The year 1708 in music involved some significant musical events and new works.

Events

Alessandro Scarlatti Pietro Alessandro Gaspare Scarlatti (2 May 1660 – 22 October 1725) was an Italian Baroque composer, known especially for his operas and chamber cantatas. He is considered the most important representative of the Neapolitan school of opera. ...

returns to Naples from Venice. *

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...

becomes organist and concert-master at the

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together with the neighbouri ...

court. * Arcangelo Corelli returns to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

and joins the household of Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni.

Published popular music

*''Lyra Davidica'' (hymns) * Isaac Watts, ''Hymns and Spiritual Songs''

Published classical music

Tomaso Albinoni Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni (8 June 1671 – 17 January 1751) was an Italian composer of the Baroque era. His output includes operas, concertos, sonatas for one to six instruments, sinfonias, and solo cantatas. While famous in his day as an opera comp ...

– ''6 Sonate da chiesa'', T.So 26–31, Op. 4 *

Louis de Caix d'Hervelois Louis de Caix d'Hervelois (; c. 1670 in France – 18 October 1759 in France) was a composer of chamber music. Biography Caix d'Hervelois wrote music almost exclusively for the viol. Most of his other works exist as transcriptions from his viol ...

– ''Pièces de viole, Livre 1'' * Andre Campra – ''Cantates françoises'' * Francisco José de Castro – ''8 Concertos'', Op. 4 * Evaristo Felice Dall'Abaco – 12 Violin Sonatas, Op. 1 * Pierre Du Mage – ''Livre d'orgue'' * Jean-Baptiste Stuck – ''Cantates françaises Livre II''

Classical music

**'' Gott ist mein König'', BWV 71 **'' Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele'', BWV 143 **Kyrie in F major, BWV 233a ** Fantasia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 537 **Prelude and Fugue in C major, BWV 545a **Toccata and Fugue in E major, BWV 566 (Authorship disputed) **''Fugue on a Theme by Giovanni Legrenzi'', BWV 574 **Fugue in C minor, BWV 575 **'' Passacaglia in C minor'', BWV 582 **''Heut’ triumphiret Gottes Sohn'', BWV 630 **''Fantasia super 'Jesu, meine Freude, BWV 713 **Suite in A major, BWV 832 **''Praeludium et partita dei tuono terzo'',

BWV 833 The (BWV; ; ) is a catalogue of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach. It was first published in 1950, edited by Wolfgang Schmieder. The catalogue's second edition appeared in 1990. An abbreviated version of that second edition, known as BWV2a ...

**Toccata in D minor, BWV 913 **Fugue in C major, BWV 946 *

Antonio Maria Bononcini Antonio Maria Bononcini (18 June 1677 – 8 July 1726) was an Italian cellist and composer, the younger brother of the better-known Giovanni Bononcini. Bononcini was born and died at Modena in Italy. Like his brother, he studied with Giovanni Pa ...

** ''Mentre in placido sonno'' ** ''La presa di Tebe'' ** ''Tutta fiamme e tutta ardore'' * Antonio Caldara – ''Il martirio di Santa Caterina'' *

Henri Desmarets Henri Desmarets (February 1661 – 7 September 1741) was a French composer of the Baroque period primarily known for his stage works, although he also composed sacred music as well as secular cantatas, songs and instrumental works. Biogr ...

– ''Usque quo Domine'' * George Frederic Handel **''

La Resurrezione ''La resurrezione'' (''The Resurrection''), HWV 47, is an oratorio by George Frideric Handel, set to a libretto by Carlo Sigismondo Capece (1652–1728). Capece was court poet to Marie Casimire Louise de La Grange d'Arquien, Queen Marie Casimire ...

'' (The Resurrection) (oratorio) **''

Aci, Galatea e Polifemo Aci, Galatea e Polifemo ( HWV 72) is a dramatic cantata—also called a serenata—by George Frideric Handel. It was first performed at Naples on 19 July 1708; the completed score is dated to 16 June 1708. The serenata was commissioned by Duch ...

'', HWV 72 **''Ah, crudel! nel pianto mio'', HWV 78 **''Aminta e Fillide'', HWV 83 **''Cuopre tal volta il cielo'', HWV 98 **'' Dalla guerra amorosa'', HWV 102a **''Ditemi, o piante'', HWV 107 **''Lungi n'andò Fileno'', HWV 128 **''Nel dolce tempo'', HWV 135b **''Nell'africane selve'', HWV 136 **''Olinto pastore, Tebro fiume, Gloria'', HWV 143 **''Quando sperasti, o core'', HWV 153 **''Se pari è la tua fè'', HWV 158a **''Sento là che ristretto'', HWV 161a *

Jacques-Martin Hotteterre Jacques-Martin Hotteterre (29 September 167316 July 1763), also known as Jacques Martin or Jacques Hotteterre, was a French composer and flautist who was the most celebrated of a family of wind instrument makers and wind performers. Biograph ...

– ''Pièces pour la flûte traversiere'', Op. 2 *

Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist Ships * HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships * ''Elisabeth'' (sc ...

– ''Cantates françaises sur des sujets tirés de l’écriture, Livre I'' *

Benedetto Marcello Benedetto Giacomo Marcello (; 31 July or 1 August 1686 – 24 July 1739) was an Italian composer, writer, advocate, magistrate, and teacher. Life Born in Venice, Benedetto Marcello was a member of a noble family and in his compositions he is f ...

– ''12 Concerti à 5'', Op. 1 * Johann Mattheson – 12 Flute Sonatas, Op. 1 *

Johann Pachelbel Johann Pachelbel (baptised – buried 9 March 1706; also Bachelbel) was a German composer, organist, and teacher who brought the south German organ schools to their peak. He composed a large body of sacred and secularity, secular music, and h ...

**''

An Wasserflüssen Babylon "An Wasserflüssen Babylon" (By the rivers of Babylon) is a Lutheran hymn by Wolfgang Dachstein, which was first published in Strasbourg in 1525. The text of the hymn is a paraphrase of Psalm 137. Its singing tune, which is the best known part of ...

'', P. 18 **''Plauener Orgelbuch'' *

James Paisible Jacques Paisible (ca. 16561721), also known as James Peasable or James Paisible, was a French baroque composer and recorder virtuoso who lived and worked in London for about forty years. Paisible arrived in London from France in September 1673, one ...

– ''The Saltarella. Mr. Isaac's new dance made for Her Majesty's Birthday, 1708...'' * Bernardo Pasquini – Passagaglie and Variation *

– ''Oratorio per la Passione di Nostro Signore Gesù Cristo'' * Georg Philipp Telemann – ''Singet dem Herrn'', TWV 1:1748 *

Antonio Vivaldi Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist and impresario of Baroque music. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lifetime was widespread a ...

**Cello Concerto in F major, RV 410 **Concerto in A major, RV 585 **Sonata for Violin, Oboe, Organ, Chalumeau and Continuo, RV 779

Opera

Giovanni Bononcini Giovanni Bononcini (or Buononcini) (18 July 1670 – 9 July 1747) (sometimes cited also as Giovanni Battista Bononcini) was an Italian Baroque composer, cellist, singer and teacher, one of a family of string players and composers. Biography E ...

– ''Mario fuggitivo'' * Antonio Caldara – ''Più bel nome'' *

André Campra André Campra (; baptized 4 December 1660 – 29 June 1744) was a French composer and conductor of the Baroque era. The leading French opera composer in the period between Jean-Baptiste Lully and Jean-Philippe Rameau, Campra wrote several '' tra ...

– ''Hippodamie'' * Johann Joseph Fux – ''Pulcheria'', K.303 *

George Frideric Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque music, Baroque composer well known for his opera#Baroque era, operas, oratorios, anthems, concerto grosso, concerti grossi, ...

**''

Daphne Daphne (; ; el, Δάφνη, , ), a minor figure in Greek mythology, is a naiad, a variety of female nymph associated with fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies of freshwater. There are several versions of the myth in whi ...

'' **''

Florindo ''Der beglückte Florindo'' ( HWV 3) is an opera composed by Handel at the request of Reinhard Keiser, the manager of the Hamburg Opera. It was first performed (after Handel had left for Italy) at the Theater am Gänsemarkt in January 1708. It wa ...

'' *

Antonio Literes Antoni de Literes (18 June 1673 Majorca – 18 January 1747 Madrid), also known as Antonio de Literes or Antoni Literes Carrión) was a Spanish composer of ''zarzuelas''. As with other national forms of baroque opera, Literes's stage work ...

– ''

Acis y Galatea ''Acis y Galatea'' is a zarzuela by Antonio de Literes to a libretto by José de Cañizares. It was first performed on 19 December 1708 in Madrid at the theatre in the Buen Retiro Palace for the 25th birthday of King Philip V.Nicola Porpora Nicola (or Niccolò) Antonio Porpora (17 August 16863 March 1768) was an Italian composer and teacher of singing of the Baroque era, whose most famous singing students were the castrati Farinelli and Caffarelli. Other students included compose ...

– ''L'Agrippina''

Births

January 26 Events Pre-1600 * 661 – The Rashidun Caliphate is effectively ended with the assassination of Ali, the last caliph. *1531 – The 6.4–7.1 1531 Lisbon earthquake, Lisbon earthquake kills about thirty thousand people. *1564 – ...

– William Hayes (composer), organist, singer, conductor and composer (died

1777 Events January–March * January 2 – American Revolutionary War – Battle of the Assunpink Creek: American general George Washington's army repulses a British attack by Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis, in a second ...

) *

February 8 Events Pre-1600 * 421 – Constantius III becomes co-Emperor of the Western Roman Empire. * 1238 – The Mongols burn the Russian city of Vladimir. *1250 – Seventh Crusade: Crusaders engage Ayyubid forces in the Battle of Al ...

–

Václav Jan Kopřiva Václav Jan Kopřiva (pseudonym UrticaLatin translation of his name meaning nettle) (8 February 1708 in Cítoliby – 7 June 1789 in Cítoliby) was a Bohemian composer and organist. Life Kopřiva was a son of the miller Václav Kopřiva (1672–?), ...

, composer (died

1789 Events January–March * January – Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès publishes the pamphlet ''What Is the Third Estate?'' ('), influential on the French Revolution. * January 7 – The 1788-89 United States presidential election a ...

) *

February 11 Events Pre-1600 *660 BC – Traditional date for the foundation of Japan by Emperor Jimmu. * 55 – The death under mysterious circumstances of Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus, heir to the Roman empire, on the eve of his coming ...

–

Egidio Duni Egidio Romualdo Duni (or ''Egide Romuald Duny''; 11 February 1708 – 11 June 1775) was an Italian composer who studied in Naples and worked in Italy, France and London, writing both Italian and French operas. Biography Born in Matera, Duni was ...

, composer of opera comique (died

1775 Events Summary The American Revolutionary War began this year, with the first military engagement being the April 19 Battles of Lexington and Concord on the day after Paul Revere's now-legendary ride. The Second Continental Congress t ...

) *

February 25 Events Pre-1600 * 138 – Roman emperor Hadrian adopts Antoninus Pius as his son, effectively making him his successor. * 628 – Khosrow II, the last great Shah of the Sasanian Empire (Iran), is overthrown by his son Kavadh II. ...

–

Felix Benda Felix Benda (25 February 1708 – 1768) was a Bohemian composer and organist. He was not a member of the Benda musical family. Benda was born in Skalsko. He was a student of Bohuslav Matěj Černohorský. In 1726 he became an organist at ...

, composer (died

1768 Events January–March * January 9 – Philip Astley stages the first modern circus, with acrobats on galloping horses, in London. * February 11 – Samuel Adams's circular letter is issued by the Massachusetts House of Rep ...

) * April 6 – Georg Reutter II, composer of church music (died

1772 Events January–March * January 10 – Shah Alam II, the Mughal Emperor of India, makes a triumphant return to Delhi 15 years after having been forced to flee. * January 17 – Johann Friedrich Struensee and Queen Carolin ...

) * May 5 –

Johann Adolf Scheibe Johann Adolph Scheibe (5 May 1708 – 22 April 1776) was a German-Danish composer and significant critic and theorist of music. Though much of his theoretical work survives, most of his compositions are lost, though the extant ones demonstrate a ...

, composer and critic (died

1776 Events January–February * January 1 – American Revolutionary War – Burning of Norfolk: The town of Norfolk, Virginia is destroyed, by the combined actions of the British Royal Navy and occupying Patriot forces. * January 1 ...

) * June 19 –

Johann Gottlieb Janitsch Johann Gottlieb Janitsch (19 June 1708 – 1762) was a German Baroque composer who wrote in the galant style, transitional between the Baroque and Classical periods. Life Janitsch was born in Schweidnitz, Silesia (today Świdnica, Poland). ...

, composer (died

1763 Events January–March * January 27 – The seat of colonial administration in the Viceroyalty of Brazil is moved from Salvador to Rio de Janeiro. * February 1 – The Royal Colony of North Carolina officially creates Meck ...

) *''date unknown'' **

Lavinia Fenton Lavinia Powlett, Duchess of Bolton (1708 – 24 January 1760), known by her stagename as Lavinia Fenton, was an English actress who was the mistress and later the wife of the 3rd Duke of Bolton. She was probably the daughter of a naval lieutenan ...

, actress, the original Polly Peachum (died

1760 Events January–March * January 9 – Battle of Barari Ghat: Afghan forces defeat the Marathas. * January 22 – Seven Years' War – Battle of Wandiwash, India: British general Sir Eyre Coote is victorious over the Fr ...

) **

Johann Adolph Scheibe Johann Adolph Scheibe (5 May 1708 – 22 April 1776) was a German-Danish composer and significant critic and theorist of music. Though much of his theoretical work survives, most of his compositions are lost, though the extant ones demonstrate a ...

, composer (died

) **

William Tuckey William Tuckey (1708 in Somersetshire, England – September 14, 1781) was an American composer, who exerted important influence on the musical life of the Colonial United States. He was one of the first American composers to gain notability, and wa ...

, composer (died

1781 Events January–March * January – William Pitt the Younger, later Prime Minister of Great Britain, enters Parliament, aged 21. * January 1 – Industrial Revolution: The Iron Bridge opens across the River Severn in Eng ...

)

Deaths

April 19 Events Pre-1600 *AD 65 – The freedman Milichus betrays Piso's plot to kill the Emperor Nero and all the conspirators are arrested. * 531 – Battle of Callinicum: A Byzantine army under Belisarius is defeated by the Persians at ...

– Angiola Teresa Moratori Scanabecchi, composer and painter (born

1662 Events January–March * January 4 – Dziaddin Mukarram Shah becomes the new Sultan of Kedah, an independent kingdom on the Malay Peninsula, upon the death of his father, Sultan Muhyiddin Mansur. * January 10 – At the ...

) *

May 13 Events Pre-1600 *1373 – Julian of Norwich has visions of Jesus while suffering from a life-threatening illness, visions which are later described and interpreted in her book '' Revelations of Divine Love''. * 1501 – Amerigo Vespu ...

– Giovanni Battista Draghi, composer and keyboardist (born c.

1640 Events January–March * January 6 – The Siege of Salses ends almost six months after it had started on June 9, 1639, with the French defenders surrendering to the Spanish attackers. * January 17 – A naval battle over ...

) *

September 3 Events Pre-1600 *36 BC – In the Battle of Naulochus, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, admiral of Octavian, defeats Sextus Pompey, son of Pompey, thus ending Pompeian resistance to the Second Triumvirate. * 301 – San Marino, one of the s ...

– Christian Liebe, organist and composer (born

1654 Events January–March * January 6– In India, Jaswant Singh of Marwar (in what is now the state of Rajasthan) is elevated to the title of Maharaja by Emperor Shah Jahan. * January 11– In the Battle of Río Bueno in sout ...

) * October 1 (or

January 10 Events Pre-1600 *49 BC – Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon, signalling the start of civil war. * 9 – The Western Han dynasty ends when Wang Mang claims that the divine Mandate of Heaven called for the end of the dynasty and the be ...

) – John Blow, composer (born

1649 Events January–March * January 4 – In England, the Rump Parliament passes an ordinance to set up a High Court of Justice, to try Charles I for high treason. * January 17 – The Second Ormonde Peace concludes an allian ...

) *''date unknown'' ** Moll Davis, singer (born c.

1648 1648 has been suggested as possibly the last year in which the overall human population declined, coming towards the end of a broader period of global instability which included the collapse of the Ming dynasty and the Thirty Years' War, t ...

) **

Johannes Kelpius Johannes Kelpius (; 1667 – 1708) was a German Pietist, mystic, musician, and writer. He was also interested in the occult, botany, and astronomy. He came to believe with his followers – called the "Society of the Woman in the Wilderness" – ...

, mystic and musician (born

1673 Events January–March * January 22 – Impostor Mary Carleton is hanged at Newgate Prison in London, for multiple thefts and returning from penal transportation. * February 10 – Molière's ''comédie-ballet'' ''The Imagi ...

) **

Thomas Pereira Thomas Pereira or Tomás Pereira (1 November 1645 – 1708), also known as Tomé Pereira, was a Portuguese Jesuit, mathematician and scientist who worked as a missionary in Qing China. Pereira was born in Vila Nova de Famalicão. He arrived in ...

, musician (born

1645 Events January–March * January 3 – The Long Parliament adopts the ''Directory for Public Worship'' in England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland, replacing the Book of Common Prayer (1559). Holy Days (other than Sundays) are not ...

) ** Bernard Smith, organ maker (born c.

1630 Events January–March * January 2 – A shoemaker in Turin is found to have the first case of bubonic plague there as the plague of 1630 begins spreading through Italy. * January 5 – A team of Portuguese military advisers ...

)

References

{{reflist 18th century in music Music by year