Events
- January 1 – First performance of William Boyce's "At length, th’imperious Lord of War". [1]
- March 24 – Christoph Willibald Gluck leaves Vienna, bound for Bologna where his opera Il trionfo di Clelia is to be premièred. [1]
- April 26 – Gluck is awarded a pension of 600 florins by Empress Maria Theresa. [1]
- May 14 – Nuovo Teatro Pubblico in Bologna opens with the première of Gluck's Il trionfo di Clelia ; it is the first major opera house to be constructed with public funds and owned by the municipality.
- May 26 – In Paris, François-Joseph Gossec goes to court to retrieve property from the estate of his late patron Alexandre Le Riche de La Poupelinière.
- July 9 – Mozart family grand tour: The family of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart sets out on a European tour, ending this year in Paris. [1]
- James Hook becomes musical director of Marylebone Gardens in London.
- St Cecilia's Hall is opened by Edinburgh Musical Society as the first purpose-built concert hall in Scotland, the second in Britain.