1739 in music

Events

• March 27 Johann Sebastian Bach performs the Brockes-Passion TWV 5: 1 at St. Nicholas Church, Leipzig.
• September – Leopold Mozart is expelled from the Benedictine University of Salzburg for poor attendance.
• 1739–1749 Bach revises his St John Passion BWV 245 --version never performed during his lifetime.
• 1739–1742 Bach starts revising some of his Weimar period Chorale preludes in a new manuscript. Included at this period are BWV 651–663. The manuscript would also contain his Sonatas BWV 525–530 and also his Canonic Variations on "Vom Himmel hoch da komm' ich her" BWV 769.

  Classical music

• Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
• *Keyboard Sonata in G minor, H.21
• *Harpsichord Concerto in C minor, H.407
• Henry Carey – "Flocks Are Sporting"
• George Frederic Handel
• *Israel in Egypt, an oratorio, premiered in London
• *Saul, an oratorio, premiered in London
• *Concerto Grosso in G major, HWV 319, published 1740 in 12 Concerti Grossi Op. 6
• *Concerto Grosso in C minor, HWV 326, published 1740.
• *Concerto Grosso in B minor, HWV 330, published 1740.
• Leonardo Leo – Miserere
• Giovanni Battista Pescetti – 10 Harpsichord Sonatas
• Georg Philipp Telemann – 6 Moralische Kantaten, TWV 20:29–34

  Opera

• Domenico Alberti — Olimpiade
• Johann Adolph Hasse – Viriate
• Gaetano Latilla – Romolo
• Leonardo Leo — Amor vuol sofferenza
• Giovanni Battista Pescetti — Angelica e Medoro
• Pietro Pulli — Il carnevale e la pazzia
• Jean-Philippe Rameau
• *Dardanus
• *Les fêtes d'Hébé
• Joseph-Nicolas-Pancrace Royer — Zaïde, reine de Grenade

  Publications

• Johann Sebastian Bach – Clavier-Übung III, a collection of organ music
• René Drouard de Bousset – 2e recueil de cantates spirituelles tirées des histoires les plus intéressantes de l'Ancien Testament à voix seule, et à deux voix avec simphonie et sans simphonie
• Nicolas Chédeville
• *6 Flute Sonatas, Op. 7
• *Le Printems ou Les Saisons amusantes, Op. 8
• Francesco Geminiani – 12 Violin Sonatas, Op. 4
• Jean-François Dandrieu – Pièces d'orgue, Livre 1
• George Frideric Handel – Trio Sonatas, Op. 5
• Gottlieb Muffat – Componimenti musicali
• Clair-Nicolas Roget – 6 Sonatas for 2 Flutes, Op. 1
• Georg Philipp Telemann – Essercizii musici

  Methods and theory writings

• John Arnold – The Compleat Psalmodist
• Louis-Joseph Marchand – Traité de contrepoint simple
• Johann Mattheson – Der vollkommene Capellmeister
• Johann Adolph Scheibe – Eine Abhandlung von den Musicalischen Intervallen und Geschlechten

  Births

• May 12 – Johann Baptist Wanhal, composer
• July 6 – Friedrich Wilhelm Rust
• August 28 – Agostino Accorimboni, opera composer
• September 7 or 8 – Joseph Legros, singer and composer
• October 24 – Duchess Anna Amalia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, composer
• November 2 – Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf, composer
• November 5 – Hugh Montgomerie, 12th Earl of Eglinton, politician and composer
• November 20 – Jean-François de La Harpe
• date unknown – Yelizaveta Belogradskaya, Russian singer and musician

  Deaths

• March 27 –, German composer and organist
• April 25 – Santiago de Murcia, guitarist and composer
• May 9 – Carlo Ignazio Monza, composer
• May 27 – Johann Gottfried Bernhard Bach, organist, son of Johann Sebastian Bach
• July 24 – Benedetto Marcello, composer
• September 12
• *Reinhard Keiser, composer
• *Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt Ernest Louis
• date unknown – Antonio Bioni, opera composer
• probable – Jean-Adam Guilain, organist and harpsichordist