Also in October 1802
4th The Holy Roman Empress Maria
Theresa, a major patron of the arts who has commissioned works from composers including both Joseph and Michael Haydn, sings in Joseph Eibler’s Missa Sanctae Theresiae in Vienna. For his new mass, Eibler is rewarded with an ebony clock decorated with bronze and alabaster plus 300 Gulden. 9th At the age of 51, Ferdinand, Duke of Parma, dies, possibly by poison. Though the Duke was allowed to retain his title after the invasion by Napoleon’s forces in 1796, the state of Parma itself has effectively been ruled by the French since then. On his death bed, he names his wife Maria Amalia as head of the regency council, but she is expelled from Parma within a matter of days.
10th A magazine that was briefly in circulation in the 1750s and ’70s, The Edinburgh Review is re-launched. It goes on to become one of the most important publications of its type, with notable contributors including author Sir Walter Scott, philosopher John Stuart Mill and essayist William Hazlitt. Published quarterly, it strongly supports the liberal politics of the Whig party. 22nd The English composer Samuel
Arnold dies, aged 62. A former organist at the Chapel Royal and Westminster
Abbey, he is best known for comic operas such as Inkle and Yarico and The Baron Kinkvervankotsdorsprakingatchdern. He also compiled and published the first edited collection of the works of Handel.
26th A huge earthquake in the Vrancea mountains (in modern-day Romania) is felt right across Europe. It causes great damage, particularly in Bucharest, where historic buildings including St Nicholas Church, Cotroceni Monastery and the 54 metre-high Colt‚ea Tower are completely destroyed.