1846
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1 January 1846 Concerto for piano and orchestra op.54 by Robert Schumann (35) is performed publicly for the first time, in the Leipzig Gewandhaus, Clara Schumann (26) at the keyboard, conducted by Felix Mendelssohn (36). Clara is eight months pregnant. See 4 December 1845.
2 January 1846 Mariano José Joaquín Agustín Paredes y Arrillaga enters Mexico City at the head of his troops, deposing Gabriel Valencia and becomes interim President of Mexico.
4 January 1846 Ruth, an églogue biblique by César Franck (23) to words of the Bible and Guillemin, is performed publicly for the first time, at the Paris Conservatoire. The audience is lukewarm, the critics are hostile. See 30 October 1845.
11 January 1846 The last engagement of the First Maori War takes place at Ruapekapeka with a modest British victory. After this both sides agree to peace. The British grant pardons and agree not to confiscate any more land.
13 January 1846 US President Polk orders General Zachary Taylor to occupy positions on the Rio Grande to enforce US claims to that as a border. Mexico claims the Nueces River is the border, well to the north.
14 January 1846 Hector Berlioz (42) and Marie Recio arrive in Prague by train from Vienna.
19 January 1846 Hector Berlioz (42) conducts the first of three concerts in Sofia Hall, Prague. The house is packed with an attentive and appreciative audience.
21 January 1846 The Daily News, the first inexpensive newspaper in the United Kingdom, is founded. Its first editor is Charles Dickens.
Duke Francesco IV of Modena, Reggio and Ferrara, Duke of Massa and Prince of Carrara, dies in Modena and is succeeded by his son, Francesco V.
24 January 1846 Jux-Polka op.17 by Johann Strauss (20) is performed for the first time, at the Goldener Strauß, Vienna.
25 January 1846 The Revue Indépendente of Paris begins a serialization of the novel Nélida by Daniel Stern. The author is actually Marie d’Agoult and the novel is a satire on her relationship with Franz Liszt (34).
28 January 1846 After a consultation of doctors arranged by Andrea Donizetti (the composer’s nephew) in Paris, they find Gaetano Donizetti (48) suffering from “cerebro-spinal degeneration of syphilitic origin,” and they recommend that he be placed in an institution.
Serben-Quadrille op.14 by Johann Strauss (20) is performed for the first time, at the Goldene Birne, Vienna.
29 January 1846 British troops defeat the Sikhs at Aliwal.
1 February 1846 Gaetano Donizetti (48) is taken from his Paris hotel by his servant, nephew and Dr. Philippe Ricard (a specialist in venereal disease) and held against his will at a sanitorium in Ivry, near Paris. His disease is advanced but he seems, at first, to be aware that he is “imprisoned.” Donizetti will stay here for 17 months.
3 February 1846 Les mousquetaires de la reine, an opéra comique by Fromental Halévy (46) to words of Saint-Georges, is performed for the first time, by the Opéra-Comique, Paris. It is very successful.
4 February 1846 Mormons begin to cross the Mississippi River into Iowa.
6 February 1846 Robert (35) and Clara (26) Schumann go for the last sitting at the studio of Ernst Rietschel in Dresden. He will produce a portrait medallion featuring the two of them.
8 February 1846 A fourth child, a son named Emil, is born to Clara Schumann (26) and Robert Schumann (35).
10 February 1846 Troops of the East India Company defeat the Sikhs at Sobraon, south of Amritsar.
12 February 1846 Manuel Pando Fernández de Pineda, marqués de Miraflores replaces Ramón María Narváez y Campos, duque de Valencia as Prime Minister of Spain.
13 February 1846 Tsar Nikolay I of Russia decrees that all publicly sponsored concerts are forbidden during the theatre season. The theatre season exists throughout the year, except Lent.
15 February 1846 At the first of two concerts at the National Theatre in Pest, Hector Berlioz (42) performs his Marche hongroise. Before leaving Vienna, the intendant of the National Theatre, told him to write something based on a Hungarian tune if he wants the Hungarians to like him and he gives Berlioz a collection to choose from. He chooses an air called Rákóczy and the piece is completed by the time he reaches Pest. Berlioz thinks that he is simply doing homage to his hosts by setting a national march, but his music inspires the revolutionary Hungarians to foot-stomping and nationalist demonstrations which drown out the orchestra. Berlioz will leave Pest a national hero.
16 February 1846 British Prime Minister Robert Peel delivers a speech in Parliament for the repeal of the Corn Laws. In so doing he brings an end to his political career.
18 February 1846 Rival Polish revolutionaries begin battling in the free city of Kraków. City fathers in Kraków, fearful of the revolutionary atmosphere, call Austrian troops into the city. Polish Democrats in Austrian Poland (Galicia) call on peasants to rise against their masters. The action will claim 2,000 dead as the Austrians pay peasants for every insurgent brought in dead or alive.
19 February 1846 Revolutionaries in Kraków, mostly poor and young people, attack Austrian troops, simultaneously with attacks by peasants and workers in Jaworzno, Chrzanów and Trzebinia.
20 February 1846 The Austrians make a hasty retreat from Poland.
At Hector Berlioz’ (42) second and last concert in Pest, even though prices have been raised, the National Theatre is sold out.
22 February 1846 Liberated of Austrian troops, Kraków forms a national government. It issues a call for all Poles to rise in armed revolt against the three occupying powers. All land is stripped from the aristocracy and given to peasants. Serfdom is abolished.
A command performance of Fromental Halévy’s Les mousquetaires de la reine takes place before the royal family in the Tuileries Palace.
23 February 1846 Zeitgeister Waltz op. 25 by Johann Strauss (20) is performed for the first time, in Dommayer’s Casino, Heitzing.
25 February 1846 The free city of Kraków is occupied by Russian troops.
Le Moine bourru ou les Deux Poltrons, a duo bouffe by Jacques Offenbach (26) to words of Plouvier, is performed for the first time, privately, at Chez les de Forges. See 24 April 1846
1 March 1846 Franz Liszt (34) plays the first of 18 concerts in Vienna over the next month.
The Mexican government informs US special envoy John Slidell that they will not recognize him.
8 March 1846 United States forces cross the Nueces River into territory claimed by both the US and Mexico. They are ordered to take positions on the Rio Grande opposite Matamoros. This is the border claimed by the US.
10 March 1846 Osahito replaces Ayahito as Emperor of Japan.
11 March 1846 By the Treaty of Lahore between Great Britain and the Sikhs, the Sikhs give up Jallandhar doab, and Kashmir and its dependencies. They must pay an indemnity and their army is limited. A British resident is established in Lahore to advise the Sikh government.
12 March 1846 Franz Liszt (34) plays the first of three concerts in Brunn (Brno).
14 March 1846 After hearing a performance of Mendelssohn’s (37) A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Breslau (Wroclaw), Hector Berlioz (42) writes to the composer, “I’ve never heard anything so profoundly Shakespearean in my life.”
16 March 1846 Ramón María Narváez y Campos, duque de Valencia replaces Manuel Pando Fernández de Pineda, marqués de Miraflores as Prime Minister of Spain.
Grand Duke Carl Alexander of Weimar writes to Hans Christian Andersen, “Liszt (34) is gone, which makes me sad since his conversation gives me even greater pleasure than his playing, just as one admires a naked demon much less than one wearing a well-tailored jacket, who with his outer appearance alone already impresses. Yet he appears to me as an unclothed demon when at the piano. I shudder when he leads me into the world of tones.” (Celenza, 140)
17 March 1846 Attila, a dramma lirico by Giuseppe Verdi (32) to words of Solera and Piave after Werner, is performed for the first time, at Teatro La Fenice, Venice directed by the composer. Verdi reports that the work “enjoyed a very good success.”
19 March 1846 Women begin a revolt in the north of Portugal due to hunger, poverty, restrictions on ownership of land, and a new health law.
20 March 1846 Hector Berlioz (42) gives a concert in Breslau (Wroclaw) at the University Concert Hall.
22 March 1846 After the success of Attila in Venice, Giuseppe Verdi (32) returns to Milan very ill. His doctors diagnose gastric fever and order six months rest. Since 1844, he has produced five operas in four cities.
23 March 1846 Arvid Posse replaces Johan Nordenfalk as Prime Minister for Justice of Sweden.
28 March 1846 US troops take up positions on the north bank of the Rio Grande.
31 March 1846 Barthélemy Théodore, Comte de Theux de Meylandt replaces Jean Sylvain van de Weyer as head of government for Belgium.
Hector Berlioz (42) conducts the first of three more concerts in the Prague State Theatre. The public is wildly enthusiastic. His presence aids the cause of new music and helps to draw the Prague musical scene out from the spell of Mozart (†54).
1 April 1846 The Triumph of Bacchus, a cantata by Alyeksandr Sergeyevich Dargomizhsky (33) after Pushkin, is performed for the first time, in St. Petersburg. See 23 January 1867.
5 April 1846 Francisco Javier Istúriz y Montero replaces Ramón María Narváez y Campos, duque de Valencia as Prime Minister of Spain.
10 April 1846 Speaking to the Royal Institution, London, Michael Faraday suggests that light is vibrations of lines of force, not waves flowing through ether.
12 April 1846 At a memorable concert in Leipzig, Felix Mendelssohn (37) accompanies Jenny Lind and later Ferdinand David. He also performs the Moonlight Sonata and plays duets with Clara Schumann (26).
Mexican forces erect Fort Paredes near Matamoros. They warn the US forces on the opposite side of the Rio Grande to evacuate north to the Nueces River. The Americans refuse and General Zachary Taylor orders his naval support to blockade the mouth of the Rio Grande.
13 April 1846 Franz Liszt (34) plays the first of three concerts in Prague.
The Pennsylvania Railroad is incorporated by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is intended to run between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
15 April 1846 On his second visit to Prague, Hector Berlioz (42) is feted at the Three Lindens Hotel. Franz Liszt (34) is the main speaker and he presents Berlioz with a silver chalice.
16 April 1846 A retired soldier named Pierre Lecomte fires a gun at King Louis-Philippe as the King rides through Parc Fontainebleau in a carriage. The bullet misses the king by 10 cm.
19 April 1846 Austria-Marsch op.20 by Johann Strauss (20) is performed for the first time, in Vienna.
24 April 1846 Modern Painters, Vol.II by John Ruskin is published.
Le Moine bourru ou les Deux Poltrons, a duo bouffe by Jacques Offenbach (26) to words of Plouvier, is performed publicly for the first time, in Salle Herz, Paris. See 25 February 1846.
The Mexican commander of Fort Paredes at Matamoros informs the US commander at Fort Texas, across the river, that their two countries are at war.
25 April 1846 A detachment of 60 United States dragoons, 40 km up the Rio Grande from Fort Texas (Brownsville), is fired upon and the survivors captured by Mexican troops, thus beginning hostilities between the two countries. The incident takes place north of the Rio Grande in territory claimed by both countries.
26 April 1846 Fidelen-Polka op.26 by Johann Strauss (20) is performed for the first time, at Goldener Strauß, Vienna.
27 April 1846 Edwin P. Christy’s Virginia Minstrels perform in New York for the first time.
A resolution by both houses of the US Congress and signed by President Polk calls for negotiations with Great Britain and compromise over Oregon. It will be sent to Britain tomorrow.
29 April 1846 Franz Liszt (34) arrives in Pest where he will give five concerts through 13 May.
3 May 1846 Mexican and US forces begin several days of artillery duels across the mouth of the Rio Grande.
6 May 1846 Camille Saint-Saëns (10) gives his first evening public performance as pianist at the Salle Pleyel, Paris. He plays two concertos, the Mozart (†54) K.450 and Beethoven’s (†19) third, a Hummel (†8) sonata, a prelude and fugue by Bach (†95) and others, all from memory.
8 May 1846 The first pitched battle of the North American war takes place at El Palo Alto, north of Ft. Texas (Cameron County, Texas). The Mexicans are forced to withdraw.
9 May 1846 United States forces defeat the Mexicans at Resaca de la Palma (Cameron County, Texas). The Mexicans are sent into retreat beyond the Rio Grande.
11 May 1846 Two days after the news of 25 April reaches Washington, President Polk asks Congress for a declaration of war.
13 May 1846 The United States Congress declares war on Mexico and authorizes President Polk to raise an army of 50,000.
14 May 1846 In reconsidering the case of Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka (41) the Synod reverses the earlier decision of the ecclesiastical consistory and grants his request for a divorce. “Glinka, as the innocent party...is permitted to enter into another marriage, and Maria Petrovna is to remain forever unmarried.” See 15 May 1843.
18 May 1846 United States forces capture Matamoros, just across the Rio Grande from Ft. Texas (Brownsville).
20 May 1846 The government dominated by Costa Cabral is overthrown in a bloodless coup. Pedro de Sousa-Holstein, duque, marques e conde de Palmela replaces António José de Sousa Manuel e Meneses Severim, duque de Terceira, marques e conde de Vila-Flor as Prime Minister of Portugal. Cabral goes into exile in Spain.
21 May 1846 The conciliatory message over Oregon sent from Washington on 28 April reaches British Foreign Minister Lord Aberdeen.
Les Plages du Nil, a cantata by Fromental Halévy (46) to words of his brother Léon, is performed for the first time, at the Paris home of the Minister of Education. It was written for the visit of Ibrahim Pasha, the heir apparent to the throne of Egypt.
23 May 1846 President Paredes of Mexico learns that US forces are blockading the mouth of the Rio Grande. He calls it an act of war and declares that his country is at war with the US.
25 May 1846 Louis Napoléon Bonaparte escapes imprisonment in the fortress of Ham, near St.-Quentin, and flees to London.
26 May 1846 Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell is published. The three poets are actually Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë.
27 May 1846 Frédéric Chopin (36) leaves Paris for Nohant and his seventh summer with George Sand and her children.
28 May 1846 Lind-Gesänge op.21, a waltz by Johann Strauss (20), is performed for the first time, in Dommayer’s Casino, Heitzing.
30 May 1846 Der Waffenschmied, a komische Oper by Albert Lortzing (44) to his own words, is performed for the first time, in the Theater an der Wien. It is because of the success of this opera that Lortzing will be appointed Kapellmeister at the Theater an der Wien.
1 June 1846 Pope Gregory XVI, Bartolomeo-Alberto-Mauro Cappellari, dies in Rome.
8 June 1846 Pierre Lecomte is executed for attempting to kill King Louis-Philippe on 16 April.
9 June 1846 A statue of Gioachino Rossini (54) is dedicated at the Paris Opéra.
11 June 1846 A setting of Lauda Sion for solo voices, chorus and orchestra by Felix Mendelssohn (37) is performed for the first time, in Liège to celebrate the six hundredth anniversary of the city.
12 June 1846 A consultation of three doctors advises Andrea Donizetti not to move his uncle Gaetano (48) from Paris. He wants to take him to Bergamo.
14 June 1846 A large meeting of liberals in Brussels creates the Liberal Party of Belgium.
Le chant des chemins de fer for tenor, chorus and orchestra by Hector Berlioz (42) to words of Janin is performed for the first time, for the opening of the Northern Railroad at the Hôtel de Ville, Lille.
American settlers under John C. Fremont take Mexican General Mariano Vallejo prisoner in the Sonoma Valley of Alta California. They force him to sign a surrender document and then go on to declare an independent California Republic. Vallejo and his brother are taken to Sutter’s Fort and imprisoned.
15 June 1846 The Life of Jesus by George Eliot is published.
Representatives of the United States and the United Kingdom sign the Treaty of Washington setting the Oregon boundary at the 49th parallel. Victoria Island and the Queen Charlotte Islands, south of 49° north latitude, go to Britain.
16 June 1846 Giovanni Maria Giambattista Pietro Pellegrino Isidoro, conte Mastai-Ferretti becomes Pope Pius IX.
Pesther Csárdás op. 23 by Johann Strauss (20) is performed for the first time, in Ofen.
19 June 1846 The first baseball game under codified rules takes place at Elysian Fields, Hoboken, New Jersey between the Knickerbocker Club and the New York Nine.
22 June 1846 Adolphe Sax patents the saxophone.
25 June 1846 The British Corn Laws, tariffs favoring large landowners, are repealed.
26 June 1846 The Liverpool Sanitary Act receives Royal Assent from Queen Victoria. It is the first comprehensive sanitation legislation in England. Sanitation in Liverpool, already very bad, is exacerbated by refugees fleeing the Irish famine.
30 June 1846 John Russell, Lord Russell replaces Sir Robert Peel as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
2 July 1846 Franz Liszt (34) joins with Johann Strauss Sr. in an outdoor concert in Vienna.
7 July 1846 United States forces under Commodore JS Sloat capture Monterey, California.
Mexico officially declares war on the United States.
8 July 1846 Felix Mendelssohn (37) gives Robert Schumann (36) a copy of Tristan und Isolde by Karl Librecht Immerman, rekindling his interest in opera.
King Christian VIII declares Denmark indivisible and the throne inheritable by women.
9 July 1846 Fanny Mendelssohn (40) writes to her brother Felix (37) that she has decided to publish her music.
Shore parties off of US warships take San Francisco without opposition.
10 July 1846 Betty, a ballet by Ambroise Thomas (34) to a scenario by Mazillier after Duval, is performed for the first time, at the Paris Opéra.
13 July 1846 Odeon-Quadrille op.29 by Johann Strauss (20) is performed for the first time, in the Odeon, Vienna.
16 July 1846 Pope Pius IX frees all political prisoners and grants amnesty to all political exiles.
Gabriel Delessert, prefect of the Paris police, officially forbids Andrea Donizetti to move his uncle Gaetano (48) from Ivry or do anything else in his uncle’s case.
23 July 1846 Su fratelli, letizia si Canti for chorus and orchestra by Gioachino Rossini (54) to words of Canonico Golfieri is performed for the first time, at Piazza Maggiore, Bologna to celebrate the installation of Pope Pius IX.
Henry David Thoreau is arrested in Concord, Massachusetts and jailed for one night for failing to pay his one-dollar poll tax. Thoreau is protesting slavery and American aggression against Mexico. The experience will cause him to pen Civil Disobedience.
27 July 1846 Three days after 1,800 musicians perform Hector Berlioz’ (42) Apothéose in a hippodrome on the Champs-Elysées (Berlioz was unimpressed), the hippodrome burns to the ground.
Over the next week, the blight cuts through the potato crop of Ireland causing widespread starvation.
29 July 1846 At a concert to celebrate the July Revolution in the Tuileries, Joseph Henry fires two shots at King Louis-Philippe who is standing with the royal family on the balcony of the palace. They miss. Henry is apprehended, will be judged insane and sentenced to life at hard labor. But in February 1848 he will be freed by the new regime.
At Gross-Gaupa, while he is composing Lohengrin, Richard Wagner (33) receives a 16-year-old visitor, an admirer of his work, Hans von Bülow.
The Kearny expedition, making for California, stops at Bent’s Fort, just north of the Mexican border on the Arkansas River (present Colorado).
31 July 1846 Mustafa Resid Pasha replaces Mehmed Emin Rauf Pasha as Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire.
1 August 1846 Clara Schumann (26) probably suffers a miscarriage on the island of Norderney where she and Robert (36) have gone for a vacation.
French legislative elections result in a continued majority for Conservatives.
2 August 1846 The Kearny expedition crosses the Arkansas River into New Mexico.
3 August 1846 Franz Liszt (34) begins a concert tour of Hungary and southeastern Europe which lasts through most of next year.
4 August 1846 US forces occupy Santa Barbara in Alta California.
5 August 1846 José Mariano de Salas replaces Mariano José Joaquín Agustín Paredes y Arrillaga as interim President of Mexico.
Die Zillerthaler Waltz op.30 by Johann Strauss (20) is performed for the first time, at Tivoli, Vienna.
7 August 1846 United States Marines land near Los Angeles.
10 August 1846 The United States Congress approves an act creating the Smithsonian Institution. It is chartered on a $500,000 bequest by English scientist James Smithson.
The US Senate defeats the Wilmot Proviso, an amendment to ban slavery from any territory won from Mexico in the current war.
12 August 1846 Felix Mendelssohn (37) finally gives his blessing to Fanny’s decision to publish. He congratulates her with his “professional blessing on becoming a member of the craft.”
14 August 1846 United States forces occupy Los Angeles.
15 August 1846 General Stephen Kearny, at the head of the US Army of the West in Las Vegas, declares the annexation of New Mexico.
16 August 1846 Ten months after the death of his wife, Isabella Colbran, Gioachino Rossini (54) marries Olympe Pélissier, his mistress of 15 years, in the Paris Church of San Giovanni, Bologna.
Generalissimo de Santa Anna arrives in Vera Cruz from Havana to take control of the Mexican forces.
17 August 1846 In Los Angeles, Commodore Robert Stockton claims the annexation of California by the United States. He names himself governor.
18 August 1846 Felix Mendelssohn (37) arrives in England to conduct Elijah. It is his ninth visit to the country.
An act for regulating the gauge of railroads in the United Kingdom (the Railway Regulation Act) receives royal assent from Queen Victoria. Henceforth, standard gauges are to be 143.5 cm for England, Scotland, and Wales, and 160 cm for Ireland.
United States forces capture Santa Fe without firing a shot.
19 August 1846 United States troops depart Camargo, heading for Monterrey.
22 August 1846 In Santa Fe, General Stephen Kearny iterates his annexation of New Mexico for the United States.
23 August 1846 Felix Mendelssohn (37), soloists, orchestra, and press all board a train from London to Birmingham for the premiere of Elijah.
26 August 1846 Elijah, an oratorio by Felix Mendelssohn (37) to words of Schubring after the Bible, is performed for the first time, in Birmingham, directed by the composer. The Times of London reports that the audience reaction was a “volley of plaudits, vociferous and deafening.”
5 September 1846 Liberals in Portugal produce a manifesto calling for direct representation, bringing back the National Guard, reform of the upper house of the Cortes and freedom of the press.
6 September 1846 After the triumph of Elijah, Felix Mendelssohn (37) departs London for Belgium.
7 September 1846 Gaetano Donizetti’s (48) nephew Andrea, having exhausted all attempts to move his uncle to Bergamo, leaves Paris for Italy.
9 September 1846 Die Sanguiniker Waltz op.27 by Johann Strauss (20) is performed for the first time, at the Wasserglacis, Vienna.
10 September 1846 Elias Howe receives a US patent for a practical sewing machine with an eye-pointed needle. It revolutionizes the garment industry.
12 September 1846 Two English poets named Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning secretly marry in St. Marylebone Parish Church, London.
Loteria, an operetta by Stanislaw Moniuszko (27) to words of Milewski, is performed for the first time, in Warsaw.
Hopser-Polka op.28 by Johann Strauss (20) is performed for the first time, in Dommayer’s Casino, Heitzing.
16 September 1846 As a great fire breaks out in Milan, Giuseppe Verdi (32) and his student Emanuele Muzio go to watch just as police are beginning to impress onlookers to work the pump. They run. Muzio is caught and forced to work until 06:00. Verdi escapes by jumping over a wall into the public gardens. He hides for one-and-a-half hours. When he summons enough courage to leave, he finds the gates locked and the walls too high. It takes him an hour to gather enough rocks to climb up and over the wall. When the two meet in the morning they are so disheveled that they laugh at each other for some time.
19 September 1846 Newlyweds Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett escape England to Florence.
Incidental music to Michael Beer’s play Struensee by Giacomo Meyerbeer (55) is performed for the first time, in the Berlin Schauspielhaus. Meyerbeer reports that the response to the play and the music is “polite.” The playwright is the composer’s brother.
21 September 1846 United States forces attack Monterrey and breach the defenses of the city.
22 September 1846 Americans at Monterrey capture Obispado Fortress from the Mexicans.
23 September 1846 German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle, working at Berlin Observatory, becomes the first human to observe and correctly identify the planet Neptune. He has been searching a position calculated by the French astronomer Urbain-Jean-Joseph Le Vernier.
Americans at Monterrey enter Monterrey and begin fighting street by street.
25 September 1846 Mexicans in Monterrey surrender to invading Americans. The defenders withdraw with their weapons and a two-month armistice ensues.
30 September 1846 Dr. William TG Morton, a dentist, uses diethyl ether for the painless extraction of a tooth from music teacher Eben Frost, in Boston. It is the first published use of anesthesia in surgery.
2 October 1846 Peter Cornelius (21) visits Giacomo Meyerbeer (55) in Berlin and plays his new Miserere for him.
4 October 1846 United States forces evacuate Los Angeles before a force of Californian irregulars.
6 October 1846 To combat radical demands, Queen Maria II of Portugal names João Carlos Gregório Domingues Vicente Francisco de Saldanha Oliveira e Daun, duque, marques e conde de Saldanha to replace Pedro de Sousa-Holstein, duque, marques e conde de Palmela as Prime Minister of Portugal. Elections are postponed, censorship maintained and the National Guard suppressed. Civil war ensues.
8 October 1846 United States forces land at San Pedro, California but are repulsed by Mexicans.
10 October 1846 17 days after the discovery of Neptune, English astronomer William Lassell discovers Triton, the first moon of Neptune to be identified. He views it from his personal observatory near Liverpool.
A double wedding takes place in the Spanish royal family. Queen Isabella II marries her cousin, Francisco Asís de Bourbon, duque de Cádiz while her sister Maria Fernanda marries Antoine, Duc de Montpensier, the youngest son of King Louis-Philippe of France. It is a victory for France and the Spanish absolutists over Britain and the Spanish liberals.
16 October 1846 At Massachusetts General Hospital, Dr. J. Mason Warren removes a tumor from the neck of Gilbert Abbott after the patient is anesthetized by Dr. William TG Morton, a dentist. This is the first public demonstration of anesthesia in a clinical setting.
17 October 1846 A command performance of the play Struensee takes place before King Friedrich Wilhelm IV in Potsdam. The audience response is bland but afterwards the king makes flattering statements about the composer of the incidental music, Giacomo Meyerbeer (55), as the departing audience walks past them.
18 October 1846 In a double wedding in Madrid, Queen Isabella II of Spain marries Francisco de Asis, Duke of Cadiz, as her sister, the Infanta Maria Luisa Fernanda, marries the Duke of Montpensier, the son of King Louis-Philippe of France.
21 October 1846 Henri Herz (43) arrives in Boston from Liverpool aboard the Caledonia. His piano will make landfall in two days.
29 October 1846 Henri Herz (43) gives his first concert in North America, at the Tabernacle in New York. The hall is not full, but those in attendance are very receptive.
2 November 1846 Franz Liszt (35) gives a concert in the Great Hall of the Prefecture in Temesvár (Timisoara), beginning a concert tour of Transylvania.
5 November 1846 Symphony no.2 by Robert Schumann (36) is performed for the first time, in Leipzig directed by Felix Mendelssohn (37). The response is lukewarm.
10 November 1846 Felix Mendelssohn’s (37) choral song Der Sänger to words of Schiller is performed for the first time, in Leipzig.
11 November 1846 Frédéric Chopin (36) arrives in Paris from Nohant alone. His relationship with George Sand is, for all intents and purposes, over.
Austria annexes Kraków.
14 November 1846 “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe is published in the New England Weekly Review. It was already published earlier this month in Godey’s Lady’s Book.
US forces capture Tampico which was abandoned by the Mexicans.
15 November 1846 Quadrille nach Motiven der Oper Die Belagerung von Rochelle op.31 by Johann Strauss (21) is performed for the first time, in Dommayer’s Casino, Heitzing.
16 November 1846 US forces capture Saltillo in Coahuila.
20 November 1846 China grants a concession to Great Britain in Shanghai.
21 November 1846 A String of Pearls; or, The Sailor’s Gift by Thomas Peckett Prest begins a serialization in The People’s Periodical. It is the first appearance of the character Sweeney Todd.
In a letter to WTG Morton, who first demonstrated a clinical use for ether, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. coins the word “anesthesia.”
25 November 1846 Die Jovialen op.34, a waltz by Johann Strauss (21), is performed for the first time, in the Goldener Strauß, Vienna.
26 November 1846 Giacomo Meyerbeer (55), in Berlin, writes to Richard Wagner (33) declining his request of a loan for 1,200 thalers.
30 November 1846 A Te Deum in A for solo voices, chorus and organ by Felix Mendelssohn (37) is performed for the first time, in London.
6 December 1846 Hector Berlioz’ (42) légende dramatique La damnation de Faust for solo voices, chorus and orchestra to words of de Nerval, Gandonnière and the composer after Goethe is performed for the first time, before a half-empty house at the Paris Opéra. The audience and critics are confused. It is his greatest failure.
United States forces are defeated by Mexicans at San Pascual, California. They retreat to San Diego.
The Mexican Senate offers the Presidency to Antonio López de Santa Anna y Pérez de Lebrón by a vote of 11-9. Santa Anna is presently with his troops at San Luis Potosí so his Vice President, Valentín Gómez Farías, will take interim power.
7 December 1846 Giacomo Meyerbeer (55) departs Berlin for Vienna.
8 December 1846 Gesänge zur Feier des heiligen Opfers der Messe (Deutsche Messe) D.872 for chorus, winds and organ by Franz Schubert (†18) to words of Neumann is performed for the first time, in the Anna-Kirche, Vienna.
9 December 1846 The Synod’s divorce decree for Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka (42) goes into effect.
10 December 1846 Giacomo Meyerbeer (55) arrives in Vienna from Berlin to produce Vielka.
12 December 1846 The US and New Granada (Colombia) conclude a trade agreement. However, one clause includes a right-of-way for the US to build a canal across the Isthmus of Panama.
15 December 1846 Gustav replaces Philipp as Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg.
16 December 1846 Franz Liszt (35) arrives in Bucharest for two weeks of concerts.
19 December 1846 Johann Baptist Bekk replaces Karl Friedrich Nebenius as Prime Minister of Baden.
20 December 1846 Hector Berlioz’ (43) légende dramatique La damnation de Faust is given its second performance, again before a half-empty house at the Paris Opéra. The audience response is so tepid that a projected third performance is cancelled.
21 December 1846 Robert Liston performs the first major operation in Europe using anaesthesia, when he removes the leg of Frederick Churchill at University College Hospital, London using ether.
Ruslan and Lyudmilla by Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka (42) is given its first Moscow performance.
23 December 1846 Valentín Gómez Farías replaces José Mariano de Salas as interim President of Mexico. General Santa Anna is officially the president but he is commanding his troops in San Luis Potosí.
Giacomo Meyerbeer (55) attends a soiree in Vienna where Clara Schumann (27) is also present. “I could not greet her, since she is the wife of a man who has persecuted me with such malice, but I very much applauded her piano playing, and said brava as she passed me.”
25 December 1846 Franz Schubert’s (†18) Kyrie in Bb D.45 is performed for the first time, as part of Ferdinand Schubert’s Mass in B flat, in the Anna-Kirche, Vienna.
United States defenders of El Brazito, 50 km north of El Paso (Dona Ana County, New Mexico), repulse and defeat a strong Mexican attack.
28 December 1846 Iowa becomes the 29th state of the United States.
29 December 1846 US forces capture San Diego.
©2004-2012 Paul Scharfenberger
10 July 2012
Last Updated (Tuesday, 10 July 2012 04:58)