1784
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1 January 1784 Enough of arms, to happier ends, an ode by John Stanley (71) to words of Whitehead, is performed for the first time.
5 January 1784 Antonio Salieri (33) and the poet François-Louis-Gaud Lebland Du Roullet sign a contract with the Paris Opéra to produce Les Danaïdes.
7 January 1784 Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny (54) marries Amélie de Villemagne, a daughter of his employer.
8 January 1784 Russian and Turkish ministers agree to the Convention of Aynali Kavak. It confirms the Treaty of Küçük-Kainardji, dropping all reference to Crimean independence. Thus, Turkey agrees to Russian annexation of the Crimea.
The legislature of the State of Connecticut passes a law providing for the gradual end of slavery. All slaves born after 1 March will become free at age 25.
14 January 1784 The United States Congress ratifies the Treaty of Paris.
15 January 1784 English chemist Henry Cavendish reads his paper “Experiments on Air” to the Royal Society in London. He describes how he burned hydrogen and noted that water formed on the cooler parts of the container, thus proving that water is a combination of hydrogen and oxygen.
26 January 1784 A group of 78 members of the British Parliament resolve to support a coalition between Prime Minister William Pitt and Charles James Fox. They are named after their regular meeting place, the St. Alban’s Tavern.
2 February 1784 The British House of Commons votes a lack of confidence in Prime Minister William Pitt. However, Pitt remains in office.
5 February 1784 Giovanni Paisiello (43) and his wife depart St. Petersburg. They probably do not intend to return.
9 February 1784 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (28) dates the score to his Piano Concerto no.14 K.449 in Vienna. It is the first entry in his catalogue of musical compositions.
13 February 1784 Empress Yekaterina II formally incorporates the Crimea into the Russian Empire.
Henry Cort receives a British patent for his puddling system for refining iron.
16 February 1784 Iyasu III Azequ replaces Tekle Giyorgis I Yohannes as Emperor of Ethiopia.
21 February 1784 Empress Yekaterina II orders the creation of the city of Sevastopol.
22 February 1784 The Empress of China becomes the first US ship to sail to China as it leaves New York. It will return next year, its investors enriched.
26 February 1784 Armida, a dramma eroico by Joseph Haydn (51), is performed for the first time, at Esterháza.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (29) gives a concert at the Vienna residence of the Russian ambassador, Prince Galitzin. It is the first of 25 concerts he will give between now and April 29.
27 February 1784 Ice on the Rhine begins breaking up and floods the town of Bonn. The Beethoven family carry their belongings from their third floor apartment in the Rheingasse to the attic. It is the worst flood in Bonn since the 14th century and the family, including Ludwig (13), are forced to exit the house by ladder to get to higher ground.
28 February 1784 John Wesley signs a deed of declaration as the charter of Wesleyan Methodism. It will be enrolled in Chancery in a few days.
29 February 1784 With the closing of the Vincennes prison, the Marquis de Sade is transferred to the Bastille.
1 March 1784 By act of the legislature of the State of Rhode Island, any child born of a slave after this date will become free on achieving majority, 21 for boys, 18 for girls.
4 March 1784 The Academy of Sciences in Toulouse receives notice of the discovery of a new element by Spanish chemists Juan José de Elhuyar y de Zubice and his younger brother Fausto de Elhuyar y de Zubice. They call the new substance Wolfram (Tungsten), after Wolframite.
5 March 1784 Théodore et Paulin, a comédie lyrique by André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry (43) to words of Desforges (pseud. of Choudard), is performed for the first time, at Versailles.
11 March 1784 A peace treaty is signed by Great Britain and Sultan Tipu of Mysore. The situation is returned to status quo ante.
William Herschel reads his paper On the remarkable appearances at the polar regions on the planet Mars, the inclination of its axis, the position of its poles, and its spheroidical figure; with a few hints relating to its real diameter and atmosphere to the Royal Society of London. He puts forth his discovery of the axial inclination of Mars, the polar ice caps and the atmosphere of Mars.
12 March 1784 King Louis XVI of France appoints a panel of scientists (including Lavoisier, Guillotin and Franklin) to study the methods of Franz Anton Mesmer.
Michael Haydn (46) dates his Symphony MH358 P.18 in Salzburg.
15 March 1784 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (28) gives the first performance of a piano concerto, either K.449 or 450, at the Esterházy residence in Vienna. See 17 March 1784 and 24 March 1784.
17 March 1784 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (28) gives the first public performance of a piano concerto, probably K.449, in the Trattner Saal, in the first of three lenten subscription concerts attended by the height of Viennese society.
22 March 1784 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (28) premieres one of his piano concertos, probably K.451, at the Esterházy residence in Vienna. See 31 March 1784.
23 March 1784 Parts of the Serenade for 13 winds K.361 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (28) are performed for the first time, at the Burgtheater, Vienna.
24 March 1784 In the second of three Lenten subscription concerts, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (28) gives the first public performance of a piano concerto, probably K.450. See 15 March 1784.
25 March 1784 Der Herr dein Gott wird sich for chorus and strings by Johannes Herbst (48) is performed for the first time.
31 March 1784 The third and last of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s (28) lenten subscription concerts takes place in Vienna. It includes premieres of his Piano Concerto no.16 K.451 and the Quintet for piano and winds K.452. See 22 March 1784.
1 April 1784 The Southwark Theatre reopens in Philadelphia, thus ending Pennsylvania’s ban on theatre performances instituted in 1759.
5 April 1784 Ludwig Spohr is born in Braunschweig, first of six children born to Karl Heinrich Spohr, a physician, and Juliane Ernestine Luise Henke.
15 April 1784 Maximilian Friedrich, Elector-Archbishop of Cologne, and employer of Christian Gottlob Neefe (36) and Ludwig van Beethoven (13), dies and is succeeded by Maximilian Franz, Archduke of Austria.
24 April 1784 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (28) writes to his father from Vienna, “I must tell you that some quartets have just appeared, composed by a certain [Ignaz] Pleyel (26), a pupil of Joseph Haydn (52). If you do not know them, do try and get hold of them; you will find them worth the trouble. They are very well written and most pleasing to listen to.”
26 April 1784 Les Danaïdes, a tragédie lyrique by Antonio Salieri (33) to words of DuRoullet and Tschudi after Calzabigi, is performed for the first time, at the Paris Opéra. In an attempt to encourage attention and sales, Salieri is listed as co-composer with Christoph Willibald Gluck (69). Gluck will eventually announce publicly that he had nothing to do with the work. See 16 May 1784.
27 April 1784 Maximilian Franz, the new Elector of Cologne, arrives in Bonn to take up his position.
Three years after being banned by King Louis XVI, Le mariage de Figaro by Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais is performed publicly for the first time, at the Comédie-Française, Paris. It is an enormous success.
29 April 1784 The Sonata for keyboard and violin K.454 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (28) is performed for the first time, in Vienna, the composer at the keyboard. The work is probably not completely on paper. Mozart plays much of the piano part out of his head. According to Constanze, Emperor Joseph II saw the blank paper on the piano desk through his opera glasses. Later, he asks Mozart to produce the music and the secret is unveiled to the delight of all.
1 May 1784 Giovanni Paisiello (43) arrives in Vienna from St. Petersburg. Within a week, he will have an audience with Emperor Joseph II who will commission an opera from him. See 23 August 1784.
8 May 1784 Publication of Muzio Clementi’s (32) keyboard sonata and toccata op.11 is announced in the Morning Herald, London.
Issipile, a dramma per musica by Pasquale Anfossi (57) to words after Metastasio, is performed for the first time, in King’s Theatre, London.
10 May 1784 Muzio Clementi’s (32) op.12 containing four piano sonatas and a two-piano duet is entered at Stationers’ Hall, London.
Six weeks of voting conclude in the British general election. The results are a strong show of support for the ministry of William Pitt.
16 May 1784 A letter from Christoph Willibald Gluck (69) appears in the Journal de Paris. He names Antonio Salieri (33) as the sole author of Les Danaïdes and says that he had nothing to do with its composition. See 26 April 1784.
20 May 1784 A peace treaty is signed at Versailles by ministers of Great Britain and the Netherlands. The Dutch cede Negapatam (Nagappattinam), India, 120 km south of Pondicherry, to Britain.
22 May 1784 Samuel Wesley (18) completes his Missa de spiritu sancto, composed to express the seriousness of his conversion to Catholicism. In September he will send a copy to its dedicatee, Pope Pius VI. The Pope will express his pleasure.
25 May 1784 Polish authorities expel all Jews from Warsaw.
29 May 1784 The Principality of Wied-Neuwied is created from the County of Wied under Prince Johann Friedrich Alexander.
30 May 1784 Georg Joseph Vogler (34) performs before the Prussian court in the Garrisonkirche, Berlin.
2 June 1784 The Favorite Songs in the Opera Issipile by Pasquale Anfossi (57) is entered at Stationers’ Hall, London.
3 June 1784 The United States Congress adjourns in Annapolis.
4 June 1784 Hail to the day, whose beams again, an ode by John Stanley (72) to words of Whitehead, is performed for the first time, to honor the birthday of King George III.
10 June 1784 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (28) brings Giovanni Paisiello (44) to hear one of his Academy Concerts in Vienna. It is a great success.
12 June 1784 Le due gemelle, a dramma giocoso by Pasquale Anfossi (57) to words of Tonioli, is performed for the first time, in King’s Theatre, London.
13 June 1784 The Concerto for piano and orchestra no.17 K.453 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (28) is performed for the first time, at the home of Gottfried Ignaz von Ployer, in Döbling. He is the Salzburg agent in Vienna and a relative of the pianist for whom Mozart wrote the concerto, Barbara Ployer. Attending at the composer’s invitation is Giovanni Paisiello (44) on his way to Naples from Russia.
16 June 1784 The anti-Stadholder stronghold of Holland bans the wearing of orange clothing.
18 June 1784 The final decision to separate New Brunswick from Nova Scotia is taken in London. It becomes effective on 16 August.
24 June 1784 L’épreuve villageoise, an opéra bouffon by André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry (43) to words of Desforges, is preformed for the first time, at the Comédie-Italienne, Paris.
26 June 1784 King Carlos III of Spain orders his governor in Louisiana to prohibit US navigation on the Mississippi River.
27 June 1784 Ludwig van Beethoven (13) is hired as second organist by the new Elector of Cologne, Maximilian Franz. He is under the direction of first organist Christian Gottlob Neefe (36). Neefe’s salary is reduced from 400 to 200 florins and Beethoven is hired at 150 florins.
1 July 1784 Wilhelm Friedemann Bach dies of a pulmonary disease in Berlin, aged 73 years, seven months and nine days. His mortal remains will be laid to rest in Luisenstadtischer Friedhof I, Berlin.
France cedes St. Bartholemew in the Caribbean to Sweden.
4 July 1784 Because of a revolution in Transylvania, and in an attempt to unify his rule, Emperor Joseph II suspends the constitution of Hungary.
6 July 1784 The Journal de Paris announces the printing of parts for Joseph Haydn’s (52) keyboard concerto XVIII: 11.
7 July 1784 Publication of the Piano Sonatas K.284, 333, and the Violin Sonata K.454 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (28) is advertised in the Wiener Zeitung.
10 July 1784 L’Olimpiade, a dramma per musica by Domenico Cimarosa (34) to words of Metastasio, is performed for the first time, in Teatro Eretenio, Vicenza.
22 July 1784 Elector Karl Theodor of Bavaria and the Palatine outlaws secret societies.
23 July 1784 Christian Gottlob Neefe writes that he has taken a position as a schoolmaster in order to make up for the reduction in salary of 27 June.
30 July 1784 Denis Diderot dies in Paris at the age of 71.
2 August 1784 La statue, a comédie by Giuseppe Cambini (38) to words of Montalembert, is performed for the first time, at the Hôtel de Montalembert, Paris.
3 August 1784 Padre Giovanni Battista Martini dies in Bologna, Papal States, aged 78 years, three months and ten days.
11 August 1784 Around midnight. On the grounds of Versailles, Louis, Prince de Rohan, cardinal bishop of Strasbourg meets a young woman he assumes to be Queen Marie Antoinette. It is, in fact, Nicole Leguay d'Oliva, a prostitute hired by his mistress, Jeanne de Saint-Rémy de Valois, Madame de La Motte, to impersonate the queen. This is the beginning of the famed “Queen’s Necklace Affair.”
13 August 1784 The British Parliament passes the India Act. The East India Company is placed under a government-appointed Board of Control.
14 August 1784 The Redbreast, a cantata by John Stanley (72) to words of McClellan, is entered at Stationers’ Hall, London.
16 August 1784 The creation of the Colony of New Brunswick goes into effect.
17 August 1784 Luigi Boccherini (41) renews his contract with Infante Don Luis of Spain, with an additional 12,000 reals.
18 August 1784 Publication of the Two-Piano Concerto K.365 and the Piano Variations K.460 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (28) is advertised in the Wiener Zeitung.
21 August 1784 Benjamin Franklin writes from Passy to George Whately, proclaiming himself “happy in the invention of Double Spectacles, which, serving for distant objects as well as near ones, make my eyes as useful to me as ever they were.”
23 August 1784 Il re Teodoro in Venezia, a dramma eroicomico by Giovanni Paisiello (44) to words of Casti, is performed for the first time, in the Vienna Burgtheater. The work, commissioned by Emperor Joseph II, is very successful. In the audience is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (28), returning Paisiello’s courtesy of 13 June. The opera, especially the libretto, strikes Mozart “like a bolt of lightning.” (Kneppler, 110)
25 August 1784 Publication of the Piano Sonatas K.330-332 and the Variations on “Les Hommes Pieusement” K.455 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (28) is advertised in the Wiener Zeitung.
26 August 1784 Great Britain separates Cape Breton from Nova Scotia and makes it a separate colony.
Il trionfo dell’Arno, a cantata by Luigi Cherubini (23), is performed for the first time, in Volterra.
27 August 1784 James Tytler makes the first balloon ascent in Great Britain, at Edinburgh.
28 August 1784 Publication of three keyboard sonatas K.284, 333, 454 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (28) is announced in the Wiener Zeitung.
A Mass in E flat by Johann Georg Albrechtsberger (48) to celebrate St. Augustine’s Day, is performed for the first time, in Vienna. Owing to Emperor Joseph’s decree of 25 February 1783, the orchestral accompaniment is replaced with organ.
31 August 1784 The Frankfurt Staats-Ristretto announces the authentic edition by Bossler of three new piano sonatas by Joseph Haydn (52) XVI: 40-42.
1 September 1784 John Wesley ordains two Presbyters for the American mission, in Bristol.
7 September 1784 Diane et Endymion, an opera seria by Niccolò Piccinni (56) and JF Espic Chevalier de Lirou to words of Espic, is performed for the first time, at the Paris Opéra.
12 September 1784 A special celebration at Esterháza observes the completion of the palace.
15 September 1784 The University of Yekaterinoslav is founded.
Before thousands of spectators, including the Prince of Wales, Italian Vincenzo Lunardi ascends from London with a dog, a cat, and a pigeon, setting down about 50 km to the north at Ware in Hertfordshire.
In honor of the event, Samuel Wesley (18) composes the piano piece Lunardi’s March.
18 September 1784 Dardanus, a tragédie by Antonio Sacchini (54) to words of Guillard after Le Clerc de La Bruère, is performed for the first time, at Versailles. It is not successful.
21 September 1784 A second child is born to Constanze and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (28) in Vienna, named Karl Thomas.
22 September 1784 Russian merchant Grigory Shelikhov leads 193 people in three ships to Kodiak Island where they create the first Russian settlement in Alaska.
28 September 1784 Michael Haydn (47) dates his Symphony MH384 P.19 in Salzburg.
9 October 1784 Shots are fired between Dutch and Austrian ships in the River Scheldt.
10 October 1784 I due supposti conti, ossia Lo sposo senza moglie by Domenico Cimarosa (34) to words of Anelli, is performed for the first time, in Teatro alla Scala, Milan.
14 October 1784 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (28) dates the score to his Piano Sonata K.457.
16 October 1784 The Colony of New Brunswick is separated from Nova Scotia by the British government.
17 October 1784 The Eiderkanal, connecting the North Sea with the Baltic Sea, opens to traffic.
21 October 1784 André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry’s (43) comédie mise en musique Richard Coeur-de-Lion, to words of Sedaine after La Curne de Sainte-Palaye, is performed for the first time, at the Comédie-Italienne, Paris. Among the audience is a diplomat named Thomas Jefferson.
23 October 1784 The first performance in the Théâtre du Comte de Beaujolais takes place in the Palais Royal. The stage will produce mostly pantomimes.
30 October 1784 The Holy Roman Empire declares war on the Netherlands over disputed lands around the Scheldt and the incident of 9 October.
1 November 1784 The United States Congress convenes in Trenton, New Jersey.
17 November 1784 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (28) dates the score to his String Quartet K.458.
18 November 1784 The Netherlands resolves to form an army to battle the Empire over the Scheldt.
21 November 1784 Governor Thomas Carleton arrives in Parr-Town, New Brunswick. His first act is to make St. Anne’s the capital, renaming it Frederick’s Town after the Duke of York.
26 November 1784 The Roman Catholic Church creates the Apostolic Prefecture of the United States independent of the London Vicarate.
30 November 1784 Richard Henry Lee replaces Thomas Mifflin as President of the Congress of the United States.
6 December 1784 Antonio Salieri’s (34) dramma giocosa Il ricco d’un giorno to words of da Ponte, is performed for the first time, at the Burgtheater, Vienna. It will receive only six performances.
11 December 1784 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (28) dates the score of his Piano Concerto no.19 K.459 in Vienna.
13 December 1784 Samuel Johnson dies in London at the age of 74.
14 December 1784 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (28) is initiated as an Entered Apprentice at the Freemason Lodge “zur Wohlthätigkeit” in Vienna.
15 December 1784 Publication of Six String Quartets B.307-312 by Ignaz Pleyel (27) is announced in the Wiener Zeitung.
22 December 1784 Benjamin Franklin gives a lecture in Manchester wherein he postulates that the extremely cold winter last year was due to the eruption of the Laki Volcano in Iceland.
24 December 1784 The United States Congress adjourns in Trenton, New Jersey.
26 December 1784 L’Idalide, an opera seria by Luigi Cherubini (24) to words of Moretti, is performed for the first time, in Teatro La Pergola, Florence.
Domenico Cimarosa’s (35) dramma per musica Artaserse to words of Metastasio, is performed for the first time, in Teatro Regio, Turin.
29 December 1784 Joseph Haydn (52) applies for admission to the Freemason lodge “Zur wahren Eintracht.”
30 December 1784 Michael Haydn (47) dates his Symphony MH393 P.20 in Salzburg.
Lucette, an opéra-comique by Niccolò Piccinni (56) to words of GM Piccinni, is performed for the first time, at the Comédie-Italienne, Paris.
©2004-2016 Paul Scharfenberger
4 June 2016
Last Updated (Saturday, 04 June 2016 04:28)