1703 in music
The year 1703 in music involved some significant events.
Events
- January – Johann Sebastian Bach is appointed court musician in the chapel of Duke Johann Ernst III in Weimar, his first such professional appointment, although probably including menial duties.
- by July – George Frideric Handel takes a position as violinist and harpsichordist in the orchestra of the Hamburg Oper am Gänsemarkt.
- 14 August – J. S. Bach accepts the post of organist at the New Church, Arnstadt.
- September – Antonio Vivaldi, newly ordained as a priest, is appointed maestro di violino at the Ospedale della Pietà orphanage in Venice, for which he begins teaching and composing.
- ca. December – Alessandro Scarlatti becomes maestro di cappella at Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome.
- Nicolas Bernier publishes his first cantatas, the earliest in the French language.
Classical music
- Henricus Albicastro – 6 Violin Sonatas, Op.5
- Johann Sebastian Bach
- *Concerto and Fugue in C minor, BWV 909
- *Denket doch, ihr Menschenkinder, BWV 1122
- *Wo Gott zum Haus nicht gibt sein Gunst, BWV 1123
- *Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, BWV 1124
- *O Gott, du frommer Gott, BWV 1125
- Giovanni Bononcini – Proteo sul Reno
- Sébastien de Brossard
- *Abraham ou le sacrifice d'Isaac
- *Judith ou la mort d'Holopherne
- Antonio Caldara – La castità al cimento
- André Campra – Motets, Livre 3
- Gaspard Corrette – Messe du 8e Ton pour l’Orgue
- François Couperin – Quatre versets d'un motet
- George Frideric Handel – Keyboard Sonata in C major, HWV 577
- Christian Liebe – Machet die Tore weit
- Louis Marchand – Pièces de clavecin, Livre 2
- James Paisible - Six sonatas of two parts for two flutes, Op. 1
- Andrew Parcham – Recorder Sonata in G major
- Alessandro Scarlatti – S. Casimiro, re di Polonia
- Andreas Heinrich Schultze – ''6 Recorder Sonatas''
Opera
- Antonio Caldara
- *Farnace
- *Gli equivoci del sembiante
- Francesco Gasparini – Amor della patria
- Antonio Quintavalle – Il trionfo d'amore
- Domenico Scarlatti – ''Il Giustino''
[Musical theater]
- William Corbett – ''As You Find It''
Births
- 20 January – Joseph-Hector Fiocco, composer and violinist
- 29 January – Carlmann Kolb, priest, organist and composer
- date unknown
- *Jean-Marie Leclair the younger, composer
- *John Frederick Lampe, musician
- *John Travers, organist and composer
- *Johann Gottlieb Graun, German Baroque/Classical era composer and violinist
Deaths
- March 31 – Johann Christoph Bach, organist and composer
- September 14 – Gilles Jullien, composer and organist
- October 3 – Alessandro Melani, composer
- probable – Jacek Różycki, composer