1775
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10 January 1775 Emelian Pugachev confesses to his crimes in Moscow before the Senators of Moscow and members of the Holy Synod.
13 January 1775 La finta giardiniera K.196, an opera buffa by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (18) to words possibly by Petrosellini, is performed for the first time, in the Munich Assembly Rooms in the presence of Elector Maximilian III. It is warmly received.
15 January 1775 After receiving the Last Rites of the Roman Catholic Church and a special papal blessing with plenary indulgence, Giovanni Battista Sammartini dies in Milan, aged approximately 74 years.
16 January 1775 Evening. The earthly remains of Giovanni Battista Sammartini are laid to rest in the Church of San Alessandro, Milan.
The expedition of Captain James Cook aboard Resolution discovers and names Willis Island and Bird Island, and rediscovers and renames South Georgia. He claims South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands for Great Britain.
17 January 1775 The Rivals, a comedy by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, is performed for the first time.
18 January 1775 Berthe, an opéra by François-André Danican-Philidor (48), François-Joseph Gossec (41) and others to words of de Pleinchesne, is performed for the first time, at the Théâtre de la Monnaie, Brussels. Danican-Philidor sends the overture from Paris today and it will not arrive until January 24, but the opera will probably not be repeated.
A solemn mass in memory of Giovanni Battista Sammartini is sung by musicians of the Milan Cathedral and others. Several Sammartini symphonies are played.
21 January 1775 Before a large crowd in Bolotnaia Square, Moscow, Emelian Ivanovich Pugachev is beheaded, followed by the severing of his hands and feet (a symbolic quartering). The limbs and head are placed on public display before being burned. Four other revolt leaders are executed while several more receive corporal punishment.
26 January 1775 The expedition of Captain James Cook aboard Resolution discovers the southern end of the South Sandwich Islands, the southernmost land yet known.
In an effort to wipe out the memory of the Pugachev revolt, Empress Yekaterina renames the Yaik River the Ural River (now Zhayya), and Yaitsk is renamed Uralsk (now Oral).
27 January 1775 Ariadne auf Naxos, a duodrama by Georg Benda (52) to words of Brandes after von Gerstenberg, is performed for the first time in Gotha. It is Benda’s first stage work in German and it finds great success.
31 January 1775 Fabrizio Giustiniani Banca replaces Alessandro Piero Francesco Grimaldi as Doge of Genoa.
1 February 1775 William Pitt’s “Plan for Conciliation with the Colonies” is rejected by Parliament at the first reading.
The Hanover Square Rooms, the newly renovated London theatre built by Johann Christian Bach (39), Karl Friedrich Abel and Giovanni Andrea Gallini, is inaugurated with the first concert of a new season of the Bach-Abel series. The space will be used by concert goers for a century.
La fausse magie, a comédie mêlée de chants by André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry (33) to words of Marmontel, is performed for the first time, at the Comédie-Italienne, Paris.
7 February 1775 Montezuma, an opera seria by Antonio Sacchini (44) to words of Bottarelli, is performed for the first time, in King’s Theatre, London.
9 February 1775 The British Parliament declares Massachusetts to be in a state of rebellion.
10 February 1775 Der Jahrmarkt, a comische Oper by Georg Benda (52) to words of Gotter and Engel, is performed for the first time, in Gotha.
15 February 1775 Giovanni Angelo Braschi becomes Pope Pius VI.
20 February 1775 In an unexpected attempt to diffuse the situation in the North American colonies, Prime Minister Lord North introduces the Conciliatory Resolution to the House of Commons. It proposes to return the power of taxation to the colonies, if their taxation is approved by the King and both Houses of Parliament.
23 February 1775 Le Barbier de Séville by Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais is performed for the first time, by the Comédie française in the Tuileries, Paris.
26 February 1775 British troops sent from Boston to seize colonial weapons meet armed opposition and crowds of indignant citizens in Salem. The British withdraw without shots fired.
27 February 1775 Lord North’s Conciliatory Resolution of 20 February is approved by the Commons.
A second version of L’arbre enchanté by Christoph Willibald Gluck (60) to words of Moline after Vadé, is performed for the first time, at the Versailles opera house. See 3 October 1759.
2 March 1775 135 kg of tea are burned in Market Square, Providence.
3 March 1775 Symphonie Concertante in C, C43 by Johann Christian Bach (39) is performed for the first time, in the King’s Theatre in the Haymarket, London.
5 March 1775 A setting of Misericordias Domini K.222 for chorus, two violins, bass and organ by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (19) is performed for the first time, in Munich.
7 March 1775 Leopold (55), Wolfgang Amadeus (19), and Nannerl Mozart return to Salzburg from Munich.
8 March 1775 In his home laboratory in Calne, England, Joseph Priestley discovers that mice need oxygen to survive.
Taxation No Tyranny, a pamphlet by Samuel Johnson, is published in London. It is “An Answer to the Resolutions and Address of the American Congress.”
10 March 1775 In defiance of Britain’s prohibition against colonial expansion beyond the Alleghenies, Daniel Boone sets out from Ft. Wautage, North Carolina, making for the mouth of the Kentucky River.
19 March 1775 A Portuguese fleet attacks Montevideo but is repulsed by the Spanish defenders.
20 March 1775 François-André Danican-Philidor’s (48) opéra-comique Les femmes vengées, ou Les feintes infidélités to words of Sedaine is performed for the first time, at the Comédie-Italienne, Paris. The reviews are mixed, but the work is generally successful.
22 March 1775 Edmund Burke addresses the House of Commons at length, advocating reconciliation with the American colonists.
23 March 1775 Speaking before the Virginia Provincial Assembly in Richmond, Patrick Henry declares “Give me liberty or give me death.”
28 March 1775 Empress Yekaterina II of Russia issues an amnesty for all involved in the Pugachev revolt.
30 March 1775 Royal assent is granted to the New England Restraint Act. Beginning 1 July, the New England colonies will be forbidden to trade with anyone but Great Britain and the British West Indies.
1 April 1775 Daniel Boone establishes Boonesborough at the mouth of the Kentucky River.
2 April 1775 Il ritorno di Tobia, an oratorio by Joseph Haydn (43) to words of Giovanni Gastone Boccherini, is performed for the first time, in Vienna, directed by the composer.
Two British ships arrive at Marblehead, Massachusetts, reportedly with orders for Governor Gage to act sternly with colonial leaders. With this, almost all the leaders leave Boston, with the exception of Paul Revere and Joseph Warren.
3 April 1775 The first recorded appearance by Muzio Clementi (23) as a pianist in London takes place at the Hickford Rooms.
7 April 1775 While dining with friends, Samuel Johnson remarks “Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.”
14 April 1775 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (18) dates his Violin Concerto K.207 in Salzburg.
HMS Nautilus arrives in Boston with orders for Governor Gage from London. They have declared Massachusetts in open rebellion and order Gage to use force to put it down.
Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush are named presidents of the Pennsylvania Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage, the first anti-slavery society in North America.
15 April 1775 Members of the Massachusetts legislature, which has been meeting in Concord, flee the town amidst reports of British troops about to depart Boston.
18 April 1775 Under orders of Governor Gage, Lt. Col. Francis Smith and 700 British troops set off from Boston across the Charles River, intending to march to Concord to seize colonial stores. The colonials are forewarned by riders from Boston.
19 April 1775 Dawn. British troops reach Lexington Common, 15 km northwest of Boston, where 70 armed colonials wait. In the ensuing action, eight colonials are killed, ten wounded. One British soldier is wounded. The soldiers then move on to Concord. There they carry off what stores they can find and meet armed resistance. On their retreat to Boston they are constantly harassed by colonial militiamen. By the end of the day, 1,800 British troops have encountered a total of 4,000 colonials. 65 British and 49 colonials are dead, while 199 British and 46 colonials are wounded or missing. Colonial forces dig in and lay siege to Boston. It is the first day of the American Revolution.
23 April 1775 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s (19) serenata Il ré pastore K.208 to words after Metastasio, is performed for the first time, in the Archepiscopal Palace, Salzburg for the visit of Archduke Maximilian Franz, youngest son of Empress Maria Theresia. The production is in a concert setting as there is no opera house in Salzburg.
As the news from Lexington and Concord reaches New York City, colonials seize the arsenal and its 600 muskets as well as the customs house and most other public buildings.
The Massachusetts General Court calls for the raising of an army of 30,000 men.
27 April 1775 Antoine Laurent Lavoisier reads his paper “Experiments Upon Vegetables, Discovering Their Great Power of Purifying the Common Air in Sunshine, and of Injuring It in the Shade and at Night” before the French Academy of Sciences. It identifies oxygen as a component of air and that it combines with other metals upon calcination.
1 May 1775 Il maniscalco, an operetta giocoso by Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf (35) to words after Quétant, is performed for the first time, in the Turm-Theater, Johannisberg, near Jauernig (Javorník).
Medea, a melodrama by Georg Benda (52) to words of Gotter after Euripedes, is performed for the first time, in Leipzig.
2 May 1775 Benjamin Franklin completes his study of the Gulf Stream. He is the first to chart the Gulf Stream.
7 May 1775 Austria annexes Bukovina from the Ottoman Empire.
9 May 1775 Green Mountain Boys accompanied by men from New Hampshire and Connecticut, led by Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold demand and receive the surrender of the British garrison of Ft. Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain “in the name of the great Jehovah and the Continental Congress,” or so Allen’s story goes.
10 May 1775 The Second Continental Congress convenes in Philadelphia.
Colonials capture the British garrison of Fort Crown Point, 15 km north of Fort Ticonderoga on the New York side of Lake Champlain. There is no resistance.
18 May 1775 Colonial forces under Benedict Arnold surprise the British garrison at St. Johns, Canada, capture HMS George III, destroy boats and other stores and withdraw to Ft. Ticonderoga.
19 May 1775 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (18) dates his aria Si Mostra la Sorte K.209 in Salzburg.
26 May 1775 Clarissa, oder Das unbekannte Dienstmädchen, an operette by Johann Abraham Peter Schulz (28) to words of Bock, is performed for the first time, in Berlin.
31 May 1775 The Royal Governor of North Carolina flees New Bern to Fort Johnston on Cape Fear.
4 June 1775 Ye Powers who rule o’er states and Kings, an ode by William Boyce (63) to words of Whitehead, is performed for the first time, to celebrate the birthday of King George III.
8 June 1775 Lord Dunmore, Royal Governor of Virginia, takes refuge aboard HMS Fowey at Yorktown.
The graduating class of Rhode Island College, led by Andrew Law (26) and two others, petitions the president, faculty and trustees to hold the upcoming commencement ceremonies in accordance with the call of the Continental Congress to “discourage every species of extravagance and dissipation.”
10 June 1775 In Como, Alessandro Volta writes to Joseph Priestley that he has invented an electrophorus for the purpose of creating and storing electricity. It has already been developed by Swedish Professor Johannes Wilcke in 1762.
11 June 1775 Armed lumbermen take over the British cutter HMS Margetta at Machias, Maine district.
12 June 1775 Governor Gage proclaims martial law in Massachusetts promising pardons to all who pledge allegiance to the crown, except for Samuel Adams and John Hancock.
14 June 1775 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (18) dates his Violin Concerto K.211 in Salzburg.
The Continental Congress authorizes the raising of six companies of riflemen, the first Continental Army.
15 June 1775 The Continental Congress chooses George Washington to be commander-in-chief of the Continental Army.
16 June 1775 1,200 colonials fortify Breeds Hill overlooking Boston from the north.
George Washington accepts command of the Continental Army in Philadelphia.
17 June 1775 British ships bombard Charles Town, Massachusetts setting the town on fire. British troops assault colonial fortifications on Breeds Hill just north of Boston. After twice repulsing the attackers, the colonials are overrun when their ammunition gives out. The British suffer 1,054 casualties, almost half of their attacking strength. Colonials lose 100 dead, 267 wounded and 30 captured.
21 June 1775 Karl Wilhelm replaces Karl as Prince of Nassau-Usingen.
24 June 1775 William Boyce (63) files his will, leaving all his possessions to his wife and children.
3 July 1775 George Washington assumes command of all colonial forces on Cambridge Common, Massachusetts.
5 July 1775 William Crotch is born in Norwich, the youngest son of Michael Crotch, a master carpenter, and Isabella Crotch.
The Continental Congress adopts the Olive Branch Petition to King George. It restates the colonial grievances and requests the king to solve the problem without further bloodshed. It will not be received by the king.
7 July 1775 Johann Christian Bach (39) and the painter Thomas Gainsborough, returning to London from Bath by coach, are set upon by two highwaymen two kilometers from Hammersmith. The thieves relieve Bach of his gold watch and chain and Gainsborough of his watch and two guineas. The robbers will be caught and condemned to death.
Dervis Mehmed Pasha replaces Izzet Mehmed Pasha as Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire.
12 July 1775 Colonials capture Fort Charlotte, South Carolina, 80 km north of Augusta, Georgia.
18 July 1775 The royal governor of North Carolina takes refuge aboard HMS Cruzier in the Cape Fear River.
25 July 1775 James Cook returns to England at the end of his second voyage. In three years in southern waters he has lost only four men, an unprecedented feat.
26 July 1775 The British cabinet resolves to send 2,000 more troops to Boston.
Benjamin Franklin is chosen as Postmaster-General by the Continental Congress.
1 August 1775 La Cythère assiégée, an opéra-ballet by Christoph Willibald Gluck (61) to words of Favart, is performed for the first time, at the Académie Royale, Paris. It is a revision of Gluck’s 1759 opéra-comique. The response is not favorable.
5 August 1775 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (18) dates his Serenade K.204 in Salzburg.
17 August 1775 Two-year-old Joseph Franz Maria replaces Johann Franz Wilhelm as Count of Salm Reifferscheid zu Dyck under regency.
20 August 1775 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (18) dates his March K. 214 in Salzburg.
22 August 1775 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (18) dates his Piano Sonata K.284 in Salzburg.
23 August 1775 Mass in C by Luigi Cherubini (14) is performed for the first time, in Florence.
King George III declares the American colonies to be in open rebellion.
29 August 1775 Joseph Haydn’s (43) dramma giocoso L’incontro improvviso to words of Friberth after Dancourt is performed for the first time, at Esterháza Palace for a state visit by Archduke Ferdinand and his consort Beatrice d’Este.
Gott der Herr ist meine Stärke for chorus and strings by Johannes Herbst (40) is performed for the first time.
2 September 1775 Aires de Sá e Melo replaces Luís da Cunha Manuel as Secretary of State (prime minister) of Portugal.
A hurricane hits the coast of North Carolina and over the next week will travel as far north as Nova Scotia. Over 4,000 people will be killed.
5 September 1775 Antoine Laurent Lavoisier reads his “Memoir on Combustion in General” before the French Academy of Sciences. He debunks Stahl’s phlogiston theory and puts forth his own ideas about combustion.
9 September 1775 La finta scema, a commedia per musica by Antonio Salieri (25) to words of De Gamerra, is performed for the first time, in the Burgtheater, Vienna. The composer finds the singing substandard and will write that “this music was esteemed more than it was applauded.”
11 September 1775 Colonel Benedict Arnold and 1,100 men set out from Cambridge making for Quebec, without permission of General Washington.
12 September 1775 The British government requests 20,000 soldiers from Russia for service in America.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (19) dates his Violin Concerto K.216 in Salzburg.
13 September 1775 Andrew Law (26) graduates from Rhode Island college, in the manner requested on 8 June.
25 September 1775 In a poorly organized attack on Montreal, Ethan Allen and 40 of his men are captured.
26 September 1775 Philipp Franz Wilhelm Ignaz Peter replaces Franz Georg Karl Anton as Count of Leyen and Hohengeroldseck.
Two pastorales by François-Joseph Gossec (41) to words of Chabanon de Maugris are performed for the first time, at the Paris Opéra: Alexis et Daphné and Philémon et Baucis.
28 September 1775 Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (61) writes to Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia sending him several compositions hoping to have them performed.
6 October 1775 Leopold Mozart (55) writes to Breitkopf in Leipzig offering any of Wolfgang’s (19) compositions for publishing. Breitkopf will politely decline.
7 October 1775 A British squadron bombards Bristol, Rhode Island, for 90 minutes. They leave after the town sends out 40 sheep.
10 October 1775 Governor Gage is replaced as British commander in Boston by General Sir William Howe.
13 October 1775 The Continental Congress votes to buy two ships, the first of the Continental Navy.
18 October 1775 In retaliation for colonial privateers, a British ship bombards Falmouth (Portland), Maine district for nine hours. No one is killed, but 417 buildings and eleven ships are destroyed.
19 October 1775 The royal governor of New York seeks the refuge of HMS Duchess of Gordon in the harbor of the city.
23 October 1775 American Stephen Sayre is arrested in London on suspicion of plotting the kidnapping of King George III.
24 October 1775 King Ferdinando IV of Naples orders performances of Socrate immaginario by Giovanni Paisiello (35) to words of Lorenzi halted. He finds the libretto “indiscreet.”
Lord Dunmore, Royal Governor of Virginia, flees to a British warship and orders the bombardment of Hampton Creek. Two attempts by the British to destroy the town are beaten off by colonials.
26 October 1775 60,000 people turn out to see King George III ride through London to Westminster to open Parliament. The King tells Parliament that the American colonies are in rebellion and that he intends to deal swiftly and harshly with the rebels.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (18) dates his aria Voi avete un cor fedele K.217 in Salzburg.
28 October 1775 Stephen Sayre is brought to court in London on charges of treason. Testifying against him is fellow American Lt. Francis Robinson, presently stationed in the Tower. Robinson says that Sayre told him of a plot to kidnap King George and hold him in the Tower. Sayre consistently denies the charges and without corroborating evidence, the case is dismissed. London newspapers treat the whole affair as a farce. Sayre will win a judgment of £1,000 for false arrest against William Henry, Earl of Rochford, who signed the arrest warrant.
May-Day, or The Little Gipsy, a musical farce by Thomas Augustine Arne (65) to words of Garrick is performed for the first time, in Drury Lane Theatre, London.
2 November 1775 The British garrison at St. John’s surrenders after a colonial siege of 55 days. This leaves Montreal unprotected.
5 November 1775 Johann Pfalzgraf zu Gelnhausen replaces Christian III as Count of Birkenfeld. He is replaced as Duke of Palatinate-Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld by Karl III August Christian, Pfalzgraf von Birkenfeld.
Lucio Silla, an opera by Johann Christian Bach (40) to words of Verazi after De Gamerra, is performed for the first time, in the Mannheim Hoftheater. The court watches the opera in the knowledge that Duke Christian is near death. News of his end reaches them as the opera concludes.
Esek Hopkins is appointed commander of the Continental Navy at Philadelphia.
7 November 1775 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe arrives in Weimar, encouraged there by Duke Carl August. He will live there for the rest of his life.
John Murray, Lord Dunmore, Royal Governor of Virginia, from the protection of a British ship off Norfolk, declares martial law in the province and promises freedom to every slave that joins his cause.
11 November 1775 The Naples Cappella Reale grants Niccolò Piccinni (47) a one-year leave of absence on condition that one-quarter of his salary go to a replacement. He will travel to Rome but will return by next March.
13 November 1775 Empress Yekaterina II promulgates her Statute for the Administration of the Provinces of the Russian Empire. It decentralizes government and the courts. Elected representatives of different classes will be recruited into the government.
Colonial forces occupy Montreal while the expedition led by Benedict Arnold arrives at the St. Lawrence opposite Quebec.
3 December 1775 Colonial troops from Montreal meet with those already encamped near Quebec.
8 December 1775 Today marks the first recorded use of digitalis by William Withering, an English physician, which he developed from foxglove. The patient, who complains of “an asthma” is treated successfully.
Colonial forces lay siege to Quebec.
9 December 1775 An expedition led by Colonel Henry Knox departs from Fort Ticonderoga south down Lake George. They are transporting 58 mortars and cannon from the fort to the Continental Army surrounding Boston. The total weight to be transported almost 500 km is estimated at over 50,000 kg.
Colonials advancing on Norfolk, Virginia are met by a British force commanded by Lord Dunmore, the Royal Governor. Two separate British attacks are repulsed with heavy losses.
14 December 1775 Maximilian Christoph von Rodt becomes Prince-Bishop of Constance.
16 December 1775 François-Adrien Boieldieu is born near Rouen, the first of three children born to Jacques François Adrien Boieldieu, a clerk in the secretariat of the Rouen archdiocese, and Anne-Marguerite Dumouchel.
20 December 1775 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (19) dates his Violin Concerto K.219 in Salzburg.
22 December 1775 The American Prohibitory Act, forbidding all trade with their American colonies, receives royal assent.
31 December 1775 This is the probable first meeting of the Lunar Society of Birmingham. It is a group of intellectuals, scientists, and industrialists which includes Matthew Boulton, Erasmus Darwin, Joseph Priestley, James Watt, and Josiah Wedgwood.
The first performance of George Frideric Handel’s (†16) Messiah in German takes place in Hamburg, conducted by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (61).
Colonial forces attack Quebec in a blinding snowstorm. They are repulsed by the British defenders with heavy losses.
©2004-2012 Paul Scharfenberger
3 June 2012
Last Updated (Sunday, 03 June 2012 04:48)