Mozart begins works on his famous “Requiem”
Mozart’s Requiem is a choral masterpiece whose genesis is shrouded in mystery — one that makes the piece all the more fascinating and emotionally stirring.
Artists & philosophers
Thomas Paine publishes Rights of Man
Rights of Man (1791), a book by Thomas Paine, including 31 articles, posits that popular political revolution is permissible when a government does not safeguard the natural rights of its people
Cao Xueqin’s Dream of the Red Chamber, perhaps China’s greatest novel, is published
Dream of the Red Chamber, also called The Story of the Stone, composed by Cao Xueqin, is one of China’s Four Great Classical Novels. It was written sometime in the middle of the 18th century during the Qing Dynasty.
Four great Anhui troupes introduce Anhui opera to Beijing for first time
Hui opera, or Huiju, remains as a popular regional genre of Chinese opera. It is now most prominent in the area around Huangshan City and Chizhou, as well as Wuyuan County, Jiangxi.
Adam Smith publishes “The Wealth of Nations” driving the rise of capitalism
The publishing of “The Wealth of Nations” marked the birth of modern capitalism as well as economics.
Pu Songling completes Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, one of the great pieces of Chinese literature
Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio or Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio is a collection of Classical Chinese stories by Pu Songling comprising close to five hundred “marvel tales” in the zhiguai and chuanqi styles which serve to implicitly criticise societal issues then.
Hobbes publishes Leviathan, a seminal philosophical text
Leviathan rigorously argues that civil peace and social unity are best achieved by the establishment of a commonwealth through social contract.
Miguel de Cervantes publishes Don Quixote, the first modern novel
Published in two volumes, in 1605 and 1615, Don Quixote is considered the most influential work of literature from the Spanish Golden Age and the entire Spanish literary canon
Shakespeare writes Hamlet, one of the most influential pieces of literature in history
Hamlet is Shakespeare’s longest play, and is considered among the most powerful and influential works of world literature, with a story capable of “seemingly endless retelling and adaptation by others”.
Martin Luther composes his “95 Theses” disrupting dogma and domination of the Catholic Church
95 Theses propounded two central beliefs — that the Bible is the central religious authority and that humans may reach salvation only by their faith and not by their deeds.