1803 in music

Events

• 5 April – first performance of Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto
• 26 December – Haydn performs his last public concert, conducting The Seven Last Words of Christ

  Classical music

• Ludwig van Beethoven
• *Violin Sonata No. 7 published, composed between 1801 and 1802
• *Violin Sonata No. 9
• *Trio in E-flat major, Op. 38
• *3 Marches, Op. 45
• *Piano Sonata No. 21 "Waldstein" started, Op. 53
• *Symphony No. 3 "Eroica", Op. 55
• *Christus am Ölberge, oratorio, Op. 85
• *Das Glück der Freundschaft, Op. 88
• *10 Variations on 'Ich bin der Schneider Kakadu', Op. 121a
• *Minuet, WoO 82
• Johann Evangelist Brandl – Symphony in D major, Op. 25
• Bernhard Henrik Crusell – Concerto for Clarinet No. 3 in B-flat major
• Jan Ladislav Dussek – Piano Quartet in E-flat Major Op. 53 or 56
• Anton Eberl – Symphony in E-flat major, Op. 33
• Joseph Haydn
• *unfinished String Quartet in D minor, Op. 103
• *6 Trios, Liv. 1
• Jeremiah Ingalls – "Northfield"
• Franz Krommer
• *Concerto No.1 for 2 Clarinets, Op. 35
• *Clarinet Concerto No.1, Op. 36
• *Concerto for Oboe in F Major
• *Symphony No. 2, Op. 40
• Niccolo Paganini
• *Sonata concertata, MS 2
• *Grande sonata, MS 3
• *Le streghe, Op. 8
• Georg von Pasterwitz – 300 Themata und Versetten, Op. 4
• Ignaz Pleyel – 3 Keyboard Trios, B.474–476
• Pierre Rode – Violin Concerto No.7 in A minor, Op. 9
• Bernard Romberg
• *Cello Concerto No.1, Op. 2
• *3 Grand Sonatas, Op. 5
• Antonio Salieri – Gesù al limbo für Soli, vierstimmigen Chor und Orchester
• Giovanni Battista Viotti –
• *Trio for 2 Violins and Cello in E major
• *Trio for 2 Violins and Cello in G major
• Joseph Wölfl – Symphony in G minor, Op. 40

  Opera

• Gaetano Andreozzi – Il trionpho di Alessandro
• Luigi Cherubini – Anacréon
• Anton Fischer – Die Entlarvten
• Ferdinando Paër – Sargino
• Giovanni Paisiello – Proserpine
• Antonio Salieri – Die Hussiten vor Naumburg

  Births

• January 1 – Carolina Brunström, ballerina
• January 6 – Henri Herz, pianist and composer
• February 17 – Joseph-Philippe Simon, librettist and actor
• April 2 – Franz Lachner, Bavarian composer/conductor
• April 12 – Anton Wilhelm von Zuccalmaglio, lyricist and composer
• May 12 – Alexandre Montfort, French composer
• June 24 – George James Webb, composer
• June 30 – Thomas Lovell Beddoes, librettist and poet
• July 8 – Julius Mosen, librettist and lawyer
• July 19 – Franz von Kobell, lyricist and mineralogist
• July 20 – Jakob Zeugheer, composer and violininst
• July 24 – Adolphe Adam, French composer
• July 25 – Ferdinand Beyer, arranger and composer
• September 4 – Anna Nielsen, mezzo-soprano
• September 12 – Auguste Brizeux lyricist and artist
• September 28 – Prosper Mérimée, lyricist and writer
• December 5 – Fyodor Tyutchev, lyricist and poet
• December 11 – Hector Berlioz, composer
• date unknown – Jan z Hvězdy, lyricist and writer

  Deaths

• January 2 – Franz Ignaz von Beecke, composer
• January 18 – Sylvain Maréchal, lyricist and writer
• January 28 – Karl von Marinelli, theatre manager
• February 5 – Giovanni Battista Casti, librettist and poet
• February 6 – Gasparo Angiolini, dancer, choreographer and composer
• February 16 – Giovanni Punto, composer and horn player
• February 18 – Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim, lyricist and poet
• March 14 – Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, lyricist and poet
• June 6 – Louis Gallodier, dancer and choreographer
• July 5 – William Jackson, composer and organist
• July 14 – Esteban Salas y Castro, Cuban composer
• August 29 – Giovanni de Gamerra, librettist and cleric
• September 5 – François Devienne, composer
• September 17 – Franz Xaver Süssmayr, composer
• September 21 – John Christopher Moller, composer and music publisher
• October 8 – Vittorio Alfieri, librettist and dramatist
• December 18 – Johann Gottfried Herder, lyricist and philosopher
• date unknown
• *Johann Becker, organist and composer
• *Johann Christoph Kellner, organist and composer