1787 in music

See also: 1786 in music, other events of 1787, 1788 in music, list of years in music.

Events

• Luigi Boccherini becomes court composer in Berlin.
• Ludwig van Beethoven goes to Vienna, where he meets Mozart, but his mother's death forces him to return to Bonn.
• Luigi Cherubini settles in Paris.

Opera

• "Don Giovanni" was first performed in Prague. Music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte.
• Don Giovanni by Giuseppe Gazzaniga.
• "Tarare" by Antonio Salieri, libretto by Beaumarchais

Classical music

• Two Symphonies – Muzio Clementi
• Sonata for Organ "In the Guise of a Military Band..." – Giuseppe Gherardeschi
• Seven Last Words of Christ – Joseph Haydn
• Symphony No. 89 in F major – Haydn
• Symphony in E minor – Joseph Martin Kraus

Births

• January 8 – Johann Ludwig Bohner, composer
• February 13 – James P Carrell, composer
• August 15 – Alexander Aliabiev, composer
• September 1 – John Bake, composer
• October 30 – Karl Guhr, composer
• November 17 – Michele Carafa, composer
• November 27 – Christian Rummel
• December 1 – Pavel Ivanovich Dulgorukov, composer

Deaths

• May 13 – Johann Michael Malzat, composer
• May 28 – Leopold Mozart
• June 20 – Carl Friedrich Abel, viola da gamba player and composer
• November 23 – Anton Schweitzer
• November 25 – Franz Xavier Gruber, organist and composer of "Silent Night"
• November 15 – Christoph Willibald Gluck