A group of aristocrats during George Frideric Handel's residence at Cannon in February 1719 establish the Royal Academy of Music to secure themselves a constant supply of baroque opera or opera seria.
The company commissions large numbers of new operas from three of the leading composers in Europe: Handel, Attilio Ariosti and Giovanni Bononcini.
The Academy takes the legal form of a joint-stock corporation under letters patent issued by King George I of England for a term of twenty-one years with a governor, a deputy governor and at least fifteen directors.
