1678 in music

The year 1678 in music involved some significant events.

Events

• January 2 – Public opera in Hamburg begins when the Oper am Gänsemarkt is inaugurated with a performance of Johann Theile's biblical Singspiel Adam und Eva.
• June 19 – Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers is appointed to join Nicolas Lebègue, Jacques Thomelin and Jean Buterne as an organists of the Chapelle Royale at the French court.
• John Blow becomes a doctor of music.
• Seventeen-year-old Giacomo Antonio Perti composes his first opera.
• The Teatro Grimani is constructed, the grandest opera house in Venice.

Published popular music

Classical music

• Albertus Bryne – 5 dance movements

Opera

• Johann Theile – Der erschaffene, gefallene und aufgerichtete Mensch

Births

• March 4 – Antonio Vivaldi, composer (died 1741)
• July 6 – Nicola Francesco Haym, opera librettist and composer (died 1727)
• December 30 – William Croft, organist and composer (died 1727)
• probable - Manuel de Zumaya, composer (died 1755)

Deaths

• March - Jacques Hardel, harpsichordist and composer
• August 5 – Juan García de Zéspedes, composer (born 1619)
• September 28 – Maurizio Cazzati, Italian composer (born 1616)
• November 18 – Giovanni Maria Bononcini, violinist and composer
• date unknown
  • Leonora Duarte, composer
  • John Jenkins, composer (born 1592)
• probable - Chiara Margarita Cozzolani, Benedictine nun and composer (born 1602)