1818 in music

This is a list of music-related events in 1818.

Events

• June 10 – The Teatro Nuovo at Pesaro in the Papal States of Italy opens with a performance of Gioacchino Rossini's La gazza ladra conducted by the composer in the town of his birth (the theatre is later renamed in his honor).
• October 12 – The first National Theatre Munich opens as a home for the Bavarian State Opera with a performance of Ferdinand Fränzl's Die Weihe.
• December 24 – The Christmas carol "Silent Night" (Stille Nacht) with words by the priest Josef Mohr set to music by organist Franz Xaver Gruber is first performed at St. Nikolaus parish church in Oberndorf bei Salzburg in Austria.
• Johann Nepomuk Schelble founds the Society of St Cecilia at Frankfurt.
• Beethoven receives the gift of a piano from Thomas Broadwood of the London manufacturers John Broadwood & Sons.^[1]

Bands formed

• Besses o' th' Barn brass band is formed in Whitefield, near Manchester, England, by this date.

Popular music

• "The Crimson Banner", words and music by William Blacker
• "Silent Night" (words by Joseph Mohr, music by Franz Xaver Gruber)
• "Thou Bonnie Wood of Craigielea" (words by Robert Tannahill, music by James Barr)

Classical music

• Franz Danzi – Clarinet Sonata in B-flat major
• Schubert – Symphony No. 6
• Ludwig van Beethoven – Piano Sonata in B flat "Hammerklavier" Op.106

Opera

• Michele Carafa – Berenice in Siria
• Gaetano Donizetti – Enrico di Borgogna
• Giovanni Pacini – Atala
• Gioacchino Rossini – Mosè in Egitto

Births

• February 6 or August 7– Henry Litolff, keyboard virtuoso and composer (d. 1891)
• March 1 (2) – Giulio Briccialdi, composer (d. 1881)
• March 31 – Carolina Granberg, Swedish ballerina (d. 1884)
• April 19 – Manuel Saumell, composer (d. 1870)
• June 17 – Charles Gounod, composer (d. 1893)
• July 1 – Henrietta Treffz, operatic mezzo-soprano and first wife of Johann Strauss II (d. 1878)
• September 12 – Theodor Kullak, pianist, composer and music teacher (d. 1882)
• October 15 – Alexander Dreyschock, pianist and composer (d. 1869)
• October 26 – Stefano Golinelli, pianist and composer (d. 1891)

Deaths

• February 1 – Giuseppe Gazzaniga, composer (b. 1743)
• March 20 – Johann Nikolaus Forkel, music theorist (b. 1749)
• March 28 – Antonio Capuzzi, violinist and composer (b. 1755)
• May 7 – Leopold Kozeluch, composer (b. 1747)
• May 10 – Greta Naterberg, folk singer (b. 1772)
• May 18 – Maddalena Laura Sirmen, violinist, singer and composer (b. 1745)
• August 25 – Elizabeth Billington, opera singer (b. 1768)
• December – Mikhail Kerzelli, pianist, violinist and composer (b. c. 1740)
• December 31 – Jean-Pierre Duport, cellist (b. 1741)

References