The year 1705 in music involved some significant events.

Events

• Johann Sebastian Bach travels to Lübeck to hear Dieterich Buxtehude perform.^[1]
• Alessandro Scarlatti notes that he has written 88 operas in the past 23 years.^[2]
• William Croft marries Mary George.^[3]
• Jean-Féry Rebel joins Les Vingt-quatre Violons du Roi.^[4]
• The earliest fandango melody is recorded in the anonymous Libro de diferentes cifras de guitarra.^[5]

Classical music

• Johann Michael Bach – Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ (formerly attributed to JS Bach, BWV 723)
• Johann Sebastian Bach
  • Prelude and Fugue in E minor, BWV 533
  • Prelude and Fugue in G minor, BWV 535a
  • Prelude and Fugue in C minor, BWV 549
  • Prelude in G major, BWV 568
  • Prelude in A minor, BWV 569
  • Fantasia in C major, BWV 570
  • Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, BWV 739
  • Suite in A minor, BWV 818
  • Overture in F major, BWV 820
  • Suite in G minor, BWV 822
  • Sonata in A minor, BWV 965
  • Sonata in C major, BWV 966
  • Sonata in A minor, BWV 967
• Friedrich Nicolaus Brauns – St Mark Passion (formerly attributed to Reinhard Keiser)
• Sébastien de Brossard – Samson trahi par Dalila
• Dietrich Buxtehude – Prelude in G minor, BuxWV 150
• Antonio Caldara – Kyrie in A minor
• François Campion – Nouvelles découvertes Sur la Guitarre
• François Couperin
  • Mottets à voix seule, deux et trois parties et symphonies
  • 7 Versets du motet composé de l'ordre du roy, 1705
• Michel Richard Delalande – Mottets de Monsieur de La Lande
• Jean Gilles – Requiem
• George Frideric Handel
  • Chaconne in G major, HWV 442
  • Air in A major, HWV 468
  • Gavotte in G major, HWV 491
• Johann Kuhnau – Gott sei mir gnädig
• Gaspard Le Roux – Pièces de clavessin
• Antonio Lotti – Duetti, terzetti, e madrigali a più voci
• Johann Pachelbel – Toccata in C major, P.455-6
• Bernardo Pascoli – Moteti sagri a voce sola..., Op. 1
• John Christopher Pepusch – 6 Record Sonatas, Op.1
• Alessandro Scarlatti – Solitudini amene, bersaglio d'empia sorte, H.664
• Georg Philipp Telemann – Ich hebe meine Augen auf zu den Bergen, TWV 7:17
• Antonio Vivaldi – 12 Trio Sonatas, Op.1

Opera

The following operas were composed:

• Tomaso Albinoni – L'Eraclea
• Antonio Caldara – L'Arminia
• Thomas Clayton, Nicola Haym, & Charles Dieupart – Arsinoe, Queen of Cyprus, produced at the Drury Lane Theatre in London
• Francesco Gasparini
  • Ambleto
  • Antioco
• George Frideric Handel – Almira, premièred in Hamburg
• Reinhard Keiser – Octavia (or Die römische Unruhe, oder Die edelmühtige Octavia)
• Alessandro Scarlatti
  • Alle Troiane antenne, H.30
  • Il Sedecia, re di Gerusalemme

Theoretical Writings

• Jacques Boyvin – Traité abrégé de l’Accompagnement
• Johann Peter Sperling – Principia Musicæ^[6]

Births

• De: Johann Elias Bach January 24 – Farinelli, celebrated castrato (died 1782)
• February 20 – Nicolas Chédeville, composer, musette player and maker (died 1782)
• September 19 – Marguerite-Antoinette Couperin, French harpsichordist (died 1778)
• September 28 – Johann Peter Kellner, organist and composer (died 1772)
• November 5 – Louis-Gabriel Guillemain, composer and violinist (died 1770)
• November 29 – Michael Christian Festing, violinist and composer (died 1752)
• date unknown
  • Louis Archimbaud, organist and composer (died 1789)
  • Nicola Sabatino, composer (died 1796)
• probable – Joseph-Nicolas-Pancrace Royer, composer and harpsichordist (died 1755)

Deaths

• February – Pierre Beauchamp, dancer, choreographer and composer (born 1631)
• February 5 – Jean Gilles, composer (born 1668)
• June 13 – Nicholas Staggins, composer, Master of the King's Musick
• April 17 – Johann Paul von Westhoff, violinist and composer (born 1656)
• December 1 – Jeremiah Clarke, composer (born c. 1674)
• probable – Giovanni Battista Rogeri, luthier (born c. 1650)