1903
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1 January 1903 King Edward VII of Great Britain is proclaimed Emperor of India in Delhi. A Flourish of Trumpets by Charles Villiers Stanford (50) is performed for the first time, at the occasion.
Claude Debussy (40) receives the Cross of a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor.
Fenway Court, the home of Isabella Stewart Gardner in Boston, is opened. Music is provided by 50 members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra playing Bach (†152), Mozart (†111), Schubert (†74), and Chausson (†3).
The first cable from San Francisco to Honolulu goes into operation. The first message is received in Honolulu at 20:40.
3 January 1903 Venezuelan rebels defeat government forces at Guatire.
The Symphony no.7 and the tone poem From the Middle Ages by Alyeksandr Glazunov (37) are performed for the first time, in St. Petersburg, conducted by the composer.
7 January 1903 L’étranger, an action musicale by Vincent d’Indy (51) to his own words, is performed for the first time, at the Théâtre de la Monnaie, Brussels. Present is Claude Debussy (40) who hugs the composer at the end of the performance.
8 January 1903 Five Sonnets from “The Triumph of Love” op.82 for voice and piano by Charles Villiers Stanford (50) to words of Holmes is performed for the first time, in St. James’ Hall, London, the composer at the piano.
12 January 1903 Heitor Villa-Lobos (15) organizes a concert at the home of a wealthy citizen of Rio de Janeiro. It is well received and garners a press notice.
13 January 1903 String Quartet op.13 by Hans Pfitzner (33) is performed for the first time, in Vienna. The work is dedicated to Alma Mahler.
14 January 1903 Richard Strauss (38), Engelbert Humperdinck (48) and several other composers form the Association of German Composers in an attempt to apply the German Copyright law which went into effect last year.
15 January 1903 Mehmed Ferid Pasha replaces Küçük Mehmed Said Pasha as Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire.
17 January 1903 Skizze for piano by Edward Elgar (45) is performed for the first time, in Ridgefield, Hertsfordshire by the composer.
19 January 1903 Ralph Vaughan Williams (30) begins a course of lectures at Gloucester, continuing through 30 April.
20 January 1903 Italian Minister of Public Education Nunzio Nasi confirms the dismissal of Pietro Mascagni (39) from the directorship of the Liceo Rossini, Pesaro.
Béla Bartók (21) plays his transcription of Richard Strauss’ (38) Ein Heldenleben at the Tonkünstlerverein, Vienna. The transcription and performance find favorable reactions in the press.
21 January 1903 Continuing their claims of reparations, German warships shell the Venezuelan fort of San Carlos.
22 January 1903 The Hay-Herrán Treaty between the United States and Colombia, is signed in Washington. It provides for lease of a 10 km-wide strip across the Isthmus of Panama for the building of a canal. Colombia delays ratification.
23 January 1903 Piano Quartet in c minor by Frank Bridge (23) is performed for the first time, at the Royal College of Music, London, the composer playing the viola part.
24 January 1903 A joint US/UK commission is established to fix the border of Alaska.
26 January 1903 President Castro offers a percentage of Venezuelan customs to pay reparations to Germany and Great Britain.
29 January 1903 The Clarinet Concerto by Charles Villiers Stanford (50) is performed for the first time, in Bournemouth. The composer conducts with his injured left arm in a sling.
31 January 1903 John Philip Sousa (48) and his band play a command performance at Windsor Castle.
1 February 1903 This is the date of the editor’s preface to The Story of My Life by a 22-year-old student at Radcliffe College named Helen Keller.
WEB Dubois dates the preface to his The Souls of Black Folk in Atlanta.
A Piano Concerto by Jules Massenet (60) is performed for the first time, at the Paris Conservatoire.
2 February 1903 Frederick S. Converse (32) receives a letter from the President of Harvard University offering him a position on the faculty. Converse accepts and in June he will be officially appointed.
3 February 1903 British forces capture Kano in northern Nigeria, dooming the Fulani empire.
5 February 1903 Im April, a song for alto and piano by Anton Bruckner (†6) to words of Geibel, is performed for the first time, in Vienna.
Tears, Idle Tears, a song by Ralph Vaughan Williams (30) to words of Tennyson, is performed for the first time, in St. James’ Hall, London.
7 February 1903 Incidental music to Racine’s play Andromaque by Camille Saint-Saëns (67) is performed for the first time, at the Théâtre Sarah-Bernhardt, Paris.
9 February 1903 Marie-Magdeleine, a drame sacrée by Jules Massenet (60) to words of Gallet, is staged for the first time, in Nice. See 11 April 1873.
10 February 1903 Ten Preludes for piano op.23 by Sergey Rakhmaninov (29), are performed for the first time, in Moscow.
11 February 1903 The Löwe version of the Symphony no.9 of Anton Bruckner (†6) is performed for the first time, in Vienna. See 2 April 1932.
13 February 1903 Great Britain, Italy, and Germany agree to the raising of customs duties to satisfy their claims against Venezuela, and the blockade is ended.
La lampe du ciel op.12, a cantata for solo voices, chorus and orchestra by Charles Koechlin (35) to words of Leconte de Lisle, is performed publicly for the first time, in Paris. See 26 November 1899.
15 February 1903 Morris and Rose Michtom, owners of Michtom's Candy and Toy Store in Brooklyn, display two toy bears in their window. Rose created the toys after reading how President Roosevelt refused to kill a bear cub last November. They call them Teddy’s Bears. The bears become so popular, the Michtoms go into business making them full time. Soon, the name will be shortened to “teddy bear.”
19 February 1903 Austria-Hungary requires two years of military service from all male citizens.
22 February 1903 After paralytic convulsions, Hugo Filip Jakob Wolf dies at the Lower Austrian Provincial Asylum, Vienna, in the arms of his attendant, Johann Scheibner. Wolf is aged 42 years, eleven months, and nine days.
23 February 1903 US President Theodore Roosevelt signs an agreement with Cuba to lease Guantanamo Bay and Bahia Honda for coaling and naval stations.
Variations on a Theme of Chopin op.22, a piano work by Sergey Rakhmaninov (29), is performed for the first time, by the composer, at a concert for the Ladies Charity Prison Committee in Moscow.
24 February 1903 After a funeral at the Votivkirche, the body of Hugo Wolf is laid to rest in the Vienna Central Cemetery near the graves of Schubert (†74) and Beethoven (†73). Among those attending are Anton Webern (19) and Alban Berg (18).
25 February 1903 Near the village of San Macario, near Lucca, Giacomo Puccini (44) is seriously injured in an automobile accident. The composer is trapped under the overturned car and saved only because he lies in a ditch while the car rests on a fallen tree. He suffers several contusions and a fracture of the right shin. Later, after tests prompted by the lack of healing in the leg, he will be diagnosed to have diabetes.
26 February 1903 One day after Giacomo Puccini (44) is seriously injured in an automobile accident, Narciso Gemignani, husband of his lover of seventeen years, dies in Lucca. The couple are now free to marry. See 4 January 1904.
Olga Janácková, 20-year-old daughter of Leos Janácek (48), dies after a long illness in the Janácek’s home in Brünn (Brno). A servant recalls Janácek was “tearing his hair out, shouting ‘My soul, my soul!’...then depression overcame him; he just sat there taking no notice of anything.”
1 March 1903 Klemens, Baron von Crailsheim replaces Johann, Baron von Lutz as President of the Council of Ministers of Bavaria.
Manuel Venegas, an opera by Hugo Wolf (†0) to words of Hoernes after Alarcon, is performed for the first time, in Mannheim, one week after the composer’s death.
Symphonic Overture to Ekkehard by Franz Schreker (24) is performed for the first time, in Vienna.
2 March 1903 Gabriel Fauré (57) begins his duties as music critic of Le Figaro, a post he will hold until 1921.
Milton Hershey begins building the largest chocolate manufacturing plant at Derry Church (now Hershey), Pennsylvania.
3 March 1903 The US Congress enacts an immigration law banning entry to anarchists or anyone who believes in the forcible overthrow of the government.
5 March 1903 Agreement is reached between the Ottoman Empire and Deutsche Bank for the building of a railroad to Baghdad.
The 58th Congress of the United States convenes in Washington. President Roosevelt’s Republican Party controls both houses.
8 March 1903 The Rumanian Rhapsodies nos.1 and 2 by Georges Enesco (21) are performed for the first time, under the composer’s direction, in Bucharest.
10 March 1903 Silent Noon, a song by Ralph Vaughan Williams (30) to words of D. Rossetti, is performed for the first time, in St. James’ Hall, London.
12 March 1903 The cantata Willow-wood for solo voice and piano by Ralph Vaughan Williams (30) to words of D.G. Rossetti, is performed for the first time, in St. James’ Hall, London. See 25 September 1909.
14 March 1903 US President Roosevelt creates the first national bird preserve, at Pelican Island, Florida.
15 March 1903 The Sokoto Caliphate is subsumed into the British Northern Nigeria territory.
17 March 1903 The United States Senate ratifies the Hay-Herrán Treaty of 22 January.
18 March 1903 The French Chamber of Deputies votes to dissolve religious orders.
Leos Janácek (48) completes the composition of his opera Jenufa. He composed it throughout the final illness of his daughter Olga.
The report of the Anthracite Coal Strike Commission, empaneled by President Roosevelt, largely supports the workers.
19 March 1903 At a party celebrating the 59th birthday of Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov in St. Petersburg, Igor Stravinsky (20) meets the master for the first time.
The US Senate ratifies the treaty with Cuba which gives the US naval bases at Guantanamo and Bahia Honda.
22 March 1903 A commission appointed by US President Theodore Roosevelt to look into conditions in the nation’s mines issues its recommendations. They call for mine owners to recognize the United Mine Workers, raise wages, and lower working hours. They also recommend that each company be an open shop.
23 March 1903 The piano work Variations, interlude et final sur un thème de Rameau by Paul Dukas (37) is performed for the first time, in Paris.
24 March 1903 King Alexandar of Serbia suspends the constitution for 45 minutes during which time he replaces many high officials of the government.
27 March 1903 The Piano Fantasy I by Béla Bartók (22) is performed for the first time, in Budapest, by the composer.
29 March 1903 A regular news service goes into effect between New York and London over Marconi’s wireless apparatus. It will end on 6 April when the Cape Breton antenna collapses.
La Belle Dame sans merci op.12, a ballade for baritone and orchestra by Frederick S. Converse (32) to words of Keats, is performed for the first time, with piano accompaniment, in a private setting at St. Botolph’s Club, Boston. See 2 March 1906.
2 April 1903 After six months in North America, a bankruptcy, a lawsuit, a house arrest, and many angry musicians and opera-goers later, Pietro Mascagni (39) boards ship in New York making for Le Havre.
3 April 1903 The first of the East Room musicales takes place with President Roosevelt at the White House. The performer today is Ignacy Paderewski.
5 April 1903 Gabriel Fauré (57) is created an Officier de la Légion d’honneur.
6 April 1903 A zarzuela by Enrique Granados (35), Follet, to words of Mestres, is performed for the first time, in a concert setting at the Liceu, Barcelona. Some critics are positive but it is a failure.
7 April 1903 Das Thal op.51/1 for baritone and orchestra by Richard Strauss (38) to words of Uhland is performed for the first time, in Berlin.
Schwanengesang for chorus and orchestra by Franz Schreker (25) to words of Leen is performed for the first time, in Vienna, conducted by the composer.
9 April 1903 Endymion’s Narrative, a symphonic poem by Frederick S. Converse (32), is performed for the first time, in Boston.
10 April 1903 Newspaper millionaire Joseph Pulitzer gives $2,000,000 to Columbia University, specifying that one-quarter of it is to fund “prizes or scholarships for the encouragement of public service, public morale, American literature and the advancement of education.”
13 April 1903 Béla Bartók (22) gives his first solo recital, at his home town of Nagyszentmiklos. The performance includes the premiere of his own Study for the Left Hand.
Poème paien, for two pianos and three trumpets by Charles Martin Loeffler (42) is performed for the first time, at Fenway Court, the home of Isabella Stuart Gardner in Boston, as part of a concert devoted entirely to the music of Loeffler.
14 April 1903 On her first birthday in Fenway Court, Isabella Stewart Gardner is presented with a viola d’amore by Charles Martin Loeffler (42). The instrument is from the 18th century Neapolitan Tomaso Eberle and was used in the premiere of Loeffler’s La Mort de Tintagiles on 7 January 1898. Mrs. Gardner places it in her Yellow Room which will include Loeffler memorabilia including a cast of his hand and a portrait painted by John Singer Sargent.
16 April 1903 Three songs by Ralph Vaughan Williams (30) are performed for the first time, in Exeter: If I were a Queen, for solo voice and piano to words of Rossetti, Adieu and Cousin Michael, both for two solo voices and piano, to anonymous words (tr. Ferguson).
18 April 1903 Four of the Huit Pièces brèves op.84 for piano by Gabriel Fauré (57) are performed for the first time, by the Société National de Musique, Paris.
19 April 1903 After Easter services Christians in Kishinev, Bessarabia (Chisinau, Moldova) go on a two-day rampage through the Jewish district. Almost 50 people are killed, 600 injured. No authorities intervene.
24 April 1903 Charles Koechlin (35) marries Suzanne Pierrard.
27 April 1903 Sound Sleep, for women’s chorus and piano by Ralph Vaughan Williams (30) to words of C. Rossetti, is performed for the first time, in St. James’ Hall, London.
28 April 1903 Russian psychologist Ivan Petrovich Pavlov reads his “Experimental Psychology and Psychopathology of Animals” to the 14th International Congress of Medicine in Madrid. It is the first public explanation of conditioned and unconditioned reflex.
Gustav Schmoranz, the director of the National Theatre in Prague, informs Leos Janácek (48) that his new opera, Jenufa, could not be performed as it was “not good enough to be successful.” Janácek is stunned and falls into a depression of self-blame.
29 April 1903 A Sonata for violin and piano in g minor by Arnold Bax (19) is performed for the first time, privately, at the Bax family home in Hampstead, the composer at the piano. See 4 June 1907.
30 April 1903 War and Peace, a symphonic ode for solo voices, chorus, and orchestra by Hubert Parry (55) to words of Benson and the composer, is performed for the first time, in Royal Albert Hall, London, conducted by the composer. It is moderately successful.
1 May 1903 Quintet for piano and strings op.64 by Max Reger (30) is performed for the first time, in Munich.
2 May 1903 Weary Wind of the West, for mixed chorus by Edward Elgar (45) to words of Brown, is performed for the first time, in Morecombe.
4 May 1903 Macedonian revolutionary leader Gotse Delchev is killed battling Turkish police near Banitsa (in present Greece).
7 May 1903 Scenes from Azara, a grand opera by John Knowles Paine (64) to his own words, are performed for the first time, in a concert setting accompanied by piano, in Chickering Hall, Boston. See 10 March 1900.
8 May 1903 Paul Gauguin dies at Atuona in French Polynesia at the age of 54.
12 May 1903 France extends a protectorate over Mauritania.
While riding in a parade in his honor in San Francisco, President Theodore Roosevelt is filmed. It is the first time an official event involving a US president is preserved on film. The filmmaker is HJ Miles.
13 May 1903 The Lord of Might op.83 for chorus, orchestra and organ by Charles Villiers Stanford (50) to words of Heber is performed for the first time, in St. Paul’s Cathedral, London.
19 May 1903 Racho Petrov Stoylov replaces Stoyan Petrov Danev as Prime Minister of Bulgaria.
21 May 1903 Leos Janácek (48) witnesses a performance of Louise by Gustave Charpentier (42) in Prague. It will effect his work to the end of his life. He is taken by the use of prose, and what Janácek calls “speech melodies.”
Charles T. Griffes (18) plays a farewell concert at Elmira College Chapel, Elmira, New York before his departure for study in Berlin. Two of his songs are performed for the first time: Si mes vers avaient des ailes to words of Hugo, and Sur ma lyre l’autre fois to words of Saint-Beuve. See 24 July 1906.
23 May 1903 A telephone line between Paris and Rome is established.
Béla Bartók (22) gives his last performance as a student at the Budapest Academy of Music playing Liszt’s (†16) Rhapsodie espagnole.
25 May 1903 Béla Bartók (22) gives his last performance as a student at the Budapest Academy of Music, at a public examination concert playing Liszt’s (†16) Rhapsodie espagnole.
Irish Rhapsody no.2 “The Lament for the Son of Ossian” for orchestra by Charles Villiers Stanford (50) is performed for the first time, in Amsterdam.
27 May 1903 Gesellschaft für drahtlose Telegraphie System Telefunken is founded by the union of wireless companies at AEG and Siemens.
28 May 1903 Euphrosyne, an overture by Frederick S. Converse (32), is performed for the first time, in Boston.
3 June 1903 Incidental music to Yeats’ play A Pot of Broth by Henry F. Gilbert (34) is performed for the first time, in the Carnegie Lyceum, New York. Also heard for the first time is Gilbert’s Oceanic Air.
5 June 1903 Richard Strauss’ (38) song for solo voice and orchestra Hymnus op.33/3 to anonymous words, is performed for the first time.
6 June 1903 Aram Ilyich Khachaturian is born in Kodjori, a suburb of Tiflis (now part of Tbilisi, Georgia), the youngest of four children born to Egiya (Ilya) Voskanovich Khachaturian, a bookbinder and Kumash Sarkisovna Khachaturian.
Edward Elgar’s oratorio The Dream of Gerontius is performed in London for the first time, at Westminster Cathedral, conducted by the composer. It receives a much better response than its premiere. See 3 October 1900.
7 June 1903 Marie Curie announces in Berlin the discovery of the element Polonium.
8 June 1903 The third movement of Béla Bartók’s (22) Violin Sonata is performed for the first time, in Budapest. The composer plays the piano part during a graduation examination in composition at Budapest Conservatory. See 25 January 1904.
11 June 1903 King Aleksandar I of Serbia, Queen Draga, the Queen’s two brothers, Prime Minister Dimitrije Cincar-Markovic, Minister of the Interior and several loyal officers are all murdered by army officers in the royal palace, Belgrade. Jovan Avakumovic replaces Prime Minister, Dimitrije Cincar-Markovic and acts as regent.
Ivan Nikolaevich Durnovo, Prime Minister of Russia, dies on a train between Königsberg and Marienburg.
15 June 1903 Petar Karageorgevich returns from 45 years of exile as the Serbian assembly has elected him Petar I, King of Serbia. The assembly also revives the 1889 constitution.
16 June 1903 Pepsi-Cola is registered with the US Patent Office by Caleb Bradham of New Bern, North Carolina.
The Ford Motor Company is incorporated in Detroit by Henry Ford.
Voters elect the eleventh Reichstag of the German Empire. The strength of the leading Center Party remains unchanged but Social Democrats make major advances, becoming the second largest party.
Elections to the Danish Folketing see only small changes in the state of the parties. The Left Reform Party continues to hold a majority.
17 June 1903 Victor Herbert’s Babes in Toyland opens in Chicago.
20 June 1903 The Saturday Evening Post begins a five-part publication of The Call of the Wild by Jack London.
21 June 1903 Melodía for violin and piano by Enrique Granados (35) is performed for the first time, at the Teatre de Catalunya, Barcelona.
24 June 1903 Petar I replaces the regent Jovan Avakumovic as King of Serbia.
25 June 1903 Jack Tar, a march by John Philip Sousa (48), is performed for the first time, by five massed bands and the Queen’s Hall orchestra, before the royal couple and the Prince and Princess of Wales in Albert Hall, London. Audience members wave little Union Jacks.
26 June 1903 Georgios Theotokis replaces Theodoros Pangaiou Diligiannis as Prime Minister of Greece.
Maurice Ravel’s (28) setting of the Prix de Rome cantata Alyssa, to words of Coiffier, for three solo voices and orchestra, is performed for the first time, at the Paris Conservatoire.
27 June 1903 Károly, Count Khuen-Héderváry de Hédervár replaces Kálmán Szell de Duka et Szentgyörgyvölgy as Prime Minister of Hungary.
28 June 1903 At a meeting of the German Engineers Association, the Deutsches Museum is founded in Munich.
1 July 1903 Through the efforts of Richard Strauss (39), the Genossenschaft Deutscher Tonsetzer is founded. Its stated goals are to protect and assist its members, especially in the realm of music copyrights.
The first Tour de France begins in Paris.
2 July 1903 The lead article in the Budapest performing arts weekly Zenevilág is about Béla Bartók (22), written by Pongrác Kacsóh. “...the purpose...of these lines is to draw the attention of the educated and music-loving Hungarian public to the phenomenal young genius...who...is destined to play a great and brilliant role in the history of Hungarian music.”
3 July 1903 Great Britain and Japan demand that Russia adhere to its 1902 treaty and withdraw from Manchuria.
4 July 1903 The last link in a round-the-world telegraph connection is completed from Hawaii to the Philippines. US President Theodore Roosevelt sends the first round-the-world message. The message, for Governor Taft of the Philippines, is sent from Roosevelt’s home in Oyster Bay, New York and takes nine-and-a-half minutes to go around the world.
10 July 1903 Demetrios Rallis replaces Georgios Theotokis as Prime Minister of Greece.
14 July 1903 In the midst of a cholera epidemic, the Manchurian section of the Trans-Siberian Railway opens to Vladivostok.
Workers in the Russian cities of Odessa, Baku, Tiflis, and Batum strike in indignation over a massacre of strikers in Zlatovst by the army last March. Strikes soon spread to Kiev and other areas.
17 July 1903 James McNeill Whistler dies in London at the age of 69.
19 July 1903 After 19 days, the first Tour de France is won by Maurice Garin in Paris.
20 July 1903 Gioachino Vincenzo Raffaele Aloisio Pecci, Pope Leo XIII, dies in Rome.
Raimundo Fernández Villaverde, marqués de Pozo Rubio replaces Francisco Silvela y Le-Vielleuze as Prime Minister of Spain.
23 July 1903 The Grand Match, a song for voice and piano by Arnold Bax (19) to words of O’Neill, is performed for the first time, in St. James’ Hall, London, the composer at the piano. It is the first public performance of the music of Bax.
25 July 1903 Several prominent Panamanians meet in the countryside to discuss revolution against Colombia.
27 July 1903 British forces conquer Burmi in heavy fighting. Muhammadu Attahiru I dan Ahmadu during the battle. It is the end of the Fulani empire.
30 July 1903 A general strike throughout the Russian Empire is called. Order will not be restored until the middle of August.
William Monroe Trotter confronts Booker T. Washington as he speaks at the Columbus Avenue African Zion Church, Boston. He opposes Washington’s policies of compromise on civil rights. A near riot ensues. Trotter and his followers are arrested. The event inspires WEB Dubois to become more active in opposing Washington.
2 August 1903 Rebellion breaks out in the Ottoman province of Macedonia in the Bitola vilayet.
4 August 1903 Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto becomes Pope Pius X in Rome.
8 August 1903 Heidelberg University announces that it has awarded Richard Strauss (39) an honorary Ph.D.
11 August 1903 Satori Kato, a Japanese chemist living in Chicago, receives a US patent for water soluble instant coffee.
12 August 1903 The Japanese government protests to Russia that it has not withdrawn from Manchuria as it agreed to do last year.
The Colombian Senate rejects the Hay-Herrán Treaty.
13 August 1903 Charles T. Griffes (18) boards the liner Grosser Kurfürst in New York, bound for study in Europe.
14 August 1903 The Motor Car Act is given royal assent by King Edward VII. It requires the licensing of automobile drivers and the registration of vehicles. Britain is the first jurisdiction to require drivers licenses.
18 August 1903 210 Turks are killed in fighting with Bulgarians in Macedonia.
22 August 1903 Cecil Sharp (43) meets John England in Hambridge, Somerset. From England, Sharp will note down his first folk song. Within a short time in Somerset, Sharp will collect 40 songs from several singers.
23 August 1903 The Second Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party closes in London. The party has split into the Bolsheviks, led by Lenin, and the Mensheviks, lead by Julius Martov.
25 August 1903 Charles T. Griffes (18) arrives in Berlin where he will enroll at the Stern’sches Konservatorium der Musik.
28 August 1903 Frederick Law Olmstead dies in Belmont, Massachusetts at the age of 81.
29 August 1903 Sergey Yulyevich Witte becomes Chairman of the Committee of Ministers of Russia.
The first automobile license is granted in Rio de Janeiro.
6 September 1903 Panglima Polem IX surrenders to Dutch authorities in Aceh.
8 September 1903 Between 30,000 and 50,000 Bulgarians have been killed around Monastir, Macedonia by Turkish troops fearful of a Macedonian uprising.
10 September 1903 Voces clamantium for soprano, bass, chorus, and orchestra by Hubert Parry (55) to words of the Bible and the composer, is performed for the first time, in Hereford.
12 September 1903 Autumn Night op.38/1, a song for voice and piano by Jean Sibelius (37) to words of Rydberg, is performed for the first time, in Helsinki.
17 September 1903 10,000 Bulgarians are killed when Turkish troops destroy the town of Kastoria.
24 September 1903 Alfred Deakin replaces Edmund Barton as Prime Minister of Australia.
25 September 1903 Frederick Delius (41) marries Jelka Rosen, a painter and daughter of a diplomat, in a civil ceremony in Grez-sur-Loing, France. They have lived together for six years.
26 September 1903 Suffrage is extended to women in the American state of Connecticut.
29 September 1903 Prussia begins mandatory licensing of automobile drivers.
30 September 1903 Béla Bartók (22) arrives in Munich, his first trip abroad after graduation from the Budapest Academy of Music.
1 October 1903 Claude Debussy (41) meets Emma Bardac for the first time. She is the wife of banker Sigismond Bardac, a singer, and the former mistress of Gabriel Fauré (58).
The first World Series baseball game, between the champion of the National League and the champion of the American League, is won by the Pittsburgh Pirates 7-3 over the Boston Americans at the Huntington Avenue Baseball Grounds in Boston.
4 October 1903 Sava Grujic replaces Jovan Avakumovic as Prime Minister of Serbia.
7 October 1903 Samuel Pierpont Langley launches a piloted heavier-than-air craft on the Potomoc. It fails to fly.
8 October 1903 Carl Nielsen’s (38) overture Helios is performed for the first time, under the composer’s direction, in Copenhagen. This work was composed earlier this year on a trip to Greece with his wife who was copying sculptures at the Acropolis.
12 October 1903 Pietro Mascagni (39) accepts the directorship of the Scuola Nazionale di Musica in Rome.
13 October 1903 40,000 textile workers strike in northern France for shorter hours and higher wages.
The Boston Americans win the first World Series by defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates 3-0 in Boston. They thus win the best-of-nine series five games to three.
14 October 1903 The oratorio The Apostles op.49 by Edward Elgar (46), to his own words after the Bible, is performed for the first time, under the composer’s direction in Birmingham Town Hall. It is a resounding success.
15 October 1903 Frederick W. Lanchester receives a British patent for disc brakes.
16 October 1903 Two songs for voice and piano by Jean Sibelius (37) to words of Rydberg, are performed for the first time, in Helsinki: On a Balcony by the Sea op.38/2, and In the Night op.38/3.
17 October 1903 Gustav Mahler (43) has an audience with Emperor Franz Joseph to thank him for the award of Order of the Iron Crown, third class.
19 October 1903 A song by Ralph Vaughan Williams (31), Réveillez-vous, Piccars, to anonymous words (tr. England), is performed for the first time, in Eastbourne.
20 October 1903 A board of arbitration (3 US, 2 Canadian, I UK) decides on the Alaska border dispute largely in favor of the United States. The British arbiter votes with the Americans. The two Canadian arbiters refuse to sign the ruling.
26 October 1903 Taillefer op.52 for chorus and orchestra by Richard Strauss (39) to words of Uhland, is performed for the first time, under the composer’s direction in Heidelberg. Strauss wrote the work for the occasion of his receipt of an honorary Ph.D. from Heidelberg University.
31 October 1903 The Colombian Senate adjourns without ratifying the Hay-Herrán Treaty of 22 January 1903.
2 November 1903 US President Theodore Roosevelt orders three warships to Panama.
3 November 1903 Giovanni Giolitti replaces Giuseppe Zanardelli as Prime Minister of Italy.
István, Count Tisza de Borosjenö et Szeged replaces Károly, Count Khuen-Héderváry de Hédervár as Prime Minister of Hungary.
In the Netherlands, Willem Einthoven gives the first public demonstration of his electrocardiograph.
A small band of revolutionaries declares Panama’s independence from Colombia as United States naval forces prevent a landing by Colombian troops sent to put down the revolt. José Agustín Arango Remón is named Chairman of the Provisional Junta.
4 November 1903 Béla Bartók (22) gives a solo recital in Vienna.
5 November 1903 Sonata for violin and piano no.4 op.72 by Max Reger (30) is performed for the first time, in Munich, the composer at the piano.
6 November 1903 The United States recognizes the independence of Panama.
10 November 1903 Mary Anderson is granted a US patent for a window-cleaning device, essentially windshield wipers.
13 November 1903 Camille Pissarro dies in Paris at the age of 73.
14 November 1903 Two sacred pieces for chorus by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (†10) are performed for the first time, in Moscow: Cherubic Hymn in D and It is Truly Fitting.
17 November 1903 The Treaty of Petropolis between Bolivia and Brazil is signed. Bolivia cedes Acre to Brazil in return for a rail and water outlet to the east and £2,000,000.
Cesar Cui’s (68) opera Mademoiselle Fifi to his own words after de Maupassant and Méténier is performed for the first time, in Moscow.
18 November 1903 The new Republic of Panama signs a treaty with the United States providing for the building of a canal across the Isthmus of Panama.
22 November 1903 Pope Pius X issues Motu proprio, setting down the proper interpretation and performance of Gregorian Chant.
23 November 1903 The second movement of a String Quartet in A by Arnold Bax (20) is performed for the first time, in a student concert of the Royal Academy of Music in St. James’ Hall, London.
24 November 1903 Clyde Coleman of New York City receives a US patent for the automobile electric self-starter.
25 November 1903 Béla Bartók (22) plays the premiere of his own Scherzo for piano in Budapest.
30 November 1903 Le roi Arthus, a drame lyrique by Ernest Chausson (†4) to his own words, is performed for the first time, at the Théâtre de la Monnaie, Brussels.
1 December 1903 The Edison Manufacturing Company releases Edwin S. Porter’s film The Great Train Robbery in the United States.
2 December 1903 A letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams (31) appears in the Morning Post. It refers to a recent lecture on folk song by Cecil Sharp (44) and suggests that county councils be engaged in the preservation of folk songs.
Incidental music to Järnefelt’s play Kuolema by Jean Sibelius (37) is performed for the first time, in Helsinki. The music contains the famous Valse triste.
4 December 1903 In Ingrave, near Brentwood in Essex, Mr. Charles Potiphar, a laborer, sings “Bushes and Briars” to Ralph Vaughan Williams (31), who writes it down. It is the first English folk song of the hundreds he will collect throughout his life.
5 December 1903 Antonio Maura y Montaner replaces Raimundo Fernández Villaverde, marqués de Pozo Rubio as Prime Minister of Spain.
8 December 1903 US Marines disembark in Panama.
Samuel Pierpont Langley launches a second piloted heavier-than-air craft on the Potomoc. It also fails to fly.
11 December 1903 A British military force departs Sikkim and enters Tibet in the mistaken belief that China is about to hand Tibet over to the Russians.
12 December 1903 Gustav Holst’s (29) song A Prayer for the Light, to words of Mackay, is performed for the first time, in Bechstein Hall, London. The composer submitted it to a song contest held by the baritone Charles Phillips. Holst did not win first prize, but Phillips performs it anyway.
13 December 1903 Italo Marchioni of New York City receives a US patent for a mold to make ice cream cones.
14 December 1903 Béla Bartók (22) gives his solo recital debut in Berlin before a large audience. It is generally successful.
16 December 1903 Voting in the Australian general election results in almost a three way tie between the Protectionist, Free Trade, and Labour Parties in the House of Representatives. Prime Minister Alfred Deakin of the Protectionist Party will form the next government. Women vote for the first time.
17 December 1903 At Kill Devil Hill, six km south of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville Wright makes the first successful flight in a heavier-than-air, mechanically propelled craft. Wright flies 44 meters in twelve seconds.
18 December 1903 Georgios Theotokis replaces Demetrios Rallis as Prime Minister of Greece.
A treaty between the United States and Panama grants the Canal Zone to the United States in perpetuity in return for annual rent payments.
19 December 1903 The Williamsburg Bridge opens over the East River in New York. It is the first suspension bridge to use steel towers rather than masonry.
Siberia, an opera by Umberto Giordano (36) to words of Illica, is performed for the first time, in Teatro alla Scala, Milan.
21 December 1903 The Netherlands Senate passes a workman’s compensation act.
24 December 1903 The first performance of Parsifal outside Bayreuth takes place at the Metropolitan Opera New York over the objections of the Wagner (†20) family.
28 December 1903 Japan takes control of the railroad between Seoul and Pusan.
29 December 1903 France divides its holdings in central Africa into Ubangi-Shari (Central African Republic), Chad, Gabon, and Middle Congo.
30 December 1903 Fire destroys the Iroquois Theatre in Chicago while a sold-out performance is in progress. Over 600 people are killed.
©2004-2014 Paul Scharfenberger
16 June 2014
Last Updated (Monday, 16 June 2014 04:27)