1731 in music

This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1731.

Events

 * The Academy of Vocal Music changes its name to the Academy of Ancient Music.
 * Jean-Philippe Rameau meets his patron, La Pouplinière.
 * Antonio Stradivari makes a viola that will be owned a hundred years later by Niccolò Paganini.
 * Antonio Vivaldi returns to Venice.
 * March 23 Johann Sebastian Bach premieres his St Mark Passion BWV 247 (BC D 4) at St. Thomas Church, Leipzig.

Classical music

 * William Babell – Prelude in F major, IWB 10
 * Carl Phillip Emanuel Bach
 * Keyboard Sonata in B-flat major, H. 2, Wq. 62/1
 * Trio Sonata in D minor, H. 569, Wq. 145 (formerly attributed to J.S. Bach as BWV 1036)
 * Trio Sonata in C major, H. 571, Wq. 147
 * Johann Sebastian Bach
 * Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dir, BWV 29
 * Der Herr ist mein getreuer Hirt, BWV 112 (premiered Apr. 8 in Leipzig)
 * Komm, Jesu, komm, BWV 229
 * Wachet auf, BWV 140 (premiered Nov. 25 in Leipzig)
 * Orchestral Suite No.3 in D major, BWV 1068
 * Jean Barrière – Sonatas for Pardessus de viole, Livre 5
 * Joseph Bodin de Boismortier
 * 6 Gentillesses en 3 parties, Op. 33
 * 6 Sonates à quatre parties, Op. 34
 * 6 Suites de pièces, Op.35
 * Louis de Caix d'Hervelois
 * Collection of flute pieces
 * 4 Suites de pièces pour la viole, Op. 3
 * Antonio Caldara – David umiliato
 * Louis-Antoine Dornel – Pièces de clavecin
 * Christoph Graupner
 * Trio Sonata in E minor, GWV 209
 * Flute Concerto in D major, GWV 312
 * Concerto for Flute d'amore, Oboe d'amore and Viola d'amore in G major, GWV 333
 * George Frideric Handel – Minuet in G major, HWV 530
 * Michele Mascitti – 12 Violin Sonatas, Op. 8
 * Johann Joachim Quantz – 6 Flute Sonatas, RISM Q. 33
 * Giuseppe Tartini
 * Pastorale in A major, B.A16
 * Violin Sonata in G major, B.G17
 * Violin Sonata in G minor, B.g10 "Didone abbandonata"
 * Georg Philipp Telemann
 * Abscheuliche Tiefe des großen Verderbens, TWV 1:9
 * Der mit Sünden beleidigte Heiland, TWV 1:306
 * Nach Finsternis und Todesschatten, TWV 1:1150
 * Fortsetzung des Harmonischen Gottes-Dienstes
 * Jan Dismas Zelenka – Missa Sancti Josephi, ZWV 14

Opera

 * Tommaso Albinoni – Fano
 * Francesco Corradini – Con amor non hay libertad
 * Francesco Corselli – Venere placata
 * Carl Heinrich Graun – Iphigenia in Aulis
 * George Frideric Handel
 * Poro, re dell'Indie, HWV 28
 * Rinaldo, HWV 7b (revised 1711 version)
 * Johann Adolf Hasse
 * Cajo Fabricio
 * Cleofide
 * Giovanni Battista Pergolesi – La conversione e morte di San Guglielmo
 * Nicola Porpora – Poro
 * Antonio Vivaldi – Semiramide, RV 733

Theoretical publications

 * Johann Mattheson – Grosse General-Baß-Schule

Births

 * November 27 – Gaetano Pugnani, composer (died 1798)
 * December 8 – František Xaver Dušek, harpsichordist, pianist and composer (died 1799)
 * December 28 – Christian Cannabich, composer (died 1798)

Deaths

 * January 27 – Bartolomeo Cristofori, inventor of an early form of piano (born 1655)
 * May 1 (buried) – Johann Ludwig Bach, violinist and composer (born 1677)
 * July 5 (buried) – Jakob Greber, composer and musician (date of birth unknown)
 * November – Johann Caspar Wilcke, musician and father of Anna Magdalena Bach
 * December 26 – Antoine Houdar de la Motte, librettist (born 1672)