1786
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1 January 1786 Dear to Jove, a genial isle, an ode by John Stanley (73) to words of Warton, is performed for the first time.
4 January 1786 Moses Mendelssohn dies in Berlin at the age of 56.
Oedipe à Colone, a tragédie lyrique by Antonio Sacchini (55) to words of Guillard after Sophocles, is performed for the first time, at Versailles.
6 January 1786 After foundering for some time in a severe gale, the East Indiaman Halsewell strikes rocks near Seacombe on the Isle of Purbeck, Dorsetshire. Several of the ship’s complement, including two women, make it to shore as the ship breaks up. 74 people will survive the ordeal. About 170 are lost.
10 January 1786 Funeral Music for A. Schulte by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (71) is performed for the first time, in Hamburg.
13 January 1786 Ehre sey unserm Heiland! for chorus and strings by Johannes Herbst (50) is performed for the first time.
14 January 1786 Pursuant to the restructuring of freemasonry, the lodge “Zur Neugekrönten Hoffnung” is opened in Vienna. One of its members, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (29) has written two lieder for the occasion: Zerfliesset heut’, geliebte Brüder K.483 and Ihr unsre neuen Leiter K.484, both to words of von Schloissnig.
20 January 1786 Olimpiade, a dramma per musica by Giovanni Paisiello (45) to words of Metastasio, is performed for the first time, at Teatro San Carlo, Naples.
21 January 1786 Luigi Boccherini (42) is appointed chamber composer to Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia.
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (71) writes to Johann Joachim Eschenburg about Charles Burney’s Handel (†26) Commemoration, which Eschenburg sent to him. He disagrees with many assertions by Burney and finds Handel wanting in comparison to Johann Adolf Hasse (†2), Carl Heinrich Graun (†26), Reihard Keiser (†46) and his father, Johann Sebastian Bach (†36). He also reports to Eschenburg that “I recently burned a ream and more of old works of mine and am glad that they are no more.” (Wolff, CPE Bach, 214)
The Virginia legislature suggests a convention of the states to “consider how far a uniform system in their commercial relations may be necessary to their common interests and their permanent harmony.”
24 January 1786 Johann Friedrich Reichardt (33) departs Berlin for Paris to produce Tamerlan, an opera which he will complete along the way.
La bergère de qualité, a comédie by Giuseppe Cambini (39) to words of Montalembert, is performed for the first time, at Hôtel de Montalembert, Paris.
25 January 1786 Koca Yusuf Pasha replaces Sahin Ali Pasha as Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire.
30 January 1786 Samuel Shaw is appointed as the first US diplomat posted to China, as Consul at Canton.
2 February 1786 Addressing the Asiatick Society in Calcutta (a group he founded), philologist William Jones points out startling similarities between Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit, suggesting they all came from a single root. He is not the first person to do so, but he is the first to be widely noticed.
7 February 1786 For a festival given by Emperor Joseph II in the Orangerie (a hothouse) of Schönbrunn Palace to honor Archduchess Marie-Christine, Governor-General of the Austrian Netherlands and Duke Albert of Sachsen-Teschen, two new stage works are performed. Der Schauspieldirektor K.486, a singspiel by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (30) to words of Stephanie is premiered at one end of the room, followed by Prima la musica e poi le parole, a divertimento teatrale by Antonio Salieri (35) to words of Casti at the other.
11 February 1786 Der Schauspieldirektor K.486, a singspiel by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (30) to words of Stephanie, is performed publicly for the first time, in the Kärntnertortheater, Vienna.
13 February 1786 At the height of a measles epidemic in northern Italy, Nicolò Paganini’s (3) sister dies. Nicolò himself is stricken with the disease, followed by catalepsy.
15 February 1786 Friedrich Schiller’s Ode an die Freude is published in the February issue of Thalia.
23 February 1786 The French expedition of Rear Admiral Jean François de Galaup, Comte de Lapérousse reaches Easter Island.
24 February 1786 Charles Mann Cornwallis, Earl of Cornwallis is appointed Governor-General of India.
2 March 1786 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (30) dates the score to his Piano Concerto no.23 K.488 in Vienna.
10 March 1786 Franz Zalauer von Zahlheim is executed in Vienna for murdering his fiancée. The death penalty has been de facto proscribed since 1776 in Austria, but Emperor Joseph II, in contradiction to his “enlightened” rule, personally intervenes. He requires that Zahlheim’s body be publicly “broken on the wheel from the feet upward and then displayed on a gibbet.” (Braunbehrens, 273) The Emperor’s orders are carried out in front of 30,000 people.
11 March 1786 Muzio Clementi’s (34) three duets for piano-four hands op.14 and three accompanied piano sonatas op.15 are entered at Stationers’ Hall, London.
13 March 1786 The Scene and Rondo for tenor K.490 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (30) is performed for the first time, as part of a performance of Idomeneo in the Palace of Prince Karl Auersperg in Vienna.
15 March 1786 Amphitryon, an opéra by André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry (45) to words of Sedaine after Molière, is performed for the first time, at Versailles.
20 March 1786 Fiume becomes part of Hungary.
23 March 1786 Johann Friedrich Reichardt (33) arrives in Paris to produce Tamerlan.
24 March 1786 The selectmen of the Town of Boston allow William Billings (39) to teach singing in a public building.
29 March 1786 La Chasse for harpsichord or piano by Leopold Kozeluch (38) is entered at Stationers’ Hall, London.
30 March 1786 Il Giulio Sabino, an opera seria by Luigi Cherubini (25) to words after Giovanni, is performed for the first time, in King’s Theatre, London. It receives only one performance, and Cherubini will shortly leave for Paris.
1 April 1786 Tomás Xavier Teles da Silva, marquês de Ponte Lima replaces Martinho de Melo e Castro as Secretary of State (prime minister) of Portugal.
2 April 1786 Publication of Six String Quartets B.319-324 by Ignaz Pleyel (28) is announced in the Wiener Zeitung.
Christoph Willibald Gluck (71) signs his will in Vienna leaving everything to his “beloved wife Maria Anna von Gluck, née Bergin.”
7 April 1786 Piano Concerto no.24 K.491 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (30) is performed for the first time, at a Vienna subscription concert, the composer at the keyboard. This is Mozart’s last concert in the Burgtheater.
8 April 1786 Giobbe, an oratorio by Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf (46) to words of Pintus, is performed for the first time, in Vienna, to benefit the Tonkünstler-Societät.
9 April 1786 Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (72) gives the last of his public (unofficial) concerts in Hamburg, including some movements from J.S. Bach (†35) and Handel (†26) as well as his own Magnificat, Heilig for double choir H778 and a symphony.
26 April 1786 Publication of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s (30) Variations on Lison dormait by Nicolas Desède K.264 is announced in the Wiener Zeitung. Also announced is publication of the Keyboard Trios op.40 by Joseph Haydn (54).
27 April 1786 William Herschel reads his Catalogue of One Thousand New Nebulae and Clusters of Stars to the Royal Society of London. He describes globular clusters.
28 April 1786 Leopold Mozart (66) writes to his daughter Nannerl from Salzburg, “Le nozze di Figaro is being performed on the 28th for the first time. It will be surprising if it is a success, for I know that very powerful cabals have ranged themselves against your brother. Salieri (35) and all his supporters will again try to move heaven and earth to down his opera. Herr & Mme Duschek told me recently that it is on account of the very great reputation which your brother’s exceptional talent and abiity have won for him that so many people are plotting against him.” (Anderson, 897)
1 May 1786 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s (30) opera buffa Le nozze di Figaro K.492 to words of da Ponte after Beaumarchais is performed for the first time, at the Burgtheater, Vienna, the composer directing from the keyboard. The audience is divided. Critics like the work but not the performance.
9 May 1786 Owing to the popular response to Le nozze di Figaro, Emperor Joseph II instructs opera director Count Orsini-Rosenberg that no numbers for more than one singer in any opera may be encored. The performances are simply going on too long.
13 May 1786 The first of two concerts featuring the premiere of Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf’s (46) Twelve Symphonies on Ovid’s Metamorphoses takes place in Vienna.
19 May 1786 John Stanley dies in London, aged 74 years, four months and two days.
20 May 1786 The second of two concerts featuring the premiere of Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf’s (46) Twelve Symphonies on Ovid’s Metamorphoses takes place in Vienna.
L’inglese in Italia, a dramma giocoso by Pasquale Anfossi (59) to words of Badini, is performed for the first time, in King’s Theatre, London. This is Anfossi’s last production in England and receives only two performances.
21 May 1786 Carl Scheele dies in Köping, Sweden at the age of 43.
30 May 1786 Michael Haydn (48) dates his Symphony MH420 P.23 in Salzburg.
31 May 1786 Verdicts are returned by the Parlement of Paris in the Queen’s Necklace Affair. Cardinal de Rohan, who has garnered considerable noble and popular support, is found innocent. Madame de la Motte is found guilty and sentenced to branding and prison. 10,000 people gathered outside in support of the Cardinal noisily cheer the Parlement. It is a serious defeat for the royal family.
1 June 1786 A 7.8 magnitude earthquake creates a landslide dam on the Dadu River west of Chengdu in Szechwan (Sichuan) Province, China. 435 people are killed.
4 June 1786 King Carlos III consents to the reopening of Teatro de los Caños del Peral in Madrid to put on Italian opera. The leaders of hospitals in Madrid hope to lease it to raise money for their institutions.
When freedom nurs’d her native fire, an ode by John Stanley (†0) to words of Warton, is performed for the first time, to honor the birthday of King George III.
6 June 1786 Nathaniel Gorham replaces John Hancock as President of the Congress of the United States.
7 June 1786 Vathek, a novel by William Beckford, is published in Britain.
8 June 1786 The Independent Chronicle, Boston reports as “just published” William Billings’ (39) collection The Suffolk Harmony.
10 June 1786 The landslide dam create 10 days ago in Szechwan (Sichuan) Province suddenly collapses during an aftershock creating massive flooding which kills 100,000 people.
25 June 1786 John Antes (46) marries Susannah Crabtree in Calverly, England.
26 June 1786 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (30) dates the score to his Horn Concerto K.495 in Vienna.
30 June 1786 Giovanni Paisiello’s (46) favola boschereccia Amore vendicato to words of di Gennaro is performed for the first time, at the Accademia dei Cavalieri, Naples.
8 July 1786 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (30) dates the score to his Piano Trio K.496.
10 July 1786 La Chasse for keyboard op.16 by Muzio Clementi (34) is entered at Stationers’ Hall, London.
11 July 1786 Der Apotheker und der Doktor, a singspiel by Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf (46) to words of Stephanie, is performed for the first time, at the National Theater, Vienna. It is very successful, much more so than Le nozze di Figaro which premiered two months ago.
14 July 1786 Pursuant to the terms of the 1783 Treaty of Paris, Great Britain and Spain sign a convention in London. Britain agrees to evacuate its 2,000 settlers from the Mosquito Coast (Nicaragua). In return, Spain allows Britain expanded territory for logging in the Yucatán Peninsula.
Rosine, ou L’épouse abandonnée, an opéra by François-Joseph Gossec (52) to words of Gersin, is performed for the first time, at the Paris Opéra.
23 July 1786 The British ship Patsey Rutledge departs Kuxhaven, Hamburg bound for Philadelphia. Aboard are Johannes Herbst and his wife on his 51st birthday.
29 July 1786 Ignaz Pleyel (29) announces in the Pressburger Zeitung that because of pirated incorrect editions he has become his own publisher. He will continue this practice, with great success, for the rest of his life.
1 August 1786 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (30) dates the score to his Piano Sonata K.497.
5 August 1786 Publication of several works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (30) is announced in the Wiener Zeitung: Variations on Le Bergère Célimène K.359 and Variations on “Hélas, j’ai perdu mon amant” K.360, both for keyboard and violin, Variations on “Dieu d’amour” K.352 for keyboard and Variations on a Theme of Paisiello (46) K.398 for piano.
8 August 1786 18:30 Michel-Gabriel Paccard and Jacques Balmat become the first to reach the summit of Mont Blanc (4,807 m). They raise a pole with a red scarf which can be seen from Chamonix.
9 August 1786 Athalie, a tragedy by Georg Joseph Vogler (37) to words of Racine, is performed for the first time, in Stockholm.
The Trio for piano, clarinet and viola K.498 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (30) is performed for the first time, in Vienna, at the home of Professor Nikolaus von Jacquin.
11 August 1786 The Rajah of Kedah cedes Penang to Great Britain.
15 August 1786 A Te Deum by François-André Danican-Philidor (59) is performed for the first time, in Paris.
17 August 1786 King Friedrich II “the Great” of Prussia, flutist and composer, dies at his Palace “Sans souci” in Potsdam. He is succeeded by his nephew, Friedrich Wilhelm II. All Prussian theatres are closed until October.
Because of the death of King Friedrich II of Prussia, Johann Friedrich Reichardt (33) is forced to return to Berlin from Paris before his opera Tamerlan can be produced. See 16 October 1800.
19 August 1786 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (30) dates the score to his String Quartet K.499 in Vienna.
Publication of Three String Quintets B.271-273 by Ignaz Pleyel (29) is announced in the Amsterdamsche Courant.
4 September 1786 Troops of the Dutch Stadholder Willem V occupy and sack the Patriot towns of Elburg and Hattem.
7 September 1786 A Duo for harpsichord or piano op.19 by Leopold Kozeluch (39) is entered at Stationers’ Hall, London.
12 September 1786 Charles Mann Cornwallis, Earl of Cornwallis arrives in Calcutta to take up his position as Governor-General of Bengal.
Publication of Six String Quartets B.313-318 by Ignaz Pleyel (29) is announced in the Frankfurter Ristretto.
13 September 1786 Armed insurgents prevent the sitting of the Berkshire County Court in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. They demand constitutional changes including relief to debtors, a more equitable tax structure, an end to undo privilege embodied in the state senate, and court reform.
14 September 1786 A convention of five states in Annapolis calls for all states to send representatives to meet in Philadelphia in May 1787 to “render the constitution of the Federal Government adequate to the exigencies of the Union.”
18 September 1786 Johannes Herbst (51) and his wife arrive in Philadelphia from Germany aboard the British ship Patsey Rutledge.
22 September 1786 The States General of the Netherlands separates the offices of Stadtholder and Captain General.
26 September 1786 Approximately 1,100 insurgents prevent the sitting of the Massachusetts Supreme Court in Springfield. A potential conflict with the state militia is temporarily diffused.
28 September 1786 Michael Haydn (49) dates his Symphony MH425 P.24 in Salzburg.
3 October 1786 Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf’s (46) singspiel Der Betrug durch Aberglauben oder die Schatzgräber to words of Eberl is performed for the first time, at the Kärntnertortheater, Vienna.
6 October 1786 Antonio Maria Gasparo Gioacchino Sacchini dies in his Paris apartment at 15 rue de Richelieu, aged 56 years, three months and 22 days. He was depressed since Queen Marie Antoinette removed her support and patronage earlier this year and he stopped eating.
State militia raid a Shawnee camp on the Mad River (Logan County, Ohio), and kill ten people. Shawnee King Moluntha is axed to death after surrendering, by Hugh McGary.
15 October 1786 Johann Herbst (51) is ordained a presbyter in the Moravian Church by Bishop John de Watteville in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
16 October 1786 Trio Sonatas for harpsichord or piano with violin ad. lib. op.18 by Leopold Kozeluch (39) is entered at Stationers’ Hall, London.
18 October 1786 Leopold Mozart's (66) blood is let in Salzburg. It is found to be unhealthy. More bloodletting is prescribed as well as changes in diet.
A third child is born to Constanze and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (30) in Vienna, Johann Thomas Leopold.
22 October 1786 Le faucon, an opéra-comique by Dmitry Stepanovich Bortnyansky (35) to words of Lafermière after Boccaccio and Sedaine, is performed for the first time, at Gatchina Palace, south of St. Petersburg.
26 October 1786 Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (72) sends the manuscript of his Clavier Sonaten und Freye Fantasien nebst einigen Rondos fürs Fortepiano für Kenner und Liebhaber...(volume 6) to his publisher Breitkopf.
7 November 1786 André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry’s (45) opéra-comique Les méprises par ressemblance to words of Patrat after Plautus is performed for the first time, at Fontainebleau.
13 November 1786 Le comte d’Albert, an opéra-comique by André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry (45) to words of Sedaine after La Fontaine, is performed for the first time, at Fontainebleau.
Two Sonatas for harpsichord or piano with violin accompaniment op.10 by Leopold Kozeluch is entered at Stationers’ Hall, London.
17 November 1786 The third child of Constanze and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (30), Johann Thomas Leopold, is buried a month after he was born.
18 November 1786 Henry Rowley Bishop is born 83 Great Portland Street in London, the son of Samuel Bishop, a watchmaker.
19 November 1786 Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber is born at Eutin, first of two children born to Franz Anton von Weber, kapellmeister to the Prince-Bishop of Lübeck, and Genovefa Brenner, a singer and actress, daughter of a cabinet maker. Franz Anton has eight children by a previous marriage. (The date could be 18 November)
20 November 1786 Kurkölnische Universität is founded in Bonn with approval from Emperor Joseph.
21 November 1786 200 armed insurgents take possession of the courthouse in Worcester, Massachusetts, preventing business by the county court.
24 November 1786 Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf (47) petitions King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia for a post. He will not be successful.
25 November 1786 Publication of Two Symphonies in C and B flat B.131-132 by Ignaz Pleyel (29) is announced in the Amsterdamsche Courant.
30 November 1786 Peter Leopold Joseph of Habsburg-Lorraine, Grand Duke of Tuscany (later Emperor Leopold II) abolishes the death penalty. This makes Tuscany the first European state to do so.
2 December 1786 Antonio Salieri’s (36) tragédie lyrique Les Horaces to words of Guillard after Corneille is performed for the first time, at Versailles. The work is liked by singers and players but is a complete disaster with the audience and critics.
5 December 1786 Piano Concerto no.25 K.503 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (30) is performed, probably for the first time, in Vienna.
6 December 1786 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (30) completes his Symphony no.38 “Prague” K.504 in Vienna. See 19 January 1787.
7 December 1786 Le trame deluse, ossia I raggiri scoperti, a commedia per musica by Domenico Cimarosa (36) to words of Diodati, is performed for the first time, in Teatro Nuovo, Naples. It is a great success.
8 December 1786 Symphonie Concertante B.111 by Ignaz Pleyel (29) is performed for perhaps the first time, in Strasbourg.
14 December 1786 Die Weihnacht auf dem Lande, a singspiel by Johann Schenk (33) to words of Wiest, is performed for the first time, in the Theater in der Leopoldstadt, Vienna.
26 December 1786 Armed insurgents prevent the sitting of county courts in Springfield, Massachusetts.
29 December 1786 King Louis XVI of France calls the Assembly of Notables to deal with the massive debt crisis (mostly caused by the war of the American Revolution). They will convene in February.
©2004-2015 Paul Scharfenberger
4 December 2015
Last Updated (Friday, 04 December 2015 07:23)