1916
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1 January 1916 Yaounde, capital of the German possession of Kamerun, surrenders to British and African troops from Nigeria. All German officials have fled the city.
4 January 1916 A relief force sent to save the besieged defenders of Kut al Imara, starts out from Ali al Gharbi up the Tigris.
6 January 1916 The British relief force attacks Turks at Sheikh Saad without success.
7 January 1916 British forces take the forward Turkish positions at Sheikh Saad.
With the British force down to 19,000 on Cape Helles, the Turks finally attack but are cut down as they cross 100 meters of open ground.
8 January 1916 A combined Austrian land and sea attack begins on the fort at Kouk, Montenegro.
In the last fighting of the Kamerun campaign, German troops check British and French forces until all German officials and dependents escape safely into Rio Muni (Equatorial Guinea).
9 January 1916 04:00 The last Allied troops leave Gallipoli at W Beach. Moments later, mines they left in their ammunition dumps go off. Cape Helles has been evacuated, again with no casualties. It is the only success in the Gallipoli campaign. The cost of the entire ten-month operation is 500,000 casualties.
The Russian campaign in Galicia ends with only small gains at a cost of 50,000 casualties.
Turkish troops evacuate Sheikh Saad and the British occupy the village.
10 January 1916 Russian forces surprise the Turks in an attack on Koprukeui, east of Erzurum.
Montenegrin defenders of the fort at Kouk abandon their positions in the face of Austrian bombardment.
As part of a campaign of revenge for President Wilson’s recognition of Venustiano Carranza, Pancho Villa and his men stop a train in Santa Ysabel, Sonora and kill 16 American engineers on board. The men were traveling to reopen a mine.
11 January 1916 Russian forces begin an offensive into Armenia.
Austro-Hungarian troops capture Cettinje, the capital of Montenegro.
12 January 1916 Puss in Boots, a children’s opera-fairy tale by Cesar Cui (80) to words of Pol and Dolomanova after Perrault, is staged with human beings for the first time, in the State Theatre, Tbilisi. It was performed in 1915 with marionettes.
13 January 1916 German astronomer Karl Schwarzschild publishes “On the gravitational field of a mass point according to Einstein's theory,” in which he first describes “black holes.”
14 January 1916 The Critic or An Opera Rehearsed, an opera by Charles Villiers Stanford (63) to words of James after Sheridan, is performed for the first time, in the Shaftesbury Theatre, London. The press is generally positive and it is given eleven performances.
In high winds, dikes begin breaking around the Zuiderzee in the Netherlands causing flooding.
16 January 1916 Fantasie WoO.18 for two pianos by Alyeksandr Skryabin (†0) is performed for the first time, in Moscow, 27 years after it was composed.
Two Songs for chorus and orchestra op.144 by Max Reger (42) are performed for the first time, in Heidelberg.
17 January 1916 Montenegro surrenders to the Central Powers. King Nikolay reaches Brindisi.
The Hebridean Symphony by Granville Bantock (47) is performed for the first time, in Glasgow.
19 January 1916 Russian forces defeat Turks at Koprukeui, driving them back to Erzerum.
The Hispanic Society of America makes Enrique Granados (48) a member, presenting him with a silver medal.
20 January 1916 Incidental music to Giffin’s play Red Silence by Henry Cowell (18) is performed for the first time, in Hotel St. Francis, San Francisco.
21 January 1916 As part of the attempt to relieve Al Kut, a British assault against Turkish positions in the Hanna defile is repulsed with heavy losses.
Giovanni Abbondio, former lawyer for Ruggero Leoncavallo (58), begins legal proceedings against the composer to retrieve payment for his legal services. Leoncavallo’s finances have not been good in recent years.
23 January 1916 Austro-Hungarian forces capture Scutari (Shkodër), Albania.
British forces attack Senussi tribesmen at Halazin, 35 km southwest of Matruh. There are over 1,000 total casualties.
Enrique Granados (48) and Pablo Casals give a performance at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, New York. Granados plays music from his soon-to-be-performed opera Goyescas.
25 January 1916 Personal envoy of US President Wilson, Edward House, meets for six days with German officials in Berlin, looking for peace.
27 January 1916 A Military Service Bill becomes law in Great Britain, requiring all unmarried men and widowers 18-41 years of age without dependents to make themselves available for national service.
The Spartacus Group is founded in Berlin. It is the beginning of an organized communist movement in Germany.
28 January 1916 The Boatswain’s Mate, a comedy by Ethel Smyth (57) to her own words after Jacobs, is performed for the first time, in the Shaftesbury Theatre, London. See 26 August 1915.
Goyescas, an opera by Enrique Granados (48) to words of Periquet y Zuaznabar, is performed for the first time, at the Metropolitan Opera, New York. The work receives an enthusiastic reception, “ecstatic applause” and Granados is praised by the critics. But Goyescas receives only five performances in New York and will be dropped. The libretto is faulted.
29 January 1916 A suite from Sergey Prokofiev’s (24) unperformed ballet Ala i Lolli, called the Scythian Suite op.20, is performed for the first time, in Petrograd, the composer conducting. One audience member, Alyeksandr Glazunov (50), finds the music so distasteful that he storms out of the hall. The composer remarks, “The price of rotten eggs has gone up in St. Petersburg.”
Une voix dans le désert op.77 for reciter and orchestra by Edward Elgar (58) to words of Cammaerts, is performed for the first time, in Shaftesbury Theatre, London.
A zeppelin attack on Paris kills 18 people and injures 31.
1 February 1916 Carl Nielsen’s (50) Fourth Symphony “the Inextinguishable” is performed for the first time, in Copenhagen. It is extremely successful.
2 February 1916 Boris Vladimirovich Stürmer replaces Ivan Longinovich Goremykin as Prime Minister of Russia.
Personal envoy of US President Wilson, Edward House, meets for seven days with French officials in Paris, looking for peace.
4 February 1916 The French periodical La Renaissance publishes opinions as to whether the music of Wagner (†32) should be permitted in France after the war. Five favor it, 16 oppose.
5 February 1916 Jean Sibelius (50) learns that a collection has been started to pay off his debts.
Incidental music to Christiansen’s play Fatherland by Carl Nielsen (50) is performed for the first time, in Copenhagen.
6 February 1916 Mohandas K. Gandhi addresses an illustrious gathering at the opening of the Benares Hindu University. The platform includes the Viceroy Charles Hardinge, Baron Hardinge of Penshurst, many maharajas and maharanis, high officials and educators. Speaking without text, Gandhi assails the imperialism of the English language, the tolerance for filth and degradation of the Hindus, accuses the maharajas of stealing from the poor, seems to suggest that a dead viceroy might be more useful than a live one, and honors anarchists. When he announces, “If we are to receive self-government we will have to take it,” many officials leave the platform and he is asked to abandon his speech.
German forces in Kamerun begin crossing the border into Spanish Guinea.
The Czechoslovak National Council begins to function as a quasi-government in exile. Tomás G. Masaryk is President.
The revised version of Sergey Rakhmaninov’s (42) Vocalise, for voice and piano, is performed for the first time.
8 February 1916 This is the date on which Romanian poet and artist Tristan Tzara claims to have founded the Dada movement in a Zürich cafe.
Fourteen Songs op.34 by Sergey Rakhmaninov (42) are performed for the first time, in Moscow, the composer at the keyboard.
9 February 1916 A combined British-Belgian force of six ships sink the German ship Hedwig von Wissmann on Lake Tanganyika.
Personal envoy of US President Wilson, Edward House, begins meetings with British officials in London.
10 February 1916 Trois poèmes en prose de Lucile de Chateaubriand op.10 for voice and piano by Darius Milhaud (23) is performed for the first time, in Paris.
Tango of the Green Eyes for piano by Enrique Granados (48) is performed for the first time, in New York.
11 February 1916 Russian forces begin a new offensive at Erzerum.
The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra gives its inaugural concert.
13 February 1916 It being thought safe now, Lili Boulanger (22) departs Paris with her mother and sister Nadia (28) to complete her Prix de Rome year. It was interrupted by the onset of war in 1914.
14 February 1916 50,000 Armenians are reported to have been killed by Turks at Intili.
16 February 1916 After six days of fighting in deep snow and intense cold, Russian forces capture Erzerum from Turkey. They find only a handful of Armenians alive in the province.
17 February 1916 Russian troops capture Ilica taking 12,000 Turkish prisoners.
18 February 1916 The last remaining Germans in Kamerun surrender to British and French troops at Mora. The entire Kamerun campaign has cost over 7,000 casualties.
Symphony no.1 by Daniel Gregory Mason (42) is performed for the first time, in Philadelphia.
21 February 1916 German forces begin the largest artillery barrage in history along a 13 km front at Verdun. One million shells are fired on the first day. In spite of this, German infantry make only probing advances.
22 February 1916 French troops make weak but surprising counterattacks at Verdun. The Germans take Haumont but the French hold Brabant on the Meuse.
Russian forces take Kermanshah, ending any thoughts of Persia joining the Central Powers.
Edward House, personal representative of US President Wilson, signs a peace proposal with British Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey. Nothing will come of it.
After several stopovers along the way, Lili Boulanger (22), along with her mother and sister Nadia (28), reaches the Villa Medici to complete her Prix de Rome year.
America First, a march by John Philip Sousa (61), is performed for the first time, simultaneously in the New York Hippodrome and in Washington, to celebrate the birthday of George Washington.
23 February 1916 German forces make only small gains at Verdun, taking Brabant but not Beaumont and Samogneux.
The White Peacock op.7/1 for piano by Charles T. Griffes (31) is performed for the first time, at the Punch and Judy Theatre, New York. See 22 June 1919.
24 February 1916 Portugal confiscates 36 German ships in Portuguese ports.
Germans breach the French line at Verdun but can not capitalize.
25 February 1916 German forces capture Ft. de Douaumont on the approaches to Verdun, signaling the imminent fall of the city. The French withdraw to new defensive positions east of Verdun.
26 February 1916 British troops engage Senussi tribesmen 25 km southeast of Sidi Barrani. The Senussi withdraw.
28 February 1916 The French defenders of Verdun bring the German offensive to a standstill, although fighting still continues.
The US Senate ratifies the treaty with Haiti making Haiti a United States protectorate.
Henry James dies in London at the age of 72.
29 February 1916 The Union Group (Tokelau Is.) become part of the British Colony of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands.
1 March 1916 A second deportation of Armenians from Adrianople (Edirne) begins.
With the help of Sophie Tucker, George Gershwin (17) signs his first contract as a composer, with the Harry von Tilzer Publishing Company.
2 March 1916 A fourth French attempt to retake Ft. Douaumont fails. Among the wounded is Capt. Charles de Gaulle, who is taken prisoner.
At the Villa Medici in Rome, Lili Boulanger (22) writes in her diary, “Am in anguish about this German attack on Verdun--so much more unhappiness--I think of those who will not return and my heart aches.”
Conscription of single men between 18-41 years of age begins in Britain.
3 March 1916 Russian forces capture Bitlis, 210 km south of Erzurum, from the Turks.
4 March 1916 The British and French governments divide the German possession of Kamerun between them.
5 March 1916 A combined British-South African-Colonial force begins an offensive in the region of Mt. Kilimanjaro, making for the rail head at Moshi.
Rondo arlecchinesco op.46 for orchestra by Ferruccio Busoni (49) is performed for the first time, in the Augusteum, Rome.
6 March 1916 After stiff French resistance, the Germans resume their attack on Verdun at Le Mort Homme, northwest of the city. They take Forges and Regneville.
7 March 1916 Russian forces reach Rize, 50 km from Trebizond.
At a gala event at the White House, Enrique Granados (48) performs before President and Mrs. Wilson.
8 March 1916 A British attack on the Dujaila Redoubt is defeated by the Turks.
French defenders of Verdun throw back German attacks on Le Morte Homme and Fort Vaux.
South African forces take Salaita, German East Africa, abandoned by the Germans.
Enrique Granados (48) performs at a lunch at the home of the Spanish ambassador in Washington.
9 March 1916 Germany declares war on Portugal over the seizure of German ships in Lisbon.
A force of 400 under the command of Pancho Villa crosses the border and attacks the town of Columbus, New Mexico, 110 km west of El Paso, killing as many people as they can find. After a skirmish with American troops, the Mexicans retire across the border.
10 March 1916 Russian forces invade Persia.
A report is sent to the Turkish Interior Ministry from Aleppo (Halab) that of the hundreds of thousands of Armenians sent into the Syrian desert, only about one-quarter are still alive.
Concertino for piano and orchestra by John Alden Carpenter (40) is performed for the first time, in Orchestra Hall, Chicago. Percy Grainger is the soloist.
11 March 1916 Italian forces attack Austro-Hungarians along the Isonzo River for the fifth time. The offensive lasts until 29 March, without strategic result.
Enrique Granados (48) and his wife board the SS Rotterdam in New York, making for England.
British forces attack Latema-Reata, German East Africa, but are repulsed. The Germans withdraw at night.
13 March 1916 South African troops reach Moshi, but fail to trap or engage the Germans.
Mexican President Carranza tacitly approves of a punitive expedition by American forces into Mexico against Pancho Villa.
Summer for orchestra by Frank Bridge (37) is performed for the first time, in Queen’s Hall, London, the composer conducting.
14 March 1916 British troops enter Sollum unopposed. They continue on to pursue the Senussi 40 km into Libya.
Der Trompeter op.25/1, for chorus and orchestra by Hans Pfitzner (46) to words of Kopisch, is performed for the first time, in Strasbourg.
Clarinet Sonata op.129 by Charles Villiers Stanford (63) is performed for the first time, in Steinway Hall, London.
15 March 1916 Austria-Hungary declares war on Portugal.
William Walton (13) is confirmed in Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford where he is attending the choir school.
16 March 1916 After ten days of furious assaults, the Germans give up trying to capture Le Mort Homme, northwest of Verdun.
António José de Almeida replaces Afonso Augusto da Costa as Prime Minister of Portugal.
American General John J. Pershing leads 6,000 men across the border into Mexico in an attempt to punish Pancho Villa and his forces for their raid on Columbus, New Mexico.
17 March 1916 French soldier Guillaume Apollinaire is struck in the head by a shell fragment at Bois des Buttes near Berry-au-Bac.
British forces reach Bir Hakeim, Libya and liberate 91 sailors held by the Senussi since November.
18 March 1916 Russian forces attack the Germans at Lake Naroch (Narach, Belarus), 135 km north of Minsk. They meet fierce Russian resistance.
21 March 1916 After three days of stalemate, Russian troops manage to take the German forward lines at Lake Naroch and Postavy (Pastavy, Belarus).
Pastoral, for women’s chorus by Gustav Holst (41) to anonymous words, is performed for the first time, in New York’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.
22 March 1916 German troops retake Postavy.
23 March 1916 Néère op.23/2 for voice and piano by Charles Koechlin (48) to words of André Chéniers is performed for the first time, at the home of Mme Herscher, Paris, the composer at the keyboard.
24 March 1916 Enrique Granados and his wife board the British mail boat SS Sussex for the channel crossing at Folkestone. At 15:00 the boat is torpedoed by German submarine UB-29. A panicked telegraph operator gives the wrong location. The ship does not sink and 138 passengers are saved but 50 are lost including Granados and his wife. International pressure will force Germany to pay an indemnity of 666,000 pesetas to their children and issue an official apology. Granados was aged 48 years, seven months, and 26 days.
26 March 1916 Russian forces continue the attack at Lake Naroch, without success.
27 March 1916 Russian commanders suspend their offensive at Lake Naroch.
Otto Luening (15) makes his concert debut as a flutist, in Munich.
28 March 1916 Jerusalem, a choral song for chorus and orchestra by Hubert Parry (68) to words of Blake, is performed for the first time, in Queen’s Hall, London.
A concert version of Manuel de Falla’s (39) ballet El Amor brujo is performed for the first time, at the Sociedad Nacional de Musica, Madrid. See 15 April 1915.
30 March 1916 Two Pieces for violin or cello and orchestra op.77 by Jean Sibelius (50) are performed for the first time, in Helsinki directed by the composer.
31 March 1916 German troops capture Malancourt near Verdun.
2 April 1916 Choses vues à droite et à gauche for violin and piano by Erik Satie (49) is performed for the first time, at École Lucien de Flagny, Paris. Also premiered are Satie’s Trois Poèmes d’amour for voice and piano to his own words.
4 April 1916 Frederick John Napier Thesiger, Baron Chelmsford replaces Charles Hardinge, Baron Hardinge of Penshurst as Viceroy of India.
South African troops defeat Germans and Africans at Lolkisale Hill, southwest of Arusha (Tanzania).
5 April 1916 In a new attempt to rescue the Allied troops in Kut al Imara, British forces attack Fallahiyeh and Sannaiyat. After initial success, the Turks hold.
German forces capture Haucourt at Verdun.
6 April 1916 14,000 Armenians are killed by Turkish authorities in Ras-ul-Ain. 20,000 Armenian deportees still live there.
A Quintet for clarinet and strings op.146 by Max Reger (43) is performed for the first time, in Stuttgart.
7 April 1916 Russian forces renew their offensive at Lake Naroch, with limited results.
8 April 1916 Geman forces take Bethincourt at Verdun.
9 April 1916 German forces launch a coordinated attack on both sides of the Meuse. They capture part of Le Mort Homme, northwest of Verdun.
Noches en los jardines de España, a symphonic suite for piano and orchestra by Manuel de Falla (39), is performed for the first time, in the Teatro Real, Madrid.
Noël des enfants qui n’ont plus de maison, for voice and piano by Claude Debussy (53) to his own words, is performed for the first time, in Paris.
11 April 1916 Alberto Evaristo Ginastera is born in Buenos Aires.
In the Moonlight for male chorus by Jean Sibelius (50) to words of Suonio is performed for the first time, in Helsinki.
12 April 1916 An American scouting party 300 km inside Mexico in the town of Parral, is fired upon by civilians. Mexican federal troops soon join the engagement on the side of the civilians. The Americans withdraw. 42 people are killed.
Symphony in Yellow op.3/2 to words of Wilde from Tone-Images for solo voice and piano by Charles T. Griffes (31) is performed for the first time, in the Punch and Judy Theatre, New York.
14 April 1916 Russian forces make one last attempt to dislodge the Germans at Lake Naroch. It fails. The offensive has cost 130,000 casualties.
A combined Russian land and sea attack on Karadere sends Turkish troops into retreat towards Trebizond (Trabzon, Turkey), 30 km to the west.
15 April 1916 British troops again attack the Turks at Beit Aisa, without success. The surrounded allies at Kut al Imara are beginning to face starvation.
A concert in Madrid to benefit the children of Enrique Granados (†0) is attended by Infanta Isabella.
18 April 1916 Russian forces capture Trebizond (Trabzon) on the Black Sea from Turkey without opposition. Of the large Armenian population there, they find only a few widows and orphans.
US President Wilson threatens Germany with a break in relations if submarine attacks on passenger ships are not stopped.
Two of the Trois Mélodies by Erik Satie (49) to words of Godebska and Chalupt, are performed for the first time, at the Société Lyre et Palette, Paris. See 30 May 1916.
20 April 1916 British forces again attack the Turks at Sannaiyat and again they fail.
The first complete performance of the Two Portraits for orchestra op.5 by Béla Bartók (35) takes place in Budapest. See 12 February 1911.
21 April 1916 Irish revolutionary Roger Casement comes ashore from a German U-boat at Tralee. He is arrested by British authorities.
23 April 1916 The Finnish Senate awards a professorship to Jean Sibelius (50).
24 April 1916 Padraic Pearse, at the head of about 1,500 volunteers, proclaims the Irish Republic on the steps of the Dublin Post Office, beginning five days of fighting with British troops. Rebels take fourteen of the city’s important buildings.
25 April 1916 In an effort to support the Easter Rebellion, German ships bombard Lowestoft and Yarmouth. They are chased away by the Royal Navy. Three submarines are sunk, two German and one British.
26 April 21916 The British gunboat Helga bombards Dublin, destroying Liberty Hall, headquarters of the Labour Party, and other buildings. Shells from the Helga and British artillery kill many civilians and start fires in the city. British troops land at Kingstown and march towards Dublin. An ambush by Republicans can not prevent their arrival.
27 April 1916 Goffredo Mameli, an azione storica by Ruggero Leoncavallo (59) to words of Belvederi and the composer, is performed for the first time, at the Teatro Carlo Felice, Genoa conducted by the composer. The response is lukewarm. The press finds many faults.
Newly arrived British soldiers in Dublin begin shooting Irish men on sight. British artillery has set the General Post Office on fire.
28 April 1916 Irish rebels abandon the General Post Office in Dublin. British troops take off after them down King’s Street. They shoot or bayonet any Irish civilians they find hiding.
29 April 1916 After a five month siege, the starving, diseased British defenders of Kut al Imara (Al Kut) surrender to the Turks.
Padraic Pearse announces the unconditional surrender of rebel forces in Ireland.
1 May 1916 A rally called by the Spartacus group draws 10,000 people to the Potsdamer Platz in Berlin. When Reichstag member Karl Liebknecht calls for an end to the war and removal of the government, mounted police move in to break up the mob. Liebknecht is arrested.
3 May 1916 Padraic Pearse and two other Irish rebel leaders are executed by a British firing squad. Fifteen Irish rebels will be shot through 12 May.
German forces begin a massive artillery bombardment of Côte 304 northwest of Verdun.
The second and third parts of The Spirit of England op.80, for solo voice, chorus, and orchestra by Edward Elgar (58) to words of Binyon, are performed for the first time, in Leeds, the composer conducting. See 4 October 1917.
4 May 1916 The German government pledges to the United States that they will not attack merchant ships without warning. This is prompted by the Sussex incident of 24 March.
5 May 1916 Hussein ibn Ali becomes the King of Arabia.
After two days of bombardment, the Germans manage a foothold on Côte 304 at Verdun.
Amidst the threat of civil war, and against the wishes of President Juan Isidro Jiménez, US Marines land the Dominican Republic.
7 May 1916 President Juan Isidro Jiménez of the Dominican Republic resigns, not desiring an office “regained with foreign bullets.”
A memorial concert for Enrique Granados (†0) is given at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York conducted by Walter Damrosch. The Beethoven (†89) Trio in B flat is played by Ignacy Paderewski, Fritz Kreisler, and Pablo Casals. Singers include Maria Barrientos, Julia Culp, and John McCormack. Granados’ Dolora en la meno for voice and piano is performed for the first time. Casals will remember that “toward the end of the concert all the lights were turned out. A candle was placed on the piano. Then, with that solitary flame flickering on the stage in the great hall, Paderewski played Chopin’s Funeral March.”
8 May 1916 After three days of close, sometimes hand-to-hand fighting, the Germans capture Côte 304, northwest of Verdun. At Ft. Douaumont, containers of flamethrower fuel are ignited and the fire reaches a store of artillery shells. The explosion blows up or asphyxiates most of the men in the fort. Survivors, with blackened faces from the blast, stagger from the building and are shot dead by their own comrades who mistake them for French African troops.
9 May 1916 German forces attack British and South Africans holding Kondoa Irangi, German East Africa (Tanzania), unsuccessfully.
Album de viaje op.15 for piano by Joaquín Turina (33) is performed for the first time, in Madrid.
10 May 1916 Milton Byron Babbitt is born in Philadelphia.
11 May 1916 After returning from a concert tour, Johann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger dies in his hotel room in Leipzig, apparently of heart failure. He is aged 43 years, one month, and 22 days.
13 May 1916 The British government orders the call up of married men between the ages of 36 and 41.
15 May 1916 06:00 An Austro-Hungarian offensive in Trentino from Folgaria and Lavarone begins with a four-hour artillery barrage. On the first day, the attackers capture Costa d’Agra and Monte Coston.
After rebel forces evacuate Santo Domingo, US troops occupy the city.
George Gershwin (17) receives his first copyright, for the song When you want ‘em, you can’t get ‘em, when you’ve got ‘em, you don’t want ‘em.
16 May 1916 Austrian forces take the Italian trenches at Soglio d’Aspio.
A secret agreement, negotiated by Sir Mark Sykes and Georges Picot representing Britain and France respectively, on the postwar division of the Middle East is formally agreed to by the two countries. France will acquire Lebanon, Syria, and other smaller areas, Britain will acquire Mesopotamia, Haifa, and Acre. Russia will acquire the Armenian and Kurdish areas. Lands not already doled out will become a confederation of Arab states under the influence of Britain and France. Palestine will have an international government. This agreement is in direct contravention of British assurances to Sherif Hussein of Mecca that Arabs will gain a restoration of land and autonomy.
Trois mélodies by Erik Satie to words of Fargue, Godebska, and Chalupt, are performed for the first time, in Paris on the eve of the composer’s 50th birthday.
17 May 1916 Advancing Austrians take Monte Maggio and Cima di Campulozzo from Italy.
18 May 1916 Austrians capture Zugna Torta and Linz from Italy.
19 May 1916 The Austrian offensive stalls momentarily as the Italians hold Monte Pasubio and Col Santo. But the Italians evacuate Monte Toraro, Monte Campolon, and Monte Melignone.
20 May 1916 Austro-Hungarian troops are forced to pause in their Trentino offensive after taking Cima di Leva and part of the Marcai Ridge.
Germans again fail to take Le Morte Homme at Verdun.
21 May 1916 Austrians take Monte Cost’alta and the Costesin Ridge south of Vezzana.
22 May 1916 After five days of artillery bombardment, French forces launch an assault on Ft. Douaumont at Verdun. Despite devastating German artillery, they manage to take most of the superstructure, but not the fort itself.
Three of the four Songs of Farewell by Hubert Parry (68) are performed for the first time, at the Royal College of Music, London.
Gordon Ware Binkerd is born in Lynch, Nebraska.
23 May 1916 German forces counterattack at Ft. Douaumont and succeed in killing or capturing all the French that made it inside yesterday.
24 May 1916 Austrian forces give up trying to take Monte Pasubio from the Italians.
25 May 1916 Austrian troops take Monte Cimone.
26 May 1916 Austrian forces capture Monte Kempel and move on towards Asiago.
Twelve years after its premiere in Brünn (Brno), Jenufa by Leos Janácek (61) is performed in the National Theatre in Prague for the first time. The evening is an enormous success, “probably the happiest day of my life.”
27 May 1916 The Austrian advance reaches Arsiero, where both sides begin making trenches.
Maurice Ravel (41) writes from the front: “Adelaide and I--Adelaide is my truck--escaped the shrapnel, but the poor dear couldn’t keep going and after losing her number plate in a danger zone where parking was forbidden, in despair she shed a wheel in a forest where I did a Robinson Crusoe for ten days until someone came to rescue me.”
US President Wilson proposes a “universal association of nations” to settle future disputes.
The first of the Six Choral Folk Songs op.36b by Gustav Holst (41) is performed for the first time, at Central High School for Girls, Newcastle-on-Tyne. See 16 April 1918.
28 May 1916 Royalist Greeks surrender the fort at Rupel to the Germans and Bulgarians, leaving open the route into eastern Macedonia. This causes many Royalist officers to go over to the pro-Allies side.
30 May 1916 A concert of the works of Erik Satie (50) and Enrique Granados (†0) takes place at the Paris home of Mme Bongard “for the benefit of artists affected by the War.” Satie performs his Avant-dernières pensées. The printed program is illustrated by Matisse and Picasso. Satie’s Trois Mélodies, to words of Fargue, Godebska, and Chalupt, are performed completely for the first time. See 18 April 1916.
31 May 1916 A major naval engagement between German and British fleets takes place off Jutland, costing 25 ships and 8,642 lives. It is a tactical German victory but the German fleet never again challenges the British.
1 June 1916 German forces begin a new assault at Verdun on the right bank of the Meuse. On the first day they manage to advance through the Caillette Woods and part of the Fumin Woods.
2 June 1916 Fighting rages through the day at Fort Vaux near Verdun. By nightfall, both sides claim part of the fort.
3 June 1916 German troops cut off Fort Vaux from the main French lines. Fighting continues in the darkened interior corridors of the fort.
The Allied commander in Thessaloniki orders all Greek officials out of the town, effectively imposing military control.
The US Congress approves the National Defense Act which includes an increase in the army of 27% over five years.
4 June 1916 Russian forces attack the Austro-Hungarians north of Dubno (Ukraine) near the Dneister River. The Austrians flee in panic.
French forces charge toward Fort Vaux but are fought off by the Germans. Inside the fort, Germans use flamethrowers in an attempt to dislodge the French within. It fails. At night, 300 French soldiers make it out of the fort, but most of them will be killed or captured.
5 June 1916 HMS Hampshire strikes a mine off the Orkneys and goes down with the loss of nearly all aboard, including Great Britain’s war minister, Lord Kitchener and his staff.
At Fort Vaux, Germans again use flamethrowers inside the fort but unexpected air currents turn the flames back on the Germans.
Ali and Feisal, sons of Sherif Hussein Ibn Ali, Amir of Mecca, begin an Arab revolt in Medina against Turkish rule. They lead 30,000 men but Turkish artillery at Medina routs them.
6 June 1916 President Yüan Shih-k’ai (Yuan Shikai) of China dies of uremia and is succeeded by Li Yuan-hung (Li Yuanhong).
Another French effort to relieve their comrades inside Fort Vaux near Verdun is cut to pieces by the Germans.
Russian forces attack the Austro-Hungarians along the Dniester around Czernelica (Chernelitsa, Ukraine), 150 km southeast of Lemberg (Lviv).
Hora mystica, a symphony by Charles Martin Loeffler (55), is performed for the first time, in Norfolk, Connecticut, the composer conducting.
7 June 1916 Fewer than 100 French survivors of Fort Vaux surrender to the Germans.
After the Ligue Nationale pour la Défense de la Musique Française desires to ban all music by German and Austrian composers not in the public domain, a truck driver in the French army named Maurice Ravel (41) writes to express his repugnance towards the idea, refusing to join the organization.
Sherif Husein ibn Ali declares the independence of Hejaz.
All Armenian deportees in the Aleppo (Halab) area are ordered to leave for Deir el-Zor.
8 June 1916 Unaware that Fort Vaux has surrendered, the French send a new relief effort. Again, they are cut to ribbons. Simultaneously, the Germans advance towards Fort Tavannes.
Belgian troops occupy Usumbura, German East Africa (Bujumbura, Burundi) on the northern end of Lake Tanganyika.
9 June 1916 Arab irregular forces attack the Turkish garrison at Mecca.
10 June 1916 Russian troops cross the Dniester moving southwest, but the Germans halt the Russian advance west of Dubno (Ukraine).
Italian forces halt the Austro-Hungarian attack toward Bassano after a 20 km advance. The offensive costs 250,000 casualties.
11 June 1916 Fantasy and Fugue op.135b for organ by Max Reger (†0) is performed for the first time, in Hannover.
12 June 1916 The Russian advance is stalled by a spirited Austro-Hungarian defense north of Lutsk, 135 km northeast of Lemberg (Lviv).
13 June 1916 The Turkish garrison at Mecca surrenders to the Arabs, although two smaller forts remain in Turkish hands.
15 June 1916 Austrians once again attack the Italians in Trentino at Monte Lemerle.
16 June 1916 German and Austro-Hungarian forces counterattack against the Russians between Lutsk and Kovel, 150 km northeast of Lemberg (Lviv), making little ground but suffering heavy casualties.
After allied bombing flights, the Turkish garrison at Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) surrenders to the Arabs.
Horatio Parker’s (52) masque Cupid and Psyche op.80 to words of Chapman is performed for the first time, in New Haven.
17 June 1916 The Austro-Hungarian offensive in the Trentino is effectively ended after an advance of about 20 km. Total casualties number 40,000 with 42,000 taken prisoner.
French defenders repulse German attacks on Le Morte Homme, Thiaumont, and Hill 320 at Verdun.
Russian forces capture Czernowitz (Chernivtsi, Ukraine) from the Austrians.
Two Old English Songs for string quartet by Frank Bridge (37) is performed for the first time, in Aeolian Hall, London.
19 June 1916 Paolo Boselli replaces Antonio Salandra as Prime Minister of Italy. Boselli is ousted amidst mounting criticism of the war.
British and South African troops march into Handeni, German East Africa (Tanzania), 125 km west of Tanga.
21 June1916 A joint British-French statement to King Konstantinos demands that Greece demobilize its reserves, hold new elections and dismiss officials opposed to the allies.
The 2/4 Field Ambulance of the Royal Army Medical Corps, containing orderly Ralph Vaughan Williams (43), is posted to France.
After repeated warnings, Mexican federal troops fire on an American force at Carrizal, 130 km south of El Paso, killing twelve people and capturing 23.
22 June 1916 Alexanderos Thrasivoulou Zaimis replaces Stephanos Skouloudis as Prime Minister of Greece. Zaimis accedes to the Allies’ demands, except the calling of new elections.
The Germans unleash phosgene gas at Verdun. It penetrates gas masks and kills every breathing creature along the French lines.
Ralph Vaughan Williams (43) crosses the channel with his unit, to Le Havre. Their destination is Maizières, near the Somme.
A song by George Gershwin (17), Making of a Girl, to words of Atteridge, is performed for the first time, as part of the revue The Passing Show of 1916 at the Winter Garden Theatre, New York.
23 June 1916 British forces begin a week of artillery bombardment along the Somme front. 1,700,000 shells will fall on the Germans.
05:00 The phosgene gas ceases and is replaced by artillery shelling at Verdun. Then 30,000 Germans go over the top on a five km front at Fleury. At the end of the day they take Fleury. Germans make further advances toward Verdun but French resistance stiffens.
24 June 1916 The French launch a massive counterattack at Fleury but the Germans hold.
Carl Nielsen’s (51) contribution to Prologue to the Shakespeare Memorial Celebrations by Rode is performed for the first time, at Elsinore.
25 June 1916 Tsar Nikolay II signs a conscription order for his Central Asian subjects, hitherto exempt. The uprising which follows will be brutally suppressed causing the deaths of perhaps 100,000 Kazakhs.
British forces defeat the Germans at Makunda on the Lukigura River (Tanzania).
28 June 1916 Italian forces reach Pedescala after taking Asiago, Posina, and Arsiero. The Austrians are in general retreat.
Concerto for cello and orchestra op.3 by Paul Hindemith (20) is performed for the first time, at the Hoch Conservatory, Frankfurt the composer making his conducting debut.
Three chamber works by Arnold Bax (32) are performed for the first time, in Aeolian Hall, London: Four Pieces for flute and piano (under the title Four Dances), Legend, and Ballad, both for violin and piano.
30 June 1916 Mexico releases the Carrizal prisoners of 21 June.
1 July 1916 07:28 A huge mine blows up the German positions near Beaumont-Hamel. Two minutes later the week-long bombardment of the Germans, consuming over 1,700,000 shells, stops. There is a moment of silence. Then 60,000 British and some French soldiers go over the top across a 25 km front along the Somme River, 130 km north of Paris just east of Amiens. 40,000 more will join the attack later in the day. They capture Montauban, two km past the German line, but lose 60,000 casualties on the first day of battle, the greatest number of losses in any one day in the history of the British army. Germans lose 8,000 total casualties. British attacks at Gommecourt, Beaumont-Hamel, Thiepval, and La Boiselle are repulsed with extremely heavy casualties. The offensive will last five months.
Turkish forces capture Kermanshah.
The State of Georgia grants a new charter to the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.
2 July 1916 A German counterattack at Montaubon fails. In the evening, the Germans evacuate the Flaucourt Plateau.
4 July 1916 Russian forces launch an attack west toward Kovel (Ukraine).
British troops continue advancing in La Boiselle.
5 July 1916 British and Indian troops enter Tanga, German East Africa (Tanzania), on the Indian Ocean, 200 km north of Dar-es-Salaam. It was evacuated by the Germans.
The massacre of Armenian soldiers in the Turkish army begins in Sivas and will continue until 26 July. 7,000 people will be killed at the rate of about 300 per day.
Due to the presence of polio in the city, children under 16 are banned from all theatres in New York.
6 July 1916 After Dominican rebels surrender in return for amnesty, US troops occupy the city of Santiago.
7 July 1916 British and German troops battle in the Mametz Wood. The Germans hold.
8 July 1916 Conscription of non-Russians causes riots in Turkestan and Kazakhstan. Thousands are killed.
The Russian offensive begun 4 July crosses the Stokhod River but is stopped 40 km east of Kovel (Ukraine).
9 July 1916 Mihály Károlyi forms the Party of Independence, a democratic, anti-German party advocating that Hungary conclude a separate peace with the Allies.
10 July 1916 Leftist leader Rosa Luxemburg is arrested in Germany for sedition.
According to Zdenka Janáckova, Leos Janácek (62) returns home to Brünn (Brno) from Prague and begins to berate her as the cause of all his troubles and an obstacle to his creativity. Tonight she takes an overdose of Veronal and morphine. She will be hospitalized for a week but will survive.
11 July 1916 The Germans use phosgene gas once again at Verdun but the French have been equipped with new gas masks. The ensuing German attack is cut to pieces.
The first three of the Six poèmes for voice and piano by Arthur Honegger (24) are performed for the first time, in Salle Oedenkoven, Paris. See 15 January 1918.
12 July 1916 British forces succeed in clearing Mametz Wood, four-and-a-half km past the German lines on the Somme.
13 July 1916 The British temporarily pierce the German line at Bezantin Ridge on the Somme. They advance about five-and-a-half km.
Camille Saint-Saëns (80) gives a concert in the Solis Theatre, Montevideo.
14 July 1916 The French drive the Germans back to their starting points of 11 July and stalemate ensues again.
British troops take Mwanza, a German port on Lake Tanganyika.
Tristan Tzara declares the first “manifesto” of Dada, in Zürich and their first public show takes place.
Kazakhs riot against conscription near Zaysan on the Chinese border.
15 July 1916 Russian troops take Baiburt, 125 km northwest of Erzurum.
Russian forces begin a month-long advance against Austro-Hungarians east of Lemberg (Lviv). They take thousands of prisoners.
South African troops capture Delville Wood, five km past the German lines on the Somme.
Claude Debussy (53) is ordered by the court to pay 30,000 francs as a down payment for his ex-wife’s alimony. He has not paid it for six years.
William Boeing and George Conrad Westervelt found Pacific Aero Products in Seattle. Next year, the name will be changed to Boeing Airplane Company.
16 July 1916 More riots by Kazakhs take place in Zaysan and Karkaralinsk (Qarqaraly, Kazakhstan). Local Russian officials are killed. 2,000 Russian settlers are killed near Verny (Almaty, Kazakhstan).
17 July 1916 British troops take Waterlot Farm and the German fortress of Ovillers on the Somme front.
18 July 1916 Russian forces take Gumushkane, southwest of Trebizond.
The British government publishes a list of 427 western hemisphere companies who they say do business with the Central Powers. British subjects are ordered to cease all intercourse with these firms.
Trois poèmes op.37 for voice and piano by Darius Milhaud (23) to words of Maynell and Rosetti, is performed for the first time, in Salle d’Antin, Paris.
19 July 1916 British forces begin a new attack at Loos. They meet heavy German resistance and only a small Australian force manages to hold onto gains through the night.
20 July 1916 Russian forces take Ardasa, southwest of Trebizond.
British and French troops attack between Pozières and Foucaucourt on the Somme front. They advance 275 meters at heavy cost. German forces retake Delville Wood on the Somme from the South Africans. Only Australians at Pozières manage to make decisive gains. Author Robert Graves is severely wounded by artillery. Left for dead, he will miraculously survive.
22 July 1916 A bomb explodes in the Preparation Day Parade in San Francisco. Ten people are killed and 40 injured. Thomas Mooney and Warren Billings, socialists and pacifists innocent of the crime, will be sentenced to life imprisonment.
23 July 1916 Anzac troops capture Pozières, three km past the German line on the Somme, although the general attack fails.
All Armenian clerics in the Hawran district are murdered by Turkish authorities. Armenian medical personnel in the Turkish army at Sivas are told to convert to Islam. Almost all refuse. They are immediately killed.
The Wolf’s Trail for female chorus and piano by Leos Janácek (62) to words of Vrchlicky, is performed for the first time, in Luhacovice.
25 July 1916 Russian forces capture Erzingian, 180 km west of Erzurum, virtually destroying a Turkish army.
27 July 1916 The Turkish garrison at Yenbo (Yanbu' al Bahr, Saudi Arabia) surrenders to Arabs.
Camille Saint-Saëns (80) boards ship in Argentina making for Lisbon.
28 July 1916 Belgian troops capture Kigoma, German East Africa (Tanzania) on the northern end of Lake Tanganyika.
Russian forces capture Brody (Ukraine) and attack along the Dniester.
30 July 1916 02:08 A major explosion, probably created by German saboteurs, occurs on Black Tom Island off Jersey City, New Jersey, followed by several smaller explosions over the next few hours. The island is a depot currently holding thousands of tons of explosives for shipment to the Allies. The explosion is so great that the Statue of Liberty sustains $100,000 damage from the shrapnel and Ellis Island is evacuated.
Ernst Bloch (36) arrives in New York for the first time, as conductor for the dance tour of Maud Allan, eight days out of Liverpool.
1 August 1916 The Interior Ministry of the Ottoman Empire abolishes the legal rights of the Armenian community on the grounds that there is no longer any Armenian community.
2 August 1916 Australian troops continue to push north of Pozières.
Belgian troops capture Ujiji, German East Africa (Tanzania) on the northern end of Lake Tanganyika.
3 August 1916 Irish revolutionary Roger Casement is hanged by the British in London.
4 August 1916 Italian artillery attacks the Austrians near Monfalcone to begin the Sixth Battle of the Isonzo.
A treaty for the purchase of the Danish West Indies by the United States for $25,000,000 is signed in New York.
5 August 1916 French forces recapture Thiaumont at Verdun.
George Butterworth, 31-year-old English composer, is killed in action near Pozières on the Somme.
6 August 1916 Turkish forces recapture Bitlis, 210 km south of Erzurum, from the Russians.
Russian forces advance to within six km of Lemberg (Lviv).
The Sixth Battle of the Isonzo begins in earnest with Italian forces attacking Austro-Hungarians near Görz (Gorizia). In less than an hour they take Monte Sabotino and 8,000 prisoners. They also capture Monte San Michele and the village of San Martino.
8 August 1916 Italian forces capture Görz (Gorizia)
German troops recapture Thiaumont at Verdun.
15,000 Armenian deportees are sent from Aleppo (Halab) into the Syrian desert.
9 August 1916 Advancing Italians reach the Vippacco River.
British and Anzac troops attack the Turks at Bir el Abd. The spirited Turkish defense forces them to withdraw to Oghratina.
11 August 1916 Jean Cocteau and Erik Satie (50) sign a postcard to Valentine Gross, informing her of an important development: “Picasso is doing Parade with us.”
12 August 1916 Advancing Italians break the Austrian lines on the Carso Plateau and take Nad Logem and Opacchiasella.
Turkish forces abandon Bir el Abd and withdraw to El Arish.
Today’s issue of Musical America includes a long article about newly arrived Ernest Bloch (36) written by Bernard Rogers (23).
17 August 1916 A treaty is signed in Bucharest committing Romania to an alliance with the Allies. In return for the ceding of Transylvania and an Allied advance from Thessaloniki, they agree to attack Austria-Hungary no later than 28 August.
Italian commanders call a halt to their successful Isonzo offensive. They have advanced five km over a 20 km front. There have been 100,000 total casualties.
Bulgarian forces attack down the Kenali Valley and seize the Florina railway station. Another group advances into Macedonia. Simultaneously, German forces attack southwest of Lake Doran.
18 August 1916 British troops capture Guillemont on the Somme front.
19 August 1916 Strikebreakers hired by the Everett Mills in Seattle attack strikers in Everett, Washington. Watching police refuse to intervene in the melee, claiming that it is on federal property. When the strikers retaliate in the evening, police move in.
20 August 1916 Bulgarians force their way across the Struma River at Orlyak against the French, but are then stopped by the British. At Lake Ostrovo, Serbians slow the Bulgarian advance.
24 August 1916 French forces capture Maurepas on the Somme front.
26 August 1916 Italy declares war on Germany.
The Bulgarian offensive in Serbia is halted.
Indian and Rhodesian troops enter Morogoro on the central railway 175 km west of Dar-es-Salaam, German East Africa (Tanzania) as the Germans retreat east.
Romania declares war on Austria-Hungary and Germany during the day and launches an attack at night into Transylvania.
29 August 1916 After a collision with another vessel, the SS Hsin Yu sinks off the coast of China taking about 1,000 people with her.
Romanian forces capture Brasov, Petroseni, and Kezdiasarhely.
Pro-Allies Greeks stage a coup in Thessaloniki and force out all officers loyal to King Konstantinos. They are aided by the French commander.
The US Congress authorizes funds for building 156 naval vessels over the next three years.
30 August 1916 Germany declares war on Romania.
German businessman Auguste Bernau arrives in Meskene on a covert mission to bring aid to the Armenians. He has been helped by American diplomats. He estimates that in Meskene alone there are 60,000 Armenian dead.
31 August 1916 Arturo Toscanini conducts a military band on the top of Monte Santo after it was captured by Italian troops. He will be awarded a medal for courage under fire.
Pro-Allied army officers called “National Defense” declare open rebellion in Greece.
1 September 1916 Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire declare war on Romania. Combined German, Bulgarian, and Turkish forces attack Romania.
The Keating-Owen law is passed by the US Congress, banning children from interstate commerce.
2 September 1916 Prestami tua moglie, an operetta by Ruggero Leoncavallo (59) to words of Corradi, is performed for the first time, at the Montecatini Casino. It enjoys a good success.
This night Zeppelins raid England dropping 500 bombs from Gravesend, east of London, to Peterborough. Four people are killed, twelve injured. One Zeppelin, Schutte-Lanz S.L. 11, is shot down over London by a British airplane.
3 September 1916 A British and French attack meets heavy resistance and heavy casualties on the Somme front. The British advance at Guillemont and the French take Foret and much of Clery.
German, Bulgarian, and Turkish forces attack into the Dobrudja region of Romania.
British forces capture Dar-es-Salaam in German East Africa.
US President Woodrow Wilson signs the Adamson Act mandating an eight-hour day for railroad workers.
4 September 1916 British troops take Guillemont.
6 September 1916 Romanian troops take Hermannstadt (Sibiu), capital of Transylvania.
7 September 1916 60,000 more Armenian deportees are reported killed by Turkish authorities in the area of Deir el-Zor.
The US Congress approves the Federal Employees Compensation Act, extending workmen’s compensation to federal employees.
9 September 1916 After two months of an offensive along the Somme, British forces take Ginchy, six km from their original line.
Forces of the Central Powers take Silistria, Romania.
10 September 1916 French and Serbian forces break out of Thessaloniki, advancing north.
11 September 1916 Claude Debussy (54) departs Paris for Moulleau, still recovering from his operation last December.
12 September 1916 Allied forces begin an offensive against Bulgarians in Macedonia. Serbian troops take the foothills of Mount Kajmakcalan but the French make no headway at Monastir (Bitola, Macedonia).
13 September 1916 British forces attack the Germans at Machukovo, Macedonia. The attacks fail with heavy losses.
March! March! for chorus and orchestra by Arthur Farwell (44) is performed for the first time, in Central Park, New York.
14 September 1916 Italians and Austro-Hungarians battle each other along the Isonzo River for the seventh time. The Italian assault gains San Grado di Merna.
15 September 1916 The British army introduces the tank to human warfare as they attempt a “breakthrough” in the Somme between Bouleaux Wood and Mouquet Farm. Of the 49 tanks, only 18 manage to make it into No Man’s Land. They advance a few kilometers and take Flers and Courcelette. Raymond Asquith, son of the British Prime Minister, is killed in action.
Humoresque Scherzo for bassoon quartet by Sergey Prokofiev (25) is performed for the first time, in Petrograd.
16 September 1916 German troops attack Russians on a line between Rasova and Tuzla.
French forces break through the Bulgarian lines and capture Boresnica. The Bulgarians retreat toward Florina.
German forces counterattack on the Somme. They make no headway but they do halt the British advance.
Romanian forces take Baraoltu.
Italian troops take Monte Rombon but are forced to withdraw. The Italian leadership calls off the offensive.
Nikolaos Spirisonou Kalogeropoulos replaces Alexanderos Thrasivoulou Zaimis as Prime Minister of Greece.
17 September 1916 French and Russian forces take Florina, Macedonia.
Choral Fantasia for organ by William Walton (14) is performed for the first time, in the Cathedral Church of Christ the King, Oxford.
19 September 1916 German forces begin an offensive against Romania east of Hermannstadt (Sibiu) driving towards Petroseni.
Serbian troops take the eastern peak of Mount Kajmakcalan, Macedonia.
After ten days of fighting, Belgian troops enter Tabora, German East Africa (Tanzania), 140 km west of Dar-es-Salaam.
22 September 1916 Ghalib Pasha, Turkish governor-general of Hejaz, surrenders the garrison of At Taif to Arabs under Abdullah ibn Hussein.
23 September 1916 Twelve Zeppelins bomb London creating major fires in the east end. The British manage to destroy two of the invading aircraft.
25 September 1916 Aircraft from the Central Powers bomb Bucharest.
Eleftherios Venizelos, aided by the French, goes from Piraeus to Crete to raise a revolt.
British and French forces take Morval and Lesboeufs on the Somme.
Having effectively “moved out” of their house in Brünn (Brno), Leos Janácek (62) sends a note to his wife Zdenka, “Spare me and spare yourself. I’m in such an excited state that I can’t talk to you calmly about our affairs. Dr. Rudis (his lawyer) will visit you at 11 tomorrow.” (Tyrrell II, 104) The two have been feuding over Janácek’s liaison with the singer Gabriela Horvátová.
26 September 1916 Bulgarian troops force the Serbians off of the summit of Mount Kajmakcalan.
German forces take Turturkai and 25,000 Romanian prisoners.
Canadian forces take Thiepval on the Somme.
Two Old English Songs for strings by Frank Bridge (37) is performed for the first time, in Queen’s Hall, the composer conducting.
27 September 1916 Zauditu, daughter of Menelik II, replaces Iyasu V and becomes Empress of Ethiopia under regency.
28 September 1916 Canadians advance north of Courcelette and Thiepval. Allied troops take Combles and Gueudecourt.
Theme and Variations for flute and string quartet op.80 by Amy Cheney Beach (49) is performed for the first time, in San Francisco. The composer is not present, having left California for home about 6 August.
29 September 1916 German forces take Hermannstadt (Sibiu) sending the Romanians into headlong retreat.
30 September 1916 Serbian forces retake the eastern and western peaks of Mount Kajmakcalan.
The Hell Gate railroad bridge over the East River in New York is opened to traffic. Designed by Gustav Lindenthal, at 297.9 meters, it is the longest steel arch in the world.
1 October 1916 At Austro-Hungarian army headquarters in Graz, Anton von Webern (32) fails an eye examination, thereby disqualifying him for front-line service.
British troops attack at the Transloy Ridges on the Somme.
2 October 1916 A combined French and Russian force drives Bulgarians from their positions on San Marco.
3 October 1916 Advancing Germans force Romanians back across the Danube and to the Transylvania-Romania border.
4 October 1916 The German charge d’affaires in Constantinople, Wilhelm Radowitz, reports to his government that 1,175,000 Armenians have been killed by the Turks. He further states that 325,000 are still alive.
A revised version of Ariadne auf Naxos, an opera by Richard Strauss (52) to words of Hoffmannsthal, is performed for the first time, at the Vienna Court Opera. This one is received cautiously at first, but will soon replace the original. See 25 October 1912.
Water Colors, a song cycle for voice and piano by John Alden Carpenter (40) to words of Chinese poets, is performed completely for the first time, in Chicago the composer at the keyboard. See 21 November 1920.
6 October 1916 French and Russian attacks are stopped by Bulgarians at Florina. Serbians have some success along the Crna between Brod and Scacevir.
7 October 1916 From a hospital bed in Châlons-sur-Marne, army ambulance driver Maurice Ravel (41) writes that during the previous week, he has been operated on for dysentery.
8 October 1916 German submarine U-53 sinks five merchant ships (three British, one Dutch, one Norwegian) off the coast of Rhode Island.
9 October 1916 Count Mutsatake Terauchi replaces Marquis Shigenobu Okuma as Prime Minister of Japan.
Eleftherios Venizelos arrives in Thessaloniki to establish a pro-Allies provisional government and to raise an army.
10 October 1916 Tsar Nikolay II suspends the Mogilev offensive. It has cost 1,412,000 Russian casualties.
15:00 Italians and Austro-Hungarians battle each other along the Isonzo River for the eighth time. Italians attack east of Gorizia and the Vertojbica River towards Nad Logem and Monte San Marco.
The Allies send an ultimatum to King Konstantinos demanding that he surrender the Greek fleet.
Spyridon Pavlou Lambros replaces Nikolaos Spirisonou Kalogeropoulos as Prime Minister of Greece.
11 October 1916 The Greek government accedes to the Allied demands of 10 October.
Unable to have children of their own, Charles (41) and Harmony Ives formally adopt two-year-old Edith Osborne.
12 October 1916 Italian forces take a major salient between the Vippacco River and Hudilog along with 8,200 Austrian prisoners. The offensive is suspended due to bad weather.
Italians capture the Cosmagon Alps and Monte Roite in Trentino.
Masques op.34, a piano work by Karol Szymanowski (34), is performed for the first time, in Petrograd.
Juan Hipólito del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús Yrigoyen Alem replaces Victorino de la Plaza y Palacios as President of Argentina.
13 October 1916 Austrian troops attack Romanians for the first time, in the Trotus River valley, but make no headway.
15 October 1916 French and Russian troops attack again in Macedonia but make little headway.
Allied units occupy Athens.
16 October 1916 Margaret Sanger, Fania Mendell, and Ethel Byrne open America’s first birth control clinic, in Brooklyn. It will be closed in ten days and the women imprisoned.
Five of the Six Songs op.86 by Jean Sibelius (50) to words of Tavaststjerna, Karlfeldt, and Snoilsky, are performed for the first time, in Helsinki.
19 October 1916 French forces begin a new offensive to capture Ft. Douaumont at Verdun.
20 October 1916 German forces capture Tuzla.
Serbian troops take Brod.
After recurrent asthma attacks, Arnold Schoenberg (42) is discharged from the Austro-Hungarian army.
21 October 1916 Chancellor Karl, Count Stürgkh of Austria-Hungary is shot to death in a Vienna hotel restaurant by Friedrich Adler, son of the founder of Austria’s Social Democratic Party.
Horatio Parker’s (53) stage work An Allegory of War and Peace op.81, to words of Markoe, for chorus and band is performed for the first time, in the Yale Bowl, New Haven.
22 October 1916 Romanian and Russian troops retreat to a line between Constanta and Cernavoda.
23 October 1916 After French artillery hits an ammunition store in Ft. Douaumont, setting off a great explosion, German commanders order the evacuation of the fort.
24 October 1916 After five days of artillery bombardment, French troops go over the top at Verdun. They retake Fort Douaumont and overrun German lines around Fleury. 6,000 Germans are captured.
Capt. TE Lawrence meets Feisal ibn Hussein in the hills of Al Hamra overlooking Yanbu al Bahr. Lawrence identifies Feisal as the man to lead the Arab revolt.
25 October 1916 The German advance into Romania is stalled by strong defenses at Targu Jiu and Curtea de Arges along with approaching winter.
A German attack against South Africans at Iringa, German East Africa, is repulsed.
26 October 1916 Germans counterattack four times against French gains at Verdun, without success.
27 October 1916 Another German counterattack at Verdun fails as the French move 350 meters beyond Ft. Douaumont.
In Variety, an article appears describing “Jass” bands. This is perhaps the first printed use of the word to describe music.
30 October 1916 After months of beatings during a strike, 41 IWW members are beaten by local authorities in Everett, Washington and then taken to Beverly Park where they are forced to run a gauntlet of clubs and whips.
31 October 1916 Ernst von Koerber replaces Karl, Count Stürgkh as Prime Minister of Austria.
1 November 1916 11:00 Austro-Hungarians and Italians battle each other along the Isonzo River for the ninth time. After a week of on and off artillery bombardment, Italians attack and break through the Austrian lines.
2 November 1916 French forces retake Ft. de Veaux at Verdun after a six-day bombardment.
Erik Satie (50) gives his first public lecture, “Les animaux dans la musique.”
3 November 1916 William Walton (14) wins the Composition Prize and the History Prize at the choir school at Oxford.
4 November 1916 The Ninth Battle of the Isonzo concludes with the Italians having advanced five km on the Carso Plateau.
In Mecca, Sherif Hussein is crowned King of the Arabs.
5 November 1916 The emperors of Germany and Austria-Hungary proclaim the Kingdom of Poland as a hereditary, constitutional monarchy. It is a fraction of the size of 18th century Poland, consisting mostly of the formerly Russian parts. They proclaim a joint protectorate over the new kingdom.
Incidental music to Hoffmannsthal’s play Everyman (tr. Jalkanen) by Jean Sibelius (50), for chorus, piano, organ, and orchestra, is performed for the first time, at the Finnish National Theatre, Helsinki.
About 300 members of the Industrial Workers of the World meet in Seattle and then board two boats for Everett, Washington to support local striking shingle workers. About 200 armed vigilantes, led by the local sheriff, attempt to keep the first boat from landing. A gun battle ensues. The captain is able to reverse the boat and speed back to Seattle, warning the other boat in the process. At least seven people are killed, with 45-50 injured. 73 IWW members will be arrested but none are ever convicted.
6 November 1916 The Six Songs op.38 of Sergey Rakhmaninov (43) are performed for the first time, in Moscow, the composer at the piano.
7 November 1916 Voting in the United States ensures the reelection of President Woodrow Wilson over former Supreme Court Justice Charles Evans Hughes. Republicans gain several seats in the House of Representatives and end up with one more seat than the Democrats but not a majority. They organize the House in coalition with three members of the Progressive Party. Wilson’s Democrats lose two seats in the Senate but maintain a majority. Voters in Montana elect Jeannette Rankin as the first female member of the United States Congress.
10 November 1916 Fünf Lieder op.26 for voice and piano by Hans Pfitzner (47) is performed for the first time, in Strasbourg.
11 November 1916 German forces begin an offensive, crashing through Romanian defenses in Wallachia.
13 November 1916 British forces capture Beaumont-Harmel and Beaucourt-sur-Ancre along the Somme. Frederick Septimus Kelly, a 35-year-old Australian pianist and composer, is killed in action there. Also killed in action is Hugh Hector Munro, who wrote short stories under the name Saki.
The Sheikhdom of Qatar is made a protectorate of Great Britain.
Daniel Chennevière (Dane Rudhyar) (21) arrives in New York, via Spain.
14 November 1916 German troops capture Caineni, Romania.
Max Aitken (later Baron Beaverbrook) buys a controlling interest in the Daily Express.
15 November 1916 German forces take Targu Jiu, Romania.
17 November 1916 The original version of Frederick Delius’ (54) String Quartet is performed for the first time, in Aeolian Hall, London. See 1 February 1919.
Sonata no.2 for cello and piano by Heitor Villa-Lobos (29) is performed for the first time, in the Salão Nobre, Rio de Janeiro.
18 November 1916 British forces move 900 meters beyond Beaucourt and Beaumont Hamel. This action effectively ends the Somme offensive. After four-and-a-half months of fighting, the British have pushed back the German line ten to eleven kilometers. The offensive has cost 1,100,000 total casualties.
19 November 1916 French and Serbian forces capture Monastir, Serbia (Bitola, Macedonia), but their offensive stalls, at a cost of 110,000 casualties.
Allied governments present another ultimatum to King Konstantinos of Greece, that all representatives of the Central Powers be expelled and all war materiel be turned over to Allied forces.
Trois Valses distinguées du précieux dégoûté for piano by Erik Satie (50) is performed for the first time, at the Société Lyre et Palette as part of an exhibition of paintings including works by Matisse and Picasso.
Arturo Toscanini directs a concert featuring the work of Richard Wagner (†33) in the Teatro Augusteo, Rome. After a selection from Siegried he begins the Funeral March from Götterdämmerung. Towards the beginning, a voice in the audience cries out, “This is for the dead of Padua!” referring to a recent air raid on the city which killed hundreds. Although the young man who said it did not intend it this way, the audience takes it as an attack on the music and joins in with a chorus of nationalistic disdain directed towards the stage. Toscanini attempts to calm them by playing the national anthem but nothing works. The performance is abandoned, and Toscanini will leave Rome tomorrow.
21 November 1916 22:00 Franz Josef, Emperor of Austria, Archduke of Austria, King Ferenc József I of Hungary, King Frantisek Joseph I of Bohemia, dies at Schloss Schönbrunn, and is succeeded by his great-nephew as Emperor Karl I, Archduke Karl IV of Austria, King Károly IV of Hungary, King Karel III of Bohemia.
22 November 1916 Jack London dies in Glen Ellen, California at the age of 40.
23 November 1916 A combined force of Germans, Austro-Hungarians, Bulgarians, and Turks crosses the Danube and capture Zimricea.
Alyeksandr Fyodorovich Trepov replaces Boris Vladimirovich Stürmer as Prime Minister of Russia.
Two piano works by Gabriel Fauré (71), the Barcarolle no.12 op.106 and the Nocturne no.12 op.107, are performed for the first time, at the Concerts Durand, Paris. Also on the program is the premiere of Elégie op.143 for violin and piano by Camille Saint-Saëns (81), the composer at the keyboard.
The provisional government of Greece at Thessaloniki, under Eleutherios Venizelos, declares war on Germany and Bulgaria.
26 November 1916 A 25-member Council of State, appointed by Germany and made up entirely of conservatives, begins functioning as the government of the Kingdom of Poland.
28 November 1916 Wind o’ the Westland, a song for voice and piano by Amy Cheney Beach (49) to words of Burnett, is performed for the first time, in New York.
29 November 1916 The United States announces its official occupation of the Dominican Republic and the declaration of a US military government. US troops landed in May.
30 November 1916 The government of King Konstantinos of Greece rejects the Allied ultimatum of 19 November. Allied troops begin disembarking at Piraeus.
1 December 1916 Romanian forces begin a counterattack against the Germans.
After a skirmish in Athens between Allied troops and Greek sailors and marines, the Allies re-embark their forces.
3 December 1916 The Romanian counterattack begun 1 December is crushed. King Ferdinand of Romania and his government flee Bucharest and go to Iasi, capital of Moldavia.
5 December 1916 The Reichstag approves the Patriotic Service Law. All German men from 17-60 are required to work in the war industry.
Gustav Holst’s (42) chamber opera Savitri op.25, to words of the composer after the Mahabharata, is performed for the first time, in Wellington Hall, St. John’s Wood, London.
Moy Mell: An Irish Tone Poem for two pianos by Arnold Bax (33) is performed for the first time, in Aeolian Hall, London.
7 December 1916 German forces occupy Bucharest, abandoned by the Romanian army.
8 December 1916 Allied ships begin a blockade of Greece.
10 December 1916 David Lloyd George replaces Herbert Henry Asquith as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
10 December 1916 Three works by Sergey Prokofiev (25) are performed for the first time, in Petrograd: Five Poems for voice and piano op.23 to words of Balmont, Sarcasms for piano op.17 and Toccata op.11 for piano.
The Sonata for flute, viola, and harp by Claude Debussy (54) is performed for the first time, privately, at the Paris home of Jacques Durand. See 9 March 1917.
12 December 1916 Germany calls for peace negotiations. The Allies call the German offer empty and insincere. In response to President Wilson’s call for a League of Nations, the Allies demand restorations, reparations, and indemnities.
The nine Etudes-Tableaux op.39 for piano by Sergey Rakhmaninov (43) are performed for the first time, in Petrograd, by the composer.
The Chivalry of the Sea, an ode for chorus and orchestra by Hubert Parry (68) to words of Bridges, is performed for the first time, in London.
13 December 1916 A new offensive in Mesopotamia begins with a British bombardment of Sannaiyat near Al Kut.
14 December 1916 Etudes by Claude Debussy (53) are performed for the first time, by the Société National de Musique, Paris.
15 December 1916 By this date, French forces have retaken most of the German gains at Verdun. The final French attack takes Louvemont and Bezonvaux, extending the line five km beyond Ft. Douaumont. The ten months of fighting at Verdun has caused 714,000 casualties and used 37,000,000 shells.
Toccata et Variations for piano by Arthur Honegger (24) is performed for the first time, in Salle Oedenkoven, Paris.
16 December 1916 The United Kingdom recognizes the Sherif of Mecca as King of Hejaz, independent of the Ottoman Empire.
18 December 1916 US President Wilson asks all belligerents to state their war objectives, as a first step towards peace.
Eight Waltzes op.6 for piano duet by Paul Hindemith (21) is performed for the first time, in Frankfurt-am-Main.
19 December 1916 Lullay My Liking for soprano and chorus, and Terly Terlow for chorus, oboe, and cello by Gustav Holst (42) to anonymous words, are performed for the first time, in Aeolian Hall, London.
The first two of the Three Tone Pictures op.5 arranged for woodwinds and harp by Charles T. Griffes (32) are performed for the first time, in Cort Theatre, New York. See 3 April 1914 and 4 June 1920.
20 December 1916 Heinrich, Count Clam-Martinitz replaces Ernst von Koerber as Prime Minister of Austria.
21 December 1916 British forces take El Arish, 150 km southwest of Jerusalem, without opposition.
Anton von Webern (33) is declared unfit for military service due to deficient eyesight.
Incidental music to Martínez Sierra’s play Navidad by Joaquín Turina (34) is performed for the first time, in Teatro Eslava de Madrid.
When US Secretary of State Robert Lansing announces that the country is being drawn into the war, the volume of trade on the New York Stock Exchange reaches a 15-year high.
23 December 1916 Anton von Webern (33) is discharged from military service.
Turkish troops at Magdhaba, south of El Arish in the Sinai, surrender to the British after a daylong battle.
26 December 1916 Germany responds to President Wilson’s request for war objectives by not stating them, but iterating that they are willing to meet with other belligerents on neutral ground.
Golden Lane, the first of the Songs of Hradcany by Leos Janácek (62) for soprano, female chorus, flute, and harp, to words of Procházka, is performed for the first time, in Smetana Hall, Prague.
27 December 1916 Great Britain and France divide the German Togoland Colony between them.
29 December 1916 Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce is published in New York. The work has been serialized by Ezra Pound in The Egoist.
Lili Boulanger (23) records in her diary, “I am so tired that I can’t get up...I am so ill I can hardly eat.”
30 December 1916 Emperor Karl I is crowned King Charles IV of Hungary and Croatia in Budapest.
Grand Duke Purishkevich and Prince Felix Yusupov poison the mysterious confidant of the Tsarina, Father Grigori Yefimovich Novykh (Rasputin) at Yusupov’s home in Petrograd. After this attempt at murder fails, the pair shoot Rasputin and drop his body through the ice of the River Neva, where it will be recovered 2 January. An autopsy will reveal the cause of death as drowning.
String Quartet no.1 by Ernest Bloch (36) is performed for the first time, in New York. It is very successful.
31 December 1916 The Allies respond unfavorably to Germany’s peace offer.
©2004-2011 Paul Scharfenberger
17 September 2011
Last Updated (Monday, 19 September 2011 08:33)