2013

Important musical and historical anniversaries in 2013
Last Updated Tuesday, 01 January 2013 00:00

450 years ago, in 1563 , John Dowland was born in London.

150 years ago, on 1 January 1863 , the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect.

150 years ago, on 6 January 1863 , Piano Sonata no.3 by Johannes Brahms (29) was performed in Vienna by the composer.  The critic Eduard Hanslick remarked, “it belongs to the most inward experiences that recent piano music has to offer.”  In the audience was Richard Wagner (49) who was in Vienna trying to get Tristan und Isolde performed.  Also premiered were Brahms’ songs Jucche! op.6/4 to words of Reinick, Treue Liebe op.7/1 to words of Ferrand, and Parole op.7/2 to words of Eichendorff.

50 years ago, on 8 January 1963 , Katerina Izmailova , a “rehabilitation” of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk , the opera by Dmitri Shostakovich (56) to words of Preys after Leskov, was performed for the first time, in Moscow.

150 years ago, on 10 January 1863 , the first subway in the world, the Metro, opened to the public in London from Bishop’s Road to Farringdon Street, a distance of six km.

50 years ago, on 10 January 1963 , 300 students at the University of Mississippi screamed “Go home you nigger” to the school’s only black student, James Meredith, at the cafeteria.

200 years ago, on 12 January 1813 , Carl Maria von Weber (26) arrived in Prague from Leipzig to find that he was offered the post of Director of the Opera.  Eventually he signed a three-year contract with unlimited powers.

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Important musical and historical anniversaries in 2013
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200 years ago, on 13 January 1813 , Russian forces crossed the Vistula and entered Pomerania.

50 years ago, on 14 January 1963 , George Wallace was sworn in as Governor of Alabama.  In his inauguration speech he pledged “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever.”

50 years ago, on 14 January 1963 , The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath was published by William Heinemann Ltd. in London.  Published under a pseudonym, the author’s identity was not revealed until weeks after her death.

50 years ago, on 19 January 1963 , the first spleen transplant in history was performed by Dr. Thomas Starzl in Denver.

200 years ago, on 22 January 1813 , King Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia moved his court from Berlin, with its French troops, to Breslau (Wroclaw).

200 years ago, on 22 January 1813 , the Spanish Cortes abolished the Inquisition.

150 years ago, on 22 January 1863 , Polish revolutionaries in Warsaw proclaimed themselves a Provisional National Government and issued a manifesto calling on all Poles to oppose the Tsar and decree the liberation of the peasants.  6,000 revolutionary soldiers attacked Russian units throughout Russian Poland in 35 places, some successfully.

100 years ago, on 22 January 1913 , peace talks for the Balkans concluded in London.  Turkey relinquished all European territory except eastern Thrace.

50 years ago, on 22 January 1963 , an English translation of One Day in the Life of Ivan

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Important musical and historical anniversaries in 2013
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Denisovitch Solzhenitsyn was published in the United States.

by Alyeksandr

150 years ago, on 23 January 1863 , British physicist John Tyndall gave a public lecture called “On Radiation Through The Earth's Atmosphere” in which he described the Greenhouse Effect.

100 years ago, on 23 January 1913 , angered at the terms of the Balkan peace accord, nationalist officers in Constantinople burst into the Turkish Cabinet Chamber, shot War Minister Nazim Pasha to death, and forced the resignation of the Grand Vizier Kamil Pasha.  Sultan Mehmet V Reshat restored Mahmud Sevket Pasha to the post of Grand Vizier.  The new government rejected the armistice of 3 December 1912.

200 years ago, on 24 January 1813 , thirty of London’s most eminent musicians, including Muzio Clementi (61), joined to form the Philharmonic Society.

100 years ago, on 24 January 1913 , Norman Dello Joio was born in New York, the only child of Casimiro Dello Joio, an organist and Italian immigrant, and Antoinette Garramone.

100 years ago, on 25 January 1913 , Witold Roman Lutoslawski was born in Warsaw, youngest of four children born to Józef Lutoslawski, an amateur pianist who managed his family’s estates, and Maria Olszewska, a physician and daughter of a mathematician.

100 years ago, on 26 January 1913 , Gigues by Claude Debussy (50) was performed for the first time, in Paris as part of the first complete performance of Images for orchestra.

50 years ago, on 28 January 1963 , Harvey Gantt became the first black student at Clemson College in South Carolina.  He was accompanied by 150 policemen.

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Important musical and historical anniversaries in 2013
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200 years ago, on 29 January 1813 , Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen was published in London.

50 years ago, on 29 January 1963 , after 18 months of negotiations, the application of Great Britain to join the EEC was vetoed by France.

50 years ago, on 29 January 1963 , Robert Frost died in Boston at the age of 88.

50 years ago, on 30 January 1963 , Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc died of a heart attack alone in his Paris apartment, aged 64 years and 23 days.

100 years ago, on 1 February 1913 , Béla Bartók’s (31) piano work Allegro barbaro was performed probably for the first time, in Kecskemét, 80 km south of Budapest.

100 years ago, on 2 February 1913 , Grand Central Station opened on 42 nd Street in New York.

200 years ago, on 6 February 1813 , those who met on 24 January met again in London and signed a manifesto and a set of laws for a “Philharmonic Society.”  Signers included Muzio Clementi (61), Thomas Attwood, Vincent Novello, Johann Peter Salomon, and George Smart.

200 years ago, on 6 February 1813 , Gioachino Rossini’s (20) melodramma eroico Tancredi to words of Rossi and Lechi after Voltaire was performed for the first time, in Teatro La Fenice, Venice.  Due to the illness of the two leading ladies, the performance was stopped in the middle of Act II.  It was not performed all the way through until 12 February.

200 years ago, on 7 February 1813 , Russian forces occupied Warsaw.

100 years ago, on 9 February 1913 , a coup d’etat attempt against the Mexican government

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Important musical and historical anniversaries in 2013
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erupted in the capital as troops under Bernardo Reyes and Felix Díaz (both of whom they liberated from prison) entered the plaza before the cathedral.  Federal troops under General Villar, loyal to President Madero, fired on them, killing 200-300, including Bernardo Reyes and scores of innocent civilians on their way to Sunday mass.  Díaz led his men in retreat to set up a defensive position one to two kilometers away.  President Madero replaced General Villar, wounded in the battle, with General Victoriano Huerta.  The two forces, federal, and revolutionary, then began shelling each other through downtown Mexico City, killing thousands of civilians.

250 years ago, on 10 February 1763 , peace was signed in Paris by representatives of Great Britain, France, Spain, and Portugal ending the Seven Years War.  Britain received Canada, Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, St. Vincent, Tobago, Dominica, Grenada, Senegal, and Minorca from France, and Florida from Spain.  France received Martinique, Guadeloupe, St. Lucia, St. Pierre and Miquelon, and Goree and is guaranteed fishing rights off Newfoundland.  The British returned Belle Île to France.  French possessions in India were restored but could not be fortified.  Spain received Louisiana from France, traded Florida to the British for Havana and received the Philippines back from the British.  The border of Portugal and Spain was returned to status quo ante-bellum.

50 years ago, on 11 February 1963 , four months after leaving her husband, Ted Hughes, 30-year-old Sylvia Plath killed herself in her London apartment.

200 years ago, on 14 February 1813 , Alyeksandr Sergeyevich Dargomizhsky was born in Troitskoye, Tula District, south of Moscow, son of a wealthy landowner, himself the illegitimate son of a nobleman, and Princess Kozlovskaya, a poet.

250 years ago, on 15 February 1763 , peace was signed between Prussia, Austria, and Saxony at Hubertusburg. Borders were returned to status quo ante-bellum.  Austria returned Glatz and Silesia to Prussia.  Prussia gave up all designs on Saxony.

100 years ago, on 17 February 1913 , an art show opened in the armory of the 69th Regiment in New York City.  This is seen as the beginning of modern art in the United States.

100 years ago, on 18 February 1913 , the “tragic ten days” during which revolutionaries under

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Important musical and historical anniversaries in 2013
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Felix Díaz and Rodolfo Reyes, and federal troops under General Victoriano Huerta, shelled each other’s positions one to two kilometers apart in downtown Mexico City, came to an end.  Thousands died and, owing to their number, their bodies were piled in the street, doused with kerosene, and set alight.  Huerta negotiated with Díaz, with explicit help from the United States ambassador, to align their forces together to overthrow the government.  Under promises of immunity and exile from Huerta, President Francisco Madero and Vice President José Pino Suarez resigned their offices.  The presidency fell to Pedro Lascurain Paredes who thereupon resigned, leaving the government to General Huerta.

100 years ago, on 19 February 1913 , Venustiano Carranza, governor of Coahuila state, announced that he did not recognize Huerta as President of Mexico.  Within a few days, Carranza and a small body of followers would rise in open rebellion.  This began a national movement against Huerta.

100 years ago, on 22 February 1913 , former President Madero and Vice President Pino Suarez were taken from confinement at the palace in Mexico City, ostensibly to be transferred to a penitentiary.  On the way, they were murdered by their guards, followers of General Huerta. Ambassador Wilson of the United States urged that his government, as well as Americans in Mexico, do what they could to ensure the success of the Huerta regime.

50 years ago, on 22 February 1963 , at the Norwegian embassy in London, Helge Ingstad announced the discovery of Scandinavian artifacts at L’Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland, thus proving the presence of Vikings in North America around 1000 AD.

150 years ago, on 23 February 1863 , France extended a protectorate over Porto Novo (Benin).

100 years ago, on 23 February 1913 , Gurre-Lieder , for solo voices, chorus, and orchestra by Arnold Schoenberg (38) to words of Jacobsen (tr. Arnold), was performed for the first time, in the Musikvereinsaal, Vienna, under the baton of Franz Schreker (34).  There was a 15-minute standing ovation at the conclusion.  Anton von Webern (29) was released from the sanitarium in order to attend the concert.

100 years ago, on 24 February 1913 , British suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst admitted her guilt in the bombing of the country home of David Lloyd George.  She was thereupon

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Important musical and historical anniversaries in 2013
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arrested.

150 years ago, on 25 February 1863 , Johann Strauss, Jr. (37) was named Hofball-Musik-Direktor on his third try.

150 years ago, on 25 February 1863 , the Federal Banking Act was signed by US President Abraham Lincoln.  It created a system of federally chartered banks.

50 years ago, on 25 February 1963 , The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan was published in the US.

100 years ago, on 27 February 1913 , in a speech to the British Society, chemist Frederick Soddy first mentioned the word isotopes in a formal scientific setting.

200 years ago, on 28 February 1813 , by the Treaty of Kalisch, Russia and Prussia allied themselves against France and the Rhenish Confederation.

150 years ago, on 3 March 1863 , President Lincoln signed the Federal Draft Act.  All males aged 20-45 were required to register for conscription, although it could be deferred through the payment of $300.

150 years ago, on 3 March 1863 , the United States Congress chartered the National Academy of Sciences.

200 years ago, on 4 March 1813 , French forces evacuated Berlin in the face of the advancing Russian army.

100 years ago, on 4 March 1913 , Thomas Woodrow Wilson replaced William Howard Taft as

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President of the United States.

50 years ago, on 4 March 1963 , six members of the right wing National Council of Resistance were convicted and sentenced to death in Vincennes for the attempted murder of President Charles de Gaulle last August.  Six others were given prison terms.

50 years ago, on 4 March 1963 , William Carlos Williams died in Rutherford, New Jersey at the age of 79.

100 years ago, on 6 March 1913 , the word “jazz” appeared for the first time in print, in the San Francisco Bulletin , as a synonym for pep.

350 years ago, on 7 March 1663 , Tommaso Antonio Vitali was born Bologna.

200 years ago, on 8 March 1813 , the first concert of the Philharmonic Society took place in Argyll Rooms, Regent St., London.  Johann Peter Salomon was the “leader” with Muzio Clementi (61) at the piano.

150 years ago, on 9 March 1863 , the first public performance at the Free Music School, St. Petersburg took place.

100 years ago, on 11 March 1913 , Luigi Russolo (27) wrote his The Art of Noises in the form of a letter to Francesco Balilla Pratella.  He claimed it came to him while witnessing Pratella’s recent futurist concert in Teatro Costanzi, Rome.

50 years ago, on 11 March 1963 , Lt. Colonel Jean-Marie Bastien-Thiry was shot by a firing squad in Paris for his part in the attempted murder of President Charles de Gaulle last August.  Two other death sentences were commuted to life in prison by the President.

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Important musical and historical anniversaries in 2013
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200 years ago, on 12 March 1813 , French forces evacuated Hamburg.

200 years ago, on 16 March 1813 , Prussia declared war on its former ally, France.

200 years ago, on 17 March 1813 , King José I of Spain (Joseph Bonaparte) departed Madrid for the last time.

200 years ago, on 18 March 1813 , Russian troops occupied Hamburg.  The independence of the city was restored.

100 years ago, on 18 March 1913 , King Georgios I of Greece was shot to death in Thessaloniki by a madman.  He was succeeded by his son, Konstantinos I.

50 years ago, on 18 March 1963 , in the case of Gideon v. Wainwright , the US Supreme Court ruled that states must provide an attorney to all criminal defendants who can not afford one.

200 years ago, on 19 March 1813 , a convention was signed by Russia and Prussia at Breslau (Wroclaw).  It called for the expulsion of France from Germany, the destruction of the Confederation of the Rhine, and the call of all German princes to join them.  King Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia created the Iron Cross to be awarded to deserving Germans who gained merit from their actions in this campaign.

100 years ago, on 20 March 1913 , as he waited to board a train in Shanghai for Peking and his almost certain election as Prime Minister, Kuomintang leader Song Chia-ren (Song Jiaoren) was shot twice.  He died two days later and the culprits were never caught.

50 years ago, on 22 March 1963 , amidst persistent rumors, British Secretary of State for War John Profumo made a statement to Parliament, Prime Minister MacMillan at his side.  He

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Important musical and historical anniversaries in 2013
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denied any impropriety with Christine Keeler or that there was any breach of security.  He warned that he would sue anyone inside or outside of Parliament who repeated such allegations.  The allegations said that Ms. Keeler was having a simultaneous affair with Captain Yevgeny Ivanov of the Soviet Embassy.

200 years ago, on 27 March 1813 , a combined Russian-Prussian force occupied Dresden after it was evacuated by the French and King Friedrich August I of Saxony.

450 years ago, on 27 March 1563 , Heinrich Glarean died in Freiburg, aged 74 years and approximately nine months.

50 years ago, on 28 March 1963 , The Birds, a film by Alfred Hitchcock, was released in the United States.

100 years ago, on 29 March 1913 , Igor Stravinsky (30) completed The Rite of Spring in Paris.

150 years ago, on 30 March 1863 , King Fredrik VII of Denmark annexed Schleswig in violation of the London Protocol of 1852.

150 years ago, on 30 March 1863 , the Greek National Assembly elected the 17-year-old Prince Vilhelm of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg (Danish Royal House) as King Georgios I.

100 years ago, on 31 March 1913 , a concert in the Musikvereinsaal, Vienna took place with the intention of presenting Anton von Webern’s (29) Six Pieces for large orchestra op.6 (premiere), Four Orchestral Songs by Alexander von Zemlinsky, the Cha mber Symphony op.9 by Arnold Schoenberg (38), two of the Five Orchestral Songs op.4 by Alban Berg (28) to words of Altenberg, and the Kindertotenlieder of Gustav Mahler (†1).  During and following the Webern, opposing parties applauded and hissed.  After the Schoenberg, whistles on door keys were added to the din, as were fights in

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Important musical and historical anniversaries in 2013
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the second balcony.  Berg’s work elicited laughter from some audience members.  Schoenberg, who was conducting at this point, stopped Berg’s music, turned to the audience and threatened that all demonstrators would be evicted by force.  This announcement caused the fighting to begin anew, including several demands for satisfaction on the field of honor.  Webern shouted from his box that “all the baggage should be thrown out.”  Opponents of the music suggested that proponents would best be served by a term in the Steinhof insane asylum.  The President of the Academic Association for Literature and Music pleaded with the audience to at least honor the memory of Mahler by listening to his Kindertotenlieder .  He was forced to withdraw under a barrage of insults.  Several audience members then stormed the stage, causing the musicians to end the performance for the sake of their wellbeing.  The riot continued for another thirty minutes, as several differences of artistic opinion were settled in the street.

100 years ago, on 1 April 1913 , the lyric drama La Vida breve by Manuel de Falla (36), to words of Fernández Shaw, was performed for the first time, at the Casino Municipal, Nice.

250 years ago, on 2 April 1763 , the Saxon royal court returned to Dresden from Warsaw after the Seven Years War.

100 years ago, on 3 April 1913 , British suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst was found guilty in a London court of incitement to arson in the bombing of the country home of David Lloyd George, Chancellor of the Exchequer.  She was sentenced to three years in prison.

50 years ago, on 4 April 1963 , Aventures for three singers and seven instrumentalists by György Ligeti (39) was performed for the first time, over NDR, Hamburg.

100 years ago, on 5 April 1913 , Danish physicist Niels Bohr dated his article “On the Constitution of Atoms and Molecules.”  In it he described the quantized atom.

100 years ago, on 5 April 1913 , three of the Préludes, Book II ( Les fées sont d’exquises danseuses , La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune ,

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Feux d’artifice) for piano by Claude Debussy (50), are performed for the first time, in Paris.

50 years ago, on 10 April 1963 , the atomic submarine USS Thresher was lost in the north Atlantic.

50 years ago, on 11 April 1963 , Pope John XXIII issued the encyclical Pacem in terris on relationships with non-Catholics, communists, and the pacific settlement of disputes.

200 years ago, on 12 April 1813 , Caspar Carl Beethoven, seriously ill with tuberculosis, signed a document appointing his brother Ludwig (42) guardian over his son Karl, in the event of his death.

250 years ago, on 13 April 1763 , Voltaire’s Traité sur la Tolérance à l’occasion de la mort de Jean Calas was published in Paris but was not be widely circulated until later that year.

200 years ago, on 15 April 1813 , the United States occupied the eastern part of West Florida including Mobile.

50 years ago, on 20 April 1963 , the Front Liberation de Quebec began a terrorism campaign for the independence of Quebec by exploding a bomb in a Montreal armory.  A night watchman was killed.

50 years ago, on 21 April 1963 , the Peace Movement in Greece began the first Marathon March.  The government arrested several thousand people to stop it, including Mikis Theodorakis (37).  Shielded by his parliamentary immunity, the march leader, Grigoris Lambrakis, made the march alone.

100 years ago, on 24 April 1913 , the Woolworth Building opened in New York.  At 241 meters,

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Important musical and historical anniversaries in 2013
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it was the tallest building in the world.

50 years ago, on 26 April 1963 , From the Steeples and the Mountains for trumpet, trombone, and four sets of bells by Charles Ives (†8) was performed for the first time, at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts.

200 years ago, on 27 April 1813 , United States forces under General Zebulon Pike captured York (Toronto).  Pike was killed in the battle.

200 years ago, on 29 April 1813 , Jacob Frederick Hummel of Philadelphia received a patent for a “varnish of elastic gum to render water-proof” shoes and other things.  It was the first US patent for a rubber product.

50 years ago, on 29 April 1963 , the US Supreme Court outlawed racial segregation in courtrooms.

200 years ago, on 2 May 1813 , Russian and Prussian troops attacked the French at Lützen, 19 km southwest of Leipzig.  The battle was a limited success for Napoléon but cost 30,000-40,000 lives.

150 years ago, on 2 May 1863 , Federal troops attempted to encircle the Confederates at Chancellorsville, Virginia, 85 km southwest of Washington but the southerners repulsed the attack.  The fighting left 30,197 total casualties.

100 years ago, on 2 May 1913 , US President Wilson extended recognition to the republican Chinese government of President Yüan Shih-k’ai (Yuan Shikai).

50 years ago, on 3 May 1963 , fire hoses and attack dogs were used to disperse civil rights marchers in Birmingham, Alabama.  Demonstrators remained non-violent until a state policeman drove into the crowd.  Blacks responded with rocks and bottles followed by rioting. 

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Important musical and historical anniversaries in 2013
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450 people were arrested.

50 years ago, on 5 May 1963 , Dr. Thomas J. Starzl performed the first liver transplant, in Denver.  The 48-year-old patient survived 22 days.

250 years ago, on 6 May 1763 , Pontiac’s Rebellion began as Chippewas attacked a British party in the Saginaw Valley (Michigan), killing four and capturing six.

100 years ago, on 7 May 1913 , a bill to grant suffrage to women in Britain was defeated by the House of Commons.  Later, a bomb was discovered at the altar of St. Paul’s Cathedral.

50 years ago, on 8 May 1963 , a crowd of about 9,000 gathered in Hue, South Vietnam, to protest the government ban on the flying of the Buddhist flag on Buddha’s birthday.  Government soldiers fired on them killing nine and injuring 14, including children.

200 years ago, on 10 May 1813 , as the anti-French alliance gave up Dresden, King Friedrich August I of Saxony decided to place his lot with Napoléon.

50 years ago, on 10 May 1963 , black leaders and business leaders in Birmingham, Alabama announced a plan to desegregate the city’s public facilities, institute of hiring without regard to race, and the release on bond of black demonstrators from jail.

150 years ago, on 11 May 1863 , telegram from John Hanning Speke in Khartoum, stating that he has discovered the source of the Nile, was made public at a meeting of the Royal Geographic Society.

50 years ago, on 11 May 1963 , Eugene “Bull” Connor, Public Safety Commissioner of Birmingham, Alabama, called on white citizens to boycott any business honoring the agreement announced yesterday.  “That’s the best way I know to beat down integration in Birmingham.”  At night, a bomb destroyed the front of the Birmingham home of Rev. AD King (brother of Martin

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Luther King).  Rev. King, his wife and five children were not injured.  Another bomb, just before midnight, went off at the AG Gaston Motel, an integrated motel which was the headquarters for the desegregation campaign.  Four people were injured and extensive damage was done to the motel.  Anger at the authorities was directed at police and firemen who arrived at the motel after the bombing.  They were pelted with bottles and rocks.

50 years ago, on 11 May 1963 , Highway No.1 USA , an opera by William Grant Still to words of Arvey, was performed for the first time, in Coral Gables, Florida on the composer’s 68th birthday.

50 years ago, on 12 May 1963 , about 2,500 blacks rioted in Birmingham in reaction to the bombings of last night.  50 people were injured.  Local police managed to quell the violence with the help of black leaders.  Some state police ran amok, attacking blacks who were not involved in the violence.  In a nationwide address in the evening, President Kennedy ordered federal troops into the area and nationalized the Alabama National Guard.  Governor George Wallace of Alabama claimed he had enough force to keep peace and requested the troops be withdrawn.

100 years ago, on 14 May 1913 , Governor William Sulzer of New York approved a charter for the Rockefeller Foundation, “To promote the well-being of mankind throughout the world.”  John D. Rockefeller would make an initial gift of $35,000,000.

100 years ago, on 15 May 1913 , Jeux , a ballet by Claude Debussy (50) to a scenario by Nizhinsky, was performed for the first time, at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Paris.

50 years ago, on 15 May 1963 , L. Gordon Cooper became the eighth human in space as he blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida aboard Faith 7 .

250 years ago, on 16 May 1763 , James Boswell met Samuel Johnson for the first time, in the back parlor of Tom Davies’ bookshop, London.  Mindful of Johnson’s prejudices, Boswell announced, “I do indeed come from Scotland, but I cannot help it.”

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250 years ago, on 16 May 1763 , the British garrison of Fort Sandusky (Erie County, Ohio) was overrun by Hurons and Ottawas.  14 soldiers and several residents were killed.

150 years ago, on 16 May 1863 , after two months of siege and battle, the Mexican defenders of Puebla surrendered to the French.

50 years ago, on 16 May 1963 , L. Gordon Cooper returned to Earth in the Pacific Ocean 185 km east southeast of Midway.  He splashed down less than seven km from recovery vessels.

200 years ago, on 17 May 1813 , an army led by Simón Bolívar departed La Grita heading west to reconquer Venezuela.  This will become known as “La Campaña Admirable.”

150 years ago, on 17 May 1863 , the first Salon des Refusés opened in Paris to show paintings refused by the Salon de Paris.  Among the works exhibited was Le déjeuner sur l'herbe of Edouard Manet.

50 years ago, on 17 May 1963 , twelve mail bombs arrived in mailboxes in and around Montreal, sent by the Front Liberation de Quebec.  Six exploded in the boxes, five were found and diffused and one exploded while a demolition expert was trying to dismantle it.  He was hospitalized.

150 years ago, on 18 May 1863 , the Federal siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi began.

50 years ago, on 20 May 1963 , Die Soldaten , a “vocal-symphony” for six vocal soloists and orchestra by Bernd Alois Zimmermann (45), was performed for the first time, over the airwaves of WDR, Cologne.

200 years ago, on 21 May 1813 , after two days of fighting at Bautzen, Russians and Prussians are forced to withdraw by the French, but they do so in good order.  The battle leaves 40,000

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casualties.

50 years ago, on 21 May 1963 , a federal judge in Birmingham ordered the admission of two black students to the all-white University of Alabama.  Governor George Wallace announced that he would personally bar the admission of blacks to the school.

50 years ago, on 21 May 1963 , anti-segregation protests ended in Durham, North Carolina when the mayor announced that seven restaurants agreed to desegregate.

200 years ago, on 22 May 1813 , Wilhelm Richard Wagner was born in Leipzig, the ninth child of Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Wagner, a police actuary, and Johanna Rosine Pätz, daughter of a baker.  It is possible that Wagner was the illegitimate child of Ludwig Geyer, who became the boy’s stepfather upon the death of Carl Friedrich Wagner in November 1813.

200 years ago, on 22 May 1813 , at Bautzen, a cannonball narrowly missed Napoléon but killed General Kirgener and mortally wounded General Gérard-Christophe Duroc, the Emperor’s closest confidant.  He died the next day.  Napoléon was so shaken that he called off the pursuit of the Russians defeated yesterday.

200 years ago, on 22 May 1813 , L’italiana in Algeri , a dramma giocoso by Gioachino Rossini (21) to words of Anelli, was performed for the first time, in Teatro San Benedetto, Venice.  The work was met with great enthusiasm.

50 years ago, on 22 May 1963 , Greek deputy Grigoris Lambrakis, leader of the peace movement, was run down in the streets of Thessaloniki by conservative thugs after a meeting.  Another deputy, George Tsaroukhas had his skull fractured.  Within hours, Mikis Theodorakis (37) arrived in the city but was immediately arrested.  After strong protests from many elements of society, he was released to visit Lambrakis.

200 years ago, on 23 May 1813 , the rebel army under Simón Bolívar entered Mérida, Venezuela in triumph.

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150 years ago, on 23 May 1863 , disdained by liberal leaders, 15 delegates to the Allgemeine Deutsche Arbeiterverein met in Leipzig.  This was the first German labor organization and the forerunner to the Social Democratic Party.  Ferdinand Lassalle was named president.

50 years ago, on 25 May 1963 , the charter of the Organization of African Unity was adopted in Addis Ababa and signed by representatives of 31 countries, including 29 heads of state.

100 years ago, on 26 May 1913 , Actors Equity Association was founded at Pabst Grand Circle Hotel, New York.

250 years ago, on 27 May 1763 , Indians captured Fort Miami (Fort Wayne, Indiana).  The captured British were marched to Detroit.  Only four survived to be displayed before Chief Pontiac.

200 years ago, on 27 May 1813 , United States land and naval forces combined to capture Queenstown Heights and Ft. George (Niagara-on-the-Lake), Upper Canada (Ontario), 15 km north of Niagara Falls, causing the British to abandon the Niagara frontier.

50 years ago, on 27 May 1963 , Greek deputy Grigoris Lambrakis, leader of the peace movement, died of his wounds suffered on 22 May.

50 years ago, on 27 May 1963 , the US Supreme Court ruled that Memphis must immediately desegregate all public facilities.

150 years ago, on 28 May 1863 , the 54th Massachusetts volunteers, an all-Black regiment, left Massachusetts for Hilton Head, South Carolina.

50 years ago, on 28 May 1963 , 500,000 people marched in a funeral procession for peace

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movement leader Grigoris Lambrakis in Athens.  Among other things, they shouted “Lambrakis zi!” (Lambrakis lives).  The letter Z became a symbol of resistance to the corrupt conservative government blamed for his murder.

50 years ago, on 28 May 1963 , a black man and two black women sat at an all-white lunch counter in Jackson, Mississippi.  They were joined by a small number of white supporters.  A crowd of 200 whites began pouring condiments and other lunch counter items onto the demonstrators.  A white man knocked the black man to the ground and kicked him in the face.  A melee ensued during which some demonstrators were punched or thrown out the door.  Police did not intervene but later charged the two principals with crimes.

200 years ago, on 29 May 1813 , France annexed Hamburg again.

100 years ago, on 29 May 1913 , Sons and Lovers by DH Lawrence was published London.

100 years ago, on 29 May 1913 , Le Sacre du Printemps , a ballet by Igor Stravinsky (30) to a scenario of Roerich, was performed for the first time, at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Paris.  The ballet and its music caused a riot in the theatre as proponents and opponents resorted to fisticuffs to exchange opinions on the value of art.  The dancers performed to music that they had to imagine, as few in the auditorium could hear it, except during certain lulls.  The choreographer, Vaclav Nizhinsky, almost ran onto the stage from the wings but was physically restrained by the composer.  Sergey Diaghilev, the impresario, flicked the lights several times in an effort to douse the demonstrations.  Nothing worked.  Those participating in the discussions included Maurice Ravel (38) and Florent Schmitt (42).  Camille Saint-Saëns (77) simply repeated “he’s mad, he’s mad” several times before walking out.  In the audience was a young composer named Gian Francesco Malipiero (31) who was encouraged to attend by Alfredo Casella (29).  “I awoke from a long and dangerous lethargy.”  He decided to disown all his previous work and strike out anew.  Daniel Chennevière (Dane Rudhyar) (18) called it “a tremendous experience.”

50 years ago, on 29 May 1963 , a windstorm over the previous two days in East Pakistan (Bangladesh) killed 22,000 people.

50 years ago, on 29 May 1963 , businesses in Charlotte, North Carolina agreed to desegregate.

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100 years ago, on 30 May 1913 , peace was concluded between the Ottoman Empire and the Balkan States, in London.  The separation of Crete from Turkey was recognized.  Greece also gained Macedonia, Janina (Ioánnina), and some Aegean islands.

100 years ago, on 30 May 1913 , Emiliano Zapata declared against the Mexican regime of Victoriano Huerta.

50 years ago, on 30 May 1963 , Memphis city officials agreed to desegregate public facilities.

200 years ago, on 1 June 1813 , Austrian Emperor Franz and Count von Metternich, on their way from Vienna to Gitschin, ran into the Russian Count Nesselrode who was looking for them.  The Russians wanted Austria to commit to their cause.  Franz told Nesselrode that he would side with Russia in the absence of a favorable peace agreement with Napoléon.

200 years ago, on 1 June 1813 , HMS Shannon captured USS Chesapeake about 30 km off Boston.

50 years ago, on 1 June 1963 , Kenya was granted internal self-government by Great Britain.  Jomo Kenyatta was sworn in as the first Prime Minister.

200 years ago, on 2 June 1813 , Emperors Napoléon and Alyeksandr agreed to a cease-fire.

100 years ago, on 2 June 1913 , Luigi Russolo (28) gave the first demonstration of an “Intonarumore” (noise-instrument) in the Teatro Stocchi, Modena.  He called the instrument a scoppiatore (crackler).  It sounded like an internal combustion engine.

50 years ago, on 3 June 1963 , Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, Pope John XXIII, died of

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complications of stomach cancer, in the Vatican.

200 years ago, on 4 June 1813 , the opposing armies in Germany agreed to an armistice at Pleiswitz which was later extended to 10 August.

100 years ago, on 4 June 1913 , on Derby Day at Epsom, suffragist Emily Davison made her way on to the course and threw herself at Anmer, a horse owned by King George.  The horse and jockey were stunned but largely unhurt.  Emily Davison shortly died of her injuries.

50 years ago, on 4 June 1963 , businesses in Durham, North Carolina agreed to desegregate.

200 years ago, on 5 June 1813 , The Giaour:  a Fragment of a Turkish Tale by George Gordon, Lord Byron, was published.

100 years ago, on 5 June 1913, a version of Modest Musorgsky’s (†32) opera Khovanshchina , arranged by Igor Stravinsky (30) and Maurice Ravel (38), was performed for the first time, in the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Paris.

50 years ago, on 5 June 1963 , John Profumo, British State Secretary for War, resigned his cabinet post and seat in Parliament after admitting he lied about an affair with Christine Keeler.

200 years ago, on 6 June 1813 , British forces took Sackets Harbor, New York capturing 50 American soldiers and 400 Indians.

50 years ago, on 6 June 1963 , one day after blacks request service at several businesses in Lexington, North Carolina, 500 whites invaded the black district.  They were met by about 100 blacks and a riot ensued with flying missiles and shots fired.  One person was killed, one injured.  Meanwhile, 280 people were arrested in Greensboro, North Carolina as they marched to protest the arrest of local student leader Jesse Jackson.

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50 years ago, on 7 June 1963 , the mayor of Lexington, North Carolina declared a state of emergency and 200 state police were called in.

250 years ago, on 9 June 1763 , the Mozart family, including Leopold (43) and Wolfgang (7), departed Salzburg on their first European journey.

150 years ago, on 10 June 1863 , French forces made their official entry into Mexico City.

50 years ago, on 10 June 1963 , major hotels, motels, and restaurants in Nashville, Tennessee agreed to desegregate.

50 years ago, on 11 June 1963 , Quang Duc, a 73-year-old Buddhist monk, sat down in the middle of an intersection a few blocks from the American ambassador’s residence in Saigon.  Another monk doused him with gasoline.  Then, Quang Duc struck a match, immediately enveloping himself in flames, as a protest against the corrupt government of South Vietnam and its American backer.

50 years ago, on 11 June 1963 , the first human lung transplant was performed by Dr. James D. Hardy in Jackson, Mississippi.

50 years ago, on 11 June 1963 , accompanied by Deputy Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach and surrounded by 150 state troopers and an equal number of journalists, Vivian Juanita Malone and James Alexander Hood attempted to register as the first black students at the University of Alabama.  Governor George Wallace stood in the door of the registration auditorium and prevented their entrance.  At this, President Kennedy signed an order nationalizing the Alabama National Guard who arrived on campus and respectfully carried the President’s demand that the Governor adhere to the federal court order.  At this, Governor Wallace left without incident and the students were registered.  In the evening, President Kennedy made a televised nationwide speech pleading for an end to racial discrimination.

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100 years ago, on 12 June 1913 , the State of Illinois granted voting rights to its female citizens.

50 years ago, on 12 June 1963 , a few hours after President Kennedy addressed the nation on the subject of civil rights, NAACP organizer Medgar Evers was shot and killed in front of his Jackson, Mississippi home.

50 years ago, on 12 June 1963 , Lord Chancellor Dilhorne announced the results of his investigation.  There was no breach of security in the Profumo affair.

250 years ago, on 13 June 1763 , Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (7) performed before Elector Maximilian of Bavaria at Munich.

50 years ago, on 13 June 1963 , about 50 businesses in Greensboro, North Carolina agreed to desegregate.

50 years ago, on 13 June 1963 , municipal swimming pools were desegregated in Atlanta without incident.

250 years ago, on 14 June 1763 , Johannes Simon Mayr was born in Mendorf, near Ingolstadt, Bavaria, the second of five surviving children of Joseph Mayr, schoolteacher and organist, and Maria Anna Prantmayer, daughter of a brewer.

200 years ago, on 14 June 1813 , the first Treaty of Reichenbach was signed between Great Britain and Prussia.  It called for Britain to pay a substantial subsidy to maintain the Prussian army in return for the Principality of Hildesheim being ceded to Hanover.

50 years ago, on 14 June 1963 , Valery Fyodorovich Bykovsky became the ninth human in space as he blasted off from Baikonur, Kazakhstan aboard Vost ok 5 .

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50 years ago, on 14 June 1963 , National Guard troops were ordered into Cambridge, Maryland by the governor of the state to quell racial violence.  A curfew and other martial law restrictions were put into effect.

200 years ago, on 15 June 1813 , the second Treaty of Reichenbach was signed between Great Britain and Russia.  Britain agreed to pay a substantial subsidy to Russia to maintain its army in Europe and a fleet.

50 years ago, on 16 June 1963, a n agreement between the South Vietnamese government and the country’s Buddhists was signed.  Thousands of Buddhists rioted as they tried to attend the funeral of Quang Duc who killed himself on 11 June.  Police fired tear gas and warning shots.  One person was killed, five injured, 30 arrested.

50 years ago, on 16 June 1963 , Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova became the tenth human and the first woman in space as she blasted off from Baikonur, Kazakhstan aboard Vostok 6.

50 years ago, on 16 June 1963 , David Ben-Gurion resigned his posts as Prime Minister, Defense Minister and member of the Israeli Knesset.  He cited personal reasons.

50 years ago, on 17 June 1963 , the US Supreme Court ruled that recitation of the Bible in public schools violated the First Amendment to the Constitution.

200 years ago, on 19 June 1813 , Count von Metternich of Austria, Baron Karl Hardenberg and Wilhelm von Humboldt of Prussia and Count Nesselrode of Russia met at Ratiborzitz, Bohemia and in a stormy meeting, worked out what will be the third Treaty of Reichenbach, signed on 27 June.

100 years ago, on 19 June 1913 , two of Claude Debussy’s (50) Préludes for piano ( Canope and

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Hommage à Pickwick, Esq. ) were performed for the first time, in Paris, by the composer.

50 years ago, on 19 June 1963 , after 48 orbits of the Earth in 70 hours and 50 minutes aboard Vostok 6 , Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova returned to Earth 611 km north of Karaganda (Qaraghandy), Kazakhstan.  Later, after a record 81 orbits in 119 hours and six minutes in space aboard Vostok 5, Valery Fyodorovich Bykovsky returned to Earth 531 km northwest of Karaganda, Kazakhstan.

150 years ago, on 20 June 1863 , West Virginia became the 35th state of the United States.

50 years ago, on 20 June 1963 , representatives of the US and USSR signed a memorandum of understanding in Geneva establishing a direct communication link between their respective governments.  It became known as the “Hot Line.”

50 years ago, on 20 June 1963 , John Sturges’ film The Great Escape was shown for the first time, in London.

200 years ago, on 21 June 1813 , British forces under Viscount Wellington defeated a French force at Vitoria, 50 km southeast of Bilbao, forcing them to retreat in disarray over the Pyrenees. The battle inspired Ludwig van Beethoven (42) to compose W ellington’s Victory .

50 years ago, on 21 June 1963 , Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, archbishop of Milan, became Pope Paul VI, in Rome.

250 years ago, on 22 June 1763 , Étienne-Nicolas Méhul was born in Givet, second of four children born to Jean-François Méhul, the maître d’hôtel to the Count of Montmorency.

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50 years ago, on 24 June 1963 , Levi Eshkol replaced David Ben-Gurion as Prime Minister of Israel.

50 years ago, on 24 June 1963 , Great Britain granted internal self-government to Zanzibar as a native government takes power.

50 years ago, on 24 June 1963 , the Telcan, the first videotape recorder intended for home use, was demonstrated at the BBC studios, Alexandra Palace, London.

200 years ago, on 26 June 1813, Austrian Count von Metternich met with Emperor Napoléon for nine hours at the French headquarters near Dresden.  He presented the four points of mediation:  the dismantling of the Duchy of Warsaw, the enlargement of Prussia, the return of the Adriatic provinces to Austria and the renewed independence of Hamburg and Lübeck.  Napoléon refused and threatened war.

50 years ago, on 26 June 1963 , in a speech to a wildly appreciative throng before the Berlin City Hall, US President Kennedy declared “All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin.  And therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words, Ich bin ein Berliner.”

200 years ago, on 27 June 1813 , the third Treaty of Reichenbach (Dzierżoniów, Poland) was signed by Austria, Prussia, and Russia.  Austria agreed to declare war on France by 20 July if Napoléon rejected an offer of mediation.  This was later extended to 10 August.

200 years ago, on 28 June 1813 , King José I Napoléon (Joseph Bonaparte) of Spain, left Spanish soil for the last time.

100 years ago, on 29 June 1913 , Bulgarian troops made a surprise attack upon Greece and Serbia simultaneously.

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200 years ago, on 30 June 1813 , Emperor Napoléon at Dresden agreed to Count von Metternich’s conditions:  accepting the armed mediation of Austria, a meeting of all belligerents at Prague with negotiations to last not past 10 August, and suspension of all military activity until 10 August.

150 years ago, on 1 July 1863 , slavery was abolished in the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia).

150 years ago, on 1 July 1863 , federal forces stumbled upon General Lee’s main army at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, 105 km north of Washington.  By mid-afternoon, the rebels forced the Federals back through the town.  Union troops set up defensive positions to the south on Culp’s Hill and Cemetery Ridge.

100 years ago, on 1 July 1913 , Greece and Serbia declared war on Bulgaria.

100 years ago, on 1 July 1913 , in the issue of Lacerba dated today, an article by Luigi Russolo (28) entitled Gl’intonarumori futuristi appeared.  It set out his beliefs and practical methods for achieving the “music of noise.”

50 years ago, on 1 July 1963 , Lord Privy Seal Edward Heath revealed to the House of Commons that Harold Philby was the “third man” who informed Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean they were about to be arrested on espionage charges in 1951.  The two fled to the USSR.  At the time, Philby worked for the British Foreign Office.  He disappeared in January 1963 from his Beirut post as correspondent for the London Sunday Observer .

150 years ago, on 2 July 1863 , Confederate troops attacked the left of the Federal line at Gettysburg on the Big and Little Round Tops, the Wheat Field, the Slaughter Pen, Devil’s Den, and the Valley of Death.  The Union line held.

150 years ago, on 3 July 1863 , after an artillery duel lasting one hour, 13,000 Confederates attacked the Union center on Cemetery Ridge at Gettysburg.  They were repulsed with heavy

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losses.  In the largest battle ever fought in the Western Hemisphere, 7,058 people were killed, 33,264 wounded, and 10,790 were missing (many of these prisoners).

150 years ago, on 4 July 1863 , federal forces captured Vicksburg, Mississippi, the Confederacy’s last major port on the Mississippi River.  29,000 rebel troops surrendered.

100 years ago, on 5 July 1913 , Lili Boulanger (19) became the first woman to win the Grand Prix de Rome for music, winning 31 of 36 votes.  The judges awarded her the prize for her “intelligence of subject, correctness of declamation, sensitivity and warmth, poetic feeling, intelligent and colorful orchestration.  A remarkable cantata.”  The work, a setting of Faust et Hélène , was performed for the first time, in the grand hall of the Institute, accompanied by the composer’s sister, Nadia (25).  Breaking with tradition, she dedicated her work not to her Conservatoire composition teacher, but to her sister.

150 years ago, on 8 July 1863 , federal troops captured Port Hudson, Louisiana and its 6,000 defenders, the last Confederate position on the Mississippi River.

50 years ago, on 9 July 1963 , final agreement was signed in London by representatives of Great Britain, Malaya, Singapore, North Borneo, and Sarawak to create Malaysia on 31 August.

50 years ago, on 10 July 1963 , a federal judge in Columbia ordered the University of South Carolina to admit a black student.  He also ordered the state to desegregate its public parks.

50 years ago, on 10 July 1963 , an appeals court in New York ruled that Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller was “flagrantly obscene.”

50 years ago, on 10 July 1963 , the day after local black leader Hosea Williams was arrested, blacks rioted in Savannah.  Crowds were dispersed by police using tear gas.  After this, anyone seen demonstrating in the city was arrested on sight.

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150 years ago, on 11 July 1863 , draft riots began in New York City and continued for the next four days.  Approximately 1,000 people were killed or wounded including many blacks were lynched for being the cause of the war.  Rioters protested money payments in lieu of military service.

150 years ago, on 12 July 1863 , 10,000 British troops invaded the Maori region south of Auckland.  This number constituted one-quarter of the entire British army worldwide.

100 years ago, on 12 July 1913, Turkey declared war on Bulgaria and attacked into western Thrace.

200 years ago, on 13 July 1813 , Johann Friedrich Peter died in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania aged 67 years, one month and 24 days.

150 years ago, on 13 July 1863 , by the Treaty of London, King Frederik of Denmark accepted the throne of Greece for his grandson who reigned as King Georgios.  The protecting powers (France-Great Britain-Russia) guaranteed the treaty and agreed to fund the government.

50 years ago, on 17 July 1963 , Variations IV by John Cage (50) was performed for the first time, at UCLA.

150 years ago, on 18 July 1863 , the all-Black 54 th Massachusetts regiment led a Union assault on Ft. Wagner, South Carolina.  The attack failed.  For his actions today, Sgt. William Carney became the first African-American to win the Congressional Medal of Honor.

200 years ago, on 21 July 1813 , an act to allow Unitarianism in Britain was granted Royal Assent by the Prince-Regent.

50 years ago, on 23 July 1963 , 62 merchants in Charleston, South Carolina agreed to discontinue segregation practices at their establishments.  Demonstrations continued at other

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stores.

50 years ago, on 25 July 1963 , a Nuclear Test Ban Treaty was initialed by representatives of the US, UK, and USSR in Moscow.

50 years ago, on 30 July 1963 , tens of thousands of Buddhists staged anti-government rallies in Saigon, Da Lat, Nha Trang, Quon Nhon, and Hue.

200 years ago, on 31 July 1813 , the rebel army led by Simón Bolívar defeated royalists at the Taguanas Plain west of Caracas.

100 years ago, on 31 July 1913 , Bulgaria concluded an armistice with all powers currently in conflict with it (Serbia, Greece, Romania, Turkey), in Bucharest.

250 years ago, on 7 August 1763 , Arcangelo Corelli died in Rome, aged 59 years, ten months, and 21 days.

250 years ago, on 14 August 1763 , Giovanni Battista Somis died in Turin, aged 76 years, seven months, and 20 days.

250 years ago, on 18 August 1763 , the Mozart family gave their first public concert in Frankfurt.  It was attended by a 15-year-old named Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.  Goethe remembered the event to the end of his life.

50 years ago, on 3 August 1963 , Dr. Stephen Ward died in a London hospital from an overdose of barbiturates he ingested on 31 July.  He was the most important figure in the Profumo scandal.

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50 years ago, on 5 August 1963 , a limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty was signed in Moscow by the foreign ministers of the United States, Great Britain, and the USSR.  It banned nuclear tests in the atmosphere, under water, and in outer space.

200 years ago, on 6 August 1813 , the rebel army led by Simón Bolívar entered Caracas.  Widespread reprisals against royalists ensued.

200 years ago, on 7 August 1813 , Simón Bolívar declared the Second Republic of Venezuela in Caracas.

50 years ago, on 8 August 1963 , the Great Train Robbery took place in Britain when thieves took £2,600,000 from a Royal Mail train.

100 years ago, on 10 August 1913 , the Second Balkan War ended in the Treaty of Bucharest.  Greece received one-half of Macedonia and Crete.  Turkey gained Adrianople (Edirne) but suffered a net loss in overall territory.  Romania received a section of Dobrudja.  Serbia got north and central Macedonia.

200 years ago, on 12 August 1813 , after secretly rearming, Austria declared war on France, joining the sixth coalition along with Great Britain, Russia, Prussia, Sweden, and the German principalities.

150 years ago, on 13 August 1863 , Eugène Delacroix died in Paris at the age of 65.

50 years ago, on 15 August 1963 , Clifford Odets died in Los Angeles of cancer at the age of 57.

50 years ago, on 21 August 1963 , thousands of CIA-trained South Vietnamese Special Forces troops assaulted Buddhist pagodas throughout the country in order to suppress opposition to the Catholic regime in Saigon.  About 1,400 monks and nuns were arrested, some of whom

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were never heard from again.  In the evening, President Ngo Dinh Diem declared martial law.

100 years ago, on 25 August 1913 , Leo Frank, manager of a pencil factory in Atlanta, was convicted of murdering Mary Phagan, a 14-year-old worker at the factory.  The case attracted national attention and was fueled by hysterical anti-Semitism.  The next day he was sentenced to death.

200 years ago, on 26 August 1813 , Napoléon entered Dresden.  With a 2-1 majority, the Austrian army attacked but the French successfully counterattacked.  The Allies made initial advances but the French eventually regained all lost territory.

200 years ago, on 27 August 1813 , Napoléon, newly reinforced, took the initiative at Dresden and the Allies were forced to withdraw towards Bohemia.  The Dresden fighting caused 48,000 casualties.

50 years ago, on 28 August 1963 , Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led a March on Washington by 200,000 people, demonstrating demands for human rights for all Americans.  They met at the Washington Monument and marched to the Lincoln Memorial to be addressed by Dr. King who made the most famous speech of his life.  Protest leaders also met with President Kennedy at the White House.

150 years ago, on 29 August 1863 , in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, a Confederate submarine designed by HL Hunley sank with the loss of five men.  It was raised and tried again.

50 years ago, on 30 August 1963 , the “Hot Line”, a direct communications link between Moscow and Washington, went into operation.

200 years ago, on 31 August 1813 , after a two-month siege, British and Portuguese forces assaulted and captured the French fortress of San Sebastián, within 18 km of the French border.  The victors ran amok through the town, murdering, raping and looting, their officers powerless to stop them.

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50 years ago, on 31 August 1963 , Georges Braque died in Paris at the age of 81.

50 years ago, on 2 September 1963 , addressing 7,000 people in the Kokkinia soccer field in Piraeus, Mikis Theodorakis (38) traced a large letter “Z” in the air.  “Let the slogan Zei (he lives) become a symbol...of the life of our movement.”  It refered to the murdered peace activist Grigoris Lambrakis.  Within hours, the letter Z was painted on walls throughout Athens and Piraeus.

200 years ago, on 3 September 1813, b ecause Russia supported Sweden’s claim to Norway, Denmark declared war on Russia.

50 years ago, on 3 September 1963 , eleven blacks entered all-white public schools in Charleston, South Carolina for the first time.  There was no serious incident.  27 black students entered all-white public schools in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  These were the first instances of desegregated schools in the respective states.  Desegregation plans went into effect in the schools of Savannah, Georgia, Jacksonville, Florida, and Cambridge, Maryland.

100 years ago, on 5 September 1913 , the Second Piano Concerto op.16 of Sergey Prokofiev (22) was performed for the first time, in Pavlovsk, the composer at the piano.  The audience was strongly divided.

50 years ago, on 5 September 1963 , on the urging of Governor George Wallace, the Birmingham, Alabama Board of Education closed the three schools set to accept black students today.

50 years ago, on 6 September 1963 , under orders from Governor George Wallace, state police prevented the opening of integrated schools in Huntsville, Alabama.

400 years ago, on 8 September 1613 , Carlo Gesualdo died in Gesualdo, Avellino, aged approximately 52 years.

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200 years ago, on 9 September 1813 , a treaty was signed at Töplitz bringing Austria in as an equal participant with Russia and Prussia against France.  All sides pledged 60,000 troops.

50 years ago, on 9 September 1963 , at the request of the Justice Department, all five federal judges in Alabama issued restraining orders on Governor George Wallace, ordering him not to prevent court ordered desegregation.  In the face of this, Wallace removed state police from schools and ordered them replaced by National Guard units.

50 years ago, on 9 September 1963 , Vexations for piano solo by Erik Satie (†38) was performed, possibly for the first time, in New York.  The performance began at 18:00 with a relay of ten pianists including John Cage (51), David Tudor, Christian Wolff (29), James Tenney (29), John Cale, David Del Tredici (26), and Joshua Rifkin.  It ended at 12:40 the next day after 840 nonstop repetitions of the piece.  There were six people left in the audience.  One yelled “encore.”

200 years ago, on 10 September 1813 , in the Battle of Lake Erie, an American fleet under Commodore Oliver Perry defeated a British naval force off Put-in-Bay, 23 km north of Sandusky, Ohio.

50 years ago, on 10 September 1963 , President Kennedy nationalized the Alabama National Guard.  Those troops on guard to prevent desegregation of schools were ordered back to their barracks.  Black students entered previously all-white schools in Birmingham, Mobile, and Tuskegee.  The only incident was at West End High School in Birmingham where white students demonstrated and walked out of school.

50 years ago, on 11 September 1963 , three black students were enrolled at the University of South Carolina without incident.

50 years ago, on 13 September 1963 , Poème symphonique for 100 metronomes by György Ligeti (40) was performed for the first time, in Hilversum, the composer directing.  The end of the performance brought silence followed by loud protestations.  Dutch television recorded the event for later broadcast but the Hilversum Senate forbade this.

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150 years ago, on 15 September 1863 , Tsar Alyeksandr II opened the Finnish Diet in Helsinki beginning constitutional rule in that country.

150 years ago, on 15 September 1863 , Horatio William Parker was born in Auburndale (now part of Newton), Massachusetts, eldest of four children born to Charles Edward Parker, a successful architect, and Isabella Graham Jennings, daughter of a minister.  Charles Parker also had four children from a previous marriage.

100 years ago, on 15 September 1913 , Henry Dreyfuss Brant was born in Montreal, the son of a violinist.

50 years ago, on 15 September 1963 , a bomb exploded at the 16th Street Baptist Church, Birmingham, Alabama during Sunday services.  Four black girls were killed, one blinded.  14 people were injured.  Black citizens erupted in violence.  State troopers were dispatched led by an admitted Ku Klux Klan sympathizer.  Two black children were killed later in the day.

50 years ago, on 16 September 1963 , Malaysia was established by the union of Malaya, Singapore, Sarawak, and North Borneo (Sabah).  The British and Malayan embassies in Jakarta were attacked by mobs.  Indonesia broke relations with Malaya.  The Philippines downgraded its mission in Kuala Lampur.

50 years ago, on 18 September 1963 , 10,000 Indonesians ransacked the British embassy in Jakarta and burned it to the ground.  Also attacked were the homes of British diplomats, the British Cricket Club and a residential area for the Shell Oil Co.  After the melee, Indonesian authorities seized the embassy.  Martial law was declared in the capital.

150 years ago, on 19 September 1863 , Confederate forces attacked Federals along a ten km front at Lee & Gordon’s Mill on the Chickamauga Creek south of Chattanooga, Tennessee.  The heavy fighting produced high casualties but negligible results.

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150 years ago, on 20 September 1863 , after a wild melee just south of Chattanooga, Federals stopped the Confederate advance but retreated in great disorder to the north.  The fighting saw 34,500 total casualties.

200 years ago, on 22 September 1813 , Denmark declared war on Sweden over Norway.

100 years ago, on 23 September 1913 , Frenchman Roland Garros flew from Frejus, France to Bizerta, Tunisia in seven hours and 53 minutes.  He was the first person to fly across the Mediterranean.

200 years ago, on 24 September 1813 , André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry died in Montmorency, Seine-et-Oise, aged 72 years, seven months, and 16 days.

50 years ago, on 25 September 1963 , a conservative military coup overthrew the democratically elected Dominican government of Juan Bosch.  The new regime declared a state of siege and imposed a nighttime curfew.  They dissolved the legislature.  Leaders of six conservative parties agreed to form a new government.  The US suspended relations with the Dominican Republic and stopped all economic assistance.

350 years ago, on 26 September 1663 , Heinrich Scheidemann died in Hamburg at the age of 68.

50 years ago, on 28 September 1963 , Indonesian-backed rebels struck 50 km into Malaysia at Long Jawai but they were destroyed by British troops on the return trip.

200 years ago, on 30 September 1813 , abandoned by their King Jérôme Bonaparte, Westphalian troops surrendered Kassel to invading Russians.  The victors dissolved the Kingdom of Westphalia and removed the absent king from power.  At the same time, Jérôme reached the Rhine.

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150 years ago, on 30 September 1863 , Les pêcheurs de perles , an opéra by Georges Bizet (24) to words of Carré and Cormon, was performed for the first time, at the Théâtre-Lyrique, Paris.  The audience was enthusiastic but the critics were harsh.

200 years ago, on 5 October 1813 , in the Battle of the Thames, United States forces under General William Henry Harrison captured Ft. Malden, 38 km south of Detroit at the entrance to Lake Erie.  Shawnee Chief Tecumseh, a British ally, is killed.

250 years ago, on 7 October 1763 , the British Proclamation of 1763 set the borders of Quebec, East Florida, and West Florida and barred whites from settling between the Alleghenies and the Mississippi.  It also provided government for Quebec, East and West Florida, and Grenada.  The coast of Labrador was annexed to Newfoundland.  Cape Breton Island and the Island of St. John (Prince Edward Island) were attached to Nova Scotia.  Soldiers who served in North America could now apply for land grants without cost.

200 years ago, on 7 October 1813 , British, Portuguese, and Spanish forces, led by Viscount Wellington, crossed the Bidassoa into France.  They are the first allied troops on French soil.

200 years ago, on 8 October 1813 , by the Treaty of Ried, Bavaria left the Confederation of the Rhine and joined the Allies against France.

150 years ago, on 8 October 1863 , after journalistic efforts of 30 years, Hector Berlioz (59) contributed his last article to the Journal des débats , a review of Bizet’s (24) Les pêcheurs de perles .

200 years ago, on 10 October 1813 , Giuseppe Fortunio Francesco Verdi was born at Le Roncale near Busseto, 30 km northwest of Parma, eldest of two children born to Carlo Verdi, a tavern owner and Luigia Uttini, daughter of tavern owners.  Unknown to a world preoccupied with the fortunes of Napoléon Bonaparte, the two giants of the 19th century musical stage were born within the space of five months.

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100 years ago, on 10 October 1913 , President Wilson pressed a button in the White House and Gamboa Dike was blown up, thus completing the Panama Canal.

50 years ago, on 10 October 1963 , the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty entered into force with exchange of ratification ceremonies in London, Moscow, and Washington.

50 years ago, on 11 October 1963 , Jean Cocteau died of a heart attack in Milly-la-Forêt at the age of 74.  On the same day, Edith Piaf (47) died in Plascassier.  (There are those who claim she died in Paris on 10 October.)

100 years ago, on 12 October 1913 , the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde of Donaueschingen presented the first performance in an annual series designed to showcase modern music.

50 years ago, on 12 October 1963 , scientists at the Atomic Research Center near Geneva announced the discovery of the “weak” particle.

200 years ago, on 13 October 1813 , the invention of the chronometer, an early metronome, by Johann Nepomuk Maelzel was announced in the Wiener Vaterländische Blätter .  It also included endorsements of the device by several composers, including Ludwig van Beethoven (42).

200 years ago, on 14 October 1813 , Bavaria declared war on France.

150 years ago, on 15 October 1863 The Confederate submarine HL Hunley sank for a second time in Charleston Harbor, this time drowning the inventor along with a seven-man crew.  It would be raised and tried again.

200 years ago, on 16 October 1813 , Allied (Austria-Prussia-Russia) forces began an attack on the French near Leipzig.  Allied advances in the morning dissipated by noon, followed by a

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French counterattack which was checked in turn.

100 years ago, on 16 October 1913 , Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw was first performed, in Vienna.

200 years ago, on 18 October 1813 , Allied forces made encircling advances at Leipzig but the French held on to increasingly untenable positions.  Two Saxon units defected to the Allies.

200 years ago, on 18 October 1813 , the principal shareholders of the Boston Manufacturing Company met for the first time.  They soon began the industrial revolution in the United States by building the first integrated factory, in Waltham, Massachusetts.

200 years ago, on 19 October 1813 , the French began a retreat from Leipzig through the city.  A rear guard held off the advancing Allies until a nervous corporal left in charge of destroying the causeway blew it up with French troops still on it.  The rear guard was trapped in the city and all eventually surrendered.  Total casualties in the Battle of the Nations reached 92,000, not to mention thousands of civilians in and around Leipzig.  Württemberg and the rest of the Confederation of the Rhine thereupon joined the Allies against France.  Saxony was occupied.  Prussian troops occupied Frankfurt-am-Main.  The French empire east of the Rhine was destroyed.

200 years ago, on 20 October 1813 , King Friedrich August of Saxony was arrested in Leipzig by the Allies.  He was later transported to Berlin by the Prussians and interned at the castle of Friedrichsfelde.

50 years ago, on 20 October 1963 , Punkte no.1/2 for orchestra by Karlheinz Stockhausen (35) was performed for the first time, in Donaueschingen, conducted by Pierre Boulez (38).

100 years ago, on 21 October 1913 , Modest Musorgsky’s (†32) comic opera Sorochintsy Fair , after Gogol, was performed for the first time, at the Moscow Free Theatre.  Left unfinished at the composer’s death, the work was completed and orchestrated by Lyadov, Karatigin and others.

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100 years ago, on 23 October 1913 , two small pieces for orchestra, On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring and Su mmer Night on the River , by Frederick Delius (51) were performed for the first time, in the Leipzig Gewandhaus.

200 years ago, on 26 October 1813 , British troops and their Native American allies defeated a United States force that outnumbered them 7-1 on the Chateauguay River, Quebec.  The United States was forced to give up its invasion of Quebec.

150 years ago, on 26 October 1863 , the Football Association of England was formed by eleven clubs from the London area, beginning the standardization of football.

50 years ago, on 27 October 1963 , Dr. Michael Debakey of Baylor University Medical School reported on the first successful attempt to implant a mechanical device into a human to replace the action of the heart.  He said the patient lived on the device for four hours.

200 years ago, on 29 October 1813 , an allied occupation administration took over in Hannover and Hildesheim.

200 years ago, on 29 October 1813 , Nicolò Paganini (31) performed for the first time in Teatro alla Scala, Milan.  He presented the first performance of his Le streghe , variations on a theme from Süssmayr’s Il noce di Benevento .

150 years ago, on 29 October 1863 , 36 people, official and unofficial, concluded four days of meetings in Geneva during which they agreed to rules concerning the treatment of wounded on the battlefield.

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50 years ago, on 1 November 1963 , President Ngo Dinh Diem of the Republic of Vietnam and his brother Ngo Dinh Nhu were killed in a military coup directed by General Duong Van Minh, who took over the government and instituted a dictatorship.

150 years ago, on 3 November 1863 , Schleswig was made a Danish province.

150 years ago, on 4 November 1863 , the second part of Les troyens (Les troyens à Carthage), a grand opéra by Hector Berlioz (59) to his own words, was performed for the first time, at the Théâtre-Lyrique, Paris.  The audience applauded vociferously and critics were very enthusiastic.

200 years ago, on 5 November 1813 , by the Treaty of Gulestan signed today, Russia received all Persian territory north of the Aras River.  This included Abkhazia, Dagestan, Baku, and Georgia.

200 years ago, on 6 November 1813 , Bremen was returned to the status of a free city.  The Duchy of Brunswick was restored.  Duke Friedrich Wilhelm was returned to his throne.  The Electorate of Hannover was restored.  Georg III, (King George III of England) was restored to the throne.

200 years ago, on 8 November 1813 , by the Frankfurt peace proposals, the Allies offered Napoléon borders on the Pyrenees and the Alps.  Austria took control of Venetia.  Russian forces occupied East Frisia, Knyphausen, and Jever.

200 years ago, on 9 November 1813 , the allied administration in Osnabrück handed over power to an administration from Hannover.

100 years ago, on 9 November 1913 , two works by Lili Boulanger (20) were performed for the first time, at a concert of the Prix de Rome winners in the Palais d’Orsay, Paris:  Hymne au soleil for mezzo-soprano, chorus, and piano, and Le retour

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for mezzo-soprano and piano to words of Delaquys.  Also premiered was the orchestral version of her winning composition, the cantata Faust et Hélène .

200 years ago, on 11 November 1813 , British and colonial troops defeated American forces at Chrysler’s Farm, near Montreal.

200 years ago, on 13 November 1813 , an allied occupation administration took over in Essen.

350 years ago, on 14 November 1663, Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow was born in Leipzig.

250 years ago, on 15 November 1763 , two surveyors, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, completed a survey of the border between Maryland and Pennsylvania.

150 years ago, on 15 November 1863 , King Fredrik VII of Denmark died before signing the constitution of 13 November.  He was succeeded by Christian IX, his first cousin once removed. This was the end of the Oldenburg dynasty.  Denmark and Schleswig went to the Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg family.  The status of Holstein became an item of dispute.

150 years ago, on 15 November 1863 , the Vienna Singakademie gave its first concert under the direction of Johannes Brahms (30).  The eclectic program included Viennese premieres of the Cantata no.21 of Johann Sebastian Bach (†113), Re quiem für Mignon by Robert Schumann (†7), as well as works by Isaac (†346) and Beethoven (†36) and folksong arrangements.  It was well received.

50 years ago, on 15 November 1963 , Valium was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.

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100 years ago, on 16 November 1913 , the first volume of À la recherche du temps perdu ( Rem embrance of Things Past ), “Du côté de chez Swann”, by Marcel Proust was published in Paris.

350 years ago, on 17 November 1663 , Biagio Marini died in Venice, aged 69 years, nine months, and 14 days.

200 years ago, on 17 November 1813 , a Dutch rebellion succeeded in expelling the French from their country.

150 years ago, on 18 November 1863 , yielding to popular opinion, King Christian IX signed a new constitution for Denmark and Schleswig.

50 years ago, on 18 November 1963 , the first push-button telephones were marketed by American Telephone and Telegraph.

150 years ago, on 19 November 1863 , the military cemetery at Gettysburg was dedicated in a ceremony before 15,000 people.  After a two-hour oration by Edward Everett, President Lincoln gave a “little speech.”

200 years ago, on 21 November 1813 , King Wilhelm I of Hesse was restored to his throne.

100 years ago, on 22 November 1913 , Edward Benjamin Britten was born in Lowestoft, Suffolk, the youngest of four children born to Robert Victor Britten, a dental surgeon, and Edith Rhoda Hockey, an amateur pianist and singer, daughter of a Queen’s Messenger in the Home Office.

50 years ago, on 22 November 1963 , United States President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was shot twice in Dallas by Lee Harvey Oswald (firing from a sixth floor window) as he rode through the city in an open car.  He was pronounced dead at Parkland Hospital and was succeeded by

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Lyndon Baines Johnson.  Also wounded in the attack was Texas Governor John Connally.  Oswald was arrested.

50 years ago, on 22 November 1863 , Aldous Huxley died of cancer in Los Angeles at the age of 69.

150 years ago, on 24 November 1863 , in the “Battle Above the Clouds”, Federal forces drove the Confederates from Lookout Mountain south of Chattanooga, Tennessee.

50 years ago, on 24 November 1963 , Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused murderer of President John Kennedy, was shot to death by Jack Ruby, a restaurant owner, in Dallas.  Oswald was being transferred from the city jail to county jail when Ruby burst from a group of reporters and fired point blank into Oswald’s side.  He died later in surgery at Parkland Hospital.

150 years ago, on 25 November 1863 , Federal attacks broke the Confederate defenders of Missionary Ridge, west of Chattanooga, and forced them to retreat south into Georgia.  The fighting saw 12,400 total casualties.

50 years ago, on 25 November 1963 , as the nation watched on television, the earthly remains of John Kennedy were laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery.  The ceremonies were attended by dignitaries from 92 countries, including heads of state and government.

150 years ago, on 28 November 1863 , while traveling from Mainz to Löwenberg, Richard Wagner (50) stopped at the home of Hans von Bülow in Berlin.  In the afternoon, as von Bülow was rehearsing, Wagner and Cosima von Bülow went for a ride.  They both came to regard this as the beginning of their serious relationship.

200 years ago, on 29 November 1813 , French chemist Charles-Bernard Désormes and his son-in-law Nicolas Clément announced the discovery of Iodine to a meeting of the Imperial Institute.  Iodine was actually discovered by accident by Bernard Courtois, a saltpeter manufacturer, in May of 1811.  Because he had no money to further investigate what he produced, Courtois gave it to Désormes and Clément, as well as Louis-Joseph Gay-Lussac and

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André-Marie Ampère.  Ampère sent it to Humphry Davy.

150 years ago, on 29 November 1863 , Franz Schubert’s (†35) String Quartet D.173 was performed publicly for the first time, by the Vienna Musikverein, 48 years after it was composed.

50 years ago, on 29 November 1963 , US President Johnson created a special commission to investigate the murders of President Kennedy and Lee Harvey Oswald.  It was headed by Chief Justice Earl Warren.

200 years ago, on 30 November 1813 , Willem of Orange returned to the Netherlands.

200 years ago, on 30 November 1813 , Charles-Valentin Morhange was born in Paris, the second of six children born to Alkan Morhange, proprietor of a boarding school, and Julie Abraham.  All of the children will become musicians under their father’s first name, Alkan.

200 years ago, on 1 December 1813 , in the Declaration of Frankfurt, the Allies resolved to invade France.

100 years ago, on 1 December 1913 , the first continuous, moving assembly line was put into operation by the Ford Motor Company in Highland Park, Michigan.  A new automobile was finished every two-and-a-half minutes.

100 years ago, on 1 December 1913 , a subway went into operation in Buenos Aires.  It was the first subway in the Southern Hemisphere.

100 years ago, on 1 December 1913 , Syrinx for solo flute by Claude Debussy (51), was performed for the first time, at the residence of Louis Mors, Paris.

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250 years ago, on 2 December 1763 , the Touro Synagogue was dedicated in Newport, Rhode Island.  It was the first center of Judaism in North America.

150 years ago, on 4 December 1863 , German chemist Adolf von Baeyer mixed animal urine with acid from apples.  Since it is St. Barbara’s Day, he calls this new substance Barbituric Acid.

50 years ago, on 4 December 1963 , the Second Vatican Council in Rome authorized the use of the vernacular in the Mass and sacraments.

100 years ago, on 5 December 1913 , five of the Préludes for piano, Book II by Claude Debussy (51) were performed for the first time ( Feuilles mortes , La puerta del vino , “Général Lavine” eccentric , Ondine and Canope ).

50 years ago, on 5 December 1963 , Karl Amadeus Hartmann died of pancreatic cancer in Munich, aged 58 years, four months, and three days.

150 years ago, on 7 December 1863 , Pietro Antonio Stefano Mascagni was born in Livorno, the second of five children born to Domenico Mascagni, a baker, and Emilia Rebua.

200 years ago, on 8 December 1813 , a benefit for wounded Austrian and Bavarian soldiers at the University of Vienna featured the first performance of two works by Ludwig van Beethoven (42):  the Symphony no.7 and Wellington’s Victory .  The works caused ecstatic applause and critical raves.  The concert was so successful it was repeated 12 December.  Wellingtons’s Victory was directed by Beethoven with the assistance of Ignaz Moscheles, and Antonio Salieri (63).  The violins included Louis Spohr (29), Ignaz Schuppanzigh, and Joseph Mayseder.  Playing

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bass drum were Meyer Beer (Giacomo Meyerbeer) (22) and Johann Nepomuk Hummel (35).  Besides the Beethoven works, the concerts also included two marches, one by Jan Ladislav Dussek (†0), one by Ignace Joseph Pleyel (56), performed by Mälzel’s Mechanical Trumpeter with orchestral accompaniment.

200 years ago, on 10 December 1813 , Humphry Davy sent a paper to the Royal Society of London describing the new substance found by Bernard Courtois and naming it Iodine after the Greek word meaning violet colored.

100 years ago, on 10 December 1913 , the United States opened a naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

50 years ago, on 10 December 1963 , the Sultanate of Zanzibar was declared independent of Great Britain under Sultan Sayyid Jamshid ibn Abd Allah and Prime Minister Sheikh Muhammad Shamte Hamadi.

50 years ago, on 10 December 1963 , Symphony no.3 “Kaddish” for speaker, boys’ chorus, chorus, and orchestra by Leonard Bernstein (45) to words of the Hebrew liturgy and the composer, is performed for the first time, in Tel Aviv the composer conducting.

200 years ago, on 11 December 1813 , by the Treaty of Valençay, Napoléon reinstated Fernando VII to the Spanish throne.

50 years ago, on 12 December 1963 , Kenya, under Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Jomo Kenyatta, was declared independent of Great Britain.

100 years ago, on 13 December 1913 , Kolokola (The Bells) op.35, a choral symphony by Sergey Rakhmaninov (40) to words of Balmont after Poe, was performed for the first time, in St. Petersburg, the composer conducting.

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100 years ago, on 13 December 1913 , Syrinx for solo flute by Claude Debussy (51) was performed publicly for the first time, as part of Mourey’s play Psyché , in Paris.

100 years ago, on 14 December 1913 , in a ceremony at the fortress of Firka at Chania, King Konstaninos viewed the first raising of the Greek flag over Crete, thus formalizing the union of Crete with Greece.

200 years ago, on 15 December 1813 , an offer arrived in Paris from Russia, Austria, and Great Britain offering peace if Napoléon would retire behind the “natural frontiers” of France.

100 years ago, on 16 December 1913 , Sergey Rakhmaninov’s (40) Piano Sonata no.2 op.36 was performed for the first time, in Moscow, the composer at the keyboard.

150 years ago, on 19 December 1863 , Frederick Walton received a British patent for linoleum.

50 years ago, on 19 December 1963 , the first of over 1,000,000 West Berliners crossed into East Berlin for the first time since the erection of the wall in 1961.  They were allowed in to visit relatives during the Christmas season as part of an agreement worked out between East Germany and Mayor Willy Brandt of West Berlin.

50 years ago, on 19 December 1963 , Blake Edwards’ film The Pink Panther was released in West Germany.

100 years ago, on 21 December 1913 , the first crossword puzzle was published in the New York World .

200 years ago, on 22 December 1813 , Austrians and Bavarians crossed the Rhine and lay

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siege to Hunigen (Huninge).

250 years ago, on 23 December 1763 , Rev. Thomas Bayes’ An Essay Towards Solving a Problem in the Doctrine of Chances was read before the Royal Society in London, two years after his death.  It was the first scholarly work dealing the theories of probability.

100 years ago, on 23 December 1913 , with President Wilson’s signature, the Federal Reserve Bank was created in the United States.  Twelve regional banks were set up.

250 years ago, on 24 December 1763 , the Mozart family moved from Paris to Versailles where they would be presented to King Louis.

150 years ago, on 24 December 1863 , troops from Saxony and Hannover entered Holstein.

150 years ago, on 24 December 1863 , William Makepeace Thackeray died in London at the age of 52.

100 years ago, on 25 December 1913 , Piano Sonata no.10 op.70 by Alyeksandr Skryabin (41) was performed for the first time, in Moscow by the composer.

50 years ago, on 28 December 1963 , Paul Hindemith died of acute pancreatitis in a Frankfurt hospital, aged 68 years, one month, and twelve days.  His earthly remains were laid to rest in the churchyard of Saint-Légier in Waadt.

©2004-2013 Paul Scharfenberger

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