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) Baldassare Galuppi – La clemenza di Tito Florian Leopold Gassmann – Gli uccellatori Christoph Willibald Gluck – L'Arbre enchantée; Cythère Assiégée François Danican Philidor – Blaise le savetier Niccolò Piccinni – Ciro riconosciuto Tommaso Traetta – Ippolito ed Aricia Johann Adolph Hasse La clemenza di Tito Achille in Sciro
Classical music Carl Friedrich Abel – 6 Symphonies, Op. 1 Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach – Viola da Gamba Sonata in G minor, H.510 Wilhelm Friedemann Bach – Pieces for Musical Clock Claude-Bénigne Balbastre – Pièces de clavecin William Boyce – "Heart of Oak" François Joseph Gossec – Sei sinfonie a più stromenti, op.4 Joseph Haydn Divertimento in G major, Hob.II:G1 Symphony no 1 in D Major Hob.I:1 Leopold Mozart Der Morgen und der Abend (pieces for keyboard) Nannerl's Music Book Johan Helmich Roman – Concerto Grosso, BeRI 45 Georg Philipp Telemann – Der Messias, TWV 6:4
Methods and music theory
Pietro Gianotti – Le guide du compositeur Cornforth Gilson – Lessons on the Practice of Singing Antoine Mahaut – Nouvelle Méthode pour jouer la Flûte Traversière Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg – Kritische Einleitung in die Geschichte und Lehrsätze der alten und neuen Musik Robert Smith – Harmonics, or The Philosophy of Musical Sounds
Births January 19 – Karl Alexander Herklots, librettist and author (died 1830) January 20 – Giuseppe Bertini, composer, choral conductor, music lexicographer, and priest (d. 1852) January 24 – Francesco Saverio Salfi, librettist and writer (died 1832) January 25 – Robert Burns, Scottish poet and lyricist (died 1796) January 31 – François Devienne, composer (died 1803) February 1 – Karl Friedrich Hensler, librettist and author (died 1825) February 11 – Ernst von Gemmingen, composer and diplomat (died 1813) February 27 – Johann Carl Friedrich Rellstab, music editor and composer (died 1813) April 18 – Jacques Widerkehr, Alsatian composer and cellist (died 1823) 15 May – Maria Theresia von Paradis, musician and composer (died 1824) May 22 – Gervais-François Couperin, French composer (died 1826) June 19 – Helen Maria Williams, librettist and writer (died 1827) 19 July – Marianna Auenbrugger, composer (died 1782) July 29 – Antonio Simone Sografi, librettist and playwright (died 1818) November 10 – Friedrich Schiller, librettist and poet (died 1805) November 27 – Franz Krommer, composer (died 1831) December 25 – John Beckwith, composer and musician (died 1809) unknown date Franz Gleissner, German composer (died 1818) William Matthews of Nottingham, composer
Deaths March 19 – Sebastian Bodinus, German composer (born c. 1700) April 14 – George Frideric Handel, composer (born 1685) June 12 – William Collins, librettist and poet (born 1721) June 22 – Louis de Cahusac, librettist (born 1706) July 25 – Johann Christoph Altnickol, organist, singer and composer (born 1719) August 8 – Carl Heinrich Graun, composer (born 1704) August 24 – Ewald Christian von Kleist, librettist and poet (born 1715) September 4 – Girolamo Chiti, composer October 18 – Louis de Caix d'Hervelois, French composer (born c. 1680) date unknown – Gustavus Waltz, singer
References