1737 in music explained

Events

• April – George Frideric Handel suffers a probable stroke, resulting in the temporary paralysis of his right arm.
• November 4 – Teatro di San Carlo, Naples, inaugurated with a performance of Domenico Sarro's Achille in Sciro.
• William Boyce conducts the Three Choirs Festival

Classical music

• • • Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Harpsichord Concerto in G major, H. 405
  • Flute Sonata in E minor, H. 551
• Johann Sebastian Bach – Mass in G major, BWV 236
• Christoph Graupner – Concerto for Chalumeau, Bassoon and Cello in C major, GWV 306
• George Frideric Handel – Funeral Anthem for Queen Caroline, HWV 264
  • • Leonardo Leo Cello Concerto in D major, L. 10
  • Cello Concerto in A major, L. 20
  • Cello Concerto in F minor, L. 40
• Nicola Porpora – Il Gedeone (sacred oratorio)
• Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel – Ehre sei Gott in der Höhe, H. 342
  • • Jan Dismas Zelenka Requiem, ZWV 45 (attribution is contested)
  • 6 Ave Regina Coelorum, ZWV 128
  • Il diamante, ZWV 177

Opera

• Domenico Alberti – Endimione
• Giovanni Bononcini – Zenobia
• Riccardo Broschi – Merope
  • • George Frideric Handel Arminio (first performed, composed in 1736))
  • Giustino, HWV 37 (first performed, composed in 1736)
  • Berenice, HWV 38 (completed, first performed)
  • Faramondo, HWV 39 (composed, first performed 1738)
• Johann Adolph Hasse – Asteria
• John Frederick Lampe and Henry Carey – The Dragon of Wantley
  • • Leonardo Leo L'Olimpiade
  • Siface
• Jean-Philippe Rameau – Castor et Pollux
• Nicola Antonio Porpora – Lucio Papirio
• Domenico Sarro – Achille in Sciro
  • • Antonio Vivaldi Catone In Utica
  • Oracolo in Messenia, RV 726

Publications

• Joseph Bodin de Boismortier – 9 Sonatas and Chaconne, Op. 66
• Nicolas Chédeville – Il Pastor Fido Sonatas (originally attributed to Vivaldi as his Op. 13)
• Michel Corrette – Premier Livre d’Orgue, Op. 16
• Charles Dollé – Pièces de viole, Op. 2
• Giovanni Battista Ferrandini – 6 Sonatas, Op. 2
• Charles-Joseph van Helmont – Pièces de Clavecin, Op. 1
• Jean-Marie Leclair
  • 6 Violin Concertos, Op. 7
  • Deuxième recréation de musique d’une execution facile, Op. 8 (Paris)
• Pietro Locatelli – 12 Sonate da camera, Op. 6
• Il Maestro di Musica – Pasticcio with music by Pietro Auletta, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Alessandro Parisotti
• Ohrenvergnügendes und gemütergötzendes Tafelkonfekt, Augsburg. (includes works by Valentin Rathgeber)

Methods and theory writings

• Carl Johann Friedrich Haltmeier – Anleitung zum Transponieren
• Jacques Hotteterre – Méthode pour la musette, Op. 10
• David Kellner – Treulicher Unterricht im General-Baß
• John Frederick Lampe – A Plain and Compendious Method of Teaching Thorough Bass
• Johann Mattheson – Kern Melodischer Wissenschafft
• Jean-Phillipe Rameau – Génération harmonique, ou Traité de musique théorique et pratique
• Johann Adolph Scheibe – Der critische Musicus

Births

• January 3 – Heinrich Wilhelm von Gerstenberg, poet and librettist (died 1823)
• January 19 – Giuseppe Millico, castrato singer, composer and music teacher (died 1802)
• March 9 – Josef Mysliveček, composer (died 1781)
• April 10 – François Giroust (died 1799)
• September 14 – Michael Haydn, composer (died 1806)
• September 21 – Francis Hopkinson (died 1791)
• November 25 – Christian Friedrich Penzel (died 1801)
• date unknown
  • William Paxton, cellist and composer (died 1781)
  • Frederick Charles Reinhold, operatic bass (died 1815)
  • Marguerite Morel, Ballerina, actress and singer.

Deaths

• February 12 – Benjamin Schmolck, Lutheran hymn-writer (born 1672)
• September 22
  • Michel Pignolet de Montéclair, composer (born 1667)
  • Francesco Mancini, composer and music teacher (born 1672)
• December 18 – Antonio Stradivari, violin-maker (born 1644)