Events

September 24 – The Bolshoi Theatre Company hosts its first annual opera season, with the opening of the Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre in St Petersburg.^[1]^{[failed verification]}
Giovanni Paisiello is invited to the court of Catherine the Great, where he will stay for eight years.
Court Theatre in Stockholm built by King Gustav III of Sweden

Popular music

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
- 6 Keyboard Trios, Wq.89
- 3 Keyboard Trios, Wq.90
Johann Christian Bach – Die Amerikanerin
Luigi Boccherini – 6 String Quintets, G.277-282 (Op.13)
Felice Giardini – String Quartet in E-flat major
William Goodwin – Voluntary XII in D major
François Joseph Gossec – Symphonie de chasse; Symphonie en ré
Johann Wilhelm Hässler – 6 Keyboard Sonatas
James Hook – The Ascension (oratorio)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Haffner Serenade, K.250
Joseph Haydn – Symphony No. 61, Hob.I:61
Juliane Reichardt – An den Mond
Antonio Salieri – La Passione di Nostro Signore Gesù Cristo für Soli, vierstimmigen Chor und Orchester
Carl Stamitz – 6 Quartets, Op. 14
Daniel Gottlob Türk – 6 Keyboard Sonatas, Sammlung 1
Johann Adolph Hasse - Te Deum in G major

Charles Burney – A General History of Music, vol. 1 (vol. 2 published 1782, vols. 3 and 4 in 1789)
John Hawkins – A General History of the Science and Practice of Music

February 13 – Luis Misón, composer, 50
April 22 – Johann Adolph Scheibe, music theorist, 67
May 6 – James Kent, composer, 76
June 10 – Leopold Widhalm, luthier, 53
November 29 – Zanetta Farussi, opera singer, 69
date unknown
- Thomas Capell, organist (date of birth unknown)
- Josep Carcoler, composer, 78
- Aaron Williams, composer, 45.^[2]
probable – Matteo Capranica, composer