1726 in music

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" 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)

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.