1785 in music

List of years in music (table)
... 1775 1776 1777 1778 1779 1780 1781 ... 1782 1783 1784 1785 1786 1787 1788 ... 1789 1790 1791 1792 1793 1794 1795 ...
Art Archaeology Architecture Literature Music Philosophy Science +...

Events

• January 1 - Giovanni Paisiello officially leaves his employment at the court of Catherine the Great in Russia, having returned to Italy some months earlier.^[1]
• January 12 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail is produced by impresario Pasquale Bondini's company in Dresden.^[2]
• January 15 - The first performance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's six string quartets dedicated to Joseph Haydn (or possibly just three of them) is given in Mozart's own home.^[1]
• January 21 – Soprano Nancy Storace, who was about to give birth, was replaced as Rosina in a Vienna production of Giovanni Paisiello’s Il barbiere di Siviglia by Luisa Laschi, to great acclaim.^[3]
• February 7 - Leopold Mozart leaves Munich for Vienna, with a pupil, Heinrich Marchand, in tow.^[1]
• February 26 – Polish violinist Feliks Janiewicz makes what was probably his debut as a soloist in a concert at the Burgtheater in Vienna.^[4]
• March 7 - King Ferdinand I of Naples awards a lifetime annual salary of 1,200 ducats to Giovanni Paisiello, on the understanding that the latter writes one new opera every year.^[1]
• March 28 - Domenico Cimarosa becomes second organist at the Chapel Royal of Naples.^[1]
• September 19 – Amélie-Julie Candeille makes her Comédie-Française début as a singer.^[5]
• October 13 – The Lord Chamberlain, James Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, refuses to grant a licence to Giovanni Gallini for his Italian Opera House in London, unless he appoints a Mr. Crawford as deputy manager.^[6]
• October 26 - Joseph Haydn receives a visit from Venetian revolutionary Francisco de Miranda, to whom he gives a guided tour of Schloss Esterházy.^[1]
• November 22 - The Hermitage Theatre in St Petersburg, Russia, is officially opened.^[1]
• Composer John Antes is appointed warder of the Fulneck Moravian Settlement in England^[7]
• Composer Supply Belcher settles in Maine.^[8]
• Opera composer Michele Mortellari relocates to London from his native Italy.^[9]
• Pietro Leopoldo, Grand Duke of Tuscany appoints Filippo Maria Gherardeschi organist and maestro di cappella at the Chiesa Conventuale dei Cavalieri di S Stefano at Pisa.^[10]
• Violinist Regina Strinasacchi marries Johann Conrad Schlick, cellist & Konzertmeister of the Gotha ducal band.^[11]

Bands formed

• Coldstream Guards Band (16 May)

Published popular music

• "Cara sposa" m. Johann Christian Bach from the cantata Rinaldo ed Armide^[12]
• "Song of the Page" m. William Shields from Follies of a Day, or The Marriage of Figaro^[13]
• "Black-eyed Susan", by Robert Broderip^[14]

Classical music

• Ludwig van Beethoven – Three quartets for harpsichord, violin, viola, and cello, in E♭ major, D major, and C major, WoO 36
• William Billings - "I Was Glad When They Said Unto Me, We Will Go Into The House Of Ye Lord"
• William Boyce, Ten Voluntaries
• Muzio Clementi - Six piano sonatas, op. 13
• Joseph Haydn, Symphonies 83 in G minor "La poule" and 85 in B flat "La Reine"
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  • Piano Concertos 20 in D minor and 21 in C major
  • String Quartet in C, "Dissonance"
  • Fantasia No. 4, K. 475
• Ignaz Pleyel, String Quartet
• Johann Schenk - Die Weinlese (singspiel)
• John Stanley - "Delusive is the poet's dream"

Opera

• Gaetano Andreozzi – Giasone e Medea
• Marcello Bernardini – Le donne bisbetiche, o sia L’antiquario fanatico, Teatro Pace, Rome (during carnival).^[15]
• Pierre Joseph Candeille – Pizarre, ou La conquête de Pérou, Opéra, Paris (3 May)^[16]
• Luigi Cherubini – La finta principessa, King's Theatre, London (9 April)^[17]
• Prosper-Didier Deshayes – Le Faux serment
• Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf –
  • Der Hufschmied (Der gelehrte Hufschmied) (German version, text translated by J. C. Kaffka, of Il maniscalco, 1775), Breslau (13 May)^[18]
  • 25 000 Gulden oder im Dunkeln ist gut munkeln, Vienna
• Robert Jephson – Campaign, or Love in the East Indies, Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, London (12 May)^[19]
• Thomas Linley –
  • Hurly-Burly, or The Fairy of the Well, Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London (26 December)^[20]
  • Strangers at Home, Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London (8 December)^[21]
• Michele Mortellari –
  • Armida abbandonata, Teatro della Pergola, Florence (autumn)^[22]
  • L’infanta supposta, Teatro Ducale, Modena^[23]
• Ignaz Pleyel - Ifigenia in Aulide
• Johann Friedrich Reichardt – Artemisia
• Antonio Salieri – La Grotta di Trofonio
• William Shield –
  • The Nunnery, Covent Garden, London (12 April)^[24]
  • The Choleric Fathers, Covent Garden, London (10 November)^[25]
  • Omai, or A Trip Round the World, Covent Garden, London (20 December)^[26]
• Stephen Storace – Gli sposi malcontenti, Burgtheater, Vienna (1 June)^[27]

Births

• February 2 – Isabella Colbran, coloratura soprano (died 1845)
• March 19 – Pierre-Joseph-Guillaume Zimmermann, composer (died 1853)
• April 4 – Bettina Brentano, composer and writer (died 1859)
• April 19 – Alexandre Pierre François Boëly, composer (died 1858)
• August 18 – Friedrich Wieck, piano teacher, father of Clara Schumann (died 1873)
• September 5 – Thomas Adams, organist and composer (died 1858)
• September 11 – Alpheus Babcock, American piano maker (died 1842)
• November 2 - Friedrich Kalkbrenner, pianist and composer (died 1849)

Deaths

• January 3 – Baldassare Galuppi, composer (born 1706)
• May 15 – Karel Blažej Kopřiva, organist and composer (born 1756)
• June 2 – Gottfried August Homilius, composer (born 1714)
• June 22 - Matthias van den Gheyn, composer (born 1721)
• August 31 – Pietro Chiari, librettist (born 1712)
• November 19 – Bernard de Bury, composer (born 1720)
• December 8 – Antonio Maria Mazzoni, composer (born 1717)
• December 29 - Johann Heinrich Rolle, composer (born 1716)

References

1. MusicAndHistory:1785 Accessed 21 April 2013
2. Peter Branscombe, "Bondini, Pasquale", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001).
3. Christopher Raeburn, "Laschi [Mombelli], Luisa", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001).
4. Jacek Berwaldt and Margaret Mikulska, "Janiewica, Feliks [Yaniewicz, Felix] ", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001).
5. Julian Rushton, Julie Anne Sadie, Robert Adelson, and Jacqueline Letzter, "Candeille, Julie", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001).
6. Anonymous, untitled notice in the Times, no. 251 (Friday, 14 October 1785): 2C.
7. Karl Kroeger, "Antes, John [Johann]", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001).
8. Richard Crawford and Nym Cooke, "Belcher, Supply", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001).
9. Marita P. McClymonds, “Mortellari, Michele”, The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, edited by Stanley Sadie (London: Macmillan Publishers, 1992).
10. Howard Brofsky and Stefano Barandoni, "Gherardeschi, Filippo Maria", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001).
11. Chappell White, "Strinasacchi {Strina Sacchi], Regina", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001).
12. "Music Just Published, by Longman and Broderip" (classified advertisement), The Times, no. 28 (Wednesday, 2 February 1785): 4A
13. "Music Just Published, by Longman and Broderip" (classified advertisement), The Times, no. 28 (Wednesday, 2 February 1785): 4A
14. "Music Just Published, by Longman and Broderip" (classified advertisement), The Times, no. 28 (Wednesday, 2 February 1785): 4A
15. Raoul Meloncelli and Marita P. McClymonds, "Bernardini, Marcello [Marcello da Capua]", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001).
16. Julian Rushton, "Candeille, Pierre Joseph", The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, edited by Stanley Sadie (London: Macmillan Publishers, 1992).
17. Anon., "Italian Opera", Times, no. 90 (Monday, 11 April 1785): 2C.
18. Margaret Grave and Jay Lane, "Dittersdorf, Carl Ditters von [Ditters, Carl]", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001).
19. Anon. "Favourite AIRS in the New Comic Opera", Times, no. 119 (Saturday, 14 May): 3B.
20. Gwilym Beechey and Linda Troost, "Linley: (1) Thomas Linley (i)", The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, edited by Stanley Sadie (London: Macmillan Publishers, 1992).
21. Anon., "Theatre-Royal Drury-Lane (Never Performed) By his Majesty’s Company", The Times, no. 298 (Thursday, 8 December): 1A; Gwilym Beechey and Linda Troost, "Linley: (1) Thomas Linley (i)", The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, edited by Stanley Sadie (London: Macmillan Publishers, 1992).
22. Marita P. McClymonds, "Mortellari, Michele", The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, edited by Stanley Sadie (London: Macmillan Publishers, 1992).
23. Marita P. McClymonds, "Mortellari, Michele", The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, edited by Stanley Sadie (London: Macmillan Publishers, 1992).
24. Anon., “Theatre-Royal Covent-Garden", The Times, no. 90 (Monday, 11 April): 1A; Anon., "Fable to the Comic Opera of The Nunnery", The Times, no. 93 (14 April): 3A.
25. Anon., "Shield's Music", The Times, no. 279 (Wednesday, 16 November): 2D.
26. Anon., "Theatre: A New Pantomime, Entitled Omai", The Times no. 310 (Thursday 22 December): 3A.
27. Jane Girdham, "Storace, Stephen (John Seymour)", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001).