1908
| 
| 
1 January 1908 Gustav Mahler (47) conducts his first performance at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. It is Wagner’s (†24) Tristan und Isolde. It is a triumph with the public and the press.
Christmas Greeting for two sopranos, male chorus, two violins, and piano op.52 by Edward Elgar (50), to words of his wife, CA Elgar, is performed for the first time, in Hereford Cathedral.
2 January 1908 The third book of the piano suite Iberia by Isaac Albéniz (47) is performed for the first time, at the house of Mme Polignac, Paris.
4 January 1908 Mulai Hafid overthrows his brother Abdul Aziz and is proclaimed Sultan of Morocco at Fez.
6 January 1908 Notturno for orchestra by Ottorino Respighi (28) is performed for the first time, in New York.
8 January 1908 Frans Schollaert replaces Jules de Trooz as Prime Minister of Belgium.
9 January 1908 Two works for voice and piano by Igor Stravinsky (25) are performed publicly for the first time, in St. Petersburg: Spring to words of Gorodetsky, and Pastorale, a vocalise.
Results of a competition for an opera by an English composer, offered by Ricordi of Milan, are announced. The Angelus of Edward Woodall Naylor wins. Second place goes to Sita by Gustav Holst (33).
10 January 1908 Mohandas K. Gandhi is sentenced to two months in prison in Johannesburg.
11 January 1908 Librettist Jules Bois and Vincent d’Indy (56) engage in a duel with pistols in the Parc-des-Princes, Paris. Two shots are fired but no one is hurt. d’Indy has decided not to proceed with an opera written by Bois, Phèdre et Hippolyte. This is followed by acrimonious accusations in public periodicals by the two antagonists. They decide to satisfy their honor in this anacronistic and illegal manner. Afterwards, d’Indy goes to a rehearsal.
Quatre Poèmes for voice and piano op.8 by Albert Roussel (38), to words of Régnier, is performed for the first time, at the Salle Erard, Paris, the composer at the keyboard.
12 January 1908 Very large street demonstrations take place in major Prussian cities in favor of universal suffrage.
13 January 1908 Near Paris, Frenchman Henri Farman performs the first officially observed closed circle of one kilometer in an airplane, thus winning the Deutsch-Archdeacon Prize of 50,000 francs.
18 January 1908 Brigg Fair, an orchestral work by Frederick Delius (45), is performed for the first time, in Liverpool.
20 January 1908 After living together for three-and-a-half years and producing a child, Claude Debussy (45) and Emma Moyse Bardac marry in the Mairie of the 16th arrondissement, Paris. She is the former wife of banker Sigismond Bardac, and the mother of two.
21 January 1908 The Sullivan Ordinance is passed in New York City, barring women from smoking in public.
The Chambered Nautilus op.66 for solo voices, female chorus, and orchestra by Amy Cheney Beach (40) to words of Holmes is performed for the first time, in New York.
22 January 1908 Two Romances op.6 for voice and piano by Igor Stravinsky (25) to words of Gorodetsky are performed publicly for the first time, in St. Petersburg. See 25 December 1907.
In a concert to honor the memory of Edvard Grieg (†0) in Copenhagen, the composer’s slow movement of his unfinished Piano Trio is performed for the first time. It has been 30 years since it was composed. Also premiered are the two completed movements of his String Quartet no.2, composed in 1891.
23 January 1908 18:30 Edward Alexander MacDowell dies in New York of paresis (Dementia Paralytica) aged 47 years, one month, and five days. His mortal remains will be buried in Peterborough, New Hampshire.
27 January 1908 Austrian Foreign Minister Count Alois Aehrenthal announces that a railroad will be built from Sarajevo to Thessaloniki over the Balkans.
British astronomer Philibert Jacques Melotte discovers Pasiphaë, the eighth moon of Jupiter to be observed from Earth.
28 January 1908 Julia Ward Howe becomes the first woman elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
29 January 1908 Aleksandur Pavlov Malinov replaces Petur Todor Gudev as Prime Minister of Bulgaria.
30 January 1908 Mohandas K. Gandhi is taken from his prison cell to meet General Smuts at the Colonial Office in Praetoria. They reach a compromise on the Transvaal Indian Registration Act. Gandhi and all other Indians are immediately freed.
1 February 1908 As members of the Portuguese royal family cross the Terreiro do Paço in Lisbon in an open coach, young members of a secret political society shoot King Carlos I and Crown Prince Luis Filipe to death. A younger son, Dom Manuel, is wounded in the arm. The Queen escapes injury. 19-year-old Dom Manuel succeeds as King Manuel II. This is the only successful regicide in Portuguese history.
On his fourth trip to the city, Claude Debussy (45) appears as conductor in London for the first time, directing his Prélude á l’après-midi d’un fune and La Mer.
3 February 1908 Three selections from the song cycle La Chanson d’Eve op.45 by Gabriel Fauré (62) to words of Van Lerberghe, are performed for the first time, at Salle des agriculteurs, Paris the composer at the piano. See 26 May 1909 and 20 April 1910.
4 February 1908 Francisco Joaquim Ferreira do Amaral replaces João Franco Ferreira Pinto Castelo Branco as Prime Minister of Portugal.
Igor Stravinsky’s (25) Symphony in Eb op.1 is given its first public performance, in a public sight-reading by the Court Orchestra in St. Petersburg. See 27 April 1907.
5 February 1908 Béla Bartók (26) finishes his Violin Concerto and sends the score to its dedicatee, his lover, the violinist Stefi Geyer. See 13 February 1908 and 30 May 1958.
7 February 1908 Ernst II replaces Ernst I as Duke of Saxe-Altenburg.
Incidental music to LC Nielsen’s play Willemoes by Carl Nielsen (42) is performed for the first time, at the Folketeatret, Copenhagen.
Symphonic Sketches by George Whitefield Chadwick (53) is performed completely for the first time, in Boston. Critics are universally positive. See 21 November 1904.
8 February 1908 The Second Symphony of Sergey Rakhmaninov (34) is performed for the first time, in St. Petersburg, conducted by the composer.
9 February 1908 Incidental music to Benzon’s play Parents by Carl Nielsen (42) is performed for the first time, in Copenhagen.
11 February 1908 Theodorus Heemskerk replaces Theodoor Herman de Meester as first minister of the Netherlands.
Suite: Les rêves de Columbine op.65 for piano by Amy Cheney Beach (40) is performed for the first time, in Boston.
12 February 1908 An automobile race from New York to Paris by way of Siberia begins in Times Square. Six cars from four countries are entered.
13 February 1908 After six months in hopeless love, Béla Bartók (26) ends his relationship with the 19-year-old violin prodigy Stefi Geyer, in Budapest.
Jules Massenet’s (65) ballet Espada, to a story by Maugars (pseud. of Baron Henri de Rothschild), is performed for the first time, at the Opéra, Monte Carlo.
14 February 1908 Déclin d’amour op.13/1 for voice and piano by Charles Koechlin (40) to words of Sully-Prudhomme is performed for the first time, in Paris.
16 February 1908 The last program at Telharmonic Hall in New York takes place. The second season is only one week longer than the first.
18 February 1908 Lee de Forest receives a US patent for “space telegraphy” or radio.
21 February 1908 Book Two of the piano work Images, by Claude Debussy (45) is performed for the first time, in Paris.
23 February 1908 Parting, for male chorus by Leos Janácek (53), is performed for the first time, in Brünn (Brno).
Nox op.15/3 for voice and orchestra by Charles Koechlin (40) to words of Leconte de Lisle is performed for the first time, in Paris the composer conducting. Also premiered is the orchestral arrangement of Koechlin’s Au loin op.20/2. See 7 April 1897.
27 February 1908 Incidental music to Aristophanes’ play Lysistrata by Engelbert Humperdinck (53) is performed for the first time, in the Berlin Kammerspiele.
Claude Debussy (45) conducts a concert of his and Gabriel Fauré’s (62) music in Queen’s Hall, London. He is visited afterward by Jean Sibelius (42). Sibelius’ French is not good, but the two are warm with each other.
Piano Quintet op.67 by Amy Cheney Beach (40) is performed for the first time, in Potter Hall, Boston, the composer at the piano.
28 February 1908 Two bombs are thrown by a pro-democracy advocate at the car carrying Shah Mohammed Ali in Teheran. Some guards are killed but the Shah is not hurt.
29 February 1908 The first public performance of Igor Stravinsky’s (25) Faun and Shepherdess op.2 for mezzo-soprano and orchestra to words of Rushkin takes place in St. Petersburg. See 29 April 1907.
4 March 1908 String Quartet no.5 op.104 by Charles Villiers Stanford (55) is performed for the first time, in Leeds.
5 March 1908 Drake’s Drum op.22 for voice and piano by Arthur Farwell (35) to words of Newbolt is performed for the first time, in Omaha.
6 March 1908 Two works for cello and piano by Frank Bridge (29) are performed for the first time, in Kensington Town Hall: Elégie and Scherzo.
7 March 1908 Mayor Mark Breith of Cincinnati tells his city council that women are physically unfit to operate automobiles.
Franz Schubert’s (†79) opera Die Bürgschaft D.435 is performed for the first time, in concert, in Vienna, 92 years after it was composed.
8 March 1908 The overture Song of Destiny op.84 by Alyeksandr Glazunov (42) is performed for the first time, in the Great Hall of St. Petersburg Conservatory.
10 March 1908 Australian Edgeworth David and four others become the first people to reach the top of Mt. Erebus, highest point in Antarctica. They are all members of the Shackelton expedition.
The first lieder recital devoted entirely to the works of Franz Schreker (29) takes place in Vienna.
11 March 1908 Daniel Chennevière (Dane Rudhyar) (12) undergoes a very serious operation in Paris which results in the loss of a kidney. His recuperation will be long and will require him to stop piano lessons and lose half of a school year.
Several works by Charles Koechlin (40) are performed for the first time, in Théâtre des Arts, Paris: The second two of the Quatre poèmes de “La bonne chanson” de Paul Verlaine op.24 for voice and piano, Berceuse phoque op.18/1, for voice and piano to words of Kipling (tr. Fabulet and d’Humières), Sur la grève op.28/1 for voice and piano to words of d’Humières, the first two of the Trois pièces op.34 for basson and piano, and Trois pièces op.34bis for flute, bassoon and piano. The composer is at the keyboard for the first, second, and last of these. See 26 November 1917.
12 March 1908 Six Elegies for piano by Ferruccio Busoni (41) are performed for the first time, in the Beethovensaal, Berlin by the composer. Most of the material is reworked from earlier compositions.
13 March 1908 Gunnar Knudsen replaces Jorgen Gunnerson Lovland as Prime Minister of Norway.
15 March 1908 Maurice Ravel’s (33) Rapsodie espagnole for orchestra is performed for the first time, at the Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris.
20 March 1908 Incidental music to Holstein’s play Tove by Carl Nielsen (42) is performed for the first time, at the Dagmarteatret, Copenhagen.
Penthesilea op.18 for soprano and orchestra by Karol Szymanowski (25), to words of Wyspianski, is performed for the first time, in Lvov. Critics are mixed.
21 March 1908 Three songs by Frederick Delius (46) for solo voice and orchestra are premiered in Liverpool. They are Twighlight Fancies, to words of Bjørnson, The Bird’s Story, to words of Ibsen, and The Violet, to words of Holstein.
22 March 1908 Albert Roussel’s (38) Symphony no.1 “Le poème de la forêt” op.7 is given its first complete performance, at the Théâtre de la Monnaie, Brussels. See 15 December 1904 and 10 November 1907.
Piano Trio op.102 by Max Reger (35) is performed for the first time, in Leipzig, the composer at the keyboard.
23 March 1908 Gabriel Fauré (62) accompanies American vocalist Susan Metcalfe in a recital of his songs before Great Britain’s Queen Alexandra and Russian Empress Maria Fyodorovna, at Buckingham Palace.
31 March 1908 United States troops depart Cuba, thus ending the second American occupation of the island.
4 April 1908 King Estmere op.17 for chorus and orchestra by Gustav Holst (33) to anonymous words is performed for the first time, in Queen’s Hall, London.
6 April 1908 Saga Dream op.39, an orchestral work by Carl Nielsen (42), is performed for the first time, in Copenhagen the composer conducting.
Herbert Henry Asquith replaces Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
Two works for violin and piano by Frank Bridge (29) are performed for the first time, in Bechstein Hall: Gondoliera and Morceau characteristique.
7 April 1908 Albert Roussel (39) marries Blanche Preisach.
8 April 1908 Incidental music to Strindberg’s play Swan White op.54 by Jean Sibelius (42) is performed for the first time, at the Swedish Theatre, Helsinki, under the composer’s direction.
12 April 1908 Marycka Magdónova, for male chorus by Leos Janácek (53) to words of Bezruc, is performed for the first time, in Prostejov.
14 April 1908 Denmark grants suffrage to all men and women over 25.
The New York Times informs its readers that Gustav Mahler (47) will conduct three concerts of the New York Symphony Society next season.
15 April 1908 An informal committee meets in New York and organizes four Festival Concerts to be conducted by Gustav Mahler (47) next season at Carnegie Hall. A fundraising letter goes out to potential contributors.
21 April 1908 This is the date that Frederick Cook claims to have reached the North Pole.
23 April 1908 Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov (64) suffers his first attack of angina pectoris.
Gustav (47) and Alma Mahler sail for home aboard the Kaiserin August Viktoria after his first season in New York.
26 April 1908 The first International Psychoanalytic Congress convenes in Salzburg.
Recouli for orchestra by Heitor Villa-Lobos (21) is performed for the first time, in Teatro Santa Isabel, Paranguá, the composer conducting.
27 April 1908 The Games of the Fourth Olympiad of the modern era open in London.
Carl Ruggles (32) marries Charlotte Snell, a professional singer, in St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Winona, Minnesota.
29 April 1908 Carl Ruggles (32) conducts the first performance of the Winona Symphony Orchestra in Winona, Minnesota. The orchestra was founded largely through his efforts. It is his first performance as a conductor and is very successful.
2 May 1908 In the fugue portion of the Prix de Rome, the only female candidate, Nadia Boulanger (20), quite consciously composes an instrumental fugue instead of the required vocal fugue. This will cause a controversy with some judges not wanting her to continue. However, the majority votes in her favor and she will go on to win the second prix.
Gustav (47) and Alma Mahler arrive at Hamburg aboard the Kaiserin August Viktoria after his first season in New York.
7 May 1908 The first two of the Quatre poèmes de “La bonne chanson” de Paul Verlaine op.24 for voice and piano by Charles Koechlin (40) are performed for the first time, in Paris, the composer at the keyboard. Also premiered is Koechlin’s La guerre op.14/9 for voice or chorus and orchestra to words of Banville
12 May 1908 Jean Sibelius (42) undergoes an exploratory operation for a tumor in his throat. He is advised to see a German specialist, but has no money for the trip. Sibelius and his wife (who is pregnant) will visit every bank in Helsinki for a loan without result until finally, the director of an insurance company empties the day’s take into the composer’s pockets without explanation. In Berlin, the tumor will be removed.
14 May 1908 A Welcome Song op.107 for chorus and orchestra by Charles Villiers Stanford (55) to words of the Duke of Argyll is performed for the first time, at the opening of the Franco-British Exhibition in London. The composer conducts 300 voices.
19 May 1908 Sonata española for violin and piano by Joaquín Turina (25) is performed for the first time, in Paris.
22 May 1908 L’abbaye (part 1) op.16 for solo voices, chorus, organ, and orchestra by Charles Koechlin (40) is performed for the first time, in Salle Gaveau, Paris.
24 May 1908 A chorus by Edward Elgar (50), Follow the Colours, to words of Stretton, is performed for the first time, at the Royal Albert Hall, London. It is produced under the title Marching Song. See 10 October 1914.
25 May 1908 Pursuant to agreements signed last Fall, the Central American Court of Justice is inaugurated in Cartago, Costa Rica.
30 May 1908 Three songs by Charles Koechlin (40) to words of Leconte de Lisle are performed for the first time, in Paris the composer at the keyboard: Les rêves morts op.13/2, Dans l’air léger op.21/1, and Le colibri op.17/1.
4 June 1908 The ashes of Emile Zola are placed in the Pantheon. During the ceremony a journalist, Louis Grégori, fires twice at Alfred Dreyfus slightly wounding him. Grégori will be acquitted.
A Mass of Life, for soprano, alto, tenor and baritone soloists, chorus, and orchestra, by Frederick Delius (46) to words of Nietzsche, is performed for the first time, in its incomplete form, in Munich. See 7 June 1909.
The ballad King Gorm the Grim op.64 by Horatio Parker (44) to words of Fontane (tr. Whitney), is performed for the first time, in Norfolk, Connecticut.
9 June 1908 Charles Ives (33) is married to Harmony Twichell in Asylum Hill Congregational Church in Hartford, Connecticut by her father, the minister there. They will honeymoon in the Berkshires and then live in New York.
13 June 1908 Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery is published in London, New York and Toronto.
14 June 1908 The Fourth Navy Bill is passed by the German Reichstag. It authorizes funds to build four more capital ships.
15 June 1908 A diploma of this date states that “Monseiur Satie, Erik (42), a pupil on the course of counterpoint, has passed the end-of-year examinations with distinction and that he fulfils the conditions required for devoting himself exclusively to the study of composition.” The diploma is signed by Vincent d’Indy (57), Albert Roussel (39), and the secretary of the Schola Cantorum, Paris.
17 June 1908 Igor Stravinsky’s orchestral work Fireworks is performed for the first time, a few hours after the wedding of the dedicatees, Maximilian Steinberg and Nadezhda Rimsky-Korsakov on the composer’s 26th birthday. See 6 February 1909.
Installation March op.108 for military band by Charles Villiers Stanford (55) is performed for the first time, for the installation of the new chancellor of Cambridge University.
18 June 1908 Nature publishes a letter from AA Campbell Swinton called “Distant Electric Vision.” It explains the fundamentals of television transmission.
20 June 1908 The Fairies for voice and piano by Arnold Bax (24) to words of Allingham, is performed for the first time, in Bechstein Hall, London.
21 June 1908 Early morning. Nikolay Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov dies at his summer home in Lyubensk, St. Petersburg government, of angina pectoris, aged 64 years, three months, and three days.
24 June 1908 Funeral services for Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov are given in the church of the St. Petersburg Conservatory. The body of the composer is interred in the cemetery of the Novodyevichi Monastery. Igor Stravinsky (26) will later remember that it was “one of the unhappiest days of my life.”
Shah Mohammed Ali of Persia attempts a second coup to restore his autocracy.
The United States severs diplomatic relations with Venezuela because President Castro refuses to compensate Americans hurt by his coup of 1899.
25 June 1908 Newlyweds Charles (33) and Harmony Ives move into their new home at 70 West 11th Street, New York.
Claude Champagne (17) receives a senior level diploma in piano from the Dominion College of Music in Montreal.
27 June 1908 Der Geburtstag der Infantin, a pantomime by Franz Schreker (30) to his own story after Wilde, is performed for the first time, in Vienna.
28 June 1908 While on their honeymoon, Charles (33) and Harmony Ives take a walk along the Housatonic River in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. It is an experience that will inspire Ives to compose The Housatonic at Stockbridge.
29 June 1908 Fourteen Bagatelles op.6 for piano by Béla Bartók (27) are performed for the first time, in the Vienna piano class of Ferruccio Busoni (42). See 12 March 1910.
30 June 1908 07:00 A massive explosion of undetermined origin happens in the Podkamennaya Tunguska River basin in Siberia. The force of the blast is so strong it knocks people down 60 km away. Eyewitnesses report an intense streak of light in the sky accompanied by loud roaring. It is measured by seismographs and barometers around the world. (No scientist will visit the site until 1927 when trees are found destroyed within 30 km of the epicenter, but no crater.)
Manuel de Falla (31) plays his Cuatro piezas españolas for Claude Debussy (55) in Paris. See 27 March 1909.
1 July 1908 SOS becomes the officially recognized international maritime distress signal.
Max Reger (35) receives an honorary DMus from the University of Vienna.
Alban Berg (23) presents himself before Army medical examiners in Vienna and is declared unfit for military service.
5 July 1908 Turkish army units in Macedonia rebel, led by Ahmed Niyzai.
Claude Debussy (45) signs a contract with the Metropolitan Opera, New York, to produce his opera project La Chute de la Maison Usher.
10 July 1908 Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes liquefies helium for the first time, at four degrees Kelvin, at the University of Leiden. It is the lowest temperature achieved on Earth to date.
13 July 1908 A pan-Slav conference opens in Prague led by Karel Kramar. Those assembled resolve to revolt against Austria in the event of a war against Russia.
14 July 1908 Prince Taro Katsura replaces Kimmochi Saionji as Prime Minister of Japan.
16 July 1908 In the first concert devoted entirely to the music of Arnold Bax (24), his String Quintet in G is performed for the first time, in Aeolian Hall, London.
20 July 1908 Petar Velimirovic replaces Nikola Pasic as Prime Minister of Serbia.
21 July 1908 The Turkish Committee of Union and Progress demands that Sultan Abdülhamid II restore the constitution or 100,000 troops will march on Constantinople and depose him.
Great Britain lays claim to part of the Antarctic continent from 20°W to 80°W. South Georgia, the South Shetland Islands, the South Sandwich Islands, South Orkney, and Graham Land are all placed under the dependency of the Falkland Islands.
Dance rhapsody for orchestra by Frank Bridge (29) is performed for the first time, at the Royal College of Music, directed by the composer.
22 July 1908 Küçük Mehmed Said Pasha replaces Mehmed Ferid Pasha replaces as Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire.
23 July 1908 A Committee of Union and Progress (the “Young Turks”) led by Enver Bey, proclaims a revolution in favor of a new constitution, at Thessaloniki. Turkish troops stationed there join the rebellion.
24 July 1908 Ottoman Sultan Abdülhamid II restores the constitution of 1876. He retains the titles of Sultan and Caliph but has no more effective political power.
26 July 1908 In an internal reorganization of the Department of Justice, US Attorney General Charles Bonaparte creates the Bureau of Investigation. In 1935 it will be renamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
30 July 1908 George Shuster of the United States arrives in Paris, the victor in the New York-Paris automobile race. It has taken 169 days.
31 July 1908 Max Reger (35) receives an honorary DMus from the University of Jena.
1 August 1908 Carl Nielsen (43) enters upon duties as conductor of the Royal Orchestra, Copenhagen.
6 August 1908 Kibrisli Mehmed Kamil Pasha replaces Küçük Mehmed Said Pasha as Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire.
15 August 1908 Women are now allowed to attend university in Prussia.
16 August 1908 United States troops are called out to restore order in Springfield, Illinois where race rioting has killed three people and injured 75.
19 August 1908 Belgium formally annexes the Congo as the Belgian Parliament agrees to pay King Leopold II 120,000,000 francs.
23 August 1908 Forces of new Sultan of Morocco Mulai Hafid defeat those of his brother, old Sultan Abdul Aziz at Marrakesh.
29 August 1908 Edward Elgar (51) resigns as Peyton Professor of Music at the University of Birmingham.
1 September 1908 The Hejaz Railroad opens between Damascus, Mecca, and Medina.
2 September 1908 Frank Bridge (29) marries Ethel Sinclair at St. Mary’s Church, Fulham. She is an Australian who attended the Royal College of Music at the same time as Bridge.
9 September 1908 The Wand of Youth Orchestral Suite no.2 by Edward Elgar (51) is performed for the first time, in the Public Hall, Worcester, under the baton of the composer. Also premiered is Hubert Parry’s (60) Beyond these voices there is peace for soprano, bass, chorus, and orchestra to words of the Bible and the composer.
16 September 1908 Foreign Ministers Izvolsky of Russia and Aehrenthal of Austria meet at Buchlau (Buchlov) in Moravia. Accounts vary as to the outcome, but Russia seems to have acceded to Austrian annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Austria agreed to passage of Russian warships through the Dardenelles.
General Motors is created in Flint, Michigan by William Crapo Durant of Buick Motor Company.
17 September 1908 Before a crowd of 2,000 people at Fort Myer, Virginia, Lt. Thomas E. Selfridge, U.S. Army, becomes the first airplane fatality when a craft in which he is traveling loses its propeller at an altitude of 25 meters. The pilot, Orville Wright is seriously injured.
19 September 1908 The Symphony no.7 of Gustav Mahler (48) is performed for the first time, in the Jubilee Exhibition Hall, Prague, under the baton of the composer.
24 September 1908 Camille Saint-Saëns (72) replies to a letter from Alfredo Casella (25) asking him to look at one of his works. The elder master tells the younger, “Do you want some good advice? Do as I have done; since I was seventeen years old, I have never shown my work to anyone.”
Jubal op.35/1, a song for voice and piano by Jean Sibelius (42) to words of Josephson, is performed for the first time, in Helsinki.
25 September 1908 German deserters from the French Foreign Legion are taken by force from a German consular official in Casablanca, causing tension between Germany and France.
28 September 1908 The Fairest of the Fair, a march by John Philip Sousa (53), is performed for the first time, at the Boston Food Fair.
1 October 1908 The Model T is introduced to America by Henry Ford. They are $825 each.
3 October 1908 Frederick S. Converse (37) and his family sail from Boston heading for Europe. He will try to make his music known and performed there.
5 October 1908 In the midst of the Young Turk revolt, Prince Ferdinand and the Malinov government proclaim the full independence of Bulgaria in the Church of the Holy Martyrs, Turnovo. Ferdinand assumes the title King of the Bulgarians.
6 October 1908 Austria-Hungary also takes advantage of the Turkish situation by annexing Bosnia-Herzegovina under the terms of the Congress of Berlin, to the great annoyance of Serbia and the Turks.
Incidental music to Euripides’ (tr. Murray) play Hippolytus by Granville Bantock (40) is performed for the first time, in the Gaity Theatre, Manchester.
8 October 1908 Edvard Grieg’s (†1) incomplete opera Szenen aus Olav Trygvason, to words of Bjørnson, is performed for the first time, in Christiania (Oslo).
9 October 1908 Violin Sonata no.1 op.11 by Albert Roussel (39) is performed for the first time, at the Salon d’Automne, Paris.
12 October 1908 Taking advantage of the confusion in Constantinople, and three months after the great powers began to withdraw their troops, the assembly on Crete proclaims union with Greece.
A constitutional convention meets in Durban to discuss the union of the various British possessions in southern Africa.
Niels Thomasins Neergaard replaces Jens Christian Christensen as Prime Minister of Denmark.
13 October 1908 100,000 suffragettes attack the Houses of Parliament but only one makes it as far as the House of Commons. She is carried off. 24 suffragettes are arrested. Parliament bans women from the building.
14 October 1908 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 publicly for the first time, in Bristol, the composer conducting. See 14 June 1907.
15 October 1908 The Violin Concerto op.101 of Max Reger (35) is performed for the first time, in Leipzig.
17 October 1908 Reveille op.54 for male chorus by Edward Elgar (51) to words of Harte, is performed for the first time, in Blackpool.
19 October 1908 Evening Mood, for male chorus by Carl Nielsen (43) to words of Hauch, is performed for the first time.
20 October 1908 The first successful hydrofoil is tested on Bras d’Or Lake, Nova Scotia. It is named the Dhonnas Beag and was invented by Alexander Graham Bell.
21 October 1908 Abendgang op.111a/3 for soprano, alto, and piano by Max Reger (35) is performed for the first time, in Dresden, the composer at the piano.
24 October 1908 Lamia, a symphonic poem by Edward MacDowell (†0), is performed for the first time, in Boston 20 years after it was composed.
26 October 1908 Voting take place in Canada for the Eleventh Parliament. The Conservative Party makes modest gains but Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier and the Liberals continue to govern.
27 October 1908 Frederick S. Converse (37) and his family arrive at their new home in Vivez, Switzerland.
Letter to KS Stanislavsky from S. Ra., a song by Sergey Rakhmaninov (35), is performed for the first time, in Moscow.
28 October 1908 An interview with Kaiser Wilhelm II is published in the Daily Telegraph of London. The Kaiser did have the interview vetted with his Foreign Office as required by law, but they apparently did not check it for content. In the interview, the Kaiser said that generally speaking, Germans don’t like British, that France and Russia tried to get Germany to enter the Boer War against Britain, and the German naval buildup was aimed at Japan, not Great Britain. "You English are mad, mad, mad as March hares.”
29 October 1908 A Cantata for the Anniversary of Copenhagen University op.24 by Carl Nielsen (43) to words of Møller, for soprano, tenor, and bass soloists, male chorus, and orchestra, is performed for the first time, at the university.
30 October 1908 The Piano Sonata no.1 of Sergey Rakhmaninov (35) is performed for the first time, in Moscow.
31 October 1908 The Games of the Fourth Olympiad of the modern era close in London. 2,008 athletes from 22 nations took part in the competition over six months and four days.
3 November 1908 Voting in the United States ensures the election of Secretary of War William Howard Taft over William Jennings Bryan. Mr. Taft’s Republican majority in the House of Representatives remains virtually undisturbed.
4 November 1908 Richard Gerstl, the 25-year-old painter from whom Arnold (34) and Mathilde Schoenberg have both taken lessons, and who eloped with Mathilde, kills himself after Anton von Webern (24) convinces Mathilde to return to her husband.
Anton von Webern’s (24) Passacaglia no.1 for orchestra is performed for the first time, in the Vienna Musikverein, conducted by the composer.
7 November 1908 Six Recital Pieces for violin and piano op.103a by Max Reger (35) are performed for the first time, in Prague, the composer at the keyboard.
8 November 1908 Variations on an Original Theme for piano by Alban Berg (23) is performed for the first time, in Vienna.
12 November 1908 Gustav (48) and Alma Mahler, their daughter and governess sail from Hamburg aboard the Amerika making for New York.
13 November 1908 Andrew Fisher replaces Alfred Deakin as Prime Minister of Australia.
The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works is revised in Berlin by many nations assembled.
Theme, Variations and Fugue for organ and orchestra by George Whitefield Chadwick, is performed for the first time, in Jordan Hall, Boston, conducted by the composer on his 54th birthday.
14 November 1908 Emperor Kuang-hsü (Guangxu) of China dies, succeeded by Hsüan-T’ung (Xuantong) or P’u-i (Puyi), aged two years, under regency.
Count Dietrich Hülsen-Haeseler, head of the German Imperial Military Cabinet, collapses and dies at a dinner in Donaueschingen, in the presence of Kaiser Wilhelm.
15 November 1908 The Empress Dowager of China, Tzu His (Cixi), dies in Peking at the age of 73.
Richard, Baron Beinerth replaces Max Vladimir, Baron von Beck as Prime Minister of Austria.
16 November 1908 Music to Lavedon’s film L’assassinat du Duc de Guise by Camille Saint-Saëns (73) is performed for the first time, in the Salle Charras, Paris. This is the first known film score by a major composer.
17 November 1908 Piano Quintet op.23 by Hans Pfitzner (39) is performed for the first time, in Berlin.
18 November 1908 Eton Memorial Ode by Hubert Parry (60) is performed for the first time, at Eton College, in the presence of King Edward and Queen Alexandra.
20 November 1908 Four Songs op.39 for voice and piano by Arthur Foote (55) to words of Baumbach (tr. Bancroft), are performed completely for the first time, in Boston.
In an official ceremony, the cornerstone is laid for the new Boston Opera House. Inside the stone is a compartment containing compositions by John Knowles Paine (†2), Edward MacDowell (†0), George Whitefield Chadwick (54), Charles Martin Loeffler (47), Horatio Parker (45), Amy Beach (41) and Frederick S. Converse (37).
21 November 1908 Gustav (48) and Alma Mahler, their daughter and governess arrive in New York for his second season of conducting in the city.
25 November 1908 The Christian Science Monitor founded by Mary Baker Eddy, is published for the first time, in Boston.
29 November 1908 Gustav Mahler (48) conducts the first of three concerts with the New York Symphony Orchestra.
1 December 1908 Piano Sonata no.5 by Alyeksandr Skryabin (36) is performed for the first time.
2 December 1908 Voting for the New Zealand Parliament results in continued rule by the Liberal Party.
A revolt against Austrian rule begins in Bohemia.
3 December 1908 A constitution is adopted in China calling for representative government by 1916.
Symphony no.1 op.55 of Edward Elgar (51) is performed for the first time, in Free Trade Hall, Manchester. The size of the crowd is kept down by a heavy fog and the performance is less than perfect, but the critics and the public are very appreciative.
7 December 1908 As Hans Richter begins to rehearse Edward Elgar’s (51) Symphony no.1 for its London premiere, he introduces the work by saying, “let us now rehearse the greatest symphony of modern times, and not only in this country.”
8 December 1908 Piano Trio no.2 op.65 by Arthur Foote (55) is performed for the first time, in Boston at Fenway Court, the home of Isabella Stewart Gardner.
9 December 1908 Three works for voice, piano and viola obbligato by Frank Bridge (29) are performed for the first time, in Broadwood Concert Rooms, London, the composer at the keyboard: Far, far from each other, to words of Arnold, Music when soft voices die, to words by Shelley, and Where is it that our soul doth go? to words of Heine (tr. Kroeker).
10 December 1908 Midnight. Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen is born in Avignon, first of two children born to Pierre Messiaen, an English teacher and Shakespeare scholar, and Cécile Sauvage, a poet.
Sevilla op.2, a suite for piano by Joaquín Turina (26), is performed for the first time, in Seville.
The Symphony no.4 “Poem of Ecstasy” by Alyeksandr Skryabin (36) is performed for the first time, in New York.
11 December 1908 Elliott Cook Carter, Jr. is born in New York City, the son of Elliott Cook Carter, Sr., a lace importer and Florence Doris Chambers.
The symphonic poem In a Summer Garden, by Frederick Delius (46), is performed for the first time, in Queen’s Hall, London, conducted by the composer. The audience is warmly appreciative.
14 December 1908 The act of the Australian Parliament authorizing the building of a new capital at Canberra receives royal assent.
15 December 1908 The Metropolitan Opera in New York announces a contest for an opera in English composed by a native-born American. See 3 May 1911.
16 December 1908 Incidental music to Jean-Aubry’s play Le marchand de sable qui passe op.13 by Albert Roussel (39) is performed for the first time, in the Salle de l’Enseignement, Le Havre.
17 December 1908 The first legislature of the Ottoman Empire since the restoration of the constitution meets, with a large majority for the Young Turks.
18 December 1908 Claude Debussy’s (46) piano suite Children’s Corner is performed for the first time, in the Cercle musical, Paris.
19 December 1908 Arturo Alberto de Campos Henriques replaces Francisco Joaquim Ferreira do Amaral as Prime Minister of Portugal.
While Venezuelan dictator José Cipriano Castro Ruiz is in Europe seeking medical treatment, Vice-President Juan Vicente Gómez Chacón seizes power.
Three folksong arrangements for chorus and orchestra by Gustav Holst (34) are performed for the first time, at Morley College, London: On the Banks of the Nile, The Willow Tree, and Our Ship She Lies in the Harbour.
20 December 1908 Introduction and Dance of Salomé op.90 by Alyeksandr Glazunov (43) is performed for the first time, for a production of Oscar Wilde’s Salome in the Great Hall of St. Petersburg Conservatory.
21 December 1908 The String Quartet no.2 of Arnold Schoenberg (34) is performed for the first time, in the Bösendorfersaal, Vienna, to the accompaniment of whistles and catcalls. The Neue Wiener Tageblatt will report on the concert in its police blotter.
24 December 1908 After a rancorous public hearing, Mayor George McClellan of New York revokes the licenses of all 550 movie houses in the city. Many clergymen testify that the movie theatres open on Sunday and show immoral films. The order is later rescinded.
25 December 1908 Elvira Puccini (wife of Giacomo Puccini (50)) publicly confronts her servant Doria Manfredi, accusing her of an affair with her husband.
28 December 1908 An earthquake in Messina, Italy, causes 83,000 deaths.
31 December 1908 Sergey Prokofiev (17) performs for the first time in public, including seven of his own compositions: Fairy Tale, Snowflakes, Reminiscence, Elan, Prayer, Despair and Diabolic Suggestions. The concert takes place in the Reform Church Hall, St. Petersburg, sponsored by the Society for Contemporary Music.
©Paul Scharfenberger 2004-2012
16 August 2012
Last Updated (Thursday, 16 August 2012 05:23)