1770 in music

Events

• January 20 – The new Théâtre du Palais-Royal (rue Saint-Honoré), the first purpose-built opera house in Paris, designed by Pierre-Louis Moreau-Desproux, is inaugurated with a performance of Rameau's Zoroastre.
• May 16 – The new Opéra royal de Versailles, designed by Ange-Jacques Gabriel, is inaugurated.
• Ballet is performed in Oslo for the first time, by Madame Stuart.
• Musikalisches Vielerley is published; a collection of pieces from various composers, edited by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (Hamburg: Michael Christian Bock).

Classical music

• Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach – Fantasia in D minor, H.224
• Johann Christian Bach
• 6 Keyboard Concertos, Op. 7
• 6 Quartets, Op. 8
• Luigi Boccherini – Cello Concerto in D major, G.479
• Joseph Haydn – Baryton Trio in A major, Hob.XI:2
• Gabriele Leone – Six sonatas for mandolin and bass marked with signs according to the new method, Op. 2
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Symphony 11
• Pietro Nardini – Sonatas for 2 Flutes/Violins and Basso Continuo

Methods and theory writings

• Johann Caspar Heck – The Art of Playing the Harpsichord
• John Holden – An Essay Towards a Rational System of Music

Operas

• Christoph Willibald Gluck – Paride ed Elena, Wq.39
• André Grétry – Les deux avares

Published popular music

• William Billings – The New England Psalm Singer, featuring the song Chester.

Births

• February 18 – Christian Heinrich Rinck, composer (died 1846)
• February 20 – Ferdinando Carulli, composer (died 1841)
• February 22 – Jan Matyas Nepomuk August Vitasek, composer (died 1839)
• February 26 – Antoine Reicha, composer (died 1836)
• May 19 – Antoine-Charles Glachant, violinist and composer (died 1851)
• June 4 – James Hewitt, composer (died 1827)
• November 8 – Friedrich Witt, composer (died 1836)
• November 29 – Peter Hänsel, composer
• December 13 – John Clarke-Whitfeld, composer (died 1836)
• December 15 or December 16 (baptized on December 17) – Ludwig van Beethoven, composer and pianist (died 1827)
• December 17 – Johann Friedrich Schubert, composer

Deaths

• February 26 – Giuseppe Tartini, violinist and composer, 77
• April 19 – Esprit Antoine Blanchard, composer, 74
• May 9 – Charles Avison, composer, 61
• October 1 – Louis-Gabriel Guillemain, composer, 64
• December 9 – Gottlieb Muffat, organist and composer, 80
• December 13 – Johann Heinrich Hartmann Bätz, organ-builder, 61

References