1755
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1 January 1755 As Rome of old, for Halcion Days, an ode by Maurice Greene (58) to words of Cibber, is performed for the first time.
6 January 1755 Montezuma, an opera by Karl Heinrich Graun (51) to words of King Friedrich II, translated by Tagliazucchi, is performed for the first time, at the Berlin Opera.
7 January 1755 Adam Friedrich Count von Seinsheim replaces Karl Philip Greiffenklau von Vollraths as Duke-Bishop of Würzburg.
11 January 1755 Pancrace Royer, director of the Concerts spirituels, dies in Paris. His place will be taken by Jean-Joseph Cassanea de Mondonville (43).
22 January 1755 Meeting in emergency session, the British cabinet decides to intercept a squadron carrying six battalions of French troops to Canada.
25 January 1755 Empress Yelizaveta signs a decree creating Moscow University.
10 February 1755 Charles-Louis de Secondat, baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu dies in Paris at the age of 66.
11 February 1755 Pelope, an opera seria by Niccolò Jommelli (40) to words of Verazi, is performed for the first time, at the Ducal Theatre, Stuttgart.
13 February 1755 In the Treaty of Gijanti, The Dutch East India Company recognizes Sultan Hamengkubuwono in return for an alliance against the rebel Mas Said. Yogyakarta and Surakarta are made separate principalities.
16 February 1755 Hekimoglu Ali Pasha replaces Köse Bahir Mustafa Pasha as Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire.
27 February 1755 Cephalus and Prokris, an opera seria by Francesco Araja to words of Sumarokov, is performed for the first time, at the Court Theatre, St. Petersburg. It is the first opera in Russian to be performed by Russian artists.
12 March 1755 A steam engine is used for the first time in North America, in New Barbados Neck (North Arlington), New Jersey, to pump water out of a copper mine.
14 March 1755 Immanuel Kant dedicates his book Universal Natural History and the Theory of Heavens to King Friedrich the Great of Prussia. In this work, Kant postulates that the Sun is part of a Milky Way galaxy and when we look into the Milky Way we are looking at the galaxy along its axis. He further suggests that some observed nebulae are other galaxies.
18 March 1755 The Parlement of Paris declares that the 1708 bull Unigenitus of Pope Clement XI, which denounced Jansenism, does not have the character of a rule of faith. They will be opposed by the government. It is seen as a further attempt to gain autonomy for France from the Vatican.
19 March 1755 Two oratorios by Georg Philipp Telemann (74) are performed for the first time, in Hamburg: Betrachtung der neunten Stunde an dem Todestag Jesu, to words of Zimmermann, and Der Tod Jesu, to words of Ramler.
26 March 1755 Der Tod Jesu, a passion cantata by Karl Heinrich Graun (51) to words of Ramler after Princess Amalia, is performed for the first time, at the Berlin Cathedral. The continuo part is played by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (41). His brother, Johann Christian Bach (19), is in the audience.
1 April 1755 Karl Heinrich Graun’s (51) opera Ezio to words of Metastasio is performed for the first time, at the Berlin Opera.
2 April 1755 The Tejo Theatre, designed to make the Portuguese court an operatic center, opens in Lisbon.
10 April 1755 Leopold Mozart (35) writes the first of at least 30 letters to his publisher Johann Jakob Lotter in Augsburg in preparation for the edition of his Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule next year.
15 April 1755 A Dictionary of the English Language by Samuel Johnson is published.
5 May 1755 Christoph Willibald Gluck’s (40) componimento pastorale La danza to words of Metastasio, is performed for the first time, at the Laxenburg, the summer palace near Vienna for the birthday of Archduke Leopold.
7 May 1755 The inauguration ceremony for Moscow University takes place. The University includes three schools, philosophy, law and medicine.
9 May 1755 Britannia, a masque by Thomas Augustine Arne (45) to words of Mallett, is performed for the first time, at Drury Lane Theatre, London.
19 May 1755 Naili Abdullah Pasha replaces Hekimoglu Ali Pasha as Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire.
23 May 1755 2,100 troops from New England sail from Boston with the intention of capturing the French Ft. Beauséjour at the head of the Bay of Fundy.
3 June 1755 British forces from New England begin their attack on Ft. Beauséjour at the head of the Bay of Fundy.
7 June 1755 An earthquake in northern Persia kills 40,000 people.
11 June 1755 British ships capture two French ships off Newfoundland. On board are found plans for a French, Acadian and Indian attack by 8,000 men on Halifax. The French troop transports, however, will reach Quebec unharmed.
Attalo, an opera seria by Baldassare Galuppi (48) to words possibly by Silvani or Papi, is performed for the first time, in Teatro Nuovo, Padua.
15 June 1755 Georg Philipp Telemann’s (74) cantata Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier is performed for the first time, for the consecration of Johann Melchior Goeze as head-pastor of St. Catherine’s, Hamburg.
16 June 1755 British forces from Boston capture Fort Beauséjour, Nova Scotia, at the head of the Bay of Fundy. This precipitates the forced removal of the French inhabitants of the peninsula.
Don Chisciotte, an opera serio-ridicola by Ignaz Holzbauer (43) to words after Cervantes, is performed for the first time, in Schwetzingen.
22 June 1755 French reinforcements arrive in Quebec to bolster the colony’s defenses.
23 June 1755 Giovanni Battista Sammartini (54) marries his second wife, Rosalinda Acquanio, aged 17, in Milan.
25 June 1755 Le cacciatrici, a festa teatrale by Georg Christoph Wagenseil (40) to words of Durazzo, is performed for the first time, at the Laxenburg Palace, near Vienna.
26 June 1755 Iyoas I Iyasu replaces Iyasu II Asma Giyorgis as Emperor of Ethiopia under the regency of Dowager Empress Mantuab Walatta Giyorgis.
9 July 1755 Johann Gottlob Harrer, Cantor of the Thomasschule in Leipzig and successor to Johann Sebastian Bach (†4), dies. Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (41) will apply for the position, but will not win it.
French and a variety of Indians ambush British troops and colonials under Edward Braddock 15 km from Fort Duquesne. 714 people, including Braddock, are killed. British casualties number two-thirds of their total force. Among the survivors is a Virginia militia commander named George Washington.
13 July 1755 Siegmund replaces Karl Anton Joseph as Count of Salm-Reifferscheid.
15 July 1755 The French ambassador is recalled from London.
17 July 1755 Anna Amalie, Princess of Prussia replaces Maria Elisabeth, Duchess of Holstein-Gottorp as Princess-Abbess of Quedlinburg.
25 July 1755 Giacomo Girolamo Casanova is arrested in Venice and charged with depravity and blasphemy. He will be sentenced to five years in prison without a trial but will escape after a year.
28 July 1755 The British Council of Nova Scotia decides that all Acadians (French-speaking inhabitants of the province) must be removed. They have thrice refused to sign an unqualified oath of allegiance to the British crown.
6 August 1755 Karl Georg Ludwig Lebrecht replaces August Ludwig as Prince of Anhalt-Köthen.
24 August 1755 Nisanci Biyikli Ali Pasha replaces Naili Abdullah Pasha as Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire.
28 August 1755 Two works by Georg Philipp Telemann (74) to words of Schelhaffer and Richey are performed for the first time, in Hamburg: the oratorio Danket dem Herrn and the serenata Ihr rüstigen Wächter.
29 August 1755 Johann Stamitz (38) receives a royal privilege from King Louis XV to publish his instrumental music in France.
30 August 1755 Niccolò Jommelli’s (40) opera seria Enea nel Lazio, to words of Verazi, is performed for the first time, in the Ducal Theatre, Stuttgart.
4 September 1755 Georg Philipp Telemann’s (74) cantata O Jerusalem! is performed for the first time, for the consecration of Julius Gustav Alberti as deacon of St. Catherine’s, Hamburg.
5 September 1755 418 Acadian men are taken prisoner by the British at Grand Pré, Nova Scotia. They are informed that all their land is forfeited to the British crown and that they and their families will soon be deported out of the province.
8 September 1755 British and Indian forces defeat the French at Lake George, New York, inflicting 700 casualties. The French escape to Fort Carillon (Ticonderoga).
14 September 1755 Baldassare Galuppi’s (48) dramma giocoso Le nozze to words of Goldoni, is performed for the first time, in Teatro Formagliari, Bologna.
19 September 1755 Great Britain and Russia sign the Convention of St. Petersburg. Russia will supply troops in return for British subsidies.
29 September 1755 Klemens August replaces Johann Jakob as Baron of Olbrück.
5 October 1755 Holder Friede dich zu küssen, a cantata by Georg Philipp Telemann (74), is performed for the first time, in St. Peter’s, Hamburg, for the 200th anniversary of the Augusburg Confession.
Jean-Joseph Cassanea de Mondonville (43) buys a house on the main road of Belleville, near Paris.
7 October 1755 Il rè pastore, an opera by Johann Adolf Hasse (56) to words of Metastasio, is performed for the first time, at the Hubertusburg Court.
8 October 1755 Thousands of Acadian men, women, and children, their lands confiscated, begin loading on to British ships in the Minas Basin, for transport to other British colonies in North America. By the end of the year, about 6,000 Acadians will be expelled from mainland Nova Scotia. Some will escape to Île St.Jean (Prince Edward Island), Île Royale (Cape Breton), New France, and the Mirimachi River region (New Brunswick).
20 October 1755 The Russian government openly declares that it will support anyone who opposes Prussia.
25 October 1755 Mehmed Said Pasha replaces Nisanci Biyikli Ali Pasha as Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire.
30 October 1755 Pierian sisters hail the morn, an ode for the birthday of King George II by William Boyce (44) to words of Cibber, is performed for the first time. Boyce is called upon to compose this year’s birthday ode because Maurice Greene (59) is too ill.
1 November 1755 9:30 a.m. Holy Day worshippers crowded into Lisbon churches feel a slight shaking, a brief pause, and then a major earthquake lasting two minutes, and then another shock. The total time of the quake is ten minutes. After about an hour, the Taugus River suddenly recedes and then crashes ashore, flooding the city. There are several aftershocks. Tremors are felt in southern France and North Africa. Tidal activity is witnessed as far away as Danzig (Gdansk). Somewhere between 5,000 and 15,000 people are killed. Along with most of Lisbon, the Royal Palace, the biggest hospital, numerous churches and monasteries, and the new Tejo Theatre are flattened. Tejo’s collection of texts from the fifteenth through the seventeenth centuries is lost.
26 November 1755 Hearing that Maurice Greene (59) is near death, William Boyce (44) writes to the Prime Minister, the Duke of Newcastle, to request that he succeed Greene as Master of the Royal Musicians. The request will eventually be granted.
30 November 1755 900 Acadians arrive in Maryland.
1 December 1755 Maurice Greene dies at his home in London, aged 59 years, three months and 19 days.
8 December 1755 L’innocenza giustificata, a festa teatrale by Christoph Willibald Gluck (41) to words of Durazzo and Metastasio, is performed for the first time, in the Vienna Burgtheater for the birthday of Emperor Franz.
10 December 1755 The earthly remains of Maurice Greene are laid to rest privately, according to his wish, in the minister’s vault of St. Olave Jewry, London. See 18 May 1888.
13 December 1755 King Carlo of Naples founds the Royal Herculaneum Academy to publish the artifacts uncovered in the ancient city.
24 December 1755 Regina coeli, a petit motet by Jean-Joseph Cassanea de Mondonville (44), is performed for the first time, in Paris.
25 December 1755 The cantata Siehe, ich verkündige euch TWV I: 1333 by Georg Philipp Telemann (74) is performed for the first time, in Hamburg.
©Paul Scharfenberger 2004-2012
1 June 2012
Last Updated (Friday, 01 June 2012 04:59)