1678 in music explained

The year 1678 in music involved some significant events.

Events

• January 2 – Public opera in Hamburg begins when the Oper am Gänsemarkt is inaugurated with a performance of Johann Theile's biblical Singspiel German: Adam und Eva.
• May 4 – André Campra begins ecclesiastical studies at the age of 17.^[1]
• June 19 – Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers is appointed to join Nicolas Lebègue, Jacques Thomelin and Jean Buterne as an organists of the Chapelle Royale at the French court.
• John Blow becomes a doctor of music.
• Seventeen-year-old Giacomo Antonio Perti composes his first opera.
• The Italian: Teatro Grimani is constructed, the grandest opera house in Venice.

Classical music

• Albertus Bryne – 5 dance movements
• Henry Purcell – 3 Parts upon a Ground, Z.731^[2]
• Giovanni Buonaventura Viviani – Capricci armonici da chiesa e da camera, Op.4
• Bernardo Pasquini – Sant'Agnese
• Giovanni Paolo Colonna – Il transito di S. Giuseppe

Opera

• • • Jean-Baptiste Lully Psyche
  • Bellérophon, LWV 57
• Johann Theile – German: Der erschaffene, gefallene und aufgerichtete Mensch.
• Carlo Pallavicino – Il Vespasiano
• Giovanni Maria Bononcini – Astianatte
• La Despina, Agnelli, Milano 1678, performed in Milan.

Births

• March 4 – Antonio Vivaldi, composer (died 1741)
• July 6 – Nicola Francesco Haym, opera librettist and composer (died 1727)
• December 30 – William Croft, organist and composer (died 1727)
• probable – Manuel de Zumaya, composer (died 1755)

Deaths

• March – Jacques Hardel, harpsichordist and composer
• August 5 – Juan García de Zéspedes, composer (born 1619)
• September 28 – Maurizio Cazzati, Italian composer (born 1616)
• November 18 – Giovanni Maria Bononcini, violinist and composer
• date unknown
  • Leonora Duarte, composer
  • John Jenkins, composer (born 1592)
• probable – Chiara Margarita Cozzolani, Benedictine nun and composer (born 1602)

Notes and References

1. James R. Anthony, "Campra, André", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001).
2. Web site: 3 Parts upon a Ground, Z.731 (Purcell, Henry) - IMSLP/Petrucci Music Library: Free Public Domain Sheet Music. imslp.org. 2019-01-26.