1721 in music

The year 1721 in music involved some significant events.

Events

 * December 3 – Johann Sebastian Bach marries his second wife, Anna Magdalena.
 * Antonio Maria Bononcini becomes maestro di cappella in his native city of Modena.
 * Georg Philipp Telemann becomes director of music in Hamburg.

Classical music

 * Johann Sebastian Bach
 * Brandenburg Concertos, a collection of five concerti grossi and one ripieno concerto presented to Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt.
 * Capriccio in E major, BWV 993
 * Giovanni Bononcini – Cantate e Duetti
 * Evaristo Felice Dall'Abaco – 6 Concerti à più istrumenti, Op. 5
 * Christoph Graupner – Sonata in G minor, GWV 724
 * George Frideric Handel
 * Crudel tiranno amor, HWV 97
 * Keyboard Sonatina in G minor, HWV 583
 * Pietro Locatelli – 12 Concerti grossi à 4 e à 5, Op. 1 (including concerto in F minor "Christmas Concerto")
 * Jean-Philippe Rameau – Orphée, RCT 27
 * Valentin Rathgeber – Octava musica clavium octo musicarum, R 295
 * Georg Philipp Telemann
 * Ich halte aber dafür, TWV 1:840
 * Ich hoffe darauf daß du so gnädig bist, TWV 1:847
 * Francesco Maria Veracini – 12 Violin Sonatas, Op. 1
 * Silvius Leopold Weiss – Tombeau sur la mort de M. Comte de Logy arrivée, WSW 20

Opera

 * Filippo Amadei, Giovanni Bononcini & George Frideric Handel – Muzio Scevola
 * Giovanni Bononcini – Crispo
 * George Frideric Handel – Floridante, HWV 14
 * Michel Richard de Lalande – Les élémens, S.153 (composed with André Cardinal Destouches)
 * Giuseppe Maria Orlandini – Nerone
 * Nicola Porpora
 * Eumene
 * Gli orti esperidi
 * Alessandro Scarlatti – La Griselda
 * Georg Philipp Telemann – Der Geduldige Socrates
 * Antonio Vivaldi – La Silvia, RV 734
 * Johann Adolph Hasse – Antioco

Theoretical Writings

 * Alexander Malcolm – A Treatise of Musick
 * Johann Mattheson – Das forschende Orchestre
 * Franz Xaver Murschhauser – Academia Musico-Poetica Bipartita
 * Thomas Walter – The Grounds and Rules of Musick Explained

Births

 * April 1 – Pieter Hellendaal, organist, violinist and composer (died 1799)
 * April 7 – Matthias Vanden Gheyn, composer (died 1785)
 * December 9 – Peter Pelham, organist, harpsichordist and composer (d. 1805)
 * December 27 (bapt.) – John Garth, composer (died 1810)
 * date unknown
 * Barbara Campanini, dancer
 * Quirino Gasparini, composer (died 1778)
 * Giovanni Battista Lorenzi, Italian librettist (died 1807)

Deaths

 * February 22 – Johann Christoph Bach, organist, elder brother of Johann Sebastian (born 1642)
 * September 3 – Jan Antonín Losy, lute player and composer (born c. 1643)
 * date unknown
 * Jacques Paisible, recorder virtuoso and composer (born c. 1656)
 * Jerónimo de Carrión, composer (b. 1660)