| Year |
World Events |
Significant Musical Events |
Composer Births & Deaths |
| 1652 |
Maine becomes part of Massachusetts colony |
Vienna gets its first opera house |
|
| 1653 |
Oliver Cromwell becomes Lord Protector |
Lully made director of The King's Violins |
· Archangelo Corelli born
· Johann Pachelbel born |
| 1654 |
· Blaise Pascal publishes theory of probability
· Portugal takes control of Brazil |
|
Samuel Scheidt died |
| 1656 |
· Rembrandt van Rijn's possessions are auctioned off due to his bankruptcy
· Portugal loses Columbia to the Dutch |
London gets its first opera house |
|
| 1657 |
· Liquid chocolate introduced in London
· Fountain pens are manufactured in Paris
· Oliver Cromwell rejects title of 'king'
· Christian Huygens designs clock pendulum |
|
Michel Richard Delelande born |
| 1658 |
· First bank note created by Swedish financier
· Oliver Cromwell dissolves Parliament and dies later that year |
Johann Caspar von Kerll: Applausi Festivi |
|
| 1659 |
· In England: constitutional crisis between Parliament and army
· Vermeer: Young Girl with Flute |
|
· Henry Purcell born
· Alessandro Scarlatti born |
| 1660 |
· Charles II, in exile in America, invited by Parliament to return to reign in England
· Samuel Pepys publishes Diary
· Sweden and Denmark end war |
Serse (by Cavalli) is performed at Louis XIV's wedding |
Johann Joseph Fux born |
| 1661 |
· Charles II begins reign
· Robert Boyle publishes Skeptical Chymist, a definition of chemical elements
· India in grip of 2-year drought and famine |
France's Royal Academy of Dance founded Louis XIV |
|
| 1663 |
John Newton discovers binomial theorem |
· Lully: Le Ballet Des Arts
· The Divine Services and Anthems by James Clifford becomes first anthem collection published in London |
|
| 1664 |
· Trappist Order founded in Normany
· New Amsterdam renamed New York
· Moliere: Tartuffe |
· French horn gains acceptance in orchestra
· Heinrich Schutz: Christmas Oratorio |
|
| 1665 |
· Nearly 70,000 die in London's Great Plague
· Isaac Newton invents differential calculus |
Heinrich Schutz: St. John Passion |
Giuseppe Aldrovandini born |
| 1666 |
· French and Dutch declare war on English
· Great Fire of London lasts four days
· Isaac Newton measures moon's orbit |
Antonio Stradivari makes his first Stradivarius violin |
|
| 1667 |
· Charles II and Louis XIV form alliance against Spain
· John Milton: Paradise Lost |
|
Johann Jakob Froberger died |
| 1668 |
· Treaty of Lisbon
· Alliance of the Hague
· William Penn's Sandy Foundations Shaken questions doctrine of Trinity
· Rembrandt van Rijn: Return of the Prodigal Son
· Antony von Leewenhoek makes first accurate description of red blood corpuscles |
Thomas Tomkins: Musica Deo Sacra |
Francois Couperin born |
| 1669 |
· South Carolina founded
· Cholera outbreak in China
· Death of Rembrandt van Rijn |
Matthew Locke: The Treasury of Musick |
|
| 1670 |
· First appearance of minute hands on watches
· France and England sign Treaty of Dover
· Moliere: Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme |
John Blow named organist at Westminster Abbey |
|
| 1671 |
· Cossack leader Stenka Rasin executed
· Turkey and Poland go to war
· First Arabic Bible printed (Rome)
· John Milton: Paradise Regained |
Paris Opera House has first production: Pomone by Robert Cambert |
Francesco Stradivari born |
| 1672 |
· Britain and France declare war on Dutch
· Flexible fire hoses designed by Jan van der Heyde
· Clarendon Press founded |
|
Heinrich Schutz died |
| 1673 |
· Roman Catholics barred from holding public office in England due to Test Act
· French explorers Marquette and Joliet reach Mississippi headwaters |
Dietrich Buxtehude begins series of popular concerts known as 'Abendmusiken.' |
|
| 1674 |
|
Jean Baptiste Lully: Alceste |
|
| 1675 |
· St. Paul Cathedral rebuilding project begins under supervision of Sir Christopher Wren
· War between Denmark and Sweden
· Paris becomes cultural center of Europe |
|
Antonio Vivaldi born |
| 1677 |
· William of Orange marries Princess Mary
· Parisians choose ice cream as popular dessert |
Jean Baptiste Lully: Te Deum |
|
| 1678 |
· Thatcher's paper on smallpox becomes first medical treatise published in America
· John Bunyan: Pilgrim's Progress, Part 1
· England bans import of French goods |
First opera house in Germany (Hamburg) |
|
| 1679 |
· France outlaws dueling
· England issues Habeas Corpus Amendment
· New Hampshire separates from Massachusetts |
· Jean Baptiste Lully: Bellerophon
· Alessandro Scarlatti: Gli Equivoci Nell Amore |
|
| 1680 |
· Dodo bird extinct
· Organization of French colonial empire in North America, stretching from Ontario to mouth of Mississippi |
· Stradivari makes his first cello
· Henry Purcell secures organist post at Westminster Abbey |
|
| 1681 |
· Pennsylvania granted Royal Charter
· Sir Christopher Wren takes presidency of the Royal Society |
First appearance of paid female dances (Paris Opera) |
Georg Philipp Telemann born |
| 1682 |
· Versailles established as French royal residence
· Mississippi Valley and Louisiana Territory claimed for France |
Jean Baptiste Lully: Persee |
|
| 1683 |
· First group of German immigrants arrive to North America
· St. James Church built under supervision of Sir Christopher Wren
· France and Spain go to war |
Charles II names Henry Purcell to post of Court Composer |
Jean Philippe Rameau born |
| 1685 |
· China opens its ports to foreign trade
· Charles II dies, succeeded by James II |
|
· Domenico Scarlatti born
· George Frederick Handel born
· Johann Sebastian Bach born |
| 1686 |
· First meteorological map is drawn by Sir Edmund Halley
· Madagascar annexed by French
· Russia declares war on Turkey |
Jean Baptiste Lully: Armide et Renaud |
Nicola Porpora born |
| 1687 |
|
|
Jean Baptiste Lully died |
| 1689 |
· James II abdicates, William and Mary named King and Queen for life
· Peter the Great becomes Russian Czar |
Henry Purcell: Dido and Aeneas |
|
| 1690 |
· Denis Papin devises steam-powered pump
· John Locke publishes An Essay Concerning Human Understanding |
· Johann Pachelbel: Canon in D
· Francois Couperin: Pieces for Organ |
Giovanni Legrenzi died |
| 1691 |
Plymouth Colony becomes official part of Massachusetts |
Henry Purcell: King Arthur |
|
| 1692 |
· English fleet destroys French navy in battle at La Hogue
· China establishes tolerance policy toward Christianity
· College of William & Mary founded |
Henry Purcell: Fairy Queen |
Giuseppe Tartini born |
| 1693 |
· Carolina colony divided into two parts: North and South
· City of King's Town (later Kingston), Jamaica founded |
Alessandro Scarlatti: Teodora |
|
| 1695 |
· England ends government censorship of the press
· Royal Bank of Scotland is founded |
Henry Purcell: The Indian Queen |
Henry Purcell died |
| 1697 |
· Peter the Great travels to Europe under a pseudonym (Peter Michailoff) to study European way of life
· Western Mongolia conquered by China |
John Blow: I Was Glad When They Said (for re-opening of St. Paul's Cathedral, London). |
|
| 1698 |
· Members of Peter the Great's guard attempt a rebellion in his absence: it fails
· The practice of 'goose-stepping' is introduced by the Prussian army
· Russia levies a tax on men with beards |
|
Giovanni Battista Sammartini born |
| 1699 |
The Russian New Year changes from Sept. 1 to Jan. 1 per Peter the Great's edict |
|
Johann Adolf Hasse born |
