1748 in music

Events

• April 12 – Possible premiere of Johann Sebastian Bach's last St Mark Passion pastiche (BC D 5) at St. Thomas Church, Leipzig. In addition to two movements by Bach, he incorporates seven arias from George Frideric Handel's Brockes Passion HWV 48 into the work.
• August 1748 – October 1749 – Repeat (possible concert hall) performance by Bach of Handel's Brockes Passion HWV 48 in a version by Bach.
• 1748–1749 – Johann Sebastian Bach composes his Mass in B minor BWV 232 (BC E 1).
• Holywell Music Room, Oxford, England, the first purpose-built concert hall in Europe, is opened.^[1]
• Nicola Porpora becomes Kapellmeister at Dresden.

Classical Music

• Elisabetta de Gambarini — Pieces Op. 2, for harpsichord
• Gregor Werner — Neuer und sehr curios- Musicalischer Instrumental-Calendar

Opera

• Niccolò Jommelli – L’amore in maschera
• Jean-Philippe Rameau
  • Zaïs, premiered on February 29
  • Pygmalion, premiered on August 27
  • Les surprises de l'Amour, premiered on November 27

Births

• February – Hedvig Wigert, opera singer (died 1780)
• February 5 – Christian Gottlob Neefe, conductor, teacher (Ludwig van Beethoven was a student), and composer (died 1798)
• March 5 — William Shield, violinist and composer (died 1829)
• April 20 – Georg Michael Telemann, composer (died 1831)
• August 11 – Joseph Schuster, composer (died 1812)
• August 31 – Jean-Étienne Despréaux, singer, dancer and composer (died 1820)
• November 30 – Joachim Albertini, composer (died 1812)

Deaths

• January 26 – Pierre Rameau, dancing-master (born 1674)
• February 26 – Jean-Baptiste Landé, ballet dancer
• March 7 – William Corbett, violinist and composer (born 1680)
• March 17 – Charles King, choir-master and composer (born 1687)
• March 23 — Johann Gottfried Walther, composer and theoretician (born 1684)
• November 25 — Isaac Watts, hymn writer (born 1674)
• date unknown
  • Jacques Loeillet, oboist and composer (born 1685)
  • David Tecchler, luthier (born 1666)

References