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

• None listed

Opera

• Charles-Guillaume Alexandre – George et Georgette
• Florian Leopold Gassmann – Catone in Utica
• Baldassare Galuppi – Le Tre Amante Ridicoli

Classical music

• Thomas Arne – Judith (oratorio)
• 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") and Symphony No. 8 ("Le soir")
• Michael Haydn – Symphony in C major
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Minuet for Harpsichord

Births

• January 20 – Giovanni Domenico Perotti, composer (died 1825)
• January 22 – Georg Nikolaus von Nissen, biographer of Mozart (died 1826)
• 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
• June 13 – Antonín Vranický or Wranitzky, violinist and composer (died 1820)
• July 20 – Joseph Lefebvre, composer
• September 4 – F.L.Æ. Kunzen, composer
• date unknown – 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
• June 12 – Meinrad Spiess, composer
• July 9 – Carl Gotthelf Gerlach, organist (born 1704)
• date unknown
  • Adam Falckenhagen, lutenist and composer (born 1697)
  • Newburgh Hamilton, librettist (born 1691)