1865
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1 January 1865 Hector Berlioz (61) completes his Memoirs.
8 January 1865 Texas state troops attack Kickapoos at Dove Creek mistaking them for Commanches. The Kickapoos now join Apaches and Mexicans against Texas.
15 January 1865 Federals take Fort Fisher, North Carolina, cutting off Wilmington, the last successful blockade running port.
19 January 1865 Union troops begin to march north from Savannah.
Edvard Grieg’s (21) Symphony in c minor is performed completely for the first time, in Bergen. See 4 June 1864.
20 January 1865 Trio no.1 for piano and strings op.18 by Camille Saint-Saëns (29) is performed for the first time, in Salle Pleyel, Paris, the composer at the piano.
21 January 1865 Les deux reines de France, a play by Ernest Legouvé with incidental music by Charles Gounod (46), is forbidden to be staged in France by the censors because of the current conflict between Emperor Napoléon III and Pope Pius IX. See 27 November 1872.
24 January 1865 Feuilleton Waltz op.293 by Johann Strauss (39) is performed for the first time, in the Sophiensaal, Vienna.
27 January 1865 A treaty between Peru and Spain recognizes the independence of Peru.
31 January 1865 Process-Polka op.294 by Johann Strauss (39) is performed for the first time, in the Sophiensaal, Vienna.
1 February 1865 Federals in Savannah begin to advance into South Carolina.
French forces lay siege to Oaxaca, Mexico.
3 February 1865 President Lincoln and Secretary of State Seward meet Confederate Vice-President Alexander Stephens off Hampton Roads, Virginia. They are not able to come to an understanding about anything. Stephens continues to demand independence.
4 February 1865 Johannes Brahms (31) arrives in Hamburg from Vienna to attend his ailing mother but she died two days ago.
5 February 1865 Trauungslied for male chorus and organ by Anton Bruckner (40) to words of Proschko is performed for the first time, in the Stadtpfarrkirche, Linz, the composer at the keyboard.
6 February 1865 Nicolae Cretulescu replaces Mihail Kogalniceanu as Prime Minister of Romania.
7 February 1865 Bürgersinn op.295, a waltz by Johann Strauss (39), is performed for the first time, in the Redoutensaal, Vienna.
8 February 1865 Gregor Mendel reads his paper Experiments in Plant Hybridization to a meeting of the Natural History Society of Brünn (Brno).
Clara Schumann (45) writes to Johannes Brahms (31) that she has undergone treatment for an injury to her right hand. The treatment requires the hand to be plunged into the carcass of a recently slaughtered animal.
Mexicans defending Oaxaca surrender to the besieging French.
14 February 1865 Electrofor-Polka op.297 by Johann Strauss (39) is performed for the first time, in the Dianabadsaal, Vienna.
17 February 1865 Confederate troops abandon Columbia and Charleston, South Carolina. Federal troops move into Columbia as the city goes up in flames.
18 February 1865 Federal troops enter Charleston, South Carolina.
Samuel Sebastian Wesley (54) is appointed organist of Gloucester Cathedral.
19 February 1865 The Augsburg Allgemeine Zeitung begins attacks on Richard Wagner (51), mentioning his excessive spending and abusing the generosity of King Ludwig.
20 February 1865 Episode op.296, a polka française by Johann Strauss (39), is performed for the first time, in the Redoutensaal, Vienna.
22 February 1865 Federal forces enter Wilmington, North Carolina without opposition.
A four-part Fugue in G for organ by Hubert Parry (16) is performed for the first time, in St. George’s Chapel, Windsor.
Hofballtänze op.298, a waltz by Johann Strauss (39), is performed for the first time, in the Hofburg, Vienna.
23 February 1865 Samuel Sebastian Wesley (54) resigns as organist of Winchester Cathedral.
3 March 1865 After a year-and-a-half of rebellion and the loss of over one-third of its troops to yellow fever, the Spanish government agrees to the independence of the Dominican Republic. Queen Isabella decrees that Spanish troops be removed and annuls annexation. General Pedro Antonio Pimental is named provisional president.
4 March 1865 Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated for a second term as President of the United States. The 39th Congress convenes in Washington. Republicans have increased their strong majority in the Senate while gaining 48 seats and control of the House of Representatives.
8 March 1865 Gregor Mendel reads more from his paper Experiments in Plant Hybridization to a meeting of the Natural History Society of Brünn (Brno).
11 March 1865 King Ludwig writes to Richard Wagner (51) that he wants Wagner to stay in Bavaria, in spite of press attacks on him.
13 March 1865 President Davis signs a law authorizing the arming of slaves for use by the Confederate army.
14 March 1865 Alexandros Koumoundouros replaces Konstantinos Michail Kanaris as Prime Minister of Greece.
18 March 1865 Euterpe, an organization formed by two Norwegians and three Danes to promote contemporary Scandinavian music, gives its first performance in Copenhagen. The two Norwegians are Edvard Grieg (21) and Rikard Nordraak. A prologue, written by Hans Christian Andersen, is recited by the actor Alfred Finck. Andersen is the guest of honor.
The Congress of the Confederate States of America adjourns for the last time.
Paraguay declares war on Argentina.
25 March 1865 Marche religieuse by Ambroise Thomas (53) is performed for the first time, in Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris.
27 March 1865 The British colony of Kaffaria is incorporated into the Cape Colony.
31 March 1865 The SS General Lyon, carrying troops home from the war front, along with other passengers, catches fire in rough weather off Cape Hatteras. The ship sinks with the loss of several hundred. 28 are saved by passing ships.
1 April 1865 Edvard Grieg (21) conducts an orchestra in public for the first time, in Copenhagen.
Union forces attack at Five Forks, Virginia, splitting the southern army.
Governor John Milton of Florida puts a bullet through his head at his estate, Sylvania.
Louis Moreau Gottschalk (35) gives his last concert in New York. In the evening, he boards ship for San Francisco by way of the Isthmus of Panama.
2 April 1865 Confederate government and troops abandon Petersburg and Richmond, Virginia.
Federals capture Selma, Alabama.
3 April 1865 Federal troops enter Petersburg and Richmond and begin dousing fires started by retreating Confederates.
Louis Moreau Gottschalk (35) sails from New York making for California.
4 April 1865 President Lincoln visits Richmond, Virginia.
6 April 1865 In order to cash in on the coal tar his coal gas company is producing, Friedrich Engelhorn founds a stock corporation in Mannheim, calling it Badische Anilin- und Soda-Fabrik (BASF).
8 April 1865 Union forces capture the Spanish Fort at Mobile.
9 April 1865 Bernardo da Sá Nogueirade Figueiredo, viscond e barão de Sá da Bandeira replaces Nuno José Severo de Mendoça Rolim de Moura Barreto, duque e marquês de Loulé as Prime Minister of Portugal.
Robert E. Lee surrenders the Army of Northern Virginia to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, 120 km west of Richmond.
10 April 1865 Hans von Bülow conducts the first rehearsal for Tristan und Isolde in Munich a few hours after his wife, Cosima, gives birth to the daughter of the composer of the music, Richard Wagner (51). The child is named Isolde Ludowika Josepha.
11 April 1865 Arthur Sullivan (22) is initiated into the Masons at the Lodge of Harmony in Richmond, Surrey.
12 April 1865 Federal troops occupy Mobile and Montgomery, Alabama without opposition.
13 April 1865 Union forces occupy Raleigh, North Carolina and head for Greensborough where the Confederate government sits.
14 April 1865 President Abraham Lincoln is shot and seriously wounded by John Wilkes Booth, an actor with southern sympathies, while viewing a play in Ford’s Theatre, Washington. Booth also stabs Major Henry Rathbone in the presidential box. He then leaps to the stage, breaking his leg. Secretary of State William Seward is stabbed several times at his home by Lewis Payne (or Powell). Booth and another conspirator, David Herold, flee the city and reach the home of Dr. Samuel Mudd who will set Booth’s leg.
Paraguayan forces capture Corrientes, Argentina. They leave a garrison and move south.
15 April 1865 07:22 President Abraham Lincoln dies of his wounds in Washington. He is succeeded by Andrew Johnson, who is sworn in at 11:00.
President Davis and his cabinet leave Greensborough, North Carolina making for Lexington, Virginia.
Totentanz for piano and orchestra by Franz Liszt (53) is performed for the first time, at The Hague.
18 April 1865 Gregor Mendel sends the results of his seven-year study of peas to eminent biologist Karl Wilhelm Nägeli in Munich. These contain the basic laws of genetics found by Mendel in his garden at the Brünn (Brno) Monastery. Nägeli’s cool reception helps convince Mendel to give up this work.
Opposing commanders sign a “memorandum” at Durham Station, North Carolina, calling for an armistice by all armies in the field.
23 April 1865 Aboard the Constitution, two days out from San Francisco, Louis Moreau Gottschalk (35) and his party receive simultaneous news that General Lee has surrendered and President Lincoln has been murdered.
24 April 1865 General Ulysses S. Grant arrives in Raleigh, North Carolina with word that President Johnson disapproves of the 18 April agreement and demands surrender.
A memorial service for President Lincoln is held aboard the Constitution. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Johnson Field gives a eulogy. The musicians aboard perform patriotic music including Louis Moreau Gottschalk (35) who plays his Union.
25 April 1865 Franz Liszt (53) receives the tonsure in the Chapel of His Serene Highness Monseigneur Gustav Hohenlohe in the Vatican. No one knows of this in advance except Pope Pius IX, Princess Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein and Gustav Hohenlohe. He moves into the Vatican.
26 April 1865 John Wilkes Booth is killed by federal troops in a burning barn near Bowling Green, Virginia. His companion, David Herold, surrenders.
Southern armies in North Carolina surrender.
27 April 1865 Louis Moreau Gottschalk (35) and his party disembark in San Francisco.
A boiler explodes aboard the steamboat Sultana on the Mississippi River near Memphis killing 1,547.
28 April 1865 L’africaine, a grand opéra by Giacomo Meyerbeer to words of Scribe and Fétis, is performed for the first time, at the Paris Opéra, four days before the first anniversary of the composer’s death. The glittering audience includes the Emperor Napoléon III and Empress Eugènie. The success is overwhelming and it will be performed thousands of times throughout the world over the next hundred years.
1 May 1865 Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay sign a Triple Alliance against Paraguay.
3 May 1865 Jefferson Davis and his cabinet move to Washington, Georgia.
4 May 1865 The last Confederate forces east of the Mississippi River surrender at Citronelle, Alabama.
8 May 1865 A Confederacy of the Independent Kingdoms of Viti (Fiji) is formed.
10 May 1865 Jefferson Davis is captured at Irwinville, Georgia, 250 km southeast of Atlanta, with his wife and two members of his cabinet.
Federal troops occupy Tallahassee, Florida, the only Confederate state capital not won by force of arms during the war.
Louis Moreau Gottschalk (36) makes his debut appearance in San Francisco at Maguire’s Academy of Music.
11 May 1865 The final dress rehearsal of Richard Wagner’s (51) Tristan und Isolde takes place before King Ludwig II and an invited audience of 600 in the Königliches Hof-und Nationaltheater in Munich. They are very appreciative of the music and the efforts of the musicians directed by Hans von Bülow.
12 May 1865 The last land engagement of the American Civil War begins at Palmito Ranch on the Rio Grande River near Brownsville, Texas.
13 May 1865 Confederate troops force the Federals to withdraw from Palmito Ranch, Texas, the last significant battle of the war.
15 May 1865 On the day scheduled for the premiere of Tristan und Isolde, agents of the court enter the home of Richard Wagner (51) in Munich and take away furniture to pay for a five-year-old debt he owes Madame Julie Salis-Schwabe. His mistress, Cosima von Bülow runs to the Bavarian treasury with a plea from Wagner that they release 2,400 florins against his salary. They do so, in coin, which requires two cabs to transport. Later, Wagner learns that Malvina Schnorr von Carolsfeld, who plays Isolde, is ill and unable to sing. The premiere is postponed.
17 May 1865 The International Telegraph Union is founded in Paris.
18 May 1865 Anton Bruckner (40) meets Richard Wagner (51) for the first time, in Munich.
Louis Moreau Gottschalk (36) performs at the Oakland Female College.
21 May 1865 Der Cid, a lyrisches Drama by Peter Cornelius (40) to his own words after de Castro, Corneille and Herder, is performed for the first time, in the Weimar Hoftheater.
22 May 1865 The blockade of almost all southern ports ends.
Jefferson Davis is imprisoned at Ft. Monroe, Virginia.
25 May 1865 A setting of the Pater noster for chorus and organ by Franz Liszt (53) is performed for the first time, in Dessau.
A combined Argentine/Brazilian force defeats Paraguayans near Corrientes, causing the Paraguayans to abandon the city.
26 May 1865 The Confederate Army of Trans-Mississippi formally surrenders at New Orleans.
29 May 1865 US President Andrew Johnson grants amnesty to almost all who participated in the rebellion.
1 June 1865 French forces attack Mexicans at La Angostura but are beaten back.
5 June 1865 Germanenzug for male chorus and brass by Anton Bruckner (40) to words of Silberstein is performed for the first time, in Linz for a competition during the Oberösterreichisch-Salzburgisches Sängerbundesfest. The awards are given out based on audience applause. Bruckner wins second prize.
6 June 1865 Traun! Bogen und Pfeil sind gut für den Feind op.33/2, a song by Johannes Brahms (32) to words of Tieck, is performed for the first time, in Cologne.
All Confederate prisoners who take the oath of allegiance to the United States are released, except for high officers.
This night, the Mexicans at La Angostura escape a French encirclement and retreat to Chihuahua.
9 June 1865 Carl August Nielsen is born in Sortelung, near Nørre Lyndelse on the island of Funen (Fyn), Denmark, seventh of twelve children born to Niels Jørgensen, house painter and village musician, and Maren Kirstine Johansen, who comes from a poor family.
10 June 1865 Tristan und Isolde, a music-drama by Richard Wagner (52) to his own words, is performed for the first time, in the Königliches Hof-und Nationaltheater, Munich, conducted by Hans von Bülow. Although there is some hissing, it is a resounding success. In the audience is a Wagner devotee, Anton Bruckner (40).
17 June 1865 Before instructions to the contrary reach them, Russian troops storm and capture Tashkent from Kokand defenders.
21 June 1865 Leopoldo O’Donnell Joris, duque de Tetuán replaces Ramón María Narváez y Campos, duque de Valencia as Prime Minister of Spain.
23 June 1865 US President Johnson declares an end to the blockade of southern ports.
24 June 1865 Samuel Sebastian Wesley (54) enters upon duties as organist at Gloucester Cathedral.
26 June 1865 Alexander, Count Mensdorff-Pouilly replaces Archduke Rainer of Austria as Prime Minister of Austria.
30 June 1865 All eight defendants in the murder of Abraham Lincoln are found guilty. Four of them are sentenced to death.
2 July 1865 William and Catherine Booth begin The Christian Mission by preaching in a tent in the East End of London. It will become known as the Salvation Army.
Geistliches Lied op.30 for chorus and organ by Johannes Brahms (32) to words of Flemming is performed for the first time, in Chemnitz.
4 July 1865 Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll is published in London. This first edition will be withdrawn after 50 copies because the illustrator, John Tenniel, is dissatisfied with the way his work is reproduced.
7 July 1865 Hanged in Washington for conspiracy to kill President Lincoln are Mary E. Surrat, David E. Herrold, George A. Atzerodt and Lewis Payne (or Powell). Four others convicted in the conspiracy receive prison terms.
L’Africaine op.299, a quadrille by Johann Strauss (39), is performed for the first time, in the Volksgarten, Vienna.
11 July 1865 Spain recognizes the independence of the Dominican Republic.
Coscoletto, ou Le lazzarone, an opéra-comique by Jacques Offenbach (46) to words of Nuitter and Tréfeu, is performed for the first time, at Bad Ems.
12 July 1865 Anton Rubinstein (35) marries Vera Chekuanova, daughter of a retired army officer, in Baden-Baden. The only member of his family present is his brother Nikolay.
13 July 1865 In an editorial in the New York Tribune, Horace Greeley advises Civil War veterans to “Go West, young man, go west and grow up with the country.”
14 July 1865 Englishman Edward Whymper and six others (Great Britain-France-Switzerland) become the first humans atop the Matterhorn. On the descent, four of the party fall and are killed. Only Whymper and his two Swiss guides survive.
The Great Eastern with the entire transatlantic cable aboard sets sail from the United States to Ireland.
17 July 1865 Richard Wagner (52) begins dictating his autobiography to Cosima von Bülow in Munich.
Caleb Foote writes that his son Arthur (12) is passing through “another stage. Having passed through astronomy, locomotives, and rebuses, he is just plunging into music, which absorbs him, for the moment, like a passion.” Arthur begins piano lessons tomorrow.
21 July 1865 James Russell Lowell reads his Ode Recited at the Harvard Commemoration in honor of those fallen in the war. John Knowles Paine’s (26) Mass in D op.10 is performed for the first time, directed by the composer.
23 July 1865 The Great Eastern begins laying cable from Ireland bound for Newfoundland.
24 July 1865 Two weeks of voting in the British general election conclude today. The ruling Whig Party of Viscount Palmerston increases its majority by 13 seats.
26 July 1865 New Zealand moves its capital from Auckland to Wellington due to fighting with Maori nearby.
27 July 1865 Richard, Count Belcredi replaces Alexander, Count Mensdorff-Pouilly as Prime Minister of Austria.
Pál Baron Sennyey Kis-Sennyey replaces Armin Count Zichy de Zich et Vásonkeö as Chancellor of Hungary.
28 July 1865 The education of Gabriel Fauré (20) at Ecole Niedermeyer is completed as he wins premiers prix in composition, fugue and counterpoint.
30 July 1865 Colonial militia besieged by Maori at Pipiriki are relieved.
Franz Liszt (53) receives the four minor orders of the Roman Catholic Church, Doorkeeper, Lector, Acoylte and Exorcist, in the Chapel of His Serene Highness Monseigneur Hohenlohe at Tivoli.
The steamship Brother Jonathan strikes ground off Crescent City, California with the loss of almost 250 souls and a large quantity of gold. 19 survive.
2 August 1865 About 950 km from Newfoundland the cable being laid by the Great Eastern snaps.
8 August 1865 Franz Liszt (53) arrives in Buda from Rome to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Pest Conservatory of Music.
10 August 1865 Alyeksandr Konstantinovich Glazunov is born in St. Petersburg. His father is a book publisher and amateur violinist, and his mother a pianist.
12 August 1865 Using disinfectant chemicals and unique procedures, Joseph Lister treats the compound fracture of a boy in Glasgow Royal Infirmary. It is the first of several cases upon which Lister will base his reports. Within one year, Lister reduces patient mortality at the Infirmary to less than 15 percent.
13 August 1865 After spending eleven days trying to retrieve and repair the broken cable, the Great Eastern heads for Britain, their mission a failure.
14 August 1865 The Gastein Treaty is signed by Austria and Prussia at Bad Gastein, Austria. Holstein will be administered by Austria, Schleswig by Prussia. Both will enter the Zollverein. The Duchy of Lauenberg is bought by Prussia. The treaty also calls for a canal from the Baltic to the North Sea.
15 August 1865 Die Legende von der heiligen Elisabeth, an oratorio by Franz Liszt (53) to words of Roquette, is performed for the first time, in Pest, directed by the composer in the habit of a Franciscan monk. This is to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Pest Conservatory of Music.
17 August 1865 An allied army wipes out a Paraguayan force at Yatay, Argentina.
22 August 1865 Kinderspiele op.304, a polka française by Johann Strauss (39), is performed for the first time, in Pavlovsk.
25 August 1865 Forty prominent citizens of San Francisco host a grand banquet in honor of Louis Moreau Gottschalk (36), the man of the hour in the city.
4 September 1865 Joaquim António de Aguiar replaces Bernardo da Sá Nogueirade Figueiredo, visconde e barão de Sá da Bandeira as Prime Minister of Portugal.
5 September 1865 Kreuzfidel op.301, a polka française by Johann Strauss (39), is performed for the first time, in Pavlovsk.
6 September A hurricane strikes Guadeloupe killing about 300 people.
8 September 1865 Louis Moreau Gottschalk (36) premieres his polka Ses yeux op.66 in San Francisco.
11 September 1865 Characteristic Dances for orchestra by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (25) is performed for the first time, in Pavlovsk, conducted by Johann Strauss, Jr. (39). It is the first work of Tchaikovsky to be performed in public.
14 September 1865 Bal champêtre op.303, a quadrille by Johann Strauss (39), is performed for the first time, in Pavlovsk.
Louis Moreau Gottschalk (36) and a friend, Charles Legay, meet for a rendezvous with two 20-year-old women in Oakland. They go for a carriage ride of several hours, bringing the young women back to their residence, the Oakland Female College, at 02:30.
15 September 1865 Louis Moreau Gottschalk (36) performs in a benefit concert in San Francisco.
16 September 1865 14:00 A telegram arrives at the Sacramento Daily Bee informing the paper of “a bit of scandalous conduct on the part of Gottschalk (36) and his business agent.” The events of the night of 14-15 September are reported, seriously embellished. It will go on to be reported in the San Francisco Examiner and the Morning Call.
18 September 1865 Between 01:00-03:00 Louis Moreau Gottschalk (36) and his servant, Fermin Meras, arrive at the San Francisco wharf in a closed carriage and board the steamship Colorado. Gottschalk has been named as one of two men responsible for abducting two young San Francisco women and the newspaper rumor mill has been working overtime. The rumors will soon circulate throughout the western United States.
20 September 1865 Emperor Franz Joseph repeals the February Patent of 1861, opening the way to negotiation with Hungary.
21 September 1865 Les refrains des bouffes, a fantaisie musicale by Jacques Offenbach (46), is performed for the first time, at the Bouffes-Parisiens, Paris.
24 September 1865 After Spain has reasserted some control over Peru and a Spanish squadron appears off Valparaiso, the Chilean Congress declares war on Spain.
26 September 1865 Royal assent is granted to the Native Rights Act. It makes Maoris citizens of the British Empire with all rights and creates a land court to hear Maori grievances against white settlers.
28 September 1865 The Haunted Manor, an opera by Stanislaw Moniuszko (46) to words of Checinski after Wojcicki, is performed for the first time, in Warsaw.
1 October 1865 Paul Abraham Dukas is born in Paris, second of three children born to Jules Dukas, a banker, and a mother who is a gifted pianist.
Die Zeitlose op.302, a polka française by Johann Strauss (39), is performed for the first time, in Pavlovsk.
Louis Moreau Gottschalk (36) emerges from his cabin for the first time since leaving San Francisco, as his ship docks at Panama City.
3 October 1865 The Imperial government of Mexico orders that all rebels still under arms are bandits and if captured will be executed.
7 October 1865 Louis Moreau Gottschalk (36) gives his first recital since leaving the United States, in Panama.
10 October 1865 John Hyatt receives a US patent for a billiard ball.
Louis Moreau Gottschalk (36) and his servant board ship in Panama City for Callao, Peru. Their travelling companions are six French nuns and a Peruvian priest.
11 October 1865 After meeting Bismarck at Biarritz, Emperor Napoléon III agrees to Prussian supremacy in Germany and a united Italy.
President Johnson paroles Confederate Vice-President Alexander Stephens and several cabinet members.
16 October 1865 Richard Wagner (52) writes to King Ludwig demanding 200,000 florins, 40,000 payable immediately and the rest paid out through the rest of his life. Ludwig will agree to 40,000 immediately and an annual stipend of 8,000 florins.
18 October 1865 Henry John Temple, Viscount Palmerston, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, dies at Brocket Hill.
Louis Moreau Gottschalk (36) and his servant arrive in Callao, Peru and proceed to Lima.
20 October 1865 Cosima von Bülow goes to the Bavarian treasury in Munich to collect 40,000 florins paid to Richard Wagner (52) by King Ludwig. Officials tell her they have no paper money and give her the entire amount in coins. She engages two cabs to haul the loot away.
21 October 1865 General José María Arteaga and four other Mexican officers are executed by the French at Uruapan.
25 October 1865 Mexicans assault the imperial garrison at Matamoros. They are repulsed and settle in for a siege.
28 October 1865 Drum-Taps by Walt Whitman is published in New York.
30 October 1865 John, Earl Russell replaces Henry John Temple, Viscount Palmerston as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
1 November 1865 Epameinontas Mitrou Deligeorgis replaces Alexandros Koumoundouros as Prime Minister of Greece.
2 November 1865 Edvard Grieg (22) leaves his seriously ill friend, Rikard Nordraak, in Berlin to perform in Leipzig. He promises to return.
3 November 1865 Der Gang zum Liebchen op.31/3 for vocal quartet and piano by Johannes Brahms (32) to anonymous words translated by Wenzig is performed for the first time, in Karlsruhe.
6 November 1865 Christian Emil Krog-Juel-Vind-Fris, Count Frijsenborg replaces Christian Albrecht Bluhme as Prime Minister of Denmark.
US Secretary of State William Seward announces that his country will not recognize the Mexican government of Emperor Maximilian.
The rebel army of General Mariano Ignacio Prado attacks Lima and an urban battle ensues. It is witnessed by Louis Moreau Gottschalk (36) hiding in a pharmacy. After artillery shells begin landing, and a musket ball passes very close to his head, Gottschalk enters the fray, attempting to transport wounded to the hospital.
10 November 1865 Captain Henry Wirz, commander of the Andersonville Prison, is convicted of cruelty by a military court and hanged in Washington.
11 November 1865 String Quartet in one movement by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (25) is performed for the first time, in St. Petersburg.
13 November 1865 The Danish Parliament passes an Act of Constitution separating Holstein and declaring sovereignty equally with Schleswig and Denmark.
14 November 1865 Their ammunition and morale running low, Mexicans abandon the siege of Matamoros.
15 November 1865 Demetrios Georgiou Voulgaris replaces Epameinontas Mitrou Deligeorgis as Prime Minister of Greece.
17 November 1865 Variations on an Original Theme op.21/1 for piano by Johannes Brahms (32) is performed for the first time, in Frankfurt-am-Main.
Louis Moreau Gottschalk (36) gives the first of several concerts at Teatro Municipal, Lima. The audience is wildly enthusiastic.
18 November 1865 Alexandros Koumoundouros replaces Demetrios Georgiou Voulgaris as Prime Minister of Greece.
The Italian Parliament meets for the first time in the new capital, Florence.
“The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”, by Mark Twain, appears in the last issue of the New York Saturday Press. It is Twain’s first work of fiction to be published.
23 November 1865 Mexicans attack the imperial garrison of Monterrey but are repulsed.
25 November 1865 Epameinontas Mitrou Deligeorgis replaces Alexandros Koumoundouros as Prime Minister of Greece.
Variations on a Theme by Paganini op.35 for piano by Johannes Brahms (32) is performed for the first time, in Zürich, by the composer from his manuscript.
A second assault at Monterrey by Mexicans is more successful, but they are eventually driven back by the arrival of a French relief column.
26 November 1865 Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll is published in a second edition in London. The first edition of last July was withdrawn after only 50 copies were printed because the illustrator, John Tenniel, was dissatisfied with the way his work was reproduced.
Overture in F for orchestra by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (25) is performed for the first time, at St. Petersburg Conservatory, conducted by the composer. It is Tchaikovsky’s conducting debut.
27 November 1865 August Möbius presents his Über die Bestimmung des Inhaltes eines Polyëders to the Royal Saxon Academy of Science in Leipzig. In it he first describes his one-sided object, the Möbius Strip.
28 November 1865 Trio in E flat for violin, french horn and piano op.40 by Johannes Brahms (32) is performed for the first time, in the Zürich Casino, the composer at the keyboard.
29 November 1865 An anonymous letter is published in a Munich newspaper praising King Ludwig and Richard Wagner (52) and calling for the removal of certain court officials. It was written by Wagner and is easily identifiable as such.
1 December 1865 Bavarian Prime Minister von der Pfordten writes to King Ludwig that he must choose between his people and Richard Wagner (52), and threatens to resign.
2 December 1865 Edvard Grieg (22) and a companion depart Leipzig for Italy. Instead of returning to Berlin to be with his ailing friend, Rikard Nordraak as he promised, Grieg has decided to go south on the sojourn he and Nordraak had intended.
3 December 1865 King Ludwig writes to Richard Wagner (52) that he is leaving Hohenschwangau and returning to Munich to deal with the crisis caused by Wagner’s letter to the newspaper of 29 November.
5 December 1865 Chile and Peru conclude an alliance against Spain.
6 December 1865 Confronted with his cabinet’s threat to resign, the grumblings and open hostility of his people and the strongly worded advice of the royal family, King Ludwig sends his second cabinet secretary, Johann von Lutz, to Richard Wagner’s (52) Munich home to inform him he must leave the country.
The United States government refuses to recognize Emperor Maximilian of Mexico.
7 December 1865 King Ludwig writes to Richard Wagner (52) that he must “never doubt the loyalty of your best friend.”
8 December 1865 12:30 Johan Christian Julius Sibelius is born in Tavastehus (Hämeenlinna), Finland, 130 km north of Helsinki, second of three children born to Christian Gustaf Sibelius, a physician and surgeon, and Maria Charlotta Borg, daughter of a priest.
9 December 1865 The new location of the New York Stock Exchange opens at 8-10 Broad Street, Manhattan.
Two works by Hubert Parry (17) are performed for the first time, at Eton College: Overture in b minor for piano duet, and the part-song Take, O take those lips away, to words of Shakespeare.
10 December 1865 Richard Wagner (52), accompanied by his servant and dog, leaves Munich by train for Bern. He is seen off by Peter Cornelius (40), Heinrich Porges and Cosima von Bülow.
King Leopold I of Belgium dies in Laeken and is succeeded by his son Leopold II.
11 December 1865 Edvard Grieg (22) arrives in Rome from Leipzig.
Benizelos Athasasiou Rouphos replaces Epameinontas Mitrou Deligeorgis as Prime Minister of Greece.
Les bergers, an opéra-comique by Jacques Offenbach (46) to words of Crémieux and Gille, is performed for the first time, at the Bouffes-Parisiens, Paris.
16 December 1865 In a letter from Secretary of State William Seward to the French government, the United States demands the withdrawal of French troops from Mexico.
17 December 1865 After almost two years in residence, Jules Massenet (23) departs the Villa Medici in Rome to return to France.
Symphony no.8 “Unfinished” D.759 by Franz Schubert (†37) is performed for the first time, in the Vienna Musikvereinsaal, 43 years after it was composed.
18 December 1865 An assembly meeting in Kolozsvár (Cluj) votes 166-55 for the union of Transylvania with Hungary.
The 13th amendment to the United States Constitution, abolishing slavery, is ratified.
22 December 1865 Caprice on Peruvian Airs for piano by Louis Moreau Gottschalk (36) is performed for the first time, in Lima.
24 December 1865 Edvard Grieg (22) meets Henrik Ibsen for the first time, in Rome.
The Ku Klux Klan is founded in the office of Judge Thomas M. Jones in Pulaski, Tennessee.
31 December 1865 Chlodwig, Prince von Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst replaces Karl Ludwig Heinrich, Baron von der Pfordten as President of the Council of Ministers of Bavaria.
Symphony no.1 by Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov (21), entirely reorchestrated by Mily Balakirev (28), is performed for the first time, at the Free School of Music, St. Petersburg, conducted by the orchestrator. Advocates of a Russian national school of composition note this as the first performance of a truly Russian symphony.
Edvard Grieg (22) and his friend Georg Bohlmann visit the Coliseum in Rome by moonlight. At first entranced, their imaginations get the better of them and they run from the place in fear. They then visit the Scandinavian Society but finding it too stuffy, stay only five minutes. After visiting a cafe the two reach their beds by 23:00, missing the new year.
©2004-2015 Paul Scharfenberger
12 January 2015
Last Updated (Monday, 12 January 2015 07:35)