1748 in music

Events

• April 12 – Possible premiere of Johann Sebastian Bach's last St Mark Passion pastiche at St. Thomas Church, Leipzig. In addition to two movements by Bach, he incorporates seven arias from George Frideric Handel's Brockes Passion HWV 48 into the work.
• August 1748 – October 1749 – Repeat performance by Bach of Handel's Brockes Passion HWV 48 in a version by Bach.
• 1748–1749 – Johann Sebastian Bach composes his Mass in B minor BWV 232.
• Holywell Music Room, Oxford, England, the first purpose-built concert hall in Europe, is opened.
• Nicola Porpora becomes Kapellmeister at Dresden.:

Classical Music

• Johan Agrell – 6 Keyboard Sonatas, Op. 2
• Johann Sebastian Bach – 18 Chorale Preludes, BWV 651–668 finished
• Martin Berteau – 6 Cello Sonatas, Op. 1
• Michel Corrette
• *Les Pantins
• *La Tourière
• Elisabetta de Gambarini — Lessons and Songs Op. 2, for harpsichord
• George Frideric Handel
• *Joshua, HWV 64, oratorio premiered, composed 1747
• *Alexander Balus, HWV 65, oratorio premiered, composed 1747
• *Susanna, HWV 66, oratorio composed, premiered 1749
• *Solomon, HWV 67, oratorio composed, premiered 1749
• Jakob Friedrich Kleinknecht
• *6 Flute Sonatas, Op. 1
• *3 Trio Sonatas, Op. 2
• Jean-Pierre Pagin - 6 Violin Sonatas, Op. 1
• Peter Pasqualino – 6 Cello Duets
• Giovanni Alberto Ristori
• *Didone abbandonata
• *Lavinia a Turno, M.144
• Giuseppe Tartini – 6 Violin Sonatas, Op. 6
• Georg Philipp Telemann – Lukas Passion, TWV 5:33
• Burke Thumoth – ''12 Irish and 12 Scotch Airs with Variations''

Opera

• Joseph Bodin de Boismortier – Daphnis et Chloé, Op. 102
• Baldassare Galuppi – Demetrio
• Christoph W. Gluck – La Semiramide riconosciuta, Wq.13
• Karl Heinrich Graun – Ifigenia in Aulide, GraunWV B:I:18
• Johann Adolf Hasse – Demofoonte
• Niccolò Jommelli – L’amore in maschera
• Gennaro Manna – Lucio Papirio dittatore
• Jean-Philippe Rameau
• *Zaïs, premiered on February 29
• *Pygmalion, RCT 52, premiered on August 27
• *Les surprises de l'Amour, premiered on November 27

Publications

• Johann Sebastian Bach – 6 Choräle von verschiedener Art, BWV 645-650
• Louis de Caix d'Hervelois – Pièces de viole, Livre 5
• Francesco Geminiani – Rules for Playing in a True Taste, Op. 8
• William Hayes – 6 Cantatas
• Jean-Joseph de Mondonville – Pièces de Clavecin avec voix ou violon, Op. 5
• Carlo Tessarini – Contrasto armonico... con suoi rinforzi, for 3 violins and basso continuo, Op. 10
• Gregor Werner — ''Neuer und sehr curios- Musicalischer Instrumental-Calendar''

Births

• February – Hedvig Wigert, opera singer
• February 5 – Christian Gottlob Neefe, conductor, teacher, and composer
• March 5 — William Shield, violinist and composer
• May 5 – Francesco Azopardi, music theorist and composer
• April 20 – Georg Michael Telemann, composer
• August 4 – Maximilian Stadler, editor and composer
• August 11 – Joseph Schuster, composer
• August 31 – Jean-Étienne Despréaux, singer, dancer and composer
• November 30 – Joachim Albertini, composer

Deaths

• January 26 – Pierre Rameau, dancing-master
• February 26 – Jean-Baptiste Landé, ballet dancer
• March 7 – William Corbett, violinist and composer
• March 10 – Giovanni Perroni, cellist and composer
• March 17 – Charles King, choir-master and composer
• March 23 — Johann Gottfried Walther, composer and theoretician
• April 6 – David Kellner, German composer
• November 25 — Isaac Watts, hymn writer
• date unknown
• *Jacques Loeillet, oboist and composer
• *David Tecchler, luthier