1726 in music

Last updated January 22, 2026

The year 1726 in music involved some significant events.

Events

January 20 – J. S. Bach leads the first performance of his cantata Meine Seufzer, meine Tränen (My sighs, my tears), BWV 13, for the second Sunday after Epiphany.^[1] In the course of the year, he also copies and performs 18 church cantatas written by his cousin, Johann Ludwig Bach.
February 1 – The Academy of Ancient Music (formerly the Academy of Vocal Music) is founded in London.^[2]
May 5 – French dancer Marie de Camargo makes her debut at the Paris Opera Ballet in Les Caractères de la Danse.^[3]

Classical music

William Babell – 6 Concertos in 7 Parts, Op. 3
Johann Ludwig Bach – Ja, mir hast du Arbeit gemacht , JLB 5
Johann Sebastian Bach
- Meine Seufzer, meine Tränen , BWV 13
- Es erhub sich ein Streit , BWV 19
- Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen , BWV 32
- Geist und Seele wird verwirret, BWV 35
- Brich dem Hungrigen dein Brot , BWV 39
- Gott fähret auf mit Jauchzen , BWV 43
- Ich geh' und suche mit Verlangen , BWV 49
- Falsche Welt, dir trau ich nicht , BWV 52
- Siehe, ich will viel Fischer aussenden , BWV 88
- Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan , BWV 98
- Herr, deine Augen sehen nach dem Glauben , BWV 102
- Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust , BWV 170
- Fürchte dich nicht, ich bin bei dir, BWV 228
- 6 Partitas, BWV 825-830, Nos. 1 and 2
Joseph Bodin de Boismortier
- Trio Sonatas, Op. 12
- 6 Sonatas for 2 Bassoons, Op. 14
Antonio Caldara – Gioseffo che interpreta i sogni
François Couperin
- L'Apothéose de Corelli
- Les Nations
Henri Desmarets – Adorate eum omnes angeli ejus
Andre Cardinal Destouches – Les Stratagèmes de l'amour (Ballet)
Francesco Geminiani – 12 Concerti Grossi after Corelli's Violin Sonatas
Benedetto Marcello – Estro poetico-armonico (expanded the 1724 version)
Nicola Porpora – Imeneo in Atene (Serenade)
Domenico Scarlatti - Fugue du chat
Giovanni Battista Somis – 12 Violin Sonatas, Op. 4
Antonio Vivaldi – La Sena festeggiante, RV 693
Jan Dismas Zelenka
- Missa Paschalis, ZWV 7
- Missa Nativitatis Domini, ZWV 8
- Nisi Dominus, ZWV 92

Opera

Francisco Antonio de Almeida – La Giuditta
Tomaso Albinoni – La Statira
Pietro Auletta – La Carlotta
Francesco Ciampi – Lucio Vero
François Francoeur and François Rebel – Pirame et Thisbé
George Frideric Handel
- Alessandro , HWV 21
- Publio Cornelio Scipione, HWV 20
Johann Adolph Hasse – Astarto
Giovanni Battista Martini – Azione teatrale
Nicola Porpora – Meride e Selinunte
Domenico Sarro – Valdemaro
Georg Caspar Schürmann - Ludovicus Pius
Georg Philipp Telemann – Orpheus oder Die wunderbare Beständigkeit der Liebe, Premiered Mar. 9 in Hamburg
Leonardo Vinci
- Didone abbandonata
- L'Ernelinda
- Gismondo, re di Polonia
- Siroe, re di Persia
Antonio Vivaldi
- Cunegonda
- Dorilla in Tempe , RV 709
- La fede tradita e vendicata, RV 712

Published popular music

"Sally in Our Alley (song)" w.m. Henry Carey. The music played today is an earlier traditional tune.

Theoretical publications

Jakob Adlung – Musica mechanica organoedi
Jean-Philippe Rameau – Nouveau système de musique théorique

Births

March – Joseph Anton Steffan, harpsichordist and composer (died 1797)
April 12 – Charles Burney, music historian (died 1814)
August 26 – Karl Kohaut, lutenist and composer (died 1784)
September 1 – Johann Becker, organist and composer (died 1803)
September 7 – François-André Danican Philidor, composer and chess player
December 24 – Johann Hartmann, composer (died 1793)

Deaths

January 2 – Domenico Zipoli, composer and Jesuit missionary (born 1688)
May 13 – Francesco Antonio Pistocchi, singer, composer and librettist (born 1659)
June 18 – Michel Richard Delalande, composer (born 1657)
July 8 – Antonio Maria Bononcini, cellist and composer (born 1677)

References

↑ "Meine Seufzer, meine Tränen BWV 13; BC A 34". Bach Digital . 2026. Retrieved 18 January 2026.
↑ This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Steffani, Agostino". Encyclopædia Britannica . Vol. 25 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 869–870.
↑ This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Camargo, Marie Anne de Cupis de". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

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[Bach_Digital-1] "Meine Seufzer, meine Tränen BWV 13; BC A 34". Bach Digital . 2026. Retrieved 18 January 2026.

[2] This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Steffani, Agostino". Encyclopædia Britannica . Vol. 25 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 869–870.

[3] This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Camargo, Marie Anne de Cupis de". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

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