MusicAndHistory.com

1 January 1892 Ritter Pásmán, a comic opera by Johann Strauss (66) to words of Dóczi after Aranyi, is performed for the first time, in the Vienna Court Opera.  The audience receives it warmly but the critics are negative.

Two Little Caprices from op.27 for piano by Arthur Foote (38) are performed for the first time, in Boston by the composer.

3 January 1892 Two works for cello and piano by Antonín Dvorák (50) are performed for the first time, in Rakovnik:  Silent Woods and Rondo in g minor.

5 January 1892 The Cuban Revolutionary Party is founded in New York by José Julián Martí y Pérez.  Its goal is to achieve independence for Cuba from Spain.

8 January 1892 A Slavonic Dance for cello and piano op.46/8 by Antonín Dvorák (50) is performed for the first time, in Chrudim.

17 January 1892 Richard Strauss (27) conducts Tristan und Isolde for the first time, in Weimar.

Rapsodie bretonne op.7bis for orchestra by Camille Saint-Saëns (56) is performed for the first time, at the Cirque des Champs-Elysées, Paris.

18 January 1892 José Dias Ferreira replaces João Crisóstomo de Abreu e Sousa as Prime Minister of Portugal.

19 January 1892 Gustav Mahler (31) conducts a performance of Yevgeny Onegin by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (51) in Hamburg before an audience which includes the composer.  Tchaikovsky writes to his nephew, “The conductor here is not the usual ilk, but a man of genius who would give his life to conduct the premiere.”

20 January 1892 The first basketball game takes place in Springfield, Massachusetts.  It was invented by a YMCA worker named James Naismith.

22 January 1892 String Quartet no.1 op.44 by Charles Villiers Stanford (39) is performed for the first time, in Newcastle upon Tyne.

23 January 1892 The Polyeucte Overture by Paul Dukas (26) is performed for the first time, in Paris.

25 January 1892 On the day that US President Harrison suggests to Congress that a declaration of war is appropriate over the USS Baltimore incident, the Chilean government agrees to pay reparations.

Incidental music to Bouchor’s play La légende de Sainte-Cécile by Ernest Chausson (37) is performed for the first time, in the Petit Théâtre des Marionettes, Paris.

26 January 1892 The Royal English Opera House of Richard D’Oyly Carte is forced to close due to dwindling receipts after only one year of operation.

28 January 1892 The Libera me from the second version of Gabriel Fauré’s (46) setting of the Requiem is performed for the first time, in the church of St.-Gervais.  See 16 January 1888, 21 January 1893 and 12 July 1900.

29 January 1892 A Pastoral Prelude for orchestra by George Whitefield Chadwick (37) is performed for the first time, in the Music Hall, Boston.

1 February 1892 The gold standard is adopted by Austria-Hungary.

5 February 1892 March of the Björneborgers for small orchestra by Jean Sibelius (26) is performed for the first time, in Helsinki.  See 4 July 1900.

7 February 1892 A Mass in E flat for chorus and orchestra op. 5 by Amy Beach (24) is performed for the first time, in the Boston Music Hall.  Public and critics are enthralled.

11 February 1892 Two new chamber works by Sergey Rakhmaninov (18) are performed for the first time, as part of his first concert not at the conservatory, in Vostriakov Hall, Moscow:  Trio élégiaque no.1 for piano and strings, and Prelude for cello and piano op.2/1.

14 February 1892 Parts of La Nuit Persane by Camille Saint-Saëns (56) to words of Renaud, a version for solo voices and orchestra of his 1870 song cycle Mélodies Persanes, are performed for the first time, in Paris.

15 February 1892 Voting for the Japanese House of Representatives results in victory for liberal parties.

16 February 1892 Werther, a drame lyrique by Jules Massenet (49) to words of Blau, Milliet and Hartman after Goethe, is performed for the first time, at the Vienna Court Opera.  This is a German translation by Kalbeck.  See 27 December 1892.

20 February 1892 Lady Windermere’s Fan by Oscar Wilde is first performed at the St. James Theatre, London.

21 February 1892 Le carillon, a légende mimée et dansée by Jules Massenet (49) to a story by van Dyck and de Roddaz, is performed for the first time, at the Burgtheater, Vienna.

Mala vita, an opera by Umberto Giordano (24) to words of Daspuro after Di Giacomo is performed for the first time, in Teatro Argentina, Rome.

22 February 1892 Unparteiische Kritiken op.442, a polka mazurka by Johann Strauss (66), is performed for the first time,in the Sophiensaal, Vienna.

23 February 1892 Johannes Wilhelm Christian Steen replaces Emil Stang as Prime Minister of Norway.

Responding from a request from Charles Villiers Stanford (39) that Johannes Brahms (58) allow Cambridge University to confer an honorary doctorate on him in June 1893, Brahms sends his “thanks but no thanks.”  At that season, he would rather be “walking beside some lovely Italian lake.”  He suggests that Stanford should do the same.

24 February 1892 Incidental music to Aristophanes’ play The Frogs by Hubert Parry (43) is performed for the first time, in Oxford.

25 February 1892 Nächtens op.112/2, a vocal quartet by Johannes Brahms (58) to words of Kugler, is performed for the first time, in Vienna.

27 February 1892 Emile Loubet replaces Charles Louis de Saulces de Freycinet as Prime Minister of France.

2 March 1892 Konstantinos Konstantopoulos replaces Theodoros Pangaiou Diligiannis as Prime Minister of Greece.

3 March 1892 The first all-Wolf (31) recital in Berlin takes place.  It is well received.

4 March 1892 Concert for piano, violin, and string quartet by Ernest Chausson (37) is performed for the first time, in Brussels.

6 March 1892 Great Britain extends a protectorate over the Trucial States (United Arab Emirates).

10 March 1892 Arthur Honegger is born in Le Havre, the first of four children born to Arthur Honegger and Julie Ulrich, both Swiss.  The birth certificate lists the father’s profession as “shop assistant” but he will soon be proprietor of a very successful coffee importing business.

Trois sonneries de la Rose-Croix, three fanfares by Erik Satie (25), are performed for the first time, at the inauguration of the First Rosicrucian Salon at Galerie Durand-Ruel, in Paris.

12 March 1892 Chant Saphique op.91 for cello and piano by Camille Saint-Saëns (56) is performed for the first time, in Paris.

13 March 1892 Grand Duke Ludwig IV of Hesse dies in Darmstadt and is succeeded by his son Ernst Ludwig.

15 March 1892 Jesse Reno receives a US patent for an “Inclined Elevator”, now known as an escalator.

A setting of Vexilla regis for chorus by Anton Bruckner (67) is performed for the first time, at St. Florian.

17 March 1892 Incidental music to Tennyson’s play The Foresters by Arthur Sullivan (49) is performed for the first time, in Daly’s Theatre, New York.

19 March 1892 A suite from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s (51) unperformed ballet The Nutcracker is performed for the first time, in St. Petersburg.

Le fils des étoiles, a pastorale kaldéenne by Erik Satie (25) to a story by Péladan, is given a public dress rehearsal, in Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris.  See 22 March 1892.

20 March 1892 Blessed is He Who Smiles for male chorus by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (51) to words of Grand Duke Konstantin Romanov is performed for the first time, in Moscow.

22 March 1892 Le fils des étoiles, a pastorale kaldéenne by Erik Satie (25) to a story by Péladan, is officially performed for the first time, in Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris.  It is the first titled work that Satie wrote for the Salon de la Rose-Croix of Joseph-Aimé Péladan, whose goal is “to ruin realism, reform Latin taste and create a school of idealist art.”  See 19 March 1892.

23 March 1892 Botho Julius August, Count zu Eulenburg replaces Georg Leo, Count Caprivi as Prime Minister of Prussia.

26 March 1892 Walt Whitman dies in Camden, New Jersey at the age of 72.

27 March 1892 Seid umschlungen Millionenen op.443, a waltz by Johann Strauss (66), is performed for the first time, in the Musikverein, Vienna.

29 March 1892 At a student concert at Moscow Conservatory, the first movement of Sergey Rakhmaninov’s (18) First Piano Concerto is premiered.  The composer interrupts the conductor, Vasily Ilyich Safonov several times to instruct him in its correct interpretation.

1 April 1892 George Whitefield Chadwick’s (37) operetta A Quiet Lodging to words of Bates is performed for the first time, privately, in Boston.

2 April 1892 Cinq mélodies “de Venise” op.58 for voice and piano by Gabriel Fauré (46) to words of Verlaine, is performed for the first time, by the Société National de Musique, Paris.

3 April 1892 Sergey Rakhmaninov (19) receives the subject of his graduation exercise from Moscow Conservatory, the libretto to a one-act opera named Aleko by Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko after a poem by Pushkin.  Rakhmaninov is so excited he runs all the way home to get started on the music.

4 April 1892 Sonata for violin and piano op.3 by Max Reger (19) is performed for the first time, in Wiesbaden, the composer at the keyboard.

6 April 1892 The Symphony no.4 by Antonín Dvorák (50) is performed completely for the first time, in Prague, conducted by the composer.  See 25 May 1874.

8 April 1892 The Congo Free State extends a protectorate over the Sultanate of Rafai in central Africa.

String Quartet no.2 by Carl Nielsen (26) is performed publicly for the first time, in Copenhagen.  See 18 December 1890.

10 April 1892 During the celebrations for the centennial of Gioachino Rossini’s (†23) birth, Giuseppe Verdi (78) conducts the Preghiera from Mosè at Teatro alla Scala, Milan.

Under a state of siege, voting for the President of Argentina results in victory for Luis Sáenz Peña.

12 April 1892 The second and third movements of Charles Martin Loeffler’s (31) String Quartet are performed for the first time, in Union Hall, Boston.

15 April 1892 The General Electric Company is incorporated in the State of New York following the merger of Edison General Electric, lead by Thomas Edison, and Thomson-Houston Company, lead by Charles A. Coffin.

17 April 1892 Easter Carol for solo voices, chorus and organ by Charles Ives (17) to words of Elliott is performed for the first time, in Danbury Baptist Church, Connecticut.  (This might not have happened.)

20 April 1892 Voting for the Folketing takes place in Denmark.  The Left Reform Party loses 45 seats and its majority.  The new Moderate Left Party becomes the largest party.

21 April 1892 Arpeggio study for piano by Gustav Holst (17) is performed for the first time, in Constitution Hall, Oxford by the composer.

22 April 1892 Nikolay Obukhov is born in Olshanka, Kursk province.

28 April 1892 The concert overtures In Nature’s Realm, Karneval, and Othello by Antonín Dvorák (50) are performed for the first time, together as Nature, Life, and Love in a special farewell concert for the composer in Prague.

Kullervo, a symphony for soprano, baritone, male chorus, and orchestra by Jean Sibelius (26) to words from the Kalevala, is performed for the first time, in Helsinki, conducted by the composer.  It is a great success and puts Sibelius at the head of a new generation of Finnish nationalist art.  The success allows him to marry his fiancee, Aino Järnefelt, because it proves to her family that he can support her through composing.

Five Poems by JP Jacobsen op.4, a song cycle by Carl Nielsen (26), is performed for the first time (all except the last song), in Copenhagen, in the first concert devoted entirely to the music of Nielsen.

The Skeleton in Armor op.28 for chorus and orchestra by Arthur Foote (39) to words of Longfellow is performed for the first time, in New York.

29 April 1892 Two songs for voice and piano by Gustav Mahler (31) to words of Brentano and von Arnim are performed for the first time, in Hamburg:  Aus! Aus! and Nicht wiedersehen.

1 May 1892 Béla Bartók (11) makes his first appearance as pianist and composer, at a charity concert for the town of Nagyszöllös (Vinogradov, Ukraine), 300 km northeast of Budapest.  Bártok plays the premiere of his The Course of the Danube as well as the first movement of the Waldstein Sonata of Beethoven (†65).

4 May 1892 The process for producing acetylene on a commercial basis is discovered by accident by Thomas Leopold Wilson in Spray, North Carolina.  He has been trying to produce metallic calcium by combining lime and coal tar in a furnace.  When he discards his failure in a nearby stream, the acetylene is given off.

5 May 1892 The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 is extended for ten years by the United States.

Phoenix Expirans, a cantata for vocal soloists, chorus and orchestra by George Whitefield Chadwick (37) is performed for the first time, in the City Hall of Springfield, Massachusetts.

15 May 1892 Giovanni Giolitti replaces Antonio Di Rudini, Marquis of Starabba as Prime Minister of Italy.

17 May 1892 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (52) moves into new lodgings near Klin (now the Tchaikovsky museum), 85 km northwest of Moscow.

How Sweet the Answer, a part-song by Hubert Parry (44) to words of Moore, is performed for the first time, in London.

18 May 1892 La vie du poète, a symphony-drama for solo voices, chorus, and orchestra by Gustave Charpentier (31) to his own words, is performed for the first time, in the Paris Conservatoire.

19 May 1892 Engelbert Humperdinck (37) marries Hedwig Taxer.  They will spend the summer at the Bayreuth Festival.

Sergey Rakhmaninov (19) plays his setting of the one-act opera Aleko for the examiners at Moscow Conservatory.  He is awarded the gold medal.  See 9 May 1893.

Incidental music to Molière’s play Le Sicilien by Jean-Baptiste Lully (†205), restored by Camille Saint-Saëns (56), is performed for the first time, in Palais Garnier, Paris.

21 May 1892 Pagliacci, a dramma by Ruggero Leoncavallo (35) to his own words, is performed for the first time, in Teatro dal Verme, Milan.  The public is very positive.  The critics are confused or hostile.

27 May 1892 John Philip Sousa (37) signs a contract with band manager David Blakely to direct a new, civilian concert band.

1 June 1892 Gabriel Fauré (47) is appointed inspector of music in the provincial conservatories.

5 June 1892 Das deutsche Lied for male chorus and brass by Anton Bruckner (67) to words of Fels is performed for the first time, in Salzburg.

9 June 1892 Alyeksandr Skryabin (20) receives a diploma from the Moscow Conservatory making him a “free artist.”

10 June 1892 Jean Sibelius (26) marries Aino Järnefelt, the daughter of a general, at the Järnefelt home, Tottesund.

Sergey Rakhmaninov (19) receives a diploma from the Moscow Conservatory making him a “free artist.”

11 June 1892 Edvard (48) and Nina Grieg celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary at Troldhaugen.  For the occasion, he has composed Wedding Day at Troldhaugen.

Installation Ode for chorus by Charles Villiers Stanford (39) to words of Verrall is performed for the first time, at the installation of the Vice-Chancellor, Cambridge.

13 June 1892 The Lotos-Eaters, a choric song for soprano, chorus and orchestra by Hubert Parry (44) to words of Tennyson, is performed for the first time, in Cambridge, directed by the composer.

14 June 1892 Portugal declares national bankruptcy.  The government ceases payments on its foreign debt.

20 June 1892 Incidental music to Sylvestre’s play Poèmes d’amour by Isaac Albéniz (32) is performed for the first time, at the Lyric Club, London.

22 June 1892 Charilaos Spiridonou Trikoupis replaces Konstantinos Konstantopoulosas Prime Minister of Greece.

23 June 1892 A Russian Imperial decree increases property restrictions for suffrage, thus severely restricting the electorate.

29 June 1892 One day before their contract expires, workers at the Carnegie Steel Company plant in Homestead, Pennsylvania are locked out by the operations manager, Henry Clay Frick.

30 June 1892 The Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers begins a strike for higher wages at the Carnegie plant at Homestead, Pennsylvania.  Andrew Carnegie and his operations manager, Henry Clay Frick, use the event to attempt to break the union.  Workers at four other Carnegie plants walk out in sympathy.

4 July 1892 James Keir Hardie becomes the first socialist to win a seat in the British Parliament.

6 July 1892 The Carnegie Steel Company tries to bring 300 Pinkerton detectives on to their plant in Homestead, Pennsylvania in an attempt to reopen the facility.  Shots are exchanged with striking workers and their families surrounding the plant.  A full scale gun battle ensues with Pinkertons on barges in the Monongahela River and strikers on the bank, at one point bringing up a cannon.  Ten people are killed.  By evening, the Pinkertons surrender and are granted safe passage through the town, the strikers burning their barges.  The town’s opera house is set up as a temporary prison.  After hours of negotiations, the agents are removed from town and transported by train to Pittsburgh.

7 July 1892 Katipunan is founded by Andrés Bonifacio.  It is a secret brotherhood organized to bring about the independence of the Philippines through violent means.

Pinkerton agents saved from striking steel workers yesterday are released and sent out of Pittsburgh.

12 July 1892 6,000 Pennsylvania state militia arrive in Homestead, most of them surrounding the Carnegie Steel plant.  They force the reopening of the plant and oversee the arrival of strike breakers.

13 July 1892 A young, provincial organist named Gustav Holst (17) travels from his home in Cheltenham to London to see Götterdämmerung at Covent Garden conducted by Gustav Mahler (32).  He is stunned, both by the music and its performance.

23 July 1892 Anarchist Alexander Berkman, unrelated to the Homestead strike, enters the office of Carnegie manager Henry Clay Frick, shoots and stabs him.  Frick survives and Berkman will be sentenced to 22 years in prison.

26 July 1892 Three weeks of voting conclude in the British general election.  The Conservatives and their Liberal Unionist supporters lose 80 seats, the same number picked up by the Liberal Party.  Although no party wins a majority, William Gladstone’s Liberals will form a minority government backed by the Irish Parliamentary Party.

28 July 1892 Peace I Leave With You op.8/2 for vocal quartet by Amy Beach (24) is performed for the first time, in the First Congregational Church of Nashua, New Hampshire.

30 July 1892 A farewell concert for John Philip Sousa (37) takes place on the White House lawn, attended by President Benjamin Harrison.  Despite the rain, a large crowd attends.  Sousa is presented with an engraved baton by the Marine Band, and after the festivities, Sousa receives his discharge from the Marines.

1 August 1892 John Philip Sousa’s (37) contract with manager David Blakely goes into effect.  He will direct a new, civilian concert band.

2 August 1892 Inno per l’esposizione di Palermo for tenor, chorus, and orchestra by Pietro Mascagni (28) to an anonymous text, is performed for the first time, in the Piazza Grande, Livorno.

4 August 1892 The parents of Elizabeth Borden are murdered with an axe in Fall River, Massachusetts.  Young Lizzie will be acquitted of the crime.

8 August 1892 Marquis Hirobumi Ito replaces Prince Masayoshi Matsukata as Prime Minister of Japan.

Six Songs for medium voice and piano op.4 by Max Reger (19) are performed for the first time, in Berlin the composer at the keyboard.

15 August 1892 Maurice Ravel (17) and Ricardo Viñes spend the day at the piano “experimenting with new chords.”  Some of this will find its way into Ravel’s Habanera for two pianos.

16 August 1892 William Ewart Gladstone replaces Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, Marquess of Salisbury as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

17 August 1892 A cholera epidemic breaks out in Hamburg.  Over the next few weeks, 8,500 people will die.  However, nearby Altona is spared because it has been filtering its water since 1850.

18 August 1892 France and Russia enter into a secret military agreement, pledging to support each other in case of an attack on either of them by Germany.

22 August 1892 Jovan Avakumovic replaces Nikola Pasic as Prime Minister of Serbia.

27 August 1892 The Metropolitan Opera House in New York is virtually destroyed by fire.

France separates the Sudan Territory (Mali) from Senegal and creates a new colony.

4 September 1892 Darius Milhaud is born in Marseille, only child of an almond merchant and Sophie Allatani, from a wealthy Modena family.

7 September 1892 James “Gentleman Jim” Corbett knocks out John L. Sullivan in the 21^st round in a title fight in New Orleans.  It is the first heavyweight title fight held under the Marquess of Queensbury rules.

8 September 1892 Job, an oratorio by Hubert Parry (44), is performed for the first time, in Gloucester.

9 September 1892 Amalthea, a moon of Jupiter, is discovered by EE Barnard at the Lick Observatory near San Jose, California.  It is the first moon of Jupiter to be identified since Galileo saw the original four in 1610.  It is also the last satellite to be discovered without photography.

14 September 1892 The German South West Africa protectorate (Namibia) is elevated to the status of crown colony.

The first train to travel the new connection on the South African railroad completes its trip from Cape Town to Johannesburg.

15 September 1892 Taking his wife and three of his seven children (the other four he left in charge of his mother-in-law), Antonín Dvorák (51) leaves Prague for America.

20 September 1892 Now that the cholera epidemic in Hamburg has subsided somewhat, Gustav Mahler (32) decides to return.

24 September 1892 Haddon Hall, an operetta by Arthur Sullivan (50) to words of Grundy, is performed for the first time, at the Savoy Theatre, London.  It is a success with critics and public.

26 September 1892 The new Sousa Band, led by John Philip Sousa (37), presents its inaugural concert, at Stillman Music Hall in Plainfield, New Jersey.

Antonín Dvorák (51) and his family arrive in the new world at Hoboken, New Jersey aboard the SS Saale, nine days out of Bremen.

1 October 1892 Hans Pfitzner (23) takes up duties as teacher of piano and theory at Coblenz Conservatory.

Antonín Dvorák’s (51) contract in New York begins on this date and he is officially welcomed to the National Conservatory.

5 October 1892 Johannes Brahms (59) and Joseph Joachim give a joint concert on the second day of a three-day festival dedicating the new Bechstein Hall in Berlin.

The Dalton Gang is virtually wiped out while robbing a bank in Coffeyville, Kansas.

6 October 1892 Alfred, Lord Tennyson dies in Aldworth, near Haslemere, Surrey at the age of 83.

“Oh! Horror! Horror!”, a finale for Act II of the play Incognita by Isaac Albéniz (32) to words of Greenbank, is performed for the first time, in London.

8 October 1892 Music for tableaux vivants by Richard Strauss (28) is performed for the first time, in the Weimar Hofkapelle, conducted by the composer.  The work was composed for the golden anniversary of the Grand Duke and Duchess of Weimar.  He will later publish part of this as Kampf und Sieg.

Prelude in c# minor for piano op.3/2 by Sergey Rakhmaninov (19) is performed for the first time, in Moscow by the composer.

9 October 1892 Great Britain extends a protectorate over the Gilbert and Ellice Islands (Kiribati, Tuvalu).

12 October 1892 Colombo, an oratorio by Carlos Gomes (56), is performed for the first time, in Rio de Janeiro, on the 500^th anniversary of the landing of Columbus in the New World.

15 October 1892 Great Britain and Germany reach agreement over Cameroon.

725,000 hectares of Crow reservation land in Montana is opened to white settlement.

21 October 1892 Antonín Dvorák (51) conducts his first concert in America, at Carnegie Hall.  He conducts the premiere of his Te Deum for soprano, bass, chorus, and orchestra.  Horatio Parker (29) plays the organ for the Te Deum.

Columbus March and Hymn for chorus and orchestra by John Knowles Paine (53) is performed for the first time, at the dedication ceremonies of the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago.  Also premiered is Ode for the Opening of the World’s Fair held at Chicago 1892 for vocal soloists, chorus, orchestra, and band by George Whitefield Chadwick (37).

24 October 1892 Robert Franz dies in Halle, aged 77 years, three months and 26 days.

25 October 1892 Caedmar, an opera by Granville Bantock (24) to words of Corder, is performed for the first time, in the Olympic Theatre, London.

27 October 1892 Claude Debussy (30) dedicates copy no.45 of his Cinq Poèmes de Baudelaire to Erik Satie (26), whom he calls a “gentle medieval musician strayed into this century for the joy of his friend CA Debussy.”

28 October 1892 Anton Bruckner (68) leaves his position at the Vienna Hofkapelle following a serious illness.

1 November 1892 Mlada, an opera-ballet by Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov (48) to his own words after Krilov, is performed for the first time, at the Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg.

3 November 1892 The first successful automatic telephone exchange system opens in La Porte, Indiana.  It was designed by Almon B. Strowger of Kansas City, Missouri.

4 November 1892 Richard Strauss (28) departs Germany to spend the winter in Greece and Egypt.

6 November 1891 Giuseppe Verdi (78) writes to his publisher, Giulio Ricordi, “Thank you for the score of [Mascagni’s (28) L’Amico] Fritz which you sent me.  In my life I have read many, many, very many bad librettos, but I have never read a libretto as idiotic as this...”

8 November 1892 Voting in the United States ensures the election of former President Grover Cleveland as President over the incumbent Benjamin Harrison.  Cleveland’s Democratic Party loses many seats in the House of Representatives but retains control.

9 November 1892 In Autumn op.15/1 for piano by Amy Beach (25) is performed for the first time, at New England Conservatory, Boston by the composer.

10 November 1892 The Panama scandal becomes public in France.  Ferdinand de Lesseps and others are arrested for corruption.

I Rantzau, an opera by Pietro Mascagni (28) to words of Targioni-Tozzetti and Menasci, is performed for the first time, in Teatro Pergola, Florence.  It is very successful.

12 November 1892 On his trip to Greece, Richard Strauss (28) visits Olympia.  “The free sense of beauty, the religion of nature, pure visual perception--Olympia!  Philosophical, world-transcending sublimity, profoundest inwardness--Bayreuth!”

13 November 1892 A setting of Psalm 150 for soprano, chorus and orchestra by Anton Bruckner (68) is performed for the first time, in Vienna.

15 November 1892 The secretary of the Trinity Historical Society of Dallas, Texas writes to Arthur Foote (39) informing him that they have elected him an honorary member.

16 November 1892 Richard Strauss (28) arrives in Athens and remains for ten days, sending lengthy descriptions of his impressions to his family and friends.

17 November 1892 Sándor Werkele replaces Gyula, Count Szapáry de Szapár as Prime Minister of Hungary.

20 November 1892 I have sown green for chorus and orchestra by Leos Janácek (38) is performed for the first time, in Brünn (Brno) the composer conducting.  Also performed is Janácek’s The mosquitoes got married for chorus and orchestra, perhaps for the first time, and the premiere of his orchestral arrangement of Dances from Haná.

21 November 1892 The Vier Zigeunerlieder op.112/3-6 for vocal quartet and piano by Johannes Brahms (59) are performed for the first time, in Hamburg.

22 November 1892 Forces of the Congo Free State (largely mercenaries) defeats Arab slave-traders in the Upper Congo.

Symphony no.8 by Anton Bruckner (55) is performed for the first time, in a four-hand piano arrangement, in Vienna.  See 18 December 1892.

27 November 1892 Märchen aus dem Orient op.444, a waltz by Johann Strauss (66), is performed for the first time, in the Musikverein, Vienna.

28 November 1892 Le malade imaginaire, a comédie-ballet by Marc-Antoine Charpentier (†188) restored by Camille Saint-Saëns (57) to words of Molière, is performed for the first time, in Paris.  For this production Saint-Saëns composed a new Sarabande et Rigaudon op.93.

29 November 1892 The first and third of the Four Sketches for piano op.15 by Amy Cheney Beach (25) are performed for the first time, in Boston.

30 November 1892 Antonín Dvorák (51) is quoted in the Boston Post as saying that women can not contribute to the development of American music because of their intellectual inferiority.

2 December 1892 Eilende Wolken, Segler die Lüfte op.18 for alto and orchestra by Amy Cheney Beach (25) to words of Schiller, is performed for the first time, in New York.

5 December 1892 John Sparrow David Thompson replaces John Joseph Caldwell Abbott as Prime Minister of Canada.

6 December 1892 Alexandre Félix Joseph Ribot replaces Emile Loubet as Prime Minister of France.

7 December 1892 Pantaleón Enrique Joaquín Granados y Campiña (25) marries María de los Desamparados (Amparo) Gal y Lloveras in the Church of San Pedro de las Puellas, Barcelona.  She is the daughter of a wealthy businessman

Trio for piano and strings no.2 op.92 by Camille Saint-Saëns (57) is performed for the first time, at Salle Erard, Paris.

11 December 1892 Práxedes Mateo-Sagasta Escolar replaces Antonio Cánovas del Castillo as Prime Minister of Spain.

I Come to Thee, for chorus and organ by Charles Ives (18) to words of Elliott, is performed for the first time, in Danbury Baptist Church, Connecticut.

12 December 1892 A pan-Slav congress convenes in Krakow.

Der Schildwache Nachtlied and Verlor’ne Müh from Des knaben Wunderhorn, a cycle for voice and orchestra by Gustav Mahler (32) to words of Brentano and von Arnim, are performed for the first time, in Berlin.

16 December 1892 Two songs for voice and piano by Jean Sibelius (27) to words of Runeberg, are performed for the first time:  Beneath the Fir Trees op.13/1, and To Frigga op.13/6.

Scherzo for small orchestra by Gustav Holst (18) is performed for the first time, in Montpellier Rotunda, Cheltenham.

17 December 1892 Erik Satie (26) and Contamine de Latour present their “christian ballet” Uspud, to Eugène Bertrand, director of the Théâtre National de l’Opéra.  They have already sent the score to Bertrand, but the director did not acknowledge that he received it.  An interview with the composer was arranged only after Satie sent his seconds to arrange a duel.  Satie tells Bertrand, “...it is an artistic manifestation of great consequence, and we believe that the National Academy of Music should make it a point of honor to mount it with all the luxury and care that it deserves.”  Satie further suggests that a commission should be formed to judge the work, half of them chosen by the Minister of Fine Arts, half by Satie and Latour.  At that, Bertrand throws them out of the office.

Allegretto and Pastorale from Three Compositions op.29 for organ by Arthur Foote (39) are performed for the first time, in Brooklyn.

18 December 1892 Two works for the stage by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (52) are performed for the first time, in the Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg:  Iolanta, a lyric opera to words of Modest Tchaikovsky after Hertz, and The Nutcracker, a fairy-ballet to a scenario by Petipa after Dumas’ version of Hoffmann.  Both works receive a tumultuous reception by the audience.  Iolanta is savaged by the critics.  Press reaction to The Nutcracker is mixed.

The “Schalk” version of Symphony no.8 by Anton Bruckner (68) is performed for the first time, in Vienna.  Present are members of the royal family, Crown Princess Stephanie and Archduchess Valerie, as well as Johannes Brahms (59), Johann Strauss (67), Hugo Wolf (32) and Siegfried Wagner.  It is among Bruckner’s most successful nights in Vienna.  The press is almost universal in their praise.  See 22 November 1892, 5 July 1939, and 2 September 1973.

22 December 1892 Excerpts from Gustav Holst’s (18) operetta Lansdown Castle are performed for the first time, in the Assembly Rooms, Cheltenham conducted by the composer.  See 7 February 1893.

25 December 1892 Andante for violin, viola, cello, and organ by Albert Roussel (23) is performed for the first time, in the Church of the Trinity, Cherbourg.

Charles Villiers Stanford (40) concludes his tenure as organist at Trinity Chapel, Cambridge.

27 December 1892 Werther, a drame lyrique by Jules Massenet (50) to words of Blau, Milliet, and Hartman after Goethe, is performed for the first time in French, at Geneva. See 16 February 1892.

Let Us Rise Up and Build for solo voices, chorus, brass, timpani, and organ by Horatio Parker (29) to words from the Bible is performed for the first time, at the laying of the cornerstone of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York.

30 December 1892 Forces of the Congo Free State win a second battle against Arab slave traders in the Upper Congo.

©Paul Scharfenberger 2004-2012

15 August 2012