1751 in music

Events

• 1751 is the year commonly given as the beginning of the classical era
• The "War of the Buffoons" (La Querelle des Bouffons), concerning the relative merits of French and Italian opera, divides Paris.
• Francesco Geminiani publishes "The Art of Playing on the Violin" in London.

Classical music

• Antoine Dauvergne – Concerts de Simphonies
• Johann Sebastian Bach – Kunst der Fuge with appendix of Chorale prelude BWV 668a (posthumously)
• John Francis Wade – Cantus Diversi including Adeste Fideles ("O Come All Ye Faithful")

Opera

• Johann Adolf Hasse – Ciro Riconosciuto
• Joseph Haydn – Der Krumme Teufel (singspiel)
• Niccolò Jommelli – La villana nobile; Ifigenia in Aulide
• Jean-Philippe Rameau – Acante et Céphise
• Giuseppe Sarti – Pompeo in Armenia

Births

• January 18 – Ferdinand Kauer, pianist and composer (died 1831)
• February 9 – Antoine Bullant, bassoonist and composer (died 1821)
• March 5 – Jan Křtitel Kuchař, composer
• March 29 – Supply Belcher, singer, composer and compiler of tune books (died 1836)
• date unknown – Blas de Laserna, composer

Deaths

• January 17 – Tomaso Albinoni (born 1671)
• February 18 – Giuseppe Matteo Alberti, composer (born 1685)
• May 20 – Domènec Terradellas, composer (born 1713)
• October 2 - Pierre Dumage, organist (born c. 1674)
• date unknown - Henry Reinhold, singer (born c. 1690)