1770 in music#Opera

• January 20 – The new Théâtre du Palais-Royal (rue Saint-Honoré), the first purpose-built opera house in Paris, designed by Pierre-Louis Moreau-Desproux, is inaugurated with a performance of Rameau's Zoroastre.{{cite book|last=Pitou|first=Spire|year=1983|title=The Paris Opéra: An Encyclopedia of Operas, Ballets, Composers and Performers: Genesis and Glory, 1671–1715|location=Westport, Ct|publisher=Greenwood|isbn=9780313214202|page=26}}{{cite book|last=Mead|first=Christopher Curtis|year=1991|title=Charles Garnier's Paris Opera|location=Cambridge, Mass.|publisher=MIT Press|isbn=978-0-262-13275-6|page=45}}
• Opéra royal de Versailles, designed by Ange-Jacques Gabriel, is inaugurated.{{cite web|last=Praefcke|first=Andreas|url=http://www.andreas-praefcke.de/carthalia/france/f_versailles_gabriel.htm|work=Carthalia|title=Versailles: Théâtre Gabriel / Opéra Royal|language=English|accessdate=2025-05-21}}
• Ballet is performed in Oslo for the first time, by Madame Stuart.
• Musikalisches Vielerley is published; a collection of pieces from various composers, edited by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (Hamburg: Michael Christian Bock).

• Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach – Fantasia in D minor, H.224
• Johann Christian Bach
• 6 Keyboard Concertos, Op. 7
• 6 Quartets, Op. 8
• Luigi Boccherini – Cello Concerto in D major, G.479
• Joseph Haydn – Baryton Trio in A major, Hob.XI:2
• Gabriele Leone – Six sonatas for mandolin and bass marked with signs according to the new method, Op. 2
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Symphony 11
• Pietro Nardini – Sonatas for 2 Flutes/Violins and Basso Continuo

• Johann Caspar Heck – The Art of Playing the Harpsichord
• John Holden – An Essay Towards a Rational System of Music

• Christoph Willibald Gluck – Paride ed Elena, Wq.39
• André Grétry – Les deux avares

• William Billings – The New England Psalm Singer, featuring the song Chester.

• February 18 – Christian Heinrich Rinck, composer (died 1846)
• February 20 – Ferdinando Carulli, composer (died 1841){{cite book|author=Aaron Shearer|title=Classic Guitar Technique|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ThUdFt1P7_UC&pg=PA70|date=March 1985|publisher=Alfred Music Publishing|isbn=978-0-89898-572-6|pages=70}}
• February 22 – Jan Matyas Nepomuk August Vitasek, composerDon Randel, The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music, Harvard, 1996, p. 952. (died 1839)
• February 26 – Antoine Reicha, composer (died 1836)
• May 19 – Antoine-Charles Glachant, violinist and composer (died 1851)
• June 4 – James Hewitt, composer (died 1827)
• November 8 – Friedrich Witt, composer{{cite book|author=David Mason Greene|title=Greene's Biographical Encyclopedia of Composers|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m3S7PIxe0mwC&pg=PA442|year=1985|publisher=Reproducing Piano Roll Fnd.|isbn=978-0-385-14278-6|pages=442}} (died 1836)
• November 29 – Peter Hänsel, composer{{cite book|author=Eduard Bernsdorf|title=Neues Universal-Lexikon der Tonkunst ... Unter Mitwirkung von Frz. Liszt, H. Marschner ...|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ne2uRjirE0cC&pg=PA298|year=1857|publisher=Robert Schäfer|pages=298}}
• December 13 – John Clarke-Whitfeld, composer (died 1836){{cite book|author1=Maggie Humphreys|author2=Robert Evans|title=Dictionary of Composers for the Church in Great Britain and Ireland|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WSLUAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA66|date=1 January 1997|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-0-7201-2330-2|pages=66}}
• December 15 or December 16 (baptized on December 17) – Ludwig van Beethoven, composer and pianist (died 1827){{Cite web |title=When is Beethoven's birthday? |url=https://www.classicfm.com/composers/beethoven/guides/beethoven-20-facts-about-great-composer/beethoven-haus-bonn/ |access-date=2022-03-22 |website=Classic FM |language=en}}
• December 17 – Johann Friedrich Schubert, composer

• February 26 – Giuseppe Tartini, violinist and composer, 77
• April 19 – Esprit Antoine Blanchard, composer, 74
• May 9 – Charles Avison, composer, 61{{cite book|author1=Philip H. Highfill, Jr.|author2=Kalman A. Burnim|author3=Edward A. Langhans|title=A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers, and Other Stage Personnel in London, 1660–1800: Abaco to Belfille|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V8IutzpP0sYC&pg=PA180|date=December 1973|publisher=SIU Press|isbn=978-0-8093-0517-9|pages=180}}
• October 1 – Louis-Gabriel Guillemain, composer, 64
• December 9 – Gottlieb Muffat, organist and composer, 80{{cite book |first1=Richard |last1=Maunder |author-link1=Richard Maunder |title=Keyboard Instruments in Eighteenth-century Vienna|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XxDisZxtRBcC&pg=PA230|year=1998|publisher=Clarendon Press|isbn=978-0-19-816637-5|pages=230}}
• December 13 – Johann Heinrich Hartmann Bätz, organ-builder, 61

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Category:18th century in music

Category:Music by year