1808 in music

Events

• December 22 – Ludwig van Beethoven puts on a marathon benefit concert in Vienna, including the first performances of the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies and the Choral Fantasy

• Harvard forms its own orchestra.

Popular Music

• "(Believe Me, if All) Those Endearing Young Charms" by Thomas Moore and Sir John Stevenson

Classical Music

• Ludwig van Beethoven – Symphony No. 5, Symphony No. 6
• Bernhard Henrik Crusell – Clarinet Concerto no. 2
• Carl Maria von Weber – Momento capriccioso

Births

• February 14 – Michael Costa
• March 24 – Maria Malibran, soprano
• April 10 – Auguste Franchomme
• May 15 – Michael William Balfe
• December 26 – Albert Grisar

Deaths

• July 20 – François-Hippolyte Barthélémon, French violinist (b. 1741)
• date unknown – Gaetano Vestris, dancer (born 1729)