1704 in music

The year 1704 in music involved some significant events.

Events

• Johann Christoph Pepusch arrives in London.
• Following her husband's death, Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre begins hosting concerts in her home.
• Antonio Vivaldi becomes general superintendent of music at the Ospedale della Pietà, Venice.
• Johann Jacob Bach becomes an oboist in the army of King Charles XII of Sweden, inspiring Johann Sebastian to write a Capriccio on the Absence of His Most Beloved Brother.
• During a performance of Johann Mattheson's opera, Cleopatra, the composer almost kills his friend, Georg Frideric Handel, in a violent quarrel.

Classical music

• Setting by Reinhard Keiser of Der blutige und sterbende Jesus by Christian Friedrich Hunold
• Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich (cantata) by Johann Sebastian Bach

Opera

• Johann Mattheson – Die unglückselige Cleopatra
• Carlo Francesco Pollarolo – Irene (revised by Domenico Scarlatti for performance at Naples).

Births

• May 7 – Carl Heinrich Graun, composer and singer (died 1759)
• June 11 – Carlos Seixas, composer (died 1742)
• October 2 – František Tůma, organist and composer (died 1774)
• December 31 – Carl Gotthelf Gerlach, organist (died 1761)
• probable – Claude Parisot, organ builder (died 1784)

Deaths

• February 7 – Lady Mary Dering, composer (born 1629)
• February 23 – Georg Muffat, composer (born 1653)
• February 24 – Marc-Antoine Charpentier, composer (born 1643)
• February 25 – Isabella Leonarda, composer of church music (born 1620)
• May 3 – Heinrich Ignaz Biber, violinist and composer (born 1644)
• November 2 – Johann Jakob Walther, violinist and composer (born 1650)
• date unknown – Francesco Provenzale, composer (born 1624)
• date unknown – Georg Christoph Strattner, friend and colleague of Bach at Lüneburg (born c. 1644)