• Samuel Arnold – Inkle and Yarico
• Luigi Boccherini – La Clementina, G.540
• Domenico Cimarosa – Volodimiro
• Giuseppe Gazzaniga – Don Giovanni
• Vicente Martín y Soler – L'arbore di Diana
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Don Giovanni
• Antonio Salieri – Tarare
• 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
• – ''Über die Harmonika''

Births

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

Deaths

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