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" (Paris)
• 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 (London: John Johnson)

Opera

• Charles-Guillaume Alexandre – George et Georgette
• Johann Christian Bach – Catone in Utica, W.G 2
• Pasquale Cafaro – Ipermestra (revised version, premiered Dec. 26 in Naples)
• Florian Leopold Gassmann – Catone in Utica
• Baldassare Galuppi
  • Demetrio (revised version, premiered June in Padua)
  • Le Tre Amante Ridicoli (premiered Jan. 18 in Venice)
• Christoph Willibald Gluck – Le cadi dupé, Wq.29
• Niccolò Jommelli – L'Olimpiade
• Tommaso Traetta – Armida
• Johann Adolf Hasse – Zenobia

Classical music

• Thomas Arne – Judith (oratorio) (first published; first performed 1744)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• 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 (ballet)
• 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 (died 1825)
• January 22 – Georg Nikolaus von Nissen, biographer of Mozart (died 1826)
• January 23 – Friedrich von Matthisson, librettist (died 1831)
• January 26 – Jens Zetlitz, songwriter (died 1821)
• February 15 – Jacob Kimball, Jr., composer (died 1826)
• February 20 – Johann Christian Ludwig Abeille, pianist and composer
• February 22 – Erik Tulindberg, composer (died 1814)
• April 20 – Johann Gottlieb Karl Spazier, composer
• May 3 – August von Kotzebue, librettist (died 1819)
• June 13 – Antonín Vranický or Wranitzky, violinist and composer (died 1820)
• June 15 – Charles Henry Wilton, British musician (died 1832)
• July 20 – Joseph Lefebvre, composer
• September 24 – F.L.Æ. Kunzen, composer
• October 9 – Pierre Gaveaux, composer and operatic tenor (died 1825)
• date unknown
  • Antoine Hugot, composer (died 1803)
  • John Andrew Stevenson, composer (died 1833)

Deaths

• January 3 – Willem de Fesch, violinist and composer (born 1687)
• January 18 – Francesco Feo, opera composer (born 1691)
• February 15 – Carlo Cecere, composer (born 1706)
• 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 (born 1704)
• October 7 – Johann Pfeiffer, German composer (born 1697)
• date unknown
  • Adam Falckenhagen, lutenist and composer (born 1697)
  • Newburgh Hamilton, librettist (born 1691)