Timeline
130 events between 1602 and 1763 — 71 in music, the rest general history, set against each other as the book sets them. Colour marks the 1660-1760 period this book is about; everything outside it is greyed rather than dropped, so the century either side stays visible.
10 of them lasted years rather than happening in one — the wars, the Great Plague, Pepys’s diary — and are drawn as bars rather than points. Music sits to the left of the spine, general history to the right.
- 1600
1602 · Music
Giulio Caccini publishes Le nuove musiche in Florence
1603 · History
Union of the Crowns when James VI of Scotland ascends the throne as James I of England
1605 · History
Failure of the Gunpowder Plot
- 1610
1611 · History
Publication of the King James Bible.
1613 · History
The Globe Theatre burns down and is rebuilt the following year
1616 · History
William Shakespeare dies
- 1620
1625-30 · History
Anglo-Spanish War, part of the Thirty Years’ War
1625 · History
Charles I ascends the throne
- 1630
1632 · Music
Walter Porter’s Madrigals and Ayres is published
1639 · Music
Charles I grants a patent to William Davenant for an early kind of opera house
- 1640
1641 · History
Parliament presents The Grand Remonstrance, a list of grievances, to Charles I.
1642 · History
English Civil Wars begin
1649 · History
Charles I is executed and the Commonwealth begins
- 1650
1650 · Music
John Playford begins to publish music
1652-54 · History
First Anglo-Dutch War
1654 · Music
Playford publishes his first edition of An Introduction to the Skill of Music
1656 · Music
William Davenant’s The Siege of Rhodes is performed at Rutland House
1657 · Music
Walter Porter self-publishes Mottets of Two Voyces
1658 · History
Death of Oliver Cromwell
1658 · History
Richard Cromwell assumes the office of Lord Protector
1659 · History
Richard Cromwell resigns the office of Lord Protector, clearing the way for the Restoration
- 1660
1660-69 · History
Samuel Pepys writes his diary
1660 · History
Restoration of the monarchy: Charles II ascends the throne
1660 · Music
Charles II permits the establishment of an Italian opera house, which did not materalise
1662 · History
The Licensing Act is passed, to re-establish control over the press
1665-66 · History
The Great Plague ravages England. London loses 15% of its population.
1665-67 · History
Second Anglo-Dutch War
1666 · History
The Great Fire of London
1666 · History
First publication of Francis Barlow’s illustrations in Æsop’s Fables with his Life
1667 · Music
Louis Grabu takes over the leadership of the royal court’s Twenty-four Violins
- 1670
1670 · History
Charles II signs the Secret Treaty of Dover
1671 · Music
The Dorset Garden Theatre opens
1672-74 · History
Third Anglo-Dutch War
1672 · History
Antonio Verrio arrives in England
1672 · Music
First advertisement of John Banister’s public concerts
1673 · History
Passing of the Test Act, banning Catholics from serving in the royal household
1673 · Music
James Paisible and other French composers arrive in England
1674 · Music
Louis Grabu’s Ariane is performed
1675 · History
The rebuilding of St Paul’s Cathedral begins
1675 · Music
Matthew Locke self-publishes The English Opera; or, The Vocal Musick in Psyche
1676 · History
Sir Godfrey Kneller arrives in London
1676 · Music
Italian Nicola Matteis publishes his Arie Diverse per il Violino
1676 · Music
Thomas Duffet’s Beauties Triumph is performed at a ladies’ boarding school
1678 · History
The Popish Plot, a fictitious conspiracy to assassinate Charles II, unleashes national hysteria.
1678 · Music
Louis Grabu and other foreign Catholic musicians leave the country
1678 · Music
Thomas Britton begins hosting weekly public concerts
- 1680
1683 · Music
Purcell publishes his Sonnata’s of III Parts
c.1683 · Music
John Blow’s Venus and Adonis is performed at court
1684 · Music
John Blow sets Thomas Flatman’s Ode for New Year’s Day
1684 · Music
John Blow’s Venus and Adonis is performed at Josias and Frances Priest’s ladies boarding school
1684 · Music
Louis Grabu returns to England by invitation
1685 · History
James II ascends the throne
1685 · Music
John Blow composes coronation anthem for James II
1685 · Music
Louis Grabu’s Albion and Albanius is premiered
1686 · Music
Earliest known performance of Jean-Baptiste Lully’s opera, Cadmus et Hermione
1687 · History
Isaac Newton publishes his theory on gravity in his Principia Mathematica
1687 · Music
Giovanni Battista Draghi sets John Dryden’s Song for St Cecilia’s Day, 1687
1687 · Music
Louis Grabu’s Albion and Albanius full score is published
1688-97 · History
Nine Years’ War
1688 · History
Glorious Revolution sees William III and Mary II ascend the throne
c.1688 · Music
Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas is performed at Josias and Frances Priest’s school
1689 · History
The first Jacobite Rising breaks out in Scotland
1689 · History
The Bill of Rights is passed, establishing Parliament as the supreme law-making body
- 1690
1690 · Music
Purcell’s Dioclesian is premiered
1691 · Music
Purcell self-publishes Dioclesian
1691 · Music
Purcell and Dryden’s King Arthur is premiered
1692 · Music
Purcell’s The Fairy Queen is premiered
1694 · Music
Purcell is editor for a new edition of Playford’s An Introduction to the Skill of Musick
1695 · History
Expiration of the Licensing Act, marking the end of official pre-publication censorship
1695 · Music
John Walsh begins publishing music
1695 · Music
John Banister publishes the first tutor book for the hautboy, The Sprightly Companion
1695 · Music
Purcell’s The Indian Queen is premiered
1695 · Music
Purcell dies
1696 · Music
John Eccles provides music for The Anatomist and The Loves of Mars and Venus
1697 · History
Annual Sons of the Clergy charity service at St Paul’s Cathedral begins
1698 · Music
Frances Purcell publishes Orpheus Britannicus
1698 · Music
Rinaldo and Armida is premiered, with music by Eccles
1699 · Music
The Island Princess is premiered, with music by Jeremiah Clarke, Richard Leveridge and Daniel Purcell
- 1700
1700 · Music
John Weldon wins the Judgment of Paris competition
1701-14 · History
War of the Spanish Succession
1701 · Music
The Virgin Prophetess is premiered, with music by Gottfried Finger
1701 · Music
Henry Playford publishes Divine Companion
1702 · History
Anne ascends the throne
1702 · History
The first British daily newspaper, The Daily Courant, is established
1702 · Music
The second volume of Orpheus Britannicus is published
1705 · History
Building of Blenheim Palace begins
1705 · Music
Thomas Clayton’s Arsinoe is premiered
1705 · Music
The Haymarket Theatre opens
1706 · Music
Nicola Haym adapts Bononcini’s Camilla for London audiences
1706 · Music
Eccles provides some of the music to The British Enchanters
1707 · History
The Treaty of Union formally unites England and Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain
1708 · History
A new Jacobite rising sees a French-backed invasion attempt in Scotland
1709 · Music
William Topham publishes his Six Sonata’s…Compos’d in Imitation of Archangelo Corelli
- 1710
1710 · History
The Statute of Anne is established, the first copyright law
1711 · Music
Handel’s Rinaldo is performed, and the music published by John Walsh and John Hare
1712 · Music
Handel moves to London permanently
1714 · History
George I ascends the throne, solidifying the role of Prime Minister
1714 · Music
Italian violinist Geminiani travels to London
1715 · History
James Stuart lands in Scotland at the head of a third abortive Jacobite rising
1715 · Music
The Three Choirs Festival is established
1719 · History
Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe is published
1719 · Music
George I supports the establishment of London’s first opera company
- 1720
1720 · Music
Italian castrato Senesino travels to London
1724 · Music
Handel’s Giulio Cesare in Egitto is premiered
1726 · History
Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels is published
1726 · Music
First meeting of the Academy of Vocal Music (later the Academy of Ancient Music)
1727 · History
George II ascends the throne
1727 · Music
Handel writes four coronation anthems, including Zadok the Priest
1727 · Music
The Academy of Ancient Music elects Agostino Steffani as President
1728 · History
Astronomer James Bradley calculates the speed of light
1728 · Music
John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera is premiered
- 1730
1731 · History
The Gentleman’s Magazine starts
1731 · Music
Handel alters Rinaldo for castrato Senesino
1732 · Music
John Rich opens the Theatre Royal at Covent Garden
1732 · Music
The first public performance of Handel’s Esther
1734 · Music
Handel composes anthem for the Princess Royal’s wedding
1735 · Music
Handel’s Alcina is premiered
1737 · History
The Licensing Act is passed, introducing government control over theatre companies
1739 · Music
George Frideric Handel re-sets John Dryden’s Song for St Cecilia’s Day, 1687
- 1740
1740-48 · History
War of the Austrian Succession
1743 · Music
Handel’s Semele is premiered
1745 · History
The final major Jacobite rising, “the Forty-Five”, breaks out under the leadership of Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie)
1746 · History
The Jacobites under Charles Edward Stuart are decisively defeated at the Battle of Culloden, putting an end to the Jacobite cause as a serious military and political threat.
1749 · History
Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones is published
- 1750
1751 · History
Adoption of the Gregorian calendar in Britain
1751 · Music
Geminiani’s The Art of Playing on the Violin is published
1755 · History
Samuel Johnson publishes A Dictionary of the English Language
1756-63 · History
The Seven Years’ War
1759 · Music
Handel dies
- 1760
1760 · History
George III ascends the throne, to reign for 60 years
Timeline compiled by Steph Carter