1966
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1 January 1966 In his New Year’s address to the nation, King Konstantinos of Greece blames communists for the political unrest in the country. As a direct result of this speech, the music of Mikis Theodorakis (40) is banned from Greek radio.
The Transportation Workers Union strike New York’s subway and bus system.
2 January 1966 Amidst deteriorating relations between the two countries, China announces it will reduce its rice exports to Cuba and will import less sugar from Cuba.
The Berlin Wall closes after 840,000 visits by West Berliners since 18 December.
The Twelve for chorus and orchestra by William Walton (63) to words of Auden is performed for the first time, in Westminster Abbey, London the composer conducting. The ceremony marks the 900th anniversary of Westminster Abbey. See 16 May 1965.
4 January 1966 Talks begin in Tashkent between Pakistani President Mohammed Ayub Khan and Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri under the auspices of the USSR.
The body of a Samuel Younge, a black man active in the civil rights movement, is found in Tuskegee, Alabama. A white man is arrested later in the day charged with his murder. 2,000 students and faculty at Tuskegee Institute march through the town protesting the killing.
Blacks begin daily demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama, protesting inequalities in voter registration.
Nine leaders of the New York transportation strike are imprisoned for defying a back-to-work order by a New York judge.
8 January 1966 Just as Stefan Cardinal Wyszynski is scheduled to leave Warsaw for Rome to celebrate 1,000 years of Christianity in Poland, his passport is revoked by the government.
Hyperion for flute, piccolo, and orchestra by Bruno Maderna (45), consisting of the already performed Dimensioni III and Aria, is performed for the first time, in Rome.
9 January 1966 Chinese fighters shoot down a Taiwanese plane bringing three defecting Chinese sailors from Matsu (Mazu) to Taiwan. All aboard are killed.
10 January 1966 Thousands of Indonesians demonstrate before the Chinese embassy in Jakarta.
An agreement is signed in Tashkent between Pakistani President Mohammed Ayub Khan and Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. It calls for withdrawal of troops to the pre-war borders.
William Walton (63) undergoes an operation at the London Clinic for a suspected case of lung cancer.
The House of Representatives of the State of Georgia votes 184-12 to refuse to seat duly elected member Julian Bond because he opposes US policy in Vietnam and counsels young men to avoid the draft.
Firebombs are thrown into the home of Vernon Dahmer, a local civil rights leader in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. He will die of his injuries. His wife and daughter are hospitalized with burns. Three other people in the house escape injury.
String Trio by Ralph Shapey (44) is performed for the first time, at the Textile Museum, Washington.
11 January 1966 Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri of India dies of a heart attack while attending a peace conference with Pakistani President Mohammed Ayub Khan, in Tashkent. He is succeeded by Gulzarilal Nanda.
Alberto Giacometti dies in Chur, Switzerland, aged 64.
13 January 1966 The strike by transportation workers in New York ends when both sides agree to a mediated settlement.
Civil rights marchers battle police armed with clubs in downtown Birmingham, Alabama. 21 people are injured.
Eclogue, Encomium, and Evocation for female chorus, piano, harp, and percussion by Leslie Bassett (42) to words of the Bible is performed for the first time, at Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti.
14 January 1966 A week-long drive by US and Australian troops into the so-called “Iron Triangle” 40 km north of Saigon ends without discovering an expected large Viet Cong concentration.
Investigations by Judge Louis Zollinger in Paris reveal that high French officials may be involved in the disappearance of Moroccan leftist leader Mehdi Ben Barka.
Jewish Chronicle for voices and orchestra by Karl Amadeus Hartmann (†2), Hans Werner Henze (39), Boris Blacher, Paul Dessau, and Rudolf Wagner-Régeney is performed for the first time, in Cologne.
15 January 1966 Thousands of Indonesians demonstrate before the Chinese embassy in Jakarta.
Nigerian army officers led by Major General Johnson TN Aguiyi-Ironsi overthrow the government of Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa.
17 January 1966 An American B-52 bomber carrying four nuclear bombs collides with a refueling plane over Polomares, Spain. The bombs spill and a wide area is contaminated with plutonium. The United States will undertake a massive cleanup, removing tons of topsoil. Villagers will not be allowed to see their medical records until 1985.
Georges Figon reportedly kills himself in his Paris apartment just before police arrest him. He is a key witness in the disappearance of Moroccan leftist leader Mehdi Ben Barka.
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote is published in the United States.
Hymn, fuguing and holiday by Ross Lee Finney (59) is performed for the first time, in Miami.
19 January 1966 The Information Secretary for French President Charles de Gaulle announces that the kidnapping of Moroccan leftist leader Mehdi Ben Barka was “organized abroad with the complicity of agents of French special services or police.”
The Vision of St. Augustine, a cantata for baritone, chorus, and orchestra by Michael Tippett (61) to words of the saint and the Bible, is performed for the first time, in Royal Festival Hall, London the composer conducting.
Stele per Diotima for violin and orchestra by Bruno Maderna (45) is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of NDR.
20 January 1966 Judge Louis Zollinger, investigating the Ben Barka disappearance, orders an arrest warrant for Mohammad Oufkir, Interior Minister of Morocco and two of his aides.
Concerto for Orchestra “Gala Music” by Gunther Schuller (40) is performed for the first time, in Orchestra Hall, Chicago conducted by the composer.
21 January 1966 The body of Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa of Nigeria is found near Abeokuta, about 50 km north of Lagos. He was abducted 15 January during the coup which overthrew his government.
Prime Minister Aldo Moro of Italy tenders his resignation after his government was defeated in the Chamber of Deputies yesterday.
22 January 1966 A daughter is born to Karlheinz Stockhausen (37) and the artist Mary Bauermeister, in Germany. The composer is presently in Tokyo.
23 January 1966 After the Moroccan government rejects the arrest warrant of 20 January, the French ambassador to Morocco is recalled.
Masquerade for Band op.102 by Vincent Persichetti (50) is performed for the first time, in Berea, Ohio the composer conducting.
24 January 1966 Indira Gandhi replaces Gulzarilal Nanda as Prime Minister of India.
Morocco recalls its ambassador from Paris.
25 January 1966 US, South Korean, and Saigon government troops begin an offensive into Quang Ngai and Binh Dinh Provinces.
Indian and Pakistani troops begin to withdraw to the lines of separation before the war, pursuant to the Peace of Tashkent.
Pousse Cafe, a musical by Duke Ellington (66) to words of Barer, is performed for the first time, in Toronto. See 16 March 1966.
27 January 1966 Harold Holt replaces Robert Gordon Menzies as Prime Minister of Australia.
29 January 1966 Variations for Orchestra (The Mask of Night) for soprano and orchestra by Dominick Argento (38) to words of Shakespeare is performed for the first time, at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
30 January 1966 Great Britain bars all imports from Rhodesia not already prohibited by previous sanctions. Britons are forbidden to export to Rhodesia.
31 January 1966 After 37 days of intense efforts to engage the North Vietnamese in peace talks, US President Lyndon Johnson resumes bombing of North Vietnam.
1 February 1966 Over the next week, three People’s Daily articles will attack the play Hsieh Yao-huan by Tien Han.
The first all-Wuorinen (27) radio broadcast takes place over the airwaves of WBAI, New York.
3 February 1966 The Soviet space probe Luna 9 makes the first soft landing by an Earth vessel on the surface of the Moon, in the Ocean of Storms.
4 February 1966 US President Johnson authorizes the shipment of 3,000,000 tons of grain to India, presently facing a starvation crisis.
5 February 1966 The Brazilian government orders an amendment to the constitution providing for the election of national and state executives by legislative bodies rather than the people.
JDE for 14 instruments by Betsy Jolas (39) is performed for the first time, in La Chaux-de-Fonds.
7 February 1966 US troops move into the An Lao Valley in the Central Highlands of South Vietnam looking for Viet Cong forces fleeing from the fighting in Binh Dinh and Quang Ngai Provinces. An advance party is wiped out by the Communists.
9 February 1966 Gaullist deputy Pierre Lemarchand testifies that the French counter-intelligence agency SDECE was responsible for the abduction of Mehdi Ben Barka.
10 February 1966 Former counter-intelligence agent Marcel Le Roy is arrested in Paris. Three days ago he stated under oath that he was informed in advance of the abduction of Moroccan leftist leader Mehdi Ben Barka. He is charged with failing to report a crime.
11 February 1966 Psalm 140 for soprano and orchestra by Roger Sessions (69) is performed for the first time, in Boston.
13 February 1966 Trials begin for those accused of involvement in the Indonesian coup of last 30 September. Over 900 will stand trial over the next twelve years.
14 February 1966 Australia converts to a decimal monetary system from pounds, shillings, pence. Two writers, Andrey Donatovich Sinyavsky and Yuli Markovich Daniel are convicted in a Moscow court of publishing anti-Soviet works abroad. Sinyavsky receives a seven-year sentence, Danyel, five years.
Thereminist Paul Tanner is called in to a recording session at the home of Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys in Los Angeles. One song is “Good Vibrations” but Tanner feels the result is not satisfactory and will not be pursued. He is in error.
18 February 1966 A Psalm for Living for chorus and piano by William Grant Still (70) to words of his wife Verna Arvey, is performed for the first time, in Houston, conducted by the composer.
19 February 1966 Senator Robert Kennedy proposes that there be a coalition government in South Vietnam, including the National Liberation Front.
20 February 1966 Sonata no.2 for solo violin by George Perle (50) is performed for the first time, in Boston.
21 February 1966 Indonesian President Sukarno dismisses Defense Minister Abdul Haris Nasution and 14 other anti-Communist cabinet members.
After a week long constitutional conference in London, the British government announces that Bechuanaland will gain its independence on 30 September.
William Walton (63) returns to his home on Ischia after hospitalization following his operation of 10 January.
French President Charles de Gaulle announces that his government will gradually take control of all NATO bases on French soil. The process will be complete by 4 April 1969. He also charges Moroccan Interior Minister Mohammad Oufkir with the abduction of leftist leader Mehdi Ben Barka.
23 February 1966 Leftwing military elements of the Baath Party overthrow the Syrian government of Prime Minister Salah al-Bitar. Hundreds of people are killed in the fighting in Damascus. A military junta takes power.
24 February 1966 Presidential guards fire on students demonstrating in Jakarta. Two people are killed.
President Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, while away in Peking, is overthrown by a military coup.
25 February 1966 Student organizations are banned in Indonesia.
India and Pakistan complete the removal of their troops to status quo ante.
The Rockefeller Foundation grants $200,000 to Mills College to move the San Francisco Tape Music Center to Mills College and merge it with the Mills Performing Group.
Dans la chaleur vacante, a “cantate radiophonique” by Betsy Jolas (39) to words of Du Bouchet, is performed for the first time.
Music for Boston for flute, clarinet, bassoon, and strings op.414 by Darius Milhaud (73) is performed for the first time, in Boston.
Squares, an Essay for orchestra by TJ Anderson (37) is performed for the first time, in Chickasha, Oklahoma.
26 February 1966 Sonata pimpante for violin and piano by Joaquín Rodrigo (64) is performed for the first time, in Cercle Gaulois, Brussels.
1 March 1966 The Soviet space probe Venus 3 crashes into Venus, the first man-made object to come into contact with the planet.
Ghana’s new military government orders all Soviet, Chinese, and East German teachers and technicians out of the country.
Concerto for piano and orchestra by Donald Martino (34) is performed for the first time, in New Haven, Connecticut.
2 March 1966 Night Conjure-Verse for soprano, mezzo-soprano or counter-tenor, and chamber ensemble by David Del Tredici (28) to words of Joyce, is performed for the first time, in San Francisco conducted by the composer.
3 March 1966 Blacks in Natchez, Mississippi end a boycott of white merchants after their demands have been satisfied.
Relata I for orchestra by Milton Babbitt (49) is performed for the first time, in Cleveland.
4 March 1966 A fierce three-day battle begins in Quang Ngai Province between US/Saigon forces and North Vietnamese/Viet Cong troops.
String Quartet no.2 by Gunther Schuller (40) is performed for the first time, in MacBride Auditorium of the University of Iowa, Iowa City.
Incidental music to Stone’s play The Prince and the Mermaid by William Grant Still (70) is performed for the first time, at San Fernando Valley State College in Northridge, California.
5 March 1966 Izvestia reports that the Communist Party will allow collective farmers to maintain private plots in their free time.
Anna Akhmatova dies in Leningrad at the age of 76.
6 March 1966 In parliamentary elections in Austria, the Peoples Party gains four seats, giving it a majority. Chancellor Josef Kraus is thus able to end the coalition with the Social Democrats and set up a one-party conservative government.
Music for the television documentary Of Heaven and Earth by Hugo Weisgall (53) is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of the CBS television network. The composer will organize the music into a collection of eight numbers for various ensembles called Graven Images.
7 March 1966 The Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia unanimously upholds a state law banning interracial marriages.
8 March 1966 Prime Minister Holt announces that Australia will increase its contingent in Vietnam from 1,500 to 4,500 men.
An explosion brings down the top 20 meters of the 31-meter high Nelson Column in Dublin, including the statue of Lord Nelson. Police blame the Irish Republican Army. The IRA sees the column as a symbol of British domination of the island.
9 March 1966 Indonesian students attack the offices of the New China News Agency in Jakarta destroying the building. Mobs also attack the Chinese consulate injuring 25.
The French government announces that it will withdraw all its forces from NATO but it will not leave the alliance.
The US State Department announces that US and Saigon government authorities have destroyed 8,000 hectares of crops in an effort to deny food to the Viet Cong.
10 March 1966 North Vietnamese forces capture the American Green Beret camp at A Shau after a three-day siege.
Rioting by Hindi-speakers begins in Punjab against a government decision to create a Punjabi-speaking state in Punjab. Eleven people will be killed over the next week.
Crown Princess Beatrix, heir to the Dutch throne, marries Claus George Wilhelm Otto Friedrich Gerd von Amsberg, a West German diplomat and a commoner, in Amsterdam. Many Dutch oppose the marriage since von Amsberg is a German and was a member of the Hitler Youth and served two months in the Wehrmacht at the end of World War II. 8,000 troops and police guard the procession. Some in the crowd throw insults and smoke bombs.
Three men are convicted in a New York court of the murder of Malcolm X.
11 March 1966 Chinese authorities begin a month-long campaign against author Hsia Yen.
France withdraws its forces from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Troops loyal to General Suharto surround a building in Jakarta wherein President Sukarno is holding a cabinet meeting while students demonstrate outside. The President and other political and military leaders then escape by helicopter to Bogor. They issue a statement granting broad powers to General Suharto.
Two books of Madrigals by George Crumb (35) to words of Garcia Lorca, are performed for the first time, at the Library of Congress, Washington: Madrigals Book I for soprano, double bass, and vibraphone; and Madrigals Book II for soprano, flute/piccolo/alto flute, and percussion.
Theatre Piece for Trombone Player for trombone, hoses, candles, and two-track tape by Pauline Oliveros (33) is performed for the first time, in San Francisco.
12 March 1966 General Suharto bans the Communist Party of Indonesia.
30 people have been killed over the last three days in food riots in West Bengal.
13 March 1966 Sun Music for voices and percussion by Peter Sculthorpe (36) is performed for the first time, in Elder Hall, Adelaide, South Australia.
The Piano Sonata of Sofia Gubaidulina (34) is performed for the first time, by the composer in Moscow.
Presidential Suite for orchestra by Ulysses Kay (49) is performed for the first time, in Symphony Hall, Boston the composer conducting.
Scenes from the Louvre for band by Norman Dello Joio (53) is performed for the first time, at Baldwin Wallace College, Berea, Ohio conducted by the composer.
15 March 1966 A general strike by Buddhists paralyzes Da Nang, South Vietnam. They are protesting the removal of Nguyen Chanh Thi from the government.
16 March 1966 10,000 Buddhists rally in Saigon against the removal of Nguyen Chanh Thi from the government.
A rally takes place in Sydney, Australia to protest involvement in Vietnam. Twelve draft cards are burned.
Gemini 8 is launched from Cape Kennedy and proceeds to carry out the first docking in space. Pilot Neil Armstrong maneuvers his spacecraft to join with an Agena target vehicle.
La Divina, a comic opera by Thomas Pasatieri (20) to his own words, is performed for the first time, at the Juilliard School, New York.
18 March 1966 Most of Indonesian President Sukarno’s cabinet are arrested by troops loyal to General Suharto. The Chinese ambassador and other embassy staff leave Jakarta.
The US government announces new sanctions against Rhodesia which almost end trade with the country.
Two Dunbar Lyrics for chorus by Ulysses Kay (49) is performed for the first time, at West Virginia State College, Institute.
Pousse Cafe, a musical by Duke Ellington (66) to words of Barer and Weidman, is performed for the first time in New York, at the 46th Street Theatre. The critics are scathing.
19 March 1966 Paul Vanden Boeynants replaces Pierre Harmel as Prime Minister of Belgium leading a new Christian Peoples-Liberal coalition.
20 March 1966 The World Cup is stolen from a display in Central Hall, Westminster.
21 March 1966 Plans are announced to merge three newspapers: the New York Herald Tribune, the New York Journal-American, and the New York World Telegram and Sun. The new publication will be called the New York World Journal Tribune.
Two days of voting for the Finnish Parliament return the Social Democratic Party to its former status as largest party. They gain 17 seats over the last Parliament.
Mr and Mrs Discobbolos, a chamber opera by Peter Westergaard (34) after Lear, is performed for the first time, in New York.
Sequenza V for trombone by Luciano Berio (40) is performed for the first time, in San Francisco.
22 March 1966 President Mobutu of the Congo abolishes all powers of Parliament, taking them on himself.
23 March 1966 China rejects a Soviet request to send a delegation to the 23rd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
Arthur Michael Ramsey makes the first visit by an Archbishop of Canterbury to a Pope when he meets Pope Paul VI in the Sistine Chapel.
Quatuor II for soprano and string trio by Betsy Jolas (39) is performed for the first time, in the Théâtre de l’Odéon, Paris.
Configurations for flute and piano by Ralph Shapey (45) is performed for the first time, in Kaufman Auditorium of the 92nd Street Y, New York.
25 March 1966 Three days of protests against US policy in Vietnam take place in major cities throughout the United States and in Paris, Manila, Ottawa, Stockholm, Oslo, Rome, and Auckland.
The Belgian House of Representatives votes confidence in the new government of Paul Vanden Boeynants, thus ending a six-week constitutional crisis.
String Quartet no.11 op.122 by Dmitri Shostakovich (59) is performed for the first time, privately, in a meeting of the USSR Composers’ Club, Moscow. See 28 May 1966.
Christian Wolff in Cambridge, a vocalise for chorus by Morton Feldman (40), is performed for the first time, at Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts directed by Alvin Lucier (34).
Processional: Let There Be Light for chorus and various instruments by Charles Ives (†10) to words of Ellerton, is performed for the first time, in Danbury, Connecticut. Also premiered is Ives’ They are There! for unison chorus and orchestra, in a piano reduction, and the song Allegro to his own words. See 16 October 1967.
26 March 1966 US troops take over a 1,000 sq km jungle area at the mouth of the Saigon River, 50 km south of Saigon. It is thought to be a Viet Cong stronghold.
27 March 1966 While taking a walk with his owner in South London, a mongrel named Pickles discovers the stolen World Cup in a garden hedge.
28 March 1966 Cevdet Sunay replaces Cemal Gürsel as President of Turkey. Gürsel has been declared medically unfit to serve the remainder of his term.
30 March 1966 President Sukarno of Indonesia installs a cabinet of 29 ministers dominated by the military.
National whites-only elections in South Africa result in an increased majority for the National Party.
When Mikis Theodorakis (40) goes to a studio in Athens to record his song cycle Romiosini, he learns that the Prime Minister’s office has forbidden it because it has not received the approval of the censorship committee. He will record it in Amsterdam.
Sofia Guaidulina’s (34) Five Etudes for harp, double bass, and percussion is performed before the Commission for Chamber and Symphonic Music in Moscow. Arguments on both sides are heard but the result is generally favorable. See 21 April 1966.
Krzysztof Penderecki’s (32) oratorio Passio et mors domini nostri Jesu Christi secundum Lucam (St. Luke Passion) for solo voices, speaker, boys’ chorus, chorus, and orchestra, is performed for the first time, in Münster Cathedral. This introduces a much broader audience to Penderecki.
Soldier Songs, a cycle for voice and orchestra by Hugo Weisgall (41) to eight different authors, is performed for the first time, in Baltimore. See 26 April 1954.
31 March 1966 Parliamentary elections in Great Britain result in an increased majority of 48 seats for the ruling Labour Party of Prime Minister Harold Wilson.
1 April 1966 A filmed version of Antithèse for actor, electronic and environmental sounds by Mauricio Kagel (34) is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of NDR television. See 20 March 1963 and 23 June 1963.
2 April 1966 In a huge demonstration in Hue against the Saigon government, thousands of troops, civil servants, and police march.
3 April 1966 The Soviet space probe Luna 10 becomes the first man-made object to achieve lunar orbit.
Romiosini (Hellenism), a song cycle by Mikis Theodorakis (40) to words of Ritsos, is performed for the first time, in the Diana Theatre in Athens at an evening of protest against the presence of missile bases in Greece.
Terrêtektorh, for 88 players seated in the audience by Iannis Xenakis (43), is performed for the first time, in Royan, France.
Composition for oboe and piano by Charles Wuorinen (27) is performed for the first time, at the Gardner Museum, Boston the composer at the keyboard.
Easter Cantata for alto, chorus, two trumpets, two trombones, glockenspiel, chimes, harp, and strings by Lou Harrison (48) to words of St. Luke is performed for the first time, at Hartnell College, Salinas, California.
4 April 1966 Anti-government and anti-US riots take place in Saigon as Buddhists battle police and troops. 5,000 people demonstrate in Hue against the US. Demonstrators in Da Lat take over the radio station and burn it down when troops arrive.
The Internationale becomes the first Earth music broadcast from lunar orbit as the Soviet space probe Luna 10 beams it to a meeting of the 23rd Party Congress.
5 April 1966 All Chinese schools in the Jakarta district are closed by the Indonesian army.
Anti-government Buddhist demonstrators battle police and troops in Saigon.
Food riots break out in West Bengal, India.
James Goddard, head of the US Food and Drug Administration, sends a letter to 2,000 university administrators, warning of the danger of hallucinogenic drugs, especially LSD.
The Cantata for the Twentieth Anniversary of October op.74 for two choruses, band, accordions, and percussion by Sergey Prokofiev (†13) is performed for the first time, in Moscow. This work was composed in 1937 but was withheld for ideological reasons. For this performance, the texts by Stalin have been removed. See 19 June 1937
Incidental music to Rhode’s play The Pagoda Fugue by Peter Maxwell Davies (31) is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of the BBC Third Programme. The broadcast was pre-recorded on 27 January, and 1, 4, and 8 February at the BBC’s Maida Vale studios.
6 April 1966 In California, the National Farm Workers Union wins its first victory when a seven-month strike ends in recognition by Schenley Industries.
7 April 1966 US Navy ships recover an atomic bomb from waters off the coast of Spain. The bomb is one of those lost 17 January.
De natura sonoris I for orchestra by Krzysztof Penderecki (32) is performed for the first time, in Royan.
Summer Seascape II for viola and string quartet by Howard Hanson (69) is performed for the first time, in the Library of Congress, Washington. See 20 April 1966.
9 April 1966 Buddhists in South Vietnam announce a nationwide effort to oust the military government of Nguyen Cao Ky and replace it with a civilian one.
The UN Security Council authorizes Great Britain to use force to prevent ships carrying oil bound for Rhodesia from docking at ports in Mozambique.
Orange Dessert, an electronic music theatre by Robert Ashley (36) to his own words, is performed for the first time, in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
10 April 1966 Evelyn Waugh dies in Taunton, Somerset at the age of 62.
12 April 1966 A national political congress opens in Saigon to make plans for a constitutional convention. Only 92 of the invited 170 delegates appear. National Buddhist groups and their supporters boycott the congress because of opposition to the US-backed military regime.
13 April 1966 The Viet Cong stage a commando raid on the Tan Son Nhut Air Base at Saigon, destroying several aircraft.
President Abdul Salam Arif of Iraq and ten members of his government are killed in the accidental crash of their helicopter near Basra. Prime Minister Abdel Rahman al-Bazzaz takes power ad interim.
Michigan State University admits that an article in Ramparts magazine contending that it was a front for CIA operations in Vietnam from 1955-1959 is essentially correct.
14 April 1966 A national political congress closes in Saigon after adopting ten recommendations which are essentially those demanded by the Buddhist leadership. 20,000 Buddhists march in Saigon to applaud the adoption of their demands. Prime Minister Nguyen Cao Ky immediately adopts one of the recommendations, elections for a constituent assembly.
Three men convicted of killing Malcolm X are sentenced to life in prison by a New York court.
15 April 1966 After 40,000 Chinese Indonesians demonstrate against China, 2,000 of them attack and ransack the Chinese embassy in Jakarta.
16 April 1966 Literary works of Wu Han, Teng Lo, and Liao Mo-sha are attacked in Pei-chiang Jih Pao.
Maj. General Abdel Rahman Arif is elected President of Iraq by the cabinet and National Defense Council. He is the brother of the late president.
17 April 1966 Former Harvard psychologist Timothy Leary and two others are arrested in Millbrook, New York and charged with possession of marijuana.
Incidental music to Smuul’s play The Colonel’s Widow by Alfred Schnittke (31) is performed for the first time, in Mossoviet Theatre, Moscow.
Come Out for tape loops by Steve Reich (29) is performed for the first time, in Town Hall, New York. It is a benefit for the retrial of six Black teenagers convicted of murder in 1964.
18 April 1966 Human Sexual Response by William H. Masters and Virginia E. Johnson is published in the United States.
Four psalm setting for chorus by Charles Ives (†10) are performed for the first time, in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art: Psalms 54, 90, 100, and 150. Also premiered is Ives’ General William Booth Enters into Heaven for male chorus and chamber orchestra to words of Lindsay, Two Slants for chorus and orchestra to words of Emerson and Manilius, and Walt Whitman for chorus and chamber orchestra to words of Whitman.
19 April 1966 The first one-party cabinet in 21 years is sworn in in Austria.
20 April 1966 Naga rebels blow up a train in Assam State, India. 55 people are killed, 84 injured.
Summer Seascape II for viola and strings by Howard Hanson (69) is performed for the first time, in North Carolina. See 7 April 1966.
21 April 1966 Sofia Guaidulina’s (34) Five Etudes for harp, double bass, and percussion is performed publicly for the first time, in the Concert Hall of the Composers Union, Moscow. See 30 March 1966.
Joaquín Rodrigo (64) is invested with the Grand Cross of Civil Merit by the Spanish government.
22 April 1966 Preludes for flute, clarinet, and bassoon by Karel Husa (44) is performed for the first time, at Ithaca College, Ithaca, New York.
23 April 1966 For the first time, North Vietnamese planes appear in strength against attacks by US fighter-bombers over their country.
Naga rebels blow up a train in Assam State, India. 40 people are killed, 80 injured.
24 April 1966 Six Romances on Japanese Poems for tenor and orchestra by Dmitri Shostakovich (59) is performed for the first time, in Glinka Concert Hall, Leningrad, over thirty years after they were composed.
Prayers for Divine Service for male chorus and organ by Leslie Bassett (43) is performed for the first time, at Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts.
Stefan Wolpe (63) receives the Brandeis University Creative Arts Medal.
25 April 1966 Two works by Karlheinz Stockhausen (37) are performed for the first time, in Tokyo: Solo no.19 for melody instrument and tape, and Telemusik no.20, for four track tape.
26 April 1966 Mt. Kelud on Java erupts, causing 1,000 deaths.
27 April 1966 Over a week of student demonstrations and violent clashes with police begins in Barcelona, Madrid, and elsewhere in Spain.
The Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central Railroad merge to form the Pennsylvania and New York Central Transportation Company, commonly referred to as the Penn Central.
Variations VI for electronic circuitry, microphones, radio, tape, and television by John Cage (53) is performed for the first time, in Pan American Auditorium, Washington.
28 April 1966 Two works for orchestra by David Diamond (50) are performed for the first time, in New York, Leonard Bernstein (47) conducting: Symphony no.5 and Concerto for Piano and Orchestra.
Personals, a cantata for narrator, chorus and brass by TJ Anderson (37) to words of Bontemps, is performed for the first time, in Nashville.
29 April 1966 Israeli commandos cross into Jordan and destroy 14 buildings used as staging areas for Al Fatah terrorist attacks into Israel.
30 April 1966 String Quartet no.1 by Robert Ward (48) is performed for the first time, in Cadek Conservatory Concert Hall of the University of Alabama.
1 May 1966 At a Peking rally, Prime Minister Chou En-lai announces the official beginning of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. He calls for the end of “bourgeois ideology” in the academic, educational, and journalistic fields, in art, literature, and all other fields of culture.
American forces begin firing into North Vietnamese and Viet Cong strongholds in Cambodia.
“Your Love and the Crossing”, a section of Arc for piano, orchestra, and electronic sounds by Toru Takemitsu (35), is performed for the first time, in Nissei Hall, Tokyo.
2 May 1966 President Joseph Mobutu orders the renaming of several cities in the Democratic Republic of Congo, effective 1 July. Léopoldville is renamed Kinshasa, Stanleyville becomes Kisangani and Elisabethville becomes Lubumbashi.
Leslie Bassett (43) wins the Pulitzer Prize in Music for his Variations for Orchestra. See 6 July 1963.
3 May 1966 Stefan Cardinal Wyszynski celebrates mass before 300,000 people in Czestachowa as part of celebrations marking 1,000 years of Christianity in Poland.
Ambages for flute by Roger Reynolds (31) is performed for the first time, in Tokyo.
4 May 1966 White anti-apartheid activist Abram Fischer is convicted in Pretoria of 15 counts ranging from fraud to sabotage. He will be sentenced to life in prison.
Eclipse for shakuhachi and biwa by Toru Takemitsu (35) is performed for the first time, in Nissei Theatre, Tokyo.
Second Piece for Violin Alone by Stefan Wolpe (63) is performed for the first time, in the YMHA, New York.
Piano Concerto no.1 by Charles Wuorinen (27) is performed for the first time, at the University of Iowa, Iowa City the composer at the keyboard.
5 May 1966 Nomos alpha for cello by Iannis Xenakis (43) is performed for the first time, in Bremen.
6 May 1966 Ian Brady and Myra Hindley are sentenced to life in prison for the murders of three children 17, 12, and 10, in Chester, Great Britain. The children were sexually abused.
Tremens, a szenische Montage eines Tests by Mauricio Kagel (34), is performed for the first time, in Bremen.
7 May 1966 The General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party, Nicolae Ceausescu, makes a speech strongly asserting his country’s right to self-determination and national sovereignty.
8 May 1966 And on the Seventh Day Petals Fell in Petaluma for a large ensemble of original instruments by Harry Partch (64) is performed for the first time, in Los Angeles.
9 May 1966 China explodes a 200 kiloton thermonuclear device in the western desert.
Peking Radio announces that Teng To, former editor of the Peking People’s Daily is denounced for “bourgeois tendencies and Soviet revisionism.”
10 May 1966 Soviet Communist Party General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev arrives in Bucharest for “consultation” with Nicolae Ceausescu following the speech of 7 May.
A California constitutional amendment allowing real estate agents to discriminate on the basis of race is found to violate the US Constitution by the state Supreme Court.
11 May 1966 Spanish police break up a two-day demonstration by hundreds of students, artists, and intellectuals at the Franciscalia Monastery in Sarria, outside Barcelona.
As 100 Roman Catholic priests march to the police station in Barcelona to carry a petition to investigate brutality against student prisoners, they are attacked and beaten by club-wielding police.
For 24 Winds by Lukas Foss (43) is performed for the first time, in Caracas under the title Discrepancia.
12 May 1966 Students at the University of Chicago take over the administration building to protest policies of the Selective Service System and the university’s complicity with them.
Rituals for orchestra by Ralph Shapey (45) is performed for the first time, in Mandel Hall of the University of Chicago, the composer conducting.
13 May 1966 US Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare John Gardner finds twelve southern school districts in violation of federal desegregation guidelines. He cuts off all federal aid to them.
Claude Lelouch’s film Un homme et une femme is shown for the first time, at the Cannes Film Festival.
14 May 1966 Concerto per corde by Alberto Ginastera (50) is performed for the first time, in Caracas.
15 May 1966 Forces loyal to the government of Nguyen Cao Ky seize control of most of Da Nang from troops and civilians supporting anti-government Buddhists. Fighting goes on around three large pagodas in the city.
About 10,000 demonstrators gather in Washington to protest the war in Vietnam. They picket the White House and rally at the Washington Monument.
16 May 1966 The British National Union of Seamen goes on strike over the length of the work week. A five-day takeover of the administration building at the University of Chicago by students ends peacefully.
Syntaxis II for orchestra by Ton de Leeuw (39) is performed for the first time, in Utrecht.
The Revelation of Saint John the Divine, a rhapsody for tenor, male chorus, brass, and percussion by Dominick Argento (38) to words of the Book of Revelation, is performed for the first time, in Central Lutheran Church, Minneapolis.
17 May 1966 Igor Stravinsky (83) conducts for the last time, a performance of the Pulcinella suite in Toronto.
Piece for Bells and Toy Pianos by Robert Erickson (49) is performed for the first time, at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
18 May 1966 10,000 students at the University of Wisconsin attend an anti-draft rally.
Tancredi, a ballet by Hans Werner Henze (39) to a scenario by Csobàdi, is staged for the first time, at the Vienna Staatsoper. See 15 January 1953.
Concerto for violin and orchestra by William Bergsma (45) is performed for the first time, in Tacoma, Washington the composer conducting.
Scapes, A Contest for Two Groups for two groups of instruments by Robert Erickson (49) is performed for the first time, in San Francisco.
21 May 1966 Troops opposed to the Saigon government surrender the Tan Ninh pagoda in Da Nang after heavy fighting.
B, A, B, B, IT, T for clarinet by Donald Martino (35) is performed for the first time, in New Haven, Connecticut by the composer. It is dedicated to Milton Babbitt on his 50th birthday.
22 May 1966 During the night (21-22 May), Steve Reich (29) dreams a melody. He wakes up and tapes himself playing it on the melodica. He loops the tape and completes the piece later in the day. He calls the piece Melodica.
As a result of six weeks of demonstrations in Baltimore, the Downtown Apartment House Association agrees to rent to blacks.
23 May 1966 After over a week of fighting, Buddhist troops and civilians in Da Nang surrender to Saigon government forces.
Queen Elizabeth declares a state of emergency to deal with the British seamen’s strike.
The UN Security Council votes 6-1-8 on a resolution to call on Great Britain to use all measures, including force, to end the white minority regime in Rhodesia. The motion fails because nine votes are needed for adoption.
Die schwarze Spinne, a singspiel by Josef Matthias Hauer (†6) to words of Schlesinger after Gotthelf, is performed for the first time, in Theater an der Wien, Vienna, 34 years after it was composed.
Animus I for trombone and tape by Jacob Druckman (37) is performed for the first time, at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.
24 May 1966 Loving for four voices, two actors, dancers, orchestra, and tape by R. Murray Schafer (32) is performed for the first time, in Montreal.
Mame with music and lyrics by Jerry Herman, book by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, opens in New York.
25 May 1966 About 2,000 anti-government protesters in Saigon are dispersed by troops using tear gas.
The New York Times reports the purge of Li Chi by the Chinese government. He was the propaganda chief for the Peking branch of the communist party.
Rhapsodic Ballad for cello by Arnold Bax (†12) is performed for the first time, at the Cork Municipal School of Music.
Incidental music to Lunel’s play Jerusalem à Carpentras by Darius Milhaud (73) is performed for the first time, in Théâtre Carpentras, Paris.
Ralph Shapey (45) wins a composing award from the National Institute of Arts and Letters. Harry Partch (64) receives the Marjorie Peabody Award. Stefan Wolpe (63) and David Diamond (50) are inducted as members of the National Institute of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Pierre Boulez (41) is inducted as an honorary member.
26 May 1966 About 1,000 Buddhists ransack and burn the US cultural center in Hue. There are further demonstrations in Hue and Saigon demanding the ouster of Prime Minister Nguyen Cao Ky.
Guyana, under Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Forbes Burnham, is declared independent of Great Britain.
Nouvelles aventures for three singers and seven instrumentalists by György Ligeti (42) is performed for the first time, over NDR, Hamburg. See 16 October 1970.
27 May 1966 Social Democrat Listaa Rafael Paasio replaces Johannes Virolainen of the Center Party as Prime Minister of Finland. He heads a four-party coalition which includes Communists for the first time since 1948.
Sonata for Three for flute, violin, and guitar, young players, by Thea Musgrave, is performed for the first time, at Winchester College, Winchester, Hampshire on the composer’s 38th birthday.
Fantasy in Homage to an Earlier England for orchestra by Virgil Thomson (69) is performed for the first time, in the Music Hall, Kansas City, Missouri.
28 May 1966 A week of fighting begins between Hausas and Ibos in the northern areas of Nigeria. Over 100 people are killed.
Two works for voice and piano by Dmitri Shostakovich (59) are performed for the first time, in Glinka Concert Hall, Leningrad the composer at the keyboard: Five Romances on Texts from Krokodil op.121, and Preface to My Collected Works and a Short Reflection Upon this Preface to words of the composer. On the same program is the first public performance of his String Quartet no.11. This is his last performance as a pianist. See 25 March 1966.
29 May 1966 Two Buddhist women, one in Saigon, one in Hue, burn themselves to death to protest the US-backed government of South Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Cao Ky.
After a week of feeling ill, Dmitri Shostakovich (59) suffers a heart attack. He will be hospitalized for two months.
30 May 1966 Two Buddhists, a man in Da Lat and a woman in Saigon, burn themselves to death to protest the US-backed government of South Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Cao Ky.
31 May 1966 A young Buddhist woman burns herself to death in Hue to protest the US-backed government of South Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Cao Ky. Meanwhile, talks begin in Saigon between Buddhist leaders and the military junta.
1 June 1966 The Peking People’s Daily denounces Lu Ping, President of Peking University and two other university officials for attempting to suppress revolutionary demands of faculty and students to participate in the cultural revolution.
Buddhists ransack and burn the US consulate in Hue.
The Yugoslav news agency reports the removal of Peng Chen, mayor of Peking, and Lo Jui-ching, chief of the general staff of the People’s Liberation Army.
Representatives of Malaysia and Indonesia, meeting in Thailand, announce tentative agreement on ways to end their dispute.
Igor Stravinsky (83) is presented with the Order of Santiago in Lisbon.
Elegy for orchestra by John Corigliano (28) is performed for the first time, in the War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco.
2 June 1966 Former Prime Minister Evariste Kimba of the Congo and three former government ministers are executed by hanging in a public square in Léopoldville. They were convicted of plotting to kill President Joseph Mobutu.
The US space probe Surveyor I makes a soft landing on the Moon, in the Ocean of Storms. It begins sending back pictures of the lunar surface.
17 Tage und 4 Minuten, an opera by Werner Egk (65) to his own words after Calderón de la Barca, is performed for the first time, in the Württembergisches Staatstheater, Stuttgart. This is a reworking of his opera Circe. See 18 December 1948.
4 June 1966 A three-page advertisement appears in the New York Times. It calls on the US government to end the bombing of Vietnam and all offensive military operations and the beginning of withdrawal from Vietnam. It is signed by 6,400 people, mostly university faculty and administrators but also including artists, psychologists, physicians, writers, clergymen, and scientists.
6 June 1966 The entire editorial boards of the Peking People’s Daily and the Peking Evening News are dismissed. The publication of Front Line is suspended.
James Meredith, who in 1962 was the first black student at the University of Mississippi, is hit by three shotgun blasts as he walks along a highway south of Hernando, Mississippi. He is currently on a pilgrimage from Memphis to Jackson to encourage blacks to register to vote. Meredith is rushed to a hospital in Memphis and will survive.
The US Supreme Court voids the 1954 conviction of Dr. Samuel Sheppard for murdering his wife. They find that the trial judge allowed “prejudicial publicity” to infect the courtroom.
7 June 1966 A major battle between US and North Vietnamese troops begins in Kon Tum Province in the Central Highlands.
Riots break out in Dacca, Tejgaon and Narayanganj, East Pakistan by those supporting autonomy for the province. Six people are killed, 13 injured.
8 June 1966 A six-month boycott of white businesses in Fayette, Mississippi ends when white merchants agree to blacks’ demands.
9 June 1966 The Burning Fiery Furnace op.77, a stage work by Benjamin Britten (52) to words of Plomer after the Bible, is performed for the first time, in Orford Church conducted by the composer.
10 June 1966 In an attempt to regain control of Hue from anti-government troops, Prime Minister Nguyen Cao Ky sends 400 combat police to the city. They take over police stations and sack local police administrators.
13 June 1966 American and South Vietnamese forces relieve the outpost of Tov Morong, Kon Tum Province, after a seven-day battle.
Three days of rioting erupts in Amsterdam with clashes between non-union workers and police. Over 100 people are injured, 60 arrested.
The United States Supreme Court rules in Miranda v. Arizona that American citizens have the right to know their rights under the Constitution.
14 June 1966 Pas de cinq, a Wandelszene by Mauricio Kagel (34), is performed for the first time, in Munich.
Oresteïa for chorus and twelve instruments by Iannis Xenakis (44) to words of Aeschylus, is performed for the first time, in Ypsilanti, Michigan.
15 June 1966 Sweet Was the Song the Virgin Sung for female chorus by Benjamin Britten (52) is performed for the first time, in Aldeburgh Parish Church.
The Visions of Francesco Petrarca, an allegory by Harrison Birtwistle (31) to words of Petrarch (tr. Spenser), is performed for the first time, in St. Michael-le-Belfrey, York.
16 June 1966 Peking radio announces the ouster of Huang Ya-ming, director of Nanking University.
The Saigon government sends 500 paratroopers to Hue to try to reestablish central authority.
17 June 1966 South China writer Chin Mu is attacked by workers in Canton for “anti-party, anti-socialist crimes.”
More paratroopers are sent to Hue and marital law is imposed. A Buddhist woman burns herself to death in Saigon in protest against the US-backed government.
At the end of a constitutional conference in London, the British government announces that Basutoland will gain independence on 4 October under the name Lesotho.
18 June 1966 Saigon government troops take over a Buddhist stronghold in Hue after it is abandoned.
19 June 1966 Saigon government troops complete their takeover of Hue.
20 June 1966 Hue Buddhist leader Thich Tri Quang is arrested by Saigon troops. Tomorrow he will be transferred to Saigon.
Soviet officials sign an agreement in Moscow to buy 336,000,000 bushels of Canadian wheat.
Variations on a Chord for piano by Alfred Schnittke (31) is performed for the first time, in Moscow.
Musique pour Prague for orchestra op.415 by Darius Milhaud (73) is performed for the first time, in Prague.
The Possibility of a New Work for Electric Guitar by Morton Feldman (40) is performed for the first time, in the New York Public Library at Lincoln Center by Christian Wolff (32).
21 June 1966 Australian opposition Labour Party leader Arthur Calwell is shot in the jaw by Peter Raymond Kocan, who is captured. Calwell just finished a speech in Sydney criticizing the use of Australian troops in Vietnam when he is hit. He will survive.
22 June 1966 The last Buddhist stronghold in the northern part of South Vietnam, Quang Tri, is subdued by Saigon government troops.
Dos danzas españolas for castanets and orchestra by Joaquín Rodrigo (64) is performed for the first time, in Teatro Pérez Galdós, Las Palmas, Canary Islands.
23 June 1966 Following a siege of five days, government troops storm the Unified Buddhist Church’s Secular Affairs Institute in Saigon. It is the main Buddhist anti-government stronghold. There is no opposition.
24 June 1966 Ho Wei, Chinese minister of education and Chiang Nan-hsiang, minister of higher education are dismissed.
The Organization of American States votes 18-0-1 to remove the peace force from the Dominican Republic.
25 June 1966 US Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge praises the Saigon military government for its suppression of Buddhist dissent.
President Sukarno of Indonesia announces the formation of a 27-man cabinet and a five-man presidium led by Lt. General Suharto.
Yugoslavia and the Vatican reestablish diplomatic relations, broken in 1952.
26 June 1966 A rally by 15,000 people in front of the state house in Jackson, Mississippi celebrates the end of a march begun 5 June by James Meredith. Meredith was shot 6 June. The rally is addressed by Martin Luther King, Stokely Carmichael, and Meredith himself.
28 June 1966 Lieutenant-General Juan Carlos Onganía Carballo is named President of Argentina after a military coup overthrows the government of President Arturo Umberto Illia Francesconi. Congress, the Supreme Court, and all political parties are dissolved. Civilian government officials are replaced by the military. The US suspends diplomatic relations with Argentina.
Akrata for 16 winds by Iannis Xenakis (44) is performed for the first time, in St Catherine College Hall, Oxford.
Ode pour les morts des guerres op.406 for orchestra by Darius Milhaud (73) is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of Radio France, the composer conducting.
29 June 1966 United States air forces begin to bomb the cities of Hanoi and Haiphong. 80 percent of the known oil storage capacity of North Vietnam is destroyed. This will have little effect on the North Vietnamese war effort.
The British National Union of Seamen ends its 45-day strike after a tentative agreement is reached.
30 June 1966 Viet Cong forces defeat Americans on Route 13 near the Cambodian border.
In Washington, 28 women found the National Organization for Women.
1 July 1966 The French military withdrawal from NATO goes into effect.
Joaquín Balaguer is inaugurated as the constitutionally elected President of the Dominican Republic.
Medicare goes into effect in the United States.
2 July 1966 France explodes an atomic bomb in the atmosphere, for the first time in the Pacific, at Mururoa Atoll, 1,200 km southwest of Tahiti.
3 July 1966 President Ke Lin and Vice-president Lin Chih-ming of Chungshan Medical College are dismissed.
Blacks in Omaha clash with police and then riot for three nights. 122 people are arrested.
4 July 1966 At its national convention in Baltimore, the Congress of Racial Equality votes to adopt Stokely Carmichael’s concept of “Black Power.” Dr. Martin Luther King declined to address the convention, fearing that racial violence might be advocated.
5 July 1966 Chinese Deputy Minister of Culture Lin Mo-han is dismissed.
The People’s Consultative Congress of Indonesia votes to strip President Sukarno of the title “President for Life.” The make Lt. General Suharto acting President if Sukarno is ill or abroad.
6 July 1966 Two years to the day after achieving independence, Malawi becomes a republic under President Hastings Kamuzu Banda.
7 July 1966 The British House of Commons defeats a Conservative motion 331-230 to support the Vietnam policy of the US without reservation.
The University of Toronto confers an honorary degree on Zoltán Kodály (83).
The Supreme Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts rules that Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs is not obscene. This is the last serious attempt to ban a book in Boston.
8 July 1966 A federal appeals court in New York rules that homosexuality is reason enough to deny entry into the United States.
9 July 1966 A military court in Saigon convicts five generals of participating in the anti-government campaign of March through June of this year. They are removed from the army and sentenced to 60 days detention, four under house arrest, two in prison.
10 July 1966 Greek peasants protesting the price of grains march to Thessaloniki. They are attacked by the military leaving 140 wounded.
Dr. Martin Luther King addresses 30,000-45,000 people in Soldier Field, Chicago laying out his demands to make Chicago an “open city.” He calls for an end to racial discrimination in housing, employment, and education. He rejects black separatism and black supremacy.
11 July 1966 Representatives of the USSR and Canada sign an agreement in Ottawa establishing the first air link between the Soviet Union and North America.
12 July 1966 Three nights of rioting begin in a black district on the west side of Chicago. Two people are killed, hundreds injured or arrested. Police trade gunfire with thousands of rioters.
Concerto for violin and chamber orchestra no.2 by Alfred Schnittke (31) is performed for the first time, in Jyväskylä, Finland.
Gathering for woodwind quintet by Roger Reynolds (31) is performed for the first time, in Amsterdam.
13 July 1966 Two Israelis are killed by a Syrian land mine in Almagor.
14 July 1966 President Ferdinand Marcos signs a bill authorizing the sending of 2,000 Philippine troops to Vietnam.
Israeli jets attack a water-diversion project 13 km inside Syria in retaliation for the killings of yesterday.
String Quartet no.2 by Ben Johnston (40) is performed for the first time, at the University of Illinois.
15 July 1966 National Guardsmen are sent on to the streets of Chicago and violence is greatly reduced.
Variations for Brass Band for young players by Thea Musgrave (38) is performed for the first time, in St. Andrew’s, Fife.
In a production of Igor Stravinsky’s (84) L’histoire du soldat at Lincoln Center, New York, conducted by Lukas Foss (43), Elliott Carter (57) plays the soldier, John Cage (53) plays the Devil, and Aaron Copland (65) is the narrator. Stravinsky, who is in the audience, tells Cage: “You are the only sensible composer I know--You don’t write any notes.”
17 July 1966 Great Britain begins the forced removal of natives of the British Indian Ocean Territory.
Piano Trio op.20 by Alexander Goehr (33) is performed for the first time, in Bath.
18 July 1966 Whites taunt and assault civil rights marchers in Jacksonville, Florida. A riot ensues. The riot is repeated for two nights.
Six days of rioting begins in a black area on the east side of Cleveland, including gunfire, firebombs, and looting. Four people are killed, 50 injured, 164 arrested.
19 July 1966 The National Guard moves into the riot area in Cleveland.
21 July 1966 Gemini 10 splashes down in the Atlantic. During its three-day flight it achieved docking with an Agena rocket and then used that vehicle for propulsion. Astronaut Michael Collins performed a space walk and retrieved a meteorid detection box off of the Agena. It also traveled the furthest into space by a manned vehicle yet, 764 km from the Earth’s surface.
22 July 1966 Anton Webern’s (†20) Kinderstück for piano is performed for the first time, in New York, 42 years after it was composed.
White mobs stone a civil rights march in Chicago led by Martin Luther King. 54 people are injured.
23 July 1966 About 800 Katangan rebels and white mercenaries take over the city of Kisangani, Congo, killing some officers in the process.
25 July 1966 The US military announces in Saigon that in the first half of this year, they sprayed poison on 24,000 hectares of crops.
27 July 1966 Assault on a Queen, a film with music by Duke Ellington (67), is released in the United States.
29 July 1966 Nigerian Chief of State Maj. General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi is overthrown and killed by elements of the army.
The military government of Argentina seizes the eight nationally chartered universities because of unwanted political activity there.
String Quartet no.7 by Peter Sculthorpe (37) is performed for the first time, in Norfolk, Connecticut.
30 July 1966 US air forces extend their bombing campaign to the Demilitarized Zone between the two Vietnams.
England defeats West Germany 4-2 in London to win the eighth FIFA World Cup™.
The Congolese government expels Pierre Marchal, the Belgian Consul-general in Lubumbashi, claiming he is involved in the 23 July mutiny.
31 July 1966 The military government of Argentina suspends classes at the recently seized universities and high schools. All administrators are given two days to pledge loyalty to the Minister of Education.
Scapes II, A Contest for Two Groups for two groups of instruments by Robert Erickson (49) is performed for the first time, at the University of Illinois. Also premiered is Antiphony II (Variations on a Poem by Cavafy) for soprano, chorus, and tape by Kenneth Gaburo (40).
1 August 1966 Lt. Colonel Yakubu Gowon replaces Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi as President of Nigeria.
Ex-Marine Charles Whitman begins firing from a tower onto the campus of the University of Texas in Austin. He kills 16 people and injures 31 others before being killed by police. The bodies of his wife and mother are also found at their homes.
Mesa for cybersonic bandoneon by Gordon Mumma (31) and David Tudor is performed for the first time, in St. Paul de Vence, France by the creators.
5 August 1966 Dmitri Shostakovich (59) is released from hospital in Leningrad after suffering a heart attack on 29 May.
Chamber Concerto no.2 (Homage to Charles Ives) for flute/piccolo/alto flute, clarinet/bass clarinet, violin/viola, cello, and piano by Thea Musgrave (38) is performed for the first time, in Dartington, Devon.
About 4,000 whites rampage during a march in southwest Chicago led by Martin Luther King to protest segregated housing. Many are injured, including King who is struck in the head by a brick. King narrowly avoids a knife thrown at him, which hits a white man in the neck. About 1,000 police are called out to battle the rioters.
6 August 1966 On the 21st anniversary of the Hiroshima bomb, demonstrations take place in major US cities against the war in Vietnam.
The Bassarids, an opera seria by Hans Werner Henze (40) to words of Auden and Kallman after Euripides, is performed for the first time, in Salzburg. Included is the first performance of Henze’s intermezzo The Judgement of Calliope to words of Auden and Kallman.
7 August 1966 Acting President Wang Pei-wu of Chingchou University is denounced.
Racial violence erupts in Lansing, Michigan for two days. Eleven people are injured, 31 arrested.
About 700 demonstrators against segregated housing march through a white district of Chicago. They are protected from about 5,000 angry whites by 500 police. The whites throw various projectiles at the marchers.
8 August 1966 Police break up black demonstrators in Grenada, Mississippi with tear gas, clubs and gunfire.
Former Vice-President Richard Nixon calls for a 25% increase in US troops in Vietnam.
9 August 1966 White mobs attack black demonstrators in Grenada, Mississippi with bricks, stones, bottles, steel pipes, and firecrackers. Police watch the riot, laughing.
Three days of race rioting erupt in Detroit. There are firebombs thrown, drive-by shootings, and arrests.
The headquarters of the NAACP in Milwaukee is destroyed by a bomb. There are no injuries.
10 August 1966 The House of Commons votes final passage of legislation enabling the government to control wages and prices over the next year.
Eleven Echoes of Autumn (Echoes I) for violin, alto flute, clarinet, and piano by George Crumb (35) is performed for the first time, at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine.
11 August 1966 An agreement between Indonesia and Malaysia to end their confrontation and resume normal relations is signed in Jakarta.
12 August 1966 The West Berlin police report 24,500 people have escaped from East Berlin since the erection of the wall.
Violent student demonstrations break out in Buenos Aires and other cities in Argentina. They oppose the closure of the universities and will continue through the end of the month.
About 500-700 people march through white districts of Chicago demanding fair housing. They are met by thousands of whites hurling missiles and insults. The march is repeated 14 August.
Police clash with 1,500 blacks in Muskegon, Michigan. Five people are injured, 27 arrested.
13 August 1966 The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party backs the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.
14 August 1966 After meeting with US commander in Vietnam General William Westmoreland, US President Lyndon Johnson announces at his Texas ranch that “a Communist military takeover in South Vietnam is no longer just improbable…it is impossible.”
15 August 1966 The World Journal Tribune Inc. announces plans to cease publication of the New York Herald Tribune.
Blind Men for 24 voices, brass, percussion, piano, and tape by Roger Reynolds (32) to words of Melville is performed for the first time, at Tanglewood, Lenox, Massachusetts.
17 August 1966 The Soviet government signs a contract with Capitol Records giving them “exclusive first rights to manufacture, license, and distribute in the United States and the Western Hemisphere all recordings by Russian artists.” These recordings will be sold under a new label: Melodiya/Angel.
18 August 1966 Red Guards appear for the first time, at a mass rally of one million in Peking, received by Mao Tse-tung and Lin Piao (Lin Biao).
Markings for orchestra by Ulysses Kay (49) is performed for the first time, at Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan.
19 August 1966 An earthquake in eastern Turkey kills over 2,000 people and leaves up to 100,000 homeless.
20 August 1966 Red Guards demonstrate outside the Soviet embassy in Peking.
After performing at the Sundance Festival in Pennsylvania, LaMonte Young (30) disbands his performance group The Theatre of Eternal Music, which includes himself, his wife Marian Zazeela, and Terry Riley (31).
Songs of Walt Whitman for chorus and orchestra by Norman Dello Joio (53) is performed for the first time, in Interlochen, Michigan.
21 August 1966 Civil rights marches take place through two white districts of Chicago. Whites pelt the marchers with rocks, produce, firecrackers and epithets.
23 August 1966 Earth is photographed from the Moon for the first time when Lunar Orbiter I sends back 207 pictures.
Three Italian border guards are shot to death, presumably by terrorists seeking greater autonomy for Alto Adige (South Tyrol).
26 August 1966 Civil Rights leaders and Chicago officials agree on a plan to institute open housing in the city.
Three days of rioting by blacks begin in Waukegan, Illinois. 14 people are killed, 80 arrested.
Tom Stoppard’s play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead is premiered, in Edinburgh.
28 August 1966 Five days of looting by Red Guards in Peking turn deadly when those attacked turn on the Red Guards killing eight.
Adagio und Fuge (movements four and five of the String Quartet no.6 arranged for string orchestra) by Ernst Krenek (66) is performed for the first time, in Lucerne.
Blacks riot for four nights in Benton Harbor, Michigan. One person is killed, 16 arrested.
29 August 1966 A local communist party secretary in Tsinan (Jinan) leads several thousand people in combating Red Guards.
The Saigon government announces that 67,000 members of its armed forces deserted during the first half of this year. That is 17,000 higher than the number claimed by the Viet Cong.
30 August 1966 Six weeks after suffering a fall and hospitalization, Carl Ruggles (90) enters the Crescent Manor Nursing Home in Bennington, Vermont.
31 August 1966 The Harrier Jump Jet (vertical take off and landing) makes its first test flight, at Dunsfold, England.
1 September 1966 Speaking in Phnom Penh, President Charles de Gaulle of France calls on the US to withdraw from Vietnam in order to restore peace in the country.
Blacks riot for two nights in Dayton, Ohio. The National Guard is called to restore order.
2 September 1966 Governor George Wallace of Alabama signs into law a measure nullifying the desegregation guidelines of the US Office of Education.
4 September 1966 250 civil rights demonstrators march through the white Chicago suburb of Cicero calling for fair and open housing. They are protected by 2,000 National Guard and 500 police. 3,000 people gather to heckle and throw rocks, bottles, bricks, produce, firecrackers, and epithets. 15 people are injured and 39 people arrested.
Le metamorfosi di Bonaventura, an opera by Gian Francesco Malipiero (84) to his own words, is performed for the first time, in Teatro La Fenice, Venice.
6 September 1966 South African Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd is stabbed to death by Dimitrio Tsafendas while attending Parliament in Cape Town. He is replaced ad interim by Theophilus E. Dönges. The assassin, who is subdued by Parliament members and carried off by police, is a temporary employee of the Parliament.
Private Dennis Mora is convicted of disobeying orders and sentenced to three years hard labor in a court martial in Fort Dix, New Jersey. He claims that he should not be forced to fight in an illegal and immoral war in Vietnam.
Blacks riot in Atlanta after police wound a black suspect. 16 people are wounded, 73 arrested.
7 September 1966 Half of the university students in Argentina stage a one day anti-government strike. Two days of violence begin in Córdoba when police try to prevent a student meeting.
A floresta è jovem e cheja de vida for soprano, three speakers, clarinet, bronze sheets, and tape by Luigi Nono (42) to various authors, is performed for the first time, in Teatro La Fenice, Venice.
8 September 1966 The first episode of Star Trek is broadcast in the US over the stations of the National Broadcasting Company.
9 September 1966 Jusuf Muda Dalam, former Minister for Central Banking of Indonesia, is convicted of corruption and subversion in a Jakarta court. He is sentenced to death.
A bomb, presumably planted by Tyrolean terrorists, blows up an Italian customs barracks at Malga Sasso. Two people are killed, four injured.
Privates James Johnson and David Samas are convicted of disobeying orders and sentenced to five years hard labor in a court martial in Fort Dix, New Jersey. They claim that they should not be forced to fight in an illegal and immoral war in Vietnam.
11 September 1966 A People’s Daily editorial warns communist party officials not to interfere with activities of the Red Guards.
Voters in South Vietnam go to the polls to elect a constituent assembly. Turnout is reported as high, despite attempts by the Viet Cong to disrupt the election.
12 September 1966 A Japanese newspaper reports that the Chinese army was called out in Kweilin (Guilin) to control a crowd of 100,000 protesting Red Guards.
200-400 whites riot against school integration for two days in Grenada, Mississippi. They attack reporters and blacks with ax handles, chains and pipes while police watch.
13 September 1966 Balthasar Johannes Vorster replaces Theophilus E. Dönges as Prime Minister of South Africa.
Whites brandishing truncheons attack and beat black children and their parents as they integrate the schools in Grenada, Mississippi. Local police do little to stop the violence and state police are called in. These events continue tomorrow.
15 September 1966 Over 1,000,000 Red Guards and soldiers are urged by Prime Minister Chou En-lai to halt the anti-bourgeois campaign and join peasants in the countryside harvesting crops.
With the expiration of his lease on the former laundromat in Venice, California, Harry Partch (65) moves to San Diego.
16 September 1966 A government crackdown on suspected communists begins in Jakarta.
Antony and Cleopatra, an opera by Samuel Barber (56) to words of Zeferelli after Shakespeare, commissioned to open the new Metropolitan Opera House, is performed for the first time, in New York before a glittering audience including the first lady and various heads of state, diplomats, and other government leaders. It is a complete flop. See 6 February 1975.
19 September 1966 Indonesia announces its intention to rejoin the United Nations.
Dr. Timothy Leary announces in New York the formation of a new religion he calls the League of Spiritual Discovery. It is based on the use of LSD, marijuana, and peyote.
20 September 1966 Red Guards in Shanghai ransack the home of 75-year-old Soong Ching-ling (Song Qingling), widow of Sun Yat-sen.
The Chinese government forces all Soviet students to leave the country saying the entire education system is closing down so students may join the Red Guards.
81 anti-royalists are arrested as they demonstrate at The Hague. One throws a smoke bomb at a carriage carrying Queen Juliana of the Netherlands.
Guyana is admitted to the United Nations.
Peter Sculthorpe (37) drives from Yale University to Yaddo artists’ colony near Saratoga Springs, New York. There he will meet Ned Rorem (42).
Musen Siziliens for chorus and 19 players by Hans Werner Henze (40) to words of Vergil, is performed for the first time, in Berlin.
25 September 1966 Congolese government troops retake Kisingani from Katangan rebels.
Cello Concerto no.2 op.126 by Dmitri Shostakovich is performed for the first time, in Moscow Conservatory Bolshoy Hall, on the composer’s 60th birthday. As part of the celebrations surrounding his 60th birthday, Shostakovich is awarded a second Order of Lenin and the Gold Medal of the Hammer and Sickle as well as being created a Hero of Socialist Labor. Today, two pianos arrive at the composer’s home, an old piano from Minister of Culture Yekaterina Furtseva and a new Steinway grand from Benjamin Britten (52).
27 September 1966 The Constituent Assembly of South Vietnam meets for the first time, in Saigon.
Solo Piece for trumpet by Stefan Wolpe (64) is performed for the first time, in Town Hall, New York.
Two days of rioting by blacks begins in San Francisco. 3,600 National Guard troops are called in to restore order. 349 people are arrested, 80 injured.
28 September 1966 The President of the General Assembly of the United Nations welcomes representatives of Indonesia back into the organization.
Blacks riot in St. Louis after police kill a black robbery suspect. 14 people are injured.
29 September 1966 Almost a week of ethnic rioting begins in northern Nigeria. Hausas kill about 2,000 Ibos in the fighting.
30 September 1966 The Republic of Botswana, under President Seretse Khama, is proclaimed independent of Great Britain.
1 October 1966 Celebrations marking the 17th anniversary of the Peoples Republic of China take place in Peking. 5,000 soldiers march in review followed by two million Red Guards. Defense Minister Lin Piao (Lin Biao) tells the crowd that the USSR is plotting with the US in Vietnam. Diplomats from the Soviet Union and its allies walk off the stand.
A military court in Athens accuses Andreas Papandreou of leading a secret anti-monarchist organization called Aspida. This group is alleged to have plotted a coup. The court indicts 28 army officers for membership in Aspida.
Albert Speer and Baldur van Schirach are released from Spandau Prison after completing their 20-year sentences. Speer was the Nazi Minister for War Production and von Schirach led the Hitler Youth. This leaves Rudolf Hess as the only war criminal left in Spandau.
2 October 1966 US, South Korean, and Saigon government troops launch an offensive northwest of Qui Nhon
3 October 1966 Tunisia breaks diplomatic relations with Egypt.
Festive Ode for orchestra by Robert Ward (49) is performed for the first time, in Pabst Theatre, Milwaukee.
Ode to the Temple of Sound by Alan Hovhaness (55) is performed for the first time, at the dedication concert of the new Jesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts in Houston.
4 October 1966 The Kingdom of Lesotho, under King Moshoeshoe II and Prime Minister Leabua Jonathan, is declared independent of Great Britain.
5 October 1966 Dmitri Shostakovich (60) is awarded the Order of Lenin.
In Stockholm, Andreas Papandreou says that the action of a military court on 1 October shows that the military is planning a dictatorship.
A Texas Appeals court in Austin reverses the conviction of Jack Ruby, accused of murdering Lee Oswald.
6 October 1966 Hymn and Fuguing Tune no.16 for orchestra by Henry Cowell (†0) is performed for the first time, in New York under the baton of Leonard Bernstein (48).
7 October 1966 The Soviet Union orders all Chinese students out of the country.
8 October 1966 Requiem Canticles for alto, bass, chorus, and orchestra by Igor Stravinsky (84) to words of the Latin requiem, is performed for the first time, at Princeton University.
10 October 1966 Piano Trio no.2 by Walter Piston (72) is performed for the first time, in Pittsburgh.
12 October 1966 The Visitation, an opera by Gunther Schuller (40) to his own words after Kafka, is performed for the first time, at the Hamburg Staatsoper conducted by the composer.
13 October 1966 Arthur Vincent Lourié (Artur Sergeyevich Lurye) dies in Princeton, New Jersey, aged 75 years, four months, and 28 days.
Music Director Leonard Bernstein (48) devotes an entire New York Philharmonic concert to the horrors of war, including the Airborne Symphony of Marc Blitzstein (†2).
14 October 1966 Prime Minister Joseph Cals of the Netherlands and his cabinet resign after losing a confidence vote.
Kaze no Uma/Wind Horse for chorus and women’s chorus by Toru Takemitsu (36) to words of Akiyama, is performed completely for the first time, in Tokyo. See 14 November 1961.
15 October 1966 A requiem mass in honor of Arthur Vincent Lourié is celebrated in St. Paul’s Church, Princeton, New Jersey.
The second movement of the Symphony no.2 of Witold Lutoslawski (53) is performed for the first time, in Hamburg, conducted by Pierre Boulez (41). See 9 June 1967.
Variations VII for many sound sources by John Cage (54) is performed for the first time, at the 69th Regiment Armory, New York.
17 October 1966 The Republic of Botswana and the Kingdom of Lesotho are admitted to the United Nations.
19 October 1966 Aventures et Nouvelles aventures, a theatre piece for chamber works by György Ligeti (43) to his own words, is performed for the first time, in the Württemberg State Theatre, Stuttgart.
20 October 1966 The Cape Town Supreme Court declares Dimitrio Tsafendas, accused murderer of Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd, insane and orders him to be held in a psychiatric facility indefinitely.
21 October 1966 A Viet Cong mine explodes in the marketplace of Traon in the Mekong Delta. Eleven people are killed, 54 injured.
22 October 1966 A revolt by elements of the Laotian Air Force is crushed by government troops.
Cain and Abel, a dramatic cantata by John Tavener (22) to the York Mystery Play and the Bible, is performed for the first time, in Guild Church of St. Andrew Holborn the composer conducting.
23 October 1966 Réak for orchestra by Isang Yun (49) is performed for the first time, in Donaueschingen.
24 October 1966 A bus detonates a Viet Cong mine north of Hue. 15 people are killed, 19 injured.
25 October 1966 A military court in Jakarta convicts former Foreign Minister Subandrio of aiding the 1965 coup attempt and sentences him to death.
Leaders of seven nations (Australia, South Korea, New Zealand, Philippines, Thailand, United States, Saigon government) meeting in Manila vow to remove their troops from Vietnam six months after North Vietnam withdraws to the north and stops infiltrating into the south.
Amanda/Serenata VI for ten instruments by Bruno Maderna (46) is performed for the first time, in Naples.
26 October 1966 President Joseph Mobutu of the Democratic Republic of the Congo abolishes the post of Prime Minister and names himself head of government.
The East German government breaks off negotiations designed to open the Berlin Wall for visits during the Christmas season, as it has been since 1963.
Cornelius Cardew (30) arrives in the US to begin a temporary position as creative associate at the Center of the Creative and Performing Arts at SUNY Buffalo.
Janissary Music (Part I) for percussion solo by Charles Wuorinen (28) is performed for the first time, in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. See 12 March 1967.
27 October 1966 China announces that it has successfully delivered a nuclear weapon to a target by guided missile.
The United Nations General Assembly (114-2-3) ends the South African mandate over South West Africa (Namibia), placing the area under direct UN control. South Africa refuses to withdraw and continues to exercise control.
29 October 1966 Ghanaian police arrest Foreign Minister Louis Lansana Beavogui of Guinea and three diplomats accompanying him when his plane lands in Accra on its way to the OAU in Addis Ababa. Ghana holds them for the release of 93 Ghanaians held in Guinea.
Four works for voice and piano by Anton Webern (†21) are performed for the first time at the Third International Webern Festival, Buffalo, New York: Four Stefan George Songs (1909), Vorfühling II to words of Avenarius (1900), Wehmut, also to Avenarius (1901), and Hochsommernacht to words of Greif (1904).
String Quartet no.10 by David Diamond (51) is performed for the first time, at American University, Washington.
Music for Indiana for orchestra by Darius Milhaud (74), commissioned to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the State of Indiana, is performed for the first time, in Indianapolis.
31 October 1966 Salve Regina: John Bull for 14 players by Charles Wuorinen (28) is performed for the first time, in McMillin Theatre, Columbia University, New York, directed by the composer.
The Owl and the Pussycat for voice and piano by Igor Stravinsky (84) to words of Lear, is performed for the first time, in Los Angeles.
Hallo for electronically modified piano, two tape delay systems, violins, voice, actor, light projections, and dancers by Pauline Oliveros (34) is performed for the first time, at Mills College, Oakland.
1 November 1966 Viet Cong terrorists send 24 shells into a crowd of people during National Day ceremonies in Saigon. They also explode a hand grenade in a Saigon bus terminal. Eight people are killed in the attacks.
The UN General Assembly votes to extend the term of Secretary-General U Thant until the end of the current Assembly session.
The Indian state of Punjab is divided into Punjab and Haryana, along linguistic lines. Chandigarh is the capital for both.
2 November 1966 Leonard Bernstein (48) announces that he will leave the New York Philharmonic when his contract expires in 1969.
Lux aeterna for 16 voices by György Ligeti (43) is performed for the first time, in Stuttgart.
3 November 1966 US and Saigon government forces encounter large numbers of Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops in Tay Ninh Province north of Saigon. A major battle ensues. It is the largest battle of the war to date.
Egypt and Syria agree to resume diplomatic relations.
Floods ravage northern and central Italy causing 113 deaths. The Arno River floods in Florence causing damage to thousands of art works in the city.
Untitled Composition for Orchestra no.1 by R. Murray Schafer (33) is performed for the first time, in Toronto.
4 November 1966 Representatives of the US and USSR sign an agreement in Washington providing for direct air flights between the two countries.
5 November 1966 After urgings from UN Secretary General U Thant and the OAU, Ghana’s head of state Joseph Ankrah releases the four Guinean diplomats seized on 29 October.
The Circus Band, a song by Charles Ives (†12) to his own words, is performed for the first time, in Sprague Hall, Yale University.
7 November 1966 200,000 Hindus demonstrate violently in front of the Parliament building in New Delhi demanding that the killing of cows be banned. Presently, five of India’s 16 states allow such killing. Eight people are killed and 45 injured in the rioting.
8 November 1966 President Sekou Touré of Guinea orders the US Peace Corps and Pan American Airways out of the country. He thinks the US is responsible for the arrests of 29 October.
Congressional elections in the United States are a setback for the ruling Democratic Party. They lose three seats in the Senate and 48 in the House of Representatives, but retain control of both.
10 November 1966 John Mary Lynch replaces Sean Francis Lemass as Prime Minister of Ireland.
11 November 1966 The Hungarian Parliament passes an electoral law allowing for more candidates than seats.
12 November 1966 The New York Times reports that 40% of US military and economic assistance to the Saigon government is being lost to corruption, theft, and mismanagement.
13 November 1966 After repeated attacks from Jordan into Israel, the Israeli military attacks the terrorist base at Es Samu, Jordan. They battle Jordanian troops before a cease-fire is arranged by the UN. The Israelis then return to their territory.
Cello Duets by Leslie Bassett (43) are performed for the first time, at Interlochen, Michigan. Bassett’s Hear My Prayer, O Lord for treble voices and organ to words from the Psalms, is performed for the first time, in the First United Methodist Church, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
14 November 1966 Eleven days of riots against the government take place in Jordan following the Israeli attack of yesterday.
15 November 1966 Gemini 12 splashes down in the Atlantic after completing its mission. It is the last flight of the Gemini program.
Hommage à Comenius op.421 for two voices and orchestra by Darius Milhaud (74) is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of Radio France.
16 November 1966 Dr. Samuel Sheppard is acquitted in a Cleveland court for the 1954 murder of his wife. Sheppard was convicted of the killing in 1954 and served nine years in prison before winning a new trial.
17 November 1966 Brébeuf, a cantata for baritone and orchestra by R. Murray Schafer (33), is performed for the first time, in Toronto.
Concerto for percussion and orchestra by Ross Lee Finney (59) is performed for the first time, at Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota.
18 November 1966 Sun Music III for string orchestra by Peter Sculthorpe (37) is performed for the first time, in Melbourne. See 16 May 1967.
Celebrations op.103 for chorus and winds by Vincent Persichetti (51), to words of Whitman, is performed for the first time, in River Falls, Wisconsin.
19 November 1966 Three days of heavy fighting begin as part of a US-Saigon government drive through the Ia Drang Valley.
Symphony no.6 by Roger Sessions (69) is performed for the first time, in Newark, New Jersey.
String Quartet no.7 by David Diamond (51) is performed for the first time, in the Library of Congress, Washington.
20 November 1966 Cabaret with music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, and book by Joe Masteroff opens in New York.
Music for cello and piano by Leslie Bassett (43) is performed for the first time, at the California State University at Fresno.
21 November 1966 Piano Study no.8 by Charles Ives (†12) is performed for the first time, in New Haven.
22 November 1966 Jelle Zijlstra replaces Joseph Cals as Prime Minister of the Netherlands.
In balloting for the Danish Folketing, the combination of the Social Democrats of Prime Minister Jens Otto Krag and Socialist Peoples Party win a majority of seats.
25 November 1966 Michael Colgrass (34) marries Ulla Damgaard.
Septet for flute, clarinet, bassoon, violin, viola, cello, and piano by Arthur Berger (54) is performed for the first time, at the Library of Congress, Washington.
26 November 1966 The ruling Liberal/Country coalition of Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt wins a large majority in the House of Representatives, twice as many seats as the opposition Labor Party.
28 November 1966 The United States resumes full relations with Bulgaria.
Mwami Mioame Ntare V of Burundi, presently visiting Kinshasa, is overthrown by the military. The Kingdom of Burundi becomes the Republic of Burundi under President Michel Micombero.
About 50 Arabs run amok in the Jordanian embassy in Algiers. They take the chargé d’affaires hostage but leave after four hours.
String Quartet no.6 by Ralph Shapey (45) is performed for the first time, in Eisner and Lubin Auditorium, New York University.
30 November 1966 Border units of Jordan and Syria exchange gunfire across their common border.
Barbados, under Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Errol Barrow, is proclaimed independent of Great Britain in ceremonies in Bridgetown.
1 December 1966 When the Free Democrats leave his ruling coalition, Chancellor Ludwig Erhard of West Germany resigns. He is replaced by Kurt Kiesinger who forges a grand left-right coalition with the Social Democrats.
2 December 1966 The UN General Assembly unanimously appoints U Thant to a second five-year term as Secretary General.
Doppio Concerto for oboe, harp, and strings by Hans Werner Henze (40) is performed for the first time, in Zürich.
3 December 1966 Triform for electronic sound generators by Leslie Bassett (43) is performed for the first time, in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
4 December 1966 Two days of rioting in Macao end when Portuguese Governor José Manuel Sousa Faro Nobre Carvalho bans Chinese nationalist authorities in the colony and accepts all Chinese demands.
5 December 1966 Four Chinese gunboats anchor off Macao as 10,000 Chinese troops gather on the border.
Anti-Government riots take place on the West Bank in Nablus and Hebron.
The US Supreme Court rules that the actions of the Georgia legislature in denying a seat to Julian Bond are unconstitutional. Bond was not seated because of his opposition to the war in Vietnam. At least, that is the official reason.
6 December 1966 Well-known Chinese dramatist and author Tien Han is denounced in the press.
7 December 1966 An important member of the South Vietnam Constituent Assembly, Tran Van Van, is shot to death by Viet Cong assassins as he drives through Saigon.
The US State Dept. publicly admits that the US military has been used to transport Thai troops to northern Thailand to fight Communist guerrillas.
8 December 1966 Syria seizes the assets of the Iraq Petroleum Company in Syria. Within a week they will cut off two pipelines from Iraq to the Mediterranean.
A white man is acquitted by an all-white jury in Opelika, Alabama of murdering a black student at Tuskegee Institute.
David, the Psalmist for tenor and orchestra by George Rochberg (48) is performed for the first time, at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
9 December 1966 Barbados is admitted to the United Nations.
Blacks riot in Tuskegee, Alabama following the verdict of yesterday.
10 December 1966 Prominent Chinese filmmaker Hsia Yen is attacked in the press.
11 December 1966 Five Carols for children’s chorus by Peter Maxwell Davies (32) is performed for the first time, in All Saints’ Church, London.
12 December 1966 Macao agrees to further Chinese demands and the two-week long crisis passes.
Antiphonal Fantasy for organ, brass, and strings by Norman Dello Joio (53) is performed for the first time, in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
13 December 1966 Francisco Astufillo Suárez, a lawyer in the Venezuelan Defense Ministry charged with prosecuting terrorists, is shot to death outside his Caracas home. An unsuccessful attempt is made on the life of Army Chief of Staff Roberto Morean Soto. Later in the day, President Raúl Leoni suspends constitutional rights.
String Quartet no.2 by Jacob Druckman (38) is performed for the first time, at Hunter College, New York.
15 December 1966 French astronomer Audouin Dollfus discovers Janus, the tenth moon of Saturn to be observed from Earth.
16 December 1966 The UN Security Council votes 11-0-4 to impose mandatory sanctions on certain products for Rhodesia.
17 December 1966 The first transplant of a pancreas to a human patient takes place at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.
18 December 1966 Richard L. Walker discovers Epimetheus, the eleventh moon of Saturn to be observed from Earth. Since Janus and Epimetheus have the same orbit, it is assumed that these two are the same moon. Only in 1978 will the credit for separate discoveries be granted to Dollfus and Walker.
Duke Ellington (67) and his Orchestra record Far East Suite in New York.
Trio for three flutists by Otto Luening (66) is performed for the first time, in New York. The composer plays one part.
19 December 1966 The UN General Assembly unanimously approves a treaty banning weapons of mass destruction from space.
20 December 1966 L’Equipe de Mathématique et Automatique Musicales is founded by Iannis Xenakis (44) and others at Boosey and Hawkes, Paris.
Incidental music to Anouilh’s play Médée by Gian Carlo Menotti (55) is performed for the first time, in Teatro Quirinale, Rome.
21 December 1966 Glaben und Wissen for chorus, four speakers, and orchestra by Ernst Krenek (66) to his own words is performed for the first time, under the baton of the composer over the airwaves of NDR, originating in Hamburg.
22 December 1966 Ioannis Paraskevopoulos replaces Stephanos Christou Stephanopoulos as Prime Minister of Greece. He forms a non-partisan government to prepare for national elections.
25 December 1966 The New York Times reports from the scene that the cities of Nam Dinh and Phu Ly, North Vietnam have been bombed repeatedly causing over 100 civilian deaths.
26 December 1966 The United States admits that it bombed residential areas of North Vietnam in recent raids, but claims it was an accident.
27 December 1966 Ahmed Shukairy, chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, announces the formation of a council to overthrow King Hussein of Jordan, and the State of Israel.
31 December 1966 The European Free Trade Association abolishes all tariffs between its five members (Austria, Denmark, Portugal, Sweden, United Kingdom).
©2004-2011 Paul Scharfenberger
22 December 2011
Last Updated (Tuesday, 27 December 2011 10:47)