1759
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1 January 1759 Ye Guardian Powers, an ode by William Boyce (47) to words of Whitehead, is performed for the first time.
2 January 1759 French cannons begin shelling Madras but they are quickly silenced by the British.
3 January 1759 A British invasion force destined for Martinique arrives in Barbados.
5 January 1759 Voltaire writes in a letter to Élie Bertrand that “Opinion has caused more trouble on this little earth than plagues or earthquakes.”
6 January 1759 The French bombardment of Madras begins in earnest
11 January 1759 French bombardment of Madras becomes so intense they begin to destroy the town. No headway is made against the British fortifications.
13 January 1759 The conspirators who were found guilty of attempting to kill King José of Portugal last September are put to death in the public square of Belém. First, the Marchioness of Távora is beheaded, followed by her two sons. The Count of Atougia and three of his servants are broken on the wheel and then strangled, followed by the Duke of Aveiro and the Marquis of Távora. A last accomplice is burned alive. The entire scaffold is then set alight and the ashes spread in the Taugus River.
Melite riconosciuto, an opera seria by Baldassare Galuppi (52) to words of Roccaforte, is performed for the first time, in Teatro delle Dame, Rome.
15 January 1759 The British Museum opens to the public in Montague House, London.
By this date, Voltaire’s Candide has been published in five countries. (because of the clandestine nature of its publication, the exact date is unknown)
With only 5,000 of the original 9,000-man invasion force, the British begin a naval bombardment of Martinique.
16 January 1759 British marines capture the battery at Negro Point on the west of Martinique and begin landing their invasion force.
17 January 1759 French forces on Martinique begin a counterattack against the British invasion force. The British decide to withdraw.
19 January 1759 British ships begin bombarding St. Pierre, the capital of Martinique. French shore batteries return fire, to the disadvantage of the British.
Believing the Society of Jesus to be in complicity with the attack on King José last September, the Portuguese government confines all Jesuit priests to their quarters.
23 January 1759 British ships begin attacking the French fortifications at Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe. The French return fire. At 2200, after silencing the French guns, the British begin bombarding the town which sets the houses and stores ablaze.
24 January 1759 British troops land at Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe and invest what is left of the town. Almost immediately they begin falling to tropical disease.
30 January 1759 A Royal Navy frigate runs the French blockade of Madras, bringing a small number of soldiers and news that greater help is on the way.
1 February 1759 The Ambitious Stepmother, a play by Rowe with music by Thomas Augustine Arne (48), is performed for the first time, at the Drury Lane Theatre, London.
3 February 1759 Solimano, an opera seria by Tommaso Traetta (31) to words of Migliavacca, is performed for the first time, in Teatro Ducale, Parma.
Etienne-François de Stainville, Duc de Choiseul, French Foreign Minister, meets with the Scottish pretender Prince Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie) at Choiseul’s home in Paris. The foreign minister wants the Prince’s help in his planned invasion of England. Stuart, unsure of the idea, has gotten himself drunk before the meeting. The two do not hit it off.
7 February 1759 Les aveux indiscrets, an intermède by Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny (29) to words of La Ribardière after de La Fontaine, is performed for the first time, in Foire St.-Germain, Paris. The work is a success.
11 February 1759 Nitteti, an opera seria by Niccolò Jommelli (44) to words of Metastasio, is performed for the first time, in the Opera House, Stuttgart, in honor of the Duke Carl Eugen’s birthday.
13 February 1759 Johann Georg Albrechtsberger (23) enters upon duties as organist in Melk Abbey, 80 km west of Vienna.
14 February 1759 A British amphibious assault on Fort Louis, Guadeloupe is repulsed by the French. A second assault gains a beachhead.
15 February 1759 Cymbeline, a play by Hawkins after Shakespeare, with music by Thomas Augustine Arne (48), is performed for the first time, in Covent Garden, London.
16 February 1759 Six British ships arrive at Madras carrying 600 soldiers. The French lift the siege and retreat.
John Wesley declares this to be a day of prayer and fasting to support Great Britain against France.
28 February 1759 Pope Clement XIII grants permission for the Bible to be translated into the languages of all Catholic countries.
2 March 1759 The Lenten oratorio season begins in London with a performance of Solomon. It is the last season to be supervised by George Frideric Handel (74).
9 March 1759 Blaise le savetier, an opéra comique by François André Danican-Philidor (32) to words of Sedaine after Lafontaine, is performed for the first time, at the Théâtre de la Foire St. Laurent, Paris. The work, his first complete opera, is an immediate success.
Gerusalemme sconoscente ingrata, a cantata by Giovanni Battista Sammartini (58), is performed for the first time, in San Fedele, Milan.
11 March 1759 The British leave 500 men at Basse Terre, Guadeloupe and transfer the rest of their force to Fort Louis.
28 March 1759 Elector Maximilian III signs documents creating the Bavarian Academy of Sciences in Munich.
29 March 1759 Two oratorios by Georg Philipp Telemann (78) are performed for the first time, in the Drillhaus, Hamburg: Der Messias to words of Klopstock, and Das befreite Israel to words of Zacharias.
3 April 1759 Les fureurs de Saül, a motet français by Jean-Joseph Cassanea de Mondonville (47), is performed for the first time, in Paris.
6 April 1759 L’Addolorata Divina Madre, a cantata by Giovanni Battista Sammartini (58), is performed for the first time, in San Fedele, Milan.
After the final concert of the oratorio season, a performance of Messiah, George Frideric Handel (74) is confined to his bed by illness.
7 April 1759 British forces capture Masulipatam (Machilipatnam, Andhra Pradesh) from the French.
9 April 1759 After 18 months of service, Johann Georg Albrechtsberger (23) leaves his position as organist at the pilgrimage church of Maria Taferl near Melk.
12 April 1759 British forces land at Arnouville, Guadeloupe and defeat the French defenders.
13 April 1759 French forces gain a victory over British, Hessians, and Hanoverians at Bergen, near Frankfurt.
Halley’s Comet reaches its closest approach to the Sun, vindicating Isaac Newton.
14 April 1759 0800 George Frideric Handel dies at his home in Brook Street, London, aged 74 years, one month and 22 days.
20 April 1759 Evening. The mortal remains of George Frideric Handel are laid to rest in the south transept of Westminster Abbey. The London Evening Post reports, “The Bishop, Prebendaries, and the whole Choirs attended, to pay the last Honours due to his Memory; and it is computed there were not fewer than 3,000 persons present on this Occasion.”
21 April 1759 The French defenders of Guadeloupe ask the invading British for surrender terms.
27 April 1759 French reinforcements arrive at Ste. Anne, Guadeloupe but the French governor of the island, Nadau du Treil, refuses to go back on his surrender.
1 May 1759 Josiah Wedgwood founds his pottery business in Burslem, Staffordshire.
Remaining French forces on Guadeloupe surrender to invading British.
2 May 1759 So träufelt, ihr Himmel, a cantata by Georg Philipp Telemann (78), is performed for the first time, for the installation of Christian Adolf Fiebing as priest in the Waisenhaus, Hamburg.
Ippolito ed Aricia, a tragedia by Tommaso Traetta (32) to words of Frugoni after Pellegrin and Racine, is performed for the first time, in the Teatro Ducale, Parma.
12 May 1759 Louis Antoine de Bougainville arrives at Quebec from France ahead of 17 ships carrying foodstuffs and military supplies but only 328 soldiers. He immediately goes to Montreal to report to the Marquis de Montcalm.
14 May 1759 French inhabitants of Marie-Galante, near Guadeloupe, surrender their island to the British without shots fired.
15 May 1759 The Annual Register is first published. Its editor is Edmund Burke.
16 May 1759 The Marquis de Montcalm brings his French troops to Quebec and begins to fortify the town.
20 May 1759 5,000 British troops depart Schenectady, New York with the intent of taking Fort Niagara.
28 May 1759 Le diable à quatre, ou La double métamorphose, an opéra comique by Christoph Willibald Gluck (44) to words of Sedaine and Baurans after Coffey, is performed for the first time, in the Laxenburg, Vienna.
31 May 1759 Baptists in Pennsylvania force the passage of a law banning the performance of plays.
5 June 1759 The first fighting between the British invasion force and French defenders of Quebec takes place on Île aux Coudres in the St. Lawrence. Nothing comes of it.
6 June 1759 A British force departs Louisbourg making for Quebec.
9 June 1759 William Boyce (47) marries Hannah Nixon at St. Dunstan and All Saints, Stepney.
17 June 1759 When British troops attempt to land on the Île d’Orléans in the St. Lawrence they are met by French defenders. After capturing a small boat, the French withdraw when the entire British fleet makes its appearance.
26 June 1759 A large number of British troops land on Île d’Orléans in the St. Lawrence River near Quebec.
27 June 1759 The British expedition from Schenectady reaches Oswego, on Lake Ontario, where they are met by 1,000 Iroquois allies.
28 June 1759 French defenders send seven fire ships toward the British fleet in the St. Lawrence. But they go off prematurely and the British are able to tow them harmlessly aside.
1 July 1759 The British force from Schenectady lands five km from Fort Niagara.
8 July 1759 3,000 British troops take up positions opposite Montmorency Falls on the St. Lawrence, the eastern end of the French fortifications. The French decide not to attack them, but their Indian allies do. They are beaten off by the British.
9 July 1759 British troops begin the siege of the French garrison at Fort Niagara, where the Niagara River meets Lake Ontario.
7 July 1759 Thomas Augustine Arne (49) receives a doctorate from Oxford.
11 July 1759 French forces capture Minden, in Prussian territory, and proceed to ransack the town.
16 July 1759 Constant British bombardment of Quebec across the St. Lawrence causes widespread fires in the city.
18 July 1759 British ships run the blockade of the St. Lawrence and reach up river from Quebec.
19 July 1759 Fire destroys hundreds of houses in Stockholm. 400 km away, at a dinner party in Gothenburg (Göteborg), Emanuel Swedenborg describes the conflagration in detail to those attending, simultaneous with its occurrence.
22 July 1759 A British force lands at Fort Carillon (Ticonderoga).
The Upper Town of Quebec is destroyed by fire caused by the British bombardment.
23 July 1759 Russian forces defeat the Prussians at Paltzig, Brandenburg (near Sulechów, Poland). The defeated army loses one-quarter of its total strength.
About 1,600 French irregulars from Ohio appear at Fort Niagara.
24 July 1759 The British and Iroquois ambush the French irregulars at besieged Fort Niagara. 500 are killed, 120 captured.
25 July 1759 After a siege of two weeks, the French defenders of Fort Niagara surrender to the British.
26 July 1759 The last 400 French troops in Fort Carillon evacuate and light a fuse to the magazine. It finally goes off at night destroying the magazine and setting fire to wooden structures but causing no lasting damage to the fort. The British enter the fort and occupy it, renaming it Fort Ticonderoga.
27 July 1759 The French defenders of Quebec send a massive fire-raft towards British ships in the St. Lawrence. The effort fails miserably.
28 July 1759 British and Brunswickers defeat the French at Lübbecke, in Prussian territory, 80 km west of Hanover.
31 July 1759 British troops begin disembarking on the northern shore of the St. Lawrence by Quebec and attack the French fortifications. They also attack from the east across the Montmorency River. French defenders force them back on both fronts.
1 August 1759 An allied army (United Kingdom-Prussia-Hanover-Hesse) decisively defeats the French at Minden, in Prussian territory, 60 km west of Hanover, and regain all territory they lost last year.
4 August 1759 Rogers’ Rangers, on orders of the British commander General Wolfe, begin putting to the torch French communities and farms on both sides of the St. Lawrence. The destruction will go on for almost three weeks.
6 August 1759 Schoolmaster and scholar Eugene Aram is executed at York for murdering Daniel Clark, his co-conspirator in several frauds, in Yorkshire in 1745. He will be the subject of a novel and poem in the 1830s.
8 August 1759 Karl Heinrich Graun dies in Berlin, aged approximately 55 years.
Another massive fire destroys 152 homes and the Cathedral in the Lower Town of Quebec.
10 August 1759 Fernando VI, King of Spain, dies at Villaviciosa de Odón, and is succeeded by his brother, Carlos III.
12 August 1759 Russian and Imperial troops crush the Prussians at Kunersdorf (Kunowice, Poland), east of Frankfurt-an-der-Oder. Friedrich the Great loses half of his army and most of his artillery.
13 August 1759 As a result of the defeat at Kunersdorf, some members of the Prussian government leave Berlin for Magdeburg.
Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, the victor of Minden, writes to King George II saying either he recalls Lord George Sackville home or Ferdinand will resign his command. Sackville’s dithering at Minden kept the allies from destroying the French army. Sackville will be recalled and later court martialed and found guilty of disobeying a direct order in the face of the enemy.
Les amours de Flore et Zéphire, a ballet by Christoph Willibald Gluck (45) to a choreography by Angiolini, is performed for the first time, in the Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna.
15 August 1759 The French fleet returns to Pondicherry from Mauritius.
17 August 1759 British ships catch up with the French fleet sneaking past Gibraltar and attack their rear off Cape St. Vincent. One French ship, Centaur, suffers heavy losses and surrenders.
18 August 1759 British ships press their advantage as the French fleet attempts to shelter close to the neutral Portuguese shore at Lagos Bay. Three French ships are destroyed, two captured and only two reach the safety of Brest. The disaster seriously dampens French plans for an invasion of the British Isles.
30 August 1759 Two works by Georg Philipp Telemann (78) are performed for the first time, in Hamburg: the oratorio Herr, unser Gott!, and the serenata Wir dienen der Freiheit.
3 September 1759 On the first anniversary of the event, a Portuguese royal edict implicates the Jesuits in the attempted regicide of 1758. They are henceforth outlawed and expelled. It is a treasonable act to attempt communication with them.
4 September 1759 Dresden capitulates to surrounding Imperial troops.
6 September 1759 News of the victory at Lagos Bay reaches a delirious London.
10 September 1759 British and French fleets join battle off Pondicherry. The French take the most punishment, but the British are too damaged to pursue.
12 September 1759 During the night, 4,600 British troops land at L’Anse au Foulon, just up river from Quebec. They exploit a lightly defended road and move their entire force up the Heights of Abraham (53 m) near Quebec placing them on the plain adjacent to the city.
13 September 1759 British forces defeat the French on the Plains of Abraham, near Quebec. Both of the opposing commanders, Major General James Wolfe and Louis Joseph, Marquis de Montcalm, are mortally wounded in the fighting, within minutes of each other.
17 September 1759 L’huître et les plaideurs, ou Le tribunal de la chicane, an opéra comique by François André Danican-Philidor (33) to words of Sedaine, is performed for the first time, at the Théâtre de la Foire St. Laurent, Paris. The work is quickly withdrawn and rewritten.
18 September 1759 After a siege of three months, the French garrison of Quebec surrenders to the British. The defenders will be allowed to return to France. Property and religious rights of the inhabitants are to be respected. British troops enter the town without reprisal or looting.
28 September 1759 French forces defeat the British at Wandiwash (Vandavasi, Tamil Nadu), India, renewing French morale in the subcontinent.
29 September 1759 The Jorullo volcano erupts in Michoacán, Mexico and remains active until 1774.
1 October 1759 The French fleet once again quits Indian waters for Mauritius. This time, it will not return.
3 October 1759 Christoph Willibald Gluck’s (45) opéra comique L’arbre enchanté, ou Le tuteur dupé to words after Vadé is performed for the first time, in the Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna for the name day of Emperor Franz (tomorrow). See 27 February 1775.
6 October 1759 Burma attacks the East India Company fort at Negrais Island off the coast. They kill eleven British soldiers and many natives, which requires the company to leave Burma.
In the Pragmatic Sanction, King Carlos III of Spain abdicates his Sicilian throne to his eight-year-old third son, who assumes his position as King Ferdinando III of Naples and King Ferdinando IV of Sicily under regency. Treaties forbid the union of Spain and Naples.
British colonial forces under Robert Rogers attack the French-Indian settlement of St. Francis, Quebec. Dozens are killed, including the French priest and all who take refuge in the Catholic church, which is burned to the ground. As the French organize pursuit, Rogers flees south to the Connecticut River.
10 October 1759 The Beggar’s Opera, a ballad opera by Thomas Augustine Arne (49) to words of Gay, is performed for the first time, in Covent Garden, London.
11 October 1759 François-Joseph Gossec (25) marries Marie-Elizabeth Georges in Paris.
17 October 1759 Ten months without pay causes the beginning of mutinies in the French army in India.
22 October 1759 Heinrich VIII von Bibra replaces Adalbert II Freiherr von Walderdorf as Prince-Bishop of Fulda.
30 October 1759 William Boyce’s (48) ode Begin the Song to words of Whitehead is performed for the first time, in honor of the birthday of King George II. This is the last birthday ode written to honor this king.
The second largest in a series of earthquakes takes place centered in Safed (Tzafat, Israel) in the Ottoman Empire. 2,000 people are killed.
31 October 1759 A detachment of Rogers’ Rangers led by Major Rogers himself reaches the safety of Fort Number 4, New Hampshire after their raid on St. Francis, Quebec. They send provisions north to others of their number.
4 November 1759 Achille in Sciro, an opera by Johann Adolf Hasse (60) to words of Metastasio, is performed for the first time, in Teatro San Carlo, Naples. The opera is hampered by a cast which is not up to the demands of the music.
5 November 1759 Ippolito ed Aricia, a dramma per musica by Ignaz Holzbauer (48) to words of Frugoni, is performed for the first time, at the Mannheim Hoftheater.
20 November 1759 In a raging gale, British naval forces defeat the French off Quiberon, Brittany. The French fleet, intended for an invasion of Scotland, loses five ships and 2,500 men. The British lose two ships and 300-400 men.
21 November 1759 Troops of the Dutch East India Company (Dutch, Malay) land on the Hooghly River in Bengal to support the Nawab against the British.
A Prussian corps of 15,000 men surrenders to Imperial forces at Maxen on the Elbe.
24 November 1759 British and Dutch naval forces engage in the Hooghly River, Bengal. All of the Dutch ships are captured.
Der neue krumme Teufel. Eine Opera Comique, a newly written stage work by Joseph Kurz with music from Der krumme Teufel, an earlier Singspiel by Franz Joseph Haydn (27), is performed for the first time, in the Kärntnertortheater, Vienna.
25 November 1759 British and Dutch armies battle on the Plain of Biderra between Chinsurah and Chandernagore, Bengal. The British victory is complete. In spite of this action, the Netherlands remains neutral in the Seven Years War.
The planned French invasion of Scotland is formally called off.
The largest in a series of earthquakes takes place centered in the Beqaa Valley (Lebanon) in the Ottoman Empire. All villages in the valley are destroyed and nearby cities as far as Damascus suffer damages. Thousands are killed.
27 November 1759 The town corporation of Stratford-upon-Avon orders Rev. Francis Gastrell from the town. While living in Shakepeare’s house, Gastrell, incensed at the number of tourists, chopped down the mulberry tree planted by the playwright.
28 November 1759 Kaspar Friedrich Wolff receives a doctorate from the University of Halle for his dissertation Theoria generationis. He shows that specialized organs develop out of specialized tissue and is considered a founder of embryology.
29 November 1759 British forces take the French fort of Wandiwash (Vandavasi, Tamil Nadu).
1 December 1759 Incidental music to Hawkesworth’s (after Southerne) play Oroonoko by John Stanley (47) is performed for the first time, in Drury Lane Theatre, London.
10 December 1759 The French fort of Carangoly (Karunguli), India surrenders to the British.
11 December 1759 Emperor Aziz ad-Din Abu’l-Adl Mohammad Alamgir Padshah-e Ghazi of India dies and is succeeded by Mohyi-e Millat Sha Jahan III Sani ebn Mohyi-e Sannat Mohammad.
13 December 1759 Michael Hillegas opens a shop in Philadelphia specializing in musical merchandise. It is probably the first music store in Britain’s North American colonies.
25 December 1759 Emperor Mohyi-e Millat Sha Jahan III Sani ebn Mohyi-e Sannat Mohammad of India dies and is succeeded by Jalal ad-Din Abu’l Mozaffar Mohammad Shah Alam II Padshah.
The cantata Hier schläft es TWV I: 797 by Georg Philipp Telemann (78) to words of Ramler, is performed for the first time, in Hamburg.
26 December 1759 Ciro riconosciuto, an opera seria by Niccoló Piccinni (31) to words of Metastasio, is performed for the first time, in Teatro San Carlo, Naples.
31 December 1759 Arthur Guinness signs a 9,000 year lease for an abandoned brewery in Dublin. He will shortly begin brewing.
Harlequin’s Invasion, or A Christmas Gambol, a pantomime by David Garrick with two songs by William Boyce (48), is performed for the first time, in Drury Lane Theatre, London. It includes the famous song and march Heart of Oak.
©Paul Scharfenberger 2004-2013
1 June 2013
Last Updated (Saturday, 01 June 2013 05:49)