1759 in music

Events

• Johann Friedrich Agricola succeeds Carl Heinrich Graun as director of Frederick the Great's royal opera.
• Castrato Gaspare Pacchierotti makes his debut at the Perugia carnival, in a female role.
• Tommaso Traetta becomes court composer at Parma.

Popular music

• None listed

Opera

• Johann Ernst Eberlin – Demofoonte (lost)
• Florian Leopold Gassmann – Gli uccellatori
• Christoph Willibald Gluck – L'Arbre enchantée; Cythère Assiégée
• Tommaso Traetta – Ippolito ed Aricia

Classical music

• Wilhelm Friedemann Bach – Pieces for Musical Clock
• François Joseph Gossec – Sei sinfonie a più stromenti, op.4
• Joseph Haydn – Symphony no 1 in D Major

Births

• January 25 – Robert Burns, Scottish poet and lyricist (died 1796)
• January 31 – François Devienne, composer (died 1803)
• April 18 - Jacques Widerkehr, Alsatian composer and cellist (died 1823)
• 19 July – Marianna Auenbrugger, composer (died 1782)
• unknown date – William Matthews of Nottingham, composer
• November 27 – Franz Krommer, composer (died 1831)

Deaths

• April 14 – George Frideric Handel, composer (born 1685)
• June 22 – Louis de Cahusac, librettist (born 1706)
• August 8 – Carl Heinrich Graun, composer (born 1704)
• September 4 – Girolamo Chiti, composer
• date unknown
  • Johann Christoph Altnickol, organist, singer and composer (born 1719)
  • Gustavus Waltz, singer