1779 in music

List of years in music (table)
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Events

• February 16 – Composer William Boyce is buried in St Paul's Cathedral. The music at his funeral features the massed choirs of St Paul's itself, Westminster Abbey and the Chapel Royal.^[1]
• March 7 – Griffith Jones, aged about 21, is recommended for membership of the Royal Society of Musicians.^[2]
• April – The London Magazine reports on the organ-playing of three-year-old prodigy William Crotch.
• December 26 – Teatro alla Scala in Milan opens its operatic carnival season with Josef Mysliveček's new opera Armida.
• The opera house at Eszterháza burns down.
• Mezzo-soprano Luigia Polzelli and her violinist husband Antonio arrive at the Esterházy court, where she quickly becomes the lover of Joseph Haydn.

Opera

• Johann Christian Bach – Amadis de Gaule (premiered Dec. 14 in Paris)
• Domenico Cimarosa
  • L'infedeltà fedele
  • L'italiana in Londra (premiered Dec. 28 in Rome)
  • Il matrimonio per raggiro
• Christoph Willibald Gluck – Iphigénie en Tauride (premiered May 18 in Paris)
• André Ernest Modeste Grétry – L'amant jaloux (first published, premiered 1778)
• Joseph Haydn – L'isola disabitata
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Zaide
• Giovanni Paisiello – Demetrio, R.1.59
• Antonio Salieri – Il Talismano

Classical music

• Anna Amalia – Organ Trio in C major
• Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
  • Clavier-Sonaten für Kenner und Liebhaber, Wq.55
  • Rondo in E major, Wq. 57, H.265
  • Rondo in F major, Wq. 57, H.266
• Claude-Bénigne Balbastre – Sonates en Quatuor, Op. 3 (Paris)
• William Billings – Music in Miniature
• William Boyce – 10 Voluntaries for the Organ
• Muzio Clementi
  • 6 Sonatas, Op. 2
  • 3 Piano Duets and 3 Sonatas, Op. 3
• François Joseph Gossec – Symphonie Concertante du Ballet de Mirza, B.90
• Joseph Haydn
  • Symphony No. 70 in D major
  • Symphony No. 71 in B-flat major, Hob.I:71
  • Symphony No. 75 in D Major
  • Aria: "Quando la rosa"
• Michael Haydn – Symphony No.23 in D major, MH 287, P.43
• Johann Adam Hiller – "Lieder und Arien aus Sophiens Reise", compilation including pieces from Mozart.
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  • Kommet her, ihr frechen Sünder, K.146/317b
  • Mass in C major, K.317 (Composed March 23, Premiered April 4 in Salzburg)
  • Symphony No.32 in G major, K.318 (Composed April 26)
  • Symphony No.33 in B-flat major, K.319
  • Serenade in D major, "Posthorn" K.320
  • Vesperae solennes de Dominica in C. K.341
  • Church Sonata in C major, K.329/317a
  • 2 Marches, K.335/320a
  • Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra in E-flat major, K.364/320d
  • Concerto in E-flat major for Two Pianos, K.365/316a
• Johann Heinrich Rolle – Thirza und ihre Söhne (oratorio)
• Johann Adolph Hasse - Mass in E-flat major
• Joseph Bologne Saint-Georges – 2 Symphonies, Op.11
• Antonio Salieri – Organ Concerto in C major
• William Shrubsole – "Miles's Lane (All Hail The Power of Jesus' Name)", in The Gospel Magazine and Moral Miscellany, Vol.6.
• Maria Carolina Wolf – "Die Rose"
• Carl Friedrich Zelter – Viola Concerto in E-flat major

Methods and theory writings

• Joseph Amiot – Mémoire sur la musique des Chinois
• Anton Bemitzrieder – Nouvel essai sur l'harmonie
• François Vincent Corbelin – Méthode de Harpe
• Franz Paul Rigler – Anleitung zum Klavier
• Francisco Inácio Solano – Novo tratado de musica metrica, e rythmica
• Francesco Antonio Vallotti – Della scienza teorica e pratica della moderna musica (On the scientific theory and practice of modern music)

Births

• January 8 – John White, organist and composer
• January 15 – Jean Coralli, ballet producer and choreographer
• February 1 – Nikolaus von Krufft, Austrian composer (died 1818)
• February 2 – Georg Heinrich Lux, organist and composer (died 1861)
• February 5 – François van Campenhout, singer and composer (d. 1848)
• February 17 – Wilhelm Friedrich Riem, composer (died 1857)
• February 22 – Joachim Nicolas Eggert, composer (d. 1813)
• February 23 – Johann Caspar Aiblinger, composer (d. 1867)
• February 28 – Henry Darondeau, composer (died 1865)
• March 1 – Jacob Gottfried Weber, composer (d. 1839)
• March 13 – Oliver Shaw, composer (d. 1848)
• April 11 – Louise Reichardt, German composer (died 1826)
• April 21 – William Knyvett, composer
• May 28 – Thomas Moore, poet and lyricist
• June 23 – Johann Baptist Schiedermayr, composer (died 1840)
• July 20 – Ignaz Schuster, bass and composer (died 1835)
• August 1 – Francis Scott Key, songwriter (died 1843)^[3]
• September 8 – Johann Philipp Samuel Schmidt, composer (died 1853)
• September 10 – Louis Alexandre Piccinni, composer
• October 15
  • August Ferdinand Häser, composer (died 1844)
  • Johan Olof Wallin, songwriting bishop
• November 14 – Adam Oehlenschläger poet and lyricist (died 1850)
• date unknown
  • Georges-Joseph-Laurent Lambert, composer (died 1852)

Deaths

• January 20 – David Garrick, librettist (born 1717)
• February 7 – William Boyce, composer, 69^[4]
• February 12 – Hinrich Philip Johnsen, composer (born 1717)
• April 6 – Tommaso Traetta, composer, 52^[5]
• April 7 – Martha Ray, singer, 32/33 (murdered)^[6]
• June 6 – Joseph Inchbald, actor and singer, 44^[7]
• November 27 – Josse Boutmy, organist and harpsichordist, 82^[8]
• December 5 – Hermann Anton Gelinek, organist and violinist, 70^[9]
• December 28 – Gennaro Manna, composer, 64^[10]
• December - Richard Morris, collector of folk songs, 76^[11]
• unknown date – Edward Jones, Welsh composer, 49/50^[12]

References

1. "William Boyce", Eighteenth Century English Music (rslade.co.uk)
2. Philip H. Highfill; Kalman A. Burnim; Edward A. Langhans (1973). A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers & Other Stage Personnel in London, 1660-1800. SIU Press. p. 234. ISBN 978-0-8093-0919-1.
3. Penton, Kemberly (September 14, 2016). "Remembering Francis Scott Key: The Man Behind America's National Anthem 'The Star-Spangled Banner'". Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on October 19, 2016. Retrieved October 16, 2018.
4. The Monthly Mirror: Reflecting Men and Manners : with Strictures on Their Epitome, the Stage. 1806. p. 21.
5. Joseph Haydn (1870). Haydn's Universal Index of Biography from the Creation to the Present Time. E. Moxon, Son, and Company. p. 541.
6. McDonagh, Josephine (2003). Child Murder and British Culture, 1720–1900. Cambridge University Press. p. 73. ISBN 9780521781930.
7. Philip H. Highfill; Kalman A. Burnim; Edward A. Langhans (1973). A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers & Other Stage Personnel in London, 1660-1800. SIU Press. p. 75. ISBN 978-0-8093-0919-1.
8. "Premiere Suite - Josse Boutmy". repertoire-explorer. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
9. Burnett R. Toskey (1983). Concertos for Violin and Viola: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia. B.R. Toskey. p. 289. ISBN 978-0-9601054-8-9.
10. Rochus Freiherr von Liliencron; Franz X. von Wegele; Anton Bettelheim (1884). Allgemeine deutsche Biographie ...: Auf Veranlassung ... Duncker & Humblot.
11. Robert Thomas Jenkins. "MORRIS, RICHARD (1703-1779), founder of the Cymmrodorion Society". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 5 October 2018.
12. Robert Evans; Maggie Humphreys (1 January 1997). Dictionary of Composers for the Church in Great Britain and Ireland. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 189. ISBN 978-1-4411-3796-8.