1685 in music

The year 1685 in music involved some significant events.

Events

 * The father of Georg Philipp Telemann dies, leaving his widow to bring up the children.
 * Antonio Stradivari makes the ex Arma Senkrah violin.
 * John Blow is recorded among the private musicians of King James II of England.
 * The 17-year-old François Couperin becomes organist at St Gervais in Paris.
 * Giovanni Legrenzi becomes maestro di cappella at St Mark's Cathedral, Venice.

Classical music

 * Giovanni Bononcini – 12 Sinfonie, Op. 3
 * Cristofaro Caresana – Dixit Dominus
 * Arcangelo Corelli – Op. 2, 12 trio sonatas
 * Le Sieur de Machy – Pieces de Violle
 * Nicolas Gigault – Livre de musique pour l'orgue
 * Nicolas Lebègue – Livre d'orgue No.3
 * Jean-Baptiste Lully
 * Idylle sur la Paix, LWV 68
 * Ballet du temple de la paix, LWV 69
 * Johann Christoph Pezel – Fünfstimmige blasende Music
 * Henry Purcell – My heart is inditing (anthem), first performed at the coronation of King James II
 * Alessandro Scarlatti – Il martirio di S. Teodosia

Opera

 * John Blow – Venus and Adonis
 * Marc-Antoine Charpentier
 * La Couronne de fleurs
 * Les arts florissants
 * Giuseppe Fabrini – La Genefieva
 * Jean-Baptiste Lully – Roland

Births

 * March 5 (N.S.) – George Frideric Handel, composer (died 1759)
 * March 31 (NS) – Johann Sebastian Bach, composer (died 1750)
 * June 23 (NS?) – Antonio Maria Bernacchi, castrato singer (died 1756)
 * June 30 – John Gay, poet, author of The Beggar's Opera (died 1732)
 * September 20 – Giuseppe Matteo Alberti, composer and violinist (died 1751)
 * October 26 – Domenico Scarlatti, composer (died 1757)
 * December 12 – Lodovico Giustini, early composer for piano (died 1743)

Deaths

 * March 31 – Juan Hidalgo de Polanco, harpist and composer (born 1614)
 * July 4 or (5) – George Jeffreys, composer (born c.1610)
 * September 22 – Ignazio Albertini, Italian musician and composer (born 1644)
 * date unknown
 * Jean-Baptiste Boësset, French composer (born 1614)
 * Yatsuhashi Kengyo, Japanese musician and composer (born 1614)