MusicAndHistory.com

1 January 1847 Cantata in onore del Sommo Pontefice Pio Nono for solo voices, chorus and orchestra by Gioachino Rossini (54) to words of Marchetti is performed for the first time, in the Senate (Campidoglio), Rome, in honor of Pope Pius IX.  It is largely made up of selections from Rossini’s operas.

Robert (36) and Clara (27) Schumann give their third concert in Vienna.  Clara plays Schumann’s piano concerto, conducted by the composer, as well as music of Chopin (36) and Mendelssohn (37).  Eduard Hanslick reports, “Attendance was very poor, the applause cool and obviously only directed to Clara.”  It is the first time that a concert involving Clara Schumann loses money.

2 January 1847 Franz Liszt (35) in Bucharest writes to Marie d’Agoult in Paris telling her that he is not offended by her novel Nélida.  The novel is her satire of their life together.

Irenen Waltz op.32 by Johann Strauss (21) is performed for the first time, in Ungarisch-Altenburg.

8 January 1847 United States forces defeat the last Californian defenders of Los Angeles at the San Gabriel River.

10 January 1847 United States forces enter Los Angeles for a second time.

Jenny Lind participates in a concert by Clara Schumann (27) in Vienna, ensuring a success.

13 January 1847 The Cahuenga Treaty, which gives Alta California to the United States, is signed by the governor of the province, General Andrés Pico, and US General John C. Fremont.

15 January 1847 Trio for piano and strings op.17 by Clara Schumann (27) is performed for the first time, in Vienna, the composer at the keyboard.

17 January 1847 Franz Liszt (35) gives the first of three concerts in Jassy (Iasi, Moldova).

One member of the doomed Donner party, near death, reaches a white settlement in the Sacramento Valley with the tale of starvation and cannibalism.

19 January 1847 Mexican residents and Pueblo Indians kill American governor Charles Bent in Taos, precipitating a general revolt throughout New Mexico.

27 January 1847 Architecten-Ball-Tänze op.36, a waltz by Johann Strauss (21), is performed for the first time, in the Goldener Strauß, Vienna.

28 January 1847 Carlos Fernando Martínez de Irujo y McKean, marques de Casa-Irujo, duque de Sotomayor replaces Francisco Javier Istúriz y Montero as Prime Minister of Spain.

30 January 1847 Industrie-Quadrille op.35 by Johann Strauss (21) is performed for the first time, in Baden bei Wien.

3 February 1847 A united Diet is summoned in Prussia by King Friedrich Wilhelm IV.  It is given the right to veto financial measures but is not democratically elected.

Rose-Alphonsine Plessis (Marie Duplessis) dies in Paris at the age of 23.  Among her lovers was Franz Liszt (35) and Alexandre Dumas fils who will immortalize her in his novel La Dame aux Camélias.

United States troops arrive at Taos pueblo, which has been fortified by Mexican residents and Pueblo Indians.

Bachus-Polka op.38 by Johann Strauss (21) is performed for the first time, in the Goldener Strauß, Vienna.

4 February 1847 United States troops overcome the defenders of Taos.  150 of the defenders are killed.  US casualties number seven dead, 45 injured.  15 rebel leaders will be executed.

8 February 1847 Invading United States forces arrive at the port of Veracruz.

Explosions-Polka op.43 by Johann Strauss (21) is performed for the first time, in the Goldener Strauß, Vienna.

10 February 1847 Wilhelminen-Quadrille op.37 by Johann Strauss (21) is performed for the first time, in Dommayer’s Casino, Heitzing.

14 February 1847 Hector Berlioz (43) leaves Paris for St. Petersburg.  His lover, Marie Recio, is not informed of the details of his whereabouts.  The trip is made during an unusually snowy winter.

Franz Liszt (35) gives the first of two concerts in Kiev.  It is probably here that Princess Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein first sees and hears Liszt.

15 February 1847 A letter from Italian chemist Ascanio Sobrero of the University of Turin to Théophile-Jules Pelouze is published by Pelouze in L’Institut.  It describes Sobrero’s discovery of nitroglycerine.

Franz Liszt (35) visits the home of Princess Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein in Kiev.  She invites him to her country estates.  He accepts.

Seladon-Quadrille op.48 by Johann Strauss (21) is performed for the first time, in Dommayer’s Casino, Heitzing.

17 February 1847 Frédéric Chopin (36) and August Franchomme perform Chopin’s Sonata in g minor for cello and piano op.65 for the first time, in his Paris apartment before George Sand and her daughter, Eugène Delacroix and two others.  See 23 March 1847.

18 February 1847 Vielka, a revision of Ein Feldlager in Schlesien by Giacomo Meyerbeer (55), revised by Birch-Pfeiffer, is performed for the first time, in Theater-an-der-Wien, Vienna.  The title role is sung by Jenny Lind.  It is very successful, though not enough to please the composer.  See 7 December 1844.

22 February 1847 US and Mexican forces engage at Buena Vista, near Saltillo.  The day’s action is indecisive.

23 February 1847 US and Mexican forces engage once again at Buena Vista.  After a day-long battle, both sides still hold the field but he Mexicans have suffered over twice as many casualties as the Americans.

24 February 1847 U.S. troops awake at Buena Vista to find the Mexican army has withdrawn.  About 2,500 people were killed or wounded at Buena Vista.

28 February 1847 After a trip of two weeks by train, postal coach and iron sled, Hector Berlioz (43) reaches St. Petersburg.

United States forces defeat Mexicans at the Sacramento River, 25 km north of Chihuahua.

1 March 1847 Friedrich August Karl Maria Philipp Joseph, Baron zu Rhein  replaces Karl von Abel as President of the Council of Ministers of Bavaria.

The State of Michigan becomes the first jurisdiction in the English-speaking world to abolish capital punishment.

8 March 1847 A command performance of Giacomo Meyerbeer’s (55) Vielka before Emperor Ferdinand of Austria, conducted by the composer before an overflow audience, goes very well.  See 18 February 1847.

9 March 1847 A United States army lands south of Veracruz without opposition.

10 March 1847 US forces begin to surround Veracruz.  This will be completed 13 March.

14 March 1847 Macbeth, an opera by Giuseppe Verdi (33) to words of Piave and Maffei after Shakespeare, is performed for the first time, in Teatro della Pergola, Florence directed by the composer.  The work proves to be a great success and Verdi is called on stage dozens of times.

15 March 1847 Hector Berlioz (43) gives the first of five concerts in St. Petersburg at the Assembly Hall of the Nobility.  At intermission he is presented to Tsarina Alyeksandra (the Tsar is too ill to attend).  Berlioz is so successful with the audience that he nets 12,000 French francs.

Felix Mendelssohn’s (38) concert aria On Lena’s Gloomy Heath for voice and orchestra to words of Ossian is performed for the first time, in London.

Clara Schumann (27) writes from Berlin:  “I have really taken a liking to Frau Hensel (41) and feel particularly drawn to her musically; we are almost always in accord, and her conversation is always interesting.  The only slight problem is that at first one has to get used to her rather abrupt way of behaving.”

21 March 1847 Antonio López de Santa Anna y Pérez de Lebrón replaces Valentín Gómez Farías as interim President of Mexico.

US forces begin bombarding Veracruz.

The State of Guatemala becomes the Republic of Guatemala.

22 March 1847 American commander Winfield Scott sends a surrender ultimatum to General Morales in Veracruz.  Morales refuses to surrender.

23 March 1847 Frédéric Chopin (37) and August Franchomme perform Chopin's Sonata in g minor for cello and piano op.65 for the first time in a semi-public setting, at a reception in his Paris apartment.  See 17 February 1847.

United States artillery begins three days and nights of bombardment of Veracruz.

24 March 1847 Camille Saint-Saëns (11) plays before Hélène, duchesse d’Orléans at the Tuileries Palace, Paris.  She is the daughter-in-law of King Louis-Philippe.

25 March 1847 Robert (36) and Clara (27) Schumann, accompanied by their two eldest daughters, return to Dresden from a four-month concert tour of Vienna, Brünn (Brno), Prague and Berlin.

27 March 1847 Slaven-Potpourri op.39 by Johann Strauss (21) is performed for the first time, in the Sperl Ballroom, Vienna.

28 March 1847 Joaquín Francisco Pacheco y Gutiérrez Calderón Carlos Fernando Martínez de Irujo y McKean, marques de Casa-Irujo, duque de Sotomayor as Prime Minister of Spain.

29 March 1847 After bombardment by United States naval forces, Veracruz surrenders.

1 April 1847 Eugène Delacroix takes Frédéric Chopin (37) and George Sand to see his work on the ceiling of the Palais de Luxembourg.  Delacroix has painted Dante in the likeness of Chopin and Aspasia in the likeness of Sand.

After considering over 40 subjects for an opera over the last 17 years, Robert Schumann (36) reads Genoveva by Friedrich Hebbel.  Within a week he sketches an overture.

2 April 1847 Giacomo Meyerbeer (55) departs Vienna after producing Vielka, making for his home in Berlin.

Felix Mendelssohn (38) conducts a performance of his oratorio St. Paul.  It is his last conducting appearance in Leipzig or Germany.  He will soon be in England again to conduct several performances of Elijah.

President Santa Anna leads 6,000 men out of Santa Ana to meet the American threat in Veracruz.

5 April 1847 On or about this date, Hector Berlioz (43) reaches Moscow.

As the city of Mobile, Alabama celebrates the victory at Buena Vista, Henri Herz (44) presents his Variations brillantes et grande fantaisie sur des airs nationaux américains to the delighted citizenry.   It is billed as a first performance, but throughout his tour of the southern states, it will always be billed as a first performance.  In Vicksburg it will be called the Victory of Vera Cruz, in St. Louis The Battle of Buena Vista and in Nashville The Return of the Volunteers, A Heroic National Fantasia.

6 April 1847 Giacomo Meyerbeer (55) arrives home in Berlin from Vienna.  Along the way he stopped in Breslau where he oversaw a German-language version of Robert le diable.  He is not pleased with the production.

10 April 1847 Hector Berlioz (43) performs in Assembly Hall of the Nobility, Moscow.  His production is so successful that the public demands another performance but this is logistically impossible.

11 April 1847 A Piano Trio by Fanny Mendelssohn (41) is performed for the first time, in Berlin.

12 April 1847 Felix Mendelssohn (38) arrives in London for the tenth, and last time.

13 April 1847 Franz Liszt (35) arrives at Lemberg (Lvov, Ukraine) for four concerts.

16 April 1847 Felix Mendelssohn (38) conducts a revised version of his oratorio Elijah at Exeter Hall, London.

17 April 1847 Leading elements of the American army are attacked at Cerro Gordo, west of Veracruz, and forced to withdraw.

18 April 1847 United States forces overrun the Mexicans at Cerro Gordo.  The Mexicans flee south at great speed.

23 April 1847 Andrea Donizetti, nephew of the composer (49), arrives once again in Paris sent by his father in Constantinople.

24 April 1847 L’alcôve, an opéra-comique by Jacques Offenbach (27) to words of de Forges, de Leuven and Roche, is performed for the first time, at Tour d’Auvergne.  It is a hit with public and press.

26 April 1847 Felix Mendelssohn (38) gives his last concert with the London Philharmonic Society, in the presence of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, and Jenny Lind.

1 May 1847 Frédéric Chopin (37) suffers a severe respiratory attack in Paris including coughing and blood.

The Smithsonian Institution is formally dedicated in Washington.

4 May 1847 The upcoming wedding of Solange Dudevant, the daughter of George Sand, appears in Paris newspapers.  It is the first that Frédéric Chopin (37) has heard of it.

Jenny Lind makes her London debut in Giacomo Meyerbeer’s (55) Robert Le Diable.  At the conclusion, Queen Victoria, in an unprecedented gesture, throws a wreath at the singer’s feet.  It is a glittering triumph, for the singer and the music.  Felix Mendelssohn (38) is also present.

5 May 1847 Hector Berlioz (43) conducts a performance of Roméo et Juliette in St. Petersburg.  The Russian critic Stasov writes, “These were the most magnificent, most crowded, most brilliant, most deafening concerts that were presented (this) year.  Everyone flocked to them; how could they do otherwise, when Berlioz has such a colossal reputation throughout all of Europe?”

7 May 1847 The American Medical Association is founded in Philadelphia.

8 May 1847 An earthquake centered in Zenkoji, Japan and resulting landslides kill about 10,000 people.

Andrea Donizetti sees the prefect Delessert and tells him that the family is determined to move his uncle Gaetano (49) from Paris to Bergamo and almost accuses him of a conspiracy to keep him there.

Felix Mendelssohn (38) departs London for the last time.

12 May 1847 Felix Mendelssohn (38) arrives in Frankfurt from his tenth trip to England.

Frédéric Chopin (37) suffers a debilitating asthma attack lasting four days.  George Sand writes from Nohant, “...the one I love with an absolutely chaste and maternal affection is dying, victim of the insane attachment he bears me.”

14 May 1847 While conducting a choral rehearsal in Berlin, Fanny Hensel loses control of her arms.  While a friend takes over the rehearsal she goes to soak her hands in hot vinegar.  Those present hear her call through the open door, “How beautiful that sounds.”  The paralysis goes through her body and she says, “It's a stroke, like Mother had.”  She then loses consciousness.  At 23:00 Fanny Cäcilie Mendelssohn Hensel dies, aged 41 years and six months.

15 May 1847 United States forces occupy Puebla.

17 May 1847 The mortal remains of Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel are buried in the Alte Dreifaltigkeits Kirchhof in Berlin.

18 May 1847 A service in memory of Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel is held in the Singakademie, Berlin.  In Frankfurt, her brother Felix (38) learns of her death, cries out, and faints.

26 May 1847 Giuseppe Verdi (33), accompanied by his student Emanuele Muzio, leaves Milan for London to produce I masnadieri.

1 June 1847 Bedrich Smetana (23) leaves the service of Count Leopold Thun and sets out on a piano playing tour of western Bohemia.

Giuseppe Verdi (33) stops in Paris, his first visit, on his way to London.

3 June 1847 Hector Berlioz (43) reaches Berlin from Russia.

7 June 1847 Giuseppe Verdi (33) arrives in London to produce I masnadieri.

8 June 1847 Franz Liszt (35) arrives in Constantinople.  He will stay here five weeks, giving concerts in the Russian embassy and twice before the Sultan, who will award him the Order of Nichan-Iftikhar.

11 June 1847 Sir John Franklin, leader of the ill-fated Northwest Passage expedition, dies near King William Island.

16 June 1847 Alexander-Quadrille op.33 by Johann Strauss (21) is performed for the first time, in Vienna.

US Navy forces defeat Mexican defenders of Villahermosa, Tabasco.

19 June 1847 Having returned to France from Spain, Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka (43) departs Toulouse for Paris.

Sängerfahren op.41, a waltz by Johann Strauss (21), is performed for the first time, in the Theater an der Wien, Vienna.

22 June 1847 The fourth child of Robert (37) and Clara (27) Schumann, Emil Schumann, dies at the age of 16 months.

23 June 1847 The Prefect of the Paris Police having relented slightly, Andrea Donizetti brings his uncle Gaetano (49) from Ivry back to Paris.

29 June 1847 By the Convention of Gramido, radicals holding Porto surrender to Spanish troops and British ships sent to shore up the monarchy of Queen Maria II.

1 July 1847 German astronomer Karl Ludwig Hencke discovers Hebe, the sixth asteroid viewed from Earth.

5 July 1847 Today marks the last run of the Edinburgh to London mail coach.  Railroads will now perform the duty more efficiently.

9 July 1847 1,200 people attend the first of a series of banquets, this one in Paris, to organize opposition to the monarchy and expanded suffrage.

17 July 1847 Austrian troops occupy Ferrara to quell disturbances over the lack of reform by Pope Pius IX.

18 July 1847 Quadrille nach Motiven aus der Oper Die Königin von Leon op.40 by Johann Strauss (21) is performed for the first time, in Dommayer’s Casino, Heitzing.

Giacomo Meyerbeer (56) escorts Hector Berlioz to a private meeting with the Prince and Princess of Prussia in Berlin.

22 July 1847 Giuseppe Verdi’s (33) tragic opera I masnadieri, to words of Maffei after Schiller, is performed for the first time, at Her Majesty’s Theatre, London directed by the composer with a baton.  The soprano is Jenny Lind.  When Verdi arrives in the orchestra there is 15 minutes of applause during which Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, the Prince of Wales, and a large contingent of the royal family arrive.  The opera enjoys a great success.  However, it receives only four performances.

23 July 1847 Hermann von Helmholtz presents “On the Conservation of Force” to the Physical Society of Berlin.  He proposes that the amount of energy in the universe is constant.

The main group of Mormon emigrants reaches what will become Salt Lake City.  Within two hours they begin plowing.

24 July 1847 Following serious disagreements and accusations, Frédéric Chopin (37) writes his last letter to George Sand.  He uses the formal “vous”.

Mormon leader Brigham Young arrives at the site of the new Mormon settlement near the Great Salt Lake.

26 July 1847 The Liberia Colony, founded for the repatriation of American slaves, is declared independent as the Republic of Liberia.

Ernte-Tänze, op.45, a waltz by Johann Strauss (21), is performed for the first time, in Brigittenau.

27 July 1847 Playwright Friedrich Hebbel arrives at the Dresden home of Robert Schumann (37).  Schumann asked the author of Genoveva to help with his opera, of which he has completed two acts.  Although enthusiastic about the project, the two do not get along.

28 July 1847 George Sand, at Nohant, responds to Chopin’s (37) letter of 24 July.  Unknown to her, it is the last letter she will write to him.

29 July 1847 A newly elected House of Commons convenes in London.  No party holds a majority but the largest party, the Conservatives, are split enough that the current Whig Prime Minister, Lord John Russell, will form a government.

1 August 1847 The second incarnation of Tannhäuser und der Sängerkrieg auf Wartburg, a grosse romantische Oper by Richard Wagner (34) to his own words, is performed for the first time, in the Dresden Hoftheater.  See 19 October 1845, 13 March 1861 and 1 August 1867.

5 August 1847 United States troops begin their final march on Mexico City.

7 August 1847 Bedrich Smetana’s (23) first concert on his tour of western Bohemia, at Cheb, is so poorly attended that he abandons the project.

9 August 1847 Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka (43) returns home to Novospasskoye from a two-year trip to France and Spain.

12 August 1847 Charles Latour Rogier replaces Barthélemy Théodore, Comte de Theux de Meylandt as head of government for Belgium..

17 August 1847 Six doctors convened by Andrea Donizetti examine Gaetano Donizetti (49) in his Paris apartment.  Four think he can be moved, two do not.

19 August 1847 Hector Berlioz (43) declines the position of Director of Singing at the Paris Opéra.  On the same day he signs a contract to be music director of a newly re-founded opera company at the Drury Lane Theatre, London.

The battle for Mexico City begins as United States forces engage Mexicans at Contreras.

20 August 1847 United States forces drive the defenders of Contreras into Mexican troops in the Monastery of Churubusco.  The Mexicans rake the Americans with murderous fire until they run out of ammunition.  The monastery falls at a cost of 11,000 total casualties.

22 August 1847 Wilde Rosen op.42, a waltz by Johann Strauss (21), is performed for the first time, in Gasthaus Kwiatkowsky.

US and Mexican commanders agree to a truce at Mexico City.

24 August 1847 Charlotte Brontë sends the manuscript of Jane Eyre to the publishers Smith Elder & Co. under the pseudonym of Currer Bell.

26 August 1847 Paris Prefect of Police Delessert, after a protest from Andrea Donizetti, places gendarmes in the conciergerie of 6 avenue Chateaubriand, the home of his uncle Gaetano (49).

27 August 1847 The gendarmes posted yesterday by the Prefect of Police refuse to allow Gaetano Donizetti (49) to take his daily drive.

Peace negotiations begin between presidential envoy Nicholas Trist and former President Herera in Mexico City.

29 August 1847 Fest-Marsch op.49 by Johann Strauss (21) is performed for the first time, in Gasthaus Kwiatkowsky.

1 September 1847 Fest-Quadrille op.44 by Johann Strauss (21) is performed for the first time, at the Wasserglacis, Vienna.

6 September 1847 Henry David Thoreau ends his 26-month residency at Walden Pond.

General Scott demands the surrender of Mexico City by noon tomorrow or hostilities will resume.

7 September 1847 Presidential envoy Nicholas Trist concludes that the Mexicans are stalling for time and breaks off peace negotiations.

8 September 1847 Breitkopf and Härtel, Leipzig announce the publication of three mazurkas op.63 by Frédéric Chopin (37).

After heavy fighting, US forces defeat Mexicans at Molino del Rey, five km from Mexico City.

10 September 1847 Radicals from southern Germany meet in Offenburg, Baden and lay out the Liberal platform including a list of 13 demands.

11 September 1847 Susanna, a song by Stephen Foster (21), is performed for the first time, at Eagle Saloon, Pittsburgh.  It is his first big success and is often cited as the beginning of popular music in the United States.

12 September 1847 Florencio García Goyena replaces Joaquín Francisco Pacheco y Gutiérrez Calderón as Prime Minister of Spain.

13 September 1847 At a birthday party for Clara Schumann (28), Piano Trio no.1 op.63 by Robert Schumann (37) is performed for the first time.

After 14 hours of shelling, United States forces capture the fortress of Chapultepec in furious hand to hand fighting.  By the end of the day they capture the two western gates to Mexico City.  At night, Santa Anna leads 9,000 men out of the capital.

14 September 1847 United States forces enter and occupy Mexico City, to only sporadic resistance.  It is the first conquest of a foreign capital by US troops.

Franz Liszt (35) essentially ends his virtuoso career with a performance in Yelisavetgrad (Kirovohrad, Ukraine), 250 km southeast of Kiev.

16 September 1847 At Guadelupe, Antonio López de Santa Anna y Pérez de Lebrón in favor of Chief Justice José Manuel de la Peña y Peña.

17 September 1847 Kitsos Photou Tzavelas replaces Ioannis Kolettis as Prime Minister of Greece.

18 September 1847 Dorfgeschichten op.47, a waltz by Johann Strauss (21), is performed for the first time, at the Wasserglacis, Vienna.

19 September 1847 After a year and a half of official refusals, social intrigue and a disapproving public, Andrea Donizetti finally succeeds in beginning the trip which will transport his uncle Gaetano (49) from Paris to Bergamo.

Moderate liberal François Pierre Guillaume Guizot replaces Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult, duc de Dalmatie as Prime Minister of France.

25 September 1847 Giacomo Meyerbeer (56) is  elected an honorary member of the Prague Conservatory.

28 September 1847 Giacomo Meyerbeer (56) is elected a member of the Dom-Musik-Verein in Salzburg.

30 September 1847 This is the approximate date that Franz Liszt (35) arrives at the home of Princess Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein in Woronice for the first time.

4 October 1847 Ramón María Narváez y Campos, duque de Valencia replaces Florencio García Goyena as Prime Minister of Spain.

Lucca is ceded to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany by Duke Carlo Ludovico of Parma.

Giacomo Meyerbeer (56) tells Otto Nicolai (37) that owing to his intercession with King Friedrich Wilhelm, Nicolai will soon be Kapellmeister in the Berlin Court Theatre.

6 October 1847 The Donizetti entourage arrives in Bergamo at the Palazzo Basoni.  Many well wishers are present but the composer (49) is so ill that he is almost carried into the house.  He will stay in Bergamo with friends who will tend to him until his death.

9 October 1847 While rehearsing songs in Leipzig, Felix Mendelssohn (38) begins exhibiting symptoms of his final illness, including shivering, cold hands and headaches.

10 October 1847 By a doctor’s orders, leeches are applied to Felix Mendelssohn (38).

14 October 1847 Otto Nicolai (37) is named Kapellmeister at the Royal Opera House, Berlin and artistic director of the cathedral choir.  In this capacity he succeeds Mendelssohn (38).

17 October 1847 Incidental music to Elmar’s play Ein Held und seine Liebe by Albert Lortzing (45) is performed for the first time, in Theater an der Wien, Vienna.

19 October 1847 Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë is published in London under the pseudonym Currer Bell.  It sells like hotcakes.

After intense naval bombardment, United States forces capture Guaymas.

21 October 1847 The Civil War between Catholic and Protestant cantons begins in Switzerland over the refusal of Catholic cantons to dissolve the Sonderbund.

22 October 1847 To celebrate the 36th birthday of Franz Liszt, Princess Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein invites local gypsies to her estate at Woronice to play for him.  There are many outdoor activities to which her serfs are invited.  In honor of the day, she forgoes the annual payment of taxes for them.

25 October 1847 Felix Mendelssohn (38) writes to his brother that his health is improving daily.

28 October 1847 While eating lunch with his wife, Felix Mendelssohn (38) suffers a mild stroke and is brought to bed.  He loses the ability to speak for 15 minutes.

1 November 1847 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s epic poem Evangeline is published in book form.

3 November 1847 Felix Mendelssohn (38) suffers another stroke and loses consciousness.

4 November 1847 Hector Berlioz (43) arrives in London to take up his position as music director of the newly re-founded opera company at the Drury Lane Theatre.

21:24  Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy dies at his home in Leipzig, probably from a ruptured brain artery, aged 38 years, nine months and one day.  Attending him are his wife, brother Paul, Heinrich Schleinitz, the pianist Ignaz Moscheles and his doctors.

5 November 1847 Upon hearing the news of Mendelssohn’s death, Robert Schumann (37) immediately travels from Dresden to Leipzig.

7 November 1847 Thousands accompany the body of Felix Mendelssohn from his home to the Paulinerkirche, Leipzig.  There, a funeral service takes place.  Among the pallbearers are Robert Schumann (37) and Ignaz Moscheles.  At 22:00 thousands accompany the mortal remains to the train station, there to be placed upon a train bound for Berlin.

8 November 1847 After an all night train trip from Leipzig, stopping at several towns to receive honors, the funeral train arrives in Berlin at 06:00  The body is borne to the Church of the Holy Trinity for a service, after which the earthly remains of Felix Mendelssohn are laid to rest in the cemetery of the church, near those of his sister Fanny (†0).

9 November 1847 Wilhelmina Carstairs is born in Edinburgh.  The attending physician, Dr. James Young Simpson, oversees the birth while chloroform is administered to the mother.  It is the first use of chloroform in childbirth.

10 November 1847 The Mexican garrison of Mazatlán, Sinaloa, threatened by US warships, evacuates inland.  Troops off the ships occupy the town tomorrow.

11 November 1847 A German Liturgy for chorus and Psalm 98 for solo voice, chorus, two harps, two trumpets and three trombones by Otto Nicolai (37) are performed for the first time, in Berlin.

12 November 1847 Foreign Minister Pablo Buitrago of Nicaragua writes to US Secretary of State James Buchanan in an attempt to enlist North American support to oppose an expected British takeover of the mouth of the San Juan River for a canal.

13 November 1847 Pursuant to voting in unoccupied Mexico, Pedro María de Anaya y de Alvarez replaces José Manuel de la Peña y Peña as interim President of Mexico.

14 November 1847 Elijah by Felix Mendelssohn (†0) is given its Vienna premiere.  “Music stands draped in black, singers dressed in black; on the conductor’s desk lay a score and a laurel wreath, but there was nobody standing at the desk, the performance being led from a lower stand by the chorus master.”

15 November 1847 Les premiers pas, an opéra comique by Daniel-François-Esprit Auber (65), Adolphe Adam (44), Michele Carafa de Colobrano and Fromental Halévy (48) to words of Royer and Vaëz, is performed for the first time, at the opening of the Opéra-National, Paris.

United States forces capture Tampico.

17 November 1847 The Sacred Harmonic Society gives a long-planned performance of Elijah in Exeter Hall, London.  The performers wear clothing suitable for mourning and the audience is asked to refrain from applause.

20 November 1847 Duke Wilhelm II of Hesse-Kassel dies and is succeeded by his son Friedrich Wilhelm.  Friedrich Wilhelm has served as regent for his father since 1831.

Johannes Brahms (14) makes his first public appearance as a pianist in a concert by the violinist Birgfeld.  He plays music of Sigismund Thalberg (35).

24 November 1847 Lucerne, center of the Swiss Conservatives, capitulates to a Radical army under General Dufour.

26 November 1847 Jérusalem, an opéra by Giuseppe Verdi (34) to words of Royer and Vaëz (an adaption of I Lombardi), is performed for the first time, at the Paris Opéra.  It is not a success.

28 November 1847 A setting of Tantum ergo by Gioachino Rossini (55) is performed for the first time, in the Chiesa di San Francesco dei Minori, Bologna.

29 November 1847 Protestant cantons defeat Catholic cantons in the Swiss Sonderbund War.  The Sonderbund is dissolved.

1 December 1847 Ludwig, Prince Ottingen-Wallerstein replaces Friedrich August Karl Maria Philipp Joseph, Baron zu Rhein as President of the Council of Ministers of Bavaria.

4 December 1847 Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë and Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë are published together under the pseudonyms Ellis Bell and Acton Bell respectively.

6 December 1847 The Drury Lane Theatre, under the direction of Hector Berlioz (43), opens for its first production, Donizetti’s (50) Lucia di Lammermoor.

The Thirtieth Congress of the United States convenes in Washington.  The Democratic Party continues to control the Senate but the elections of 1846 brought the Whigs to majority in the House of Representatives.  A newly elected member from Illinois named Abraham Lincoln takes his seat.

7 December 1847 Giacomo Meyerbeer (56) attends a dinner at the residence of the Prussian ambassador in Paris.  After dinner, his friend Alexander von Humboldt informs him of a satrirical article about him in Charivari.  Meyerbeer experiences a recurrence of his “nervous stomach complaint” and tries to make it to the door but collapses into the arms of his servant.  A fellow guest, Dr. Philipps, accompanies the composer home and ministers to him there.

13 December 1847 Zum Grossadmiral, a komische Oper by Albert Lortzing (46) to his own words after Duval (tr. Iffland), is performed for the first time, in Leipzig Stadttheater.

17 December 1847 Duchess Maria Luigia of Parma, daughter of Austrian Emperor Franz II and wife of Emperor Napoléon I, dies in Parma and is succeeded by Carlo II, son of Luigi I of Etruria and grandson of Duke Ferdinando of Parma.

Esmerelda, an opera by Alyeksandr Sergeyevich Dargomizhsky (34) to his own words after Hugo, is performed for the first time, at the Bolshoy Theatre, Moscow.

22 December 1847 From the estate of Princess Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein in Woronice, Franz Liszt (36) writes to Marie d’Agoult, informing her that he has found a woman, “a great character united with a great spirit...”

Symphony no.8 by Louis Spohr (63) is performed for the first time, in Kassel.  It is warmly, but not enthusiastically, received.

23 December 1847 Samuel Sebastian Wesley (37) meets with a serious accident on the River Rye, near Duncombe Park in North Yorkshire.  Accounts vary on how the injury was received, but all agree that Wesley suffers a compound fracture in one leg.  He will be confined in The Black Swan, an inn in Helmsley, for six months, unable to do much of anything except composing.

Algerian leader Abd el-Kader surrenders to the French.

28 December 1847 Haydée, ou Le secret, an opéra comique by Daniel-François-Esprit Auber (65) to words of Scribe after Mérimée, is performed for the first time, at the Théâtre Favart, Paris.

29 December 1847 During dinner at the house of his son, Rev. WR Crotch, in Taunton, William Crotch suffers a heart attack and dies, aged 72 years, five months and 24 days.  He will be buried in the churchyard in Bishop’s Hull near Taunton.

©2004-2012 Paul Scharfenberger

10 July 2012