1902
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1 January 1902 A new copyright law goes into effect in Germany. Copyright protection is henceforth extended to thirty years beyond the death of the composer.
4 January 1902 Stoyan Petrov Danev replaces Petko Stoychev Karavelov as Prime Minister of Bulgaria.
Los Pirineos (Els Pirineus), an opera by Filipe Pedrell (60) to words of Balaguer, is performed for the first time, at the Liceo, Barcelona in Italian as I Pirenei.
5 January 1902 George Bernard Shaw’s play Mrs. Warren’s Profession is performed for the first time, privately, at the New Lyric Club in London. It has been forbidden from the public stage by the Lord Chamberlain.
7 January 1902 The Imperial Court of China returns to Peking on a British train. The date and time is considered the most auspicious by astrologers.
11 January 1902 Claude Debussy’s (39) Pour le piano is performed for the first time, at the Salle Erard, Paris.
13 January 1902 Rehearsals for Claude Debussy’s (39) opera Pelléas et Mélisande begin in Paris. They will continue nearly every day but Sundays until the premiere. The poet, Maurice Maeterlinck disassociates himself with the production after Mary Garden is chosen to be Mélisande.
18 January 1902 Funeral March op.42/2 by Edward Elgar (44) is performed for the first time, in Queen’s Hall, London.
23 January 1902 Elégie, for cello and orchestra by Gabriel Fauré (56), is performed for the first time, in Monaco. See 21 June 1880 and 15 December 1883.
An Aria for strings and organ by Ottorino Respighi (22) is performed for the first time, in Bologna.
25 January 1902 Russia abolishes the death penalty.
Symphony no.2 by Alyeksandr Skryabin (30) is performed for the first time, in St. Petersburg.
30 January 1902 An alliance is signed in London between Great Britain and Japan. The parties pledge neutrality in any war in Asia the other undertakes. This marks the first alliance between Japan and a western power.
4 February 1902 An aria from John Knowles Paine’s (63) unperformed opera Azara is performed for the first time, in Boston.
Vita Nostra Plena Bellis op.47 for chorus by Arthur Foote (49) is performed for the first time, in Boston.
L’archet op.26 for soprano, viola d’amore, women’s chorus, and piano by Charles Martin Loeffler (41) to words of Cros, is performed publicly for the first time, in Symphony Hall, Boston. The composer performs on viola d’amore. See 5 March 1901.
5 February 1902 The French National Assembly reduces the work day to nine hours.
7 February 1902 Maurice Maeterlinck takes his case about the casting of Mélisande to the Société des Auteurs.
12 February 1902 After witnessing the Budapest premiere of Also sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss (37), Béla Bartók (20) is so inspired that he begins to devote more and more time to composing.
13 February 1902 The Musical Association of Barcelona sponsors a concert at the Sala Chaissagne of original songs in Catalan. Among the several composers represented is Enrique Granados (34). His La boira for voice and piano is heard for the first time.
14 February 1902 The cases of the antagonists in the Pelléas et Mélisande case, Claude Debussy (39) and Maurice Maeterlinck, are placed before the Société des Auteurs.
Martial law is declared in Trieste. Protests for a reduced workday turned into riots.
15 February 1902 The first stretch of subway in Berlin goes into operation.
A law enacted in France requires vaccination for smallpox.
16 February 1902 Anthem: Religion for vocal quartet and organ by Charles Ives (27) is performed for the first time, in Central Presbyterian Church, New York.
17 February 1902 American photographer Alfred Stieglitz, together with Edward Steichen, Clarence White, Gertrude Käsebier, Frank Eugene, and F. Holland Day, form the Photo-Secession with the purpose of treating photography as an art.
18 February 1902 Le jongleur de Notre-Dame, a miracle opera by Jules Massenet (59), to words of Léna after France, is performed for the first time, at the Opéra de Monte Carlo. Massenet receives continuous standing ovations. Prince Albert awards him with the Grand-Croix of the Order of St. Charles. The crowd roars “Vive le Prince! Vive Massenet!”
20 February 1902 In the midst of martial law, declared in Barcelona to calm clashes between strikers and police, 500 people are killed.
Symphonic Fantasy and Fugue op.57 for organ by Max Reger (28) is performed for the first time, in Berlin.
21 February 1902 Maurice Maeterlinck refuses arbitration in the Pelléas et Mélisande case and threatens to take the case to court.
22 February 1902 An article entitled "The Etiology of Yellow Fever: A Supplementary Note" by Walter Reed and James Carroll is published in American Medicine. It shows that Yellow Fever is transmitted by mosquitos.
26 February 1902 Incidental music to Hugo’s play Les burgraves by Camille Saint-Saëns (66) is performed for the first time, at the Comédie-Française, Paris.
27 February 1902 A board of arbitration in Paris hears Maeterlinck’s complaints about Debussy’s (39) changes to the text of Pelléas et Mélisande. In fact, the poet had approved the changes and had given the composer complete control over the production. The tribunal finds in favor of Debussy.
28 February 1902 Psalm 137 for women’s chorus, organ, harp, two flutes, and cello by Charles Martin Loeffler (41) is performed for the first time, in the Church of the Messiah, Boston.
1 March 1902 Voters in Brazil elect Rodrigues Alves as President.
6 March 1902 US President Roosevelt signs into law an act creating a permanent Bureau of the Census within the Department of the Interior.
8 March 1902 Three works by Jean Sibelius (36), the Symphony no.2, Overture in a minor and a work for female chorus and orchestra entitled Impromptu op.19 to words of Rydberg, are performed for the first time, in Helsinki under the baton of the composer. The symphony receives a triumphant success.
9 March 1902 Gustav Mahler (41) marries Alma Margarethe Maria Schindler, daughter of landscape painter Anton Schindler and a composition student (and lover) of Alexander von Zemlinsky, in the sacristy of the Karlskirche, Vienna. The ceremony is kept private. Besides the couple, there are only four others in attendance. The bride is pregnant, but not obviously so.
10 March 1902 The Bucolic Suite for orchestra of Ralph Vaughan Williams (29) is performed for the first time, in Bournemouth.
President Roosevelt announces that the Northern Securities Company, a Morgan interest, will be prosecuted under the Sherman Anti-trust Law.
12 March 1902 The Rose and the Gardener op.51/1 for voice and piano by Arthur Foote (49) to words of Dobson is performed for the first time, in Boston, by the composer’s daughter Katharine, accompanied by her father.
13 March 1902 Schools in Russian Poland are closed when students refuse to sing a Russian hymn, God Protect the Tsar.
Das hohe Lied, for two tenors, baritone, male chorus, and orchestra, by Anton Bruckner (†5) to words of von der Mattig, is performed for the first time, in Vienna.
18 March 1902 Ottoman Sultan Abdülhamid II grants a concession to a German group to build a railroad to Baghdad.
Three Mazurkas op.25/1, 3, 4 by Alyeksandr Skryabin (30) are performed for the first time, in Moscow, by the composer.
The string sextet setting of Verklärte Nacht op.4 by Arnold Schoenberg (27) is performed for the first time, in Vienna. A gymnasium student named Anton Webern (18) is in the audience.
20 March 1902 Menuet op.5/4 for voice and piano or orchestra by Charles Koechlin (34) to words of Gregh is performed for the first time, in Paris.
22 March 1902 Three songs for voice and piano by Charles Koechlin (34) to words of Banville are performed for the first time, in Paris: La terre op.14/6, L’automne op.14/7, and Les étoiles op.14/8. Also premiered is Koechlin’s Juin op.15/1 to words of Leconte de Lisle.
23 March 1902 The minimum working age in Italy is raised to twelve for boys and 15 for girls.
24 March 1902 The cantata Spring, for baritone, chorus, and orchestra, by Sergey Rakhmaninov (28) to words of Nekrasov, is performed for the first time, in Moscow.
25 March 1902 The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle is published in London.
29 March 1902 William Turner Walton is born in Oldham, England, second of four children born to Charles Alexander Walton, choirmaster, grammar school music teacher, and voice teacher, and Louisa Maria Turner, singer and daughter of an upholsterer.
1 April 1902 Naivasha and Kisumu districts of Uganda are transferred to British East Africa (Kenya).
10,000 miners in Pennsylvania go on strike.
2 April 1902 The first movie theatre in the United States opens at 262 South Main Street in Los Angeles. It is a tent at a circus called the Electric Theatre.
4 April 1902 Rhodes scholarships are established by a bequest of $10,000,000 in the will of Cecil Rhodes. He died ten days ago.
Piano trio in d minor by Frank Bridge (23) is performed publicly for the first time, in Steinway Hall, London. See 14 November 1900.
5 April 1902 Two piano works by Maurice Ravel (27), Jeux d’eau and Pavane pour une infante défunte, are performed for the first time, at the Salle Pleyel, Paris. See 27 February 1911.
Le flambeau vivant, a song for voice and piano by Charles Martin Loeffler (41) to words of Beaudelaire, is performed for the first time.
8 April 1902 The volcano Santa Maria, in Guatemala, erupts, causing the deaths of approximately 1,000 people.
A Convention of Evacuation is signed in Peking by representatives of Russia and China. Russia is required to withdraw from Manchuria within 18 months. China promises to safeguard Russian interests there.
9 April 1902 The Origin of Fire, for baritone, male chorus and orchestra, words from the Kalevala and music by Jean Sibelius (36), is performed for the first time, under the direction of the composer, for the inauguration of the new Finnish National Theatre in Helsinki.
Der Wald, a Musik-Drama by Ethel Smyth (43) to words of Brewster and the composer, is performed for the first time, in the Royal Opera House, Berlin. (There is considerable confusion about this date. Some think it is 21 April, and Smyth herself couldn’t recall for sure)
10 April 1902 Boers accept the British terms of surrender.
11 April 1902 Two works by Charles Martin Loeffler (41) are performed for the first time, in Symphony Hall, Boston: Poem for orchestra and La villanelle du Diable for orchestra and organ.
12 April 1902 British commander Lord Kitchener and Boer leaders meet at Melrose House in Pretoria to discuss peace.
Jules Massenet (59) views a rehearsal of the last two scenes of Claude Debussy’s (39) Pelléas et Mélisande. He leaves with almost no comment.
Los amores de la liñes, a zarzuela by Manuel de Falla (25) to words of Dugi, is performed for the first time, at the Teatro Cómico, Madrid. It is moderately successful.
14 April 1902 Le Figaro publishes a letter from Maurice Maeterlinck outlining his complaints about Debussy’s (39) production of Pelléas et Mélisande. The poet states that the opera is not his and that he is opposed to it.
James Cash Penney opens a dry goods store in Kemmerer, Wyoming. It is the foundation for the retail giant that will bear his name.
15 April 1902 Arnold Schoenberg (27) receives the following postcard message at his Berlin address: “Dear Sir, you can see me every day from three till four at home. Yours sincerely, Richard Strauss.”(37)
Russian Minister of the Interior Dmitry Sergeyevich Sipiagin is shot to death in the Mariinsky Palace, St. Petersburg, by a 20-year-old Social Revolutionary student, at point blank range.
The British government declares a state of emergency in nine counties of Ireland due to mounting anti-British protests.
Gustav Holst’s (27) children’s operetta Fairy Pantomime of Cinderella is performed for the first time, at St. Mary’s School, conducted by the composer.
Two airs from John Knowles Paine’s (63) unperformed opera Azara are performed for the first time, in Steinert Hall, Boston.
16 April 1902 American troops arrive at Bocas del Toro, Colombia to protect US interests during the Colombian civil war. They stay for one week.
18 April 1902 Riots in Belgium over the last ten days come to an end. The government has refused to yield to Socialist demands for universal male suffrage and the right to strike.
Sonata for clarinet and piano op.49/1 by Max Reger (29) is performed for the first time, in Munich, the composer at the keyboard.
The cantata The Celestial Country by Charles Ives (27) to words of Alford, is performed for the first time, at New York’s Central Presbyterian Church, the composer directing from the organ.
19 April 1902 The last in a series of severe earthquakes, beginning last night, rocks southwestern Guatemala. It measures 8.2 on the Richter Scale. 2,000 people are killed, 50,000 left homeless.
20 April 1902 Marie and Pierre Curie isolate the radioactive element radium in their Paris laboratory.
22 April 1902 Regent Prince Luitpold, for King Otto of Bavaria, awards the Order of Saint Michael, third rank, to Gustav Mahler (41).
Four songs by Gustav Holst (27) are premiered at Cleveland Hall, London, including three of the Four Songs op.4 to words of Kingsley, Ibsen (tr. by Archer) and Bridges, and Invocation to the Dawn op.15/1 to words from the Rig-Veda, translated by the composer.
23 April 1902 A review of the performance of Charles Ives’ (27) The Celestial Country five days ago appears in The Musical Courier. Although a generally positive review, Ives writes across his copy “Damn rot and worse.” It is only the second of two times that a performance of his work is reviewed before 1924.
24 April 1902 Flammen, an opera by Franz Schreker (24), to words of Leen, is given it’s first performance, in concert with piano, at the Bösendorfersaal, Vienna.
Eleven Chorale Preludes for organ op.122 by Johannes Brahms (†5) are performed for the first time, in the Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächtniskirche, Berlin.
Gustav Holst’s (27) Symphony “The Cotswolds” op.8 is performed for the first time, in Bournemouth. The audience is appreciative but the critics are mixed.
29 April 1902 The US Senate votes to extend the Chinese Exclusion Act for another ten years. Immigration from China has been barred since 1882.
30 April 1902 Pelléas et Mélisande, an opera by Claude Debussy (39) to words of Maeterlinck (abridged by the composer), is performed for the first time, at the Opéra-Comique, Paris. The production elicits arguments in the crowd, laughter, and cheers. An interested composer named Maurice Ravel (27) attends every one of the first thirty performances.
1 May 1902 Love is Enough op.9a/1, a chorus by Gustav Holst (27) to words of Morris, is performed for the first time, at the Watford Public Library.
Romance for violin and small orchestra op.50/1 by Max Reger (29) is performed for the first time, in Munich.
5 May 1902 Sonata for violin and piano by Albert Roussel (33) is performed for the first time, in Paris.
8 May 1902 07:50 Mt. Pelée, on the island of Martinique, erupts, destroying the town of St. Pierre and causing 40,000 deaths.
10 May 1902 May Song for orchestra by Edward Elgar (44) is performed for the first time, in Worcester, conducted by the composer.
11 May 1902 Sonata for organ no.2 op.60 by Max Reger (29) is performed for the first time, in Merseberg.
A second round of voting concludes the French general election. The Left Bloc of four parties wins a majority of seats.
12 May 1902 140,000 anthracite coal miners in the United States strike for better wages and humane working conditions. Chief counsel to the miners is Clarence Darrow. One mine owner summed up the feelings of his fellows: “The rights and interest of the laboring man will be protected and cared for, not by the labor agitators, but by the Christian men to whom God in His infinite wisdom has given the control of the property interests of the country.”
Sergey Rakhmaninov (29) marries Natalya Alyeksandrovna Satina, his first cousin, in an army chapel outside Moscow.
14 May 1902 Rest, a work for chorus by Ralph Vaughan Williams (29) is performed for the first time, at St. James’ Hall, London.
15 May 1902 Due to the cost of the colonial war in Angola, Portugal once again declares bankruptcy.
A treaty is agreed to in Addis Ababa by Great Britain, Italy, and Ethiopia setting the border between Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Sudan.
17 May 1902 As he reaches his 16th birthday, King Alfonso XIII of Spain rules in his own right, without regency.
20 May 1902 After an uncontested election, US-citizen Tomás Estrada Palma is sworn in as the first President of the Republic of Cuba. United States occupation of Cuba officially ends. The United States retains the right to intervene in Cuba’s internal affairs.
21 May 1902 One day after the German premiere of The Dream of Gerontius in Düsseldorf, Edward Elgar (44) attends a dinner at which Richard Strauss (37) gives a speech. Strauss is disparaging of English music in general but ends by proposing, “to the welfare and success of the first English progressivist, Meister Edward Elgar, and of the young progressivist school of English composers.”
Imperial Edward, a march by John Philip Sousa (47), is performed for the first time, in Montreal. The march is dedicated to King Edward VII of Great Britain.
31 May 1902 In the face of labor violence, King Alfonso XIII of Spain suspends the Cortes and declares martial law.
Peace terms between Great Britain and the South African Boers are formally signed at Pretoria, (the Peace of Vereeniging) thus ending the Boer War. Boers agree to the sovereignty of King Edward in return for the right to use their own language and £3,000,000 compensation from Great Britain. 22,000 British Imperial troops died in the war (mostly from disease). Boer losses are estimated at 4,000 killed.
1 June 1902 Charles Ives (27) leaves his position as organist at New York’s Central Presbyterian Church, donating his anthems and organ music to the church. When the church moves in 1915, these works will be discarded.
5 June 1902 Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany declares that the way to deal with growing nationalism felt by his Slavic subjects is their “Germanification.”
6 June 1902 Alyeksandr Skryabin (30) formally resigns from Moscow Conservatory.
7 June 1902 China grants a concession in Tientsin to Italy.
Emile Combes succeeds Pierre Marie Waldeck-Rousseau as Prime Minister of France.
8 June 1902 A Te Deum by Arthur Sullivan (†1) is performed for the first time, in St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, to celebrate the end of the Boer War.
Three works by Ottorino Respighi (22) are performed for the first time, in Bologna: A Piano Concerto, the Berceuse for strings and a Piano Quintet. The composer plays the first violin part in the quintet.
9 June 1902 The first complete performance of the Symphony no.3 by Gustav Mahler (42) is conducted by the composer at Krefeld, Germany. It is an enormous success. The audience, which includes Richard Strauss (37) and Engelbert Humperdinck (47), applauds for 15 minutes. The press is positive, but not without reservation. See 9 November 1896 and 9 March 1897.
10 June 1902 Horatio Parker (38) is awarded an honorary DMus by the University of Cambridge.
13 June 1902 Five men sign documents in Two Harbors, Minnesota incorporating their joint venture to sell corundum: Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company (later known as 3M).
19 June 1902 King Albert of Saxony dies at Schloss Sibyllenort (Szczodre), Silesia and is succeeded by his brother, Georg.
20 June 1902 Two works named Berceuse by Frank Bridge (23) are performed for the first time, at the Royal College of Music: one for violin and strings conducted by Charles Villiers Stanford (49) and one for voice and orchestra to words of D. Wordsworth, the composer conducting. This is Bridge’s first public appearance as a conductor.
21 June 1902 Land of Hope and Glory for alto, chorus, and orchestra by Edward Elgar (45) to words of Benson, is performed for the first time, in Royal Albert Hall, London.
23 June 1902 A monument to mark the final resting place of Gioachino Rossini (†33) is dedicated in Florence.
26 June 1902 The Coronation Honors List includes a knighthood for Charles Villiers Stanford (49). The coronation was supposed to take place today but the King was operated on for appendicitis two days ago.
27 June 1902 The French government sets the work day at ten-and-a-half hours.
28 June 1902 The Triple Alliance between Austria-Hungary, Germany, and Italy is renewed for six years.
By the Spooner Act, the United States government authorizes funds for the building of a Central American canal, buying the rights of the French Panama Company.
1 July 1902 By an act of the US Congress, the Philippines becomes a territory of the US.
4 July 1902 US President Theodore Roosevelt announces that the war against the Filipinos is officially over. About 20,000 people were killed in the war, mostly Filipinos.
5 July 1902 Erich Gustaf Boström replaces Baron Fredrik Wilhelm von Otter as Prime Minister of Sweden.
The Chad Protectorate is established by France.
6 July 1902 Great Britain extends a protectorate over Swaziland, already administered by the Transvaal.
11 July 1902 Anton von Webern (18) passes his final examinations to graduate from the gymnasium in Klagenfurt, Austria.
12 July 1902 Arthur James Balfour replaces Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, Marquess of Salisbury, as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
14 July 1902 The tenth century campanile at the Cathdral San Marco in Venice collapses without fatalities. It will take ten years to rebuild.
17 July 1902 Willis Carrier installs a system at a Brooklyn printing plant to control humidity, temperature, ventilation, and the cleanliness of the air. It is considered the first true air conditioning.
18 July 1902 Ethel Smyth’s (44) opera Der Wald is performed at Covent Garden before a glittering audience including members of the royal family. The press is generally positive, the public ecstatic. It is “the only real blazing theatre triumph I have ever had.” (Smyth, 254)
30 July 1902 The militia is called in to restore order in the coal miners’ strike at Shenandoah, Pennsylvania.
31 July 1902 Arnold Schoenberg (27) leaves his position as conductor at the Wohlzogen Theater, Berlin.
9 August 1902 The coronation ceremonies of King Edward VII of Great Britain, in Westminster Abbey, include the first performance of the hymn O Mightiest of the Mighty by Edward Elgar (45) to words of Clarke, the Marche du couronnement op.117 for orchestra by Camille Saint-Saëns (66), and the anthem I was glad by Hubert Parry (54) to words of the Psalms. See 23 June 1911.
10 August 1902 Gustav Mahler (42) presents his wife Alma with his new lied Liebst Du um Schönheit. They play through it together. Her feelings of being ignored in their six-month-old marriage are swept away. “I often realize how little I am and possess--compared with his infinite riches.”
12 August 1902 The International Harvester Company is incorporated in New Jersey by the union of Cyrus McCormick’s McCormick Harvesting Machine Co. of Chicago with four other companies. It controls 85% of the agricultural machinery market of the United States.
Reginald Fessenden receives a US patent for “Wireless Signalling”, the heterodyne principle. This is a basic part of radio technology
17 August 1902 Incidental music to Dieulafoy’s play Parysatis, by Camille Saint-Saëns (66) is performed for the first time, at Béziers.
25 August 1902 Stefan Wolpe is born in Berlin to David Wolpe, a Russian immigrant who owns a leather manufacturing business, and Hermine Strasser, an Austrian and amateur pianist.
1 September 1902 Mt. Pelee on Martinique again erupts, killing 2,000 people.
Austro-Hungarian troops are called in to quell violence as Croats march through Agram, attacking Serbs and ransacking their properties.
4 September 1902 Two pieces for piano or small orchestra entitled Dream Children op.43 by Edward Elgar (45) are performed for the first time, at Queen’s Hall, London. These are the orchestral versions.
Two songs by Ralph Vaughan Williams (29) are premiered at Hooten Roberts Musical Union, near Rotherham, England. These are Linden Lea, to an anonymous author and Blackmore by the Stour, a folksong.
17 September 1902 The United States and Great Britain officially protest state-sponsored anti-Semitism in Romania.
US troops are sent to Panama to keep rail lines open during the rebellion.
Oil is discovered in Alaska, in the town of Cotella on the south coast.
24 September 1902 Pietro Mascagni (38) and his wife depart Livorno for an American tour.
27 September 1902 The Crown Lands Ordinance is approved. The British government opens East African (Kenya) uplands to white settlement.
29 September 1902 Emile Zola dies at his Paris home of carbon monoxide poisoning from a blocked chimney. How the chimney became blocked is a matter of controversy.
30 September 1902 Harry Mork, Arthur Little, and William Walker receive the first patent for artificial silk (rayon).
2 October 1902 The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter is published by Frederick Warne & Co in London. All 8,000 copies have been sold already. It is the first of five books featuring Potter’s woodland hero.
Incidental music to Caine’s play The Eternal City by Pietro Mascagni (38) is performed for the first time, in His Majesty’s Theatre, London.
The Coronation Ode op.44 for solo voices, chorus, and orchestra, by Edward Elgar (45), to words of Benson, is performed for the first time, at Sheffield conducted by the composer, with a raging toothache.
6 October 1902 Ralph Vaughan Williams (29) begins a series of six lectures at Pokesdown, Bournemouth. They will go through 14 December.
8 October 1902 Little Lasse op.37/2, a song for voice and piano by Jean Sibelius (36) to words of Topelius, is performed for the first time, in Helsinki.
Pietro Mascagni (38) opens his American tour at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, with performances of Cavalleria Rusticana and Zanetto.
9 October 1902 Two-thirds of all coal miners in France go on strike.
10 October 1902 Two songs for voice and piano by Jean Sibelius (36) are performed for the first time, in Helsinki: Sunrise op.37/3 to words of Hedberg, and Was it a Dream op.37/4, to words of Wecksell.
14 October 1902 Serviliya, an opera by Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov (58), to his own words, after Mey, is performed for the first time, at the Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg.
15 October 1902 Thousands of coal miners in Pennsylvania return to work after President Roosevelt creates a panel of arbitrators to settle the dispute.
17 October 1902 US geneticist Walter Stanborough Sutton of Columbia University dates his paper “On the morphology of the chromosome group in Brachystola magna” wherein he suggests that the determinants of Mendel’s laws of heredity may lie on the chromosome.
18 October 1902 Petar Velimirovic replaces Mihajlo Vujic as Prime Minister of Serbia.
19 October 1902 La fin de l’homme op.11, a cantata for solo voices, chorus, and orchestra by Charles Koechlin (34) to words of Leconte de Lisle, is performed for the first time, in Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris.
21 October 1902 Anthracite coal miners, with support of President Roosevelt, win a ten percent raise in wages.
23 October 1902 The lyric rhapsody A Star Song op.54 by Horatio Parker (39) to words of Carpenter is performed for the first time, in Norwich, England. On the same program is the premiere of the Irish Rhapsody no.1 for orchestra by Charles Villiers Stanford (50).
25 October 1902 Max Reger (29) marries Elsa (Von Bagenski) von Bercken, a divorced Protestant.
Den 25 oktober 1902. Till Thérèse Hahl for chorus by Jean Sibelius (36) to words of Wasastjerna is performed for the first time, in Helsinki. Thérèse Hahl is an important leader of Finnish choral music and the work is in honor of her 60th birthday.
28 October 1902 The leader of rebels in Colombia, General Uribe-Uribe, surrenders to authorities. The revolt exists now only on the Isthmus of Panama.
30 October 1902 Anton von Webern (18) is initiated into the Academic Richard Wagner Society in Vienna.
1 November 1902 In an exchange of letters, agreement is reached between France and Italy over conflicting colonial claims in North Africa.
The Philadelphia Orchestra Association is incorporated.
3 November 1902 A daughter is born to Gustav (42) and Alma Mahler in Vienna. She is named Maria Anna but will be called Putzi.
The revised version of En Saga, a symphonic poem by Jean Sibelius (36) is performed for the first time, in Helsinki, under the direction of the composer.
4 November 1902 Voting for the House of Representatives takes place in the United States. Democrats make gains but Republicans still control. The number of House seats is increased to 386.
The Admirable Chrichton by JM Barrie is performed for the first time, in London.
6 November 1902 Adriana Lecouvreur, an opera by Francesco Cilèa (36), is performed for the first time, at Milan’s Teatro Lirico.
12 November 1902 The Märchenoper Dornröschen, with words by Ebeling and Filhès after Perrault and music by Engelbert Humperdinck (48), is performed for the first time, at the Stadttheater of Frankfurt-am-Main. The press is not kind.
13 November 1902 The first semi-rigid airship, built by brothers Paul and Pierre Labaudy, makes its first flight, from Moisson to Paris, a distance of some 62 km, in one hour, 41 minutes.
Youth - A Narrative, and The End of a Tether by Joseph Conrad is published. It includes the story “Heart of Darkness.”
15 November 1902 Francisco de Paula Rodriguez Alves succeeds Manuel Ferraz de Campos Salles as President of Brazil.
16 November 1902 Henry Cowell (5) has his first music lesson, with violinist Sylvia Holmes in San Francisco.
18 November 1902 Dimitrije Cincar-Markovic replaces Petar Velimirovic as Prime Minister of Serbia.
22 November 1902 The German arms magnate Alfred Krupp dies just days after being accused of homosexuality in the journal Vorwärts. Suicide is rumored.
25 November 1902 Voting for the New Zealand Parliament results in continued rule by the Liberal Party.
27 November 1902 Two songs by Ralph Vaughan Williams (30) are premiered in St. James’ Hall, London: Entlaubet ist der Walde to anonymous words, and Whither Must I Wander? to words of Stevenson.
The first of 28 columns on music authored by Carl Ruggles (26) appears in the Watertown Tribune and the Belmont Tribune, in Massachusetts.
28 November 1902 Carl Nielsen’s (37) opera Saul og David, to words of Christiansen, is performed for the first time, in Copenhagen. It is a hit with the sold-out audience but receives only eight more performances this season. The management wishes to stage more lucrative works.
1 December 1902 The Symphony no.2 “The Four Temperaments” op.16 of Carl Nielsen (37) is performed for the first time, in Copenhagen, directed by the composer.
2 December 1902 Theodoros Pangaiou Diligiannis replaces Alexandros Thrasivoulou Zamis as Prime Minister of Greece.
Ambassadors of Great Britain and Germany present an ultimatum to the government in Caracas. If Venezuela will not pay reparations for losses during the recent civil war, force will be used.
At the request of the faculty, Béla Bartók (21) plays his transcription of Richard Strauss’ (38) Ein Heldenleben at the Budapest Academy of Music.
3 December 1902 Italy becomes a party to the ultimatum delivered yesterday in Caracas.
6 December 1902 Francisco Silvela y Le-Vielleuze replaces Práxedes Mateo-Sagasta Escolar as Prime Minister of Spain.
7 December 1902 Max Reger (29) marries Elsa (Bagenski) von Bercken in the village church of Boll near Göppingen, Württemberg in a Lutheran ceremony. As a divorced Lutheran, Elsa is not welcome in the Reger family and Max Reger will be excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church.
9 December 1902 British and German naval vessels seize the Venezuelan navy in the harbor of La Guaira. They hold it in lieu of payments for losses each country suffered in the coup which brought President Castro to power in 1899.
Intermezzo for string orchestra by Franz Schreker (24) is performed for the first time, in Vienna. It won a competition sponsored by the Neue musikalische Presse.
The Hag for baritone and orchestra by Frank Bridge (23) to words of Herrick is performed for the first time, at the Royal College of Music, London, the composer conducting.
10 December 1902 A dam across the Nile at Aswan is completed by British engineers. It is expected to produce greater and more effective methods of irrigation.
Venezuelan authorities seize over 200 foreigners in Caracas in reaction to yesterday’s events.
13 December 1902 German and British warships destroy two harbor forts at Puerto Cabello, Venezuela.
15 December 1902 The first complete transatlantic radio message goes from Glace Bay, Nova Scotia to Poldhu, Great Britain. Greetings are sent by the correspondent of The Times of London.
19 December 1902 Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom blockade Venezuela, demanding payment of reparations for injuries caused during the recent revolution.
25 December 1902 The opera Kaschey the Immortal by Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov (58), to his own words, after Petrovsky, is performed for the first time, at the Solodovnikov Theatre, Moscow.
Charles Martin Loeffler (41) is allowed to see Fenway Court, the home of Isabella Stewart Gardner in Boston, before its official opening on New Year’s Day. “That revelation...I shall not forget as long as I can think. I seemed to have dropped out of the clouds when I reached Huntington Avenue.”
26 December 1902 The Organ Concerto op.55 by Horatio Parker (39) is performed for the first time, in Boston, the composer as soloist.
30 December 1902 Three British explorers, Robert F. Scott, Edward Wilson, and Ernest Shackleton, reach a furthest south at 82° 16’S.
31 December 1902 President Cipriano Castro of Venezuela agrees to abide by any ruling of the Hague Tribunal over the compensation dispute between his country and Britain and Germany.
©2004-2012 Paul Scharfenberger
16 August 2012
Last Updated (Thursday, 16 August 2012 05:17)