1740 in music
music-related events during 1740
Events
Johann Sebastian Bach begins to lose his sight.
Carl Heinrich Graun becomes Kapellmeister to Frederick II of Prussia. Johann Joachim Quantz becomes Frederick's flute teacher.
Ferdinando Bertoni arrives in Bologna where he becomes a pupil of Giovanni Battista Martini.
December 26 – The Teatro Regio (Turin) is inaugurated with a performance of Francesco Feo's opera Arsace.
Classical music
Thomas Arne – Alfred (masque), including the song, "Rule Britannia"
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
Concerto for 2 Harpsichords in F major, H.408
Harpsichord Concerto in A major, H.410
Flute Sonata in A minor, H.555
Christoph Graupner – Violin Sonata in G minor, GWV 711
George Frideric Handel – L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato, HWV 55
Giuseppe Tartini – Violin Concerto in C major, D.1
Georg Philipp Telemann – 6 Overtures for Clavier, TWV 32:5–10 (Published ca. 1742 in Nuremberg, as VI Ouverturen nebst zween Folgesätzen)
Opera
Bernardo Aliprandi – Semiramide riconosciuta
Vincenzo Legrenzio Ciampi – La Beatrice
Baldassare Galuppi – Gustavo primo re di Svezia
Maurice Greene – The Judgement of Hercules
George Frideric Handel – Imeneo, HWV 41 (first performed, composed in 1738)
Nicola Porpora – Il trionfo di Camilla
Luca Antonio Predieri – Zenobia
Publications
Thomas Arne – Comus (London: William Smith). First performed 1738.
Jean-Baptiste Barrière – 6 Cello Sonatas, Livre 4 (Paris: Composer) (Likely composed 1737–1740)
Michel Blavet – 6 Flute Sonatas, Op. 3
Louis de Caix d'Hervelois – Pièces de viole, Livre 4
Esprit Philippe Chédeville – 6 Sonatilles galantes, Op.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “1740 in music” as music-related events during 1740. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3396265. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1742, 1738, 1737 and 1740.
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