1769
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1 January 1769 From this date, Massachusetts refuses to import any goods bearing Townshend duties.
2 January 1769 Sir Joshua Reynolds gives the first of his Discourses on Art at the opening of the Royal Academy of Arts in London. Reynolds founded the academy along with Thomas Gainsborough, and is its first president. He will continue his talks until 1791 and they will all be published.
3 January 1769 Lo sposo burlato, an intermezzo by Niccolò Piccinni (40) to words of Casti, is performed for the first time, in Teatro Valle, Rome.
5 January 1769 The Mozart family arrives back in Salzburg from Vienna.
James Watt receives a British patent for his improvements to the Newcomen steam engine.
Lucile, a comédie mise en musique by André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry (27) to words of Marmontel, is performed for the first time, at the Comédie-Italienne, Paris.
11 January 1769 Niccolò Piccinni’s (40) opera buffa L’innocenza riconosciuta, is performed for the first time, in Senigallia.
18 January 1769 Anton Ignaz Joseph, Count Fugger-Glött replaces Clemens Wenzel von Sachsen as Prince Bishop of Regensburg.
France, Spain and Naples issue an ultimatum to Pope Clement XIII through their ambassadors in Rome to suppress entirely the Society of Jesus.
20 January 1769 Christian Friedrich Karl, Margrave von Ansbach replaces Friedrich Christian as Prince of Bayreuth.
23 January 1769 Ludwig Joseph von Welden replaces Clemens Wenzel von Sachsen as Prince Bishop of Freising.
27 January 1769 Endeavour, commanded by Captain James Cook, passes through the Straits of Le Maire into the Pacific.
30 January 1769 Empress Yekaterina II of Russia issues a manifesto calling for the liberation of all Orthodox Christians in southeastern Europe from Ottoman rule.
2 February 1769 Carlo Rezzonico dei conti della Torre, Pope Clement XIII, dies in Rome.
5 February 1769 The Missa brevis K.65 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (13) is performed for the first time, in the Collegiate Church, Salzburg.
16 February 1769 Giovanni Battista Negrone replaces Marcello Giuseppe Durazzo as Doge of Genoa.
20 February 1769 Kaiser Constantin I. Feldzug und Sieg, an oratorio by Michael Haydn (31), is performed for the first time.
6 March 1769 Le déserteur, a drame en prose mêlée de musique by Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny (39) to words of Sedaine, is performed for the first time, at the Théâtre Bourgogne, Paris.
8 March 1769 Edmund Burke’s motion to start an investigation into the St. George’s Fields incident last 10 May is defeated in Parliament 245-39.
16 March 1769 Voters in Middlesex once again elect John Wilkes to Parliament. Once again Parliament will throw him out.
29 March 1769 In official disfavor, Niccolò Jommelli (54) and his ill wife depart Stuttgart for Naples.
1 April 1769 Philadelphia merchants agree to prohibit most British goods after this date.
13 April 1769 Endeavour, commanded by Captain James Cook, drops anchor in Port Royal Bay (Matavai Bay), George III Land (Tahiti).
20 April 1769 Chief Pontiac is murdered by a Peoria brave near his home at the French settlement of Cahokia (St. Clair County, Illinois).
24 April 1769 Franz Xaver Richter (59) is made kapellmeister at Strasbourg Cathedral.
1 May 1769 The British cabinet votes to repeal the Townshend Acts, but by a narrow margin they retain the tax on tea, to emphasize the point the Parliament has the right to tax. This will not be put into effect until next year.
La finta semplice K.51, an opera buffa by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (13) to words of Coltellini after Goldoni, is performed for the first time, at the Archepiscopal Palace, Salzburg. (There is no hard evidence that this performance actually took place, or if it did, that it was the first performance. But this date is often cited in the sources.)
7 May 1769 Yohannes II Iyasu replaces Iyoas I Iyasu as Emperor of Ethiopia.
10 May 1769 Antoine Lavoisier deposits a memoir with the secretary of the French Academy. In it he describes his experiments disproving the belief that water turns into solid when boiled. He shows that the sediment produced is from the apparatus used. It is the beginning of quantitative chemistry.
16 May 1769 The Virginia Resolves are passed by the House of Burgesses. They assert that Virginians hold the sole right to tax Virginians.
17 May 1769 The Virginia House of Burgesses adopts an address to the King embodying the Virginia Resolves. The royal governor, Norborne Berkeley, Baron de Botetourt, promptly dissolves the House.
18 May 1769 The Virginia House of Burgesses meets illegally in Williamsburg and votes to prohibit importation of all dutiable British goods (except paper) and many non-dutiable goods.
19 May 1769 After three months of conflict and argument, Giovanni Vincenzo Antonio Ganganelli, the candidate of the anti-Jesuit faction, becomes Pope Clement XIV.
22 May 1769 Freue dich deiner Hütten--Gott sei Dank for chorus, harp, harpsichord and strings by Johannes Herbst (33) is performed for the first time.
30 May 1769 Demetrio, an opera seria by Niccolò Piccinni (41) to words of Metastasio, is performed for the first time, in Teatro San Carlo, Naples.
3 June 1769 Captain Cook and his naturalists observe the transit of Venus, the object of the expedition, but the observation is not a success.
4 June 1769 Patron of the Arts, at length by thee, an ode by William Boyce (57) to words of Whitehead, is performed for the first time, to honor the birthday of King George III.
22 June 1769 The Maryland Assembly votes to prohibit British goods.
26 June 1769 Captain Cook sets out to explore the circumference of Tahiti.
28 June 1769 St. John’s Island (Prince Edward Island) is separated from Nova Scotia and made a separate colony by Great Britain.
1 July 1769 Captain Cook returns to Matavai Bay after circumnavigating Tahiti.
3 July 1769 Richard Arkwright receives a British patent for his spinning machine.
7 July 1769 Die Wahrheit der Natur, a singspiel by Michael Haydn (31), is performed for the first time.
13 July 1769 Captain Cook sails from Tahiti, heading north.
16 July 1769 Spanish Franciscan Father Junípero Serra establishes the mission San Diego de Alcalá. It is the first of 21 missions he will found in Alta California.
Captain Cook’s expedition lands at Hvahine in the Society Islands but their scientific exploration is not successful.
20 July 1769 Captain Cook lands at Raiatea. “I hoisted the English Jack and took possession of the island and those adjacent in the name of His Britannic Majesty.” The claim includes Tahaa, Hvahine and Bora-Bora. He calls them the Society Islands because they lie so close together.
23 July 1769 John Antes (29) is ordained at the Marienborn Synod in Germany.
Andrew Law (20) joins the Congregational Church in Cheshire, Connecticut.
31 July 1769 With the departure of Royal Governor Frances Bernard, Thomas Hutchinson becomes acting Governor of Massachusetts.
12 August 1769 Moldovanci Ali Pasha replaces Yaglikçizade Nisani Mehmed Emin Pasha as Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire.
17 August 1769 Ten months after French citizens ran the last Spanish governor out of town, Alejandro O’Reilly y McDowell arrives in New Orleans with 2,000 troops to reassert Spanish control.
24 August 1769 La feste d’Apollo, an opéra by Christoph Willibald Gluck (55) to words of Frugoni, Calzabigi, Pagnini and Pezzana, is performed for the first time, at the court in Parma. A good part of it is taken from earlier compositions by Gluck.
2 September 1769 L’amant d’éguisé, ou Le jardinier supposé, an opéra comique by François-André Danican-Philidor (42) to words of Favart and de Voisenon, is performed for the first time, at the Comédie-Italienne, Paris.
7 September 1769 An Ode upon Dedicating a Building to Shakespeare by Thomas Augustine Arne (59) is performed for the first time, at Stratford-upon-Avon.
Alle deine Kinder for chorus and strings by Johannes Herbst (34) is performed for the first time.
9 September 1769 One day before his 55th birthday, Niccolò Jommelli writes to the Duke of Württemberg, requesting dismissal.
19 September 1769 The Town of Savannah, Georgia votes to prohibit British goods.
20 September 1769 André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry’s (28) comédie-parade Le tableau parlant to words of Anseaume is performed for the first time, at the Comédie-Italienne, Paris.
30 September 1769 Johann Adolf Hasse (70) writes to a friend from Vienna: “I have made the acquaintance here of a certain Mr. Mozard (sic)...a man of spirit, astute, experienced; and I think he well knows his way in the world of music...He has a daughter and a son. The former plays the harpsichord very well and the latter, who can’t be more than twelve or thirteen, even at that age composes...I’ve seen compositions which appear to be his, and certainly they are not bad and not as I would expect to find in a boy of twelve...Certainly he will become a prodigy if as he grows older he continues to make the necessary progress.”
2 October 1769 William Billings (22) and an associate open a singing school in Boston “where any Person inclining to learn to sing may be attended upon at said School with Fidelity and Dispatch.”
3 October 1769 John Antes (29) departs London for the Moravian mission in Cairo.
7 October 1769 Captain Cook sights the northern island of New Zealand and claims the area for Great Britain. He will go on to chart the coastlines of New Zealand and Australia.
11 October 1769 Christoph Willibald Gluck (55) and Franz Lopresti each buy a 25% interest in the Viennese theatrical productions of the Venetian Giuseppe d’Afflisio. Afflisio will be bankrupt within a month.
The alliance between Prussia and Russia is renewed through 1780.
15 October 1769 The Mass in C “Dominicus” K.66 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (13) is performed for the first time, in St. Peter’s Church, Salzburg.
18 October 1769 Tekle Haymanot II Yohannes replaces Yohannes II Iyasu as Emperor of Ethiopia.
24 October 1769 The Town of Providence, Rhode Island prohibits the importation of British goods.
25 October 1769 La rosière de Salency, a ballet pastorale by François-André Danican-Philidor (43), Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny (40), Baron van Swieten and others to words of Favart, is performed for the first time, at Fontainebleau.
30 October 1769 Georg Christoph Wagenseil (54) relinquishes his position of Hofklaviermeister at the Austrian court due to physical disability.
The Town of Newport in Rhode Island prohibits the importation of British goods.
1 November 1769 Carl Ditters (29) begins six months service to Count Schafgotsch, Prince-Bishop of Breslau.
Die Israeliten in der Wüste, an oratorio by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (55) to words of Schiebeler, is performed for the first time, in Hamburg.
7 November 1769 The North Carolina Assembly votes to prohibit British goods.
13 November 1769 Christoph Willibald Gluck (55) writes to Prince Wenzel Anton Kaunitz asking for help in his financial debacle after the bankruptcy of Giuseppe d’Afflisio. Kaunitz refuses.
14 November 1769 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (13) is appointed Third Konzertmeister to the Salzburg court. The position is unpaid.
24 November 1769 Ernst Johann, Duke of Courland and Semigallia, dies and is succeeded by his son, Peter.
28 November 1769 Daines Barrington, MP, lawyer and scientist, submits a paper to the Royal Society called “Account of a very remarkable young Musician.” Barrington visited the Mozart family during their long stay in London, in June, 1765 and examined young Wolfgang. It takes him four years to submit his report because it took him that long to obtain the birth certificate from Salzburg, so to confirm his age.
8 December 1769 Carl Friedrich replaces Joseph Franz Ernst as Count and Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen.
11 December 1769 Edward Bevan of London receives a British patent for Venetian blinds.
13 December 1769 Representatives of Russia and Denmark sign a treaty in Copenhagen pledging to join together in war against Sweden should there be any changes in the Swedish constitution.
Governor John Wentworth of New Hampshire conveys a charter from King George III creating Dartmouth College.
Leopold (50) and Wolfgang Amadeus (13) Mozart depart Salzburg for Italy.
Ivazzade Halil Pasha replaces Moldovanci Ali Pasha as Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire.
15 December 1769 Leopold (50) and Wolfgang Amadeus (13) Mozart arrive in Innsbruck
17 December 1769 Leopold (50) and Wolfgang Amadeus (13) Mozart give a performance in Innsbruck, on their way to Italy.
19 December 1769 Leopold (50) and Wolfgang Amadeus (13) Mozart depart Innsbruck heading south.
24 December 1769 Leopold (50) and Wolfgang Amadeus (13) arrive in Rovereto.
A French royal decree forbids theater audiences to “commit any disorder when entering or leaving; to shout or make a noise before the show begins, or in the entr’actes, to whistle, boo, wear a hat, or interrupt the actors during performances, in whatever manner and on whatever pretext.”
25 December 1769 Leopold (50) and Wolfgang Amadeus (13) Mozart perform in Rovereto, at the home of Baron Giovanni Battista Todeschi.
27 December 1769 Leopold (50) and Wolfgang Amadeus (13) Mozart arrive in Verona from Rovereto.
31 December 1769 After unsuccessful appeals to Prince Wenzel Anton Kaunitz and Emperor Joseph II, Christoph Willibald Gluck (55) writes once again to Kaunitz for help in his legal and financial difficulties after the bankruptcy of Giuseppe d’Afflisio. (Kaunitz’s answer is not extant.)
©Paul Scharfenberger 2004-2012
2 June 2012
Last Updated (Saturday, 02 June 2012 04:42)