1925
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1 January 1925 The name of the Norwegian capital is changed back from Christiania to Oslo.
France unites the districts of Damascus (Dimashq) and Aleppo (Halab) to create Syria.
US astronomer Edwin Hubble’s paper announcing that photographs he has taken of the Andromeda nebula M31 prove that it can not be a star cluster within the Milky Way Galaxy but must be another galaxy is read to the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Washington, D.C. The discovery fundamentally changes the way human beings look at the universe.
3 January 1925 Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini accepts responsibility for the actions of his party, including the murder of Giacomo Matteotti, even if it is considered “a criminal party.” Within two days, any pretence to a parliamentary democracy is gone. Non-fascists are ousted from positions of power.
4 January 1925 Après un rêve op.7/1 for voice and orchestra by Gabriel Fauré (†0), to words of Bussine, is performed for the first time, at the Théâtre de Châtelet, Paris, at least 47 years after it was composed.
5 January 1925 Violin Concerto no.1 by Ernst Krenek (24) is performed for the first time, in Dessau.
Nellie Tayloe Ross is inaugurated as the first woman governor of one of the United States, in Wyoming.
6 January 1925 Ahmed Zogu becomes Prime Minister of Albania.
7 January 1925 At the New York home of mutual friends Paul and Zosia Kochansky, Igor Stravinsky (42) and George Gershwin (26) meet for the first time. Tomorrow, Stravinsky will give his first performances in the United States, conducting the New York Philharmonic. Stravinsky finds Gershwin “nervously energetic.” (Peyser, 97)
9 January 1925 Nadia Boulanger (37) gives her first organ recital in the United States in the Wannamaker Auditorium, Philadelphia. It is the first of 26 recitals she will give through the end of February.
10 January 1925 While Béla Bartók (42) is in Prague to perform some of his works, he meets Leos Janácek (70) for the first time. They spend a good part of the evening discussing Slovak folksongs.
11 January 1925 Symphony for Organ and Orchestra by Aaron Copland (24) is performed for the first time, in New York. The composer’s teacher, Nadia Boulanger (37), is at the organ. The public is impressed along with most of the critics, but conductor Walter Damrosch is quoted as saying, “If a gifted young man can write a symphony like this at 23, within five years he will be ready to commit murder.”
15 January 1925 Hans Luther replaces Wilhelm Marx as Chancellor of Germany.
16 January 1925 Lev Trotsky is dismissed as head of the Red Army.
Sergey Rakhmaninov (51) performs for a second time at the White House for President Coolidge.
17 January 1925 US President Calvin Coolidge, in a speech in Washington, states “the chief business of the American people is business.”
Joueurs de flûte op.27 for flute and piano by Albert Roussel (55) is performed for the first time, at the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier, Paris.
18 January 1925 Si ich traurig bin op.4/4 for voice and piano by Anton Webern (41) to words of George is performed for the first time, in New York.
20 January 1925 Japan and the USSR agree to mutual recognition. Japan agrees to return northern Sakhalin Island to the USSR in return for oil concessions.
21 January 1925 A rump parliament creates the Republic of Albania.
22 January 1925 Costa Rica withdraws from the League of Nations.
Stundenbuch op.13, a song cycle for voice and orchestra by Kurt Weill (24) to words of Rilke, is performed for the first time, in Philharmonic Hall, Berlin.
23 January 1925 US President Calvin Coolidge signs an act accepting $60,000 from Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge for the construction of an auditorium for use by the Music Division of the Library of Congress.
24 January 1925 Chanson de Ronsard for voice, flute and string quartet by Arthur Honegger (32) is performed for the first time, in Paris. See 15 May 1924.
25 January 1925 Rickard Johannes Sandler replaces Karl Hjalmar Branting as Prime Minister of Sweden.
27 January 1925 Nadia Boulanger (37) gives the first of three lectures at the Rice Institute.
28 January 1925 Leos Janácek (70) is awarded a doctorate from Masaryk University in Brno. Henceforth he signs all his works “Dr.Ph. Leos Janácek.”
31 January 1925 Ahmed Zogu is elected President of Albania by the parliament.
Who is the Most Powerful in the World?, a ballet by Bohuslav Martinu (34), is performed for the first time, in Brno.
2 February 1925 The anti-clerical French government closes its embassy to the Vatican.
4 February 1925 Vytautas Petrulis replaces Antanas Tumenas as Prime Minister of Lithuania.
7 February 1925 Australian anthropologist Raymond Dart publishes his discovery of Australopithecus africanus, an extinct hominid, in Nature.
Le couvent sur l’eau, a ballet by Alfredo Casella (41) to a story by Vaudoyer, is performed for the first time, at Teatro alla Scala, Milan.
8 February 1925 Elections in the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes brings increased power to the Serbia-based Peoples Radical Party.
The third of the Three Quarter-Tone Pieces for piano four hands by Charles Ives (50) is performed for the first time, in Chickering Hall, New York.
From the Land of Dreams for orchestra by William Grant Still (29) is performed for the first time, in an International Composers’ Guild concert in Aeolian Hall, New York. The first performance of any of his concert music, Still will say “It was one of the greatest moments of my life.” Also on the program is the premiere of Ensemble for string quintet with thunder sticks by Henry Cowell (27) and Tres exágonos for voice and piano by Carlos Chávez (25). Mr. Cowell plays the thunder sticks.
Short Story, a piano work by George Gershwin (26) arranged for violin and piano by Samuel Dushkin, is performed for the first time, at the University Club, New York.
Louco, in a setting for voice and orchestra, by Heitor Villa-Lobos (37) to words of Cadelhe, is performed for the first time, in the Teatro Municipal, São Paulo, the composer conducting. See 13 November 1915.
String Quartet in c minor by Ernest MacMillan (31) is performed for the first time, in Toronto.
9 February 1925 The teaching of evolution is prohibited in the public schools of the State of Georgia.
Psyché for mezzo-soprano, flute, harp, violin, viola, and cello by Manuel de Falla (48) to words of Jean-Aubry is performed for the first time, in Barcelona, the composer conducting.
13 February 1925 Nadia Boulanger (37) gives a lecture at the Cleveland Institute of Music on “Modern Music and its Evolution.” Afterwards, she dines with Roger Sessions (28), whom she met last summer in France. They attend a concert by Igor Stravinsky (42) and afterwards, Boulanger introduces Sessions to Stravinsky.
14 February 1925 The second and possibly the first of the Three Quarter-Tone Pieces for two pianos by Charles Ives (50) are performed for the first time, in Aeolian Hall, New York.
15 February 1925 Vitorino Máximo de Carvalho Guimarães replaces José Domingos dos Santos as Prime Minister of Portugal.
The first “Thirteenth Sound” concert, featuring the microtonal music of Julián Carrillo (50) takes place in the Teatro Pincipal, Mexico City. Works by Carrillo premiered are Preludio a Colón for soprano, flute, guitar, violin, octavina, and harp, Ave María for chorus, octavina, flute, guitar, arpa-citara, violin, and cello, Plenilunio en Tepepan for voices and harp, Prelude no.1 for cello, string quartet, bass, and arpa-citara, and Hoja de album for mezzo-soprano, english horn, and cello.
16 February 1925 Trois contrepoints for piccolo, oboe, violin and cello by Arthur Honegger (32) are performed for the first time, in Salle Erard, Paris.
17 February 1925 Bukhara and Khorazm are incorporated into Uzbekistan.
18 February 1925 Concertino for flute, violin, harpsichord, and strings by Ernst Krenek (24) is performed for the first time, in Winterthur.
Two works by Heitor Villa-Lobos (37) are performed for the first time, in Teatro Sant’Ana, São Paulo: Choros no.2 for flute and clarinet and Coleção brasileira for voice and orchestra, to words of da Silva Telles, conducted by the composer.
19 February 1925 Lachian Dances by Leos Janácek (70) is performed for the first time, as a ballet in Brno. See 2 December 1924.
20 February 1925 Erik Satie (58) enters a private room in the Hôpital St.-Joseph, Paris through the generosity of Comte Étienne de Beaumont.
21 February 1925 The first issue of The New Yorker is published.
22 February 1925 John Alden Carpenter (48) hosts a party in his home for Igor Stravinsky (42), presently visiting Chicago.
24 February 1925 John Alden Carpenter (48) helps to organize a reception for Igor Stravinsky (42) at the Chicago Arts Club during Stravinsky’s American tour.
28 February 1925 German President Friedrich Ebert dies following an operation for appendicitis. He is succeeded by Walter Simons.
1 March 1925 Lauri Kristian Relander replaces Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg as President of Finland.
Intégrales for eleven wind players and four percussionists by Edgard Varèse (41) is performed for the first time, at an International Composers’ Guild concert in Aeolian Hall, New York.
3 March 1925 The medical director of the Prudential Insurance Company of America states that wives can make their marriages happier by raising their standard of cooking.
The Coolidge Foundation goes into effect, as the US government accepts a gift of over $400,000 for the Library of Congress by Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge. It is intended to fund music (especially new chamber music) at the library.
4 March 1925 Swains Island is annexed by the United States to American Samoa.
5 March 1925 An uprising of the Portuguese military is headed off as ringleaders are arrested.
6 March 1925 Mustafa Ismet Pasha replaces Ali Fethi Okyar Bey as Prime Minister of Turkey.
Gustav Holst (50) delivers the inaugural Joseph W. Alsop lecture at Liverpool University.
Incidental music for Act 5 of Micinski’s play Prince Potemkin by Karol Szymanowski (42) is performed for the first time, in Warsaw.
7 March 1925 By the Still Waters op.114 for piano by Amy Cheney Beach (57) is performed for the first time, in Washington.
9 March 1925 Morceau romantique sur un motif de M. Jacob de Julin by Jean Sibelius (59) is performed for the first time, in Helsinki, directed by the composer.
10 March 1925 Cyprus becomes a British Crown Colony.
Sonatas for piano no.4 op.11 and no.5 op.12 by Alyeksandr Vasilyevich Mosolov (24) are performed for the first time, in Moscow, by the composer.
Poèmes de Ronsard, a song cycle by Francis Poulenc (26) is performed for the first time, in the Salle des Agriculteurs, Paris, the composer at the piano.
11 March 1925 Silvestre Revueltas (25) departs Chicago for Mexico without his wife. After six years in the city, he will never return.
12 March 1925 Sun Yatsen dies of cancer in Peking. This provokes a power struggle in the Chinese ruling Kuomintang Party. He is replaced as acting Generalissimo by Hu Han-min (Hu Hanmin).
Hymn to Life for female chorus by Carl Nielsen (59) is performed for the first time.
13 March 1925 Arbetichor for bass, chorus, and orchestra by Franz Liszt (†38) is performed for the first time, in Vienna. The work was withdrawn by the composer during the revolutions of 1848. This is a transcription by Anton Webern (41).
14 March 1925 The application of Germany to join the League of Nations is rejected.
16 March 1925 The John Simon Guggenheim Foundation is incorporated with an initial endowment of $3,000,000.
19 March 1925 Six chants populaires hébraïques op.86 for voice and piano by Darius Milhaud (32) is performed for the first time, in Paris.
20 March 1925 Igor Stravinsky (42) arrives in Cherbourg aboard the SS Aquitania after a three-month tour of the United States.
Several works by Dmitri Shostakovich (18) are performed in the Moscow Conservatory Malyi Hall: Three Fantastic Dances op.5 for piano, Suite in f# minor op.6 for piano duet, and Three Pieces for cello and piano op.9. The composer performs at the keyboard. His music is overshadowed by his playing partner for the evening, Vissarion Shebalin. Three Fantastic Dances and Suite in f# minor have been played before, in private circumstances, as early as 1923.
21 March 1925 Wolfgang Pauli publishes his exclusion principle in Zeitschrift für Physik. The idea that two nearby electrons can not be in the same state at the same time is a very important part of quantum mechanics and chemistry.
Maurice Ravel’s (50) fantaisie lyrique L’enfant et les sortilèges to words of Colette is performed for the first time, in Monaco.
Sonata for flute and piano by Willem Pijper (30) is performed for the first time, in Amsterdam.
22 March 1925 JOAK, the first radio station in Japan, begins broadcasting from Shibaura, Tokyo.
23 March 1925 Governor Austin Peay of Tennessee signs a bill into law making it a crime to teach evolution in that state.
24 March 1925 Prelude et blues for four harps by Arthur Honegger (32) is performed for the first time, in Salle des agriculteurs, Paris.
26 March 1925 Pierre Boulez is born in Montbrison, in the Loire region, third of four children born to Léon Boulez, engineer and technical director of a steel factory, and Marcelle Calabre.
27 March 1925 Several works for voice and piano by Ralph Vaughan Williams (52) are performed for the first time, in Aeolian Hall, London: Two Poems by Seamas O’Sullivan (pseud. of James Starkey), Three Songs from Shakespeare and Four Poems by Fredegond Shove.
29 March 1925 The Japanese Diet passes a law granting universal male suffrage.
31 March 1925 Antti Agaton Tulenheimo replaces Lauri Johannes Ingman as Prime Minister of Finland.
1 April 1925 A national broadcasting authority is created by the Danish Parliament.
Hebrew University is officially opened on Mt. Scopus, Jerusalem.
2 April 1925 Two choral works for high voices by Zoltán Kodály (42), The Straw Guy and See the Gypsy Munching Cheese, both to traditional texts, are performed for the first time, in Budapest.
3 April 1925 Belgium and the Netherlands sign a treaty resolving their differences over navigation on the River Scheldt.
At the Boar’s Head op.42, an opera by Gustav Holst (50) after Shakespeare, is performed for the first time, at the Manchester Opera House. It is not a success.
4 April 1925 Japan formally withdraws from northern Sakhalin Island and turns it over to the USSR.
6 April 1925 Tell Me More, a musical comedy with a book by Thompson and Wells, lyrics by DeSylva and Ira Gershwin and music by George Gershwin (26), is performed for the first time in Atlantic City. See 13 April 1925.
10 April 1925 The Earl of Reading, Viceroy of India, departs India to consult in England. Serving in his place is Victor Alexander George Robert Bulwer-Lytton, Earl of Lytton.
11 April 1925 The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is published.
12 April 1925 A setting of Tantum ergo by Anton Bruckner (†28) is performed for the first time, in Vöcklabruck.
13 April 1925 Tell Me More, a musical comedy with a book by Thompson and Wells, lyrics by DeSylva and Ira Gershwin and music by George Gershwin (26), is performed for the first time in New York, at the Gaiety Theatre. It runs for 100 performances. See 6 April 1925.
14 April 1925 John Alden Carpenter (50) signs a contract with the Metropolitan Opera, New York, to produce his new ballet, Le Chant des gratte-ciel (Skyscrapers).
15 April 1925 John Singer Sargent dies in London at the age of 69.
Returns from the Belgian national election show gains for the two leading parties in the Chamber of Representatives, with the Catholics holding a slight edge. However the Socialists have one more Senator than the Catholics.
16 April 1925 Communists detonate explosives destroying the roof of St. Nedelya Church in Sofiya, Bulgaria during a funeral for General Konstantin Georgiev. 150 people are killed, 500 injured. Several military and political leaders are killed but no members of the government.
Klage der Ariadne by Carl Orff (29), to his own translation of Rinuccini, is performed for the first time, in Mannheim. See 30 November 1940.
After sending the piano score to his commissioned ballet Le Chant des gratte-ciel to Sergey Diaghilev in Paris, and waiting seven months with no response, John Alden Carpenter (50) informs Diaghilev that he has signed a contract with the Metropolitan Opera for the premiere of the work.
17 April 1925 Martial law is declared in Bulgaria.
Paul Painlevé replaces Edouard Herriot as Prime Minister of France.
Orpheus by Carl Orff (29), to a translation of Striggio by Günther, is performed for the first time, in Mannheim. See 13 October 1929 and 4 October 1940.
George Gershwin (26) signs a contract with the Symphony Society of New York to produce a piano concerto for performance in December.
18 April 1925 For the second time this year, a military rising against the government of Portugal fails.
19 April 1925 Paul Robeson gives his first recital of spirituals, at the Greenwich Village Theatre in New York.
23 April 1925 The first concert of the Quarter-Tone Music Society takes place in Leningrad and includes music of Alois Haba (31).
Parts of Grail Song op.20, a masque for community singing, acting, and dancing by Arthur Farwell, are performed for the first time, in Los Angeles, on the composer’s 53rd birthday.
24 April 1925 Two works for female chorus by Aaron Copland (24), The House on the Hill to words of Robinson, and An Immorality, to words of Pound, is performed for the first time, in New York.
25 April 1925 Ségovia op.29 for guitar by Albert Roussel (56) is performed for the first time, in Madrid.
26 April 1925 In the second round of voting, Paul von Hindenburg is elected President of Germany.
Silvestre Revueltas (25) gives a recital at the National Prepatory School in Mexico City, his first since moving back from Chicago.
28 April 1925 The British government returns the pound to the gold standard £1=$4.86.
4,000 people attend the opening of the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes on the esplanade in Paris. The exposition is the root of the term “art deco.”
29 April 1925 Roberto Gerhard (28) conducts the Spanish premiere of Pierrot Lunaire and other works by Arnold Schoenberg (50) in the Palau de la Música Catalana, Barcelona. Gerhard organized the entire concert and wrote the program notes.
30 April 1925 The Travelling Companion, an opera by Charles Villiers Stanford (†1) to words of Newbolt after Andersen, is performed for the first time, at the David Lewis Theatre, Liverpool. See 4 November 1920.
Kammermusik no.3 op.36/2, a cello concerto by Paul Hindemith (29), is performed for the first time, in Bochum, the composer conducting.
1 May 1925 Cortège macabre for orchestra (an excerpt from Grohg) by Aaron Copland (24) is performed for the first time, in Rochester, New York Howard Hanson (28) conducting.
2 May 1925 The Months, three songs for voice and piano by Bohuslav Martinu (34), are performed for the first time, in Paris.
Piano Quintet op.81 by Vincent d’Indy (74) is performed for the first time, in Paris.
3 May 1925 The Brazilian Senate meets for the first time in the Palácio Monroe in Rio de Janeiro.
4 May 1925 Darius Milhaud (32) marries his cousin Madeleine Milhaud in the synagogue of Aix.
5 May 1925 John T. Scopes is arrested in Dayton, Tennessee for teaching evolution.
6 May 1925 Symphony no.1 by Dmitri Shostakovich (18) is performed for the first time, in a two-piano version, by the composer and a friend before the Leningrad Conservatory composition faculty and students as a final examination for the composition course. Alyeksandr Glazunov (59) is not fond of two movements, but generally the work is well received. See 7 February 1926 and 12 May 1926.
Colin McPhee (25) makes his Paris debut in a piano recital in Salle Malakoff.
8 May 1925 Three Pieces for flute, clarinet and bassoon by Walter Piston (31) is performed for the first time, in Paris.
The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, a predominantly black union, is founded by A. Philip Randolph.
Incidental music to Vollmüller’s play Turandot by Roger Sessions (28) is performed for the first time, in Cleveland, the composer conducting.
9 May 1925 The British Empire Exhibition in Wembley reopens for a second year.
10 May 1925 Prime Minister William Massey of New Zealand dies of natural causes in Wellington.
11 May 1925 The board of the Cleveland Institute of Music vote to dismiss its director Ernst Bloch (44). The reason is probably Bloch’s extramarital affair with a very talkative young woman.
12 May 1925 Two members of the board of the Cleveland Institute of Music speak to its director, Ernst Bloch (44), in a hallway. They ask him to resign, saying only that he is unpopular. Bloch refuses to resign.
Toccata for violin and piano by William Walton (23) is performed for the first time, at 6 Queen Square, Bloomsbury, London.
Passage for violin and piano by Henry Cowell (28) is performed for the first time, in Monterrey, California, the composer at the piano.
13 May 1925 The Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic is made part of the Soviet Union.
Alois, Burgrave van de Vyvere replaces George Theunis as Prime Minister of Belgium.
The manager of the Cleveland Institute of Music, Martha Sanders, leaks the dismissal vote of 11 May to the faculty. Roger Sessions (28) is furious and resigns.
14 May 1925 Francis Henry Dillon Bell replaces William Ferguson Massey as Prime Minister of New Zealand. Massey died four days ago.
Alban Berg (40) travels to Prague for a performance of his music from Wozzeck. He will stay for a week as the guest of Herbert von Fuchs-Robettin and his wife Hanna. Berg considers this a turning point in his life. He begins a romantic relationship with Hanna Fuchs-Robettin.
15 May 1925 Sonata for horn and piano op.70 by Charles Koechlin (57) is performed for the first time, in Paris. See 24 March 1927.
19 May 1925 Jacob chez Laban, a pastorale biblique by Charles Koechlin (57) to his own words, is performed for the first time, in Paris.
20 May 1925 While in Prague, Alban Berg (40) confesses his love to Hanna Fuchs-Robettin. In July he will write to her, “I am no longer myself since this greatest of events. I have become a madman staggering about with an ever pounding heart, to whom everything, yes, everything that once moved him…has become completely indifferent, inexplicable even hateful…One thought alone animates me, one desire, one longing: you!” (Floros, 66)
21 May 1925 St. Patrick’s Breastplate for chorus and orchestra by Arnold Bax (41) is performed for the first time, in Queen’s Hall, London.
Doktor Faust, an opera by Ferruccio Busoni (†0) to his own words, completed by Jarnach, is performed for the first time, in the Sachsisches Staatstheater, Dresden.
22 May 1925 A revised version of El Amor brujo, a ballet for mezzo-soprano and orchestra by Manuel de Falla (48) to words of Martínez Sierra, is performed for the first time, in the Trianon Lyrique, Paris.
23 May 1925 Concertino for Piano and Orchestra by Arthur Honegger (33) is performed for the first time, at the Paris Opéra. The solo part is played by Andrée Vaurabourg who will marry the composer within a year.
28 May 1925 A criticism of Zoltán Kodály’s (42) brand of Hungarian art music is published in the German periodical Neues Pester Journal, written by Béla Diósy. The journal will refuse to print Kodály's reply.
30 May 1925 Chinese and Sikh troops under a British commander fire into an anti-foreign crowd of thousands in Shanghai, killing eleven and wounding 20.
Joseph Gordon Coates replaces Francis Henry Dillon Bell as Prime Minister of New Zealand.
31 May 1925 Sing Me the Men for chorus by Gustav Holst (50) to words of Dolben is performed for the first time, at All Hallows Church, Barking, the composer conducting.
1 June 1925 Concerto grosso no.1 for strings and piano by Ernest Bloch (44) is performed for the first time, in Cleveland, directed by the composer.
5 June 1925 The first radio broadcast of a service from Canterbury Cathedral takes place. The service is the commemoration of the 300th anniversary of the death of Orlando Gibbons, who is buried in the cathedral.
6 June 1925 Walter Percy Chrysler reorganizes the Maxwell Motor Corporation into the Chrysler Corporation.
Symphony no.2 op.40 by Sergey Prokofiev (34) is performed for the first time, in Paris. The audience response is tepid. Among those confused by the music is Igor Stravinsky (42).
8 June 1925 In Ascona, near Locarno, Ernst Krenek (24) writes to Paul Bekker reluctantly refusing the post of assistant conductor of the State Opera in Kassel. See 17 June 1925.
9 June 1925 The 60th birthday of Carl Nielsen is celebrated as a national holiday in Denmark. The composer is made a Knight Commander of the second Grade of the Danish flag.
A Piano Sonata by Igor Stravinsky (42) is performed for the first time, privately, at the Paris home of the Princesse de Polignac, the dedicatee. See 16 July 1925. (It is possible that Stravinsky played it for a small number of people (less than ten) in Warsaw on 6 November 1924)
Dionysiaques op.62 for band by Florent Schmitt (54) is performed for the first time, in Paris.
11 June 1925 Two months after the first public demonstration of his apparatus for “seeing with electricity,” the first company associated with John Logie Baird is registered in Britain. It is called Television, Ltd.
Concerto for violin and wind orchestra op.12 by Kurt Weill (25) is performed for the first time, in Théâtre de l’Exposition des Arts Décoratifs, Paris.
La forêt païnne, a ballet by Charles Koechlin (57) to his own story, is performed completely for the first time, at the Théâtre des Arts Décoratifs, Paris. See 20 April 1922.
12 June 1925 String Quartet op.121 by Gabriel Fauré (†0) is performed for the first time, at the Paris Conservatoire.
Ernest MacMillan (31) resigns his position as organist and choir director at Timothy Eaton Memorial Church in Toronto. He has musical differences with the church fathers.
13 June 1925 Charles Jenkins demonstrates his television system, broadcasting from the Naval Radio Station in Anacostia to his Washington laboratory before a group of officials.
Incidental music to Morax’s play Judith by Arthur Honegger (33) is performed for the first time, in Mézières, Switzerland, conducted by the composer. See 13 February 1926.
14 June 1925 An exhibition opens at the Mannheim Art Gallery. The Gallery’s director, Gustav Friedrich Hartlaub, titles it “Die neue Sachlichkeit.” It is a term which will be applied to music.
Refused publication by the Neues Pester Journal, Zoltán Kodály’s (42) reply to the article of 28 May is printed in the Budapest Journal where he defends his music and ideas.
17 June 1925 Prosper, Vicomte Poullet replaces Alois, Burgrave van de Vyvere as Prime Minister of Belgium.
Ernst Krenek (24) writes to Paul Bekker accepting the post of assistant conductor of the State Opera in Kassel. See 8 June 1925.
23 June 1925 British troops fire into anti-foreign demonstrators in Canton killing 52 people and injuring over 100.
Love Songs of Hafiz for solo voice and orchestra by Karol Szymanowski (42), words translated by Bethge, is performed for the first time, in Paris.
24 June 1925 General Theodoros Michail Pangalos and Admiral Khadjikyriakos overthrow the government of Prime Minister Andreas Michalakopoulos of Greece. Pangalos replaces Michalokopoulos as Prime Minister, dissolves Parliament, and abolishes constitutional freedoms.
25 June 1925 Incidental music to Bergstedt’s play Ebbe Skammelsen by Carl Nielsen (60) is performed for the first time, in Copenhagen.
26 June 1925 La maschera nuda, an operetta by Ruggero Leoncavallo (†5) to words of Bonelli and Paolieri, with music completed by (or entirely composed by) Salvatore Allegra, is performed for the first time, in the Teatro Politeama, Naples.
27 June 1925 Arthur Honegger’s (33) ballet Sous-Marine, to a scenario by Ari, is performed for the first time, at the Opéra-Comique, Paris. Also premiered is Dance d'Abisag op.75 for orchestra by Florent Schmitt (54).
30 June 1925 António Maria da Silva replaces Vitorino Máximo de Carvalho Guimarães as Prime Minister of Portugal.
1 July 1925 Wang Ching-wei (Wang Jingwei) replaces Hu Han-min (Hu Hanmin) as Head of State of China in the Nanking administration.
Evening. After seven months of illness, Erik Alfred Leslie Satie dies at St. Joseph Hospital, Paris of cirrhosis of the liver, aged 59 years, one month, and 14 days.
Incidental music to Reinach’s (after Sophocles) play La naissance de la lyre op.24 by Albert Roussel (56) is performed for the first time, at the Paris Opéra.
Voters in the Netherlands return a Parliament similar to the previous one.
4 July 1925 The 21-meter high advertisement for Citroën on the Eiffel Tower is turned on.
6 July 1925 The remains of Erik Satie are buried at Arcueil, attended by Charles Koechlin (57), Albert Roussel (56), Maurice Ravel (50), Arthur Honegger (33), Germaine Tailleferre, Darius Milhaud (32), Georges Auric, Jean Cocteau and Pierre Templier (his publisher and Mayor of Arcueil). But there are far more local townsfolk on hand than celebrities. One wreath of violets carries the inscription: “To M. Satie from his fellow tenants.”
10 July 1925 The Soviet news agency TASS is founded.
12 July 1925 Incidental music to Strachey’s play The Son of Heaven by William Walton (23) is performed for the first time, in the Scala Theatre, London, conducted by the composer.
16 July 1925 Piano Sonata by Igor Stravinsky (43) is performed publicly for the first time, in Donaueschingen. See 9 June 1925.
18 July 1925 Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler is published in Munich.
The Concerto for Orchestra op.38 by Paul Hindemith (29) is performed for the first time, in Duisberg.
19 July 1925 The third military uprising in four months against the Portuguese government, like the previous two, fails.
20 July 1925 Druze revolt against French rule in Syria and take over Salkhad.
French troops evacuate Westphalia.
Italian Communist leader Giovanni Amendola is brutally beaten by fascist government thugs.
Representatives of Italy and the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes sign the Treaty of Nettuno on the disposition of Fiume (Rijeka) and the movement of civilians in Dalmatia.
George Gershwin (26) becomes the first American born musician to appear on the cover of Time magazine.
21 July 1925 Rebelling Druze defeat the Fench at Al Kabir, Syria.
In an attempt to establish ties with émigré artists, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union gives permission to Sergey Prokofiev (34), Igor Stravinsky (43), and Alyeksandr Borovsky to visit the USSR.
22 July 1925 Entente cordiale, a postwar comedy by Ethel Smyth (67) to her own words, is performed for the first time, at the Royal College of Music, London. See 20 October 1926.
24 July 1925 John T. Scopes is found guilty of teaching evolution in Dayton, Tennessee. He is forced to pay $100 and court costs.
25 July 1925 The Concerto for oboe, bassoon, violin, and orchestra by Paul Hindemith (29) is performed for the first time, in Duisburg
26 July 1925 The fifth of the Lieder nach alten Texten op.33 for chorus by Paul Hindemith (29) is performed for the first time, in Donaueschingen. See 2 November 1924.
29 July 1925 Michail (Mikis) Theodorakis is born on Chios, first of two children born to Yorgos Theodorakis, a bureaucrat in the Ministry of the Interior, and Aspasia Poulakis.
1 August 1925 After an occupation of twelve years, United States Marines withdraw from Nicaragua.
2 August 1925 Druze capture the Druze capital As Suwayda from the French.
4 August 1925 Hendrikus Colijn replaces Charles Joseph Maria Ruys de Beerenbrouck as first minister of the Netherlands.
6 August 1925 Leland Clayton Smith is born in Oakland, California.
7 August 1925 Domingos Leite Pereira replaces António Maria da Silva as Prime Minister of Portugal.
8 August 1925 40,000 members of the Ku Klux Klan march through Washington.
14 August 1925 Norway annexes Spitsbergen in accordance with an international treaty agreed to by 40 countries.
22 August 1925 Intrada op.111/1 for organ by Jean Sibelius (59) is performed for the first time, at a church service during a state visit to Helsinki by King Gustaf V of Sweden.
23 August 1925 A month after fighting begins, Druze leader Sultan Pasha al-Atrash declares rebellion in Syria against France.
24 August 1925 Arnold Dolmetsch inaugurates his first Festival of Old Music in his home town of Haslemere.
A performance at the Salzburg Festival is broadcast for the first time. It is Don Giovanni.
25 August 1925 Ernst Krenek (25) arrives in Kassel to take up his position as assistant conductor of the State Opera.
28 August 1925 Arnold Schoenberg (50) signs a contract to teach a master class in composition at the Berlin Academy of Arts.
29 August 1925 Wolfgang Kapp and others involved in the 1920 putsch are granted amnesty by the German government.
31 August 1925 Jelka Delius writes that her husband Frederick (63) “can not see at all..” His sight grew progressively worse through the Spring. “We have a man who carries him up and down, and he lies most of the day in the garden on his chaiselounge...His mind is as lucid and active as ever…”
1 September 1925 28 communists are arrested in Bucharest.
Henri, comte de Baillet-Latour of Belgium replaces Pierre, Baron de Coubertin as President of the International Olympic Committee.
The Bank of Mexico is inaugurated as a central bank and the only bank in the country allowed to print money.
Virgil Thomson (28) sails for France, seeking to escape the stifling professional atmosphere in the United States.
5 September 1925 Jelka Delius writes from Grez-sur-Loing that “our neighbour Brooks has a fine wireless now. Should there be anything of special interest, please let us know and we can get Fred to hear it there.” Delius (63) is now too weak to travel to live performances.
7 September 1925 In Venice, at the ISCM Festival, Arnold Schoenberg (50) conducts his Serenade op.24. Igor Stravinsky (43), though present at the festival, does not attend.
8 September 1925 In Venice, at the ISCM Festival, Igor Stravinsky (43) performs his Piano Sonata. Arnold Schoenberg (50), though present at the festival, does not attend.
10 September 1925 Authorization to break the seals on the apartment of Erik Satie (†0) is granted and the room is entered by a clerk of the court and a brother of the composer. They find living quarters with no gas or electric light, no running water, one window, a folding cot with no sheets, two pianos, one full of unopened mail and thousands of sheets of paper written with exquisite calligraphy.
Gustav Holst’s (50) choral work The Evening-watch op.43/1 to words of Vaughan is performed for the first time, in Gloucester, the composer conducting.
17 September 1925 Four works by Heitor Villa-Lobos (38) are performed for the first time, in the Instituto Nacional de Música, Rio de Janeiro: the Double String Quartet, Carnaval das crianças for piano, Suíte para canto e violino to words of de Andrade, and Choros no.7 for instrumental ensemble.
22 September 1925 George (26), Ira, and Rose Gershwin buy a house on 103rd St. in New York, between Riverside Drive and West Side Avenue.
Folia du um bloco infantil for piano and orchestra by Heitor Villa-Lobos (38) is performed for the first time, in São Paulo, conducted by the composer.
25 September 1925 Leonas Bistras replaces Vytautas Petrulis as Prime Minister of Lithuania.
Kammermusik no.4 op.36/3 for violin and chamber orchestra by Paul Hindemith (29) is performed for the first time, in Dessau.
5 October 1925 Franz Schreker (47) travels to the Soviet Union for 18 days as a guest of the government there. He conducts in Leningrad and Moscow.
Klaviermusik op.27 by Paul Hindemith (29) is performed for the first time, in Dresden.
7 October 1925 The First Choral Symphony op.41 for soprano, chorus and orchestra by Gustav Holst (51), to words of Keats, is performed for the first time, in Leeds. The critics are not pleased.
8 October 1925 German-born American Emile Berliner tells a meeting of the American Institute of Architects in Washington of his invention of acoustic tiles and acoustic cement.
9 October 1925 Igor Stravinsky (43) writes to Jean Cocteau suggesting an opera in Latin on an ancient tragedy.
10 October 1925 Flos Campi, a suite for viola, small wordless chorus, and small orchestra by Ralph Vaughan Williams (52), is performed for the first time, in Queen’s Hall, London.
11 October 1925 In Nice, Igor Stravinsky (43) writes to Jean Cocteau asking for a libretto based on Oidipous Turannos of Sophocles.
Amy Beach (58) is elected first president of the Society of American Women Composers in New York.
14 October 1925 Norway takes formal control of Svalbard.
15 October 1925 Two works by Albert Roussel (56) are performed for the first time at the Salle Gaveau, Paris: the Second Violin Sonata op.28 and the Sérénade for flute, violin, viola, cello and harp op.30.
A Piano Sonata by Frank Bridge (46) is performed for the first time, in Wigmore Hall, London.
16 October 1925 In the Palais de Justice, Locarno, Switzerland, agreement is reached between Germany, France, and Great Britain on a treaty stabilizing the Rhineland and deciding disputes on the eastern border of Germany by arbitration, and that Germany will be admitted to the League of Nations. The treaty also provides French guarantees of the independence of Czechoslovakia and Poland.
Parergon zur Sinfonia Domestica op.73 for piano left hand and orchestra by Richard Strauss (61) is performed for the first time, in Dresden. The work is commissioned by, dedicated to, and performed by Paul Wittgenstein.
The Texas State Text Book Board prohibits evolution in any school textbook.
17 October 1925 The Black Horse Troop, a march by John Philip Sousa (70), is performed for the first time, in Cleveland.
18 October 1925 French planes bomb Damascus during the Syrian revolt.
The Fire of the Cauldron for piano by Henry Cowell (28) is performed for the first time, in Los Angeles.
24 October 1925 Luciano Berio is born in Oneglia.
25 October 1925 Der vertauschte Cupido, a ballet by Ernst Krenek (25) after Rameau, is performed for the first time, in Kassel, the composer conducting.
26 October 1925 The first version of Nursery Rhymes for nine voices and ten players by Leos Janácek (71) is performed for the first time, in Brno.
27 October 1925 The Czechoslovak Ministry of Education and National Culture informs Leos Janácek (71) that his opera The Cunning Little Vixen has been awarded the state prize of 10,000 korunas.
28 October 1925 The court martial of US General Billy Mitchell gets underway in Washington. He is accused of insubordination when he said that the crash of the airship Shenandoah was “the result of the incompetency, the criminal negligence, and the almost treasonable administration of our national defense by the Navy and War Departments.”
Canticum fratris solis for voice and orchestra by Charles Martin Loeffler (64) to words of St. Francis in a modern version by Gino Perera, is performed for the first time, at the Library of Congress, Washington as part of the first Festival of Chamber Music under the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Foundation. This is the inaugural concert in the new Coolidge Auditorium.
29 October 1925 Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, Baron Irwin is named to replace the Earl of Reading as Viceroy of India. He will take up his position in April.
Voting is held to elect the 15th Parliament of Canada. The Liberal government is defeated, coming in second to the Conservatives, but with support of the Progressive Party, the Liberal Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King is able to form a minority government.
30 October 1925 Quartet in One Movement op.23 for string quartet by Howard Hanson (29) is performed for the first time, at the Library of Congress, Washington on the last day of the inaugural Festival of Chamber Music in the Coolidge Auditorium.
31 October 1925 Mirza Reza Pahlavi becomes provisional head of state for Persia, replacing Soltan Ahmad Qajar (who left the country in 1923) and regent Prince Mohammad Hassan Mirza.
The British Empire Exhibition in Wembley closes after its second and final year. Over 27,000,000 people visited the exhibition over the two years.
3 November 1925 Pauls Kalnins replaces Janis Cakste as President of Latvia.
Fanfare for three trumpets, three trombones, and timpani by George Whitefield Chadwick (70) is performed for the first time, at the unveiling of a mural by John Singer Sargent at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
4 November 1925 National elections in New Zealand see a sweeping victory for the Reform Party of Prime Minister Gordon Coates.
5 November 1925 Orfeo, ovvero L’ottava canzone, an opera by Gian Francesco Malipiero (43) to his own words, is performed for the first time, in the Düsseldorf Stadtsoper.
6 November 1925 String Quartet op.36 by Hans Pfitzner (56) is performed for the first time, in Berlin. See 23 March 1933.
Trapeze op.39, a ballet by Sergey Prokofiev (34) to a scenario by Romanov, is performed for the first time, in Gotha.
Concerto accademico for violin and strings by Ralph Vaughan Williams (53) is performed for the first time, in Aeolian Hall, London.
10 November 1925 Janis Cakste replaces Pauls Kalnins as President of Latvia.
String Quartet no.7 by Darius Milhaud (33) is performed for the first time, in Brussels.
11 November 1925 Sarka, an opera by Leos Janácek (71) to words of Zeyer, is performed for the first time, in the National Theatre, Brno.
12 November 1925 String Quartet no.2 by Bohuslav Martinu (34) is performed for the first time, in Berlin.
13 November 1925 The first exhibition of surrealist art takes place at the Galerie Pierre in Paris. Artists shown include Giorgio De Chirico, Max Ernst, Paul Klee, Man Ray, Joan Miró, and Pablo Picasso.
18 November 1925 Fünf Klavierstücke op.39 by Ernst Krenek (25) are performed for the first time, in Kassel, by the composer.
2 Chants d’Ariel for voice and orchestra by Arthur Honegger (33) to words of Shakespeare (tr. Pourtalès) are performed for the first time, at the Palais des Fêtes, Strasbourg.
The sixth of the Seven Part Songs op.44 for soprano, chorus and strings by Gustav Holst (51) to words of Bridges is performed for the first time, in Liverpool.
19 November 1925 Edward Elgar (68) receives the gold medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society.
20 November 1925 Aleksander, Count Skrzynski replaces Wladyslaw Grabski as Prime Minister of Poland.
Music for the Theatre, for chamber orchestra by Aaron Copland (25), is performed for the first time, in Symphony Hall, Boston.
21 November 1925 Lev Sergeyevich Termen (Leon Theremin) (29) signs his rights to the Termenvox over to the German firm of MJ Goldberg und Söhne GmbH in Berlin. This is a way for the Soviet Union to enter into western industry. Anyone interested in the device will think they are dealing with Germans, not Soviets.
22 November 1925 Gunther Alexander Schuller is born in New York, the son of Arthur Ernst Schuller, a violin player in the New York Philharmonic, and Elsie Bernartz.
23 November 1925 After three days of Druze attacks, the French defenders of the citadel of Rachaya (Lebanon) are saved by the arrival of French airplanes who bomb the Druze around the walls.
24 November 1925 Igor Stravinsky’s (43) Suite no.2 for orchestra, an arrangement of the Three Easy Pieces and Five Easy Pieces for piano four hands, is performed for the first time, in Frankfurt.
Tip Toes, a musical comedy with book by Bolton and Thompson, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, and music by George Gershwin (27), is performed for the first time in Washington. See 28 December 1925.
25 November 1925 Serenade in A for piano by Igor Stravinsky (43) is performed for the first time, by the composer, in Frankfurt.
Symphonic Fantasia no.1 for orchestra by Otto Luening (25) is performed for the first time, in Rochester, New York, Howard Hanson (29) conducting.
26 November 1925 Prajadhipok (Rama VII) replaces Vajiravudh (Rama VI) as King of Siam.
Ernest Bloch (45) signs a three-year contract to direct the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
28 November 1925 Aristide Briand replaces Paul Painlevé as Prime Minister of France.
Incidental music to Dietzenschmidt’s (pseud. for Schmidt) play Vom lieben Augustin by Ernst Krenek (25) is performed for the first time, in Kassel, conducted by the composer.
29 November 1925 A suite from the opera The Love for Three Oranges op.33a by Sergey Prokofiev (34) is performed for the first time, in Paris. See 30 December 1921.
30 November 1925 The Czech Academy informs Leos Janácek (71) that he has won a prize of 5,000 korunas for his two chamber works String Quartet no.1 and Youth.
Choros no.3 for male choir, clarinet, saxophone, bassoon, and three horns by Heitor Villa-Lobos (38) is performed for the first time, in São Paulo.
1 December 1925 British troops begin evacuating Cologne.
Tyrolian Valse-fantaisie op.116 for piano by Amy Cheney Beach (58) is performed for the first time, in Pittsburgh.
3 December 1925 Concerto in F for piano and orchestra by George Gershwin (27) is performed for the first time, in Carnegie Hall, the composer at the keyboard. The critics are generally ambivalent.
5 December 1925 Forces of ibn Saud capture Medina.
7 December 1925 The Sixty-ninth Congress of the United States convenes in Washington. President Coolidge’s Republican Party holds majorities in both houses.
8 December 1925 President Lauri Relander presents Jean Sibelius with the Order of the White Rose of Finland on the composer’s 60th birthday.
10 December 1925 Song of the Flame, an operetta by H. Stothart and George Gershwin (27) to words of Hammerstein and Harbach, is performed for the first time, in Wilmington, Delaware. See 30 December 1925.
11 December 1925 Symphony no.6 by Carl Nielsen (60) is performed for the first time, in Copenhagen the composer conducting. Nielsen finished the symphony six days ago. Critics are mixed.
12 December 1925 Bernadino Luis Machado Guimarães replaces Manuel Texeira Gomes as President of Portugal.
Musical America offers $3,000 for an authentic American symphony. See 21 December 1928.
Five Preludes for piano by Ruth Crawford (24) are performed for the first time, in Town Hall, New York.
14 December 1925 Wozzeck op.7, an opera by Alban Berg (40) to words of Büchner, is performed for the first time, in the Berlin Staatsoper. During the performance disturbances break out including hisses, whistles, and fistfights. The critics are also divided.
Lied in der Abwesenheit D.416 for voice and piano by Franz Schubert (†97) to words of Stolberg is performed for the first time, in the Musikvereinsaal, Vienna, 109 years after it was composed.
15 December 1925 Mirza Reza Pahlavi, who has been provisional head of state since October 31, becomes Shah of Persia.
Jaan Teemant replaces Jüri Jaakson as Head of State of Estonia.
16 December 1925 In national elections in Australia, the National Party becomes the largest party in the House of Representatives, although it is once again forced into coalition with the Country Party.
The Council of the League of Nations decides the dispute between Turkey and Iraq over Mosul in favor of Iraq.
17 December 1925 António Maria da Silva replaces Domingos Leite Pereira as Prime Minister of Portugal.
US General Billy Mitchell is found guilty in Washington of eight counts of insubordination. He is suspended from rank, command, and duty with forfeiture of pay for five years.
18 December 1925 The Fourteenth Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union opens. Lev Kamenyev and Grigory Zinoviev will be defeated in efforts to oppose Stalin’s industrialization program. Zinoviev will be demoted.
21 December 1925 Sergey Eisenstein’s film Battleship Potemkin is released in the USSR.
22 December 1925 Incidental music to Sargent’s play The Reveller by Charles Martin Loeffler (64) is performed for the first time, in Boston.
23 December 1925 Ibn Saud leads his Wahabi army into the last Hejaz stronghold: Jeddah.
Karlis Ulmanis replaces Hugo Celmins as Prime Minister of Latvia.
Sergey Prokofiev (34) departs France for a concert tour of the United States.
24 December 1925 Edward Elgar (68) undergoes an operation for hemorrhoids, in Worcester.
Virgil Thomson (29) and Maurice Grosser, an aspiring artist, move into an apartment in St. Cloud, Paris. This will be Thomson’s most important relationship.
27 December 1925 Luigi Russolo (40) introduces a new noise instrument, the enharmonic bow, at a concert in the Teatro Popolo, Milan.
Kurt Weill’s (25) ballet with song Zaubernacht is performed in the Garrick Theatre, New York. It is the first performance of his music in North America.
Sonata for violin and double bass by Arthur Lourié (34) is performed for the first time, in an International Composers’ Guild concert in Aeolian Hall, New York. Also premiered are excerpts from Moments for piano by Dane Rudhyar (30).
28 December 1925 Crown Prince Karol of Romania renounces his right to succession in favor of his son Mihai, choosing instead to live with his mistress.
Tanz der Spröden by Carl Orff (30), to a translation of Rinuccini by Günther, is performed for the first time, in Karlsruhe. See 30 November 1940.
Tip Toes, a musical comedy with book by Bolton and Thompson, lyrics by Ira Gershwin and music by George Gershwin (27), is performed for the first time in New York, at the Liberty Theatre. It will run for 194 performances. See 24 November 1925.
30 December 1925 Fred Niblo’s film Ben-Hur starring Ramon Navarro is released in the United States.
Song of the Flame, an operetta by Herbert Stothart and George Gershwin (27) to words of Hammerstein and Harbach, is performed for the first time in New York, at the 44th Street Theatre. It will see 219 performances. See 10 December 1925.
31 December 1925 Kyösti Kallio replaces Antti Agaton Tulenheimo as Prime Minister of Finland.
Concerto in modo misolidio for piano and orchestra by Ottorino Respighi (46) is performed for the first time, in Carnegie Hall, New York the composer at the keyboard.
©2004-2012 Paul Scharfenberger
18 June 2012
Last Updated (Monday, 18 June 2012 04:42)