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1 January 1891 Antonín Dvorák (49) becomes a professor at the Prague Conservatory.

Germany creates the German East Africa Colony ending rule by the German East Africa Company.

2 January 1891 Following the death of his father, Arnold Schoenberg (16) leaves the Realschule Vienna before completing his studies.

9 January 1891 Jean Sibelius (25) auditions to be a violinist in the Vienna Philharmonic.  He is encumbered by stage fright and does not receive the position.

15 January 1891 Träumen und Wachen for tenor and male chorus by Anton Bruckner (66) to words of Grillparzer is performed for the first time, in Vienna conducted by the composer during celebrations at the University of Vienna to mark the centennial of the poet.  On the same day, he receives official notification from the Vienna Conservatory of his resignation and thanks for his 22 years of service.  The Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde also informs him that it has elected him an honorary member.

20 January 1891 A treaty between Great Britain and the Netherlands defines boundaries in Borneo.

21 January 1891 Sonata for cello and piano op.1 by Hans Pfitzner (21) is performed for the first time, in Frankfurt-am-Main.

22 January 1891 A setting of Tantum ergo op.55 for tenor, chorus, harp, and organ by Gabriel Fauré (45) is performed for the first time, in St. Gervais.

23 January 1891 The Symphonic Prologue “Francesca da Rimini” op.24 by Arthur Foote (37) is performed for the first time, in Boston conducted by the composer.

30 January 1891 King Kalakaua of Hawaii dies in San Francisco and is succeeded by his sister, Liliuokalani.

31 January 1891 A republican insurrection in the Porto barracks is suppressed by Portuguese authorities.

Ivanhoe, a romantic opera by Arthur Sullivan (48) to words of Sturgis after Scott, is performed for the first time, for the opening of the Royal English Opera House.  Present are the Prince and Princess of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh.  The work receives great initial success but the production will eventually lose money and D’Oyly Carte will have to sell the theatre.

Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen is performed for the first time, in the Residenztheater, Munich.

Chant d’amour, number 3 of Rêves for piano by Isaac Albéniz (30), is performed for the first time, in London by the composer.

5 February 1891 A Brass Septet by Jean Sibelius (25) is performed for the first time, in Lovisa.

7 February 1891 O praise the Lord, all ye nations for chorus and organ by Amy Cheney Beach (23) is performed for the first time, in Boston.

9 February 1891 Emperor Menelik of Ethiopia expresses his opinion that the treaty his country has with Italy does not give Italy a protectorate over Ethiopia.

Antonio Di Rudini, Marquis of Starabba replaces Francesco Crispi as Prime Minister of Italy.

Chanson triste op.40/2 for piano by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (50) is performed for the first time, in Moscow.

16 February 1891 Kremlin op.30 for orchestra by Alyeksandr Glazunov (25) is performed for the first time, in St. Petersburg conducted by Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov (46).

Piano Quartet op.23 by Arthur Foote (37) is performed for the first time, in Boston, the composer at the keyboard.

21 February 1891 Incidental music to Shakespeare’s play Hamlet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (50) is performed for the first time, in the Mikhailovsky Theatre, St. Petersburg.

Condor, an opera by Carlos Gomes (54) to words of Canti, is performed for the first time, in Teatro alla Scala, Milan.

23 February 1891 Nikola Pasic replaces Sava Grujic as Prime Minister of Serbia.

24 February 1891 The first republican constitution of Brazil is adopted.

26 February 1891 Carl Nielsen (25) arrives in Paris for the first time.

27 February 1891 Ballad op.6 for piano by Amy Cheney Beach (23) is performed for the first time, at the Tremont Temple in Boston.  Mrs. Beach performs the premiere of the second of George Whitefield Chadwick’s (36) Two Caprices for pianoforte.

2 March 1891 At a social gathering in Paris, Carl Nielsen (25) first meets the sculptor Anne Marie Brodersen.  They are both in Paris for study purposes.  She has heard of him before.  The two begin a whirlwind courtship.  See 10 May 1891.

3 March 1891 The International Copyright act is passed by the US Congress.  For the first time, protects the holders of foreign copyrights from certain countries.

4 March 1891 Geleit op.41/3 for unaccompanied chorus by Johannes Brahms (57) to words of Lemcke is performed for the first time, in Vienna.

5 March 1891 Ion Emanuil Florescu replaces Lascar Catargiu as Prime Minister of Romania.

Voters in Canada elect the Seventh Parliament.  Liberals continue to gain seats, some at the expense of Conservatives, but Prime Minister John A. Macdonald’s Conservatives continue to hold a majority.

7 March 1891 Danza esotica for orchestra by Pietro Mascagni (27) is performed for the first time, in Teatro Mercadente, Cerignola.

8 March 1891 Sergey Rakhmaninov (17) makes his conducting debut at a student concert at the Moscow Conservatory.  He conducts his own Deus meus motet for chorus.  Two string quartet movements by Rakhmaninov are premiered, arranged for string orchestra, a Romance in g minor and a Scherzo in D major.

10 March 1891 Almon B. Strowger, an undertaker from Kansas City, Missouri, receives a US patent for an automated telephone exchange.  It will first be put into commercial use in November, 1892.

12 March 1891 Clara Schumann (71) gives the last public performance of her career, in a chamber music concert at the Frankfurt museum.  She plays the Haydn Variations of Johannes Brahms (57).

13 March 1891 Ghosts, a play by Henrik Ibsen dealing with venereal disease, opens in London to adverse criticism.

14 March 1891 After writing to his fiancee from Berlin that he has had an operation to remove a kidney stone, Jean Sibelius (25) reveals to his friend Robert Kajanus that he is suffering from venereal disease.

As a result of a personality dispute with the new director of the Budapest Opera, Count Zichy, Gustav Mahler (30) resigns, receiving 25,000 florins for the breaking of his contract.

A mob of 6,000-8,000 people invade the New Orleans city jail and lynch eleven alleged members of the Sicilian mafia who are awaiting trial for murdering the city’s police chief.  The incident will cause strained relations between the US and Italy.  No one will ever be prosecuted for the crime.

Serenata española op.181 for piano by Isaac Albéniz (30) is performed probably for the first time, in St. James’ Hall, London by the composer.

16 March 1891 Act III of Mlada, an opera by Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, is performed for the first time, in the Club of the Nobility, St. Petersburg, two days before the composer’s 47th birthday.  See 1 November 1892.

Le mage, an opéra by Jules Massenet (48) to words of Richepin, is performed for the first time, at the Paris Opéra.  It is not very successful.

Fantasy Pieces op.2 for oboe and piano by Carl Nielsen (25) are performed for the first time.

17 March 1891 Tsar Alyeksandr III decrees that a railway be constructed across Siberia.

Antonín Dvorák (49) is awarded an honorary doctorate from Charles University in Prague.

18 March 1891 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (50) departs St. Petersburg for his trip to the United States.

20 March 1891 Great Britain extends an informal protectorate over Muscat and Oman.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (50) arrives in Berlin on his way to the United States.  He hears his own music performed.  “It was wonderful to listen to my own music unrecognized, with perfect strangers all around.”

22 March 1891 Gustav Mahler (30) departs Budapest to take up his new post in Hamburg.

Ode à la musique for soprano, chorus, and orchestra by Emanuel Chabrier (50) to words of Rostand is performed publicly for the first time, at the Paris Conservatoire.

24 March 1891 Great Britain and Italy reach agreement in Rome on colonial borders in Somaliland.  The negotiations will be completed on 15 April.

25 March 1891 Prime Minister Alfred, Count von Fabrice of Saxony dies in Dresden and is replaced by Karl Friedrich Wilhelm von Gerber.

29 March 1891 Gustav Mahler (30) performs for the first time as First Conductor of the Stadttheater, Hamburg.  The work produced today is Richard Wagner’s (†8) Tannhäuser.  The critics are very impressed.

31 March 1891 Dissatisfied with the progress of justice in the case of the 14 March lynchings, the Italian government recalls its minister from Washington.  A new one will not be sent for at least a year.

1 April 1891 A telephone link is established between London and Paris.

2 April 1891 The Pilgrims for chorus and orchestra by George Whitefield Chadwick (36) is performed for the first time, in the Music Hall Boston, conducted by the composer.

5 April 1891 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (50) conducts a wildly successful program of his own works in Paris.  It includes the presumed premiere of his song Tears op.46/3 to words of Tyutchev.

9 April 1891 Now the Powers of Heaven for chorus by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (50) is performed for the first time, in Moscow.

10 April 1891 Prelude op.21/1 for piano by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (50) is performed for the first time, in Tiflis (Tbilisi).

11 April 1891 Trio for piano and strings “Dumky” op.90 by Antonín Dvorák (49) is performed for the first time, in Prague, the composer at the keyboard.

15 April 1891 By a treaty between Great Britain and Italy signed today in Rome, the two countries settle spheres of influence in the horn of Africa.

The Katanga Company is founded under the direction of King Leopold of Belgium to exploit copper deposits in the Congo.

16 April 1891 In Paris, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (50) learns of the death of his sister Alyeksandra Ilyinichna Davidova by reading it in a newspaper.

18 April 1891 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (50) departs Le Havre aboard Le Grand Bretagne making for New York.

Symphony in Bb by Ernest Chausson (36) is performed for the first time, by the Société National de Musique, Paris conducted by the composer.

23 April 1891 17:00  Sergey Sergeyevich Prokofiev is born in Sontsovka (Krasnoye Selo), Yekaterinoslav District, Ukraine, the third and eldest surviving child of Sergey Alexeyevich Prokofiev, an agricultural engineer, and Maria Gregoryevna Zhitkov, from a family of former serfs.

Two works by Jean Sibelius (25) are performed for the first time, in Helsinki:  Overture in E and Scène de ballet.

24 April 1891 The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde is published in book form in London.  It is an expansion on what was published last June.

26 April 1891 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (50) arrives in New York from Le Havre.

28 April 1891 The Empress of India docks in Vancouver, British Columbia having traveled from Liverpool through the Suez Canal with over 100 first class passengers, on one of the first world cruises.

30 April 1891 The French Equatorial Africa Protectorate is renamed the French Congo.

Harold Harfager op.26 for chorus and orchestra by Horatio Parker (27) is performed for the first time, in Chickering Hall, New York.

5 May 1891 Three Choruses for unaccompanied voices by Pytor Ilyich Tchaikovsky (50) to words of Tsyganov and Pushkin are performed for the first time, in the Hall of the City Council, St. Petersburg.

Carnegie Hall opens in New York with a gala concert.  The most illustrious person present is Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (50) who conducts his own Coronation March.  “Excitement.  My turn.  Was loudly received.  The March went by very well.  Great success.”  He will conduct several performances over the next week.

6 May 1891 Prince Masayoshi Matsukata replaces Prince Aritomo Yamagata as Prime Minister of Japan.

The Triple Alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy is renewed.

Gunlöd, an opera by Peter Cornelius (†16) to his own words, finished by Hoffbauer, is performed for the first time, in the Hoftheater, Weimar.

7 May 1891 A fanfare for Wilhelm Iffland’s play Der Jäger by Richard Strauss (26) is performed for the first time, in the Weimar Court Theatre.

On his 51st birthday, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky conducts his Orchestral Suite no.3 at a matinee in New York.

The Kobolds op.21, a cantata by Horatio Parker (27) to words of Bates, is performed for the first time, in Springfield, Massachusetts.

8 May 1891 Variations on America for organ by Charles Ives (16) is performed for the first time, in the Baptist Church of Danbury, Connecticut, by the composer.  It is programmed as National Airs for Violin and Organ and is performed with a violinist.

9 May 1891 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (51) conducts his Piano Concerto no.1 in New York with Adèle Aus der Ohe as soloist.

10 May 1891 Carl Nielsen (25) marries the sculptor Anne Marie Brodersen in the English Church of St. Mark in Florence.

Groß-Wien op.440, a waltz for male chorus and orchestra by Johann Strauss (63), is performed for the first time, in the Sängerhalle im Prater, Vienna.

11 May 1891 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (51) travels from New York to Buffalo to visit Niagara Falls.

The 100th performance of Lohengrin in Weimar is conducted by Richard Strauss (26), almost 41 years after its premiere by Franz Liszt (†4).  New sets and costumes are funded by Grand Duke Carl Alexander personally.

12 May 1891 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (51) visits Niagara Falls, both the US and Canadian sides.  He also takes the tour under the falls.

13 May 1891 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (51) arrives back in New York from Niagara Falls.

Henry F. Gilbert (22) completes his first composition under the tutelage of Edward MacDowell (30), A Lovely Fir Tree for piano.

14 May 1891 Artur Sergeyevich Lurye (Arthur Vincent Lourié) is born in Propoisk, Mogilev Province of Russia (Slavgorod, Belarus).

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (51) departs New York making for Baltimore.

15 May 1891 Pope Leo XIII issues the encyclical Rerum novarum which makes improving the lives of workers a moral issue.

Great Britain creates the Nyasaland Districts Protectorate (Malawi).

Fanfares for four trumpets and timpani by Antonín Dvorák (49) are performed for the first time, for the opening of the Regional Jubilee Exhibition in Prague.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (51) conducts his Piano Concerto no.1 with Adèle Aus der Ohe as soloist, and the Serenade for Strings, in the Lyceum Theatre, Baltimore.

16 May 1891 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (51) travels to Washington where he enjoys a musical evening with members of the staff of the Russian embassy and other diplomats.

17 May 1891 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (51) takes a tour of Washington, including the Capitol Building and the “renowned obelisk”, the Washington Monument, which he calls “the greatest structure in the world after the Eiffel Tower.”

18 May 1891 Gustav Mahler (30) conducts Tristan und Isolde for the first time, in Hamburg. 

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (51) travels from Washington to Philadelphia where he makes his last appearance in the United States.  He conducts his Piano Concerto no.1 with Adèle Aus der Ohe as soloist.  After the concert, he departs for New York.

20 May 1891 A farewell performance for Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (51) is given at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York.  He hears several selections of his own music.

21 May 1891 After a very successful month of concertizing in the United States, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (51) departs New York for home.

24 May 1891 At Vladivostok, the Tsarevich, Grand Duke Nikolay, announces an Imperial edict which authorizes the building of a trans-Siberian railway.

27 May 1891 (Claude) Joseph-Arthur-Adonaï Champagne is born in Montreal, the son of Arthur Champagne and Mélina Normandin.

29 May 1891 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (51) arrives in Hamburg from New York.

Prime Minister John A. Macdonald of Canada suffers a stroke in Ottawa leaving him unable to speak.

31 May 1891 At Vladivostok, the Tsarevich, Grand Duke Nikolay, empties a whellbarrow full of dirt, symbolically beginning work on the Trans-Siberian Railway.

1 June 1891 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (51) arrives in St. Petersburg from his American trip.

5 June 1891 Sergey Rakhmaninov (18) passes his piano examination with honors at Moscow Conservatory, a year early.

Mrs. Jeanette M. Thurber, wife of a New York millionaire, sends the following cable from Paris to Antonín Dvorák (49) in Prague:  WOULD YOU ACCEPT DIRECTOR NATIONAL CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC NEW YORK OCTOBER 1892 ALSO LEAD SIX CONCERTS OF YOUR WORKS.

6 June 1891 Prime Minister John A. Macdonald of Canada dies at his Ottawa home, a week after suffering a stroke, at the age of 76.

15 June 1891 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (51) writes to the publisher PI Jurgenson to order a new instrument, a celesta, which he heard in Paris, “before Rimsky-Korsakov (47) and Glazunov (25) get wind of it.”

Les béatitudes op.53, an oratorio by César Franck (†0) to words of the Bible adapted by Colomb, is performed for the first time with orchestral accompaniment, in Dijon.  See 27 June 1878, 20 February 1879, 21 November 1880 and 30 January 1887.

16 June 1891 John Joseph Caldwell Abbott replaces John Alexander Macdonald as Prime Minister of Canada.

Antonín Dvorák (49) receives an honorary doctorate from Cambridge University.

20 June 1891 Edward Elgar (34) and his family move from London to Malvern in Worcestershire to Forli, the house they will occupy for eight years.

Edvard Grieg (48) is elected a corresponding member of the French Académie des Beaux-Arts.

Representatives of Great Britain and the Netherlands sign a convention in London defining their mutual borders in Borneo.

23 June 1891 Nikola Tesla receives a US patent for a “System of Electric Lighting” commonly known as a Tesla Coil.  It will be used in wireless telegraphy into the 1920s.  A Serb born in Austria-Hungary, next month Tesla will become a US citizen.

28 June 1891 Eton, an ode for chorus and orchestra by Hubert Parry (43) to words of Swinburne, is performed for the first time, at Eton College to celebrate the 450th anniversary of the foundation of the college.

30 June 1891 The Nautch Girl opens at the Savoy Theatre in London.  It is the first production at the Savoy that was not written by Gilbert and Sullivan (49) since it opened in 1881.

1 July 1891 The International Copyright law goes into effect.  It is now illegal to pirate the works of foreign authors.

10 July 1891 Louise-Constance Massenet, wife of Jules Massenet (49) buys a house known as Le Vieux Manoir at Point-de-l’Arche, 20 km south of Rouen.  The composer will summer here and compose.

Erik Gustaf Boström replaces Baron Johan Gustaf Nils Samuel Åkerhielm af Margretelund as Prime Minister of Sweden.

20 July 1891 The Battle of the Baltic op.41, a ballad for chorus and orchestra by Charles Villiers Stanford (38) to words of Campbell, is performed for the first time, in St. James’ Hall, London.

23 July 1891 A French squadron visits the Russian naval base at Kronstadt, thus strengthening relations between France and Russia.

24 July 1891 Rákos Rákoczy, a folk ballet by Leos Janácek (37) to a scenario by Herben, is performed for the first time, in the National Theatre, Prague.

1 August 1891 The Riviéres du Sud (Guinea) territory is created a colony by France.

12 August 1891 James Russell Lowell dies in Cambridge, Massachusetts at the age of 72.

17 August 1891 War begins between Germany and the Wahehe in central German East Africa.  A column of German colonial troops sent to attack the Wahehe is overwhelmed near Lugalo and its German commander killed.

21 August 1891 Cijsbert van Tienhoven replaces Aeneas, Baron Mackay as chief minister of the Netherlands.

27 August 1891 An alliance is signed between France and Russia.

28 August 1891 Chilean revolutionary forces defeat those loyal to dictator José Manuel Balmaceda Fernández at Placilla near Valparaiso.  Some Balmacedists seek protection in the US legation and receive it, thus straining relations between the two countries.

1 September 1891 Felipe Pedrell (50) publishes Por nuestra Música, a manifesto in favor of national Spanish music.

10 September 1891 De profundis for soprano, chorus and orchestra by Hubert Parry (43) is performed for the first time, in Hereford.

16 September 1891 Lohengrin by Richard Wagner (†8) is successfully staged at the Paris Opéra.  Unlike the production of 1887, the nationalistic demonstrations outside are crushed by the police, even though the crowds are much larger.  After this, Wagner becomes the most performed composer at the capital of French musical culture.  See 3 May 1887.

18 September 1891 After losing power to revolutionary forces, President Balmaceda of Chile, while taking refuge in the Argentine legation in Santiago, puts a bullet through his right temple.

22 September 1891 The US government opens 395,086 hectares of Indian land to white settlement in Oklahoma.

24 September 1891 The First Orchestral Suite of Edward MacDowell (30) is performed for the first time, in Worcester.

28 September 1891 Herman Melville dies in New York City at the age of 72.

30 September 1891 Having lived the last two years in exile, mostly in Jersey, General Georges Boulanger shoots himself in the head in Ixelles Cemetery, in Brussels.  He dies on the grave of his mistress, where he soon will be buried.

6 October 1891 King Karl of Württemberg dies in Stuttgart and is succeeded by his nephew Wilhelm II.

7 October 1891 Eden op.40, an oratorio for six solo voices, chorus and orchestra by Charles Villiers Stanford (39) to words of Bridges, is performed for the first time, in Birmingham.  Press reaction is mixed.

9 October 1891 Requiem op.89 for solo voices, chorus, and orchestra by Antonín Dvorák (50) is performed for the first time, in Birmingham, conducted by the composer.

10 October 1891 Paa Vidderne, a symphonic poem by Fritz (Frederick) Delius (29), is performed for the first time, in Christiania (Oslo).

12 October 1891 WS Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan (49) meet for two hours at Sullivan’s London home.  A reconciliation is effected.

14 October 1891 O Praise the Lord, All Ye Nations op.7 for chorus by Amy Beach (24) is performed for the first time, in Trinity Church, Boston, for the installation of Phillips Brooks as Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts.  Rev. Brooks performed the composer’s wedding ceremony.

16 October 1891 In response to US intervention in the Chilean civil war, Chileans attack US sailors on shore leave from the USS Baltimore in Valparaiso.  Two sailors are killed, 17 injured.

19 October 1891 Three songs for voice and piano by Jean Sibelius (25) are performed for the first time, in Helsinki:  The Heart’s Morning op.13/3 and The Dream op.13/5 to words of Runeberg, and Enticement op.17/3 to words of Tavaststjerna.

25 October 1891 Africa op.89, a fantasy for piano and orchestra by Camille Saint-Saëns (56) is performed for the first time, in the Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris.

28 October 1891 06:38  One of the largest earthquakes in recorded history takes place, centered in Motosu, Japan.  It is called Mino-Owari after the two provinces it devastated.  Official records put the death toll at 7,273, with 17,175 injuries.  140,000 homes are destroyed.

29 October 1891 Russian Rhapsody for two pianos by Sergey Rakhmaninov (18) is performed for the first time, the composer at one keyboard.

31 October 1891 L’amico Fritz, a commedia lirica by Pietro Mascagni (27) to words of Suardon after Erckmann and Chatrian, is performed for the first time, in Teatro Costanzi, Rome.  It is a triumph, receiving over 30 curtain calls.

1 November 1891 At a contentious meeting of the Student Society in Christiania (Oslo), Edvard Grieg (48) advocates the removal of a symbol of the union with Sweden from the Norwegian flag.  “I think the time has come to ask where our love really lies.”

3 November 1891 Cherubic Hymn in C for chorus by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (51) is performed for the first time, in Moscow.

President Deodoro da Fonseca of Brazil sends troops to dissolve the Congress in Rio de Janeiro.

4 November 1891 After the premiere of Paa Vidderne, Fritz (Frederick) Delius (29) departs Norway for Paris.

5 November 1891 Die Sarazenen and Die schöne Aldâ, two fragments after The Song of Roland by Edward MacDowell (30) for orchestra, are performed for the first time, in Boston.

7 November 1891 The University of Vienna presents an honorary Doctor of Philosophy to Anton Bruckner (67).  In conferring the degree, the rector states, “I--the Rector magnificus of the University--bow before the former assistant school teacher of Windhaag.”  At Bruckner’s request, the citation refers to him as a “symphonist.”

10 November 1891 Arthur Rimbaud dies in hospital in Marseille at the age of 37.

11 November 1891 The first documented public performance of Gustav Holst (17) takes place when he and his father play some of Brahms’ (58) Hungarian Dances at the Montpellier Rotunda, Cheltenham.

12 November 1891 In the Second Presbyterian Church, Chicago, Elizabeth Penn Sprague of Chicago marries Frederic Shurtleff Coolidge of Boston.  Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge will go on to be one of the most important patrons of music of the twentieth century.

15 November 1891 The Peer Gynt Suite no.2 for orchestra by Edvard Grieg (48) is performed for the first time, in Christiania (Oslo), to celebrate 25 years since Grieg’s first appearance as a pianist in the city.

16 November 1891 Otto Lilienthal gives a talk at the Society for Promoting Aviation in Berlin.  He shows photographs of his flights earlier this year in his glider.  They are the first human directed flights in a fixed-wing aircraft.  (the exact dates of the flights are unknown)

18 November 1891 Voyevoda, a symphonic ballad by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (51), is performed for the first time, in Moscow conducted by the composer.  Despite the composer’s misgivings, the work finds a favorable response with public and press.

20 November 1891 Les veillées d l’Ukraine, a suite for orchestra, violin and harp by Charles Martin Loeffler (30), is performed for the first time, in the Music Hall, Boston, the composer as soloist.  It is extremely successful.

21 November 1891 Incidental music to Ibsen’s (tr. by Klingenfeld) play Das Fest auf Solhaug by Hugo Wolf (31) is performed for the first time, in Vienna.

Sonata for violin and piano op.1 by Max Reger (18) is performed for the first time, in Wiesbaden the composer at the keyboard.

23 November 1891 The first president of Brazil, Deodoroda Fonseca, is driven from office in a naval revolt.

24 November 1891 Jean Sibelius (25) appears for the first time as conductor, in Helsinki.

Floriano Vieira de Araújo Peixoto replaces Manuel Deodoro da Fonseca as President of Brazil.

27 November 1891 Liebe und Frühling op.3/2, a song by Johannes Brahms (58) to words of von Fallersleben, is performed for the first time, in Vienna, 37 years after it was composed.

29 November 1891 During this week, Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy is published in London.

5 December 1891 Former Emperor of Brazil, Dom Pedro, dies in the Bedford Hotel, Paris.

7 December 1891 Ferruccio Busoni (25) makes his first performance in New York, at the Fortnightly Club.

The Fifty-second Congress of the United States convenes in Washington.  A poor economy has helped the opposition Democratic Party regain control of the House of Representatives by a wide margin.  Republicans still control the Senate.

12 December 1891 Two chamber works including clarinet by Johannes Brahms (58) are performed for the first time, in the Saal der Singakademie, Berlin:  Trio for clarinet, cello, and piano op.114 and Quintet for clarinet and strings op.115.  The composer performs the piano part in the trio.  The response is overwhelmingly positive.

Antonín Dvorák (50) gives formal approval to Mrs. Thurber’s terms.  See 5 June 1891.

13 December 1891 The Deutsches Volksblatt of Vienna publishes what it says is the “formal address by August Göllerich not delivered at the Bruckner celebration.”  Göllerich was invited to speak at a student gathering at the University of Vienna to celebrate the conferral of an honorary degree on Anton Bruckner (67).  The university then withdrew its invitation because of Göllerich’s outspoken anti-semitism.

The “Vienna” version of the Symphony no.1 by Anton Bruckner (67) is performed for the first time, in Vienna.  It receives “a completely decisive success.”  It is dedicated to the University of Vienna in gratitude for the honorary doctorate he received last month.  See 9 May 1868.

16 December 1891 Scherzo for chamber orchestra by Gustav Holst (17) is performed for the first time, in Montpellier Rotunda, Cheltenham.

17 December 1891 Wie die Wolke nach Sonne op.6/5, a song by Johannes Brahms (58) to words of von Fallersleben, is performed for the first time, in Vienna, 38 years after it was composed.

19 December 1891 Intermezzo for flute, clarinet and strings by Gustav Holst (17) is performed for the first time, in Montpelier Rotunda, Cheltenham.

23 December 1891 Prime Minister Karl Friedrich Wilhelm von Gerber of Saxony dies in Dresden and is replaced by Heinrich Rudolf Schurig.

Antonín Dvorák (50) signs a two-year contract to direct the National Conservatory of Music in New York.

29 December 1891 Lascar Catargiu replaces Ion Emanuil Florescu as Prime Minister of Romania.

©2004-2012 Paul Scharfenberger

15 August 2012