1774
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1 January 1774 Pass but a few short fleeting years, an ode by William Boyce (62) to words of Whitehead, is performed for the first time.
3 January 1774 An insurgent army of many different ethnic groups attack Ufa, Russia but are driven back.
5 January 1774 Cossacks loyal to Pugachev enter Samara in triumph. Meanwhile, in St. Petersburg, the Imperial government proclaims that Pugachev is a pretender and that all who follow him are criminals.
9 January 1774 In the middle of a snowstorm, Imperial troops defeat Cossack rebels and recapture Samara from them.
12 January 1774 A second version of Alessandro nelle Indie, an opera seria by Niccolò Piccinni (45) to words of Metastasio, is performed for the first time, in Teatro San Carlo, Naples to celebrate the birthday of King Ferdinando IV. It is a big success with press and public.
The citizens of Newport, Rhode Island boycott all persons buying or selling tea.
16 January 1774 Cossacks foment an uprising in Chelyabinsk and the surrounding area.
20 January 1774 22:00 Florian Leopold Gassmann dies in Vienna, aged 44 years, eight months and 15 days. He is succeeded as Austrian court composer and conductor of the Italian opera by his young protege, Antonio Salieri (23).
21 January 1774 The Ottoman Sultan Mustafa III dies in Constantinople and is succeeded by his brother Abdulhamid I.
Peasant insurgents attack Chelyabinsk but are thrown back.
24 January 1774 Imperial Russian forces march out of Orenburg and attack Pugachev’s rebels north of the town. The action turns into a fiasco and the Russian limp back to Orenburg.
The expedition led by Junípero Serra sets sail from the port of San Blas (Nayarit) heading north towards the Californias.
Das Opfer der Nymphen, a prologue by Johann Abraham Peter Schulz (26) to words of Ramler, is performed for the first time, in Berlin.
25 January 1774 Citizens of Boston tar and feather a customs official and march him through town.
29 January 1774 Perseo, an opera seria by Antonio Sacchini (43) to words of Bottarelli after Aureli, is performed for the first time, in King’s Theatre, London.
30 January 1774 The Cook expedition reaches a furthest south of 71° 10’ at longitude 106° west where it is stopped by ice. No one will reach this far south for 49 years. He turns north satisfied that there is no “great southern continent.”
31 January 1774 Pugachev’s rebels assault the fortress of the Cossack capital of Yaitsk (Oral) but are thrown back with heavy losses.
The British Parliament dismisses its Postmaster-General for the American Colonies because of his seditious activities. His name is Benjamin Franklin.
3 February 1774 A peasant army surrounds Kungur, northwest of Yekaterinburg.
5 February 1774 Insurgents attack Ufa, Russia for a second time and for a second time are driven off.
7 February 1774 Antonio Salieri (23) is appointed Imperial Court Chamber Composer and director of the Italian Opera.
9 February 1774 Imperial Russian troops break the siege of Kungur. It is the furthest north the insurrection will reach.
12 February 1774 Despite the fact that he already has a wife and three children, insurgent leader Emelian Ivanovich Pugachev marries Ustinia Petrovna Kuznetsova, a 16-year-old Cossack, in Yaitsk (Oral).
19 February 1774 Imperial Russian troops quit Chelyabinsk, along with most of the population. An insurgent army moves in the same day.
26 February 1774 An advertisement in the Wiener Diarium announces the first Vienna publication of Joseph Haydn’s (41) music: six piano sonatas XVI: 21-26.
2 March 1774 Imperial Russian troops regain control of Krasnoufimsk, southeast of Kungur, from the rebels.
10 March 1774 Russian Imperial troops soundly defeat Cossack insurgents at Utkinsk.
Russian Empress Yekaterina II appoints Grigory Alyeksandrovich Potemkin her adjutant-general.
11 March 1774 The Cook expedition reaches Easter Island, the third European voyage to do so.
20 March 1774 Johann Herbst (38) is ordained a deacon in the Moravian Church in Barby, south of Magdeburg.
23 March 1774 The Fall of Egypt, an oratorio by John Stanley (62) to words of Hawkesworth, is performed for the first time, in Drury Lane Theatre, London.
25 March 1774 The British Parliament votes to close the port of Boston in retaliation for the Boston Tea Party. They also require the city to pay for the tea lost in the Boston Tea Party last December. The act will become effective on 1 June.
30 March 1774 A setting of Psalm 50, Miserere by Niccolò Jommelli (59) is performed for the first time, at the home of Saverio Mattei in Naples on the Wednesday of Holy Week. The composer is at the harpsichord.
Royal Governor Thomas Hutchinson of Massachusetts dissolves that colony’s General Assembly.
2 April 1774 Imperial troops smash Pugachev’s Cossacks at Fort Tatishchev, west of Orenburg, nearly capturing Pugachev himself. 2,500 rebels are killed, 3,000 captured.
General Thomas Gage is appointed Royal Governor of Massachusetts.
4 April 1774 Imperial troops rout the northern force of the Cossack rebellion near Ufa.
Oliver Goldsmith dies in London at the age of 46.
Thamos, König in Ägypten, a play by Tobias Philipp Baron von Gebler, is performed in the Kärntnerthortheater, Vienna, probably for the first time, with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (18).
6 April 1774 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (18) dates his Symphony no.29 K.201 in Salzburg.
Letters to His Son by Philip Stanhope, the Earl of Chesterfield, is published in London.
7 April 1774 The Cook expedition reaches the Marquesas Islands at Fafu Huku, a previously unknown island. They will eventually anchor at Santa Christina (Tahu-ata).
13 April 1774 A second setting of the musical drama Henry and Emma by Thomas Augustine Arne (64) to words of Bate Dudley after Prior, is performed for the first time, at Covent Garden, London.
15 April 1774 Amor vincitore, a serenata by Johann Christian Bach (38), is performed for the first time, in Carlisle House, Soho Square, London.
17 April 1774 Empress Yekaterina II receives word of a favorable response from Constantinople to her peace overtures at the same time she receives word of Pugachev’s defeat at Fort Tatishchev on 2 April.
Václav Jan Krtitel Tomásek is born in Skutec, 113 km east of Prague, the youngest of 13 children born to a linen merchant.
19 April 1774 Emelian Pugachev revives his revolt by taking the Avziano-Petrovsky metal works on the upper Belaya River. They add 400 men to their number and take on badly needed provisions.
Iphigénie en Aulide, a tragédie opéra by Christoph Willibald Gluck (59) to words of DuRoullet after Racine after Euripedes, is performed for the first time, at the Paris Opéra. It was scheduled for 13 April, but when a lead singer caught a cold, Gluck changed the date of the premiere, even though many members of the royal family planned to attend. As it turned out, the royal family adjusted their schedule to accommodate Gluck. More than any other, this work solidifies Gluck’s success with the Parisian public. It captivates the audience, which includes the dauphin and his wife, Marie Antoinette.
Nitteti, an opera seria by Antonio Sacchini (43) to words of Bottarelli after Metastasio, is performed for the first time, in King’s Theatre, London.
22 April 1774 Citizens board the London in New York harbor and destroy a shipment of tea aboard.
24 April 1774 Pugachev and his force take the Beloretsk metal works. He will use this as a base for acquiring new forces.
27 April 1774 Imperial Russian troops regain the Cossack capital of Yaitsk (Oral) from insurgents.
30 April 1774 After six years, French troops evacuate the Papal lands of Avignon.
5 May 1774 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (18) dates his Symphony no.30 K.202 in Salzburg.
10 May 1774 King Louis XV of France dies at Versailles and is succeeded by his grandson, Louis XVI, age 19. Unfortunately, this interrupts the successful run of Gluck’s (59) Iphigénie en Aulide.
12 May 1774 A Boston town meeting recommends that all colonies suspend trade with Great Britain.
17 May 1774 Pugachev’s forces capture Fort Magnitnaia (Magnitogorsk).
The town meeting of Providence, Rhode Island calls for a meeting of all the North American colonies to deal with British policies. It is the first such call by any assembly in the colonies.
Carrying a much more aggressive colonial policy, General Thomas Gage arrives in Boston to take up the post of Royal Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, replacing Thomas Hutchinson.
20 May 1774 Royal assent is granted to two acts of the British Parliament: 1. The Administration of Justice Act provides that royal officials accused of a capital crime will be tried in another colony or England, rather than the colony in which the crime was committed. 2. The Massachusetts Government Act nullifies the colony’s charter and grants the governor direct control over town meetings, judges, jurors, and sheriffs.
King George also assents to the Madhouses Act requiring that all madhouses be licensed by the Royal College of Physicians.
24 May 1774 The Virginia House of Burgesses adopts a protest against the Boston Port Act.
25 May 1774 Il geloso in cimento, a dramma giocoso by Pasquale Anfossi (47) to words of Bertati after Goldoni, is performed for the first time, in the Vienna Burgtheater.
26 May 1774 The Virginia House of Burgesses is dissolved by the royal governor.
27 May 1774 Meeting illegally, the Virginia House of Burgesses declares that an attack on one colony is an assault on all.
28 May 1774 William Billings (27) advertises in the Providence Gazette for a singing school.
30 May 1774 Pugachev’s forces capture Troisk, murder the officers and many of the inhabitants, and carry off a large amount of booty.
31 May 1774 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (18) dates his Concertone K.190 in Salzburg.
1 June 1774 Russian Imperial troops surprise Pugachev’s rebels outside Troitsk and massacre them mercilessly. 4,000 are killed, the rest scattered.
The Boston Port Act goes into effect closing the port of the city. Acts of fasting and prayer occur throughout the colonies.
2 June 1774 Henri Léonard Jean Baptiste Bertin replaces Emmanuel Armand de Vignerot du Plessis de Richelieu, duc D’Aiguillon as Chief Minister of France.
The British Quartering Act is passed by Parliament. It allows for stationing of regular troops in any building in the colonies. This act and the two of 20 May become know as the Coercive Acts.
3 June 1774 Russian Imperial troops once again defeat Cossack rebels under Pugachev, killing about 1,000 of them. Pugachev escapes.
4 June 1774 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (18) dates his Bassoon Concerto K.191 in Salzburg.
Hark!--or does the Muse’s ear, an ode by William Boyce (62) to words of Whitehead, is performed for the first time, to honor the birthday of King George III.
11 June 1774 Emmerich Josef, Baron Breidbach, Elector-Archbishop of Mainz, dies in that city.
17 June 1774 The Massachusetts General Assembly calls for delegates from all colonies to meet in Philadelphia on 1 September. As a result, Governor Gage dissolves the Assembly.
20 June 1774 Russian forces invading Bulgaria encounter a large Turkish force near Shumla (Shumen) and after an eight-hour battle, send them into retreat. Another Russian force defeats the Turks on the Danube at Ruschuk (Ruse).
22 June 1774 The Quebec Act gains royal assent to take effect next 1 May. The boundaries of the Province of Quebec are enlarged to include from the coast of Labrador to the Great Lakes and the Ohio River. English law is to apply to criminal cases but civil cases will be judged by French law. The Roman Catholic Church is recognized and given special status.
25 June 1774 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (18) dates his Missa brevis K.192 in Salzburg.
28 June 1774 Johann Christian Bach (38), Karl Heinrich Abel and Giovanni Andrea Gallini acquire property on the corner of Hanover Street and Hanover Square, London, upon which they will build a concert hall.
2 July 1774 After three days of battle, Osa surrenders to Pugachev.
9 July 1774 The commander of Russian forces invading Bulgaria Pyotr Alyeksandrovich Rumiantsev, rejects a truce request from the Turkish Grand Vizier.
17 July 1774 The Cook expedition reaches Espiritu Santo in Vanuatu, the third European expedition to visit this island. Cook will lead the first circumnavigation and charting of the entire group, naming them the New Hebrides.
18 July 1774 Friedrich Karl Josef, Baron Erthal becomes Elector-Archbishop of Mainz.
21 July 1774 Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes replaces Henri Léonard Jean Baptiste Bertin as Chief Minister of France.
Russia and the Ottoman Empire reach peace terms at Küçük-Kainardji. Russia receives Azov, Kerch, Yenikale, Kinburn and some of the Black Sea coast between the Dnieper and Bug rivers. The Crimea becomes independent. Reparations are to be paid by Turkey. Russia is granted free navigation on the Black Sea.
22 July 1774 Having picked up thousands of followers along the way, Pugachev reaches Kazan at the head of an army of 20,000.
23 July 1774 20,000 peasants led by Emelian Pugachev capture Kazan, put it to the torch, kill the men and carry off the women. Russian troops catch up with the rebels and defeat them outside the city.
24 July 1774 Russian Imperial troops again attack Pugachev’s rebels and force them back.
26 July 1774 Pugachev reinforces and reforms his army and counterattacks against Russian troops at Kazan. After four hours, the rebels are routed. 2,000 are killed, 5,000 captured.
Karl Theodor von Dalberg replaces Emerich Josef von Breisach zu Burresheim as Prince-Bishop of Worms.
William Billings (27) marries Lucy Swan in Stoughton, Massachusetts.
31 July 1774 Pugachev’s forces take Kurmysh without a fight. Middle and upper classes flee in panic at his approach.
1 August 1774 Joseph Priestley isolates oxygen in the laboratory of his home in Calne, England. He will receive the credit for discovering the element, although the German Carl Wilhelm Scheele produced oxygen in Sweden before 1773.
2 August 1774 Orphée et Eurydice, a tragédie opéra by Christoph Willibald Gluck (60) to words of Moline after Calzabigi, is performed for the first time, at the Paris Opéra. See 5 October 1762.
3 August 1774 News of the Peace of Küçük-Kainardji reaches St. Petersburg setting off wild celebrations of joy and thanksgiving. Meanwhile, Pugachev turns south and enters Alatyr without firing a shot.
5 August 1774 Fearful of the approach of Pugachev, officials in Moscow begin planning the defense of the city.
Six Quintets op.11, B70-75 for flute or violin, oboe or violin, viola, cello by Johann Christian Bach (38) are published in London.
7 August 1774 Turning southwest from Alatyr, Pugachev enters Saransk. Over the next three days, more than sixty landowners and stewards will be hanged.
8 August 1774 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (18) dates his Missa brevisK.194 in Salzburg.
10 August 1774 A manifesto issued by Pugachev urges serfs along the Volga and Sura to rise up and kill their landowners. Many are inspired to do just that.
12 August 1774 Moving south from Saransk, Pugachev enters and invests Penza.
17 August 1774 Pugachev’s army captures Saratov from outnumbered defenders.
24 August 1774 High ministers René Nicolas Charles Augustin de Maupeou and Joseph Marie Terray are sacked by King Louis XVI of France. They are replaced by Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot, Baron de Laune as Controller General and Armand Thomas Hue de Miromesnil as Keeper of the Seals.
25 August 1774 After a second stroke, Niccolò Jommelli dies in Naples, aged 59 years, eleven months and 15 days. His mortal remains will be buried next to those of his wife in the Chapel of San Tommaso da Villanova in the Church of San Agostino della Zecca.
28 August 1774 Pugachev and his forces enter Dubovka, capital of the Volga Cossacks, and is welcomed in triumph.
29 August 1774 Halt an dem Vorbilde for chorus and strings by Johannes Herbst (39) is performed for the first time.
1 September 1774 Pugachev’s forces surround Tsaritsyn (Volgograd) and begin bombarding the town. A vigorous response from the defenders causes Pugachev to move further south down the Volga.
A false rumor spreads that British ships are bombarding Boston. By morning, 3,000 militiamen are assembled on Cambridge Common. 10,000 more are within 30 km.
5 September 1774 Captain Cook’s ship Resolution drops anchor at New Caledonia.
Pursuing Russian troops finally catch up to Pugachev’s forces and attack them 100 km south of Tsaritsyn (Volgograd). The rebels are smashed and the survivors scatter in flight. Pugachev escapes but this essentially ends his rebellion.
The First Continental Congress opens in Philadelphia. All colonies except Georgia are represented. Peyton Randolph of Virginia is elected president.
13 September 1774 French Controller-General Turgot liberalizes the grain trade by removing all restrictions on the grain market. It meets with serious opposition.
14 September 1774 Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (60) announces the publication of his oratorio Die Israeliten in der Wüste in the Hamburgischer Unpartheyischer Correspondent.
19 September 1774 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe receives the first three pre-publication copies of Die Leiden des jungen Werthers (The Sorrows of Young Werther) from his publisher. It will go on sale at Michaelmas.
21 September 1774 A convention of Massachusetts towns meets in Worcester and urges all town meetings to create companies of “minutemen”, men pledged to be armed and ready to answer the call at a minute’s notice. It also recommends a system of alarms and riders be set up.
22 September 1774 Giovanni Vincenzo Antonio Ganganelli, Pope Clement XIV, dies in Rome.
26 September 1774 Yaik Cossacks betray their former leader, Pugachev, and hand him over to Imperial Russian authorities at Yaitsk (Oral).
The town meeting of Concord, Massachusetts votes to create a company of minutmen.
27 September 1774 La pubblica felicità, a cantata by Luigi Cherubini (14), is performed for the first time, in the Florence Cathedral.
1 October 1774 Austrian forces march into Bukovina and take control of the province.
An all-day battle between Chief Logan’s Indians and British troops (at Point Pleasant, West Virginia) causes the Indians to retreat across the Ohio River. 88 people are killed.
3 October 1774 Members of the White Lotus religious sect, led by Wang Lun, capture the city of Shou chiang in Shantung Province, China. They shortly move on to take other cities in the province.
7 October 1774 News of Pugachev’s capture reaches St. Petersburg.
The Massachusetts Assembly meets illegally in Salem.
10 October 1774 Antonio Salieri (24) marries Theresia Helferstorfer, whose father once worked in the Austrian court treasury, on the same day as the dress rehearsal for his opera La calamita de cuori.
A large Shawnee force attacks Virginia militia at the confluence of the Ohio and Kanawha rivers. The militia are able to hold their ground and the Indians withdraw with heavy casualties.
11 October 1774 The White Lotus rebels lay siege to the city of Lintsing, China.
A Massachusetts Assembly meets in Concord and becomes the de facto government for the colony. John Hancock is elected President.
La calamita de’ cuori, a dramma giocosa by Antonio Salieri (24) to words of Goldoni, is performed for the first time, in the Kärntnertortheater, Vienna.
14 October 1774 The Continental Congress in Philadelphia adopts a Declaration of Rights containing eleven articles--rights of Englishmen denied the colonists.
18 October 1774 By decree of Empress Maria Theresia, Chistoph Willibald Gluck (60) is created Imperial Court Composer in Vienna, “in consideration of his thorough knowledge of music and his proven especial skill, as also an ability practiced in various compositions.”
19 October 1774 After paying duty on tea imported by his ship in Annapolis, Captain Anthony Stewart agrees to run his ship aground and set it afire, to dissuade an angry mob from killing him.
20 October 1774 All of the settlements of the British East India Company are unified under a single rule. Warren Hastings becomes the first Governor-general.
The Continental Congress adopts the Continental Association, wherein the twelve colonies assembled agree not to import or consume British goods or export to Britain. It will become effective on 1 December. They further resolve that the colonies “discountenance and discourage all horse racing and all kinds of gaming, cock fighting, exhibitions of shows, plays and other expensive diversions and entertainments.”
26 October 1774 The Continental Congress adjourns in Philadelphia.
The Massachusetts Assembly organizes companies of militia sworn to be ready “at the minute” and takes measures to collect ammunition for defense.
31 October 1774 Surrounded by imperial troops, the leader of the White Lotus rebels, Wang Lun, takes his own life by setting fire to the tower he is in at Lintsing, Shantung Province.
10 November 1774 Five weeks of voting conclude in the British general election.
11 November 1774 A massive public funeral service in memory of Niccolò Jommelli (†0) takes place in the Church of San Agostino della Zecca, Naples.
12 November 1774 King Louis XVI’s lit de justice of this date restores the Parlements almost four years after they were dissolved.
14 November 1774 Gaspare Luigi Pacifico Spontini is born in Maiolati, near Iesi, the son of an artisan.
15 November 1774 Emilian Pugachev reaches Moscow under guard and is imprisoned in the Kremlin. A large crowd is gathered for the event.
17 November 1774 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (18) dates his Symphony no.28 K.200 in Salzburg.
22 November 1774 Implicated in the financial difficulties of the British East India Company, former governor of Bengal Robert, Lord Clive, stabs himself to death in his London home.
28 November 1774 Lucio Vero, an opera seria by Tommaso Traetta (47) to words of Coltellini after Zeno, is performed for the first time, at the Russian court, St. Petersburg.
4 December 1774 Il divertimento de’ numi, a scherzo rappresentativo per musica by Giovanni Paisiello (34) to words of Lorenzi, is performed for the first time, in the Royal Palace, Naples.
6 December 1774 Leopold (55) and Wolfgang Amadeus (18) Mozart depart Salzburg for Munich to produce La finta giardiniera.
14 December 1774 Armed colonials seize the British garrison of Fort William and Mary in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and make off with guns and powder. There are no serious casualties.
18 December 1774 Empress Maria Theresia orders the expulsion of Jews from Bohemia and Moravia.
26 December 1774 Olimpiade, a dramma per musica by Pasquale Anfossi (47) to words of Metastasio, is performed for the first time, in Teatro San Benedetto, Venice.
©2004-2012 Paul Scharfenberger
3 July 2012
Last Updated (Tuesday, 03 July 2012 05:40)