1748 in music

List of years in music (table)
… 1738 1739 1740 1741 1742 1743 1744 1745 1746 1747 1748 1749 1750 1751 1752 1753 1754 1755 1756 1757 1758 …
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Events

• April 12 – Possible premiere of Johann Sebastian Bach's last St Mark Passion pastiche (BC D 5) at St. Thomas Church, Leipzig. In addition to two movements by Bach, he incorporates seven arias from George Frideric Handel's Brockes Passion HWV 48 into the work.
• August 1748 – October 1749 – Repeat (possible concert hall) performance by Bach of Handel's Brockes Passion HWV 48 in a version by Bach.
• 1748–1749 – Johann Sebastian Bach composes his Mass in B minor BWV 232 (BC E 1).
• Holywell Music Room, Oxford, England, the first purpose-built concert hall in Europe, is opened.
• Nicola Porpora becomes Kapellmeister at Dresden.:

Classical Music

• Johan Agrell – 6 Keyboard Sonatas, Op. 2
• Johann Sebastian Bach – 18 Chorale Preludes, BWV 651–668 finished (composed 1740–1748)
• Martin Berteau – 6 Cello Sonatas, Op. 1
• Michel Corrette
  • Les Pantins (No. 17 in his 25 Concertos Comiques)
  • La Tourière (No. 18 in his 25 Concertos Comiques)
• Elisabetta de Gambarini — Lessons and Songs Op. 2, for harpsichord
• George Frideric Handel
  • Joshua, HWV 64, oratorio premiered, composed 1747
  • Alexander Balus, HWV 65, oratorio premiered, composed 1747
  • Susanna, HWV 66, oratorio composed, premiered 1749
  • Solomon, HWV 67, oratorio composed, premiered 1749
• Jakob Friedrich Kleinknecht
  • 6 Flute Sonatas, Op. 1
  • 3 Trio Sonatas, Op. 2
• Jean-Pierre Pagin - 6 Violin Sonatas, Op. 1
• Peter Pasqualino – 6 Cello Duets
• Giovanni Alberto Ristori
  • Didone abbandonata (secular cantata)
  • Lavinia a Turno, M.144 (secular cantata)
• Giuseppe Tartini – 6 Violin Sonatas, Op. 6
• Georg Philipp Telemann – Lukas Passion, TWV 5:33
• Burke Thumoth – 12 Irish and 12 Scotch Airs with Variations

Opera

• Joseph Bodin de Boismortier – Daphnis et Chloé, Op. 102
• Baldassare Galuppi – Demetrio
• Christoph W. Gluck – La Semiramide riconosciuta, Wq.13
• Karl Heinrich Graun – Ifigenia in Aulide, GraunWV B:I:18
• Johann Adolf Hasse – Demofoonte
• Niccolò Jommelli – L’amore in maschera
• Gennaro Manna – Lucio Papirio dittatore
• Jean-Philippe Rameau
  • Zaïs, premiered on February 29
  • Pygmalion, RCT 52, premiered on August 27
  • Les surprises de l'Amour, premiered on November 27

Publications

• Johann Sebastian Bach – 6 Choräle von verschiedener Art, BWV 645-650 (Zella: Johann Georg Schübler)
• Louis de Caix d'Hervelois – Pièces de viole, Livre 5 (Paris: Madame Boivin, Le Clerc et Brolonne)
• Francesco Geminiani – Rules for Playing in a True Taste, Op. 8 (variations for solo or accompanied instrument)
• William Hayes – 6 Cantatas (London: Simpson)
• Jean-Joseph de Mondonville – Pièces de Clavecin avec voix ou violon, Op. 5
• Carlo Tessarini – Contrasto armonico … con suoi rinforzi, for 3 violins and basso continuo, Op. 10 (Paris)
• Gregor Werner — Neuer und sehr curios- Musicalischer Instrumental-Calendar

Births

• February – Hedvig Wigert, opera singer (died 1780)
• February 5 – Christian Gottlob Neefe, conductor, teacher (Ludwig van Beethoven was a student), and composer (died 1798)
• March 5 — William Shield, violinist and composer (died 1829)
• May 5 – Francesco Azopardi, music theorist and composer (died 1809)
• April 20 – Georg Michael Telemann, composer (died 1831)
• August 4 – Maximilian Stadler, editor and composer (died 1833)
• August 11 – Joseph Schuster, composer (died 1812)
• August 31 – Jean-Étienne Despréaux, singer, dancer and composer (died 1820)
• November 30 – Joachim Albertini, composer (died 1812)

Deaths

• January 26 – Pierre Rameau, dancing-master (born 1674)
• February 26 – Jean-Baptiste Landé, ballet dancer
• March 7 – William Corbett, violinist and composer (born 1680)
• March 10 – Giovanni Perroni, cellist and composer (born 1688)
• March 17 – Charles King, choir-master and composer (born 1687)
• March 23 — Johann Gottfried Walther, composer and theoretician (born 1684)
• April 6 – David Kellner, German composer (born c.1670)
• November 25 — Isaac Watts, hymn writer (born 1674)
• date unknown
  • Jacques Loeillet, oboist and composer (born 1685)
  • David Tecchler, luthier (born 1666)