1804 in music

Events

• Beethoven angrily renames his Third Symphony from the Napoleon to the Eroica after Napoleon crowns himself emperor.
• Nicolas Dalayrac is awarded the Légion d'honneur.

Classical music

• Ludwig van Beethoven
  • Piano Sonata No. 22 in F major written
  • Opus 85 Christus am Ölberge (completed)
  • Symphony No. 2 (published)
• Louis Spohr – Concerto for Violin no 2 in D minor, Op. 2

Opera

• Pierre Gaveaux – Le Mariage inattendu
• Adalbert Gyrowetz – Selico
• Ferdinando Paer – Leonora
• Gaspare Spontini – Milton

Births

• March 14 – Johann Strauss I, Austrian composer (d. 1849)
• March 30 – Salomon Sulzer, composer (d. 1890)
• May 31 – Louise Farrenc, pianist and composer (d. 1875)
• June 1 – Mikhail Glinka, Russian composer (d. 1857)
• August 19 – Christina Enbom (d. 1880)
• November 27 – Sir Julius Benedict, conductor and composer (d. 1885)
• date unknown – Ferdinand Giovanni Schediwy, organist, conductor and composer (d. 1877)

Deaths

• March 29 (or 30) – Ivan Khandoshkin, violinist and composer (b. 1747)
• June 16 – Johann Adam Hiller, conductor, composer and music writer (b. 1728)
• August 24 – Valentin Adamberger, operatic tenor (b. 1740)
• November 5 – Maria Anna Adamberger, actress and singer, wife of Valentin Adamberger (b. 1752)
• November 19 – Pietro Guglielmi, composer (b. 1728)
• date unknown
  • Gioacchino Cocchi, opera composer (b.c.1720)
  • Marie Louise Marcadet, actress and singer (b. 1758)
  • Lorenzo Quaglio, stage designer (b. 1730)
  • Giovanni Valentini, composer, poet and painter (b. c. 1730)
  • Abraham Wood, early American composer (b. 1752)