1852
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1 January 1852 Hector Berlioz (48) is appointed librarian of the Paris Conservatoire.
Lowell Mason (59) and his wife arrive in Liverpool on their second European trip.
9 January 1852 Incidental music to Molière’s play Le bourgeois gentilhomme by Charles Gounod (33) is performed for the first time, in the Théâtre-Français, Paris.
10 January 1852 Windsor-Klänge op.104, a waltz by Johann Strauss (26), is performed for the first time, in the Palais Coburg, Vienna.
14 January 1852 The new French constitution promulgated today grants the president monarchical powers.
17 January 1852 The Sand River Convention establishes a South African Republic as Great Britain recognizes Boer independence in the Transvaal.
23 January 1852 The Orléans family, the former ruling house, is banned from France by President Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte.
25 January 1852 Giacomo Meyerbeer (60), in Berlin, receives a letter from Caroline von Weber, widow of Carl Maria von Weber (†25), threatening court action if he does not pay the 2,000 thalers indemnity he owes her. He has not completed Weber’s Die drei Pintos by the agreed deadline. He resolves to travel to Dresden to settle the matter personally.
Austin, a grosse romantische Oper by Heinrich August Marschner (56) to words of Wohlbrück-Marschner, is performed for the first time, in Hannover.
27 January 1852 Christian Albrecht Bluhme replaces Adam Wilhelm von Moltke as Prime Minister of Denmark.
Giacomo Meyerbeer (60) travels to Dresden and meets with Max von Weber, son of Carl Maria von Weber (†25), to settle the Die drei Pintos dispute. He ends up paying them 4,000 thalers for the indemnity and lost royalties, and returns the unfinished opera to them. They part on friendly terms.
Mehmed Emin Rauf Pasha replaces Mustafa Resid Pasha as Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire.
1 February 1852 Great Britain creates the Bight of Benin Protectorate.
2 February 1852 Queen Isabella of Spain is stabbed twice in the chest by a republican priest, Father Martin Merino y Gomez, in the Royal Palace, Madrid. She will live. Within the month, Merino will be executed.
Alexandre Dumas’ La Dame aux camélias is produced in Paris. During the play’s run this month, it will be witnessed by an interested opera composer, Giuseppe Verdi (38).
3 February 1852 Queen Victoria opens Parliament, thus officially inaugurating the completed houses at Westminster designed by Charles Barry.
The Battle of Caseros leads to the overthrow of Juan de Rosas in Argentina. He is defeated by insurgents supported by Brazil and Uruguay.
Fünf Paragraphe aus dem Walzer-Codex op.105 by Johann Strauss (25) is performed for the first time, in the Sophiensaal, Vienna.
4 February 1852 Harmonie-Polka op.106 by Johann Strauss (26) is performed for the first time, in the Sophiensaal, Vienna. Also premiered is Strauss’ Tête-à-tête-Quadrille op.109.
5 February 1852 Der Rose Pilgerfahrt for solo voices, chorus and orchestra by Robert Schumann (41) to words of Horn is performed publicly for the first time, in Düsseldorf.
7 February 1852 Johann Strauss (26) makes his first appearance as director of Imperial Court Balls. His Hofball-Quadrille op.116 is performed for the first time.
11 February 1852 Electro-magnetische-Polka op.110 by Johann Strauss (26) is performed for the first time, in the Sophiensaal, Vienna.
16 February 1852 Die Unzertrennlichen op.108, a waltz by Johann Strauss (26), is performed for the first time, in the Redoutensaal, Vienna.
17 February 1852 The French government institutes several repressive measures including press censorship.
23 February 1852 Edward Geoffrey Stanley, Earl of Derby replaces John Russell, Lord Russell as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
20 February 1852 “Sic transit” by Emily Dickinson appears in the Springfield Republican.
Stephen Foster (25) and his wife Jane depart Pittsburgh aboard the steamboat James Millingar for a vacation down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. It is the only time Foster will ever visit the South.
28 February 1852 Giuseppe Verdi (38) signs a contract with the Paris Opéra to write an opera of four or five acts on a libretto by Eugène Scribe to be produced no later than December 1854. It will be Les Vépres siciliennes.
4 March 1852 Hector Berlioz (48) and Marie Recio arrive in London for his third trip to England. He will conduct orchestral concerts there.
Nikolay Vasilyevich Gogol dies in Moscow at the age of 42.
5 March 1852 Peter Cornelius (27) goes to Weimar to meet Franz Liszt (39) for the first time.
7 March 1852 Mustafa Resid Pasha replaces Mehmed Emin Rauf Pasha as Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire.
8 March 1852 Stanislaw Moniuszko’s (32) cantata Nijola after Kraszewski is performed for the first time, in Vilnius.
13 March 1852 Montenegro is made a secular, hereditary principality under Prince Danilo I Petrovic-Njegos.
14 March 1852 A second round of voting takes place for the French legislature. Supporters of President Louis Napoléon Bonaparte lose only ten of 263 seats.
Robert Schumann’s (41) overture Manfred is performed for the first time, in Weimar. See 13 June 1852.
17 March 1852 Giacomo Meyerbeer (60) receives a visit at his Berlin home from a friend who recently spent time in Weimar, “where Liszt (40) is gathering many musicians around him who subscribe to a new direction in music, which defines itself as freedom of musical thought, independent of any specific form: Richard Wagner (38) is their ideal.”
18 March 1852 Several investors create a new shipping company in New York. It is named after the leaders of the group, Henry Wells and William G. Fargo.
20 March 1852 Peter Cornelius (27) seeks out Franz Liszt (40) at his home, the Altenburg, near Weimar. The famous virtuoso greets the unknown hopeful graciously. Cornelius will become a full-time resident in Weimar next year.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe is published in Boston. It will be the first novel to sell one million copies.
Great Britain proclaims the Colony of the Bay Islands over six islands off the coast of Honduras.
21 March 1852 Großfürsten-Marsch op.107 by Johann Strauss (26) is performed for the first time, in the Esterhazy Palace.
24 March 1852 The first performance of the New Philharmonic Society takes place in Exeter Hall, London under the direction of Hector Berlioz (48). It is seen by all critics as a new era in English music making.
1 April 1852 After a British ultimatum for compensation for certain offenses is ignored by Burma, the second war between the two countries begins.
5 April 1852 Felix, Count Schwarzenberg, Prime Minister of Austria, dies suddenly in Vienna.
11 April 1852 Karl Ferdinand, Count Buol-Schauenstein replaces Felix, Count Schwarzenberg as Prime Minister of Austria.
12 April 1852 British forces capture Rangoon (Yangon).
20 April 1852 Charles Gounod (33) marries Anna Zimmerman, daughter of Pierre-Joseph Zimmerman, a retired professor of piano at the Paris Conservatoire.
21 April 1852 Incidental music to Murger’s comédie Le Bonhomme Jadis by Jacques Offenbach (32) is performed for the first time, at the Comédie-Française, Paris.
23 April 1852 Le juif errant, an opéra by Fromental Halévy (52) to words of Scribe and Saint-Georges after Sue, is performed for the first time, at the Paris Opéra.
24 April 1852 Grand Duke Leopold of Baden dies in Karlsruhe and is succeeded by his son, Ludwig II under the regency of his brother Friedrich.
30 April 1852 The Webster-Crampton Agreement between Great Britain and the United States is agreed to, with the participation of Costa Rica but not Nicaragua. It is an attempt to settle the border dispute between Costa Rica and Nicaragua. It recognizes an independent Miskito Kingdom in one-third of Nicaraguan territory and also requires Nicaragua to hand over land to Costa Rica. The Costa Rican representative refuses to sign, but his country will ratify the document. Nicaragua never will.
The Battle of Kulikovo, an opera by Anton Rubinstein (22) to words of Sollogub and Zotov after Ozerov, is performed for the first time, in the Bolshoy Theatre, St. Petersburg.
6 May 1852 Grand Duke Leopoldo II of Tuscany abolishes the constitution.
8 May 1852 The London Protocol, designed to diffuse the Schleswig-Holstein question, is signed by representatives of Great Britain, Russia, France, Sweden, Denmark, Austria and Prussia. It determines the succession to the Danish throne and places Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenberg in personal union with the Danish crown.
12 May 1852 Hector Berlioz (48) conducts the sixth and last performance of the New Philharmonic Society in Exeter Hall, London. His interpretation of Beethoven’s (†25) Ninth Symphony clinches his reputation in England as the greatest living conductor.
14 May 1852 Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio is chartered today as the first nonsectarian college to grant equal rights to women and men.
Lumenfest-Polka op.111 by Johann Strauss (26) is performed for the first time, in the Volksgarten, Vienna.
20 May 1852 Two stage works by Stanislaw Moniuszko (33) are performed for the first time, in Vilnius: the comic opera Bettly to words of Scribe and Mélesville, and The Gypsies, an operetta to words of Kniaznin.
25 May 1852 Stephen Foster (25) writes to EP Christy asking to buy back the authorship of his song Old Folks at Home. Foster had allowed Christy to claim authorship in return for $500. Christy will refuse Foster’s request.
26 May 1852 Maria und ihr Genius, a cantata for soprano, tenor, chorus and orchestra by Giacomo Meyerbeer (60) to words of Goldtammer, is performed for the first time, in Schloss Wannsee, Berlin to celebrate the silver wedding anniversary of Prince Karl of Prussia.
29 May 1852 Encouraged by his friend, Franz Liszt (40), Hans Christian Andersen sees a performance of Wagner’s (39) Tannhäuser in Weimar. “The text, good; the performance on the whole better than expected. The music competent with regard to idea, but lacking in melody. What Carl Maria Weber (†25) or Mozart (†60) couldn’t have done with it!”
30 May 1852 Charles Gounod (33) is appointed director general of vocal instruction for the Paris public schools. He is also named director of Orphéon, an organization of choral societies intended for the middle and lower classes.
6 June 1852 Hector Berlioz (48) conducts his sixth and last concert with the New Philharmonic Society in London. This concert and the entire series are a resounding success.
8 June 1852 On his 42nd birthday, Robert Schumann suffers a fit of convulsive coughing, in Düsseldorf.
13 June 1852 Incidental music to Byron's (tr.Suckow) play Manfred by Robert Schumann (42) is performed for the first time, in Leipzig conducted by Franz Liszt (39). The composer is too ill to attend. See 14 March 1852.
Two new works by Louis Moreau Gottschalk (23) are performed for the first time, in the Teatro del Principe, Madrid, by the composer: El Sitio de Zaragoza, a symphony for ten pianos, and Souvenirs de Bellini for solo piano. The audience responds with unrestrained accolades.
18 June 1852 Liebes-Lieder op.114, a waltz by Johann Strauss (26), is performed for the first time, in the Volksgarten, Vienna.
Incidental music to Ponsard’s play Ulysse by Charles Gounod is performed for the first time, at the Comédie-Française, Paris, on the composer’s 34th birthday.
19 June 1852 Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka (48) arrives in Berlin from Warsaw.
20 June 1852 In Berlin, Giacomo Meyerbeer (60) calls on a visiting Russian, Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka (48). The two composers get along well.
Hector Berlioz (48) departs London for Paris after conducting six concerts there.
26 June 1852 Robert Schumann (42) goes to Godesberg for a cure of his affliction which manifests itself in slow speech and movement.
30 June 1852 Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka (48) arrives in Strasbourg having traveled up the Rhine from Cologne.
A new constitution calling for representative government in New Zealand is passed by the British Parliament.
1 July 1852 Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka (48) arrives in Paris from Strasbourg.
5 July 1852 The Additional Act increases the franchise in Portugal.
Lockvögel op.118, a waltz by Johann Strauss (26), is performed for the first time, in Bierhalle Fünfhaus, Vienna.
6 July 1852 Robert Schumann (42) returns from the “cure” at Godesberg to Düsseldorf feeling worse than when he left.
16 July 1852 Melodien-Quadrille op.112 by Johann Strauss (26) is performed for the first time, in the Volksgarten, Vienna.
17 July 1852 Salvatore Cammarano dies in Naples, about a week after substantially completing the libretto to Il Trovatore. Although the outline is complete, part of the third act and all of the fourth are not written. Verdi (38) hires the Neapolitan poet Leone Emanuele Bardare to finish the work.
18 July 1852 Giacomo Meyerbeer (60) is appointed as an honorary member of the Akademie der Tonkunst in Vienna.
24 July 1852 Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka (48) departs Paris by rail, heading south for Spain.
Annen-Polka op.117 by Johann Strauss (26) is performed for the first time, in “Zum wilden Mann”, Vienna.
26 July 1852 In Avignon, Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka (48) receives homeopathic treatment for his “nervous condition.”
Sachsen-Kürassier-March op.113 by Johann Strauss (26) is performed for the first time, in Bierhalle Fünfhaus, Vienna.
28 July 1852 Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka (48) arrives in Toulouse. While here, Glinka’s “daily suffering” causes him to abandon his intention to make a second trip to Spain.
31 July 1852 Over three weeks of voting comes to an end in the British general election. Although the Whigs win almost 60% of the vote and increase their numbers by 32, the Conservatives win a small majority.
3 August 1852 Robert Schumann’s (42) overture Julius Cäser is performed for the first time, in Düsseldorf.
After a tumultuous nine months of music making, Louis Moreau Gottschalk (23) departs Madrid.
In the first Harvard-Yale regatta, Harvard’s eight-oared shell defeats Yale’s on Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire. The trophy is awarded by General Franklin Pierce.
7 August 1852 Mehmed Emin Ali Pasha replaces Mustafa Resid Pasha as Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire.
10 August 1852 French President Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte confers on Giuseppe Verdi (38) the title of Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. He dispatches the publisher Leon Escudier to present the honor to Verdi who is now in Italy.
After two weeks of “daily suffering” in Toulouse, Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka (48) abandons his intention to make a second trip to Spain and boards a coach for Paris.
Hommage à Lesueur, a cantata by Ambroise Thomas (41) to words of Praron, is performed for the first time, in Abbeville.
12 August 1852 Robert (42) and Clara (32) Schumann depart Düsseldorf for the spa of Scheveningen in the Netherlands. He has been suffering from an ongoing nervous condition and daily bathing in the Rhine has not helped.
14 August 1852 Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka (48) arrives back in Paris after a four-day trip from Toulouse.
Wiener Jubel-Gruß-Marsch op.115 by Johann Strauss (26) is performed for the first time, in the Stepahnsplatz, Vienna.
15 August 1852 A setting of the Mass for male chorus and organ by Franz Liszt (40) is performed for the first time, in Weimar, conducted by the composer.
A setting of the Magnificat for soloists, chorus, orchestra and organ by Anton Bruckner (27) is performed for the first time, at St. Florian, on the first anniversary of his close friend, Franz Sailer.
30 August 1852 Volkssänger op.119, a waltz by Johann Strauss (26), is performed for the first time, in Ungers Casino, Vienna.
31 August 1852 Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka (48) writes to his sister that his increasing distaste for traveling is causing him to remain in Paris. His hypochondria is causing him to think that everyone traveling with him is going to infect him with dread disease.
1 September 1852 Heinrich August Marschner’s (57) Natur und Kunst, allegorisches Festspiel zur Einweihung des neuen hannoverschen Hoftheaters 1852 to words of Waterford-Perglass is performed for the first time, in Hannover. It is staged as an intermezzo with Goethe’s Tasso.
7 September 1852 Whites attack the Modoc capital at Natural Bridge, California, killing the chief and 40 others.
8 September 1852 Loreley, an unfinished opera by Felix Mendelssohn (†4) to words of Geibel, is performed for the first time, in Birmingham.
9 September 1852 At Scheveningen, a spa near The Hague, Clara Schumann (32) suffers a miscarriage.
13 September 1852 Modest Musorgsky (13) is enrolled in the Company of the Guards Sub-Ensigns, otherwise known as the Cadet School.
14 September 1852 Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington dies at Walmer Castle.
24 September 1852 Henri Giffard pilots a controllable steam-engine powered balloon (dirigible) from Paris to Trappes, a distance of 24 km, the first such flight. The balloon is 44 meters long, twelve meters in diameter with 2,500 cubic meters of coal gas.
Nocturne-Quadrille op.120 by Johann Strauss (26) is performed for the first time, in the Volksgarten, Vienna.
28 September 1852 Heil Vater! Dir zum hohen Feste, a cantata by Anton Bruckner (28) to words of Marinelli, is performed for the first time, at St. Florian.
30 September 1852 Charles Villiers Stanford is born in Dublin, the only child of John James Stanford, a lawyer, and Mary Henn, daughter of a lawyer.
4 October 1852 Damad Mehmed Ali Pasha replaces Mehmed Emin Ali Pasha as Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire.
27 October 1852 Anton Rubinstein (22) suggests a reorganization of the Imperial Academy of Arts to include a music section, as has been done in Berlin. It would allow musicians to attain respectability in Russian society, as has been afforded painters and sculptors.
28 October 1852 Robert Schumann (42) misses the first concert of his third year in Düsseldorf with a “nervous disorder.” His place is taken by his young deputy, Julius Tausch.
31 October 1852 Henri Ghislain de Brouckère replaces Charles Latour Rogier as head of government for Belgium.
2 November 1852 Voting in the United States presidential election ensures the victory of former Senator Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire over General Winfield Scott of New Jersey.
3 November 1852 Charles Villiers Stanford (0) is christened in St. Stephen’s parish church, Dublin.
4 November 1852 Camillo, Count Benso di Cavour becomes Prime Minister of Sardinia.
11 November 1852 Rejecting the new constitution, the city of Buenos Aires secedes from Argentina. The capital is moved to Paraná.
13 November 1852 The Consistory of Mohilow overturns a previous judgment and declares the marriage of Princess Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein to be void. This will not be upheld by the Archbishop of St. Petersburg.
14 November 1852 Hector Berlioz (48) and Marie Recio arrive in Weimar, the toast of the Romantics there, led by Franz Liszt (41).
18 November 1852 The Crédit mobilier is created in France by the Pereire brothers to finance the railroads and related industries.
19 November 1852 Le Carnaval de Venise for piano by Louis Moreau Gottschalk (23) is performed for the first time, in the Royal Palace, Madrid by the composer.
20 November 1852 After a successful performance of his music in Weimar, in which several movements were repeated, Hector Berlioz (48) is granted the order of the White Falcon of Saxe-Weimar.
21 November 1852 A plebiscite held today in France is reported to favor the establishment of the Second Empire by 96.9% of the electorate.
After dining with Grand Duke Carl Friedrich of Saxe-Weimar, Hector Berlioz (48) witnesses a second performance of his Benvenuto Cellini.
Robert Schumann (42), in Düsseldorf, reports new symptoms which he calls “unusual aural disturbances.”
22 November 1852 On his last night in Weimar, Hector Berlioz (48) is feted with a glittering dinner and ball in the town hall.
24 November 1852 Zehner-Polka op.121 by Johann Strauss (27) is performed for the first time, in the Sperl Ballroom, Vienna.
29 November 1852 After an extremely successful tour of Spain over the last year-and-a-half, Louis Moreau Gottschalk (23) boards ship in Cadiz and sails to Marseille via Gibraltar.
1 December 1852 Louis Moreau Gottschalk (23) reaches Paris from Spain.
The United States informs Great Britain and France that it will not join in an agreement to preserve the status quo in Cuba.
2 December 1852 On the 48th anniversary of the coronation of Napoléon I, the 47th anniversary of the Battle of Austerlitz and the first anniversary of his coup d’etat, French President Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte proclaims himself Emperor Napoléon III.
Prime Minister Juan Bravo Murillo of Spain announces his plan to virtually end democracy in his country, making the Senate a hereditary body and severely limiting suffrage.
3 December 1852 Vom Pagen und der Königstöchter for solo voices, chorus and orchestra by Robert Schumann (42) to words of Geibel is performed for the first time, in Düsseldorf, directed by the composer. Since his doctor ordered him to avoid exertion, this is his first conducting since August.
10 December 1852 The death penalty is abolished in Portugal for political crimes.
12 December 1852 Georges Bizet (14) is presented with the First Prize in Piano at the Paris Conservatoire.
14 December 1852 Federico Roncali replaces Juan Bravo Murillo as Prime Minister of Spain. Queen Isabella sacks Bravo Murillo because of his plans to return the country to absolutism.
Robert Schumann (42) receives a letter from Deputy-Mayor of Düsseldorf Wilhelm Wortmann, a ranking member of the Allgemeiner Musikverein, requesting that Schumann limit his conducting activities.
15 December 1852 By this date, Richard Wagner (39) has finished the entire text of Der Ring des Nibelungen.
Robert Schumann (42) receives a vote of confidence by 22 members of the Düsseldorf Allgemeiner Musikverein, who object to Wilhelm Wortmann’s letter of yesterday. Nevertheless, Schumann agrees to hand over choral rehearsals to Julius Tausch.
18 December 1852 Today and tomorrow, Richard Wagner (39) gives the first reading of the complete poem of Der Ring des Nibelungen at the home of François and Eliza Wille in Mariafeld, near Zürich.
20 December 1852 Great Britain annexes Pegu, Lower Burma.
21 December 1852 Marco Spada, an opéra comique by Daniel-François-Esprit Auber (70) to words of Scribe and Delavigne, is performed for the first time, at the Théâtre Favart, Paris. Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka (48) is in the audience and, except for the beginning of the overture, finds the music “very unsatisfactory.” Giacomo Meyerbeer (61) is also there.
22 December 1852 By order of Sultan Abdülmecit I, the keys of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem are given to the Latin church, thus bowing to France at the expense of Russia.
26 December 1852 Indra-Quadrille op.122 by Johann Strauss (27) is performed for the first time, in the Volksgarten, Vienna.
Ode à Sainte-Cécile for solo voices, chorus and orchestra by Camille Saint-Saëns (17) is performed for the first time, in the Casino Paganini, Paris. It is not well received.
27 December 1852 Louis Moreau Gottschalk (23) boards the steamer Humboldt in France to return to the United States for the first time in eleven years.
28 December 1852 George Hamilton-Gordon, Earl of Aberdeen replaces Edward Geoffrey Stanley, Earl of Derby as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
29 December 1852 Advancing along the Yangtze River, the Taiping army reaches Hankow.
30 December 1852 Pierre Jules Baroche is named Minister President of the Council of State for France.
The revised version of Symphony no.4 by Robert Schumann (42) is performed for the first time, in Düsseldorf. This is the first complete concert he has conducted since the end of last season. See 6 December 1841.
©2004-2012 Paul Scharfenberger
11 July 2012
Last Updated (Wednesday, 11 July 2012 05:04)