1830
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1 January 1830 Anastasio Bustamante y Osegera becomes acting President of Mexico.
13 January 1830 Samuel Wesley (63) begins his last lecture series, in Bristol.
A great fire of suspicious origin strikes New Orleans causing over $300,000 damage. Slaves are blamed.
The State of Venezuela secedes from Gran Colombia.
16 January 1830 Johann Nepomuk Hummel (51) is voted honorary membership in the Philharmonic Society of London.
24 January 1830 Law student Robert Schumann (19) gives a very successful performance of Moscheles’ Alexander Variations in Heidelberg. Despite the public approval, he will descend into depression for the next few months.
27 January 1830 Samuel Wesley (63) gives the sixth and last lecture in his final lecture series, in Bristol.
28 January 1830 Fra Diavolo, ou L’hôtelliere de Terracine, an opéra comique by Daniel-François-Esprit Auber to words of Scribe, is performed for the first time, at Théâtre de Ventadour, Paris on the eve of the composer’s 48th birthday.
3 February 1830 Ministers of Great Britain, France and Russia meet in London and agree on three protocols which establish a completely sovereign Greece and fix its boundaries, create it a hereditary monarchy, establish peace between Greece and the Ottomans, offer the Greek crown to Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg and guarantee the religious freedom of Catholics in Greece.
5 February 1830 Giacomo Meyerbeer (38) is awarded the Imperial Order of the Southern Cross by Emperor Pedro I of Brazil in Paris.
6 February 1830 Hector Berlioz (26) writes to Humbert Ferrand of his mental state under the simultaneous burdens of conceiving the Symphonie fantastique and his infatuation with Harriet Smithson. “I listen to the beating of my heart, its pulsations shake me like the pounding pistons of a steam engine. Every muscle in my body quivers with pain. . . . Futile! . . . Horrible!” (Brittan, 218)
The Argyll Rooms, London, home of the Philharmonic Society, burn to the ground. The orchestra’s library is saved.
I pazzi per progetto, a farsa by Gaetano Donizetti (32) to words of Gilardoni, is performed for the first time, in Teatro del Fondo, Naples. The work scores a success.
7 February 1830 Fryderyk Chopin (20) plays his Piano Concerto no.2 in f minor for the first time, in a private performance in the Chopin home, Warsaw.
11 February 1830 La noce de village, a ballet tableau by Ferdinand Hérold (39), is performed for the first time, in the Palais de Tuileries, Paris.
18 February 1830 Two songs for voice and piano by Hector Berlioz (26) to words of Moore, translated by Gounet, are performed for the first time, in Paris: Le Coucher du soleil and Chant sacré.
20 February 1830 Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg accepts the throne of an independent Greece.
Johann Nepomuk Hummel (51) departs Weimar for a tour of France and England.
25 February 1830 A landmark of Romanticism, Victor Hugo’s Hernani is premiered in Paris. Hugo places a number of loud supporters in the audience, ensuring success.
1 March 1830 The Argyll Rooms having been destroyed by fire, the Philharmonic Society gives their first concert in their new temporary home, the King’s Theatre. They will reside in the King’s Theatre for the next 38 years.
3 March 1830 Queen Maria II of Portugal begins to rule from the Azores in opposition to her uncle King Miguel.
5 March 1830 Limelight is first tested before a group of scientists against two other designs, in the Tower of London.
Johann Nepomuk Hummel (51) arrives in Paris on his current tour. It is his second trip to the French capital.
6 March 1830 Clara Wieck (10) plays publicly outside Leipzig for the first time, in Dresden. She creates a sensation.
Gaetano Donizetti’s (32) azione tragico-sacra Il diluvio universale to words of Gilardoni after Byron and Ringhieri is performed for the first time, in Teatro San Carlo, Naples. The production does not go well, largely due to staging problems.
11 March 1830 I Capuleti e I Montecchi, a tragedia lirica by Vincenzo Bellini (28) to words of Romani after Scevola, is performed for the first time, in Teatro La Fenice, Venice. It is very well received.
16 March 1830 Led by Liberals, the French Chamber of Deputies votes to request of King Charles that he make changes in his council to remove right-wing elements.
17 March 1830 Fryderyk Chopin (20) makes his official debut performance in Warsaw, in the National Theatre, playing his f minor Piano Concerto publicly for the first time and the premiere of his Fantasia on Polish Airs op.13.
18 March 1830 Robert Schumann (19), for the first time, mentions thoughts of suicide in his diary. He desires to throw himself into the Rhine.
21 March 1830 Kantate zu Ehren von Josef Spendou D.472 by Franz Schubert (†1) to words of Hoheisel, for solo voices, chorus and orchestra is performed for the first time, in the Landhaussaal, Vienna.
22 March 1830 English explorers Richard and John Lander land at Badagri (Nigeria) and head north for the Niger River.
24 March 1830 Johann Nepomuk Hummel (51) gives a very successful concert in the Salle Chantereine, Paris.
26 March 1830 Joseph Smith publishes the Book of Mormon in Palmyra, New York.
30 March 1830 Grand Duke Ludwig I of Baden dies and is succeeded by his brother, Leopold I.
2 April 1830 L’Armonica cetra del nume, a cantata for solo voices, chorus and orchestra by Gioachino Rossini (38) in honor of Marchese Sampieri is performed for the first time, in the dedicatee’s Bologna home.
3 April 1830 Johann Nepomuk Hummel (51) gives his second and last concert on this trip through Paris.
6 April 1830 Grand Duke Ludwig I of Hesse dies and is succeeded by his son, Ludwig II.
Joseph Smith forms the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Fayette, New York.
The Mexican government decrees that no further immigration will be allowed from the United States into Texas. It also institutes customs duties.
8 April 1830 Johann Nepomuk Hummel (51) departs Paris for London.
11 April 1830 Louis de Chaisne, Comte Bourmont becomes the first French military commander of Algeria.
Acts I & II of Lazarus, oder Die Feier der Auferstehung D.689, an oratorio by Franz Schubert (†1) to words of Niemeyer, is performed for the first time, in the Anna-Kirche, Vienna.
While in Frankfurt, Robert Schumann (19) witnesses a performance by Nicolò Paganini (47) for the first time. Schumann is impressed, but wonders if Paganini might “lack that great, noble, priestly serenity characteristic of the genuine artist.”
16 April 1830 Hector Berlioz (26) writes his friend Humbert Ferrand that he is getting over his obsession with Harriet Smithson by composing a symphony. He calls it Fantastic Symphony, Episode in the Life of an Artist and includes a draft of the program, saying he has just written the last note.
17 April 1830 While he is in London, Johann Nepomuk Hummel (51) is created a corresponding member of the Institut de France in the Académie des Beaux Arts.
22 April 1830 Giacomo Meyerbeer (38) is elected a corresponding member to the Académie Royale des Beaux Arts de l’Institut de France.
24 April 1830 Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient sings Franz Schubert’s (†1) setting of Erlkönig for the poet, Goethe, who reverses his previous negative reaction to the work. “I have heard this composition once before, when it did not appeal to me at all; but sung in this way, the whole shapes itself into a visible picture.” (Schroeder, 25)
26 April 1830 Violin Concerto no.4 by Nicolò Paganini (47) is performed for the first time, in Frankfurt.
27 April 1830 Simón Bolívar resigns as President of Colombia.
28 April 1830 Franz Liszt (18) and Henri Herz (27) play duets at the Salle Chantereine, Paris.
29 April 1830 Johann Nepomuk Hummel (51) gives his first concert on his current stay in London, in the concert hall of the King’s Theatre, Haymarket.
3 May 1830 The first regular passenger service by steam locomotion begins in Kent, England. Invicta will carry passengers ten km between Whitstable and Canterbury. Today only 1.5 km are traveled.
Manon Lescaut, a ballet by Fromental Halévy (30) to a scenario by Scribe and Aumer after Prévost, is performed for the first time, at the Paris Opéra. It enjoys a good success.
5 May 1830 Franz Liszt (18) dines at the home of Victor Hugo in Paris where he meets Prosper Mérimée.
7 May 1830 Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka (25), accompanied by Nikolai Kuzmich Ivanov (20), tenor in the Imperial Chapel, sets off from St. Petersburg to Italy by way of Germany. Glinka wants to travel anyway but when a doctor (a friend of his father) states that only three years in a warmer climate will cure him, his father allows him to go.
8 May 1830 Felix Mendelssohn (21) leaves Berlin to travel in Italy.
11 May 1830 Johann Nepomuk Hummel (51) gives his second concert on his current stay in London, in the concert hall of the King’s Theatre, Haymarket.
L’auberge d’Auray, an opéra comique by Ferdinand Hérold (39) and Carafa to words of Moreau de Commaguy and d’Epagny, is performed for the first time, in the Théâtre de Ventadour, Paris.
13 May 1830 The State of the South of Colombia (Ecuador) is declared independent of Gran Colombia.
16 May 1830 King Charles X of France dissolves Parliament and calls new elections.
17 May 1830 The first mass meeting of “A Political Union of the Lower and Middle Classes of the People” takes place in Birmingham.
Juan José de Flores becomes the first president of an independent Ecuador.
20 May 1830 Tsar Nikolay I arrives in Warsaw to open the Polish diet. Many entertainments are planned but the brightest Polish musical star is not invited to participate. Fryderyk Chopin (20) believes he has been blacklisted as a radical and Polish nationalist.
The first railroad timetable is published in a Baltimore newspaper.
21 May 1830 Vincenzo Bellini (28) suffers a loss of appetite and “bilious gastric inflammatory fever” in Milan. It will take him over a month to recover. This is most likely amoebic dysentery, the disease that will eventually kill him.
24 May 1830 The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad opens its first section of track, west from Baltimore to Ellicott’s Mills, Maryland. It is the first public railroad in the United States.
27 May 1830 Attendre et courir, an opéra comique by Fromental Halévy to words of Fulgence and Henri, is performed for the first time, in Théâtre Ventadour, Paris, on the composer’s 31st birthday.
28 May 1830 Nicolò Paganini (47) consults Dr. Himly in Göttingen regarding his failing eyesight.
President Andrew Jackson signs the Indian Removal Act, forcing all Native Americans east of the Mississippi River to leave their homes and move west of the river.
3 June 1830 After an extended stay, Felix Mendelssohn (21) takes his leave of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe at the poet’s home in Weimar. Goethe is much taken with the young musician and presents him with a page of the original manuscript of Faust inscribed to my “dear young friend F.M.B., powerful, gentle master of the piano.”
4 June 1830 Antonio José de Sucre, liberating general and former President of Bolivia, is shot to death near Pasto, Colombia by persons unknown. He was returning to Quito to take up private life again.
5 June 1830 Hector Berlioz (26) writes to his family in La Côte-St. André to ask consent to marry Camille Moke, a very talented 18-year-old pianist. To his astonishment, they agree.
6 June 1830 Hector Berlioz (26) and Camille Moke attempt an elopement. They get as far as Vincennes before turning back to Paris.
14 June 1830 French troops begin landing in Algeria.
16 June 1830 Richard Wagner (17) enters the Thomasschule in Leipzig where he takes violin lessons for a short while.
Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (24) gives birth to her first and only child, Sebastian Ludwig Felix Hensel in Berlin. The child is named after her three favorite composers.
18 June 1830 Iyasu IV Salomon replaces Gigar Iyasu as Emperor of Ethiopia.
20 June 1830 The British possession of Gibraltar becomes a crown colony.
21 June 1830 Johann Nepomuk Hummel (51) gives the farewell concert on his current trip to London. In spite of the audience’s concern for the health of the King, the performance is a success.
26 June 1830 0:15 King George IV of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, King of Hannover dies in Windsor, Berkshire. He is succeeded by his brother, William IV.
4 July 1830 Suffer the Little Children to Come Unto Me, an anthem by Lowell Mason (38), is performed for the first time, by a children’s choir in Park Street Church, Boston.
5 July 1830 French forces, which have been arriving in Algeria for three weeks, capture Algiers.
9 July 1830 Stanislaw Moniuszko (11) receives a certificate attesting that, through private education, he has attained adequate progress up to the fourth form.
10 July 1830 Johann Nepomuk Hummel (51) departs London after a highly successful three months of concertizing.
15 July 1830 The body of King George IV of Great Britain and Ireland, King of Hannover is laid to rest at Windsor.
A treaty is signed by Chief Keokuk which cedes 10,530,000 hectares belonging to the Sauk and Fox Indians in Wisconsin and Illinois to the United States. The Indians must evacuate across the Mississippi into Iowa.
Hector Berlioz (26) is chosen as one of the six finalists for the Prix de Rome for the fourth time. He vows that whatever happens, this will be the last.
17 July 1830 The six finalists for the Prix de Rome, including Hector Berlioz (26), enter the loges. The poem is by Jean-François Gail on the last night of Sardanapalus.
Barthélemy Thimonnier receives a French patent for the first practical sewing machine.
18 July 1830 The State of Montevideo becomes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay.
19 July 1830 Elections for the French legislature end today resulting in an increased majority for leftists.
25 July 1830 The “Ordinances,” signed by King Charles X of France at St. Cloud, abolish freedom of the press, dissolve the Chamber of Deputies and reduce suffrage to landowners. 44 journalists representing eleven newspapers, led by Adolphe Thiers, sign a protest to the decrees.
26 July 1830 Thousands of people, led by printers, protest the Ordinances before the French Foreign Ministry.
27 July 1830 A French court rules that the King’s decree of 25 July was in direct contradiction to the 1814 Charter of Suffrage. Royal troops and Swiss guards circle the city. Barricades go up and shots are fired. Revolutionaries reach the Hôtel de Ville.
In Monmartre, Franz Liszt (18) rushes out of his rooms to see the fighting in the streets. He begins composing a “Revolutionary Symphony” (of which he will complete only one movement). He will scribble in the margin, “27, 28, 29 July-Paris.” “Indignation, vengeance, terror, liberty! disorder, confused cries (Wave, strangeness) fury...refusal, march of the royal guard, doubt, uncertainty, parties at cross-purposes...attack, battle...march of the national guard--enthusiasm, enthusiasm, enthusiasm...”
28 July 1830 In the Paris fighting, the Hôtel de Ville changes hands three times. Citizens capture cavalry barracks in the Rue de Babylone. A tricolor flag appears atop Notre Dame. In his loge in the Institute, composing his Prix de Rome cantata, Hector Berlioz (26) hears the gunfire and drums.
Der Alchymist, an opera by Louis Spohr (46) to words of Pfeiffer (pseud. of Schmidt) after Irving, is performed for the first time, in the Kassel Hoftheater.
29 July 1830 After several hours of heavy fighting, citizens capture the Louvre and the Tuileries. Royal troops begin to fraternize with revolutionaries. A provisional government is formed at the Hôtel de Ville under Marie Jean Paul Roch Yves Gilbert Motier, Marquis de Lafayette. Hector Berlioz (26) composes through the day as bullets hit the wall of the Institute, just across the Seine from the Louvre. At 17:00, he turns in his Prix de Rome cantata, Le mort de Sardanaple, and leaves the Institute to go to Mme Moke’s to see if his lover Camille is all right. He then searches for three hours for arms with which to join the uprising. He reports for duty at the Hôtel de Ville with two hunting pistols, one bullet and a little powder. Among those looting the Tuileries is Alexandre Dumas, père. He is flattered to find a copy of his own book Christine in the royal apartments. He takes it with him.
30 July 1830 Hearing a rumor that King Charles X is planning a counterrevolution, a crowd marches to arrest the King at St. Cloud. Among the citizens is Hector Berlioz (26). When they reach the Etoile they find the soldiers gone, so they return to town. 80 deputies meet in the Palais Bourbon led by Jacques Lafitte and establish a new regime.
Robert Schumann (20) writes to his mother, telling her of his decision to give up the study of law and asking her to write to Friedrich Wieck requesting his opinion of his future as a pianist.
31 July 1830 Louis-Philippe de France, duc d’Orléans is appointed Lieutenant-General of France by the 91 deputies now in Paris. Appearing before a hostile crowd at the Hôtel de Ville, Louis-Philippe and the Marquis de Lafayette embrace, draped by a large tricolor. The onlookers shout approval. Republicans issue demands for universal male suffrage, complete press freedom, disestablishment of the Catholic Church and the end of hereditary nobility.
2 August 1830 King Charles X of France abdicates his throne in favor of Henri, comte de Chambord.
After traveling 160 km upstream and back to Bussa (Nigeria), Richard and John Lander board canoes at Bussa to traverse the lower Niger River.
5 August 1830 Charles Wesley Jr. reports that his brother Samuel (64) is “deranged and strapped down” but is better now, having been bled by doctors. He says the cause is “drink.”
7 August 1830 In an all-day session, the French Chamber of Deputies reject republican demands for a constitutional convention and a national referendum. They revise the constitution and name Louis-Philippe as the new King of the French.
9 August 1830 Friedrich Wieck answers a letter of Johanna Schumann by telling her that her son Robert (20) could in three years be made into “one of the foremost living pianists,” although he seriously doubts his steadfastness.
Louis-Philippe de France, duc d’Orléans swears his oath to the Charter of 1830 and reigns as Louis-Philippe I, King of the French.
12 August 1830 Johanna Schumann grudgingly approves a plan of Freidrich Wieck to allow her son Robert (20) to study piano and theory and assess his progress after a six month period.
13 August 1830 Achille Charles Léonce Victor, Duc de Broglie replaces Marie Jean Paul Roch Yves Gilbert Motier, Marquis de Lafayette as Prime Minister of France.
14 August 1830 A Constitutional Charter for France is promulgated. It calls for an elected monarchy, legislation initiated in the Chambers, an end to press censorship and the disestablishment of Roman Catholicism.
19 August 1830 By a vote of 6-2, the Prix de Rome jury awards the grand prize to Hector Berlioz (26).
23 August 1830 Heinrich replaces Friedrich Ferdinand as Duke of Anhalt-Köthen. Ludwig replaces Heinrich as Prince of Anhalt-Köthen-Pless.
25 August 1830 A performance of Auber’s (48) La Muette de Portici takes place in the Théâtre de la Monnaie, Brussels as part of celebrations surrounding the 15th anniversary of King Willem I on the Dutch throne. The Belgians see the opera as revolutionary in nature and attend spoiling for a fight. A large crowd of mostly young armed men gathers outside. At one point in the music, the already agitated audience is moved to frenzy and storms out into the streets, joining the assembled mob. They stream through the city attacking any and all symbols of Dutch control.
27 August 1830 Hector Berlioz (26) is presented to Abraham Mendelssohn (father of Felix (21)) in Paris. Mendelssohn finds the newly famous composer “agreeable and interesting and a great deal more sensible than his music.”
Simón Bolívar makes his famous statement, “America is ungovernable. He who sows a revolution ploughs the sea.”
31 August 1830 A British patent is awarded to Edwin Beard Budding of Stroud, Gloucestershire for a lawn mower.
1 September 1830 Over a month of voting for the British House of Commons concludes. Although the Tories win a majority, internal disputes will allow the Whig Earl Grey to form a government.
Mary Had a Little Lamb, a poem by Sarah J. Hales, is published in Boston.
2 September 1830 Violence begins in Leipzig with apprentice blacksmiths protesting the arrest of one of their fellows.
4 September 1830 Gioachino Rossini (38) leaves Bologna for Paris. He does not bring his wife as he expects to be away for only one month. They will not meet again for four years.
Violence escalates in Leipzig as proletarians attack the Brockhaus printers to destroy machines they fear will take their jobs.
5 September 1830 Imelda de’ Lambertazzi, a melodramma tragico by Gaetano Donizetti (32) to words of Tottola, is performed for the first time, in Teatro San Carlo, Naples.
6 September 1830 With Elector Wilhelm II out of town, bread riots break out in Kassel. They are put down with troops.
9 September 1830 Felix Mendelssohn (21) arrives in Munich after leaving Milan on 20 July and traveling most of the distance on foot.
In keeping with the bourgeois quality of the new French monarchy, the post of superintendent of the Royal Chapel is abolished. Thus, Luigi Cherubini (70) and Jean-François Le Sueur, who hold the post jointly, become the last musicians to hold this position stretching back centuries.
10 September 1830 Robert Schumann (20) receives a certificate of study from the University of Heidelberg.
12 September 1830 Elector Wilhelm II of Hesse-Kassel returns to the capital from Karlsbad. In a few days, unable to depend on his military, he will call for a new constitution for the country.
15 September 1830 The Liverpool and Manchester Railroad opens. It is the first public railroad to use steam locomotion exclusively for both passengers and freight.
16 September 1830 Aloys Fuchs, a collector of musical manuscripts, presents his new friend Felix Mendelssohn (21) with the “Wittgenstein” sketchbook of Beethoven (†3), in Vienna. It contains drafts of the Piano Sonata op.109, the Diabelli Variations and the Missa Solemnis.
18 September 1830 A race between a horse and Tom Thumb, the first locomotive made in the United States, over a 15 km course from Riley’s Tavern to Baltimore, is won by the horse.
22 September 1830 The State of the South of Colombia is renamed the State of Ecuador.
24 September 1830 An Administrative Commission is established by revolutionaries in Belgium. Charles Rogier is named Minister of State.
Robert Schumann (20) leaves Heidelberg and the study of law for Leipzig and the study of music.
28 September 1830 The son of Emperor Franz I of Austria becomes King Ferdinand V of Hungary. A march for the occasion is composed by Carl Czerny (39).
30 September 1830 Johann Nepomuk Hummel (51) is made an honorary member of the Maatschappij tot Bevorderung der Toonkunst of Rotterdam.
4 October 1830 The Provisional Government of Belgium declares the independence of the country from the Netherlands.
Bedrich Smetana (6) appears in public for the first time, at the local school in Litomysl, Bohemia. It is a concert honoring the name day of the Austrian emperor. He plays a piano arrangement of the overture to Auber’s (48) La muette de Portici.
9 October 1830 Felix Mendelssohn (21) arrives in Venice.
11 October 1830 At his last performance in Warsaw, Fryderyk Chopin (20) premieres his Piano Concerto no.1 in e minor.
13 October 1830 Daniel-François-Esprit Auber’s (48) opéra Le Dieu et la bayadère, ou La courtisane amoureuse to words of Scribe is performed for the first time, in the Paris Opéra.
17 October 1830 Dutch forces bombard Antwerp.
16 October 1830 The Provisional Government of Belgium declares that Luxembourg is a part of their country.
20 October 1830 Robert Schumann (20) moves into the Leipzig home of his teacher, Friedrich Wieck, which includes Wieck’s daughter, Clara (11).
22 October 1830 Felix Mendelssohn (21) reaches Florence from Bologna.
24 October 1830 The State of Venezuela is renamed the Republic of Venezuela.
28 October 1830 Hector Berlioz (26) petitions the French Minister of the Interior for “authorization to enjoy in Paris the grant which the government in its munificence accords to laureates of the Academy.” He includes support from four eminent musicians including Gaspare Spontini (55) and Giacomo Meyerbeer (39).
30 October 1830 Prince-Bishop Peter I Petrovic of Montenegro dies and is succeeded by his nephew Peter II Petrovic Njegos.
Hector Berlioz (26) receives his laurel wreath of the Prix de Rome. The performance of his winning cantata, La mort de Sardanaple, is less than successful. The percussion players miss the loud crashes towards the end and the composer throws the score into the orchestra, knocking over a music stand. He is restrained.
1 November 1830 Felix Mendelssohn (21) arrives in Rome.
2 November 1830 Fryderyk Chopin (20) leaves Warsaw for Vienna intending to find performances outside Poland. Unknown to him now, he will never return.
3 November 1830 Jacques Lafitte replaces Achille Charles Léonce Victor, Duc de Broglie as Prime Minister of France.
7 November 1830 Ouverture pour La Tempête de Shakespeare for chorus and orchestra by Hector Berlioz (26) is performed for the first time, in the Paris Opéra as an entr’acte between Act I of Rossini’s (38) La siège de Corinthe and a ballet.
8 November 1830 King Francesco I of the Two Sicilies dies in Naples and is succeeded by his son Ferdinando II.
Clara Wieck (11) makes her official debut at the Leipzig Gewandhaus. She plays her variations on an Original Theme and a song, probably Der Traum to words of Tiedge. She also plays Rondo brilliant for piano and orchestra op.101 by Kalkbrenner (45), Variations Brillantes op.23 by Henri Herz (27) and Quartet Concertante for four pianos and orchestra op.230 by Carl Czerny (39).
11 November 1830 The Verdi family is evicted from their home of 39 years for non-payment of rent. They move to a tavern in Busseto.
15 November 1830 An anti-government measure proposed by Henry Parnell surprisingly carries in the House of Commons. The Prime Minister, the Duke of Wellington, resigns.
20 November 1830 Publication of the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra op.113 by Johann Nepomuk Hummel (52) is announced in the Allgemeiner musikalischer Anzeiger, Vienna.
22 November 1830 The Belgian National Assembly votes to institute a monarchy.
Charles Grey, Earl Grey replaces Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
Fryderyk Chopin (20) arrives in Vienna from Warsaw with his friend Tytus Woyciechowski.
29 November 1830 Led by revolutionary conspirators, Polish troops guarding public buildings in Warsaw seize the Belvedere Palace and although they are unable to draw senior officers to their cause, they manage to distribute weapons to the public. Armed bands overtake the soldiers as leaders of a general insurrection against Russian rule. Grand Duke Konstantin, Russian Viceroy, escapes the city.
30 November 1830 The Revolutionaries are in control of Warsaw. The Russian army and Grand Duke Konstantin are forced to retreat.
Riots break out in Tambov, 400 km southeast of Moscow, in response to a cholera epidemic and the government policy of quarantine.
Pope Pius VIII, Francesco Saverio Castiglioni, dies in Rome.
1 December 1830 Polish troops outside Warsaw decide to join the uprising and they march into the city to defend it.
English explorers Richard and John Lander reach Fernando Po (Bioko) after having traversed the lower Niger River by canoe over the last four months.
3 December 1830 A provisional government for the Kingdom of Poland is set up in Warsaw. General Józef Chlopicki is named dictator.
4 December 1830 Franz Liszt (19) meets Hector Berlioz (26) for the first time, in Paris on the eve of Symphonie fantastique. Berlioz will remember in his Mémoires, “We were strongly attracted to one another, and our friendship has increased in warmth and depth ever since. He was present at the concert and excited general attention by his applause and enthusiasm.”
5 December 1830 Warsaw is considered “liberated” after the defection of the army and the withdrawal of the Russian regent.
In Vienna, Fryderyk Chopin (20) and Tytus Woyciechowski learn of the uprising in Warsaw. Tytus returns to participate, but he convinces Chopin to stay in Vienna. Chopin apparently changes his mind and tries to catch his friend as he is leaving, but is unable to do so.
Afternoon. Episode de la vie d’un artiste: Symphonie fantastique en cinq parties by Hector Berlioz (26) is performed for the first time, at the Paris Conservatoire. Also on the program is the premiere of Berlioz’ Chant guerrier for voice and piano to words of Moore, translated by Gounet. Giacomo Meyerbeer (39) and Gaspare Spontini (56) are among the admirers. Berlioz later remembers that Liszt (19) “forcibly led me off to dinner at his house and praised me with the most energetic enthusiasm.” Tonight Harriet Smithson appears at the Opéra in the title role of Auber’s (48) La Muette de Portici. Her performance is a failure. Berlioz does not attend as he is having dinner with Liszt.
6 December 1830 A package containing an expensive score of Olimpie arrives at the Paris home of Hector Berlioz (26). The score is signed “your affectionate Spontini” (56) by the composer.
An interim administration is set up in Poland under Adam Jerzy, Prince Czartoryski.
The first astronomical observatory in the United States is set up by the Navy in Washington.
11 December 1830 Fromental Halévy’s (31) opéra comique La langue musicale to words of Saint-Yves is performed for the first time, at the Théâtre Ventadour, Paris. It will run for 30 performances into next year.
14 December 1830 Hector Berlioz’ (27) petition of 28 October, to spend his Prix de Rome year in Paris, is denied by the Minister of the Interior.
17 December 1830 Tsar Nikolai I condemns the Polish revolution and orders Polish troops to concentrate at Plock, 95 km northwest of Warsaw. He also offers pardon to all who will leave the uprising.
Simón Bolívar dies of tuberculosis in Santa Marta on the Caribbean coast of Colombia. He was intending to leave America permanently.
18 December 1830 The Polish Diet meets in Warsaw and supports the revolution. The new government styles itself the Supreme National Council.
19 December 1830 Die Jagd, a komische Oper by Albert Lortzing (29) to his own words after Hiller and Weisse, is performed for the first time, in Detmold Hoftheater.
20 December 1830 Ministers of Austria, France, Great Britain, Prussia, and Russia, meeting in London, agree that the union of Belgium and the Netherlands is untenable and proceed to effect its dissolution.
When four of former King Charles X’s ministers found guilty of various crimes are sentenced to life imprisonment instead of death, three days of riots begin in Paris.
25 December 1830 An overture in B flat “Drumbeat Overture” WWV 10 by Richard Wagner (17) is performed for the first time, in the Royal Saxon Hoftheater, Leipzig. It is Wagner’s public debut as a composer.
26 December 1830 Gaetano Donizetti's (33) tragedia lirica Anna Bolena to words of Romani after Pindemonte and Pepoli is performed for the first time, in Teatro Carcano, Milan. Of the unusually warm reception Donizetti writes, “success, triumph, delerium.” A traveling Russian, Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka (26), will remember “The performance was like magic for me.”
31 December 1830 Hector Berlioz (27) reluctantly leaves Paris for Rome to fulfill his Prix de Rome obligations. He intends to stop at his home, La Côte-St.-André along the way.
©Paul Scharfenberger 2004-2012
8 January 2012
Last Updated (Tuesday, 10 January 2012 15:44)