The year 1712 in music involved some significant events.

Events

• March 18 – Georg Philipp Telemann arrives in Frankfurt to take up his new post as city director of music and Kapellmeister at the Barfüsserkirche.
• March 25 – Approximate date of the première of Johann Sebastian Bach's St Mark Passion pastiche at the chapel of Wilhelmsburg Castle (two movements by Bach).
• September – George Frideric Handel re-locates to London, with the permission of his patron, the future King George I of Great Britain.^[1]
• Johann Georg Pisendel joins the court orchestra at Dresden.

Classical music

• Tomaso Albinoni – 12 Trattenimenti armonici, Op. 6
• Johann Sebastian Bach
  • Prelude and Fugue in G major, BWV 541
  • Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C major, BWV 564
  • Fantasia in G major, BWV 572
  • Toccata in F-sharp minor, BWV 910
  • Fugue in B minor, BWV 951
  • Fughetta in C minor, BWV 961
  • Suite in E minor for lute, BWV 996
• Francesco Antonio Bonporti – 10 Inventions, Op. 10
• Pieter Bustijn – 9 Suittes pour le clavessin
• Henry Carey – Setting of "The Lord My Pasture Shall Prepare" (hymn) by Joseph Addison
• Arcangelo Corelli – Twelve Concerti Grossi, Op. 6 (composed)
• Evaristo Felice Dall'Abaco
  • Concerti a quattro da chiesa, Op. 2
  • 12 Trio Sonatas, Op. 3
• Christoph Graupner
  • Jesus ist und bleibt mein Leben, GWV 1107/12
  • Mein Gott, warum hast du mich verlassen?, GWV 1118/12a
  • Wenn wir in höchsten Nöten sein, GWV 1143/12
  • Demütiget euch nun, GWV 1144/12
  • Zähle meine Flucht, GWV 1154/12b
  • Wer da glaubet dass Jesus sei der Christ, GWV 1171/12
• George Frideric Handel – O Sing unto the Lord a New Song, HWV 249a
• Jacques-Martin Hotteterre
  • Sonates en trio pour les flûtes traversières et a bec, violon, hautbois, Op. 3
  • Suite in B minor, Op. 4
• Reinhard Keiser – Brockes-Passion (Text by Barthold Heinrich Brockes)
• Ferdinando Antonio Lazzari – Concerto in D major
• John Loeillet – Lessons for the Harpsichord or Spinet
• Benedetto Marcello – 12 Recorder Sonatas, Op. 2
• Jean-Baptiste Morin – Cantates françoises à une et trois voix, Op. 6
• James Paisible – The Gloucester. Mr. Isaac's new dance, made for Her Majesty's Birth Day...
• Anne Danican Philidor – Premier livre de pièces
• Giovanni Antonion Piani – 12 Violin Sonatas, Op. 1
• Charles Piroye – Pièces d'orgue
• Jean-Féry Rebel – Boutade
• Georg Philipp Telemann
  • Das ist meine Freude, TWV 8:17
  • Ouverture-Suite, TWV 55:A5 (approx.)
• Francesco Maria Veracini – Il trionfo della innocenza patrocinata da S. NiccoI (oratorio)
• Antonio Vivaldi – Violin Concerto in D major, RV 212
• Johann Gottfried Walther – Meinen Jesum laß ich nicht
• Jan Dismas Zelenka – Attendite et videte, ZWV 59

Opera

• André Campra – Idomenée
• André Cardinal Destouches – Callirhoé
• George Frideric Handel
  • Il Pastor Fido
  • Teseo, HWV 9 (composed)
• John Hughes (1677–1720) and Johann Ernst Galliard (d. 1747) – Calypso and Telemachus (opera)^[2]
• Antonio Lotti – Porsenna

Births

• January
  • David Owen, harpist (died 1741)
  • Cecilia Young, soprano, wife of Thomas Arne (died 1789)
• January 17 – John Stanley, composer and organist (died 1786)
• January 24 – Frederick II of Prussia, enthusiastic amateur musician and composer (died 1786)
• January 26 – Giacomo Puccini, Italian composer and head of a musical dynasty (died 1781)
• June 28 – Jean-Jacques Rousseau, polymath (died 1778)
• July – John Hebden, musician and composer (died 1765)
• date unknown
  • Marimutthu Pillai, Carnatic music composer (died 1787)
  • John Christopher Smith, composer (died 1795)
  • Sophia Schröder, vocalist at the Kungliga Hovkapellet (died 1750)
• probable – Kane O'Hara, playwright and musician (died 1782)

Deaths

• April – Lambert Chaumont, organist and composer (born c.1630)
• April 29 – Juan Bautista Jose Cabanilles, composer
• August 7 – Friedrich Wilhelm Zachau, organist at Halle (born 1663)
• August 26 – Sebastian Anton Scherer, composer (born 1631)
• September 30 – Johann Michael Zächer, composer (born 1649)
• November 6 – Johann Bernhard Staudt, composer (born 1654)
• date unknown
  • Buhurizade Mustafa Itri, composer and performer of Turkish classical music (born c.1640)
  • Juan de Araujo, Spanish composer active in South and Central America (born 1646)
  • Carlo Alessandro Guidi, poet and songwriter (born 1650)
• probable – Carlo Ambrogio Lonati, violinist, composer and singer