1848
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1 January 1848 To oppose Austrian domination, citizens of Milan begin a boycott of tobacco (an imperial monopoly) and the Imperial lottery.
3 January 1848 Field Marshall Count Josef Radetzky, commander of Austrian troops in Italy, seeks to provoke the Milanese boycotters of tobacco by issuing cigars and brandy to his men. The drunken soldiers taunt the tobacco-starved citizenry and the inevitable scuffles begin. In the ensuing battles, 61 civilians are killed.
Joseph Jenkins Roberts becomes the first President of the Republic of Liberia.
The United States House of Representatives adopts a resolution stating that the war with Mexico was “unnecessarily and unconstitutionally begun by the President of the United States.”
5 January 1848 The Dresden Verein für Chorgesang, organized by Robert Schumann (37), meets for the first time.
8 January 1848 Francesco V replaces Carlo II as Duke of Guastalla.
José Manuel de la Peña y Peña replaces Pedro María de Anaya y de Alvarez as interim President of Mexico.
12 January 1848 All classes of the population of Palermo rise in rebellion, demanding a restoration of the Napoleonic constitution of 1812. They succeed in taking over the town and institute a provisional government led by Giuseppe La Masa.
Count Vasily Vasilyevich Levashyov becomes Chairman of the Committee of Ministers of Russia.
20 January 1848 King Christian VIII of Denmark dies at Amalienborg and is succeeded by his son Frederik VII.
A fifth child, Ludwig, is born to Clara (28) and Robert (37) Schumann.
21 January 1848 Marie Eugène Henri Duparc is born in Paris, the son of Louis-Charles Duparc, director of the Western Railway, and Frédérique Amélie de Gaité, daughter of a noble family from Lorraine.
24 January 1848 While building a sawmill along the American River near Coloma, California, James W. Marshall and Captain John A. Sutter discover gold.
26 January 1848 Henry David Thoreau delivers the first draft of Civil Disobedience to his publisher in Concord, Massachusetts.
28 January 1848 Bedrich Smetana (23) applies to the authorities to establish a private music institute in Prague.
29 January 1848 In the face of popular demonstrations, King Ferdinando II of the Two Sicilies promises a constitution.
Princess Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein departs her estate in Woronice a few days after Franz Liszt (36) leaves for Weimar. She is traveling to Kiev to sell off some of her property, bid good-bye to her mother, and begin the process to annul her marriage with Nicholas Sayn-Wittgenstein.
2 February 1848 The Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo is signed in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, ending the North American war. Mexico receives $15,000,000 and cancellation of all claims against it. The United States receives land encompassing the present states of California, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah and parts of Colorado and Arizona, as well as confirmation of sovereignty over Texas. The border is set at the Rio Grande.
The first responsible government in British North America is formed in Nova Scotia when an executive council is formed exclusively from the majority party.
3 February 1848 Sir Henry Smith, governor of the Cape Colony, annexes the territory between the Orange and Vaal Rivers.
8 February 1848 After reading a letter from Marie d’Agoult to Franz Liszt (36), wherein Marie tells him that Carolyne will not want to be one of his mistresses, Princess Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein writes that “I would be happy for her to know that, on the contrary, one really wants to be one of the mistresses...for there are devotions without limits.”
9 February 1848 Lola Montez, mistress of King Ludwig I of Bavaria, is forced to take refuge in a Munich church from an angry mob of university students who dislike her leftist influence on the king.
10 February 1848 The constitution promised by King Ferdinando II of the Two Sicilies on 29 January is promulgated.
12 February 1848 To appease the general displeasure at her presence, Lola Montez flees Bavaria.
13 February 1848 King Carlo Alberto of Sardinia announces a constitution for his country, causing general rejoicing.
15 February 1848 The Caledonian Railway opens from Carlisle to Edinburgh and Glasgow.
16 February 1848 Frédéric Chopin (37) makes his first appearance in almost six years in a program which includes the public premiere of his cello sonata op.65. One critic calls him “the Ariel of pianists.” Among the 300 in attendance at the Salle Pleyel is an interested American named Louis Moreau Gottschalk (18). Unknown to all present, this is Chopin's last performance in Paris.
Hector Berlioz (44) conducts a command performance at the Drury Lane Theatre before Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, and the Duke and Duchess of Saxe-Coburg.
17 February 1848 With his subjects inspired by the new constitution in Naples, Grand Duke Leopoldo grants a constitution in Tuscany.
19 February 1848 The Treaty of Guadelupe-Hidalgo arrives in Washington. Despite the fact that he had sacked the American negotiator months before, President Polk submits it to the Senate. They will ratify.
22 February 1848 French republicans plan a protest banquet in favor of expanded suffrage. When the government bans this, the protest turns into street demonstrations. 700 armed students march from the Latin Quarter to the Palais Bourbon (seat of the Chamber of Deputies) and thence to the Champs-Elysées, singing republican songs. Dragoons called out to oppose them refuse to impede the crowd. By sundown, barricades are up and theatres are closed.
César Franck (25) marries Félicité (Saillot) Desmousseaux, daughter of two actors in the Comédie-Française, in the Church of Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, Paris. Desmousseaux is the stage name of her parents, Saillot her legal name. The couple are given safe conduct by revolutionaries over their barricades as they leave church.
23 February 1848 French troops march into Paris and take up strategic positions. The National Guard is called out. Hoping to assuage the crowds, King Louis-Philippe tearfully dismisses Prime Minister Guizot. A mob protesting inflation, food shortages and unemployment sparks gunfire in front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Paris. Over 60 people are killed, 81 injured.
After composing in the morning, Giacomo Meyerbeer (56) roams the streets of Paris in search of what is going on.
Congressman (and former president) John Quincy Adams suffers a stroke at his desk in the chamber of the House of Representatives in Washington. He is borne to the Speaker’s Room where he dies, at the age of 80.
24 February 1848 King Louis-Philippe appoints the opposition leader Louis Adolphe Thiers as Prime Minister of France. The new government sends word to the barricades to end the rebellion but they begin to call for a republic. The King abdicates in favor of his nine-year-old grandson, the Count of Paris. Workers occupy the Tuileries shortly after the King and Queen depart, eating a lunch prepared for the royal family. They break 23,000 pieces of glassware but refuse to touch the paintings, fearing they could never be replaced. The Chamber of Deputies installs a provisional republican government led by Jacques Charles Dupont de l’Eure as president and Alphonse de Lamartine.
Giacomo Meyerbeer (56) spends most of the day on the streets of Paris watching the show. He is at the Palais Royal when most of the furniture comes flying out the windows.
As revolution erupts outside his Paris window, Jules Massenet (5) receives his first music lesson, from his mother.
25 February 1848 The provisional government of Louis Adolphe Thiers proclaims itself the head of the French Republic, thus deposing the Orléans monarchy. Justice Minister Adolphe Crémieux orders the release of all political prisoners and indictments against the ministers of the royal government.
Giacomo Meyerbeer (56) visits the Prussian embassy in Paris to have his passport renewed. He plans to leave the country soon.
26 February 1848 A 29-year-old Karl Marx publishes The Communist Manifesto in London.
27 February 1848 Charles Hubert Hastings Parry is born at Bournemouth, the sixth child born to Thomas Gambier Parry, a painter and art collector, and Anna Maria Isabella Fynes Clinton, of aristocratic lineage and daughter of a former member of Parliament. Mrs. Parry gives birth in the last stages of tuberculosis and will die in twelve days. They are in Bournemouth in an attempt to recover her health.
Giacomo Meyerbeer (56) contributes 500 francs to a fund for those wounded in the fighting in Paris.
A large political demonstration takes place in Karlsruhe, Baden calling for the Radical-Liberal demands of free press, trial by jury and a German parliament.
28 February 1848 Louis Napoleon Bonaparte leaves London for Paris.
The United States becomes the first government to recognize the new French Republic. The deed is accomplished by Minister Richard Rush without authority from Washington. When they hear of it at the end of next month, the President and Secretary of State will concur.
29 February 1848 News of the fall of the French monarchy reaches Vienna. Long lines begin appearing outside banks with depositors changing paper money for silver.
1 March 1848 Otto Nicolai (37) becomes Kapellmeister at the Berlin Opera.
2 March 1848 Former King Louis-Philippe of France and his wife arrive in England.
3 March 1848 Hungarian nationalist-liberal leader Lajos Kossuth speaks before the Hungarian Diet, demanding that Hungary have a separate ministry, army and treasury.
The German Diet grants each state the right to revoke the reactionary measures of 1819.
4 March 1848 A liberal constitution goes into effect in Piedmont.
A funeral is celebrated in the Madeleine, Paris, in remembrance of all those who died in the recent fighting. Hundreds of thousands of people gather peacefully from the church to the Place de la Bastille.
At the home of Charlotte Marliani in Paris, Frédéric Chopin (38) accidentally meets George Sand. They speak politely. He tells her that her daughter has just given birth. Sand will remember, “I pressed his trembling and icy hand, I wanted to speak to him; he fled. It was my turn to say that he no longer loved me. I spared him that suffering...” Chopin writes “She asked how I was--I said I was well, and then I called for the concierge to open the door. I raised my hat and walked back home to the Square d’Orléans...” Edmond Combes, who was with Chopin will recall that he was “very sad, very depressed.” Chopin and Sand will never see each other again.
5 March 1848 51 delegates from south German states meet in Heidelberg to constitute a German parliament elected by universal suffrage.
Two days of rioting and looting break out in Glasgow. Citizens protest unemployment and a general economic downturn, partly spurred on by events on the continent. All manufacturing centers in Great Britain will see riots.
Heinrich, Baron Gagern replaces Karl Wilhelm Heinrich du Bos du Thil as Prime Minister of Hesse-Darmstadt.
6 March 1848 The Glasgow rioting is put down by cavalry.
King Ludwig I grants a free press in Bavaria.
Clashes erupt in Silesia by Polish bourgeoisie and peasants against the Prussian army.
7 March 1848 An assembly of Prussian citizens meets in the Zelte (a district near the Spree in Berlin) and petitions King Friedrich Wilhelm to immediately call the Diet and grant press freedom.
8 March 1848 The Orange River Sovereignty is annexed to the Cape Colony.
9 March 1848 Forty fraternity men meet in Vienna, pledge themselves to the German Fatherland, and draft a petition to the Lower Austrian assembly for the abolition of censorship and the granting of academic freedom.
The German Diet adopts the tricolor of black-red-gold as the official colors of the confederation.
Karl Georg Hoffmann replaces Johann Baptist Bekk as Prime Minister of Baden.
Friedrich von Römer becomes Prime Minister of Württemberg.
10 March 1848 The German Diet calls upon the member states to send “men trusted by the public” to Frankfurt for the writing of a new German constitution.
The United States Senate ratifies the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo.
11 March 1848 An assembly of Czechs meets in Prague to demand autonomy and constitutional reform for Bohemia.
Johannes Brahms (14) hears Joseph Joachim (17) play for the first time, in Hamburg. The prodigious violinist performs Beethoven’s (†20) Violin Concerto. Brahms is enthralled by the music and the performer.
12 March 1848 Viennese students sign their petition after mass and in the evening, a professor presents it to Emperor Ferdinand who promises to consider it.
Czech leaders demand equality with Austria and democratic reforms.
13 March 1848 A crowd consisting of university students and professors, members of a merchants’ association, and a group of factory workers assembles before the palace of Prince Metternich in Vienna to petition for freedom of the press, a city charter and participation of the middle class in appointed councils. Metternich orders the crowd fired upon. 30 people are killed. This turns the crowd into a mob which immediately sets about arming itself. The Emperor accedes to all demands and dismisses Metternich who flees the city with a false passport. Metternich is replaced as Chancellor by Alfred Candidus Ferdinand Fürst zu Windischgrätz.
Small clashes begin between unruly citizens and soldiers in Berlin.
14 March 1848 Pope Pius IX approves a constitution for the Papal States. Two deliberative bodies are set up to create laws.
Klemens August Graf von Waldkirch replaces Ludwig, Prince Ottingen-Wallerstein as acting President of the Council of Ministers of Bavaria.
Troops are called out to counter growing numbers of revolutionary-minded workers in Berlin.
Free press is granted in Austria and a national guard is formed to patrol the streets of Vienna.
Grand Duke Carl Friedrich of Weimar replaces some unpopular ministers in his government, as demanded by crowds of workers and peasants, thus ending the “revolution” in Weimar.
15 March 1848 Crowds gather before the royal palace in Berlin. Sporadic battles cause deaths and injuries.
Lajos Kossuth arrives in Vienna and wins his demands for a separate Hungarian government and an Austrian constitution, announced by Emperor Ferdinand.
A crowd gathers in Pest, encouraged by revolutionary students, and begins anti-Austrian acts, organizing a Committee of Safety and militia. The Hungarian Diet, in Pressburg (Bratislava), votes to establish free press, a national guard, a tax on the nobility and the end of feudalism.
16 March 1848 Prussian soldiers fire on unruly civilians in Berlin, killing two.
Faced with demands for an assembly, King Ludwig of Bavaria abdicates in favor of his son who reigns as Maximilian II.
Alexander Karl Hermann Braun replaces Julius Traugott Jakob von Könneritz as Prime Minister of Saxony.
17 March 1848 When the news of the Vienna insurrection reaches Venice, a great crowd assembles in St. Mark’s square and overruns the prison holding the lawyer and reformer Daniel Manin. Thus liberated, he makes a republican oration and the Italian tricolor is tied to one of the great poles in front of San Marco so that the Austrians can not remove it.
Lajos, Count Batthyány becomes Prime Minister of Hungary.
As the Austrian ballerina Fanny Elssler dances in La Scala, Milan, the chorus wear revolutionary symbols on their costumes. The crowd is split between Austrians cheering her performance and Italians shouting patriotic epithets. As a result of the tumult, she faints. The theatre is closed.
18 March 1848 Crowds before the royal palace in Berlin demanding a liberal constitution are attacked by troops. This sparks counterattacks and barricades by demonstrators throughout the city and the general battle continues until nightfall. King Friedrich Wilhelm IV orders the army to put down the insurrection. Unknown numbers are killed and injured.
Citizens of Milan rise against Austrian occupation, beginning with a peaceful march to press demands for a national guard. Austrian soldiers fire into this crowd, causing the survivors to quickly build barricades and kill of as many soldiers as can be found. Count Radetzky removes his troops from the city and institutes a siege.
Many Polish landowners sign the Address to the (Austrian) Emperor at Lemberg (Lviv), requesting, among other things, the complete abolition of serfdom and the creation of a national guard.
19 March 1848 After failing to conquer the insurrection, Prussian troops are removed from the streets of Berlin in an attempt by the king to convince the mob of his good faith. A mass demonstration is held in Berlin to honor those killed yesterday and King Friedrich Wilhelm is forced to attend. As the bodies of the fallen, killed by his troops, are paraded before the king, their names and manner of death are announced. When the king tells the crowd that all their demands are granted, including a constitution, the crowd disperses. King Friedrich Wilhelm appoints Adolf Heinrich, Count von Arnim-Boitzenburg as Prime Minister.
Robert Schumann (37) notes the “great news from Berlin” in his Haushaltbuch.
In Offenburg, radical and liberal leaders meet to organize the political movement in Baden from the grass roots.
Count Palffy, Austrian governor of Venice, accedes to the republican demand for a small civic guard. By evening, 3,000 Venetians are under arms.
Revolution begins in the Duchy of Parma with demands for a constitution.
Georgios Andreou Koundouriotis replaces Kitsos Photou Tzavelas as Prime Minister of Greece.
20 March 1848 Frantisek Antonin, Count Kolowrat-Libstensky becomes acting Prime Minister of Austria replacing Chancellor Alfred Candidus Ferdinand Fürst zu Windischgrätz.
A provisional government is formed in Parma under Luigi Sanvitale, count of Fontanellato.
21 March 1848 Spanish Prime Minister Narváez dismisses the Cortes and suspends certain constitutional liberties in an effort to preempt the revolutionary contagion.
In London, Hector Berlioz (44) signs the preface to his Mémoires.
King Frederik VII of Denmark incorporates the Duchy of Schleswig fully into Denmark.
22 March 1848 Colonel Marinovich, Austrian commander of the Venetian arsenal, is murdered. In the confusion, republican leader Daniel Manin and some civic guards take the arsenal and distribute the arms to citizens. The Austrians are disarmed and cannon are turned on the governor’s palace. Governor Count Palffy resigns, leaving power to a military governor, Count Zichy, who is forced to accede to Manin’s demands. Venice proclaims itself an independent republic.
A provisional government for Milan is constituted under Count Gabrio Casati.
Adam Wilhelm greve Moltke replaces Poul Christian Stemann as Prime Minister of Denmark.
Readers of the Neue Berliner Musikzeitung are told that a new world of freedom has arrived and that this new world would find expression in the arts.
Giacomo Meyerbeer (56) receives word of the events in Berlin. He is relieved that his family is safe.
23 March 1848 The siege of Milan is broken and Count Radetzky withdraws his Austrian troops to Venetia.
Sardinia declares war on Austria as Sardinian troops march into Lombardy to aid the uprising in Milan.
Daniel Manin moves into the governor’s palace in Venice at the head of a provisional republican government.
The Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein revolt against the Danish crown and set up provisional governments.
Bedrich Smetana (24) writes to Franz Liszt (36) pleading poverty, sketching his ideas for a music institute in Prague, asking Liszt to accept the dedication of his opus 1 (6 characteristic pieces), asking Liszt to find a publisher for it, and requesting a loan of 400 gulden.
24 March 1848 Over 100 Milanese irregulars (soon to reach 2,500) march out of Milan in pursuit of the Austrians.
The Estates of Schleswig-Holstein declare independence from Denmark and appeal to the German Parliament for assistance. A provisional government is established at Kiel. German citizens take the Fortress of Rendsburg and its military stores.
After days of liberal demonstrations, riots break out in Amsterdam.
Pope Pius IX blesses 12,000 volunteers as they march from Rome to Lombardy.
Provisional governments are set up in Modena and Reggio under Provisional President Giuseppe Malmusi.
25 March 1848 Gerrit, Count Schimmelpenninck becomes chief minister of the Netherlands.
A “national assembly” of Croats meets in Zagreb.
26 March 1848 Tsar Nikolay I issues a manifesto declaring that Russia will resist all revolutionary forces.
A civilian rising in Madrid is easily crushed by troops.
28 March 1848 A second Bohemian manifesto, this one not supported by German residents, demands a common Diet for Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia and a responsible ministry.
29 March 1848 Gottfried Ludolf Camphausen replaces Adolf Heinrich, Count von Arnim-Boitzenburg as Prime Minister of Prussia.
30 March 1848 Franz Liszt (36) writes to Bedrich Smetana (24) acknowledging his dedication of opus 1, promising to recommend Smetana’s op.1 for publication, and expressing a desire to meet him, all of which he will do.
31 March 1848 Past and present members of legislative bodies of all German states meet in Frankfurt to organize an all-German parliament.
1 April 1848 Gaetano Donizetti (50) suffers a seizure that paralyzes his arms and left leg and locks his teeth. This will subside in the morning.
2 April 1848 Princess Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein leaves her estate at Woronice for the last time. She has cast her lot with her lover, Franz Liszt (36) and is traveling to join him in Kryzanowicz.
The German colors are hung from the tower of St. Stephen’s Cathedral, Vienna.
Hungarian peasants are emancipated from feudal obligations.
The provisional governments in Modena and Reggio are joined.
A ceremony takes place in the courtyard of the Paris Opéra led by the Minister of the Interior and other important officials. They plant a liberty tree to identify it as a temple at the service of the Second Republic.
3 April 1848 The Chicago Board of Trade is founded.
4 April 1848 Gaetano Donizetti (50) suffers yet another seizure, for an hour. He is administered the Last Rites of the Roman Catholic Church.
5 April 1848 Giuseppe Verdi (34) arrives in Milan from Paris, in the midst of the revolution.
8 April 1848 The Vienna government accedes to Czech demands for a responsible government in Prague.
Sardinian forces defeat the Austrians at Goito.
17:00 Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti dies in Bergamo of meningovascular syphilis, aged 50 years, four months and ten days.
9 April 1848 Danish forces defeat a Schleswig-Holstein army at Bau and force them to retreat.
10 April 1848 A mass demonstration called by Chartists in London in favor of universal male suffrage is called off when the government begins assembling troops. This is seen as the last gasp of chartism and the beginning of British socialism.
Prussian troops attack Polish insurgents near Tremeszna.
Gustaf Sparre replaces Arvid Posse as Prime Minister for Justice of Sweden. Gustaf Nils Algernon Stierneld replaces Albrecht Ihre as Prime Minister for Foreign Affairs.
The Illinois and Michigan Canal opens between Chicago and LaSalle. It connects the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River.
11 April 1848 The city of Bergamo gives an elaborate funeral for its most famous son, Gaetano Donizetti. Eight doctors perform an autopsy in the toolshed of the Valtesse Cemetery and the earthly remains of the composer are then placed in the vault of the Pezzoli family.
Provisional governments are set up in Parma and Piacenza. Gregorio Ferdinando, Count of Castagnola replaces Luigi Sanvitale, Count of Fontanellato as president of the provisional government in Parma. Pietro Gioia heads the provisional government in Piacenza.
The Hungarian Diet adjourns in Pozsony (Bratislava). Over the last month they have passed 31 new laws which are, in effect, a new constitution. It calls for a constitutional monarchy based on liberal ideals, but falls short of demands of the radicals.
Negotiators for Prussia and Polish insurgents sign the Jaroslawiec Agreement. Poles in Posnania (Prussian Poland) are granted certain language and administrative concessions in return for a maintenance of order in the district.
12 April 1848 Friedrich Hecker, leader of the radical liberals, and Gustav von Streuve lead a putsch proclaiming a German Republic in Constance. They organize a rag-tag army and invade Baden.
13 April 1848 The Parliament of Sicily deposes the king and declares its independence from The Two Sicilies. Ruggero Settimo heads a provisional government.
14 April 1848 In response to the European revolts, Tsar Nikolay I of Russia sets up a special committee to ensure strict censorship.
15 April 1848 Giuseppe Garibaldi, 56 men, two cannon and 800 muskets (donated by the government of Uruguay) sail from Montevideo for Italy. Garibaldi was in Uruguay fleeing a death sentence. They are unaware of the Milanese uprising but will learn of it in the mid-Atlantic from a passing ship.
18 April 1848 Princess Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein meets Franz Liszt (36) at the hunting castle of his friend Felix Lichnowsky in Silesia. She leaves Russia moments before the border is closed to protect against infection from revolutionary Europe.
6 May 1848 Frédéric Chopin (38) leaves Paris for London.
Prussia abrogates the Jaroslawiec Agreement in the first of a series of pitched battles with Polish insurgents.
19 April 1848 Karl Ludwig, Count Ficquelmont replaces Frantisek Antonin, Count Kolwrat-Libstensky as Prime Minister of Austria.
General Jelacic orders that all officials in Croatia sever communication with the Hungarian government and take orders only from him.
Apprentices run amok in the Jewish district of Budapest, looting and terrorizing the population. Order is restored by the national guard and regular troops.
20 April 1848 Sikhs mutiny against the British at Multan setting off a general Sikh uprising.
German republicans, led by Friedrich Hecker, battle Baden troops and are defeated. Hecker flees to Switzerland.
Frédéric Chopin (38) arrives in London and, as before, his lungs are affected by the coal smoke.
21 April 1848 Giuseppe Verdi (34) writes to his librettist Piave from Milan, “I am drunk with joy. Just think--there are no more Germans here!!”
23 April 1848 German (mostly Prussian) troops defeat the Danes near the city of Schleswig.
Today and tomorrow, elections are held in France for the first assembly of the Second Republic.
25 April 1848 Emperor Ferdinand declares Austria a constitutional state with a bicameral legislature.
26 April 1848 Revolutionary disturbances in Kraków are ended by a Russian bombardment.
27 April 1848 The Second Republic abolishes slavery in all French lands.
German missionary Johannes Rebmann and caravan leader Bwana Kheri depart Mombasa in search of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Within two weeks, Rebmann will be the first European to see it.
28 April 1848 Gioachino Rossini (56), believing his life to be in danger from revolutionaries who question his support for their cause, leaves Bologna for Florence.
In order to keep them from discussing the Frankfurt assembly, King Friedrich August II of Saxony dissolves the Saxon Diet in Dresden.
Richard Wagner (34) completes Lohengrin in Dresden.
Prussia offers military support to any German king who refuses to consent to the German constitution.
Ibrahim Sarim Pasha replaces Mustafa Resid Pasha as Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire.
29 April 1848 Pope Pius IX announces that he can not support other Italians in fighting the Austrians, but he will not stop any of his subjects who wish to volunteer.
Otto Camillus Hugo Graf von Bray-Steinburg replaces Klemens August Graf von Waldkirch as President of the Council of Ministers of Bavaria.
30 April 1848 In its last act, the Saxon Diet acclaims the German constitution.
The Polish National Committee of the Grand Duchy of Poznan, believing Prussia and Germany to be untrustworthy, votes itself out of existence.
Polish forces rout the Prussians at Miloslaw.
1 May 1848 Elections are held throughout the German states for a German Parliament.
A law goes into effect in Great Britain limiting women and children aged 13-18 to work no more than ten hours per day, five days per week and only eight hours on Saturday.
A manifesto is signed by Czech intellectuals and aristocrats, calling for a congress “of all Slav nations of the Austrian Empire.” This is done partly to counter the demands of the Frankfurt Assembly on Austria.
Stanislaw Moniuszko’s (28) Bajka overture is performed for the first time, in Vilnius.
2 May 1848 The Leipzig militia unanimously supports the German constitution.
Polish forces defeat the Prussians at Sokolowo.
3 May 1848 Finnish students hold a peaceful nationalistic gathering in Kumtähti meadow near Helsinki.
4 May 1848 A new Constitutional Assembly for the French Republic opens, elected by the broadest suffrage yet seen. It is surprisingly moderate.
6 May 1848 With revolution in the air, Franz Liszt (36) is serenaded at his hotel by a group of medical students. He tells them that a “conductor” will have to be found for the impending uprising.
7 May 1848 The España Regiment mutinies in Madrid.
8 May 1848 Electors meet to choose the first Prussian assembly.
Giuseppe Verdi (34) buys the first parcel of land he is to own at Sant’ Agata.
9 May 1848 Emperor Ferdinand of Austria grants partial adult male suffrage.
Polish insurgents surrender to Prussia at Bardo, east of Posen (Poznan).
Philippe Joseph Benjamin Buchez becomes President of the National Constituent Assembly of France, thus effective head of state.
10 May 1848 Citizens march in Budapest in protest of a military commander they accuse of hiding weapons from them. The crowd is charged by Austrian troops resulting in one death and many injuries.
The Kingdom of Sardinia annexes Parma.
A “national assembly” of Slovaks meets in Liptovsky Sväty Mikulas.
Dominique François Jean Arago is named Chairman of the Executive Power Commission in France, thus succeeding Philippe Joseph Benjamin Buchez as head of state.
11 May 1848 Giacomo Meyerbeer (56) departs Paris for home in Berlin.
When election laws for the new Reichstag are announced, armed students and workers fill the streets of Vienna. They force the government to issue laws with wider suffrage.
12 May 1848 Tuscany annexes Massa and Carrara.
13 May 1848 Serbs convene a national assembly at Karlowitz (Sremski Karlovici). It proves to be a forum for Southern Slav unity, including Croats and Bulgarians.
Frédéric Chopin (38) writes from London of his dismay at the failure of the Polish insurrection. “Disaster on disaster! My soul feels no more desire.”
14 May 1848 Giacomo Meyerbeer (56) arrives in Berlin from Paris.
15 May 1848 After the Austrian government suppresses an opposition committee, a mass demonstration in Vienna forces Emperor Ferdinand to revoke the constitution and promise to convene a constitutional assembly. With this, the Emperor flees from Vienna to Innsbruck.
The Austrian governor of Galicia ends serfdom in that province.
10,000 Parisian workers (among them George Sand), carrying a petition to support Poland, march from the Place de la Bastille to the National Assembly. They storm the National Assembly hall and order the dissolution of the assembly, forming a provisional government led by Armand Barbès. With the arrival of the National Guard, the insurrection fails and Barbès is arrested.
40,000 Romanians meet near Blaj, 250 km northwest of Bucharest, and institute liberal reforms similar to those of Hungary, although adding various nationalistic and religious demands.
Riots occur at the first convening of the Parliament in Naples. King Ferdinando will use this as an excuse to repress liberal reforms.
Frédéric Chopin (38) gives his first London performance in Stafford (Lancaster) House at a dinner given for attenders of the christening of Alexandrina, daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Sutherland. Illustrious personages present include Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, the Duke of Wellington and the Prince of Prussia (later Kaiser Wilhelm I). The Queen notes in her diary that “some pianists” played.
16 May 1848 Richard Wagner (34) submits a “Plan for the Organization of a German National Theatre for the Kingdom of Saxony.”
The Hungarian government calls for the recruitment of ten divisions of a national guard.
18 May 1848 The German National Assembly convenes in St. Paul’s Church, Frankfurt.
General Josip Jelacic creates a government in Croatia independent of Hungary.
Bedrich Smetana (24) receives official permission to establish his music institute in Prague.
19 May 1848 Franz, Baron Pillersdorf replaces Karl Ludwig, Count Ficquelmont as acting Prime Minister of Austria.
The Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo is ratified by the Congress of Mexico.
22 May 1848 The Prussian assembly meets for the first time, in the palace of the King of Prussia, to hear his speech.
25 May 1848 The Kingdom of Sardinia takes over administration of Piacenza, Modena and Reggio.
26 May 1848 Once again, workers and students take over the streets of Vienna. The authorities are powerless to stop them.
27 May 1848 The German National Assembly votes not to suppress any nationality.
28 May 1848 Two works by Johann Strauss (22) are performed for the first time, in Casino Zögernitz, Vienna: Freiheitslieder op.52, a waltz, and Revolutions-Marsch op.54.
29 May 1848 A plebiscite in Piedmont votes for immediate union with Lombardy.
Count Leo Thun, Imperial governor of Bohemia, refuses to obey any further orders from the Vienna government.
Austrian forces defeat Tuscans at Curtatone.
Wisconsin becomes the 30th state of the United States.
30 May 1848 Sardinian forces defeat the Austrians at Goito.
William G. Young of Baltimore receives a US patent for an ice cream freezer.
The Mexican Congress ratifies the Treaty of Guadelupe-Hidalgo.
1 June 1848 Karl Marx takes up the position of editor of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung.
Great Britain claims that the southern border of its protectorate over the Mosquito kingdom is the San Juan River. They raise the Mosquito flag at the mouth of the river and name the point Greytown after Governor Grey of Jamaica. It is an attempt to pre-empt US expansion in Central America and prevents Nicaragua from using the San Juan as part of a canal.
2 June 1848 The Pan-Slav Congress opens in Prague. Among other things, they blame Germans and Hungarians for the lack of unity among Slavs.
3 June 1848 Czech radicals attempt to seize power in Prague, providing an excuse for the Austrian military to intervene and subdue them by force. This marks the first victory of the counterrevolution.
José Joaquín Antonio Florencio de Herrera y Ricardos replaces José Manuel de la Peña y Peña as President of Mexico.
Two works by Johann Strauss (22) are performed for the first time, in Vienna: Studenten-Marsch op.56 at the Alte Universität, and Liguorianer-Seufzer op.57, a scherzpolka, at the Blaue Flasche
4 June 1848 In by-elections to the French Assembly, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, nephew and heir to Napoleon, wins a seat.
5 June 1848 A new Croatian Sabor (assembly) meets in Zagreb. It is the first Sabor to be selected on democratic lines.
William Thomson (later Lord Kelvin) reads his paper “On an Absolute Thermometric Scale…” to the Cambridge Philosophical Society.
8 June 1848 The Dresdener Chorgesangverein performs Three Mixed Choruses for the first time, composed by their accompanist, Clara Schumann (28) as a birthday present for their conductor, Robert Schumann (38). Clara and the chorus have rehearsed the music secretly in order to surprise him.
Franz Liszt (35) and Richard Wagner (35) spend an evening with Robert Schumann (38) at his home in Dresden. Unfortunately, Liszt and Schumann argue over the abilities of Mendelssohn (†0) and Meyerbeer (56). Soon, Wagner will ask Liszt for money.
9 June 1848 US President James K. Polk offers Spain $100,000,000 for Cuba.
10 June 1848 Austrians overwhelm a hastily assembled Italian force at Vicenza.
12 June 1848 A demonstration by an unarmed crowd in Wenceslas Square, Prague is attacked by Austrian troops under Prince Windischgrätz, precipitating barricades and a demand for the withdrawal of the troops. Bedrich Smetana (24) joins the Svornost Corps and mans the barricades.
Serbs in southern Hungary revolt against the new Hungarian government.
On his journey south from Berlin, Giacomo Meyerbeer (56) is warned by travelers that fighting has broken out in Prague. He returns to the last station, Zdiby, and makes arrangements to take a coach around Prague to the first station after the city, Jessnitz (Jesenice).
13 June 1848 Adolf Fischhof, chairman of the Vienna Committee of Public Safety (the most radical organization in Austria) backs war against the Italians because the honor of Austrian arms is at stake.
15 June 1848 Austrian forces withdraw from Prague.
16 June 1848 Grand Duke Ludwig II of Hesse-Darmstadt dies in Darmstadt and is succeeded by his son, Ludwig III.
Administration of the Duchy of Guastalla is taken over by the Kingdom of Sardinia.
17 June 1848 Richard Wagner (35) reads his article “What relationship do republican endeavors bear to the monarchy?” to the Vaterlandsverein. It is strongly anti-monarchy.
Austrian forces bombard Prague causing its capitulation, the arrest or exile of pan-slav leaders, martial law in Bohemia and the indefinite postponement of elections to a Czech Diet.
20 June 1848 It is reported that the bourgeois government has decided to draft all French workers engaged in unrest over the last month.
21 June 1848 At a mass meeting at Islaz on the Danube, a revolutionary government for Wallachia is proclaimed.
The French National Assembly abolishes the “national workshops” which were designed to combat unemployment. Despite proletarian support, the new government is becoming decidedly bourgeois.
Segna Iddio ne’suoi confini by Gioachino Rossini (56) to words of Martinelli is performed for the first time, in Bologna’s Piazza Maggiore. It was orchestrated by his friend, Domenico Liverani. The composer is not there. He has fled to Florence because of charges from various quarters that he is either a conservative or a liberal.
22 June 1848 Word spreads through Paris that workers’ organizations, the National Workshops, have been dissolved by the government. Large crowds gather throughout the city to protest.
23 June 1848 Workers begin building barricades near the Place de la Bastille and throughout the city. Through fierce fighting, they eventually win control over three distinct areas of Paris. It is an insurrection against the bourgeois republic, perhaps the first class war in modern Europe.
Romanian hospodar George Bibescu accepts a revolutionary cabinet and a constitution.
General R. Cabrera re-enters Spain to lead a Carlist revolt in support of Don Carlos’ son Montemolin.
Richard Wagner (35) inaugurates the voluminous Wagner-Liszt (36) correspondence, and a very important friendship. He asks Liszt for money.
Frédéric Chopin (38) plays at the home of the retired singer Adelaide Kemble Sartoris in Eton Place. Among the 150 people present are William Makepeace Thackeray and Jenny Lind.
24 June 1848 The French Assembly votes to end the Executive Commission and appoint General Louis Eugène Cavaignac dictator to deal with the insurrection. Furious fighting continues with neither side gaining an advantage.
Giuseppe Garibaldi and his men arrive in Nice to general rejoicing.
25 June 1848 Rudolf Ludwig Cäsar von Auerswald replaces Gottfried Ludolf Camphausen as Prime Minister of Prussia.
French government troops begin to force the workers from their strongholds in bloody street fighting.
Romanian hospodar George Bibescu abdicates. A provisional government is named. It is egalitarian and nationalistic.
The final section of Scenes from Goethe’s Faust for solo voices, chorus and orchestra by Robert Schumann (38) is performed for the first time, in a private performance directed by the composer.
26 June 1848 French government forces subdue the last workers’ stronghold at the Faubourg Saint-Antoine. In the evening they shoot or stab 150 prisoners to death. Four days of insurrection have cost 1,460 lives. Some estimates are higher.
27 June 1848 The French National Assembly votes to deport anyone captured in the June insurrection, a total of about 1,700 people.
A primitive, steam powered air conditioning is used at the Broadway Theatre, New York.
28 June 1848 General Louis Eugène Cavaignac takes on the additional title of Prime Minister. The post has been vacant since 24 February.
William Makepeace Thackeray dates the preface (“Before the Curtain”) to his novel Vanity Fair. It has already been serialized over the last 18 months.
29 June 1848 The German National Assembly creates the post of Imperial Vice-Regent and names Grand Duke Johann of Austria to the post.
Hector Berlioz’ (44) second London concert establishes his reputation with the London press. His orientale La captive for soprano and orchestra to words of Hugo is performed for the first time, at this concert.
1 July 1848 Citizen forces take to the streets in Bucharest to save the revolutionary government from conservative elements of the military. They are led by Ana Ipatescu.
The Leeds Intelligencer announces that Samuel Sebastian Wesley (38) has returned to the town after being laid up for six months in Helmsley.
3 July 1848 Giuseppe Garibaldi offers his sword to King Carlo Alberto of Sardinia. The King refuses his help, fearing his radical views.
4 July 1848 The Venetian Assembly votes to unite Venetia with Sardinia.
5 July 1848 Daniel Manin resigns the Venetian government because of his opposition to monarchies, including that of Sardinia. Jacopo Castelli becomes President of the provisional government.
7 July 1848 At the invitation of the Ottoman Empire, Russian troops enter Moldavia to put down a revolt.
Frédéric Chopin (38) is the principal performer at the residence of the Earl of Falmouth, London.
8 July 1848 Anton, Baron Doblhoff-Dier replaces Franz, Baron Pillersdorf as Prime Minister of Austria.
10 July 1848 The Sicilian Parliament names Sardinian Prince Ferdinando Maria Alberto Amadeo Filiberto Vincenzo to be their king. He will not take up the post.
11 July 1848 The Hungarian Diet votes to raise 200,000 troops to oppose the Imperial army.
13 July 1848 Hector Berlioz (44) and his mistress Marie Recio leave London, heading for Paris.
14 July 1848 Hector Berlioz (44) returns to Paris from England to find the city a shambles from the revolutions and intellectually inactive.
17 July 1848 The French National Assembly votes 200,000 francs for the relief of those in the artistic world displaced by the revolution.
18 July 1848 Johann, Baron Wessenberg-Ampringen replaces Anton, Baron Doblhoff-Dier as Prime Minister of Austria.
19 July 1848 The first Women’s Rights convention opens in Seneca Falls, New York, chaired by Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Ms. Stanton proposes female suffrage in the United States.
22 July 1848 Archduke Johann of Austria inaugurates a Reichstag in Vienna. The 383 deputies representing all areas of the empire except Italy and Hungary are intent upon creating a constitutional government.
25 July 1848 Austrian forces under Field Marshal Radetzky defeat a Sardinian army at Custozza.
26 July 1848 The British Parliament grants the government of Ireland the right to suspend habeas corpus for nine months in an attempt to control seditious activities on the island.
A bill for the abolition of serfdom passes the Austrian Parliament.
27 July 1848 The formal union of Venice, Sardinia and Lombardy is effected.
29 July 1848 Robert Schumann (38) reads Byron’s Manfred, in translation. He begins to conceive of a musical treatment of it.
Cast Me not Away from Thy Presence, an anthem for chorus and organ by Samuel Sebastian Wesley (37), is performed for the first time, in Leeds Cathedral, the composer at the keyboard.
31 July 1848 The last United States forces are withdrawn from Mexico, at Veracruz.
3 August 1848 The Hungarian government declares that in the event of a war between Austria and the Frankfurt Assembly, Hungary would not aid Austria.
6 August 1848 Frédéric Chopin (38) arrives at Calder House in Edinburgh.
7 August 1848 After defeating the Italians at Custozza, the first Austrian troops enter Milan.
Royal commissioners from Turin arrive in Venice to take over in the name of King Carlo Alberto.
8 August 1848 Bedrich Smetana (24) opens a music institute in Prague.
9 August 1848 The Venetian Assembly creates an executive triumvirate made up of Daniel Manin and two military men.
Sardinia concludes an armistice with Austria at Vigevano.
10 August 1848 The Duchy of Guastalla is returned to sovereignty, having been ruled by Sardinia since 16 June. Massa and Carrara are restored by Tuscany.
12 August 1848 Emperor Ferdinand and the Imperial Court return to Vienna.
Once the Sardinian armistice with Austria becomes known, Venice expels Sardinian troops and resumes its former status.
13 August 1848 Mustafa Resid Pasha replaces Ibrahim Sarim Pasha as Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire.
The Conservatório Imperial de Música opens in Rio de Janeiro.
14 August 1848 A large ceremony takes place in Cologne Cathedral to mark the 600th anniversary of the laying of the foundation stone. Attenders include King Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia and other high dignitaries. Among the music played is a cello solo by the city's favorite son, Jacques Offenbach (29).
15 August 1848 Spain officially refuses the United States’ offer of 9 June.
Brünner-Nationalgarde-Marsch op.58 by Johann Strauss (22) is performed for the first time, in Brünn (Brno).
18 August 1848 Sardinia restores Parma and Piacenza to sovereignty under Duke Carlo II.
19 August 1848 The discovery of gold in California is announced in the New York Herald.
22 August 1848 Austrian soldier Johann Strauss, Jr. (22), while standing guard for the government on the Karmeliterplatz, is warned that workers in the Leopoldstadt might march on his position. Unable to bring himself to fire upon those whose cause he espouses, he goes home to his mother, eats supper and does some composing until all is quiet again. He will never be prosecuted.
24 August 1848 The first French postage stamp is approved, to go into use next 1 January.
26 August 1848 Prussia concludes an armistice with Denmark in Malmö, freeing troops to deal with domestic unrest.
27 August 1848 Karl Anton replaces Karl as Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen.
28 August 1848 Frédéric Chopin (38) is the principal performer at the Gentlemen’s Concert Hall, Manchester. The critics, as Chopin predicted, are disappointed. His music and style are lost in the large hall. As a featured work, Chopin plays his Sonata in B flat minor. He will later write, “I had played the allegro and the scherzo successfully, and I was going to attack the march when, suddenly, I saw the cursed creatures that one lugubrious night appeared to me at the monastery rising from the case of the piano. I had to go out for a moment to collect myself, after which I resumed playing without saying a word to anyone...”
29 August 1848 Boers are defeated by British troops at Boomplatz and retreat across the Vaal.
31 August 1848 Because of the decidedly independent course taken by the Hungarian Diet, Emperor Ferdinand demands that it be dissolved.
1 September 1848 Robert Schumann (38) presents the first seven pieces of the Album für die Jugend op.68 to his daughter Marie on the occasion of her seventh birthday.
The opera company at Theater an der Wien is dissolved. Its Kapellmeister, Albert Lortzing (46), is now unemployed.
3 September 1848 Citizens of Genoa assemble in the city’s largest theatre and swear an oath, with drawn swords, to drive the foreigners back over the mountains.
5 September 1848 The Frankfurt Assembly refuses to consent to the armistice granted by the King of Prussia with Denmark.
7 September 1848 The Austrian Assembly abolishes the robot (tax paid by peasants to their landlords) and all other medieval duties.
8 September 1848 Ferdinand replaces Gustav as Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg.
11 September 1848 A Croatian army of about 35,000 under Baron Joseph Jalacic, secretly serving the emperor, enters Hungary and advances towards Pest, pillaging as they go. They will be beaten off by an army of Hungarian peasants and national guardsmen.
12 September 1848 A new constitution is promulgated in Switzerland providing for a federal union with a strong central government.
16 September 1848 Pope Pius IX appoints Pellegrino Rossi as prime minister to deal with republican tendencies of the citizenry.
Faced by Prussian pressure, the Frankfurt Assembly reverses itself and endorses the armistice with Denmark.
Hyperion, the second moon of Saturn to be identified from Earth, is discovered simultaneously by William Cranch Bond and George Phillips Bond of Harvard College and William Lassell of Liverpool.
18 September 1848 An armed mob attacks St. Paul’s Church, Frankfurt attempting to make quick work of the German Assembly who they consider traitors for consenting to the Danish armistice. The Assembly is saved by Prussian and Austrian troops arriving from Mainz.
21 September 1848 Ernst von Pfuel replaces Ludolf Camphausen as Prime Minister of Prussia.
Crossing from Switzerland, Gustav von Struve with some followers seizes the Rathaus in Lörach, Baden and once again proclaims a German republic.
Johannes Brahms (15) gives his first solo piano performance, in Hamburg. He plays music of JS Bach (†98), Rossini (56), Henri Herz (45) and Jacob Rosenhain. Owing to so much news of revolution, and a cholera epidemic, no review of the concert is printed.
22 September 1848 Richard Wagner (35) conducts the finale to Act I of his unperformed opera Lohengrin at a concert celebrating the 300th anniversary of the Saxon Royal Court Orchestra, Dresden.
23 September 1848 A republican army of 10,000 volunteers marches from Lörach to Freiburg where they are defeated and dispersed.
24 September 1848 Psalm 84 for chorus and Psalm 100 for four solo voices and chorus by Otto Nicolai (38) are performed for the first time, for the consecration of the Friedenskirche, Sanssouci.
25 September 1848 Emperor Ferdinand appoints Count Franz Philipp Lamberg as commander-in-chief of all Imperial forces in Hungary.
26 September 1848 Rioting by radicals takes place in Frankfurt.
27 September 1848 The Hungarian Diet, led by Lajos Kossuth, denounces the appointment of Count Lamberg as commander-in-chief.
At the invitation of the Ottoman Empire, a Russian army crosses into Wallachia and crushes the revolutionary government.
Frédéric Chopin (38) is the featured performer at The Merchant’s Hall, Glasgow. He performs the Andante op.22, Impromptu op.36, some Etudes op.25, Nocturnes opp.27 & 55, Berceuse op.57, Preludes op.28, Ballades op.38, Mazurkas op.7 and Waltzes op.64 to a less than full house.
28 September 1848 Count Franz Philipp Lamberg, appointed by Emperor Ferdinand as commander-in-chief of all Imperial forces in Hungary, is killed by a mob in Budapest. His body is ripped to pieces.
Lajos Kossuth becomes the head of government in Hungary at the head of a Committee of National Defense.
29 September 1848 A hastily assembled citizen army of Hungarians defeats the Croatian army of General Jelacic twice its size at Pákozd, near Lake Velence. Jelacic asks for three days cease-fire to negotiate a truce, which is granted. However, he flees to Vienna to raise an imperial army.
1 October 1848 Reuss-Schleiz-Gera, Reuss-Ebersdorf, and Reuss-Lobenstein are joined together to form the Principality of Reuss, Junior Line.
3 October 1848 Emperor Ferdinand names Count Josip Jelacic civil and military governor of Hungary, dissolves the Diet, and puts Hungary under martial law.
4 October 1848 Frédéric Chopin (38) appears in the only solo recital he will ever give, in the Hopetown Rooms, Edinburgh. It is solo only because he is too ill to go out and find other musicians. The program is two hours long and, despite his ill health, he captivates the audience.
6 October 1848 Shooting begins in Vienna between radical national guardsmen and those loyal to the Assembly. Some fighting takes place within St. Stephen’s Cathedral. Troop trains being sent to Hungary are stopped by demonstrators. A mob at the war ministry demands the resignation of War Minister Count Latour. After stating that he will only resign with the Emperor’s consent, the crowd falls on him, leaving 43 wounds in his lifeless body. The corpse is thereupon stripped and hung from a lamppost while general rejoicing takes place around it. The mob then fortifies the War Ministry. Loyal troops use rockets to set the building on fire, even though it is being used to store ammunition. Assembly members persuade the radicals to surrender.
7 October 1848 Most of the Austrian government, including the Emperor, flee to Olmütz (Olomouc).
8 October 1848 The Tchaikovsky family, including young Pyotr Ilyich (8), leave their provincial home for Moscow where the father believes a new job awaits him.
Richard Wagner (35) dates a manuscript entitled Die Nibelungensage (Mythus). It is a prose outline of the Ring.
9 October 1848 Georges Bizet (9) competes in the examination for entrance to the Paris Conservatoire. He is accepted.
11 October 1848 The Vienna city council promises to provide for the families of any man who falls defending the city against imperial troops now massed outside the walls.
14 October 1848 The Austrian Imperial family reaches Olmütz (Olomouc).
16 October 1848 Emperor Ferdinand proclaims every Hungarian a rebel.
19 October 1848 The state of siege existing in Paris since June ends.
20 October 1848 Emperor Ferdinand places the city of Vienna under martial law.
21 October 1848 The Tchaikovsky family, including Pyotr Ilyich (8), arrives in Moscow only to find that the job promised the father is taken and that there is a cholera epidemic in the city. They quickly depart for St. Petersburg.
22 October 1848 The Austrian Assembly is dissolved by Emperor Ferdinand.
24 October 1848 After a siege of four days, Prince Windischgrätz, imperial commander, gives Vienna 48 hours to surrender.
25 October 1848 Il corsaro, an opera by Giuseppe Verdi (35) to words of Piave after Byron, is performed for the first time, in Teatro Grande, Trieste. The audience is less than complementary.
Lowell Mason (56) conducts a choir of 3,000 children at festivities celebrating the installation of Boston’s large-scale water supply from Lake Cochituate.
26 October 1848 Imperial troops advance through the suburbs of Vienna.
28 October 1848 Imperial troops reach the walls of Vienna and by nightfall the city is afire. The Assembly agrees to surrender but many fighters vow to continue.
29 October 1848 The Hungarian army under Kossuth, ignorant of the surrender of Vienna, joins the battle on behalf of the city.
Hector Berlioz (44) directs a concert at Versailles to benefit the Association des artistes musiciens. It is very successful.
30 October 1848 Imperial troops (from Bohemia, Moravia, Galicia and Croatia) defeat the Hungarian army at Schwechat, near Vienna.
31 October 1848 After heavy fighting at the Burgtor near the Palace, the Inner City of Vienna falls. The Imperial commander, General Windischgrätz, believing himself betrayed, encourages general pillaging and sadism by his troops on the population. Imperial troops enter the city and kill anyone with a weapon.
Frédéric Chopin (38) leaves Edinburgh for London.
1 November 1848 Halka, an opera by Stanislaw Moniuszko (29) to words of Wolski, is performed for the first time, in a concert setting in Vilnius. See 1 January 1858.
2 November 1848 A workers’ revolt in Lemberg (Lviv) is destroyed by a Russian bombardment which kills 55 people.
Friedrich Wilhelm, Count of Brandenburg, son of King Friedrich Wilhelm IV, replaces Ernst von Pfuel as Prime Minister of Prussia.
4 November 1848 A constitution for the Second French Republic is completed.
7 November 1848 Voting in the United States presidential election ensures the victory of General Zachary Taylor over Senator Lewis Cass.
9 November 1848 Robert Blum, a member of the German National Assembly who went to Austria to aid the liberals, is executed in Vienna on charges of treason.
11 November 1848 Le val d’Andorre, an opéra comique by Fromental Halévy (49) to words of Saint-Georges, is performed for the first time, at the Théâtre Favart, Paris. It is an unqualified success with press and public.
12 November 1848 The constitution of the Second French Republic is inaugurated at the Place de la Concorde. Snow is lightly falling.
Franz Liszt (36) conducts the music of Richard Wagner (35) for the first time, in the Court Theatre in Weimar. It is the overture to Tannhäuser.
15 November 1848 Count Pellegrino Rossi, Prime Minister of the Papal States, on his way into the Assembly building in Rome, is pressed upon by a democratically-minded crowd and stabbed in the neck by an unknown assailant. He bleeds to death within half an hour.
16 November 1848 British forces cross the River Ravi and attack the Sikhs.
About 10,000 demonstrators converge on the Pope’s residence in Rome demanding a new, liberal cabinet. In response to a brewing insurrection, Pope Pius IX names a more democratically inclined government.
Frédéric Chopin (38), ill and exhausted, plays at a charity ball for the relief of Polish refugees at the Guildhall, London. It is his last public performance.
17 November 1848 Imperial troops capture Kolozsvár, the capital of Transylvania.
21 November 1848 General Prince Felix, Count Schwarzenberg, an absolutist replaces the liberal Johann, Baron Wessenberg-Ampringen as Prime Minister of Austria. The appointment takes place in Olmütz (Olomuc) where the Emperor has fled.
Dirk Donker Curtius and Jacob Matthaeus de Kempenaer replace Gerrit Count Schemmelpenninck as chief ministers of the Netherlands.
22 November 1848 Fighting between the British and Sikhs at Ramnagar brings inconclusive results.
23 November 1848 As Frédéric Chopin (38) leaves London by train he suffers a brief seizure, a cramp below his ribs on the right side. Later, he crosses the Channel heading for Paris.
24 November 1848 Frédéric Chopin (38) arrives in Paris from his sojourn in Great Britain. He is very ill.
25 November 1848 Pope Pius IX flees to Gaeta and receives protection from King Ferdinando of Naples.
26 November 1848 Giacomo Meyerbeer (57) resigns his post as Prussian Generalmusikdirektor in a cloud of controversy and personal animosity. He retains the position of director of Royal Court Music.
29 November 1848 The festival hymn Du, Du, der über Raum und Zeit for solo voices and chorus by Giacomo Meyerbeer (57) to words of Winkler is performed for the first time, in Berlin for the 25th wedding anniversary of King Friedrich Wilhelm IV and and Queen Elisabeth of Prussia.
30 November 1848 Georg replaces Joseph as Duke of Saxe-Altenburg.
Poliuto, a tragedia lirica by Gaetano Donizetti (†0) to words of Cammarano after Corneille, is performed for the first time, in Teatro San Carlo, Naples. The previously censored work is produced owing to decreased censorship during the constitutional period. See 26 September 1838.
At the Tabernacle Theatre in New York, Henri Herz (45) premieres his “Impromptu Burlesque” for solo piano. It is a fantasy on two American minstrel tunes, Oh! Susanna by Stephen Foster (22) and Carry Me Back to Old Virginny by Charles White.
1 December 1848 The merchant ship New York arrives in New York harbor bringing passengers infected with cholera.
2 December 1848 Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria, King Ferdinand V of Bohemia, King Ferdinand V of Hungary, Archduke Ferdinand IV of Austria, under regency since 1836, abdicates, and is succeeded by his nephew Emperor Franz Joseph II of Austria, Archduke Franz Josef I of Austria, King Frantisek Josef I of Bohemia, King Ferenc József I of Hungary.
Olympe Pélissier writes to a friend about the psychological troubles of her husband, Gioachino Rossini (51), describing a month of insomnia and nervous disorders.
3 December 1848 Johann Strauss, Jr. (23) conducts the Marseillaise at a concert the day after the accession of Emperor Franz Joseph.
A Grand Duo for violin and piano on themes from Meyerbeer’s (57) Le Prophète, jointly composed by Henri Vieuxtemps and Anton Rubinstein (19), is performed for the first time, by the composers, in St. Petersburg.
5 December 1848 With 13,000 Prussian troops now in Berlin, King Friedrich Wilhelm IV dissolves the Parliament and decrees a conservative constitution. It allows for universal male suffrage but places ultimate power with the king.
6 December 1848 Johann Strauss, Jr. (23) is detained and interrogated by the police for playing the Marseillaise at a concert on 3 December. He claims that if he had not played it, the audience would have attacked him.
10 December 1848 An election is held for President of the French Republic.
13 December 1848 An imperial army of 44,000 men led by General Windischgrätz enters Hungary.
14 December 1848 Preußens Stimme for voice and piano by Otto Nicolai (38) to words of Lange is performed for the first time, in Berlin.
Geißelhiebe op.60, a polka by Johann Strauss, Jr. (23), is performed for the first time, at the Grünes Thor.
18 December 1848 Milda, a cantata by Stanislaw Moniuszko (29) after Kraszewski, is performed for the first time, in Vilnius.
20 December 1848 Giuseppe Verdi (35) leaves Paris for Rome to produce La Battaglia di Legnano.
The result of the French election of 10 December is announced and Louis Napoleon Bonaparte is inaugurated president of the Second French Republic in the evening. He appoints Camille Odilon Barrot as Prime Minister.
23 December 1848 Speaking to the Société Philomatique de Paris, Armand-Hippolyte-Louis Fizeau describes spectrum shifts in light coming from stars similar to the Doppler Effect.
26 December 1848 Neue Steiersche Tänze op.61 by Johann Strauss, Jr. (23) are performed for the first time, in Dommayer’s Casino, Heitzing.
27 December 1848 The Frankfurt Assembly approves the Imperial Law regarding the Basic Rights of the German People. It proclaims freedom of religion, assembly, press, and movement as well as abolishing capital punishment.
30 December 1848 A large Hungarian force is defeated by Imperial troops at Mór, west of Pest.
31 December 1848 Hungarians begin the evacuation of Pest, personally supervised by Lajos Kossuth. It will take three days and nights. Kossuth moves the government to Debrecen.
©2004-2012 Paul Scharfenberger
10 July 2012
Last Updated (Tuesday, 10 July 2012 05:00)