1768: 250 years ago

John Dickinson wrote what is considered the first American patriotic song, "The Liberty Song." It was set to the tune of "Heart of Oak," a British military anthem, and published first in the Boston Gazette in July 1768 and in the Boston Chronicle in August. 

Popular music in 1768 included songs by Joseph Hadyn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. In 1768, Haydn was newly promoted to the position of music director for the court of Nikolaus I, Prince Esterhazy. Haydn was prolific under Nikolaus' patronage. He wrote a three-act opera, Lo speziale (The Apothecary), which premiered as the inaugural opera of the Esterháza opera house in late 1768. Mozart was only twelve in 1768, but already he was producing commissioned works. Mozart was commissioned by a Viennese doctor to write a comedic opera in German. Bastien and Bastienne was Mozart's first comedic musical, and was first performed in December 1768.