May 8 Étienne François, duc de Choiseul, French statesman, dies at 65 May 8 Pietro Longhi, Venetian painter, dies at 83 May 9 Franz Xaver Schnitzer, German composer, dies at 44 May 10 Etienne Joseph Floquet, French opera composer, dies at 36 May 15 Karel Blazej Kopriva, Czech organist and composer, dies at 29 May 23 William Woollett, engraver, dies 1784 Famous Deaths by Year 1786