^{FIRST PUBLISHED 10 JAN 2026}

As we step into 2026, Continuo Connect looks back three centuries to explore 1726, a year rich in musical milestones. Our playlist includes works written or premiered in 1726, alongside compositions tied to significant musical moments of the time.

1726 London saw George Frideric Handel at the height of his Italian opera phase, completing Alessandro for the Royal Academy of Music (the opera company), a work that showcased the rivalry between two prima donnas, Faustina Bordoni and Francesca Cuzzoni, and would become one of his standout operas. By the end of the 1728-29 season, after just a decade of operation, the RAM declared bankruptcy, with the extravagant fees for singers cited as a major factor in its financial downfall.

Meanwhile, across the Channel in France, François Couperin presented his imaginative set of trio sonatas and suites, Les Nations, blending French and Italian styles in new and innovative ways. In Leipzig, Johann Sebastian Bach was in full compositional swing, writing an impressive 13 cantatas and beginning the monumental Six Partitas for Keyboard, BWV 825–830, which would go on to become foundational works in the keyboard repertoire. Though the details of his activities in 1726 are somewhat scarce, it is believed that Domenico Scarlatti was in Lisbon, where he served as the musical director to King John V of Portugal. He composed his famous G minor Harpsichord Sonata (K30) that year, which would in the 1800s earn the affectionate nickname, The Cat’s Fugue.

In the world of literature, 1726 saw the publication of Jonathan Swift’s iconic Gulliver’s Travels, which caught the ear of composer Georg Philipp Telemann. Drawing inspiration from the novel, Telemann went on to compose his Suite for Two Violins, featured here as well, a few years later.

The year also marked the end of two major composers’ lives. Italian-born Domenico Zipoli, who spent much of his life composing in South America, and French composer Michel Richard Delalande both passed away that year. This playlist highlights some of their most well-known pieces, in recordings by Florilegium, Ex Cathedra and Ensemble Molière.

1726 was a year of important institutional moments, too. In London, the original Academy of Ancient Music was founded, with Johann Christoph Pepusch playing a key role as a founding member. You’ll hear selections from his Chandos Anthems in a vibrant recording by The Harmonious Society of Tickle-Fiddle Gentlemen, supported by Continuo Foundation. Meanwhile, in Sweden, the Royal Swedish Orchestra made history by reforming its recruitment rules in order to open the door for its first female musicians, while the ‘father of Swedish Baroque music,’ Johan Helmich Roman, was appointed Royal Chapel Master around the same time. This playlist includes movements from Roman’s solo concertos, in a recording by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

Listen on Spotify.

TRACK LIST

1-4. Couperin Les Nations | Hespèrion XXI, Jordi Savall
‘La Françoise’: 1. Sonade
‘L’Espagnole’: 10. Passacaille
‘L’impériale’: 1. Sonade
‘La Piémontoise’: 7. Gigue
5. Delalande (arr. Satoko Doi-Luck) Symphonies pour les souper du Roy. Première Suite: VI. Passacaille | Ensemble Molière
6. Delalande De Profundis | Ex Cathedra, Jeffrey Skidmore
7-8. Handel Alessandro | Deutsche Händel-Solisten, Michael Form
Act I: Battalia
‘Placa l'alma, quieto il petto!’
9-10. Pepusch Rejoice in the Lord | The Harmonious Society of Tickle-Fiddle Gentlemen, Robert Rawson
I. Sinfonia
V. ‘For faithful is the word of God’
11-12. Zipoli Beatus Vir | Florilegium, Henry Villca, Bolivian Soloists
I. ‘Beatus Vir’
III. Aria. 'In te spero'
13-15. Albinoni La Statira | La Serenissima & Adrian Chandler
Sinfonia (Allegro – Andante – Allegro)
16-18. Vivaldi Dorilla in Tempe | Coro della Radiotelevisione Svizzera, I Barocchisti, Diego Fasolis
Sinfonia (Allegro – Andante – Allegro)
‘Dell’ aura al sussurrar’
19. Vivaldi La Sena festeggiante, RV 693: Sinfonia. Allegro molto | Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini
20. Roman Oboe d'amore Concerto in D: I. Allegro moderato | Anthony Robson, Anthony Halstead, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
21. Roman Violin Concerto in F minor: II. Larghetto | Elizabeth Wallfisch, Anthony Halstead, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
22. D Scarlatti Keyboard Sonata in G minor, K30 (The Cat’s Fugue) | Elaine Comparone
23-24. Telemann Intrada-Suite for two violins Gulliver’s Travels | Capricornus Consort Basel
III. Brobdingnagische Gigue
IV. Reverie der Laputier, nebst ihren Aufweckern
25. JS Bach Meine Seufzer, meine Tränen, BWV 13 : I. Aria. ‘Meine Seufzer, meine Tränen' | Bach Collegium Japan, Masaaki Suzuki & Gerd Türk
26. Bach Keyboard Partita No. 1 in B flat, BWV 825: I. Prelude | Trevor Pinnock
27-28. Telemann Orpheus | Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, René Jacobs
Act I: Overture
Aria. ‘C'est ma plus chére envie’
29. Bach Keyboard Partita No. 2 in C minor, BWV 826: VI. Capriccio | Trevor Pinnock
30. Bach Vergnügte Ruh’, beliebte Seelenlust, BWV 170: I. Aria. ‘Vergnügte Ruh’, beliebte Seelenlust’ | Iestyn Davies, Jonathan Cohen, Arcangelo