1796 in music

Events

• The father of Gioachino Rossini is imprisoned for collaborating with the French, and Rossini's mother takes him to Bologna.

Classical Music

• Ludwig van Beethoven – Three Piano Sonatas, Op. 2 in F minor, A and C
• Muzio Clementi – Concerto for piano in C major
• Joseph Haydn – Missa in tempore belli ("Mass in Time of War") and Trumpet Concerto in E Flat Major

Opera

• Nicolas Dalayrac – Marianne
• Johann Simon Mayr – La Lodoiska
• Gaspare Spontini – Li puntigli delle donne
• Peter Winter – Das unterbrochene Opferfest

Births

• February 17 – Giovanni Pacini, composer (died 1867)
• June 14 – Mathilda d'Orozco, composer (died 1863)
• July 23 – Franz Berwald, composer (died 1868)
• July 28 – Ignaz Bösendorfer, piano manufacturer (died 1859)
• August 25 – James Lick, piano builder (died 1876)
• September 3 – Henriette Widerberg, soprano (died 1872)
• October 23 – Joseph Panny, composer and violinist (died 1838)
• November 30 – Carl Loewe, German composer (died 1869)

Deaths

• January 1 – Alexandre-Théophile Vandermonde, chemist and musician, 60
• February 16 (or April 16) – Caterina Gabrielli, operatic soprano, 65
• March 19 – Stephen Storace, composer, 33
• June 8 – Felice Giardini, violinist and composer, 80
• October 17 – Franz Paul Rigler, composer and piano virtuoso (born c.1748)
• October 31 – Thomas Haxby, musical instrument maker, 67
• date unknown
  • Luffman Atterbury, carpenter, builder and musician
  • Samuel Green, organ builder (born 1740)
  • Nicola Sabatino, composer (born 1705)