1922
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1 January 1922 Belgium institutes official bilinguilism.
4 January 1922 After two months in the United States, Richard Strauss (57) sails for England where he will conduct the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester.
Representatives of Belgium, France, and Great Britain meet at Cannes to discuss what to do about the inability of Germany to make reparation payments.
7 January 1922 The Dail Eireann votes 64-57-3 to ratify the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921. This essentially creates the Irish Free State.
The Quatre Poèmes for baritone, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and trumpet by Francis Poulenc to words of Jacob, is performed for the first time, in Paris under the baton of Darius Milhaud (29), on the composer’s 23rd birthday. The work will be destroyed by Poulenc.
Sonata for two flutes op.75 by Charles Koechlin (54) is performed for the first time, in Salle des agriculteurs, Paris.
8 January 1922 A suspect plebiscite in Vilna (Vilnius) votes to join Poland.
9 January 1922 The Four Orchestral Pieces op.12 by Béla Bartók (40) are performed for the first time, in Budapest.
10 January 1922 Arthur Griffith is named to head a provisional government for Ireland until elections can be held.
Two works for voice and piano by Aaron Copland (21) are performed for the first time, in the Salle des agriculteurs, Paris, the composer at the piano: Old Poem, to anonymous Chinese words (tr. Waley), and Pastorale to anonymous Kafiristan words (tr. Matthews).
Quatre poèmes de Paul Claudel pour baryton op.26 for voice and piano by Darius Milhaud (29) is performed completely for the first time, in Paris.
11 January 1922 At Toronto General Hospital, 14-year-old Leonard Thompson becomes the first human being to receive an injection of insulin as a treatment for diabetes. It is administered by James Collip, who has been brought in by Frederick Banting and Charles Best who developed the insulin. Young Leonard develops an allergic reaction because the insulin is so impure. Collip returns to work refining it.
13 January 1922 The conference of Cannes concludes. Belgium, France, and Great Britain agree to postpone German reparation payments until the economic situation in Germany stabilizes.
14 January 1922 Guatemala secedes from the Federation of Central America.
15 January 1922 Raymond Nicolas Landry Poincaré replaces Aristide Briand as Prime Minister of France.
16 January 1922 A provisional government for the Irish Free State takes office under Chairman Michael Collins.
17 January 1922 Ion I. Constantin Bratianu replaces Dumitru Take Ionescu as Prime Minister of Romania.
A sound-on-film motion picture is presented at the Alhambra Theater, Berlin.
Edgard Varèse (37) marries Louise McCutcheon Norton, a translator and philology student, in a civil ceremony in New York’s City Hall.
Premier Menuet for piano by Erik Satie (55) is performed for the first time, in Salle de La Ville l’Evêque, Paris.
18 January 1922 Author Liam O’Flaherty and several other Republicans take over the Rotunda in Dublin and hold the building for several days.
Eight Improvisations on Hungarian Peasant Songs op.20 by Béla Bartók (40) is performed completely for the first time, in Budapest. See 27 February 1921.
20 January 1922 Skating Rink, a ballet by Arthur Honegger (29) to a scenario by Canudo, is performed for the first time, at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Paris.
Krazy Kat, a jazz pantomime by John Alden Carpenter (45), is staged for the first time, in Town Hall, New York. See 23 December 1922.
Word Songs, a song cycle by Karol Szymanowski (39) to words of Tuwim, is performed for the first time, in New York.
22 January 1922 Sergey Rakhmaninov (48) receives his first American honor, a DMus from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.
Pope Benedict XV, Giacomo Giambattista, marchese della Chiesa, dies of pneumonia in Rome.
23 January 1922 At Toronto General Hospital, 14-year-old Leonard Thompson receives an injection of refined insulin by James Collip. In 24 hours his blood glucose falls to normal levels and he begins to gain weight. It is the first successful treatment for diabetes. The developers of insulin, Canadian scientists JJR Macleod and Frederick Banting will receive the Nobel Prize for their work. They share their prize with the two others who worked on the project, James Collip and Charles Best.
24 January 1922 Symphony no.5 by Carl Nielsen (56) is performed for the first time, in Copenhagen, conducted by the composer.
Des Todes Tod for voice and orchestra by Paul Hindemith (26) to words of Reinacher is performed for the first time, privately, in Berlin. See 7 March 1922.
Façade, for reciter and six players by William Walton (19) to words of Sitwell, is performed for the first time, privately, at the Sitwells’ house in Chelsea, the composer conducting. See 12 June 1923.
25 January 1922 Acht Lieder nach verschiedenen Dichten op.18 by Paul Hindemith (26) are performed for the first time, in Berlin.
26 January 1922 Symphony no.3 “Pastoral” by Ralph Vaughan Williams (49) is performed for the first time, in Queen’s Hall, London.
27 January 1922 Von deutscher Seele op.28, a cantata by Hans Pfitzner (52) to words of Eichendorff, is performed for the first time, in Berlin.
29 January 1922 La sensitiva for mezzo-soprano and orchestra by Ottorino Respighi (42) to words of Shelley is performed for the first time, in Prague.
L’espérance op.49/1 for organ and orchestra by Charles Koechlin (54) is performed for the first time, in Salle Gaveau, Paris by Nadia Boulanger (34).
31 January 1922 Sports et divertissements for piano by Erik Satie (55) is performed publicly for the first time, in Salle de La Ville l’Evéque, Paris. See 14 December 1919.
2 February 1922 Ernestas Galvanauskas replaces Kazys Grinius as Prime Minister of Lithuania.
Ulysses by James Joyce is published in Paris by Sylvia Beach under the imprint “Shakespeare and company.” The 1,000 copies will be sold within a month.
4 February 1922 At the Washington Naval Conference, Japan agrees to return Kiaochow (Jiaozhou) on the Shantung (Shandong) Peninsula to China. Japan seized the area from Germany in 1914.
The Ford Motor Company buys the Lincoln Motor Company for $8,000,000.
El Salvador secedes from the Federation of Central America.
Three Album leaves for piano by Ferruccio Busoni (55) are performed for the first time, in Wigmore Hall, London by the composer.
5 February 1922 In the village of Chauri Chaur, Garakhpur District of the United Provinces, India, 23 policemen are hacked to death by a mob supporting Gandhi’s movement for non-cooperation. The incident will cause Gandhi to call off the campaign.
Reader’s Digest is published for the first time.
Concerto gregoriano for violin and orchestra by Ottorino Respighi (42) is performed for the first time, in Rome.
Marc Blitzstein (16) plays the solo part in the Piano Concerto no.2 of Camille Saint-Saëns (†0) in a performance at the Philadelphia Academy of Music. The opportunity comes with winning the gold medal in a contest for undergraduate music students sponsored by the Philharmonic Society of Philadelphia.
6 February 1922 After three months of meetings in Washington, France, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, and the United States agree to reduce the size of naval forces and keep a regular ratio between them. They also outlaw the use of gas in warfare, recognize the status quo in the Pacific and amicably settle disputes there, and encourage a stable government in China and the “open door” policy.
7 February 1922 Honduras leaves the Federation of Central America, thus ending the latest attempt at Central American union.
8 February 1922 António Maria da Silva replaces Francisco Pinto da Cunha Leal as Prime Minister of Portugal.
President Warren Harding has the first radio installed in the White House.
Violin Sonata no.1 by Béla Bartók (40) is performed for the first time, in Vienna.
A review written from Paris by Virgil Thomson (25) entitled “Kusevitsky, Conductor-The Risen Russian Suggested for Boston” runs in the Boston Evening Transcript. It is credited for securing the position of conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra for Serge Koussevitzky.
11 February 1922 Doctors at the University of Toronto report the discovery of insulin. The achievement is credited to Dr. Frederick G. Banting and Dr. JJR MacLeod.
A “Week of Modern Art” begins in São Paulo to help celebrate the centennial of Brazil. Heitor Villa-Lobos (34) is featured as the foremost composer of modern Brazilian music.
12 February 1922 Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti becomes Pope Pius XI in Rome.
13 February 1922 Francis Poulenc (23) undergoes an operation in Vienna for a throat abscess. The operation is a success.
14 February 1922 Moslem rebels capture Dushanbe.
String Quartet no.1 by Otto Luening (21) is performed for the first time, in Chicago.
15 February 1922 The inaugural session of the Permanent Court of International Justice takes place at The Hague.
A new constitution is adopted in Latvia. It will go into effect on 7 November.
17 February 1922 Rival claimants to the leadership of the Dada “movement”, André Breton and Tristan Tzara, are given a “trial” in the Closerie des Lilas (a cafe) in Paris. About 100 members of the city’s artistic world are in attendance, including Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Constantin Brancusi, and Jean Cocteau. The “judge” is Erik Satie (55). Insults are thrown back and forth in an uncontrolled and uproarious manner. Afterwards, one group, including Satie, goes to another cafe to preserve Bréton’s “defeat” on paper.
Simples coletânea: Num Berço oncantado for piano by Heitor Villa-Lobos (34) is performed for the first time.
19 February 1922 The International Composers’ Guild, founded by Edgard Varèse (38) and others for the performance of modern music, gives its first concert, in New York.
20 February 1922 Two songs by George Gershwin (23) to words of Ira Gershwin are performed for the first time, as part of the musical comedy For Goodness Sake in the Lyric Theatre, New York: Someone and Tra-la-la.
At the same time, one of Gershwin’s songs to words of DeSylva is premiered at the Lyceum Theatre, New York as part of the play with music The French Doll: Do it again!
22 February 1922 Six Impromptus for piano by Francis Poulenc (23) are performed for the first time, in Paris.
24 February 1922 Despite successful performances, Anton Webern (38) announces his resignation as director of the Schubertbund, after only five months.
Les Pâques à New York for soprano and string quartet by Arthur Honegger (31) is performed for the first time, in New York.
25 February 1922 Luigi Facta replaces Ivanoe Bonomi as Prime Minister of Italy.
Incidental music to Christiansen’s play Cosmus by Carl Nielsen (56) is performed for the first time, at the Royal Theatre, Copenhagen.
Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns (†0) is performed for the first time, in Paris. The composer banned its performance during his lifetime, except for Le Cygne, fearing that it would damage his reputation as a serious composer. He allowed for its performance in his will.
27 February 1922 A conference of industrial and regional radio interests called by US Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover asks for federal regulation.
28 February 1922 The United Kingdom abolishes its protectorate over Egypt.
1 March 1922 Artur da Silva Bernardes is elected President of Brazil.
2 March 1922 Symphony no.2 by Willem Pijper (27) is performed for the first time, in Amsterdam.
3 March 1922 Fascists in Fiume sieze the city, which is thereupon occupied by Italian troops.
4 March 1922 FW Murnau’s film Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens is released in Germany.
Symphony no.2 op.23 by Albert Roussel (52) is performed for the first time, at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Paris. It is not well received.
7 March 1922 Sigurdur Eggerz replaces Jón Magnússon as Prime Minister of Iceland.
Des Todes Tod for voice and orchestra by Paul Hindemith (26) to words of Reinacher is performed publicly for the first time, in Berlin. See 24 January 1922.
Of a Rose I Sing a Song for chorus, harp, cello, and double bass by Arnold Bax (38) is performed for the first time, in Aeolian Hall, London.
Dança frenética for orchestra by Heitor Villa-Lobos (35) is performed for the first time, in the Teatro Municipal, Rio de Janeiro, conducted by the composer.
8 March 1922 José Sánchez Guerra y Martínez replaces Antonio Maura y Montaner as Prime Minister of Spain.
10 March 1922 After the end of the non-cooperation campaign in India, Mahatma Gandhi is arrested at his ashram in Sabarmati.
In the midst of a long miners’ strike around Johannesburg, a mine manager and two constables are shot by strikers, while at Newlands, 27 policemen are taken captive by miners. A government airplane bombs the Benoni Trades Hall while a meeting is in session. Most inside are killed. The plane is eventually shot down, the pilot killed. Martial law is proclaimed.
Béla Bartók (40) arrives in Britain for three weeks of highly successful concerts.
Three of the Five Irish Fantasies for voice and orchestra, The Host of the Air, The Fiddler of Dooney and The Song of Caitilin ni Uallachain, by Charles Martin Loeffler (61) to words of Yeats and Heffernan, are performed for the first time, in Boston. See 7 November 1929.
11 March 1922 Most of the suburbs of Johannesburg are now in the hands of strikers and rebels. A Scottish unit is ambushed at Benoni. 18 are killed, 25 wounded. A hundred people are killed today in fighting within Johannesburg.
12 March 1922 The Federative Union of Soviet Socialist Republics of Transcaucasia is formed in Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia.
Troops capture 1,500 rebels at Sophiatown and Brixton Ridge, South Africa. Airplanes using bombs kill many.
13 March 1922 Government forces gain the upper hand in fighting in and around Johannesburg. Krugersdorp and Brakpan are captured. 2,200 rebels are captured so far.
Owasco Memories op.8 for piano, violin, and cello by Arthur Farwell (49) is performed for the first time, in Pasadena, California 21 years after it was composed.
15 March 1922 Great Britain recognizes the independence of the Kingdom of Egypt under King Fuad.
Fordsberg, South Africa falls to government troops.
17 March 1922 The Symphony no.1 of Ernst Krenek (21) is performed for the first time, in Berlin. It proves an “immense success.”
Le Bestiaire, a cycle for voice, flute, clarinet, bassoon, and string quartet by Francis Poulenc (23) is performed for the first time, in the Salle du Conservatoire, Paris.
18 March 1922 At his trial in Ahmedabad, Mohandas K. Gandhi is found guilty of sedition and sentenced to six years imprisonment. After passing sentence, Mr. Justice Broomfield states that if the government sees fit to reduce the term, “no one would be better pleased than I.”
The 67-day miners strike ends in Johannesberg. By this time, all fighting has ended.
Paul Hindemith’s (26) Sonata for unaccompanied viola op.25/1 is performed for the first time, by the composer in Cologne.
Sonata for oboe and piano op.58 by Charles Koechlin (54) is performed for the first time, in Salle Erard, Paris.
19 March 1922 Ernest MacMillan (28) gives the first of 18 organ recitals he will give over the next four years at Eaton Memorial Church, Toronto.
20 March 1922 Mahatma Gandhi begins his term for sedition at Yeravda Central Prison.
23 March 1922 A Requiem for soprano, baritone, chorus, and orchestra by Frederick Delius (60) to words of Simon, is performed for the first time, in Queen’s Hall, London.
24 March 1922 Polish forces occupy Wilno (Vilnius).
26 March 1922 Aaron Copland (21) and a young American friend depart Paris for a trip to Italy.
Sancta Susanna op.21, an opera by Paul Hindemith (26) to words of Stramm, is performed for the first time, at the Opernhaus, Frankfurt-am-Main.
27 March 1922 Aaron Copland (21) arrives in Milan on a trip to Italy during his European studies.
29 March 1922 San Francesco d’Assisi, a mistero by Gian Francesco Malipiero (40) to words of St. Francis and Jacopo da Todi, is performed for the first time, in a concert setting in Carnegie Hall, New York. See 22 September 1949.
30 March 1922 Aaron Copland (21) arrives in Rome on a trip to Italy during his European studies.
1 April 1922 Former Emperor Karl of Austria, former King of Hungary, former King of Bohemia, dies in exile in Quinta do Monte, Madeira.
Amadis, an opéra légendaire by Jules Massenet (†9) to words of Claretie, is performed for the first time, at the Opéra de Monte Carlo.
3 April 1922 Iosif Vissarionovich Djugashvilli becomes General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party. The new leader is better known by his revolutionary pseudonym, Joseph Stalin.
4 April 1922 Fantasia fugata op.87 for piano by Amy Cheney Beach (54) is performed for the first time, in Boston.
6 April 1922 Maurice Ravel’s (47) Sonata for violin and cello is performed for the first time, in the Salle Pleyel, Paris. Also premiered is the String Quartet no.5 by Darius Milhaud (29).
Two orchestrations of piano pieces by Jean Sibelius (56) are performed for the first time, in Helsinki: Valse lyrique and Suite mignonne for two flutes and strings.
11 April 1922 Aaron Copland (21) arrives in Florence from Rome on a trip to Italy during his European studies.
The New York Philharmonic makes its first recording, for the Victor Company. It is Beethoven’s (†95) Coriolan Overture on two twelve-inch single-faced discs.
13 April 1922 La bella addormentata nel bosco, a fiaba musicale by Ottorino Respighi (42) to words of Bistolfi after Perrault, is performed for the first time, in the Teatro dei Piccoli, Rome, in a version for marionettes. See 9 April 1934.
O vos omnes, a motet for alto and chorus by Ralph Vaughan Williams (49) is performed for the first time, in Westminster Cathedral, London.
14 April 1922 Members of the IRA occupy the Four Courts and other important buildings in Dublin. They oppose the Anglo-Irish Treaty and want to resume fighting against the British.
The Wall Street Journal reports that US Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall has leased the Teapot Dome oil reserve in Wyoming to his friend Harry F. Sinclair of the Mammoth Oil Corporation. President Warren Harding defends Fall by stating that the leases had his prior approval.
16 April 1922 The Treaty of Rapallo is signed. Germany and Russia recognize each other and abandon all debts and claims against each other.
Aaron Copland (21) arrives back in Paris after a trip to Italy.
17 April 1922 Dr. Behaeddin Sakir, a leading member of the wartime Turkish government, is killed in Berlin by Armenians.
20 April 1922 The first three of the four movements of La forêt païnne, a ballet by Charles Koechlin (54), is performed for the first time, at the Paris Opéra. See 11 June 1925.
21 April 1922 Symphony no.3 by Frederick S. Converse (51) is performed for the first time, in Boston.
22 April 1922 Five Orchestral Pieces by Arnold Schoenberg (47) are introduced to the Paris public in a Pasdeloup concert ten years after their London premiere. Some audience members express their opinion by emitting animal noises. A woman exclaims, “It’s a disgrace to subject war widows to stuff like this!”
Salut au monde, a festival drama by Charles T. Griffes (†2) after Whitman, is performed for the first time, in Neighborhood Playhouse, New York.
23 April 1922 Offrandes, for soprano and small orchestra by Edgard Varèse (38), is performed for the first time, at an International Composers’ Guild concert in the Greenwich Village Theatre, New York. The audience is enthusiastic. The press barely notices.
24 April 1922 Citizens of Fiume (Rijecka, Croatia) vote to become a free city.
The String Quartet no.2 by Ernst Krenek (21) is performed for the first time, in the Berlin Singakademie.
Sonata for violin and piano by Leos Janácek (67) is performed for the first time, in Brno.
25 April 1922 Violin Sonata no.2 by Arnold Bax (38) is performed for the first time, in Wigmore Hall, London, the composer at the piano.
27 April 1922 Gian Francesco Malipiero (40) marries his second wife, Anna Wright. It is possible that this marriage will never be consummated, but she will provide a steadying influence in his life despite his mistresses.
Angels for “any six instruments of equal timbre” by Carl Ruggles (46) is performed for the first time, in New York, as part of a lecture by the composer. For this performance, strings are employed. See 17 December 1922.
30 April 1922 The Woodwind Quintet op.43 by Carl Nielsen (56) is performed for the first time, in a private performance at the Göteborg home of the Mannheimer family. See 9 October 1922.
5 May 1922 Love’s Sacrifice, a pastoral opera by George Whitefield Chadwick (67) to words of Stevens, is performed for the first time, in Jordan Hall, Boston.
6 May 1922 The Society of St. Gregory of America, meeting in convention in Rochester, New York, publishes a list of music not in accordance with Pope Pius X’s encyclical Motu proprio of 22 November 1903. Among the music frowned upon are compositions by Luigi Cherubini (†80), Gioacchino Rossini (†53) and Giuseppe Verdi (†21).
12 May 1922 Knudsen’s tragic pantomime Scaramouche, with music by Jean Sibelius (56), is performed for the first time, at the Royal Theatre, Copenhagen.
13 May 1922 Hagith op.25, an opera by Karol Szymanowski (39) to words of Dörmann, is performed for the first time, in Warsaw. Reviews are positive.
L’Horizon chimérique op.118, a song cycle to words of de la Ville de Mirmont, and the Cello Sonata no.2 op.117, both by Gabriel Fauré (77), are performed for the first time, by the Société National de Musique, Paris, in the presence of President Étienne Millerand.
15 May 1922 Germany and Poland sign the Upper Silesia Convention, protecting minorities in their respective districts, and fixing the border.
16 May 1922 Nikolaos Andreou Stratos replaces Demetrios Gounaris as Prime Minister of Greece.
Several works by Charles Koechlin (54) are performed for the first time, in Salle Gaveau, Paris: Hymne à Vénus op.68/1 for voice and piano to words of Villiers de l’Isle-Adam; Accompagnement op.28/3 for voice and piano to words of Samain; Chanson d’Engaddi and Le ventre merveilleux, two of the Cinq mélodies sur des poèmes de “Shéhérazade” de Tristan Klingsor op.56 for voice and piano; and two Sonatines for piano op.59/2-3.
18 May 1922 Renard, a burlesque in song and dance by Igor Stravinsky (39) to his own scenario after Afanasyev, is performed for the first time, at the Paris Opéra.
19 May 1922 Béla Bartók (41) returns home to Budapest after ten weeks of concertizing in western Europe.
20 May 1922 Karol Szymanowski (39) presents a concert of his own music at the Théâtre du Vieux Colombier, Paris. The critics are ecstatic and hail him as the new Chopin (†62).
22 May 1922 Petros Protopapadakis replaces Nikolaos Andreou Stratos as Prime Minister of Greece.
26 May 1922 Lenin suffers a paralytic stroke, thereby losing his power of speech.
27 May 1922 Anton Webern (38) conducts Gustav Mahler’s (†11) Third Symphony at a Workmen’s Symphony concert. This establishes him as a bona fide orchestral conductor.
28 May 1922 Frank Bridge (43) meets Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge at the home of Winthrop Rogers, his publisher.
29 May 1922 Iannis Xenakis is born in Bráila, Romania, eldest of three children born to Clearchos Xenakis, a prosperous shipping agent for a British import-export business, and Photini Pavlou, a pianist and daughter of a mill owner.
Ferruccio Busoni (56) performs in public for the last time when he appears as soloist in the Emperor Concerto of Beethoven (†95) in Berlin.
Mavra, an opera buffa by Igor Stravinsky (39) to words of Kochno after Pushkin, is performed for the first time, with singers and the composer at the piano, at the Hôtel Continental, Paris. See 3 June 1922.
30 May 1922 Chief Justice William Howard Taft and President Warren G. Harding preside over ceremonies dedicating the Lincoln Memorial in Washington.
Greater Love Hath No Man, a motet for solo voices, chorus and orchestra by John Ireland (42), is performed for the first time, in St. Paul’s Cathedral, London.
31 May 1922 Ignaz Seipel replaces Johann Schober as Chancellor of Austria.
The Reparations Commission grants Germany a six-month moratorium on payments, over the objections of France.
Virgil Thomson (26) is informed that he will not be receiving honors when he graduates from Harvard University. He is told that “...your work was so mediocre in harmony, counterpoint and fugue that on the evidence submitted no other verdict was possible.”
1 June 1922 The Chicago Musical Arts Studio opens, supported by nine society ladies and with Otto Luening as director (21).
2 June 1922 Chao Tzu-ch’i (Zhou Ziqi) replaces Hsü Shih-chang (Xu Shichang) as President of China in the Canton administration.
Aimo Kaarlo Cajander replaces Juho Heikki Vennola as Prime Minister of Finland.
3 June 1922 Mavra, an opera buffa by Igor Stravinsky (39) to words of Kochno after Pushkin, is performed publicly for the first time, at the Paris Opéra. In spite of the good reception of the invited audience five days ago, the public response is a general yawn. See 29 May 1922.
7 June 1922 The Anniversary Overture by George Whitefield Chadwick (67) is performed for the first time, in Norfolk, Connecticut conducted by the composer.
8 June 1922 Three songs by Charles Ives (47) are performed for the first time, in St. James Parish House, Danbury, Connecticut: Ilmenau, to words of Goethe, The White Gulls to words of Morris, and Spring Song to words of his wife, Harmony Twichell.
11 June 1922 Li Yuan-hung (Li Yuanhong) replaces Chao Tzu-ch’i (Zhou Ziqi) as President of China in the Canton administration.
12 June 1922 Baron Tomosaburo Kato replaces Count Korekiyo Takahashi as Prime Minister of Japan.
14 June 1922 The Red Army defeats and disperses Moslem rebels in Tajikistan.
Warren G. Harding becomes the first US president to have his voice transmitted by radio as he makes a speech at the dedication of a memorial to Francis Scott Key in Baltimore.
16 June 1922 Incidental music to Gide’s play Saül by Arthur Honegger (30) is performed for the first time, at the Théâtre du Vieux Colombier, Paris.
20 June 1922 Germany cedes East Upper Silesia to Poland.
In an attempt to alleviate his financial straits, a national tribute takes place in honor of Gabriel Fauré (77) at the Sorbonne, in the presence of President Étienne Alexandre Millerand. With most of the important musicians in Paris performing his music, the composer sits in the place of honor next to the President.
Ruth Crawford (20) receives an associate teacher’s certificate in piano, pedagogy, and harmony, a silver medal from the Normal Department, a special honorable mention in history of music, and honorable mentions in counterpoint and composition.
22 June 1922 Field Marshall Henry Wilson is shot and killed by two IRA men outside his home in London. The Irishmen are captured and will be hanged in August.
24 June 1922 Walter Rathenau, Foreign Minister of Germany, who had cooperated with the Allies in the Versailles Treaty and reparation payments, is murdered by a group of young nationalists as he rides in an open car to his ministry in Berlin.
25 June 1922 Artur Sliwinski replaces Anton Ponikowski as Prime Minister of Poland.
26 June 1922 Prince Albert of Monaco dies in Paris and is succeeded by his son, Louis II.
27 June 1922 Members of the IRA kidnap Irish General Ginger O’Connell. The Irish government of Michael Collins orders its troops to fire on the IRA in the Four Courts building in Dublin. This is essentially the beginning of the Irish Civil War.
30 June 1922 The Free State army takes the Four Courts in Dublin but fighting with the IRA continues.
Suite for Military Band op.28/2 by Gustav Holst (47) is performed for the first time, in Royal Albert Hall, London.
3 July 1922 Voting concludes in elections to the Finnish Eduskunta. The Social Democratic Party sustains significant losses but remains the largest party.
5 July 1922 Fighting between the Free State army and the IRA peters out in Dublin. 65 people have been killed.
Junior officers of the Brazilian army revolt at the Igrejinha fortress of Copacabana. Almost all of the rebels are killed by government troops.
Voters in the Netherlands return the Roman Catholic League and the Social Democratic Workers Party as the leading parties in Parliament. Women are allowed to vote for the first time.
A prole do bebê no.1 for piano by Heitor Villa-Lobos (35) is performed for the first time, in the Teatro Municipal, Rio de Janeiro, by the composer’s friend, Artur Rubinstein. Although Rubinstein’s concert is loudly cheered, the audience find Villa-Lobos too “modern” and boo the music.
6 July 1922 The Yankee Doodle Blues, a song by George Gershwin (23) to words of Caesar and DeSylva, is performed for the first time, as part of the revue Spice of 1922 in the Winter Garden Theatre, New York.
8 July 1922 Springtime on Funen op.42 for soprano, tenor, bass-baritone, chorus, and orchestra by Carl Nielsen (57) to words of Berntsen, is performed for the first time, in the Market Hall, Odense. The choir consists of 800 singers chosen from all parts of Denmark. The capacity audience of 8,000 includes King Christian X and Queen Alexandrine.
11 July 1922 Ralph Vaughan Williams’ (49) pastoral episode The Shepherds of the Delectable Mountains, to his own words after Bunyan, is performed for the first time, in the presence of Queen Mary, at the Royal College of Music, London.
The Hollywood Bowl is inaugurated with a performance by the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
12 July 1922 Hüseyin Rauf Bey replaces Fevzi Cakmak Pasha as Prime Minister of the opposition government of Turkey.
Kleine Kammermusik op.24/2 by Paul Hindemith (26) is performed for the first time, in Frankfurt-am-Main.
14 July 1922 Wojciech Korfanty replaces Artur Sliwinski as Prime Minister of Poland.
17 July 1922 The Council of the League of Nations awards German East Africa to Great Britain and orders both German Togoland and Kamerun divided between Great Britain and France.
20 July 1922 The League of Nations grants a mandate over Ruanda-Urundi to Belgium.
Troops of the Irish Free State capture Limerick and Waterford from the IRA.
21 July 1922 Cemal Pasha, a leading figure in the wartime Turkish government, is shot to death by Armenians in Tbilisi.
24 July 1922 The Council of the League of Nations grants a mandate over Palestine to Great Britain to take effect 29 September 1923.
30 July 1922 Symphonic Music for Nine Solo Instruments by Ernst Krenek (21) is performed for the first time, in Donaueschingen.
31 July 1922 Italian socialists begin a nationwide general strike to fight Mussolini. This is countered by physical attacks on socialists by fascists throughout the country.
Julian Ignacy Novak replaces Wojciech Korfanty as Prime Minister of Poland.
Kammermusik no.1 and Die junge Magd, a song cycle for alto, flute, clarinet, and string quartet op.23/2 to words of Trakl, both by Paul Hindemith (26), are performed for the first time, in Donaueschingen.
2 August 1922 Fascist gangs in Ancona destroy all buildings occupied by socialists. This will be repeated in Livorno and Genoa.
3 August 1922 Two days of street fighting between fascists and socialists erupts in Milan. The building housing the socialist newspaper Avanti is destroyed.
4 August 1922 Enver Pasha, a leading figure in the wartime Turkish government, is killed by Armenians in Bukhara.
8 August 1922 At a performance in Salzburg, Anton Webern’s (38) Five Movements for String Quartet causes fisticuffs and a general melee to break out. Police are called in. The work is interrupted and will be repeated tomorrow night to an invited audience.
10 August 1922 Irish Free State forces take Cork from the IRA.
11 August 1922 After the Salzburg Festival of Contemporary Music, it is decided to create an organization to be called the International Society for New Music centered in London.
12 August 1922 Arthur Griffith, President of the Dail Eireann, dies of a heart attack in Dublin.
Claude Champagne (31) marries Jeanne Marchal, a Belgian woman he met on the ship coming over to France last year.
15 August 1922 Lukas Fuchs (Foss) is born in Berlin, one of two children born to Martin Fuchs, a lawyer, and Hilda Schindler Fuchs, a painter. The family name will be changed when they emigrate to the United States in 1937.
19 August 1922 Felipe Pedrell dies in Barcelona aged 81 years and six months.
Concerto Grosso no.1 by Ernst Krenek (21) is performed for the first time, in the Weimarer Staatskapelle.
22 August 1922 The head of the Irish government, Michael Collins, is shot and killed in Beal-na-Blath, Cork. He is ambushed while on military inspection tour, presumably by republicans opposed to the treaty of 6 December 1921.
25 August 1922 William T. Cosgrave becomes Chairman of the Provisional Government of Ireland.
26 August 1922 Turkish forces counterattack against the Greeks around Afyonkarahisar, 250 km southwest of Angora (Ankara).
27 August 1922 Turkish forces achieve a breakthrough at Afyonkarahisar. Greeks retreat west.
28 August 1922 Turkish forces achieve a victory over the Greeks at Dumlupinar, near Kütahya, 250 km west of Angora (Ankara). Greeks retreat west.
Radio station WEAF in New York broadcasts the first paid-for “commercial” in North America. It is a 10-15 minute pitch by Queensboro Corporation for cooperative apartment houses in Jackson Heights.
George White’s Scandals of 1922, with a book by Fields, Rice, and White, lyrics by DeSylva, Goetz, and Ira Gershwin, and seven new songs by George Gershwin (23), is performed for the first time in New York, in the Globe Theatre. Part of the Scandals was an opera “ala Afro-American” called Blue Monday which is removed after the first performance and will be performed separately as 135th Street.
1 September 1922 Carlos Chávez (23) marries Otlia Ortiz, a pianist.
2 September 1922 William Cosgrave replaces Arthur Griffith as Prime Minister of Ireland.
3 September 1922 News of the disaster in Turkey reaches Athens. The Greek government immediately requests British intervention.
5 September 1922 Fantasia upon the tune ‘Intercessor’ by CHH Parry op.187 for organ by Charles Villiers Stanford (69) is performed for the first time, in Gloucester.
6 September 1922 On the 40th anniversary of his career as a composer, Alyeksandr Glazunov (57) is named People’s Artist of the Republic.
7 September 1922 On the 100th anniversary of the independence of Brazil, the University of Rio de Janeiro opens.
9 September 1922 Turkish forces begin to enter Smyrna. They immediately seek out Greek and Armenian civilians for murder, rape, and pillage. Thousands, including Archbishop Chrisostomos, are killed.
William T. Cosgrave is elected President of the Dail Eireann. This consolidates the two competing offices of Chairman of the Provisional Government and President of the Dail Eireann.
10 September 1922 King Konstantinos of Greece sacks the governement. Nikolaos Triandaphyllakos replaces Petros Protopapadakis as Prime Minister of Greece.
11 September 1922 Sanlucar de Barrameda op.24 for piano by Joquín Turina (39) is performed for the first time, in the town for which it is named.
13 September 1922 Turkish forces in Smyrna put the Christian quarter to the torch. 50,000 dwellings are destroyed. 25,000 are killed while 200,000 are without food or water, clinging to the shoreline.
The Wind Quintet op.26 by Arnold Schoenberg is performed for the first time, in Vienna, on the composer’s 48th birthday.
15 September 1922 Gustav Holst (47) conducts for recording for the first time. He records Jupiter from The Planets with the London Symphony Orchestra for the Columbia Graphophone Company.
16 September 1922 The Council of the League of Nations effectively separates Transjordan from Palestine.
17 September 1922 Radio Moscow goes on the air.
18 September 1922 Hungary is admitted to the League of Nations.
21 September 1922 French officials withdraw their troops in Turkey to Constantinople. Italian forces will soon follow.
22 September 1922 Greek officers revolt on Chios, led by General Nikolaos Plastiras.
US President Harding signs the Cable Act through which married women are granted citizenship independent of their husbands.
23 September 1922 Turkish forces enter the supposedly neutral zone on the east side of the Dardenelles.
25 September 1922 Down to the Sea in Ships, a film with music by Henry F. Gilbert, is shown for the first time, in New Bedford, Massachusetts.
26 September 1922 In the midst of considerable internal divisions an airplane drops leaflets on Athens demanding the abdication of King Konstantinos, signed by Colonel Gonatas in the name of the army, navy, and the people of Chios and Mitilini (Hios and Lesvos). The battleship Limnos arrives at Lavrio, southeast of the capital. A revolutionary committee on board demands that Gonatas’ terms be accepted before midnight.
Homage to Holberg for solo voices, chorus, and orchestra by Carl Nielsen (57) to words of Pederson, is performed for the first time.
27 September 1922 King Konstantinos I of Greece abdicates his throne for a second time, in favor of his son, and is given safe passage to Palermo. A committee establishes itself in Athens and 12,000 revolutionary troops enter the city. They arrest members of the former government but are restrained from executing them by diplomats from France and Great Britain.
Dr. Albert Hoyt Taylor and Leo C. Young of the US Naval Aircraft Radio Laboratory begin a series of experiments that show that two ships can detect a third moving between them, no matter what the weather conditions. It is the first time radar detects an object.
28 September 1922 Georgios II replaces Konstantinos I as King of Greece.
29 September 1922 Anastasios Charalabis replaces Nikolaos Triandaphyllakos as Prime Minister of Greece.
30 September 1922 Sotirios Krokidas replaces Anastasios Charalabis as Prime Minister of Greece.
6 October 1922 Ode to Death, for chorus and orchestra by Gustav Holst (48) to words of Whitman, is performed for the first time, at Leeds. The composer requires a police escort from the theatre to protect him from the crush of admirers.
7 October 1922 Antonín Svehla replaces Edvard Benes as Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia.
9 October 1922 The first public performance of Woodwind Quintet op.43 by Carl Nielsen (57) takes place in Copenhagen. See 30 April 1922.
11 October 1922 An armistice is signed between France and Great Britain with the Turkish government at Mudanya. Greece will recognize Turkish claims to Smyrna (Izmir) and eastern Thrace and Greek forces must withdraw west of the Maritsa (Evros) River within 15 days.
12 October 1922 Gustav Holst (48) and friends silently enter the garden of 13 Cheyne Walk, London, and serenade the inhabitant, Ralph Vaughan Williams, on his fiftieth birthday. They sing a part song written for the occasion by Jane Joseph.
Máximo Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear Pacheco replaces Juan Hipólito del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús Yrigoyen Alem as President of Argentina.
16 October 1922 Two piano works by Ernst Krenek (22) are performed for the first time, in Berlin: Toccata und Chaconne über den Choral Ja ich glaub an Jesum Christum and Eine kleine Suite von Stücken über denselbigen Choral, verschiedenen charakters.
18 October 1922 The British Broadcasting Company is incorporated.
19 October 1922 Maurice Ravel’s (47) orchestration of Modest Musorgsky’s (†41) piano suite Pictures at an Exhibition is performed for the first time, at the Paris Opéra.
21 October 1922 Sir Roger de Coverley for orchestra by Frank Bridge (43) is performed for the first time, in Queen’s Hall, London.
Now is the Time of Christymas, for male chorus, flute and piano by Arnold Bax (38) is performed for the first time, in Blackpool.
22 October 1922 An English Suite for strings by Hubert Parry (†4) is performed for the first time, in London.
23 October 1922 Arnold Schoenberg (48) writes a scathing letter to Edgard Varèse (38) in New York. He refuses the repeated invitation to join the International Honorary Committee of Varèse’s International Composers Guild. He objects to the lack of German composers in the Guild’s programs and especially to the proposed performance of Pierrot Lunaire in New York. He withholds his blessing for that performance in the most scolding terms.
Isadora Duncan is barred from further performing in Boston. The local authorities discern immorality in her work and are not amused by her political statements.
24 October 1922 Andrew Bonar Law replaces David Lloyd George as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
25 October 1922 Red forces enter Vladivostok after the Japanese withdraw. The city and Pacific coastal region are annexed to the Far Eastern Republic.
The Dail Eireann adopts a constitution for the Irish Free State.
26 October 1922 Fascists begin to mobilize in Pisa and other Italian cities, directed from Perugia. They cut telephone lines and begin leaving in small groups for Rome.
Trio for violin, cello, and piano by Otto Luening (22) is performed for the first time, in Chicago. Reviews are mixed.
27 October 1922 As fascists begin moving on Rome, Italian Prime Minister Facta hands the resignations of his government to King Vittorio Emanuele. They will stay on in a caretaker capacity.
28 October 1922 About midnight. Fearful of the arrival of fascists in the city, Italian Minister of the Interior Paolino Taddei orders General Emanuele Pugliese to take military control in Rome. Pugliese refuses without a written order.
Dawn. The Italian cabinet agrees on strong repressive measures against the fascists. Written orders to this effect are sent out and martial law is declared.
09:00 Prime Minister Facta of Italy asks King Vittorio Emanuele to declare a state of siege. In violation of the constitution, the king refuses.
29 October 1922 When the King’s refusal to oppose fascism becomes widely known, local authorities begin abandoning the constitutional government in favor of the fascists. King Vittorio Emanuele sends a telegram to Milan inviting Benito Mussolini to form a government.
30 October 1922 Benito Mussolini arrives in Rome from Milan. He becomes Prime Minister of Italy, the youngest (39) in the history of the country, replacing Luigi Facta.
31 October 1922 About 25,000 fascist thugs are allowed into Rome by train, thus constituting the famous “March on Rome,” which will be idealized until the end of the Second World War.
Romanian Christmas Carols for piano by Béla Bartók (41) is performed for the first time, in Cluj.
1 November 1922 The Turkish parliament separates the offices of Sultan and Caliph and abolishes the Sultanate. Sultan Mehmet V continues as Caliph.
The First Violin Concerto op.35 by Karol Szymanowski (40) is performed for the first time, in Warsaw.
3 November 1922 Ministers of the previous Greek government are put on trial before a 12-man military court over the recent fiasco in Turkey.
4 November 1922 Howard Carter and his expedition uncover steps at the base of the tomb of Ramses at Luxor, Egypt.
String Quartet no.4 op.22 by Paul Hindemith (26) is performed for the first time, in Donaueschingen.
5 November 1922 By this afternoon, the Carter expedition has cleared 12 steps descending to a sealed door. Carter orders them covered again and guarded to secure the find. They don’t know exactly what it is, but they believe it to be significant. Carter cables his patron, Lord Carnarvon, of the find and awaits his arrival.
The Gallant Seventh, a march by John Philip Sousa, is performed for the first time, at the New York Hippodrome, on the eve of the composer’s 68th birthday. Composed in honor of a regiment of the New York National Guard, it was created while the composer recuperated from a broken neck.
7 November 1922 The new constitution for Lativa goes into effect.
On the fifth anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution, a man climbs on to a roof in Baku to direct a concert of sounds derived from the city. Sources include factory sirens, steam whistles and foghorns. Also heard are machine guns, artillery, and airplanes.
Voting takes place in the United States to elect a new Congress. The ruling Republican Party loses 77 seats but maintains a small majority in the House of Representatives. They also lose seats in the Senate but keep control.
10 November 1922 Igor Stravinsky (40) is reunited with his mother, Anna Kyrillovna Stravinsky, in Stettin (Szczecin). She has been allowed to leave Russia partly through the efforts of Arthur Lourié (31).
11 November 1922 The British Broadcasting Company begins broadcasting musical programs for the first time.
Several works by Heitor Villa-Lobos (35) are performed for the first time, at the Teatro Municipal, Rio de Janeiro: the motets Tantum ergo and Salutaris hostia for chorus and Memorare for chorus and organ, orchestral works Marcha solene no.6 and Marcha religiosa no.7, Ave Maria for solo voice and strings, and Vidapura for vocal soloists, chorus, and orchestra (performed under the title Second Mass), conducted by the composer.
12 November 1922 Italy, which has occupied Libya since 1911, formally annexes the country.
Eleven days of voting in the Polish general election come to an end. The conservative National Populist Association wins the most seats in the Sejm.
13 November 1922 In the case of Ozawa v. United States, the US Supreme Court rules that a Japanese immigrant may be refused citizenship on the grounds that he is not white.
In a concert devoted entirely to his music, two works by Arnold Bax (39) are performed for the first time, in Queen’s Hall, London: Mediterranean for orchestra and Mater Ora Filium for double choir. See 26 May 1921.
14 November 1922 Kyösti Kallio replaces Aimo Kaarlo Cajander as Prime Minister of Finland.
The BBC begins regular radio broadcasts from London.
15 November 1922 The Far Eastern Republic is incorporated into Russia, thus completing the Bolshevik takeover of Imperial Russia.
Arturo da Silva Bernardes replaces Epitacio da Silva Pessôa as President of Brazil.
French surgeon Dr. Alexis Carrel announces the discovery of leucocytes (white blood corpuscles).
Voting today in the British general election results in a healthy majority for the Conservative Party led by Andrew Bonar Law. The Labour and Liberal parties, though well back, make gains.
17 November 1922 Believing his life to be in danger, Ottoman Sultan Mehmet VI takes to a British warship and is conveyed to Malta.
The Irish Free State carries out the first five executions of republican prisoners. There will eventually be 77.
Sonata in G for viola and piano by Arnold Bax (39) is performed for the first time, in Aeolian Hall, London the composer at the keyboard.
18 November 1922 Chairman of the Constitutional Assembly Janis Cakste becomes the first President of Latvia under the new constitution.
Marcel Proust dies in Paris at the age of 51.
Zaubernacht, a ballet with song by Kurt Weill (22) to a scenario by Boritsch, is performed for the first time, in the Theater am Kurfürstendam, Berlin. It is successful. During the auditions, an aspiring dancer named Lotte Lenja is introduced to Weill, although she is on stage and he in the pit.
19 November 1922 Abdülmecit II replaces his brother Mehmet VI as Caliph of Constantinople.
20 November 1922 Mohammed Tawfiq Nasim Pasha replaces Abdul Khaliq Sarwat Pasha as Prime Minister of Egypt.
A peace conference for Greece and Turkey opens at Lausanne.
Our Nell, a musical comedy by George Gershwin (24) to a book by Hooker and Thomas and lyrics by Hooker, is performed for the first time, in Stamford, Connecticut. See 4 December 1922.
21 November 1922 Juhann Kukk replaces Konstantin Päts as Head of State of Estonia.
22 November 1922 Wilhelm Carl Josef Cuno replaces Josef Wirth as Chancellor of Germany.
The New York Philharmonic Orchestra is first broadcast on radio. They will soon begin regular Sunday concerts.
Du alte Mutter, a song by Charles Ives (48) to words of Vinje (tr. Lobedanz), is performed for the first time, in New York.
23 November 1922 Lord Carnarvon and his daughter arrive at Luxor, Egypt for the uncovering of whatever the Carter expedition found on 4-5 November.
Trois rag caprices op.78 for piano by Darius Milhaud (30) is performed for the first time, in Paris. Also premiered is Milhaud’s Le retour de l’enfant prodigue op.42 for five voices and orchestra.
24 November 1922 Stilianos Epaminondou Gonatas replaces Sotirios Krokidas as Prime Minister of Greece.
The Irish Free State executes the republican author Robert Erskine Childers in Dublin.
The Carter expedition uncovers all 16 steps below the tomb of Ramses in Luxor, Egypt and the base of the sealed door which reveals the name Tutankhamun.
25 November 1922 The Carter expedition at Luxor photographs the sealed door and the door is removed, revealing a passageway filled with limestone chips. They find that the tomb was raided twice in antiquity.
26 November 1922 The limestone fill having been cleared, a new sealed door is reached. Howard Carter enters through a small hole to find the tomb of the boy-king Tutankhamun, one of the most important archaeological finds of the 20th century.
28 November 1922 Three former Prime Ministers of Greece, Dimitrios Gounaris, Nikolaos Stratos, and Petros Protopadakis, two former cabinet ministers, Giorgios Baltatzis, and Nikolaos Theotokis, and General Giorgios Hatzanestis are sentenced to death by a military court in Athens for the recent disaster in Turkey. The sentences are carried out almost immediately. General Xenophon Stratigos and Admiral Michael Goudas are sentenced to life in prison.
Two songs by Charles Ives (48) are performed for the first time, in Town Hall, New York: A Night Thought to words of Moore, and My Dear Old Mother to words of Vinje (tr. Corder).
2 December 1922 Ahmed Zogu becomes Prime Minister of Albania.
Hecuba’s Lament op.31/1 for alto, female chorus, and orchestra by Gustav Holst (48) to words of Euripedes (tr. Murray) is performed for the first time, in Colston Hall, Bristol.
3 December 1922 The first successful movie in technicolor, The Toll of the Sea, is released in the Rialto Theatre in New York. The process was invented by Dr. Herbert Thomas Kalmus.
4 December 1922 Symphony no.1 by Arnold Bax (39) is performed for the first time, in Queen’s Hall, London.
Our Nell, a musical comedy by George Gershwin (24) to a book by Hooker and Thomas and lyrics by Hooker, is performed for the first time in New York, at the Nora Bayes Theatre, the first of 40 performances. See 20 November 1922.
6 December 1922 Having been approved by the Dail Eireann and the British Parliament, the constitution of the Irish Free State goes into effect for 26 of the 32 counties of Ireland. Timothy Michael Healy becomes Governor-General. William Thomas Cosgrave is President of the Executive Council.
Mass in g minor for chorus by Ralph Vaughan Williams (50) is performed for the first time, in Town Hall, Birmingham.
7 December 1922 New Zealand national elections sees a loss of majority for the ruling Reform Party and Prime Minister William Massey is forced to seek support from other quarters.
Manuel García Prieto, marqués de Alhucemas replaces José Sánchez Guerra y Martínez as Prime Minister of Spain.
The sixth movement of the Divertimento op.5 for small orchestra and male chorus, entitled Chorale-Fantasy, by Kurt Weill (22) is performed for the first time, at the Singakademie, Berlin. See 10 April 1923.
8 December 1922 The journal Science publishes an article by Herbert M. Evans and K. Scott Bishop where they describe their discovery of Vitamin E.
9 December 1922 Gabriel Narutowicz is elected President of Poland by the Sejm, replacing Józef Pilsudski. Despised by conservatives and anti-Semites, he is stoned on the way to his inauguration.
Works for violin and orchestra by Heitor Villa-Lobos (35) are performed for the first time, in the Teatro Municipal, Rio de Janeiro: the second movement of Fantasia de movimentos mistos, conducted by the composer, and Martírio dos insetos. See 17 November 1917 and 23 April 1941.
10 December 1922 Japan returns Tsingtao (Qingdao) to China. They took it from Germany during the Great War.
Niels Bohr is awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for using Quantum Physics to explain the structure of the atom.
Leos Janácek (68) goes to see a new play by Karel Capek called The Makropulos Affair.
13 December 1922 The Federative Union of Soviet Socialist Republics of Transcaucasia is reorganized a the Transcaucasian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.
The Christmas fairy tale Tuttifäntchen by Paul Hindemith (27), to words of Michel and Becker, is performed for the first time, in Darmstadt.
Berceuse sur le nom de Gabriel Fauré for violin and piano by Maurice Ravel (47) is performed for the first time, by the Société Musicale Indépendante, Paris.
Choral sur le nom de Fauré op.73bis for piano and chorus ad lib by Charles Koechlin (55) is performed for the first time, in Salle de l’École Normale, Paris.
Danças africanas for two violins, viola, cello, continuo, flute, clarinet, and piano by Heitor Villa-Lobos (35) is performed for the first time, in the Teatro Municipal, São Paulo.
14 December 1922 Oil is discovered at the eastern side of Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela, beginning that country’s oil boom.
16 December 1922 In national elections in Australia, the Labour Party becomes the largest group in the House of Representatives, but the National Party continues to govern through coalition with the Country Party.
Lenin suffers a second stroke severely limiting his public activities.
A week after his inauguration, President Gabriel Narutowicz of Poland is murdered by right-wing nationalist Eligiusz Niewiadomski at an art gallery in Warsaw. The assassin becomes the hero of conservatives.
17 December 1922 Wladyslaw Eugeniusz Sikorski replaces Julian Ignacy Novak as Prime Minister of Poland.
The last British troops leave the Irish Free State.
Angels for six trumpets by Carl Ruggles (46) is performed for the first time, at an International Composers’ Guild concert in the Klaw Theatre, New York. Also premiered are two works for piano by Dane Rudhyar (27): Luciferian Stanza and Ravissement. See 27 April 1922 and 24 April 1939.
19 December 1922 Urged on by Lenin, to encourage electrification and modernization, Lev Sergeyevich Termen (Leon Theremin) (26) begins a tour with his Etherphone with a one-man show in the Grand Hall of the Petrograd Philharmonic Society. There is a light show and various other new instruments. Among the audience are Alyeksandr Glazunov (57) and Dmitri Shostakovich (16).
20 December 1922 Stanislaw Wojciechowski replaces Gabriel Narutowicz as President of Poland.
Incidental music to Cocteau’s (after Sophocles) play Antigone by Arthur Honegger (30) is performed for the first time, at the Théâtre de l’Atelier, Paris.
22 December 1922 A suite from Igor Stravinsky’s (40) ballet Pulcinella, prepared by the composer, is performed for the first time, in Boston.
26 December 1922 The Reparation Commission declares Germany to be deliberately in default.
France creates the Colony of Niger in West Africa.
28 December 1922 Andante festivo for string quartet by Jean Sibelius (57) is performed for the first time.
29 December 1922 At a luncheon to honor the visiting Vincent d’Indy (71) in Chicago, attended by Sergey Prokofiev (31) and John Alden Carpenter (46), the French Consul, Antonin Barthélemy, announces that Carpenter has been named a member of the Legion of Honor.
30 December 1922 The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is established as a federation of Russia, Ukraine, Byelorussia, and Transcaucasia.
©2004-2012 Paul Scharfenberger
18 May 2012
Last Updated (Friday, 18 May 2012 04:57)