1879
| 
| 
1 January 1879 The Austro-Hungarian customs tariff goes into effect for industrial products.
Edvard Grieg (35) meets Johannes Brahms (45) for the first time, in Leipzig. Brahms gives him a handwritten copy of the first four bars of the second movement of his Violin Concerto.
Concerto for violin and orchestra op.77 by Johannes Brahms (45) is performed for the first time, in the Leipzig Gewandhaus by Joseph Joachim conducted by the composer. The audience receives the work warmly but not enthusiastically.
By act of Congress, the US government resumes specie payments, coin in gold and silver for paper money. It was suspended during the Civil War.
Edward Elgar (21) enters upon duties as music director of the County Lunatic Asylum in Powick. He directs chamber music played by the staff for the edification of the inmates. The salary is £30 per year with five shillings extra for any new piece he might compose for them.
7 January 1879 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (38) moves into the Villa Richelieu, Clarens to begin composing the libretto and music to The Maid of Orléans.
11 January 1879 British forces invade Zululand.
Two songs for voice and piano by Gabriel Fauré (33) are performed for the first time, by the Société National de Musique, Paris: Après un rêve op.7/1 to anonymous words translated by Bussine, and Sylvie op.6/3 to words of de Choudens.
12 January 1879 Kennst du mich? op.381, a waltz by Johann Strauss (53), is performed for the first time, in the Sophiensaal, Vienna.
Abendregen op.70/4, a song by Johannes Brahms (45) to words of Keller, is performed for the first time, in Vienna.
13 January 1879 La marocaine, an opéra-bouffe by Jacques Offenbach (59) to words of Ferrier and Halévy, is performed for the first time, at the Bouffes-Parisiens, Paris.
21 January 1879 Alfred Satie, the father of Eric Satie (12) marries Eugènie Barnetche, a piano teacher. Eric’s mother died in 1872.
22 January 1879 800 British soldiers are surrounded and killed by 20,000 Zulus at Isandhlwana. Only 40 British manage to escape.
23 January 1879 140 British troops repulse an attack by 4,000 Zulus at Rorke’s Drift in northern Natal.
24 January 1879 Germany signs a commercial treaty with Samoa.
25 January 1879 Asahi Shimbun begins publishing in Osaka.
30 January 1879 Marie Edmé Patrice Maurice, comte de Mac-Mahon, Duc de Magenta, President of France resigns following Republican gains in recent elections. He is replaced by François Jules Paul Grévy.
Fantasie sonata in one movement for violin and piano by Hubert Parry (30) is performed for the first time, in London.
31 January 1879 Prelude and Fugue for two pianos by Ferruccio Busoni (12) is performed for the first time, in Mercantil-Saal, Bolzano. The composer plays one of the parts.
2 February 1879 Bagatelles op.47 for two violins, cello, and harmonium by Antonin Dvorák (37) is performed for the first time, in Prague.
4 February 1879 William Henry Waddington replaces Jules Armand Stanislas Dufaure as Prime Minister of France.
7 February 1879 Solo dramatique for clarinet and piano by Ferruccio Busoni (12) is performed for the first time, in Mercantil-Saal, Bolzano, by the composer and his father.
8 February 1879 Etienne Marcel, an opéra by Camille Saint-Saëns (43) to words of Gallet, is performed for the first time, at the Grand Théâtre, Lyon. The press is very positive.
10 February 1879 After three months of diplomatic protests over the mining/tax policy, Chile severs relations with Bolivia.
13 February 1879 Piano Quartet by Hubert Parry (30) is performed for the first time, in London.
14 February 1879 Chilean troops occupy the Bolivian port of Antofagasta to stop the Bolivians from selling Chilean mining assets.
15 February 1879 Karl von Stremayr becomes acting Chancellor of Austria.
17 February 1879 The Bell Telephone company merges with the New England Telephone and Telegraph Company to form two new companies, the National Bell Telephone Company and the International Bell Telephone Company.
20 February 1879 Bolivia requests assistance from its secret ally Peru in its dispute with Chile.
Les béatitudes, an oratorio by César Franck (56) to words of the Bible adapted by Colomb, is performed for the first time, in the composer’s Paris apartment with piano accompaniment. The listeners leave one by one during the performance and only a few friends of Franck remain at the conclusion. See 15 June 1891.
Pariser Polka op.382 by Johann Strauss (53) is performed for the first time, in Paris.
21 February 1879 Fantasia Waltzes for piano duet by Charles Villiers Stanford (26) are performed for the first time, at Cambridge University. The composer takes one part.
22 February 1879 Frank Winfield Woolworth opens his Great Five Cents Store in Utica, New York.
26 February 1879 Frank Bridge is born in Brighton, the tenth of twelve children born to William Henry Bridge, violinist and conductor, and the first of three born to Elizabeth Warbrick.
Caprice Russe op.120 for piano and orchestra by Anton Rubinstein (49) is performed for the first time, in Berlin.
27 February 1879 Edward Leveaux receives a British patent for a player piano.
1 March 1879 Bolivia declares war on Chile. The news will not reach Santiago for two weeks.
2 March 1879 Nur fort! op.383, a polka schnell by Johann Strauss (53), is performed for the first time, in the Musikverein, Vienna.
7 March 1879 Arsenio Martínez-Campos Antón replaces Antonio Cánovas del Castillo as Prime Minister of Spain.
8 March 1879 Symphony no.1 by Charles Villiers Stanford (26) is performed for the first time, in Crystal Palace, London.
11 March 1879 Japan annexes the Ryukyu Islands.
Johannes Brahms (45) receives an honorary doctorate from the University of Breslau (Wroclaw) although he does not attend the ceremony. See 4 January 1881.
15 March 1879 Guillem de Cabestanh, an overture by Hubert Parry (31), is performed for the first time, in the Crystal Palace, London.
16 March 1879 A setting of Psalm 149 for male chorus and orchestra by Antonin Dvorák (37) is performed for the first time, in Prague.
18 March 1879 The Forty-sixth Congress of the United States convenes in Washington. The opposition Democratic Party takes control of both houses.
24 March 1879 Swedish chemist Lars Fredrik Nilson announces his discovery of the element Scandium.
25 March 1879 Symphony no.5 by Antonin Dvorák (37) is performed for the first time, in Prague.
27 March 1879 Maria Tudor, an opera seria by Carlos Gomes (42) to words of Praga after Hugo, is performed for the first time, in Teatro alla Scala, Milan.
29 March 1879 20,000 Zulus attacking a British and colonial force one-tenth their number at Khambula are repulsed with heavy losses. This deals a serious blow to the leadership of King Cetewayo.
Yevgeny Onyegin, lyric scenes by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (38) to words of Shilovsky and the composer after Pushkin, is performed probably for the first time, at the Malyi Theatre, Moscow by students of Moscow Conservatory. See 28 December 1878 and 23 January 1881.
String Quartet in e minor by Bedrich Smetana (55) is performed for the first time, in Konvikt Hall, Prague.
Mazurek op.49 for violin and piano by Antonin Dvorák (37) is performed for the first time, in Prague.
2 April 1879 Toll-line commercial telephone service begins, between Springfield and Holyoke, Massachusetts, operated by District Telephone Company of New Haven.
5 April 1879 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s (38) estranged wife appears at his brother’s apartment in St. Petersburg where the composer is staying, protesting her undying love and devotion. Tchaikovsky gives her 100 rubles and sends her back to Moscow saying that they can not live together. This gets her out of the apartment, but not before she hands him a list of her boyfriends. She will not go to Moscow however, and will continue to dog him, even taking a room in the same building.
Chile declares war on Bolivia and Peru, beginning the War of the Pacific. Chile charges mistreatment of Chilean minorities but their true goal is the saltpeter mines found in the two countries.
The Mountain Thrall op.32 for baritone, two horns, and strings by Edvard Grieg (35) to words of Landstat, is performed for the first time, in Copenhagen.
Chilean warships institute a blockade of Iquique, Peru in hopes that the Peruvian navy will attack them.
Chileans chase the last Bolivian troops out of the Atacama Desert.
6 April 1879 Peru declares its defensive treaty with Bolivia has come into effect and that they are therefore at war with Chile.
The fourth of the Four Choruses op.29 by Antonin Dvorák (37) to a Moravian folk poem is performed for the first time, in Olmütz (Olomouc).
14 April 1879 Alyeksandr K. Solovyov fires five shots at Tsar Alyeksandr II as he takes his morning walk on the grounds of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. He misses his mark and is arrested. He will be hanged.
20 April 1879 Portions of Attendez-moi sous l’orme, an opéra comique by Vincent d’Indy (30) to words of Prével and de Bonnières after Régnard, are performed for the first time, by the Société
des Auditions Lyriques in Paris. See 11 February 1882.
23 April 1879 Festival March by Antonin Dvorák (37) is performed for the first time, in Prague, for the silver wedding anniversary of Emperor Franz Joseph and Empress Elisabeth.
28 April 1879 A constituent assembly meeting in Veliko Tarnovo adopts a liberal constitution for the Principality of Bulgaria.
30 April 1879 Alexander of Battenberg, nephew of Tsar Alyeksandr, is elected Prince of Bulgaria.
1 May 1879 Une éducation manquée, an operetta by Emanuel Chabrier (38) to words of Leterrier and Vanloo, is performed for the first time, at the Cercle International, Paris.
5 May 1879 Leos Janácek (24) applies to the Ministry of Culture and Education in Vienna for an unpaid leave from his job at the Teachers Institute in Brünn (Brno) in order to seek further education in Vienna or Leipzig.
15 May 1879 The International Canal Congress convenes in Paris. Ferdinand de Lesseps, who was responsible for the promotion of the Suez Canal, is named President. The Congress will find that the Panama option is the most viable.
16 May 1879 The Czech Suite for orchestra by Antonin Dvorák (37) is performed for the first time, in Prague.
18 May 1879 Completed sections of Jacques Offenbach’s (59) Les contes d’Hoffmann are performed to 300 of the composer’s family and friends in his Paris apartment. Two impresarios offer to stage the work and Offenbach opts for the Opéra-Comique.
21 May 1879 In a naval battle off Iquique, Peru (now Chile), Chilean ships, badly outgunned, fight Peruvians to a strategic draw. Both sides lose one ship.
25 May 1879 The Te Deum and Jubilate from the Morning, Communion, and Evening Services op.10 for chorus and organ by Charles Villiers Stanford (26) are performed for the first time, at matins in Trinity College Chapel, Cambridge.
26 May 1879 By the Treaty of Gandamak, the frontier is fixed between India and Afghanistan. Great Britain occupies the Khyber Pass and pays a subsidy to the Emir of Afghanistan.
29 May 1879 Anselmo José Braamcamp replaces António Maria de Fontes Pereira de Melo as Prime Minister of Portugal.
30 May 1879 String Quartet no.2 by George Whitefield Chadwick (24) is performed for the first time, in a graduation concert at the Leipzig Gewandhaus. It is very successful.
31 May 1879 Dr. Werner von Siemens demonstrates an electric streetcar at the Berlin Trades Exhibition.
1 June 1879 The son of Emperor Napoléon III, the Prince-Imperial, is killed in action in South Africa while serving with the British army.
4 June 1879 Incidental music to Hugo’s play Notre-Dame de Paris by Jules Massenet (37) is performed for the first time, at the Théâtre des Nations, Paris. Included is the air Mon père est oyseau, ma mère est oyselle for solo voice.
7 June 1879 March héroïque de Szabady for orchestra by Jules Massenet (37) dedicated to Franz Liszt (67) is performed for the first time, at the Paris Opéra for a benefit for flood victims in Szégédin, Hungary.
9 June 1879 Alyeksandr Solovyov is hanged for attempting to kill Tsar Ayeksandr II last April.
Edward MacDowell (18) appears in concert for the first time, at Hoch Conservatory, Frankfurt-am-Main, in a recital of the music of Franz Liszt (67) attended by the composer.
19 June 1879 Oxford University confers a Doctor of Music degree on Arthur Sullivan (37).
20 June 1879 George Whitefield Chadwick’s (24) overture Rip Van Winkle is performed for the first time, in a graduation concert at Leipzig Conservatory, conducted by the composer.
23 June 1879 While visiting Milan, Arrigo Boito (37) presents Giuseppe Verdi (65) with a scenario for Otello.
24 June 1879 Richard D’Oyly Carte arrives in New York from Britain to produce HMS Pinafore.
26 June 1879 Under pressure from Great Britain and France, Ottoman Sultan Abdülhamid II sacks Ismail, Kehdive of Egypt. He is succeeded by his son Tewfik Pasha.
29 June 1879 Two sacred works for chorus and organ by Edward Elgar (22) are performed for the first time, in St. George’s Church, Worcester: Domine salvam fac and Tantum ergo.
The Trio for piano and strings op.26 by Antonin Dvorák (37) is performed for the first time, in Turnov, along with the premiere of his Polonaise for cello and piano and a Slavonic Dance for violin and piano op.46/2.
1 July 1879 Publicly funded primary education in Belgium is secularized.
4 July 1879 Invading British forces defeat a Zulu force four times their size at Ulundi. This ends the war between Great Britain and the Zulus.
8 July 1879 Queen Victoria receives Camille Saint-Saëns (43) at Windsor Castle.
9 July 1879 Ottorino Respighi is born in Bologna, the son of Giuseppe Respighi, a postal worker and amateur pianist, and Ersilia Putti, daughter of a sculptor.
10 July 1879 Septem sacramenta, responsories for mezzo-soprano, baritone, chorus, and organ by Franz Liszt (67) is performed for the first time, in Weimar.
12 July 1879 Benedetto Cairoli replaces Agostino Depretis as Prime Minister of Italy.
15 July 1879 Das Glück von Edenhall, a cantata for chorus and orchestra by Engelbert Humperdinck (24) to words of Uhland, is performed for the first time, in Munich.
17 July 1879 Todor Stoyanov Burmov becomes the first Prime Minister of Bulgaria.
28 July 1879 Arifi Pasha replaces Tunuslu Hayreddin Pasha as Chief Minister of the Ottoman Empire.
French chemist Paul-Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran discovers the element Samarium in Paris.
29 July 1879 Joseph Joachim, in his Berlin home, gives the first performances of Antonin Dvorák’s (37) String Sextet op.48 and String Quartet no.10 op.51 with the composer in attendance. See 9-10 November 1879.
31 July 1879 During a performance of Gilbert and Sullivan’s (37) HMS Pinafore at the Opéra Comique Theatre in London, the original backers of the operetta attempt to seize the scenery hoping to open a rival show. The audience believes a fire is underway but are quieted by George Grossmith from the stage. The performance continues.
4 August 1879 Alsace-Lorraine is declared Reichsland under a Governor-General.
The company presently producing Gilbert and Sullivan’s (37) HMS Pinafore officially becomes known as Mr. D’Oyly Carte’s Opera Company.
10 August 1879 The Kyrie, Gloria, and Credo of the Morning, Communion and Evening Services op.10 for chorus and organ by Charles Villiers Stanford (26) are performed for the first time, at Communion in Trinity College Chapel, Cambridge.
11 August 1879 Modest Musorgsky (40) and contralto Daya Leonava begin a concert tour of Russia.
12 August 1879 Edvard, Count Taaffe replaces Karl von Stremayr as Chancellor of Austria.
13 August 1879 John Nicholson Ireland is born in Bowdon, Cheshire, the last of five children born to Alexander Ireland, a newspaper publisher, and Anne Elizabeth Nicholson, daughter of a professor of oriental languages at Oxford.
17 August 1879 Ferdinand de Lesseps organizes the French Panama Canal Company.
20 August 1879 Constantijn Theodoor, Baron van Lynden van Sandenburg replaces Johannes Kappeyne van de Copello as chief minister of the Netherlands.
24 August 1879 The Benedictus, Magnificat, and Nunc Dimittis from the Morning, Communion and Evening Services op.10 for chorus and organ by Charles Villiers Stanford (26) are performed for the first time, in Trinity College Chapel.
28 August 1879 British forces capture Zulu Chief Cetewayo in Ulundi.
Two sacred works by Anton Bruckner (54) are performed for the first time, at St. Florian: Inveni David for unison chorus and organ, and Os justi for chorus.
La lyre et la harpe, for solo voices and orchestra by Camille Saint-Saëns (43) to words of Hugo, is performed for the first time, in Birmingham.
1 September 1879 British representatives sign a peace with Zulu chiefs.
3 September 1879 Afghans kill the British legation in Kabul, beginning war again.
7 September 1879 The Central Executive Committee of The People’s Will, a Russian terrorist organization, condemns Tsar Alyeksandr II to death.
8 September 1879 Dumka for piano by Leos Janácek (25) is performed for the first time, in Roznov by the composer.
O sanctissima dulcis virgo Maria! for alto, baritone and organ by Antonin Dvorák is performed for the first time, in Sychrov, on the composer’s 38th birthday.
9 September 1879 Modest Musorgsky (40) and contralto Daya Leonava give a concert in Odessa. It is the hit of the season.
12 September 1879 Isaac Albéniz (19) gives a concert in the Teatre de Novetats after returning home to Barcelona from three years of study at the Conservatoire Royal de Musique in Brussels. He has become a local celebrity.
15 September 1879 Almost three weeks of voting for the New Zealand Parliament come to an end. The members are elected without party identification.
By the Treaty of Livadia between Russia and China, Russia gains key positions in the Ili Valley, east of Alma Ata.
24 September 1879 Slavonic Rhapsody no.3 by Antonin Dvorák (38) is performed for the first time, in Berlin.
1 October 1879 Küçük Mehmed Said Pasha replaces Arifi Pasha as Chief Minister of the Ottoman Empire.
2 October 1879 One day after arriving in the city, Leos Janácek (25) passes his entrance examinations at Leipzig Conservatory.
Ernest Chausson (24) enters the Paris Conservatoire in the classes of Jules Massenet (37) and César Franck (56).
7 October 1879 A secret alliance is concluded between Austria-Hungary and Germany in Vienna.
8 October 1879 British forces capture Kabul.
Chilean naval forces defeat Peruvians off Mejillones, just north of Antofagasta, capturing the Huascar. Peruvian Admiral Miguel Grau dies in the battle.
12 October 1879 A British protectorate is created over Afghanistan.
Franz Liszt (67) is made Canon of Albano, the only Church promotion he will ever receive. He is now allowed to wear the purple sash.
13 October 1879 Engelbert Humperdinck (25) wins the Berlin Mendelssohn Prize which is set up to pay for a year of study in Italy.
19 October 1879 Emir Yakub of Afghanistan abdicates and surrenders to the British.
21 October 1879 The Irish National Land League is founded at Castlebar, County Mayo. Charles Stewart Parnell is named President. Their goal is to place Irish farm land in the hands of those who actually occupy the land.
Thomas Alva Edison successfully produces a viable incandescent lamp in his workshop at Menlo Park, New Jersey.
22 October 1879 A Capriccio in b minor for piano op.76/2 by Johannes Brahms (46) is performed for the first time, in Vienna.
29 October 1879 Eight piano pieces op.76 by Johannes Brahms (46) are performed completely for the first time, in Berlin. See 22 October 1879.
1 November 1879 Néron by Anton Rubinstein (49) to words of Barbier and the composer, is performed for the first time, in the Hamburg Dammtortheater.
Carl Nielsen (14) becomes a full time musician as a cornet player in the band of the 16th Battalion in Odense.
2 November 1879 Chilean troops land from naval vessels and capture the Peruvian town of Pisagua and establish an effective beachhead.
Piano Sonata op.37 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (39) is performed for the first time, in Moscow.
4 November 1879 Eric Satie (13) takes the entrance examination for the Paris Conservatoire.
John and James Ritty of Dayton, Ohio receive a US patent for the cash register.
5 November 1879 WS Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan (37) arrive in New York aboard the Cunard steamer Bothnia to a tumultuous welcome. They will produce HMS Pinafore and a new operetta yet to be named (The Pirates of Penzance).
8 November 1879 Eric Satie (13) enters the preparatory piano class of Emile Descombes at the Paris Conservatoire.
Sonata for violin and piano no.1 op.78 by Johannes Brahms (46) is performed for the first time, in Bonn.
9 November 1879 String Sextet op.48 by Antonin Dvorák (38) is performed publicly for the first time, in Berlin. See 29 July 1879.
10 November 1879 String Quartet no.10 op.51 by Antonin Dvorák (38) is performed publicly for the first time, in Magdeburg.
11 November 1879 Richard D’Oyly Carte and the cast of HMS Pinafore arrive in New York.
16 November 1879 A first contract is signed between Gabriel Fauré (34) and the publisher Julien Hamelle, in Paris.
Nordseebilder op.390, a waltz by Johann Strauss (54), is performed for the first time, in the Musikverein, Vienna.
19 November 1879 Leos Janácek (25) hears Anton Rubinstein (49) play for the first time, at Leipzig Conservatory. “I’ve not heard a greater artist! Not enormous technique, anyone can learn that, but his conception and rendition of compositions—that’s the real artist in him.” (Tyrrell I, 150)
Chilean forces rout the Peruvians in the Plain of Dolores. Within a few days, Chile will take control of all Tarapacá Province.
22 November 1879 Leos Janácek (25) attends a concert devoted entirely to the chamber music of Anton Rubinstein (49) at Leipzig Conservatory, Rubinstein at the keyboard. “When I feel Rubinstein’s compositions I fell extraordinary: my spirit truly melts, it takes wing, becomes free and, at the moment when I listen to it, paints free pictures for itself…This verve, this speaking ‘to the soul’ I find nowhere else but in his compositions.” (Tyrrell I, 151).
23 November 1879 Stabat mater for six solo voices and string quartet by Ferruccio Busoni (13) is performed for the first time, in Graz, conducted by the composer.
Arthur Sullivan (37) conducts his The Prodigal Son with the Handel and Haydn Society, in Boston.
25 November 1879 Three scenes from Alyeksandr Borodin’s (46) unperformed opera Prince Igor are performed for the first time, at the Free School of Music, St. Petersburg.
27 November 1879 The French Chamber of Deputies moves from Versailles to Paris. It has been at Versailles since the Franco-Prussian War.
Peruvian forces defeat Chileans at Tarapacá, but are forced to retreat north, opening the territory to the Chileans.
1 December 1879 The People’s Will blows up a train outside Moscow thinking it contains the Tsar. It is a train carrying baggage ahead of the imperial party.
Arthur Sullivan (37) conducts the first “authentic” production of HMS Pinafore in the United States, in the Fifth Avenue Theatre, New York. The librettist sings in the chorus. It is “a success unparalleled in New York,” writes Sullivan to his mother.
2 December 1879 Arrigo Boito (37) sends Giuseppe Verdi (66) the libretto to Otello and offers to make any revisions that Verdi might require.
Edvard Grieg (36) writes to Clara Schumann (60) introducing himself and asking her for letters to prepare a visit to England for him. She will be very helpful, but illness will cause him to cancel the trip.
4 December 1879 A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen is published.
6 December 1879 Engelbert Humperdinck (25) leaves Munich for study in Italy as a result of his winning the Berlin Mendelssohn Prize.
Archbishop Kliment Turnovsky replaces Todor Stoyanov Burmov as Prime Minister of Bulgaria.
Two works by Pietro Mascagni are performed for the first time, at the Istituto Musicale Luigi Cherubini, Livorno on the eve of his 16th birthday: Elegia for soprano, violin and piano, and Sinfonia in c minor.
7 December 1879 Opern-Maskenball-Quadrille op.384 by Johann Strauss (54) is performed for the first time, in the Musikverein, Vienna.
9 December 1879 Antonio Cánovas del Castillo replaces Arsenio Martínez-Campos Antón as Prime Minister of Spain.
Three scenes from Modest Musorgsky’s (40) Khovanshchina are performed for the first time, at a Free Music School concert in St. Petersburg, conducted by Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov (35). It is a great success.
12 December 1879 Des Teufels LustschlossD.84, a Zauberoper by Franz Schubert (†51) to words of Kotzebue, is performed for the first time, at the Vienna Musikvereinsaal, 65 years after it was composed.
Variations on a theme by Robert Schumann for piano op.9 by Johannes Brahms (46) is performed for the first time, in Berlin, 25 years after it was composed.
13 December 1879 La fille du tambour-major, an opéra-comique by Jacques Offenbach (60) to words of Chivot and Duru, is performed for the first time, at the Folies-Dramatiques, Paris. The audience is ecstatic.
14 December 1879 In Haiti, Dominican generals Quintín Díaz and Antonio Pérez attempt to kill Cuban-revolt leader Antonio Maceo. Maceo is forewarned and the attempt fails.
16 December 1879 Klage I op.69/1, a song by Johannes Brahms (46) to traditional words, is performed for the first time, in Vienna.
17 December 1879 Edward op.75/1 for alto, tenor and piano by Johannes Brahms (46) to anonymous words is performed for the first time, in Vienna.
18 December 1879 Gustav Mahler (19) moves out of the Vienna apartment he shares with Hugo Wolf (19). He has found better accommodations in Währing.
President Mariano Ignacio Prado of Peru sails from Lima for Europe, hoping to gain the necessities for further conflict.
20 December 1879 Suite no.1 for orchestra by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (39) is performed for the first time, in Moscow.
21 December 1879 A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen opens in Copenhagen.
Vice President Luis La Puerta of Peru is overthrown.
23 December 1879 Pursuant to the uprising of two days ago, José Nicolás Baltasar Fernández de Piérola y Villena assumes the presidency of Peru.
28 December 1879 As a result of his army’s dismal performance against the Chileans, President Hilarión Daza Grosellé of Bolivia is overthrown. Uladislao Silva leads a junta to rule the country.
Prague Waltzes for orchestra by Antonin Dvorák (38) are performed for the first time, in Prague.
29 December 1879 Charles Louis de Saulces de Freycinet replaces William Henry Waddington as Prime Minister of France.
30 December 1879 The Pirates of Penzance, or The Slave of Duty, an operetta by Arthur Sullivan (37) to words of Gilbert, is performed for the first time, in the Royal Bijou Theatre, Paignton, 40 km east of Plymouth. It is given by one of Richard D’Oyly Carte’s touring companies and is missing important music that Sullivan has only recently composed in New York. The singers had to learn it so quickly that the police enter in the second act not with lanterns but with copies of the music. This performance is given only to secure the British copyright.
John Philip Sousa (25) marries Jane van Middlesworth Bellis, the daughter of a carpenter, at her home in Philadelphia.
31 December 1879 Thomas A. Edison transports 3,000 people to his workshop in Menlo Park, New Jersey, to view a demonstration of hundreds of burning incandescent lamps.
Arthur Sullivan (37) opens The Pirates of Penzance in New York, to great success.
The cornerstone is laid for Iolani Palace in Honolulu.
©2004-2012 Paul Scharfenberger
13 August 2012
Last Updated (Monday, 13 August 2012 06:29)