1720 in music

Events

• April – The Royal Academy of Music, a company formed for Handel in London, begins to produce operas.
• Giovanni Bononcini arrives in London, his home until 1732, and becomes one of Handel's most notable rivals.
• Benedetto Marcello's satirical attack on opera, Il teatro alla moda, is published anonymously in Venice.
• Domenico Scarlatti arrives in Lisbon.

  Classical music

• Johann Sebastian Bach – Prelude for Lute in C minor
• Jan Josef Ignác Brentner – Horae Pomeridianae
• Marin Marais – Sonnerie de Ste-Geneviève du Mont-de-Paris
• James Paisible – Six setts of aires for two flutes & a bass...
• Alessandro Scarlatti – Messa di Santa Cecilia

  Opera

• Antonio Maria Bononcini – Nino
• George Frideric Handel – Radamisto
• Johann David Heinichen – Flavio Crispo
• Leonardo Leo – Caio Gracco
• Giovanni Porta – Numitore
• Antonio Vivaldi – La verità in cimento

  Births

• January 1 – Johann Christoph Altnickol, composer
• January 4 – Johann Friedrich Agricola, composer
• August 20 – Bernard de Bury, court musician and composer
• October 17 – Maria Teresa Agnesi, singer and composer
• November 16 – Carlo Antonio Campioni, composer
• date unknown
• *Henry Hargrave, composer
• *William Savage, singer, organist and composer
• probable
• *Gioacchino Cocchi, composer
• *Bernhard Joachim Hagen, composer
• *Joan Baptista Pla, oboist and composer
• *Johann Georg Schürer, composer

  Deaths

• July 7 – Maria Barbara Bach, first wife of Johann Sebastian Bach
• July 27 – Johann Samuel Welter, composer
• date unknown
• *Sridhara Venkatesa Ayyaval, Hindu saint and composer
• *Jean Hotteterre, musician and composer
• *José Peyró, composer
• *Demoiselle Conradi, German opera singer
• probable
• *Antonia Bembo, singer and composer
• *Jean Baptiste Loeillet of Ghent, composer
• *Guillaume Minoret, composer
• *Johann Speth, organist and composer