1907
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1 January 1907 Charles Ives (32) begins a general agency called Ives & Co. for Washington Life Insurance Co. of New York. His assistant is Julian Myrick.
The Transvaal begins full internal self-government.
Great Britain establishes the Gold Coast Northern Territories Protectorate.
2 January 1907 Frederick S. Converse (35) visits President Eliot of Harvard University and resigns from the faculty effective 1 September. With all the composing, performing, and publishing, he has no time to teach.
4 January 1907 The Vienna premiere of Gustav Mahler’s (47) Symphony no.6 is met with strong applause but also loud expressions of displeasure from some members of the audience. Most Vienna critics savage the piece.
6 January 1907 The Countess’ Portrait, for reciter and orchestra by Jean Sibelius (41) to words of Topelius, is performed for the first time, in Vaasa.
7 January 1907 Mexican troops fire on striking textile workers at Rio Blanco, Veracruz State. It I unclear how many workers are killed but estimates vary from 2oo to 800. Several of the strike leaders will be executed.
8 January 1907 Shah Mozaffar ad-Din of Persia dies of a heart attack in Teheran and is succeeded by his son Mohammed Ali.
10 January 1907 An orchestral suite from the incidental music to Jeanne d’Arc by Frederick S. Converse (36) is performed for the first time, in Jordan Hall, Boston.
11 January 1907 The New York Electric Music Company begins Telharmonium service to the public with a gala reception and concert at Telharmonic Hall at Broadway and 39th Street.
12 January 1907 Histoires naturelles, a song cycle by Maurice Ravel (31) to words of Renard, is performed for the first time, by the Société National de Musique, Paris, the composer at the keyboard. During the performance, some in the audience find it necessary to express their displeasure by emitting animal noises. The same program sees the first performance of Impromptu no.4 op.91 and Barcarolle no.8 op.96 for piano by Gabriel Fauré (61).
14 January 1907 The first public Telharmonium concerts are given at Telharmonic Hall at Broadway and 39th Street, New York. Public response is mixed but generally positive.
15 January 1907 The United States government informs China that about half of the Boxer Rebellion indemnity, or about $12,000,000, which exceeded American claims against China, will be remitted.
Lee De Forest receives a patent for the Audion, a three-element radio tube, “a device for amplifying feeble electrical currents.” It is the basis of radio.
16 January 1907 Poèmes d’automne for voice and orchestra by Ernst Bloch (26) is performed for the first time, in Geneva directed by the composer.
18 January 1907 After an Atlantic crossing slowed by fog and rough seas, Giacomo Puccini (48) arrives in New York two hours before the Metropolitan Opera production of his Manon Lescaut. He enters the theatre in the middle of the first act. When the composer is acknowledged at intermission, the audience stands and cheers for ten minutes.
19 January 1907 Béla Bartók (25) enters upon duties as professor of piano at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest.
20 January 1907 After viewing the dress rehearsal for the Metropolitan Opera’s premiere production of Richard Strauss’ (42) Salome, Mrs. Herbert Tatterlee goes in anger to her father, JP Morgan, a member of the board of the opera. See 23 January 1907.
23 January 1907 The day after the American premiere of Richard Strauss' (42) Salome at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, an emergency meeting of the house's board takes place, called by JP Morgan. After the meeting, the three further (already sold out) performances of the opera are cancelled. See 20 January 1907.
Four Preludes op.33 for piano by Alyeksandr Skryabin (35) are performed for the first time, in New York, by the composer.
25 January 1907 Antonio Maura y Montaner replaces Antonio Aguilar y Correa, marques de la Vega de Armijo as Prime Minister of Spain.
26 January 1907 Suffrage in Austria is extended to all men over the age of 24.
The Playboy of the Western World by JM Synge opens in the Abbey Theatre, Dublin.
The first five of the Six Songs op.3 by Arnold Schoenberg (32) are performed for the first time, in the Ehrbaarsaal, Vienna. Also premiered is the third of his Four Songs op.2 to words of Dehmel. Also performed are six of the Eight Songs op.6. See 26 March 1919 and 28 April 1915.
27 January 1907 The Metropolitan Opera of New York honors Giacomo Puccini (48) with a banquet at the Hotel St. Regis.
1 February 1907 Carl Ruggles (30) enters upon duties as violin teacher at the Mar D’Mar School of Music in Winona, Minnesota. He has taken the job and moved from Massachusetts to be stable enough to marry Charlotte Snell.
2 February 1907 The first of the Three Choruses op.6 for chorus and piano by Max Reger (33) is performed for the first time.
3 February 1907 Maurice Ravel’s (31) orchestral transcription of his own Une Barque sur l’océan from Miroirs, is performed for the first time, in Paris. See 6 January 1906 and 17 May 1919.
5 February 1907 The String Quartet no.1 op.7 by Arnold Schoenberg (32) is performed for the first time, in Vienna. One listener, while criticizing the work by whistling on a door key, is physically attacked by an ardent Schoenberg supporter named Gustav Mahler (46).
Mosquitoes, for male chorus by Leos Janácek (52), is performed for the first time, in Vyskov.
6 February 1907 In Vienna, Gustav Mahler (46) writes to Richard Strauss (42), “I heard the new Schoenberg (32) Quartet yesterday and found it so profound and impressive that I cannot but most emphatically recommend it for the Dresden Festival.” (Wright & Gillmor, 17)
Two Military Marches op.57 and a Königsmarsch, both for orchestra by Richard Strauss (42), are performed for the first time, in Berlin, conducted by the composer.
7 February 1907 Jules Massenet’s (64) drame musical Thérèse, to words of Claretie, is performed for the first time, at the Opéra de Monte Carlo. The composer and his wife intend to sit in the Prince’s Loge with Prince Albert but, according to his custom, he is too nervous to view the premier and spends the evening alone in the private salon.
8 February 1907 A new agreement is signed in Santo Domingo between the United States and the Dominican Republic. The US continues customs collections in order to pay off Dominican debts and the US has the right to intervene militarily in the country. It goes into effect on 25 July.
Liebst du um Schönheit, a song by Gustav Mahler (46) to words of Rückert, is performed for the first time (possibly), in Vienna.
Kammersymphonie op.9 by Arnold Schoenberg (32) is performed for the first time, in the Musikvereinsaal, Vienna. In the middle of the performance, Schoenberg opponents begin noisily moving their chairs. Gustav Mahler (46) shouts at them to be quiet, which they do. At the end, loud applause, led by Mahler, is accompanied by whistles and catcalls. Alma Mahler will remember that as they proceed home, her husband tells her “I do not understand his music, but he is young; perhaps he is right. I am old, perhaps I no longer have the ear for his music.”
13 February 1907 A large crowd of suffragettes assault the Houses of Parliament in London but are repulsed by a cordon of police. 60 women are arrested.
A group of Nicaraguan exiles in Honduras sign a manifesto calling for the overthrow of President José Santos Zelaya.
20 February 1907 The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya, an opera by Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov (62) to words of Belsky after Meledin and Melnikov, is performed for the first time, at the Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg.
String Quartet no.4 by Charles Villiers Stanford (56) is performed for the first time, at Cambridge University.
21 February 1907 A Village Romeo and Juliet, a lyric drama by Frederick Delius (45) to words of Keary after Keller, is performed for the first time, at the Komische Oper, Berlin.
22 February 1907 Introduction et Allegro for harp, string quartet, flute and clarinet by Maurice Ravel (31) is performed for the first time, at the Cercle Musical, Hôtel de la Société Française de Photographie.
24 February 1907 Royal Dutch Oil merges with Shell Transport and Trading Company to form Royal Dutch Shell.
Fantaisie op.28 for piano by Alyeksandr Skryabin (35), is performed for the first time, in Moscow.
25 February 1907 Fifteen Songs op.26 by Sergey Rakhmaninov (33) are performed for the first time, in Moscow.
27 February 1907 Lee De Forest sends the sound of the telharmonium from “Telharmonic Hall” at Broadway and 39th Street, New York, to the Yale Club several blocks away, by means of wireless transmission for the first time.
3 March 1907 A peasant revolt begins in Moldavia and quickly spreads to other parts of Romania.
4 March 1907 The first section of a subway for Philadelphia opens to the public.
5 March 1907 The Second Duma opens in St. Petersburg. 40,000 demonstrators are dispersed by Imperial troops.
Lee de Forest broadcasts the William Tell Overture from Philharmonic Hall, New York to the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
8 March 1907 Three Idylls for string quintet by Frank Bridge (28) is performed for the first time, in Bechstein Hall, London. A theme in the second idyll will be used by Benjamin Britten in his Variations on a Theme by Frank Bridge.
11 March 1907 Prime Minister Dimitur Nikolov Petkov of Bulgaria is murdered in Sofiya by an anarchist.
12 March 1907 Dimitur Yanev Stanchov becomes acting Prime Minister of Bulgaria.
Le Don Silencieux op.92, a song by Gabriel Fauré (61) to words of J. Dominique (pseud. of Marie Closset), is performed for the first time, in La Libre esthétique, Brussels, the composer at the piano.
14 March 1907 By executive order, Japanese laborers are excluded from the United States.
16 March 1907 Petur Todor Gudev replaces Dimitur Yanev Stanchov as Prime Minister of Bulgaria.
Two days of voting conclude in Finland for seats to the new Eduskunta. The new parliament is a result of reforms instituted last year. All citizens of at least 24 years of age are allowed to vote, women included. The 19 women elected today become the first female parliamentarians in the world. Social Democrats win 80 seats and constitute the largest party in the 200-seat body.
17 March 1907 Prelude and Fugue op.93 for organ by Alyeksandr Glazunov (41) is performed for the first time, at St. Petersburg Conservatory.
18 March 1907 A state of emergency is declared in Romania to deal with the two-week old peasant revolt.
Nicaraguan forces under the dictator José Santos Zelaya, invade Honduras.
19 March 1907 Edward Elgar (49) makes his first professional appearance in New York, conducting The Apostles in Carnegie Hall.
After three days of battle, Nicaraguan forces defeat a combined army of Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaraguan rebels at Namasigue. This will lead to the fall of the Honduran government and the occupation of the Atlantic coast of Honduras by Nicaraguan troops.
20 March 1907 The Edward MacDowell (46) Memorial Association is incorporated in New York as a combination of the Mendelssohn Glee Club and the MacDowell Club of New York. The purposes include to further all the arts and to develop the home of Edward and Marian MacDowell in Peterborough, New Hampshire towards that purpose.
21 March 1907 Two songs by Nadia Boulanger (19) are given their first public performance, at the Salle Pleyel, Paris. They are Soleils couchants, to words of Verlaine and Elégie, to words of Samain.
United States Marines land in Honduras to protect American interests during the Central American war.
22 March 1907 Marian MacDowell donates the property owned by her and her husband Edward (46) to the Edward MacDowell Memorial Association in Peterborough, New Hampshire. The property consists of 81 hectares of land, their house, and two secondary buildings. The intention is that an artist colony be built as soon as the MacDowell’s are both dead, but Mrs. MacDowell will invite the first colonists in the summer of 1908.
23 March 1907 Max Reger (34) moves from Munich to Leipzig to take up his position as director of music at the University of Leipzig.
25 March 1907 Nicaraguan troops capture Tegucigalpa.
26 March 1907 Dimitrie Alexandru Sturdza replaces Prince Gheorghe Grigoire Cantacuzino as Prime Minister of Romania.
31 March 1907 The peasant revolt in Romania is brutally suppressed. Thousands of peasants are killed by the military, the exact number unknown.
1 April 1907 Max Reger (34) enters into duties as director of music at the University of Leipzig.
7 April 1907 Song of the Siskin for SAT choir by Carl Nielsen (41) to words of Aarestrup, is performed for the first time, in Copenhagen.
8 April 1907 Gustav Holst (32) is hired as a teacher at Morley College in London.
9 April 1907 Azara, a grand opera by John Knowles Paine (†0) to his own words, is performed almost completely for the first time, in a concert setting in Symphony Hall, Boston. See 7 May 1903.
11 April 1907 The Toronto Symphony Orchestra gives its first performance, in Massey Hall.
12 April 1907 Prince Albert of Monaco is a guest at the Imperial Palace, Berlin. A luncheon today includes Camille Saint-Saëns (71), Jules Massenet (64), Edvard Grieg (63), and several other artistic personalities. Kaiser Wilhelm also attends.
The remnants of the Honduran army are reduced to the town of Amapala on Tigre Island. Convinced that the Nicaraguans will shell the town, the captain of USS Chicago negotiates an agreement. The town will be surrendered, President Bonilla will be given safe passage out of the country and Salvadoran troops will withdraw. A contingent of US Marines lands to secure the town.
13 April 1907 At the Imperial Palace, Berlin, Kaiser Wilhelm II has a long talk with Camille Saint-Saëns (71), Jules Massenet (64) and Xavier Leroux. He confers distinctions on Massenet and Leroux and gives his portrait to Saint-Saëns.
The singspiel Fernando, D.220 by Franz Schubert (†78) to words of Stadler, is performed for the first time, in Vienna, 92 years after it was composed.
16 April 1907 Suite in E for string orchestra by Arthur Foote (54) is performed for the first time, in Boston.
19 April 1907 The Piano Sonata no.1 op.8 of Karol Szymanowski (24) is performed for the first time, at a Young Poland concert in Warsaw. The critics are not kind.
Charlotte Snell enters duties as head of the vocal department at the Mar D’Mar School in Winona, Minnesota. She obtained the position through the efforts of her fiance, Carl Ruggles (31).
20 April 1907 The symphonic poem Souvenirs, by Vincent d’Indy (56) is performed for the first time, in Paris.
26 April 1907 Edvard Grieg (63) appears at a public concert for the last time, in Kiel.
27 April 1907 The second and third movements of Igor Stravinsky’s (24) Symphony in Eb op.1 are premiered by the Russian court orchestra in a private performance at the Imperial Chapel, St. Petersburg, arranged by Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov (63). See 4 February 1908.
29 April 1907 Igor Stravinsky’s (24) Faun and Shepherdess for mezzo-soprano and orchestra op.2 to words of Pushkin, is premiered by the Russian court orchestra in a private performance at the Imperial Chapel arranged by Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov (63). See 29 February 1908.
2 May 1907 Jules de Trooz replaces Paul, Comte de Smet de Nayer as Prime Minister of Belgium.
Charles T. Griffes (22) meets Ferruccio Busoni (41) and his wife for the first time at an informal gathering at Busoni’s home in Berlin. Griffes is very impressed and enjoys the Busoni’s greatly.
6 May 1907 Piano Quintet no.1 by Joaquín Turina (24) is performed for the first time, in Paris.
A bill is signed into law by Governor Charles Evans Hughes of New York permitting the incorporation of a company to transmit music electrically.
7 May 1907 Oscar T. Crosby forms the New York Cahill Telharmonic Company to transmit, by telephone or wireless means, music produced by the telharmonium.
9 May 1907 The allegretto movement of the Piano Sonata in e minor D.566 by Franz Schubert (†78) is performed for the first time, at the Beethovenhaus, Bonn, 90 years after it was written.
10 May 1907 The opera Ariane et Barbe-bleue by Paul Dukas (41) to words of Maeterlinck is performed for the first time, at the Opéra-Comique, Paris.
14 May 1907 Sweden adopts universal male suffrage for elections to its lower chamber.
16 May 1907 France, Great Britain, and Spain sign the Pact of Cartagena, to promote the status quo in the Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic in the face of German designs on the Balearic and Canary Islands.
Tonight marks the first of five “historic concerts” of Russian music by Sergey Dyaghilev featuring appearances by Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov (63), Alyeksandr Glazunov (41) and Sergey Rakhmaninov (34) performing their own music.
22 May 1907 In the midst of a press campaign against Hofoper Director Gustav Mahler (46), the Wiener Allgemeine Zeitung publishes a lengthy article in his support.
23 May 1907 The first Finnish parliament based on universal suffrage opens in Helsinki.
Suite in E major for orchestra by Ottorino Respighi (27) is performed for the first time, in Teatro Duse, Bologna.
28 May 1907 A Piano Quintet by Frank Bridge (28) is performed for the first time, at a private home in London, the composer playing the viola part. See 14 June 1907.
1 June 1907 Police in Berlin begin enforcing a ban on motion pictures after doctors insist that they are harmful to children’s eyes.
4 June 1907 A Sonata for violin and piano in g minor by Arnold Bax (23) is performed publicly for the first time, in Aeolian Hall, London, the composer at the piano. See 29 April 1903.
5 June 1907 Gustav Mahler (46) concludes an agreement with Heinrich Conried, director of the Metropolitan Opera, New York, to conduct the Met during the first four months of 1908. On the same day, “A Conversation with Gustav Mahler” is published in the Neues Wiener Tagblatt, wherein Mahler defends and explains his actions as Director of the Vienna Hofoper.
8 June 1907 The United States ends its occupation of Honduras.
Two songs by Maurice Ravel (32) are premiered at the Cercle de l’Art moderne, Paris. They are Sainte, to words of Mallarmé and Les Grandes Ventis Venus d’outremer, to words of de Régnier. The composer plays the piano accompaniment for both.
12 June 1907 Alyeksandr Glazunov (41) is awarded an honorary DMus by the University of Cambridge.
14 June 1907 Women are granted the right to vote in Norway.
Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington op.100 for soprano, baritone, chorus, and orchestra by Charles Villiers Stanford (56) to words of Tennyson, is performed for the first time, privately, at the Royal College of Music, London. See 14 October 1908.
A Celtic Song Cycle for voice and piano by Arnold Bax (21) to words of MacLeod, is performed for the first time, in Queen’s Small Hall, London, the composer at the keyboard. See 21 November 1904.
A Piano Quintet by Frank Bridge (28) is performed publicly for the first time, in London. See 28 May 1907.
15 June 1907 A second conference on pacific resolution of disputes opens at The Hague.
16 June 1907 Tsar Nikolay II dissolves the Second Duma, three months after it opened.
17 June 1907 The first issue of the weekly periodical Morgen is dated today. One of the editors is Richard Strauss (43).
18 June 1907 Alyeksandr Glazunov (41) is awarded an honorary DMus by the University of Oxford.
21 June 1907 Gustav Mahler (46) signs a contract in Vienna to conduct the Metropolitan Opera in New York during three months in each of the years 1908-1911.
24 June 1907 Edvard Grieg (64) returns to his home Troldhaugen for the last time.
26 June 1907 Camille Saint-Saëns (71) is awarded an honorary DMus by the University of Oxford.
27 June 1907 Scherzo phantastick for string quartet by Frank Bridge (28) is performed for the first time, at the Royal College of Music.
28 June 1907 Béla Bartók (26) begins a tour of Transylvania collecting folk songs.
The first of the Deux Poèmes chinois op.12, Ode à un jeune gentilhomme, by Albert Roussel (38) to words of Roché after Giles, is performed for the first time, in Le Havre.
30 June 1907 William Schwenk Gilbert is knighted by King Edward VIII.
Arnold Schoenberg’s (32) String Quartet no.1 op.7 is performed in Dresden to a chorus of whistlers and the stomping and applause of some of the composer’s Viennese supporters, including Alban Berg (22).
3 July 1907 Fantaisie for violin and harp op.124 by Camille Saint-Saëns (71) is performed for the first time, at Salle Erard, Paris.
6 July 1907 Edward Elgar (50) receives an honorary MA from Birmingham University.
Great Britain creates the Nyasaland Protectorate (Malawi).
7 July 1907 The first transplantation of human nerve tissue takes place when Dr. Walter Jacoby, in Munich, inserts 4.3 cm of nerve tissue into the right hand of a 35-year-old man.
8 July 1907 The Ziegfeld Follies is first presented on Broadway.
12 July 1907 Maria Anna Mahler, the eldest daughter of Gustav (47) and Alma Mahler dies of scarlet fever and diphtheria, complicated by a tracheotomy, at their home, Maiernigg. The child is not yet five years old. Mahler is devastated.
13 July 1907 Edvard Grieg’s (64) physical condition has deteriorated so much that he considers suicide but feels he does not have the courage.
14 July 1907 Two days after the death of her daughter, Alma Mahler suffers a heart episode at Maiernigg. A local doctor is summoned to examine her. While there, he also examines Gustav Mahler (47) and for the first time, the heart ailment which will eventually kill him is diagnosed.
18 July 1907 Lee de Forest makes the first ship-to-shore communication by radio from the Thelma to his assistant on South Bass Island in Lake Erie.
19 July 1907 At the insistence of Japan, Emperor Kojong of Korea abdicates in favor of crown prince who becomes Emperor Sunjong.
24 July 1907 Korea is forced into another agreement with Japan. All high officials in the Korean government must be Japanese and appointed by the Japanese Resident General.
26 July 1907 Alfred Dreyfus retires from the French army.
28 July 1907 Bill Haywood of the Industrial Workers of the World is acquitted in a Boise courtroom of killing Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg.
30 July 1907 A treaty is signed between Russia and Japan in St. Petersburg. The present territorial boundaries are maintained and spheres of influence in Manchuria defined. Russia is given power over Mongolia, Japan is given power in Korea. China is conspicuously absent.
Elections for the first legislative assembly take place in the Philippines.
3 August 1907 Augustus St. Gaudens dies in Cornish, New Hampshire at the age of 59.
4 August 1907 A French fleet bombards Casablanca following anti-colonial demonstrations.
A race riot erupts in the Harlem district of New York.
20 August 1907 The appointment of Felix Weingartner as Director of the Vienna Hofoper, succeeding Gustav Mahler (47), is officially announced.
24 August 1907 Pomp and Circumstance March no.4, op.39/4 by Edward Elgar (50) is performed for the first time, in Queen’s Hall, London.
31 August 1907 Great Britain and Russia reach agreement on central Asia in the Treaty of Reval, signed in St. Petersburg. Britain will have influence in Afghanistan; Persia is divided into spheres of influence; both will keep hands off Tibet. This is the beginning of the Triple Entente, which includes Great Britain, France, and Russia.
2 September 1907 The resignation of Frederick S. Converse (36) from Harvard University becomes effective. See 2 January 1907.
3 September 1907 Edvard Grieg (64) arrives at Bergen from his home in Troldhaugen on his way to England. He is so weak that a doctor is called for. The composer is immediately admitted to Bergen Hospital.
4 September 1907 03:30 After sinking into a coma, Edvard Hagerup Grieg dies in the hospital at Bergen, Norway, aged 64 years, two months, and 20 days. The cause of death is listed as heart failure caused by emphysema. The doctors are amazed he lived as long as he did.
Incidental music to Binyon’s play Attila the Hun by Charles Villiers Stanford (54) is performed for the first time, in His Majesty’s Theatre, London.
8 September 1907 The main political parties of Portugal openly attack the dictatorship of Prime Minister João Franco.
9 September 1907 Forty to fifty thousand people view the funeral cortege carrying the body of Edvard Grieg on its was through Bergen. The urn containing his ashes is placed in a cliff face at Troldhaugen, overlooking the lake.
10 September 1907 10,000 whites rampage through a Chinese district in Vancouver, routing about 2,000 from their homes.
A store opens in Dallas, founded by Herbert Marcus Sr, his sister Carrie Marcus Neiman, and her husband AL Neiman. It is called Neiman Marcus.
11 September 1907 The second book of the suite for piano Iberia by Isaac Albéniz (47) is performed for the first time, at St. Jean de Luz.
17 September 1907 Through the intercession of Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau, Edgard Varèse (23) is excepted from military service.
21 September 1907 Anti-colonial uprisings in South West Africa are finally ended by German troops.
25 September 1907 A suite from Belshazzar’s Feast by Jean Sibelius (41) is performed for the first time, under the composer’s direction, in Helsinki.
26 September 1907 New Zealand is made a dominion within the British Empire under Prime Minister Joseph Ward.
The Vision of Life for soprano, bass, chorus, and orchestra by Hubert Parry (59) to his own words, is performed for the first time, in Cardiff.
27 September 1907 The Norfolk Rhapsodies nos.2 and 3 for orchestra by Ralph Vaughan Williams (34) are performed for the first time, in Park Hall, Cardiff, conducted by the composer.
28 September 1907 Grand Duke Friedrich of Baden dies, succeeded by his son Friedrich II.
29 September 1907 Manuel de Falla (30) meets the pianist Ricardo Viñes in Paris. Through Viñes he will make the acquaintance of many young composers and performers in the city.
1 October 1907 One year to the day after it started, the Japanese government completes the nationalization of its railroads.
2 October 1907 Job, a dramatic poem for solo voices, chorus, and orchestra by Frederick S. Converse (36) to words from the Bible, is performed for the first time, in Mechanics Hall, Worcester, Massachusetts.
3 October 1907 Paul Dukas (42) introduces Manuel de Falla (30) to Isaac Albéniz (42) in Paris.
Isabella for orchestra by Frank Bridge (28) is performed for the first time, in Queen’s Hall, London.
4 October 1907 Harriet Stanton Blatch is barred from dining in the restaurant of the Hoffman House Hotel, New York because she is without a male escort.
5 October 1907 By Imperial decree, Gustav Mahler (47) is relieved of his duties as Director of the Vienna Hofoper and given an annual pension of 14,000 kronen. Felix Weingartner is appointed his replacement. See 1 December 1907.
10 October 1907 Stabat mater op.96, a symphonic cantata for solo voices, chorus, and orchestra by Charles Villiers Stanford (55), is performed for the first time, in Leeds.
Toward the Unknown Region, for chorus and orchestra by Ralph Vaughan Williams (34) to words of Whitman, is performed for the first time, at Leeds Town Hall, directed by the composer.
15 October 1907 Variations and Fugue on a Theme of JA Hiller, op.100 for orchestra by Max Reger (34), is performed for the first time, in Cologne.
Gustav Mahler (47) opens his last production as music director of the Vienna Opera. It is Beethoven’s (†80) Fidelio.
17 October 1907 Regular, reliable transatlantic radio service is inaugurated by Guglielmo Marconi from Cape Breton to Clifden, Ireland. 10,000 words are sent and received on the first day.
Incidental music to Shakespeare’s play (tr. Schröder) Was ihr wollt (Twelfth Night) by Engelbert Humperdinck (53) is performed for the first time, in the Deutsches Theater, Berlin.
18 October 1907 The Second Hague Peace Conference adjourns with little progress.
19 October 1907 Gustav Mahler (47) departs Vienna to conduct two concerts in St. Petersburg.
21 October 1907 Charles Ives (32) travels from New York to Hartford, intent on professing his love to Harmony Twichell.
22 October 1907 Incidental music to Aicard’s play Le manteau du roi by Jules Massenet (65) is performed for the first time, at the Théâtre de la Porte St. Martin, Paris.
The Piano Concerto in c minor by Frederick Delius (45) is given its first performance with the newly revised first movement, in Queen’s Hall, London. See 24 October 1904.
While on a walk near Farmington, Connecticut, Charles Ives (33) and Harmony Twichell, a registered nurse, profess their love for each other and decide to marry.
24 October 1907 After hearing his Piano Concerto, Ralph Vaughan Williams (35) writes to Frederick Delius (45) in London, asking to show him some scores and for advice. Delius will be of great help to him.
28 October 1907 Jorgen Gunnerson Lovland replaces Peter Christian Hersleb Michelsen as Prime Minister of Norway.
29 October 1907 Gustav Mahler (47) arrives in Helsinki for a brief visit during which he will conduct one concert.
A Pagan Poem for orchestra with piano, english horn and three trumpets obbligato op.14 by Charles Martin Loeffler (46) is performed for the first time, privately at Fenway Court, Boston. See 22 November 1907.
31 October 1907 A wordless Pastorale for soprano and piano by Igor Stravinsky (25) is performed for the first time, to the Rimsky-Korsakov (63) circle in St. Petersburg.
2 November 1907 Jean Sibelius (41) goes to visit Gustav Mahler (47) at his hotel in Helsinki. The two are civil and pleasant, but Mahler will write that he has no time for this nationalism. Sibelius respects him but is not impressed by his conducting.
4 November 1907 French chemist Gabriel Urbain publishes his discovery of the rare earth element Lutetium.
5 November 1907 Edgard Varèse (23) marries Suzanne Bing, a student of acting at the Paris Conservatoire.
7 November 1907 The first phototelegraphy service is inaugurated between Paris and London when a picture of King Edward VII is sent from Paris to the offices of the Daily Mirror.
At an evening devoted to the music of the students of Arnold Schoenberg (33) at the Saal des Gremius of the Wiener Kaufmannschaft, Alban Berg (22) makes his first appearance as composer. Berg’s works premiered include the three songs, Liebesode (words by Hartleben), Die Nachtigall (words by Storm) and Traumgekrönt (words by Rilke), and the Double Fugue for string quartet and piano. The Piano Quintet of Anton von Webern (23) is also premiered.
9 November 1907 Florent Schmitt’s (37) mute drama Tragédie de Salomé for chamber orchestra, is performed for the first time, in Paris.
Marcella, an opera by Umberto Giordano (40) to words of Stecchetti, Cain and Adenis, is performed for the first time, in Teatro Lirico, Milan.
10 November 1907 The fourth movement of Albert Roussel’s (38) Le poème de la forêt op.7 for orchestra, entitled Faunes et Dryades, is performed for the first time, in Paris. See 15 December 1904 and 22 March 1908.
11 November 1907 Alfredo Casella (24), along with the Swiss critic Aloys Mooser, visits Mily Balakirev (70) in his St. Petersburg apartment. Casella recently completed an orchestration of Balakirev’s Islamey and sent it to St. Petersburg, hoping for his approval. It is given gladly. Balakirev, who is living in near seclusion, tells Casella, “The last Frenchman I spoke to was Berlioz.”
12 November 1907 Harnham Down for orchestra by Ralph Vaughan Williams (35) is performed for the first time, in Queen’s Hall, London. Also premiered are three songs by Ethel Smyth (49) for voice and chamber orchestra to words of Régnier: Odette, La Danse, and Chrysilla.
14 November 1907 The Third Duma opens in St. Petersburg.
The Central American Peace Conference opens in Washington convened by the United States and Mexico.
16 November 1907 Oklahoma becomes the 46th state of the United States.
Three of the Hymns from the Rig-Veda for solo voice and piano op.24/1,6,9 by Gustav Holst (33), to his own translation, are performed for the first time, in Aeolian Hall, London. Also on the program is the premiere of Holst’s song The Heart Worships, to words of Brockton.
22 November 1907 Pousse l’amour, an operetta by Erik Satie (41) to words of Féraudy and Kolb, is performed for the first time, at the Comédie-Royale, Paris.
A Pagan Poem, for orchestra with piano, english horn, and three trumpets obbligato by Charles Martin Loeffler (46) is performed publicly for the first time, in Symphony Hall, Boston. See 29 October 1907.
24 November 1907 Fantaisie op.28 for piano by Alyeksandr Skryabin (35), is performed for the first time.
Gustav Mahler (47) marks his farewell to Vienna with a performance of his Resurrection Symphony at a concert of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde. He is recalled 30 times with emotional applause, and is himself moved to tears.
25 November 1907 Symphony no.3 by Jean Sibelius (41) is performed for the first time, in Helsinki, directed by the composer.
27 November 1907 A treaty is signed at the Belgian Parliament transferring control of the Congo from King Leopold II to Belgium. It will take effect on 1 January.
30 November 1907 Several works of Carl Nielsen (42) are premiered in Copenhagen, including the String Quartet no.4, op.44, Come, God’s Angel for ATB choir to words of Aarestrup, and the Strophic Songs op.21, to the words of several poets, for solo voice and piano. Nielsen attends, suffering from neuralgia, but his doctor forbids him to take part in the performance. Of the string quartet, one critic remarked, “If what those four gentlemen sat there playing last night in all earnestness is to be considered beautiful and good music...then sciatica is a musical treat--for it, too, is very disagreeable.”
Le jour op.14/1, a song for voice and piano by Charles Koechlin (40) to words of Banville, is performed for the first time, in Salle Gaveau, Paris, the composer at the keyboard.
1 December 1907 The resignation of Gustav Mahler (47) as Director of the Vienna Hofoper takes effect.
2 December 1907 The Sixtieth Congress of the United States convenes in Washington. Republicans enjoy comfortable majorities in both houses.
5 December 1907 Leos Janácek’s (53) Folk Nocturnes for female chorus and piano, is performed for the first time, in Brünn (Brno).
8 December 1907 King Oscar II of Sweden dies in Stockholm and is succeeded by his son, Gustaf V.
9 December 1907 After a farewell by 200 people at the station organized by Anton von Webern (24), Gustav Mahler (47) with his wife and daughter, leaves Vienna for Cherbourg, and America. Among the gathered is Arnold Schoenberg (33).
12 December 1907 Gustav (47) and Alma Mahler board the Kaiserin Augusta Viktoria in Cherbourg heading for New York.
Sur l’herbe, a song by Maurice Ravel (32) to words of Verlaine, is performed for the first time, at the Salle de la Société Française de Photographie, Paris, the composer at the piano.
13 December 1907 Ralph Vaughan Williams (35) arrives at the house of Maurice Ravel (32) in Paris to begin lessons. After learning that for his first assignment Vaughan Williams is to compose a “minuet in the style of Mozart”, the Englishman summons his best French to inform his teacher that he did not give up his life in England to come to France and write minuets in the style of Mozart. After this, the two become great friends. Vaughan Williams will spend about three months studying with Ravel, learning mostly orchestration.
14 December 1907 Two songs from the Nine Wunderhorn-Lieder for voice and piano by Gustav Mahler (47) are performed for the first time, in Berlin. They are Um schlimme Kinder artig zu machen and Ablösung im Sommer.
Edward Elgar’s (50) The Wand of Youth Symphonic Suite no.1 is performed for the first time, in Queen’s Hall, London.
15 December 1907 Shah Mohammed Ali of Persia attempts a coup to restore his autocracy. He fails.
16 December 1907 16 battleships of the US Navy, along with several supporting ships, depart Hampton Roads, Virginia, sent on a round-the-world tour by President Roosevelt to display American sea power. Because of their distinctive color it becomes known as “The Great White Fleet.”
17 December 1907 The Kingdom of Bhutan is created, connected to Tibet. Ugyen Wangchuk becomes King.
20 December 1907 The Central American Peace Conference closes in Washington. In the past five weeks, nine treaties have been agreed to, including the Convention for the Establishment of a Central American Court of Justice.
Four Character Pieces after the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám op.48 for orchestra by Arthur Foote (54) is performed for the first time, in Chicago.
21 December 1907 Gustav (47) and Alma Mahler arrive in New York aboard the Kaiserin Augusta Viktoria. He is provided with a suite in the Hotel Majestic with two grand pianos.
25 December 1907 Two Romances op.6 for voice and piano by Igor Stravinsky (25) to words of Gorodetsky are performed for the first time, privately, at the home of Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov (63) in St. Petersburg. See 22 January 1908.
27 December 1907 Matteo Falcone, a dramatic scene by Cesar Cui (72) after Mérimée (tr. Zhukovsky) is performed for the first time, in the Bolshoy Theatre Moscow.
©Paul Scharfenberger 2004-2012
16 August 2012
Last Updated (Thursday, 16 August 2012 05:22)