Mozart and his friends perform for Haydn the Mozart quartets inspired by Haydn's 'Russian' quartets (op.33), which on publication are dedicated to him

Mozart's Marriage of Figaro premieres in Vienna and then has a huge success in Prague

The emperor Joseph II is reported to have told Mozart that his opera The Marriage of Figaro has 'too many notes'

Mozart's opera Don Giovanni has its premiere in Prague

Mozart's opera Così fan Tutte has its premiere in Vienna, in the court theatre of Joseph II

Joseph Haydn sets off for England, where impresario Johann Peter Salomon presents his London symphonies

A stranger arrives in Vienna with a mysterious commission for Mozart to write a requiem mass, just months before the composer's death

Mozart's opera The Magic Flute has its premiere in Vienna in a popular theatre run by the librettist, Emanuel Shikaneder

Mozart dies, at the age of just 35, leaving his Requiem unfinished

A French officer, Rouget de Lisle, writes a stirring anthem for France, soon to be known as the Marseillaise

Beethoven leaves Bonn and goes to Vienna to study composition with Haydn

Virtuoso violinist Nicolo Paganini gives his first public performances, in churches in his native Genoa

Beethoven makes his first public appearance in Vienna as a pianist, playing either his first or second piano concerto

Haydn's oratorio The Creation has its first public performance in Vienna, in the Burgtheater

Beethoven seeks medical advice for a very alarming condition, an increasing deafness

Nelson and the Hamiltons visit Haydn, who composes a cantata on the Battle of the Nile for Emma Hamilton to sing

At Heiligenstadt, near Vienna, Beethoven writes a letter, to be read only after his death, confronting the tragedy of his inexorable decline into deafness

Beethoven changes the dedication of his third symphony on hearing that his hero, Napoleon, has made himself an emperor

The first version of Beethoven's only opera, Fidelio, is performed in Vienna under the title Leonore

Beethoven's sixth symphony (the Pastoral) has its first performance in Vienna

Beethoven's Mass in D (the Missa Solemnis) has its first performance in Vienna, though still incomplete

The final version of Beethoven's opera Fidelio has its premiere in Vienna

Rossini's opera The Barber of Seville has its premiere in Rome

Carl Maria von Weber's opera Der Freischutz has its premiere in Berlin

Austrian composer Franz Schubert begins, but never completes, the great work now known as his 'Unifinished' symphony (no 8.in B minor)