1912
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1 January 1912 Sun Yat-sen (Sun Yixian) enters upon duties as provisional President of the Chinese Republic, in Nanking (Nanjing).
Edward Elgar (54) and family move into Severn House, their new London home.
New laws go into effect in Massachusetts limiting women and children to work no more than 54 hours per week. A minimum wage goes into effect as well. Capitalists retaliate by cutting salaries.
5 January 1912 Engelbert Humperdinck (57) suffers a severe stroke in Berlin. He will recover, but will never use his left hand again.
6 January 1912 Speaking before the Geology Society in Frankfurt-am-Main, meteorologist Alfred Wegener first publicly proposes the idea of continental drift. He will publish his ideas in April.
New Mexico becomes the 47th state of the United States.
Two songs for voice and piano by John Ireland (32) are performed for the first time, in Royal Albert Hall, London: Hope the Hornblower to words of Newbolt, and Here’s to the Ships! to words of O’Reilly.
9 January 1912 US troops land in Honduras to combat unrest against American involvement in the country.
11 January 1912 Wildcat strikes break out among female textile workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts against the pay cuts of 1 January. The IWW begins to organize the strikers. Within a week, the men will join them and 25,000 workers from 40 nationalities will be on strike. Most of the mills in Lawrence will be closed. It will be known as the Bread and Roses Strike.
14 January 1912 Raymond Nicolas Landry Poincaré replaces Joseph Caillaux as Prime Minister of France.
17 January 1912 Jean Sibelius (46) is offered the position of Professor of Composition at the Akademie für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna. He is their third choice after Richard Strauss (47) and Max Reger (38). Sibelius will decline.
18 January 1912 Captain Robert F. Scott and four others, part of a British expedition, reach the South Pole, a month behind the Amundsen expedition.
22 January 1912 US troops occupy Tientsin to protect US interests there during the Chinese revolution.
Frederick Delius (49) sells his Florida plantation Solana Grove.
25 January 1912 Voting for the 13th Reichstag of the German Empire concludes today. The Social Democratic Party makes significant gains and becomes the largest party in the house, followed by the Center Party.
26 January 1912 Ormazd, a symphonic poem by Frederick S. Converse (41) is performed for the first time, in St. Louis.
27 January 1912 La Escena Andaluza op.7 for viola, piano, and string quartet by Joaquin Turina (29) is performed for the first time, in Salle Erard, Paris.
28 January 1912 The revolutionary delegates of 29 December are formed as the National Council in Nanking (Nanjing).
29 January 1912 After a young Italian woman is shot by police, strike leaders in Lawrence, Massachusetts are arrested. Their places are taken by members of the IWW. Far from quelling the violence, the arrests bring more notoriety to the cause of the strikers.
Ma mère l’oye, a ballet by Maurice Ravel (36) to his own scenario, is performed for the first time, at the Théâtre des Arts, Paris. See 20 April 1910.
Mon rêve familier for voice and piano by Charles Koechlin (44) to words of Verlaine is performed for the first time, in Salle Pleyel, Paris, the composer at the piano.
4 February 1912 Arnold Schoenberg’s (37) Six Little Piano Pieces op.19 are performed for the first time, in Berlin.
The inaugural concert of the Sala Granados (44) takes place in Barcelona. It is the new home of the Académia Granados.
7 February 1912 British Secretary for War Lord Haldane arrives in Berlin. He offers concession to Germany in the colonies in return for an end to the naval arms race. Germany declines.
10 February 1912 Georg, Baron von Hertling replaces Klemens von Podewils-Dürnitz as President of the Council of Ministers of Bavaria.
Margaret Sanger leads 119 children of strikers out of danger in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Authorities order the National Guard to prevent this in the future as it creates sympathy for the strikers.
12 February 1912 Negotiations between the imperial (Peking) and revolutionary (Nanking) Chinese governments result in the abdication of the emperor, six-year-old Hsüan-T’ung (Xuantong) (P’u-i) and the establishment of the Republic of China. The abdication marks the end of imperial Chinese government dating from prehistory. Power to form a government is granted to Yüan Shih-k’ai (Yuan Shikai).
13 February 1912 Sun Yat-sen (Sun Yixian) gives up all claim to the presidency of the Chinese Republic.
14 February 1912 The National Council of the Nanking (Nanjing) government elects Yüan Shih-k’ai (Yuan Shikai) as president.
Piano Concerto no.1 by Alyeksandr Glazunov (46) is performed for the first time, in the Hall of the Nobility, St. Petersburg.
Arizona becomes the 48th state of the United States.
15 February 1912 After a concert in Berlin in which Richard Strauss (47) conducts the Berlin Philharmonic, Arnold Schoenberg (37) introduces him to Anton von Webern (28). It is not known what transpires, but Strauss and Webern will never have dealings nor speak to one another again.
17 February 1912 Jules Massenet’s (69) opéra tragique Roma to words of Cain after Parodi, is performed for the first time, at the Opéra de Monte Carlo. Critics and public respond warmly.
Henry Cowell’s (14) mother takes the family’s last 60 dollars and buys an old piano for her son from a music shop located near Stanford University.
19 February 1912 Jens Christian Meinich Bratlie replaces Wollert Konow as Prime Minister of Norway.
22 February 1912 Lili Boulanger (18) performs in public for the first time, in a salon on the Rue Bally, Paris.
Symphony no.7 by Charles Villiers Stanford (59) is performed for the first time, in Queen’s Hall, London conducted by the composer.
23 February 1912 The unveiling of the third version of the Telharmonium takes place at Carnegie Hall, New York before a meeting of the New York Electrical Society. The press barely notices.
24 February 1912 150 children, accompanied by their mothers, go to the Lawrence, Massachusetts train station to be put on trains for safety in New York and Philadelphia during the strike. They are surrounded by 200 militia, some on horseback who then charge with weapons raised. Hundreds are beaten with clubs and trampled by horses.
25 February 1912 Grand Duke Guillaume IV of Luxembourg dies at Schloss Berg, and is succeeded by his daughter Marie Adelaide.
The cantata Amarus, words by Vrchlicky and music by Leos Janácek (57) is performed for completely the first time, in Brünn (Brno). See 20 March 1898 and 2 December 1900.
27 February 1912 Lord Kitchener opens a railroad from Khartoum to El-Obeid.
28 February 1912 Two works by Carl Nielsen (46) are premiered in Copenhagen, the Symphony no.3 “Sinfonia espansiva” and the Violin Concerto op.33, both conducted by the composer.
29 February 1912 An alliance is joined by Serbia and Bulgaria. It will be adhered to by Greece and Montenegro later this year.
Deux morceaux op.59 for piano by Alyeksandr Skryabin (40) are performed for the first time, in Moscow by the composer.
1 March 1912 After long deliberation, Jean Sibelius (46) turns down an offer to teach composition at the University of Vienna.
Suffragists begin unexpectedly to attack buildings throughout London with stones, hammers, and other projectiles, breaking as many windows as possible. Emmeline Pankhurst and two others attack 10 Downing Street with stones. She and scores of other women are arrested.
Capt. Albert Berry, US Army, jumps from a Benoit biplane and floats to the ground at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri. He is the first person to parachute from a moving airplane.
4 March 1912 A suffragist rally at the London Pavilion is addressed by Ethel Smyth (53) among others. This precedes a massive demonstration in Parliament Square. They then move on to Knightsbridge and Kensington to do damage. Ethel Smyth is arrested after hurling a projectile at the home of Colonial Secretary Lewis Harcourt. She will be sentenced to two months with hard labor, later reduced to one month.
5 March 1912 Alyeksandr Skryabin’s (40) Piano Sonata no.7 op.64 is performed for the first time, in the Great Noblemen’s Hall, Moscow by the composer.
US Secretary of State Philander Knox arrives in Nicaragua in a goodwill tour of Latin America. Large anti-American crowds greet him, despite the fact that the Conservative government has arrested the staffs of two liberal newspapers and imposed a press blackout.
6 March 1912 A rail link between Arica, Chile and La Paz, Bolivia opens crossing the Andes. At its highest point, the railroad reaches 3,600 meters.
The National Biscuit Company begins selling the Oreo.
7 March 1912 The Phantastische Ouvertüre op.15 by Franz Schreker (33) is performed for the first time, in Vienna.
10 March 1912 Yüan Shih-k’ai (Yuan Shikai) is inaugurated in Peking as the first president of the Republic of China. The Chinese government officially drops the lunar calendar in favor of the western style solar calendar.
11 March 1912 A provisional constitution for the Chinese Republic is promulgated by the National Council in Nanking (Nanjing).
Edward Elgar’s (54) imperial masque The Crown of India op.66 to words of Hamilton is performed for the first time, in the London Coliseum, the composer conducting. It is to celebrate the coronation last year of King George V as Emperor of India and the removal of the capital from Calcutta to Delhi.
12 March 1912 In Berlin, Arnold Schoenberg (37) begins the composition of Pierrot Lunaire.
Striking men and women meet on Lawrence (Massachusetts) Common and vote to accept management’s offer: no pay cut, a two-week pay period for premiums, and no discrimination against any striker. This effectively ends the Bread and Roses Strike.
Henry Cowell (15) gives a piano recital before an invited audience at the San Francisco Music Club. He plays all his own music, including Night Sounds, The Ghouls Gallop and Weird Night.
13 March 1912 Bulgaria and Serbia reach agreement on a mutual assistance treaty.
Two songs for voice and piano by Charles Koechlin (44) to words of Samain are performed for the first time, in Salle Gaveau, Paris: L’île ancienne op.31/3 and Le repas préparé op.31/5.
Enchanted Summer for two sopranos, chorus, and orchestra by Arnold Bax (28), to words of Shelley, is performed for the first time, in Queen’s Hall, London.
Antonio D’Alba, an Italian anarchist, shoots at King Vittorio Emmanuele III during mass in Rome. He misses.
14 March 1912 Mona op.71, an opera by Horatio Parker (48) to words of Hooker, is performed for the first time, at the Metropolitan Opera, New York. It is the winner of the Metropolitan Opera Prize. The audience is enthusiastic but the critics are disappointed. It will receive only three more performances and will not become part of the permanent repertory of the Metropolitan.
16 March 1912 The Lover op.14 for strings by Jean Sibelius (46) is performed for the first time, in Helsinki, conducted by the composer.
18 March 1912 Two Pieces for two violas by Frank Bridge (33) are performed for the first time, in Aeolian Hall, London, the composer playing one of the parts.
21 March 1912 Two Eastern Pictures for female chorus and harp by Gustav Holst (37) to words of Kalidasa, translated by the composer, is performed for the first time, in Blackburn Town Hall.
Ode for One Who Fell in Battle for chorus by Charles Martin Loeffler (51) to words of Parsons is performed for the first time, in Symphony Hall, Boston. This is a reworking of his 1906 work For One Who Fell in Battle.
23 March 1912 Cartak on the Solan, a cantata by Leos Janácek (57) to words of Kurt, is performed for the first time, in Prostejov.
27 March 1912 US First Lady Helen Taft and Viscountess Chinda, wife of the Japanese ambassador, plant the first two of over 3,000 cherry trees in Washington, a gift of Japan to the United States.
Festival Overture for orchestra by Arnold Bax (28) is performed for the first time, in Queen’s Hall, London.
28 March 1912 Thomas Mackenzie replaces Joseph Ward as Prime Minister of New Zealand.
A proposal for women’s suffrage is defeated in the British House of Commons.
29 March 1912 Antarctic explorer Robert F. Scott makes the last entry in his diary, 17 km from his next food depot.
Scènes historiques Suite II for orchestra by Jean Sibelius (46) is performed for the first time, in Helsinki.
30 March 1912 France requires Sultan Abdul Hamid II of Morocco to accept a French protectorate over his country by signing the Treaty of Fez.
Erik Satie (45) writes to Ricard Viñes asking to dedicate one of his Pièces froides to him. “Don’t imagine that my work is music. That’s not my line. I do, to the best of my ability, phonometry. Nothing else. Am I anything else than an acoustician without great knowledge?”
31 March 1912 Universal Edition acknowledges that Karol Szymanowski (29) has agreed to terms for publication of his music.
4 April 1912 Ethel Smyth (53) is released from Holloway Prison after three weeks. She broke the window of Colonial Secretary Lewis Harcourt.
6 April 1912 The most important aviatrix, Harriet Quimby, is killed in a flying accident over Dorchester Bay, Massachusetts.
10 April 1912 Titu Liviu Maiorescu replaces Petre Carp as Prime Minister of Romania.
13 April 1912 Die Brautwahl, an opera by Ferruccio Busoni (46) to his own words after Hoffmann, is performed for the first time, in the Stadttheater, Hamburg. Critics are pleased, but it runs only four performances. See 3 January 1913.
14 April 1912 The British luxury liner Titanic strikes an iceberg off Newfoundland and sinks early on the morning of 15 April. 1,595 lives are lost including eight musicians, members of the ship’s band who play Nearer My God to Thee.
15 April 1912 The first in the series of reviews entitled “Memoirs of an Amnesiac”, by Erik Satie (45), appears in the Revue musicale S.I.M. in Paris.
17 April 1912 3,000 Russian miners in the Lena Gold Fields march to the Nadezhda Mine to ask for the release of their leaders, arrested last night. The Tsar’s troops open fire. 270 people are killed, 250 are wounded.
Nadia Boulanger (24) makes her conducting debut at La Roche-sur-Yon, directing her own 1908 cantata La Sirène.
18 April 1912 Because of Italian bombardment, Turkey closes the Dardenelles.
20 April 1912 Song for the People of Uusimaa for male chorus by Jean Sibelius (46) to words of Terhi is performed for the first time, in Helsinki.
21 April 1912 Deux Poèmes op.63 for piano by Alyeksandr Skryabin (40) is performed for the first time, in St. Petersburg by the composer.
22 April 1912 László Lukács replaces Károly, Count Khuen-Héderváry de Hédervár as Prime Minister of Hungary.
Natasha Troukhanova performs a dance recital at the Théâtre du Châtelet to four works conducted this evening by their composers: La Peri by Paul Dukas (46), Istar by Vincent d’Indy (61), La Tragédie de Salomé by Florent Schmitt (41), and Adélaïde, ou Le langage des fleurs by Maurice Ravel (37). Dukas’ ballet is performed for the first time. Ravel’s is a premiere of the ballet, although the music is actually Valses nobles et sentimentales. See 9 May 1911.
23 April 1912 Series no.1 of Sei liriche for voice and piano by Ottorino Respighi (32) is performed for the first time, in Berlin.
25 April 1912 A new Campanile di San Marco is inaugurated in Venice, ten years after the collapse of the old one.
1 May 1912 Gustav Holst’s (37) oriental suite Beni Mora op.29/1 is performed for the first time, in Queen’s Hall, London.
4 May 1912 Italian forces occupy the island of Rhodes.
5 May 1912 The Games of the Fifth Olympiad of the modern era open in Stockholm.
Pravda is first published, under the editorship of Osip Djugashvili, who will later gain a name for himself.
7 May 1912 Two songs by Charles T. Griffes (27) are performed for the first time, in the Normal School Lecture Room, Lowell, Massachusetts: Evening Song, to words of Lanier, and The Water Lily, to words of Tabb.
8 May 1912 Karol Szymanowski (29) signs a contract with his patron, Prince Wladyslaw Lubomirski, granting the Prince all his author’s rights for ten years. In return, the Prince will pay Szymanowski 15,000 Austrian crowns per year.
9 May 1912 Four of the Esquisses pour piano op.41 by Charles Koechlin (44) are performed for the first time, in Salle Erard, Paris.
13 May 1912 Lili Boulanger (18) enters the Prix de Rome competition. She will eventually withdraw due to illness.
14 May 1912 King Frederik VIII of Denmark dies in Hamburg and is succeeded by his son, Christian X.
August Strindberg dies in Stockholm at the age of 63.
15 May 1912 Arthur Victor Berger is born in New York.
18 May 1912 The Dardanelles are reopened by Turkey.
Evocations op.15 for alto, tenor, baritone, chorus, and orchestra by Albert Roussel (43) to words of Calvocoressi, is performed for the first time, at the Salle Gaveau, Paris.
21 May 1912 Two works by Franz Liszt (†25) are heard for the first time, in a performance at Weimar. They are Les morts, the first of the Trois ordres funèbres, and Hungaria, a cantata for soprano, tenor, bass, male chorus, and orchestra, to words of Schober. The former work was composed in the 1860s, the latter dates from the revolutionary year 1848.
23 May 1912 Upon the election of István Tisza to the post of President of the Chamber of Deputies, massive demonstrations take place in Budapest. Tisza is seen by the protestors as an opponent of workers and universal suffrage. The army is sent in against demonstrators and opposition deputies rallying outside Parliament. Six people are killed.
24 May 1912 A memorial concert is given in London to benefit the families of musicians gone down in the Titanic. Edward Elgar (54) conducts his Enigma Variations.
29 May 1912 Claude Debussy’s (49) Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune is danced for the first time, in the Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris. The part of the faun is taken by the choreographer, Vaclav Nizhinsky. It causes such a scandal that police will be called out for the second performance. A young composer named Igor Stravinsky (29) is in the audience.
Piano Quintet (1912) by Frank Bridge (33) is performed for the first time, at the Royal College of Music, London.
30 May 1912 Greece and Bulgaria conclude an alliance in Sofiya, thus completing the Balkan League. The treaty is backdated to 29 May.
2 June 1912 Several motion picture companies in Hollywood merge to become Universal, the first big movie studio.
4 June 1912 Aphrodite for orchestra by George Whitefield Chadwick (57) is performed for the first time, in Norfolk, Connecticut, conducted by the composer.
5 June 1912 The United States once again lands troops on Cuba.
8 June 1912 Maurice Ravel’s (37) symphonie choreographique Daphnis et Chloè to a scenario by Fokin after Longus, is performed for the first time, at the Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris. The work is not a success. One box contains the party of Mme Ravel and her sons, along with Florent Schmitt (41) and Igor Stravinsky (29).
10 June 1912 At the home of Louis Laloy in Paris, Igor Stravinsky (29) and Claude Debussy (49) play through a four-hand piano transcription of The Rite of Spring. Laloy and Debussy are “dumbfounded, thunderstruck as though by a hurricane from the remote past, which had seized our lives by the roots.” (Stravinsky may have played through some of The Rite of Spring but it seems unlikely he would have had a full four-hand version this early.)
Sergey Rakhmaninov (39) resigns for a second time as vice-president of the Russian Musical Society.
16 June 1912 Duarte Leite Pereira da Silva replaces Augusto César de Almeida Vasconcellos Correia as Prime Minister of Portugal.
17 June 1912 The orchestrated version of En Habit de cheval by Erik Satie (46) is performed for the first time, in the Salle Gaveau by Société de Musique Independante. The composer is refused admittance because he is not dressed well enough. Also premiered is Les vendanges op.30/1 for orchestra by Charles Koechlin (44).
19 June 1912 The eight-hour workday is mandated for certain workers by the United States government.
20 June 1912 Japan and Russia join an international group to grant loans to the new republican government of China in hopes of securing their claims in Manchuria.
21 June 1912 Anton Webern (28) and his family arrive in Stettin to take up duties as theatre conductor.
24 June 1912 Ruggero Leoncavallo’s (55) operetta La reginetta della rose, to words of Forzano, is performed for the first time, at the Teatro Costanzi, Rome and the Politeama Giacosa, Naples.
In a recital of the works of Claude Debussy (49) by several young pianists in Mexico City, Carlos Chávez (13) plays Clair de lune.
25 June 1912 Prelude to Adonais for orchestra by Arnold Bax (28) is performed for the first time, in the Haymarket Theatre, London. On the same bill is the premiere of Proserpina, a ballet by Hubert Parry (64) to a story by Shelley.
26 June 1912 22 hunger striking suffragists are released from Holloway Prison, London to save their lives.
Symphony no.9 by Gustav Mahler (†1) is performed for the first time, in Vienna.
29 June 1912 Arnold Schoenberg (37) writes from Berlin to Karl Wiener, president of the Academy of Music in Vienna, declining Wiener’s offer of a teaching position. His reasons are the salary and his aversion to Vienna.
30 June 1912 People from Land and Sea op.65a for chorus by Jean Sibelius (46) to words of Knape, is performed for the first time, in Vaasa.
1 July 1912 France declares a protectorate over Morocco.
Anton von Webern (28) enters upon duties as a theatre conductor in Stettin (Szczeczin).
Prime Minister Milovan Milovanovic of Serbia dies in Belgrade.
2 July 1912 Marko Trifkovic replaces Milovan Milovanovic as Prime Minister of Serbia.
6 July 1912 Monarchists led by Henrique Mitchell de Paiva Cabral Couceiro attempt an invasion of Portugal but are beaten off.
7 July 1912 Elisenda for piano, voice, harp, string quintet, flute, oboe, and clarinet by Enrique Granados (44) to words of Mestres is performed for the first time, in Barcelona.
9 July 1912 In Berlin, Arnold Schoenberg (37) completes Pierrot Lunaire.
10 July 1912 William Ferguson Massey replaces Thomas Mackenzie as Prime Minister of New Zealand.
Press and speech censorship are instituted by the republican government of Portugal after an attempted monarchist invasion.
11 July 1912 The last installment of Jules Massenet’s (70) Mes Souvenirs appears in L’Echo de Paris.
14 July 1912 A massive suffragist demonstration takes place in Hyde Park, London. Ethel Smyth (54) conducts a band of 150 in her March of the Women.
15 July 1912 National Health Insurance goes into effect in Great Britain.
The Madeira to Mamoré Railroad is completed in Brazil to remove rubber from distant Acre Province to the Atlantic coast. Over 3,000 people died in the construction of the railway.
Fantasy for violin and piano by Bohuslav Martinu (21) is performed for the first time, in Policka.
16 July 1912 In an agreement reached today, Russia agrees to come to the aid of France in the event of conflict with Germany while France agrees not to interfere with Russia in the Balkans.
Great is the Lord, for mixed chorus and organ by Edward Elgar (55) to words from the Bible, is performed for the first time, in Westminster Abbey.
17 July 1912 Representatives of 17 countries meet in Stockholm to explore the creation of what will become the International Association of Athletics Federations.
John Alden Carpenter (36) takes his last composition lesson from Bernhard Ziehn in Chicago. Ziehn will die shortly.
22 July 1912 Gazi Ahmed Muhtar Pasha replaces Küçük Mehmed Said Pasha as Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire.
23 July 1912 Ralph Vaughan Williams’ (39) suite from his incidental music to The Wasps is performed for the first time, in Queen’s Hall, London, the composer conducting. See 26 November 1909.
Phantastes suite, for orchestra by Gustav Holst (37) is performed for the first time, in Queen’s Hall, London, the composer conducting.
26 July 1912 Max, Baron Hausen replaces Viktor Alexander von Otto as Prime Minister of Saxony.
27 July 1912 The Games of the Fifth Olympiad of the modern era close in Stockholm. 2,407 athletes from 28 nations took part over two months and 22 days. The Stockholm games introduce electronic timing devices and a public address system to the Olympics.
29 July 1912 Emperor Mutsuhito of Japan dies in Tokyo after a reign of 45 years. He is succeeded by his son, Yoshihito.
Fighting begins between Liberals and disaffected Conservatives on one side against the Conservative government of Nicaraguan President Adolfo Díaz. The US Minister to the country, George Weitzel, personally leads a reorganization of the Managua police force to help meet the threat.
30 July 1912 Albanian rebels demand that the Turkish government unite the Albanian provinces into a single autonomous state within the Ottoman Empire.
3 August 1912 The Ottoman government agrees to limited autonomy for Albanians, but not for Albania.
Diego Chamorro, foreign minister in the US backed Conservative government of Nicaragua, asks US Minister George Weitzel to extend a protectorate over the country in the face of a popular uprising.
4 August 1912 95 sailors off the USS Annapolis in Corinto Bay arrive in Managua. Upon arrival, they take part in defending the government against a rebel attack.
6 August 1912 A contingent of sailors off of United States warships occupy Bluefields on the east coast of Nicaragua.
7 August 1912 Austrian physicist Victor Hess ascends in a hydrogen balloon from Prague with an electroscope. Landing in Berlin six hours later he has discovered plentiful gamma rays several kilometers into the atmosphere. He will be roundly ridiculed.
The Piano Concerto no.1 op.10 by Sergey Prokofiev (21) is performed for the first time, in Sokolniki Park, Moscow, the composer at the keyboard.
12 August 1912 12:00 At a hospital in the Rue de la Chaise, Paris, a terminal cancer patient, Jules Massenet (70) receives morphine.
16:00 Telegrams are sent to Madame Massenet and other family members that the end is near.
Albanian rebels capture Skopje.
13 August 1912 04:00 Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet dies at a hospital in the Rue de la Chaise, Paris, aged 70 years, three months, and one day. Since he abhorred the idea of dying in a hospital, the body is immediately removed to his home in the Rue de Vaugirard, arriving there at 06:00 in an ambulance, complete with his nurse pretending to administer oxygen. At 14:00 his death is registered as having occurred at his home in the Sixth Arrondissement.
The Radio Act is passed by the US Congress. It requires all radio operators to obtain a license.
14 August 1912 350 United States Marines arrive in Nicaragua to prop up the Conservative government of Adolfo Díaz.
15 August 1912 Two Nocturnes for string quartet by Bohuslav Martinu (21) is performed for the first time, in Policka. The composer plays violin.
17 August 1912 A funeral in memory of Jules Massenet takes place in the little church of Saint-Martin, Egreville. His mortal remains are laid to rest in a little cemetery there. Only a small group is present, mostly family, and no music, as was his wish.
18 August 1912 Der ferne Klang, an opera by Franz Schreker (34) to his own words, is performed for the first time, in Frankfurt-am-Main. The work immediately establishes his reputation.
20 August 1912 Igor Stravinsky (30) and Sergey Diaghilev witness a performance of Parsifal at Bayreuth.
24 August 1912 With the passage of the Townsend Amendment, US copyright law now covers motion pictures.
3 September 1912 The Five Orchestral Pieces op.16 by Arnold Schoenberg (37) are performed for the first time in their orchestral setting, in Queen’s Hall, London. The press is scathing.
Incidental music to Parker’s play Drake by Charles Villiers Stanford (59) is performed for the first time, in His Majesty’s Theatre, London.
4 September 1912 The Turkish government accept most of the Albanian demands of 30 July.
Arnold Schoenberg (37) writes to his publisher CF Peters enclosing the newspaper announcement of the premiere of his Five Orchestral Pieces. He is irate that he was not informed of it in advance.
5 September 1912 05:00 John Milton Cage, Jr. is born in Good Samaritan Hospital, Los Angeles, the third and only surviving child of John Milton Cage, an inventor, and Lucretia Harvey, an amateur pianist.
9 September 1912 Riots begin in Athens protesting the treatment of Greeks within the Ottoman Empire.
11 September 1912 Two songs op.60, The Torch and The River by Edward Elgar (55), are performed for the first time in their orchestral setting, along with the premiere of Elgar’s suite from his The Crown of India, in the Shire Hall, Hereford.
12 September 1912 Nikola Pasic replaces Marko Trifkovic as Prime Minister of Serbia.
Fantasia on Christmas Carols for baritone, chorus, and orchestra by Ralph Vaughan Williams (39) is performed for the first time, in Hereford Cathedral, the composer conducting. Also premiered is Ode on the Nativity by Hubert Parry (64) for soprano, chorus, and orchestra to words of Dunbar.
16 September 1912 Zingari, a dramma lirico by Ruggero Leoncavallo (55) to words of Cavacchioli and Emanuel after Pushkin, is performed for the first time, at the London Hippodrome, conducted by the composer.
17 September 1912 Franz Schreker (34) is named teacher of music theory and composition at the Vienna Academy of Music.
18 September 1912 Over 470,000 Ulster men and women sign the “Solemn League and Covenant” culminating today. It is a petition against home rule for Ireland.
23 September 1912 The first Keystone Cops movie, Cohen Collects a Debt, is released.
The Spell of Springtide op.61/8, a song for voice and piano by Jean Sibelius (46) to words of Gripenberg, is performed for the first time, in Helsinki.
24 September 1912 The Sea for orchestra by Frank Bridge (33) is performed for the first time, in Queen’s Hall, London.
25 September 1912 The Ford Motor Company institutes a work schedule of eight hours per day, five days per week.
Florence Smith (25) marries Thomas J. Price, an attorney, in Little Rock, Arkansas.
27 September 1912 WC Handy publishes Memphis Blues.
28 September 1912 The Kiche Maru sinks in a storm off Japan taking about 1,000 people with her.
1 October 1912 The Music Makers op.69, an ode for alto, chorus, and orchestra by Edward Elgar (55) to words of O’Shaughnessy, is performed for the first time, in Birmingham, conducted by the composer. On the same program, Jean Sibelius (46) conducts the British premiere of his Symphony no. 4.
4 October 1912 Max Reger’s (39) Konzert im alten Stil op.123 is performed for the first time, in Frankfurt-am-Main.
7 October 1912 Igor Stravinsky (30) boards a train in St. Petersburg for Ustilug (Ustyluh, Ukraine) and thence to Paris and Switzerland. He will not see his native city again for 50 years.
8 October 1912 Montenegro declares war on Turkey.
10 October 1912 An exhibition entitled Salon de la Section d’Or opens at the Galerie la Boëtie, Paris. It includes the first showing of Marcel Duchamp’s Nude Descending a Staircase no.2.
11 October 1912 Romantische Suite op.125 by Max Reger (39) is performed for the first time, in Dresden.
12 October 1912 Delegates from Crete are seated in the Greek assembly.
An die Hoffnung op.124 for alto and orchestra by Max Reger (39) is performed for the first time, in Eisenach, the composer conducting.
An article appears in Musical America written by conductor and composer Kurt Schindler, extolling the virtues of John Alden Carpenter (36). He is “of such unusual accomplishments and culture, such gifts of melody and harmony that, to my mind, his success all over the world is already a matter of certainty.”
13 October 1912 Hugo David Weisgall is born in Ivancice, near Brünn (Brno), son of Adolph Joseph Weisgal, cantor and composer of Jewish religious music.
Tres Danzas andaluzas op.8 for piano by Joquin Turina (29) is performed for the first time, in the Academia Santa Cecilia de Cádiz.
Former United States president Theodore Roosevelt is shot and wounded by a demented man, while campaigning for the presidency in Milwaukee. He finishes his speech before going to the hospital.
16 October 1912 After forty rehearsals, the long-awaited public premiere of Arnold Schoenberg’s (38) Pierrot Lunaire op.21, for speaker and chamber group to words of Giraud (tr. Hartleben), takes place in the Choralionsaal, Berlin. Some hissing is heard, but the audience is generally enthusiastic, giving the composer seven curtain calls. Anton von Webern (29) and Edgard Varèse (28) are among the listeners.
17 October 1912 The Ottoman Empire declares war on Bulgaria and Serbia.
18 October 1912 A treaty is signed by Italy and the Ottoman Empire at Ouchy, near Lausanne, ending their war. Italy obtains Tripoli and Cyrenaica and agrees to evacuate the Aegean.
Bulgaria, Greece, and Serbia all declare war on the Ottoman Empire, as forces from all three countries attack simultaneously.
22 October 1912 Bulgarian forces attack Turks along a line from Lulu Burgas (Lüleburgaz) to Visa (Vize) and after a two-day battle send them into wholesale flight towards Constantinople, 140 km to the southeast. Greek forces defeat Turks at Sarandoporus.
23 October 1912 Bulgarians defeat Turks in a two-day battle at Kirk Kilissia (Kirklareli), 165 km northwest of Constantinople, as Serbians defeat the Turkish defenders of Kumanovo, 30 km northeast of Skopje.
25 October 1912 Greek forces capture Kozani in Western Macedonia from the Turks.
Ariadne auf Naxos op.60 by Richard Strauss (48) to words of Hofmannsthal is performed for the first time, in the Stuttgart Court Theatre, the composer conducting. The production is a disaster. The first part of the work is Molière’s Le bourgeois gentilhomme with incidental music by Strauss. The second part is a one-act opera by Strauss. See 4 October 1916.
26 October 1912 Gustave Charpentier (52) is elected to fill the chair in the Académie des Beaux-Arts vacated by the death of Jules Massenet (†0).
27 October 1912 Samuel Conlon Nancarrow is born in Texarkana, Arkansas, first of two children born to Samuel Charles Nancarrow, the manager of a barrel factory for Standard Oil, and Myra Brady.
28 October 1912 Greeks rout Turkish defenders of Veria (Veroia), 65 km west of Thessaloniki, sending them into retreat.
Amy Cheney Beach (45) makes her European performing debut in Dresden, accompanying her Violin Sonata. The audience is appreciative.
29 October 1912 Kibrisli Mehmed Kamil Pasha replaces Gazi Ahmed Muhtar Pasha as Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire.
31 October 1912 Greek forces occupy Grevena, 100 km northwest of Larissa.
1 November 1912 Serbian forces occupy Durrës.
The Netherlands announces it will adhere to international copyright laws.
In today’s issue of Physikalische Zeitschrift, Victor Hess makes the first report by a professional physicist that Earth is bombarded by radiation from outer space.
Invited by a friend to the home of the Guimarães family in Rio de Janeiro, Heitor Villa-Lobos (25) meets their daughter, Lucília, a piano teacher. A little over a year from now, they will marry.
2 November 1912 US client President Adolfo Díaz of Nicaragua, wins re-election unopposed.
3 November 1912 Greek forces capture Thessaloniki and Preveza from the Turks.
5 November 1912 Voting in the United States ensures the election of Woodrow Wilson, Governor of New Jersey, as President. With the Republican Party split between the candidacies of the official standard bearer, President William Howard Taft, and the Progressive former President Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson’s victory in the electoral college is large. His Democratic Party gains over 60 seats in the House of Representatives and a greatly increased majority. Voters in Arizona, Kansas, and Wisconsin approve granting suffrage to women in their states.
8 November 1912 Greek forces enter Sindos, near Thessaloniki, a few hours before Bulgarians arrive.
10 November 1912 O Tod, wie bitter bist du op.110/3 for chorus by Max Reger (39) is performed for the first time, in Chemnitz.
12 November 1912 Liberal Spanish Prime Minister José Canalejas y Mendez is shot to death by an anarchist outside a Madrid bookstore. He is replaced ad interim by Manuel García Prieto, marqués de Alhucemas.
Greek forces lay seige to Janina (Ioánnina).
Anton Bruckner’s (†16) motet for chorus, three trombones, and organ, Ecce sacerdos, is performed for the first time, in Vöcklabruck.
The first of the Two Russian Tone Pictures for piano by Arnold Bax (29) entitled May-Night in the Ukraine, is performed for the first time, at the Royal Academy Musical Union, London. (This could be 2 November)
Captain Robert F. Scott and two of his party are found dead in Antarctica, approximately 17 km from their next supply station.
14 November 1912 The Fourth Duma opens in St. Petersburg.
Álvaro Figueroa y Torres Mendieta, conde de Romanones replaces Manuel García Prieto, marqués de Alhucemas as Prime Minister of Spain.
15 November 1912 Greece annexes Thessaloniki and Epirus.
Manuel García Prieto, Marquis of Alhucemas replaces Alvaro Figueroa y Torres, Count Romanones as Prime Minister of Spain.
A second revision of the tone poem Lebenstanz by Frederick Delius (50) is performed for the first time, in Berlin. See 30 May 1899 and 21 January 1904.
17 November 1912 Bulgarian attacks on Tchatalja (Çatalca, Turkey), west of Constantinople, are repulsed by Turkish defenders, but Serbian forces crush the Turks at Monastir (Bitola, Macedonia), 100 km south of Skopje. The remnants of this Turkish army flee into Albania, where they will be evacuated to Constaninople.
18 November 1912 Cholera breaks out in Constantinople.
21 November 1912 Ecce sacerdos magnus for chorus, three trombones, and organ by Anton Bruckner (†16) is performed for the first time, in Vöcklabruck.
Vincent d’Indy’s (61) choral work Le chant de la cloche op.18 to his own words, after Schiller, is staged for the first time, in the Théâtre de la Monnaie, Brussels.
26 November 1912 As Greek, Montenegrin, and Serbian forces advance into Albania, 83 Albanian delegates assemble at Vlorë.
27 November 1912 A treaty signed in Fez (Fès) between France and Spain delineates the boundary between territory controlled by the two nations in Morocco, at the expense of Spanish interests. Spain declares a protectorate over its holdings in Morocco.
28 November 1912 Delegates to a national congress at Valona (Vlorë) declare the independence of Albania with Ismail Kemal as president of a provisional government. Kemal declares neutrality in the Balkan War and asks for protection by the great powers.
The seventh and penultimate volume of mélodies by Jules Massenet (†0) are published by Heugel.
29 November 1912 Lili Boulanger (19) leaves Paris for Berck on the Pas-de-Calais for physical therapy.
2 December 1912 The United States Supreme Court rules against the merger of the Union Pacific and the Southern Pacific Railroads.
3 December 1912 After almost two months of war, an armistice is signed between Turkey and the Balkan allies Bulgaria, Serbia, and Montenegro. The Ottoman Turks are driven from Europe, except for the area directly around Constantinople. Greece is not a party to the armistice.
4 December 1912 The two giants of early twentieth century music meet for the first time, in Berlin. Arnold Schoenberg (38) and Igor Stravinsky (30) are introduced by Sergey Diaghilev.
5 December 1912 Symphonic Fantasia by Hubert Parry (64) is performed for the first time, in Queen’s Hall, London directed by the composer.
8 December 1912 Igor Stravinsky (30), in Berlin with the Ballets Russes, witnesses a performance of Pierrot Lunaire. He is favorably impressed. Stravinsky says that “Schoenberg (38) is one of the greatest creative spirits of our day.”
10 December 1912 A year after his miserable failure, Bohuslav Martinu (22) barely passes the State Teaching Examination in Bohemia.
11 December 1912 A Violin Sonata by John Alden Carpenter (36) is performed for the first time, in Aeolian Hall, New York. The critics are not impressed.
12 December 1912 Prince-regent Luitpold of Bavaria dies and is succeeded by his son Ludwig, a cousin of King Otto.
15 December 1912 Cantique op.3 arranged for small orchestra by the composer, Edward Elgar (55), is performed for the first time, in the Royal Albert Hall, London.
16 December 1912 Talks to produce a Balkan peace treaty begin in London.
Prelude Cantata celebrating the 50th anniversary of St. Petersburg Conservatory, is performed for the first time, by faculty and students at the Conservatory.
20 December 1912 The Conference of Ambassadors meeting in London and representing the great powers recognizes Albania as autonomous within the Ottoman Empire despite Albania’s declaration of independence.
21 December 1912 Prince Taro Katsura replaces Kimmochi Saionji as Prime Minister of Japan.
23 December 1912 Poème-Nocturne op.61 for piano by Alyeksandr Skryabin (40) is performed for the first time, in St. Petersburg by the composer.
Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust is denied publication by the Nouvelle Revue Française.
Incidental music to Maeterlinck’s play (tr. Epstein) Der blaue Vogel by Engelbert Humperdinck (58) is performed for the first time, in the Deutsches Theater, Berlin.
27 December 1912 The Ballets Russes performs in Budapest. Due to the great excitement surrounding their visit, the Budapest Opera House will commission Béla Bartók (31) to compose a ballet.
31 December 1912 Voting rights in Hungary are extended but the Magyars are left in the dominant position. Occupational, property, and education restrictions remain.
©2004-2012 Paul Scharfenberger
17 May 2012
Last Updated (Thursday, 17 May 2012 05:58)