1927
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1 January 1927 A Chinese nationalist government is established at Hankow (Hankou).
The Royal Charter for the British Broadcasting Corporation goes into effect.
Virgil Thomson (30) presents Gertrude Stein with a setting of her Susie Asado. “I like its looks immensely,” she remarks.
The National Broadcasting Company and the Westinghouse Manufacturing Company join forces to produce the first coast-to-coast radio broadcast in North America. The program is the play-by-play of the Rose Bowl football game announced by Graham McNamee from Pasadena, California.
4 January 1927 Nouvelle sonatine op.87/2 for piano by Charles Koechlin (59) is performed for the first time, at the Université Mercereau, Paris.
6 January 1927 Fearful that Mexico is spreading Bolshevism to Nicaragua, thus threatening US capitalist interests and the Panama Canal, President Calvin Coolidge orders US Marines to Managua once again.
Concerto for organ and orchestra op.27 by Howard Hanson (30) is performed for the first time, at the Eastman Theatre, Rochester, New York directed by the composer. The work is an arrangement of Hanson’s Concerto for organ, strings, and harp op.22/3. See 29 August 1943.
7 January 1927 Transatlantic telephone service begins between New York and London.
Oración del Torero op.34 for orchestra by Joaquín Turina (44) is performed for the first time, in Madrid.
8 January 1927 Lyric Suite for string quartet by Alban Berg (41) is performed for the first time, in Vienna. It is a great success.
9 January 1927 Prelude and Scherzo op.11 for string octet by Dmitri Shostakovich (20) is performed for the first time, in Mozart Hall, Stanislavsky Art Theatre, Moscow.
10 January 1927 Metropolis, a film by Fritz Lang, is shown for the first time, in Berlin.
In a message to Congress, US President Calvin Coolidge claims that Mexico is providing large quantities of arms to Liberal rebels in Nicaragua.
12 January 1927 Salvatore Martirano is born in Yonkers, New York, the son of Alexander Martirano and Mary Mazullo.
Musique religieuse op.113 by Jean Sibelius (61) for the Freemasons is performed for the first time, in Helsinki.
16 January 1927 Fonctionnaire M.C. XII: Inaction en musique by Florent Schmitt (56) is performed for the first time, in Paris.
17 January 1927 Nikolay Roslavets (46) gives a lecture at the Igor Stravinsky Music Polytechnic in Moscow, entitled The New System of Tonal Organization and New Methods of Teaching the Theory of Composition. “With Debussy, in my opinion, begins tonal anarchy.” He compares the anarchy and individualism of western music with the individualism of capitalism and dismisses the work of Skryabin (†11) and Stravinsky (44) as dead ends.
18 January 1927 Sergey Prokofiev (35) returns to the USSR for a concert tour of three months. It is his first return to his native country since 1918.
Romantic Overture for chamber orchestra by Arnold Bax (43) is performed for the first time, in New Chenil Galleries, King’s Road, London.
20 January 1927 Arnold Schoenberg (52) is elected to the Senate of the Prussian Academy of Arts. This automatically gives him Prussian citizenship.
21 January 1927 Albert Roussel’s (57) Suite for Orchestra op.33 is performed for the first time, in Boston.
The United Independent Broadcasters Radio Company is organized in Chicago. In April, it will change its name to Columbia Phonographic Broadcasting System.
22 January 1927 Spanisches Fest, a revision of Der Geburtstag der Infantin, a pantomime by Franz Schreker (48) to his own story after Wilde, is performed for the first time, in Staatsoper unter den Linden, Berlin.
Scarlattiana op.44 for piano and orchestra by Alfredo Casella (43) after Domenico Scarlatti (†169) is performed for the first time, in New York, the composer at the keyboard.
25 January 1927 The completed Concerto for flute and orchestra by Carl Nielsen (61) is performed for the first time, in Copenhagen. See 21 October 1926.
27 January 1927 Dmitri Shostakovich (20) plays in the Chopin competition in Warsaw. Of 31 contestants, he makes the final round of eight, but will receive only honorable mention. He writes his mother that he was clandestinely informed that he was left out of the medals because of nationalism on the part of the Polish judges.
28 January 1927 Aaron Copland’s (26) Piano Concerto is performed for the first time, in Symphony Hall, Boston, the composer at the keyboard. One audience member, a Harvard student named Elliott Carter (18), goes backstage after the concert and introduces himself to Copland.
29 January 1927 O Lacrymosa op.48, three songs for voice and piano by Ernst Krenek (26) to words of Rilke, is performed for the first time, in Cologne. The same work is also heard in a setting for solo voice, two flutes, two clarinets, two bassoons, and harp.
At the International Referendum Concert of the Franco-American Music Society in Town Hall, New York, the first two movements of Charles Ives' (52) Symphony no.4 are heard for the first time, causing a riot in the audience. One member of that audience, Darius Milhaud (34), there to hear his own work performed, is much taken with Ives' music and decides to have lunch with him. George Gershwin (28) is also there but his attempts to contact Ives go unanswered. This marks the first time that the music of Charles Ives is seriously considered by important critics. See 10 May 1933 and 26 April 1965.
30 January 1927 At the first Chopin Competition in Warsaw, Dmitri Shostakovich (20) wins a certificate of merit.
31 January 1927 Allied military control of German disarmament is ended. The League of Nations will take up oversight in its place.
1 February 1927 Three Village Scenes for female chorus and orchestra by Béla Bartók (45) is performed for the first time, in New York.
3 February 1927 The army garrison at Porto, led by General Adalberto Sousa Dias, revolts against the Portuguese government. The government responds with artillery and air strikes.
7 February 1927 American Overture op.42 for chamber orchestra by Sergey Prokofiev (35) is performed for the first time, in Moscow.
8 February 1927 After six days of intense and bloody combat, Portuguese government troops put down the rebellion in Porto. The rebels surrender to save the city from destruction. 120 people are dead, 650 injured.
10 February 1927 Leos Janácek (72), Arnold Schoenberg (52), and Paul Hindemith (31) are inducted into the Prussian Academy of Arts.
Jonny spielt auf, an opera by Ernst Krenek (26) to his own words, is performed for the first time, in the Leipzig Stadttheater. It is an immediate success.
13 February 1927 Nouvelle sonatine op.87/1 for piano by Charles Koechlin (59) is performed for the first time, at the Université Mercereau, Paris.
Two Pieces for violin and piano by Aaron Copland (26) are performed for the first time, in a League of Composers concert, in Anderson Galleries, New York the composer at the keyboard. Also premiered is As if a Phantom Caress’d Me for voice and piano by Marc Blitzstein (21) and Sonata for violin and piano by Ruth Crawford (25).
16 February 1927 Cinco piezas infantiles for orchestra by Joaquín Rodrigo (25) are performed for the first time, in Teatro Principal, Valencia.
18 February 1927 US President Calvin Coolidge accepts the credentials of Charles Vincent Massey as the first ambassador of Canada, thus beginning direct diplomatic relations between Canada and the United States. Before this, the US conducted Canadian relations with Great Britain.
Incidental music to de Bouhélier’s play L’Impératrice aux Rochers by Arthur Honegger (34) is performed for the first time, at the Paris Opéra. See 18 May 1928.
Two Folk Song Fragments op.46/2 for piano by Gustav Holst (52) are performed for the first time, in Aeolian Hall, London.
19 February 1927 During intermission of a concert given by Sergey Prokofiev (35) in Leningrad where he plays his Piano Concerto no.2, the conductor, Nikolay Andreyevich Malko, introduces him to Dmitri Shostakovich (20). Shostakovich is not as impressed as he thought he would be.
20 February 1927 String Quartet no.1 op.24 by Alyeksandr Vasilyevich Mosolov (26) is performed for the first time, in Moscow.
Sergey Prokofiev (35) meets a number of young Soviet composers at a gathering in his honor in Leningrad. Among the hopefuls who play their music for him is Dmitri Shostakovich (20). Prokofiev is not overwhelmed, but he is impressed enough to begin praising Shostakovich publicly.
23 February 1927 Under the Radio Act signed today by President Calvin Coolidge, the government owns the airwaves on behalf of the public. All licenses will expire in two months. Censorship, except for obscenity, is prohibited. The Federal Radio Commission is established. All stations must apply for new licenses.
25 February 1927 Vetrate di Chiesa for orchestra by Ottorino Respighi (47) is performed for the first time, in Symphony Hall, Boston.
26 February 1927 Sonata for violin and piano by Ruth Crawford (25) is performed for the first time, in New York.
28 February 1927 In Guadix, in Granada, Manuel de Falla (50) is named the city’s “adopted son.”
The United States Supreme Court upholds the ruling of lower courts in voiding the Teapot Dome leases in the case of United States v. Pan American Petroleum and Transport Company.
1 March 1927 Karol Szymanowski (44) takes up duties as director of the Warsaw Conservatory.
2 March 1927 Royal Palace, a ballet-opera by Kurt Weill to words of Goll, is performed for the first time, at the Berlin Staatsoper unter den Linden, on the composer’s 27th birthday. As a prelude to Royal Palace, the cantata Der neue Orpheus for soprano, violin, and orchestra by Kurt Weill to words of Goll is performed for the first time.
4 March 1927 Concertino for orchestra, including microtonal instruments, by Julián Carrillo (52) is performed for the first time, in Philadelphia.
5 March 1927 Double Concerto for violin, horn, and orchestra by Ethel Smyth (68) is performed for the first time, in Queen’s Hall, London.
6 March 1927 Quintet op.39 for oboe, clarinet, violin, viola, and double bass by Sergey Prokofiev (35) is performed for the first time, in Moscow.
9 March 1927 Three Rondos on Slovak Folk Tunes for piano by Béla Bartók (45) are performed for the first time, over Budapest Radio by the composer.
10 March 1927 Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis is published in New York.
11 March 1927 Concerto Romano for organ, brass, percussion, and strings by Alfredo Casella (43) is performed for the first time, in Wannamaker’s Department Store, New York under the direction of the composer. It was commissioned by the owner of the store.
14 March 1927 President Janis Cakste of Latvia dies and is replaced by Pauls Kalnins ad interim.
Pan American Airways is founded and incorporated.
Dances of Marosszéki for piano by Zoltán Kodály (44) is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of Hungarian Radio. See 28 November 1930.
15 March 1927 String Quartet no.2 by Arnold Bax (43) is performed for the first time, in Grotrian Hall, London. Critics are mixed.
16 March 1927 Nouvelle sonatine op.87/4 for piano by Charles Koechlin (59) is performed for the first time, in the Salle des Concerts de l’Hôtel Majestic, Paris.
17 March 1927 Duo no.1 for violin and cello by Bohuslav Martinu (36) is performed for the first time, in Paris.
Gustav Holst’s (52) choral ballet The Morning of the Year, to words of Wilson, is performed for the first time, in a concert setting, in the Royal Albert Hall, the composer conducting. See 1 June 1927.
18 March 1927 Piano Concerto no.4 by Sergey Rakhmaninov (53) is performed for the first time, at the Academy of Music, Philadelphia, the composer at the keyboard. The critics are unanimous in their scorn. Also on the program is the premiere of Rakhmaninov’s Three Russian Songs op.41 for chorus and orchestra which fares much better.
19 March 1927 Rêves for voice and piano by Maurice Ravel (52) to words of Fargue, is performed for the first time, in the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier, Paris the composer at the keyboard.
20 March 1927 Wang Ching-wei (Wang Jingwei) replaces T'an Yen-k'ai (Tan Yankai) as Head of State of China.
Arthur Honegger (35) presents his opera Antigone to the Opéra-Comique. They reject it almost immediately. See 28 December 1927.
William Grant Still’s (31) orchestral suite From the Black Belt is performed for the first time, in the Henry Miller Theatre, New York.
Four Episodes for chamber orchestra by Ernest Bloch (46) is performed for the first time, in the Plaza Hotel, New York.
21 March 1927 A general strike led by labor unions begins in Shanghai against the local war lord and in favor of the oncoming Kuomintang army.
22 March 1927 Kuomintang troops enter and invest Shanghai.
Canto a Sevilla for voice and orchestra by Joaquín Turina (44) is performed for the first time, in Madrid.
24 March 1927 Kuomintang forces seize Nanking. They immediately run amok, especially targeting foreign diplomatic establishments and missionaries with burning and looting. Six foreigners are killed. Others escape under protection of US and UK gunboats in the Yangtze.
A suite from Zoltán Kodály’s (44) singspiel Háry János, in a version for brass band, is performed for the first time, in Barcelona. See 15 December 1927.
Poème for horn and orchestra op.70bis by Charles Koechlin (59) is performed for the first time, in Salle Gaveau, Paris. See 15 May 1925.
25 March 1927 Polish Prime Minister Pilsudski dissolves the Sejm.
26 March 1927 Trois chansons de la petite Sirène for voice, flute, and string quartet by Arthur Honegger (35) to words of Morax (after Andersen), are performed for the first time, for a marionette show at the Salle Pleyel, Paris directed by the composer.
Gertrude Stein reports to Virgil Thomson (30) that she has “begun Beginning of Studies for an opera to be sung.” This will eventually become Four Saints in Three Acts.
27 March 1927 Chamber Concerto for piano, violin, and 13 winds by Alban Berg (42) is performed for the first time, in Berlin. The composer based this work on the names of Schoenberg (52), Webern (43), and himself.
28 March 1927 Liberal cavalry under the command of Augusto Sandino capture Jinotega, Nicaragua from government forces.
29 March 1927 Henry O'Neil de Hane Segrave becomes the first human to travel at more than 200 miles per hour when he is clocked at 203.79 mph (327.9 kph) in a Mystery Sunbeam at Daytona Beach, Florida.
30 March 1927 Sergey Rakhmaninov performs for a third time at the White House for President Coolidge, two days before his 54th birthday.
1 April 1927 Scenes from The Miraculous Mandarin for orchestra by Béla Bartók (46) are performed for the first time, in Cincinnati. These will be worked into an orchestral suite by Bartók. See 15 October 1928.
2 April 1927 Concerto for flute, cello, and strings by Vincent d’Indy (76) is performed for the first time, in Paris.
4 April 1927 István, Count Bethlen and Benito Mussolini sign a treaty for their respective countries, Hungary and Italy, in Rome. They pledge peace and the submitting of disagreements to arbitration.
7 April 1927 Napoléon, a film with music by Arthur Honegger (35), is shown for the first time, during a glittering evening at the Paris Opéra.
The orchestration of Francis Poulenc’s (28) Trois mouvements perpétuels is performed for the first time, in Salle Huygens, Paris. See 9 February 1919.
Herbert Eugene Ives demonstrates transmission of still and moving pictures with synchronized sound by wire. Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover in Washington speaks to a New York audience on a neon-tube screen 61 cm x 76 cm.
The Duke Ellington (27) band records Black and Tan Fantasy in New York. This will bring them their first great fame.
8 April 1927 Gustavs Zemgals replaces Pauls Kalnins as President of Latvia.
Arcana for orchestra by Edgard Varèse (43) is performed for the first time, at the Philadelphia Academy of Music.
10 April 1927 Entflieht auf leichten Kähnen op.2 for chorus by Anton Webern (43) to words of George, is performed for the first time, in Fürstenfeld, Austria.
11 April 1927 The governments of France, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, and the United States protest to the Chinese government for the events of 24 March. They demand reparations and the punishment of the commanders involved.
King Albert of Belgium creates Leos Janácek (72) a commander of the order of King Leopold.
12 April 1927 After taking Shanghai, Chiang Kai-shek formally breaks with his communist allies, killing as many as can be caught. Chou En-lai (Zhou Enlai) narrowly escapes capture. Many union leaders are killed and hundreds are arrested.
Minuetto in Stile Vecchio for string quartet by Walter Piston (33) is performed for the first time, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
13 April 1927 A protest march in Shanghai is fired on by Kuomintang troops. Almost 100 marchers are killed.
15 April 1927 Flivver 10,000,000, a Joyous Epic: Fantasy for Orchestra by Frederick S. Converse (56) is performed for the first time, in Boston. It is very well received by the public and the press.
16 April 1927 Velja Vukicevic replaces Nikola Uzunovic as Prime Minister of the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes.
An article by Clinton Davisson and Lester Germer of the Western Electric Company laboratories in New York, entitled “The Scattering of Electrons by a Single Crystal of Nickel”, appears in the journal Nature. They are able to show that electrons act like waves. They will share the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1937.
Incidental music to Claudel’s (after Aeschylus) play Agamemnon by Darius Milhaud (34) is performed for the first time, in Paris.
17 April 1927 The last concert of Edgard Varèse’s (43) International Composers Guild takes place at Aeolian Hall, New York.
18 April 1927 Chiang Kai-shek defies the Kuomintang and organizes his own government in Nanking.
19 April 1927 Otto Luening (26) marries Ethel Codd, a professional vocalist from Canada.
20 April 1927 Baron Gi-ichi Tanaka replaces Baron Reijiro Wakatsuki as Prime Minister of Japan.
22 April 1927 Symphony no.1 by Roger Sessions (30) is performed for the first time, in Boston. The public response is mixed, the critics generally positive. In the audience is Elliott Carter (18) who is “immensely struck” and will follow Sessions’ work from now on.
23 April 1927 Abdul Khaliq Sarwat Pasha replaces Adli Yegen Pasha as Prime Minister of Egypt.
24 April 1927 Four Songs of James Joyce op.54 for voice and piano by Karol Szymanowski (44) are performed for the first time, in Wasaw the composer accompanying his sister.
25 April 1927 The appendix of Dmitri Shostakovich (20) is removed in Leningrad.
Belgian scientist Monsignor Georges Henri Joseph Édouard Lemaître publishes the article “Un Univers homogène de masse constante et de rayon croissant rendant compte de la vitesse radiale des nébuleuses extragalactiques” in Annales de la Société Scientifique de Bruxelles. He proposes what will one day be known as the Big Bang Theory.
27 April 1927 Intrada for clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, two horns, trombone, and timpani by Ernst Krenek (26) is performed for the first time, in Kassel.
4 May 1927 The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is founded in Los Angeles.
A meeting takes place between Henry L. Stimson, special representative of US President Coolidge, and José Maria Moncada, leader of the Nicaraguan Liberal rebels, in Tipitapa, west of Managua. Stimson offers a truce followed by disarmament. The US backed president will remain in power until the next scheduled elections, with some cabinet posts going to Liberals. A new National Guard will be organized, commanded by North Americans. Meanwhile the occupation by US Marines will continue. He threatens that if Moncada does not agree, his troops will be disarmed by United States forces. Moncada agrees.
5 May 1927 Albert Roussel’s (58) Concerto for Small Orchestra op.34 is performed for the first time, in Salle Gaveau, Paris.
Fathers of the Free for chorus and orchestra by George Whitefield Chadwick (72) to words of Brown is performed for the first time, at New York University, the Bronx.
6 May 1927 Concerto for piano, clarinet, and string quartet by Roy Harris (29) is performed for the first time, in the Salle Gaveau, Paris by the Société Musicale Indépendante, Nadia Boulanger (39) at the keyboard. Also premiered is the Trio for flute, clarinet, and bassoon op.92 by Charles Koechlin (59).
7 May 1927 The third, sixth, and seventh of the Huit mélodies sur des poèmes de ‘Shéhérazade’ de Tristan Klingsor op.84 for voice and piano by Charles Koechlin (59) are performed for the first time, in Paris.
Vocalise for voice and piano by Francis Poulenc (28) is possibly performed for the first time, in Paris. See 3 March 1928.
9 May 1927 Parliament House is opened in Canberra as the government of Australia is officially moved from Melbourne.
11 May 1927 Incidental music to a puppet play Marlborough s’en va-t-en guerre by Ernst Krenek (26) is performed for the first time, in the Staatliches Theater, Kassel.
12 May 1927 One of the Nicaraguan rebel leaders, Augusto Sandino, telegraphs from Jinotega that he rejects the agreement of 4 May.
13 May 1927 On a day known as “Black Friday” the Berlin Stock Market crashes and the economic system of Germany collapses.
14 May 1927 Incidental music to Paronian’s play Bagdasar Akhpar by Aram Khachaturian (23) is performed for the first time, in Moscow.
Sonneto a Córdoba for voice and harp by Manuel de Falla (50) to words of Luis de Góngora is performed for the first time, in the Salle Pleyel, Paris. It commemorates the 300th anniversary of the death of the poet.
20 May 1927 A treaty is signed at Jeddah whereby Great Britain acknowledges the sovereignty of King Abdul Aziz over the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd in return for the King’s promise not to annoy British territories on the Arabian Peninsula.
Captain Charles A. Lindbergh takes off from a rainy Roosevelt Field, New York in his monoplane The Spirit of St. Louis. He narrowly clears telephone wires at the end of the runway and heads for Paris.
21 May 1927 A local general in Changsha turns on his leftist allies, killing nearly 100. He orders his men into the surrounding area where they kill thousands of peasants, cheered on by landlords who have recently seen their lands given to the peasants.
22:21 Captain Charles A. Lindbergh lands at Le Bourget airfield, Paris. He has flown 5,800 km from Roosevelt Field, New York in 33 hours, 29 minutes, and 30 seconds, in his monoplane The Spirit of St. Louis. His feat wins him a prize of $25,000. This is not only the first non-stop flight from New York to Paris, it is the first transatlantic flight by one person alone. As he alights from his plane he announces “I am Charles Lindbergh” and is instantly carried away on the shoulders of a Parisian throng.
22 May 1927 An earthquake centered in Nan-shan (Nanshan), China, kills about 200,000 people.
23 May 1927 Sur une poésie de Toulet op.104/1 for voice and piano by Charles Koechlin (59) is performed for the first time, in Salle des agriculteurs, Paris. Also premiered is Réponse d’une épouse sage for voice and piano by Albert Roussel (58) to words of Roché (after Giles), Maurice Ravel (52) at the piano.
24 May 1927 Assemble All Ye Maidens, from the Seven Part Songs for soprano, female chorus, and strings by Gustav Holst (52) to words of Bridges, is performed publicly for the first time, in Queen’s Hall, London, Ralph Vaughan Williams (54) conducting.
Divertissement for three flutes op.91 by Charles Koechlin (59) is performed for the first time, in Salle d’École Normale, Paris.
27 May 1927 Ford Motor Company discontinues the Model T. Over 15,000,000 have been produced.
29 May 1927 Igor Stravinsky’s (44) Oedipus Rex, accompanied by two pianos, is performed at a party given by the Princesse de Polignac in Paris. The piano parts are played by Sergey Prokofiev (36) and the composer. See 30 May 1927.
30 May 1927 Two sets of Odes anacréontiques for voice and piano, opp.31 & 32, by Albert Roussel (58) to words translated by de Lisle, are performed completely for the first time, in Paris. See 17 May 1926.
Igor Stravinsky's (44) opera-oratorio Oedipus Rex, to words of Cocteau after Sophocles (translated into Latin by Daniélou), is performed publicly for the first time, in a concert setting, at the Théâtre Sarah Bernhardt, Paris, the composer conducting. The chorus and speaker are onstage, the orchestra and soloists in the pit. The performance has little success. The audience is, in the composer's words, “barely polite.” Among them is Aaron Copland (26). See 23 February 1928.
Maurice Ravel’s (52) Violin Sonata is performed for the first time, at the Salle Erard, Paris. Georges Enesco is the violinist while the composer performs at the keyboard. After playing through it once with Ravel, Enesco has memorized it.
Race riots erupt in Tampa, Florida after National Guardsmen prevent a lynching. Over the next three days, four people will be killed, 33 injured.
31 May 1927 Japan introduces military forces into Tsingtao (Qingdao), China.
1 June 1927 Gustav Holst’s (52) choral ballet The Morning of the Year to words of Wilson, is staged for the first time, at the Royal College of Music, London, the composer conducting. See 27 March 1927.
The International Peace Bridge is opened connecting Buffalo, New York with Fort Erie, Ontario.
2 June 1927 Maurice Ravel (52) and Manuel de Falla (50) are at the same dinner party given by Henri Prunières in Paris. They probably meet here for the first time.
Edward Elgar conducts a concert with the BBC chorus and orchestra in a national broadcast on the occasion of his seventieth birthday.
4 June 1927 Two songs by Samuel Barber (17) are performed for the first time, at the George Morris Philips Memorial Chapel in West Chester, Pennsylvania: Summer is Coming for two voices and piano to words of Tennyson, and Only of Thee and Me for solo voice and piano to words of Untermeyer.
6 June 1927 Edgard Varèse (43) becomes a citizen of the United States of America.
7 June 1927 Prince Barbu Stirbei replaces Alexandru Averescu as Prime Minister of Romania.
The Soviet ambassador to Poland, Pyotr Lazarevich Voykov, is mortally wounded by a Byelorussian monarchist at a Warsaw train station.
The Steel Step (Le Pas d’acier) op.41, a ballet by Sergey Prokofiev (36) to a scenario by Yakulov and the composer, is performed for the first time, at the Théâtre Sarah-Bernhardt, Paris. The critics pan it as proletarian hogwash, but sectors of the public love it. See 27 May 1928.
9 June 1927 Der 13. Psalm (tr. Moses Mendelssohn) D.663 for voice and piano by Franz Schubert (†98) is performed for the first time, in the Burggarten, Vienna 108 years after it was composed.
10 June 1927 The comédie musicale La rêve de Cyniras by Vincent d’Indy (76) to words of de Courville is performed for the first time, in Paris.
Fantasy Sonata for viola and harp by Arnold Bax (43) is performed for the first time, in Grotrian Hall, London.
Jule Klaracy is granted a divorce in Cook County, Illinois from Silvestre Revueltas (27). The composer left her two years ago. See 11 March 1925.
16 June 1927 Japanese forces occupy Tsinan (Jinan), China. China responds with a boycott of Japanese trade.
L’évemtail de Jeanne, a ballet with scenario by Franck and Bourgat, and music by Albert Roussel (58), Florent Schmitt (56), Maurice Ravel (52), Jacques Ibert (36), Roland-Manuel (36), Darius Milhaud (34), Marcel Delannoy (28), Francis Poulenc (28), Georges Auric (28) and Pierre-Octave Ferroud (27), is performed for the first time, at the home of Jeanne Dubost in Paris. See 4 March 1929.
18 June 1927 Chang Tso-lin (Zhang Zuolin) replaces Ku Wei-chün (Gu Weijun) as President of China in the Canton administration.
Carl Nielsen (62) conducts his Sixth Symphony at Tivoli. It is the only time in his life that he is hissed by an audience.
Incidental music to Calderón de la Barca’s play El gran teatro del mundo by Manuel de Falla (50) is performed for the first time, at the University of Granada.
19 June 1927 Igor Stravinsky (45) plays and conducts for the first time in a broadcast performance, in London.
22 June 1927 Ion I. Constantin Bratianu replaces Prince Barbu Stirbei as Prime Minister of Romania.
24 June 1927 The Legion of Archangel Michael, a fascist, terrorist, and anti-Semitic group, is formed in Romania. In three years it will change its name to the Iron Guard.
29 June 1927 The first flight from the west coast of the United States arrives in Hawaii.
1 July 1927 Piano Concerto no.1 by Béla Bartók (46) is performed for the first time, in Frankfurt-am-Main, the composer at the keyboard.
10 July 1927 Kevin O’Higgins, Minister for Justice of the Irish Free State, is shot to death by three IRA men while on his way to mass in Dublin. O’Higgins signed death warrants for many IRA men during the Civil War.
15 July 1927 Socialists begin two days of massive demonstrations in Vienna against the right-wing government, during which they burn the Palace of Justice. When the crowd refuses to let fire engines pass they are fired on by police. Ninety people are killed.
16 July 1927 At its first performance before an international audience, at the Baden-Baden Festival, Alban Berg’s (42) Lyric Suite is received so positively that the audience demands an encore of the entire work. Among the listeners is Béla Bartók (46).
Rebels under Augusto Sandino attack the US Marine base at Ocotal, Nicaragua as they bring 800 peasants to sack the town.
17 July 1927 Paul Hindemith's (31) dramatic sketch Hin und zurück, to words of Schiffer, is performed for the first time, in Baden-Baden. It is received well by press and public. Also on the program is the premiere of Mahagonny, a “songspiel” by Kurt Weill (27) to words of Bertolt Brecht, accompanied by loud insults and flying missiles, mostly rotten produce. This marks the first appearance of Lotte Lenja (Frau Weill) in a work of Weill. Among the audience is Aaron Copland (26).
Sandinista fighters abandon their attack on Ocotal when airplanes arrive to bomb them.
19 July 1927 After eight months in Europe, Amy Beach (59) returns to her home in Centerville, Massachusetts.
20 July 1927 King Ferdinand I of Romania dies of cancer in Bucharest and is succeeded by his five-year-old grandson, Mihai who rules under a regency council.
Lev Sergeyevich Termen (Leon Theremin) (30) departs the Soviet Union with a quartet from the Moscow Philharmonic to spread the word about his invention and Soviet technology. His first destination is Berlin. His wife remains in Leningrad for insurance.
22 July 1927 Over the next two days, 2,500 blacks battle 150 police in Harlem after the arrest of some black men.
28 July 1927 Governor Fuller of Massachusetts meets with Bartolomeo Vanzetti. Later in the day, Vanzetti writes to the governor answering his questions more completely and asking for mercy.
3 August 1927 Governor Fuller of Massachusetts announces he will not stand in the way of the execution of Sacco and Vanzetti.
8 August 1927 Gustav Holst (52) arrives in Dorchester, having walked from the Bristol home of Thomas Hardy. They have a most pleasant visit and Hardy gratefully accepts the dedication of Egdon Heath. He says he knows little of music but is familiar with The Planets because he borrowed a recording from TE Lawrence who is stationed with the Royal Tank Corps nearby.
9 August 1927 Nadia Boulanger (39) and three of her students visit Frederick Delius (65) at his home in Grez-sur-Loing. They play some of their compositions for him and pay him homage.
11 August 1927 Eamon de Valera and the other Fianna Fail members elected to the Irish Parliament sign an oath to be faithful to King George V. They are thereupon allowed to take their seats.
Study in Sonority op.7 by Wallingford Riegger (42) for ten violins is performed for the first time, at Ithaca Conservatory, New York.
20 August 1927 There is a willow grows aslant a brook for orchestra by Frank Bridge (48) is performed for the first time, in Queen’s Hall, London, the composer conducting.
22 August 1927 Allied military control of Hungary is abolished.
Ballet Music for orchestra by Zoltán Kodály (44) is performed for the first time, in Saxon Hall, Budapest.
23 August 1927 Six years after their conviction for bank robbery and murder, despite international protests and substantial evidence that they were elsewhere at the time of the crime (including a confession by one of the true perpetrators), Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti are executed in Charlestown, Massachusetts. Public outrage over the crime was exacerbated by prejudice against Italian immigrants in general.
28 August 1927 Trygvi Thorhallson replaces Jón Thorlakson as Prime Minister of Iceland.
29 August 1927 Telephone service between Washington and Mexico City begins.
Strike Up the Band, an operetta with book by Kaufman, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, and music by George Gershwin (28), is performed for the first time, at the Broadway Theatre, Long Branch, New Jersey. The play never reaches New York. One of the new songs is The Man I Love. See 14 January 1930.
4 September 1927 Civic Fanfare for orchestra by Edward Elgar (70) is performed for the first time, in Hereford conducted by the composer.
7 September 1927 In his laboratory in San Francisco, Philo T. Farnsworth and his team transmit an image (a straight line) from his “image dissector” in one room to a receiver in another. Farnsworth will record in his journal, “the received line picture was evident this time.” It is the beginning of electronic television.
8 September 1927 Japan withdraws its forces from the Shantung (Shandong) Peninsula of China.
11 September 1927 A general election in the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes sees the resurgence of the liberal Democratic Party, largely at the expense of the Serbia-based Peoples Radical Party.
14 September 1927 Isadora Duncan dies at the hands of a Bugatti in Nice at the age of 50.
17 September 1927 String Quartet no.3 by Frank Bridge (48) is performed for the first time, in Vienna.
18 September 1927 On the twelfth anniversary of the Battle of Tannenberg, German President von Hindenburg unveils a memorial and delivers a speech which seems to repudiate the war guilt clause of the Versailles Treaty.
The Columbia Phonographic Broadcasting System begins broadcasting from station WOR in Newark, New Jersey and 15 affiliated stations in the eastern United States.
19 September 1927 String Quartet no.3 by Arnold Schoenberg (53) is performed for the first time, in Vienna.
27 September 1927 Lev Sergeyevich Termen (Leon Theremin) (31) gives his Berlin debut in the Bechsteinsaal. It is an invited audience of musicians, scientists, and politicians including Albert Einstein and Bruno Walter. It is a great success.
28 September 1927 Trittico botticelliano for chamber orchestra by Ottorino Respighi (48) is performed for the first time, in Vienna.
30 September 1927 A new International Musicological Society is formed in Basel.
1 October 1927 Mammon, a ballet by Ernst Krenek (27) to a story of Balasz (tr. Kröller), is performed for the first time, in the Munich Nationaltheater.
2 October 1927 The Berliner Tageblatt devotes half of a page to Lev Sergeyevich Termen (Leon Theremin) (31) and the excellence of his invention. A laudatory article also appears in the New York Times.
6 October 1927 The Jazz Singer, the first part-talking movie, is shown in New York. For the first time, the soundtrack is on the film.
7 October 1927 Lev Sergeyevich Termen (Leon Theremin) (31) gives a second demonstration in Berlin, at the Beethovensaal.
10 October 1927 String Quartet no.1 by Bohuslav Martinu (36) is performed for the first time, in Prague.
Porgy by Dorothy Heyward, based on a book of the same title by her husband DuBose Heyward, opens on Broadway.
11 October 1927 Smarty, a musical comedy with book by Smith and Thompson, lyrics by Ira Gershwin and music by George Gershwin (29), is performed for the first time in the Shubert Theatre, Philadelphia. It includes the song ‘S Wonderful. By the time it gets to New York the name is changed to Funny Face. See 22 November 1927.
15 October 1927 The first issue of New Music Quarterly, founded by Henry Cowell (30), is published.
17 October 1927 Harry F. Sinclair of the Mammoth Oil Corporation and former Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall go on trial charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States in the Teapot Dome scandal. In two weeks a mistrial will be declared when it becomes known that Sinclair has hired a detective to follow jury members. He will be sentenced to six months in prison for criminal contempt of court.
18 October 1927 The new Salle Pleyel is opened in Paris with a grand concert. Maurice Ravel (52) conducts his La Valse and Igor Stravinsky (45) conducts his 1919 Firebird Suite.
22 October 1927 The Associated Press reports a “state of insurrection” in northern Nicaragua, led by Augusto Sandino.
24 October 1927 The song cycle Along the Field, for voice and violin by Ralph Vaughan Williams (55) to words of Houseman, is performed for the first time, at Grotrian Hall, London.
Three new works by Heitor Villa-Lobos (40) are performed for the first time in a major concert of his music at the Salle des concerts, Maison Gaveau, Paris: Chôro no.4 for three horns and trombone, Chôro no.8 for two pianos and orchestra and Rudepoema for piano. See 15 July 1942.
25 October 1927 My Childhood on Fyn, a collection of childhood memoirs by Carl Nielsen (62), is published.
Lev Sergeyevich Termen (Leon Theremin) (31) appears in Hamburg to demonstrate his musical device.
27 October 1927 Enter Spring for orchestra by Frank Bridge (48) is performed for the first time, at the Norwich Triennial Festival, the composer conducting. At the festival, Bridge is introduced to Benjamin Britten (12).
Dominick Argento is born in York, Pennsylvania, the son of Italian immigrants.
28 October 1927 Frank Bridge (48) looks at some compositions by Benjamin Britten (12), whom he met yesterday, in Norwich. He agrees to take on Britten as a pupil starting next year.
29 October 1927 Incidental music to Strindberg’s play Gustav III by Kurt Weill (27) is performed for the first time, in the Theater in der Königgrätzerstrasse, Berlin.
31 October 1927 Lev Sergeyevich Termen (Leon Theremin) (31) gives a third concert in Berlin.
1 November 1927 Virgil Thomson (30) moves into a studio in the quai Voltaire, Paris. Tomorrow he will begin composing Four Saints in Three Acts.
3 November 1927 Kammermusik no.5 op.36/4, a viola concerto by Paul Hindemith (31), is performed for the first time, in Berlin, the composer as soloist.
5 November 1927 Symphony no.2 “To October” for bass, chorus, and orchestra by Dmitri Shostakovich (21) to words of Bezimensky, is performed for the first time, in the Leningrad Philharmonic Bolshoy Hall. It was commissioned to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution.
Potpourri for orchestra by Ernst Krenek (27) is performed for the first time, in Cologne.
Lev Sergeyevich Termen (Leon Theremin) (31) demonstrates his new device in Cologne.
7 November 1927 On the tenth anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution, the opposition, led by Zinovyev, Kamenyev, and Trotsky, stage celebratory parades separate from the official ones. It is their last public act of opposition. Zinovyev and Trotsky are soon to be exiled from the party.
Edgard Varèse (43) writes to the editor of Eolus and announces that he is disbanding the International Composers Guild. He believes its goals have been met.
10 November 1927 At a gala dinner after he conducts a performance of Aida in Brno, Pietro Mascagni (63) meets Leos Janácek (73).
12 November 1927 Lev Davidovich Trotsky and Grigory Yevseyevich Zinovyev are expelled from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
13 November 1927 The Holland Tunnel opens under the Hudson River providing the first fixed crossing for automobiles between New York City and New Jersey. It is the world’s longest vehicular tunnel.
17 November 1927 Lev Sergeyevich Termen (Leon Theremin) (31) gives a fourth concert in Berlin.
The Kitchen Revue, a jazz-ballet by Bohuslav Martinu (36) to a story by Kroschlova, is performed for the first time, in Prague.
18 November 1927 Ottorino Respighi’s (48) opera La Campana sommersa to words of Guastalla after Hauptmann is performed for the first time, in the Stadttheater, Hamburg.
Piano Sonata no.3 by Arnold Bax (44) is performed for the first time, in Liverpool.
La Bagarre for orchestra by Bohuslav Martinu (36), composed to celebrate the transatlantic flight of Charles Lindbergh, is performed for the first time, in Boston.
19 November 1927 The Columbia Phonograph Broadcasting System, Inc. becomes the Columbia Broadcasting System.
20 November 1927 The Third Suite from the music to the film Salammbô by Florent Schmitt (57) is performed for the first time, in Paris.
21 November 1927 Police fire machine guns into striking miners in Columbine, Colorado. Five are killed, 20 wounded.
22 November 1927 Persia claims the islands of Bahrain, presently a British protectorate.
In the Second Pact of Tirana, Italy and Albania are joined in a defense treaty and Italy is given greater power over the Albanian military.
Funny Face, a musical comedy with book by Smith and Thompson, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, and music by George Gershwin (29), is performed for the first time in New York, in the Alvin Theatre. It includes the song ‘S Wonderful. This is the first production in the Alvin Theatre and it runs for 244 performances. See 11 October 1927.
23 November 1927 Eric Rotheim receives a Norwegian patent for an aerosol spray can.
Vom Tod im Wald, a ballad for bass and ten winds by Kurt Weill (27) to words of Brecht, is performed for the first time, in Philharmonic Hall, Berlin.
24 November 1927 Prime Minister Ion I. Constantin Bratianu of Romania dies suddenly and is succeeded by his brother Vintila IC Bratianu.
27 November 1927 Incidental music to Claudel’s (after Aeschylus) play Les euménides by Darius Milhaud (35) is performed for the first time, in Antwerp.
Carl Nielsen’s (62) overture An Imaginary Trip to the Faeroe Islands is performed for the first time, in Copenhagen, conducted by the composer.
28 November 1927 The Polish government dissolves the Sejm and arrests opposition members.
A suite from the incidental music to Der Triumph der Empfindsamkeit by Ernst Krenek (27) is performed for the first time, in Hamburg. See 9 May 1926.
29 November 1927 Three Rondos on Folk Tunes for piano by Béla Bartók (46) are performed for the first time, in Budapest.
30 November 1927 Two songs for voice and piano by Arnold Bax (44) are performed for the first time, in Wigmore Hall, London: In the Morning to words of Houseman, and On the Bridge to words of Hardy.
2 December 1927 The Ford Motor Company introduces the Model A at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City.
4 December 1927 In a grand concert in the Column Hall of the House of Unions in Moscow to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the October Revolution, a suite from The Steel op.19, a ballet by Alyeksandr Vasilyevich Mosolov (27), is performed for the first time. Also premiered is October, a cantata by Nikolay Andreyevich Roslavets (46) to words of Alexandrovsky, Kirillov and Obradovich.
The new, larger Ellington (28) orchestra opens at the Cotton Club in New York. They broadcast every night from midnight to 01:00 over CBS.
5 December 1927 The Seventieth Congress of the United States convenes in Washington. President Coolidge’s Republican Party continues to maintain majorities in both houses.
The Glagolitic Mass, for vocal soloists, chorus, orchestra, and organ by Leos Janácek (73) to church slavonic texts organized by Weingart, is performed for the first time, in Brno.
Two works by Heitor Villa-Lobos (40) are performed for the first time, at the Salle des concerts, Maison Gaveau, Paris: A Prole do Bebê no.2 for piano and Très poemas Indígenas for voice and orchestra to anonymous words and those of de Andrade. The last work is conducted by the composer.
6 December 1927 Lev Sergeyevich Termen (Leon Theremin) (31) demonstrates his new musical device before a sold out crowd in the Salle des Concerts in the Maison Gaveau.
7 December 1927 Four a cappella choruses by Ernst Krenek (27) to words of Goethe are performed for the first time, in the Vienna Mittlerer Konzerthaussaal.
Zwei Lieder für drei Singstimmen by Paul Hindemith (32) to words of Hölderlin and Keller are performed for the first time, in Vienna.
8 December 1927 Students at Cluj, Oradea Mare, and Bucharest engage in anti-Semitic riots. Troops intervene to stop the violence.
The performance by Lev Sergeyevich Termen (Leon Theremin) (31) of two days ago was so successful, he repeats the evening at the much larger Paris Opéra. It is sold out. Press and public are dumbfounded.
Rosalie, a musical comedy with a book by Bolton and McGuire, lyrics by Wodehouse and Ira Gershwin, and music by George Gershwin (29) is performed for the first time, in Boston. It includes the song How Long Has This Been Going On? See 10 January 1928.
9 December 1927 Pierre Henry is born in Paris.
Jaan Tõnisson replaces Jaan Teemant as Head of State of Estonia.
10 December 1927 Lev Sergeyevich Termen (Leon Theremin) (31) demonstrates his device to an invited group of elite scientists and musicians at the Savoy Hotel in London.
11 December 1927 Chinese communists rise in Canton, declaring a commune ruled by a soviet.
Béla Bartók (46) sails from Cherbourg for his first tour of the United States.
12 December 1927 Lev Sergeyevich Termen (Leon Theremin) (31) gives a recital on his Thereminovox at Albert Hall, London. The reaction is stunned amazement, the audience rushing the stage and demanding encores. The press is mixed.
13 December 1927 Anti-Communists reinvest Canton and kill all who aided the soviet, including members of the consulate of the USSR
14 December 1927 Ich sitze da un’ esse klops, a song for tenor, two piccolos, and bassoon by Kurt Weill (27) to traditional words, is performed for the first time, in Berlin.
15 December 1927 James McNeill replaces Timothy Michael Healy as Governor-General of the Irish Free State.
Arnold Schoenberg’s (53) Suite for piano, three woodwinds, and three strings op.29 is performed for the first time, in Paris, conducted by the composer.
A suite from Zoltán Kodály’s singspiel Háry János, in the version for orchestra, is performed for the first time, in New York on the eve of the composer’s 45th birthday.
16 December 1927 Le pauvre matelot, a complainte by Darius Milhaud (35) to words of Cocteau, is performed for the first time, at the Théâtre Favart, Paris.
17 December 1927 Juho Emil Sunila replaces Väinö Alfred Tanner as Prime Minister of Finland.
Olivier Messiaen (19) passes an examination to officially enter the class of Marcel Dupré at the Conservatoire.
18 December 1927 Chiang Kai-shek succeeds in overthrowing the Hankow (Hankou) government.
Béla Bartók (46) arrives in New York from Cherbourg for a concert tour.
21 December 1927 After a tour of several European cities with his new electronic instrument, Lev Sergeyevich Termen (Leon Theremin) (31) arrives in New York.
22 December 1927 The Second Piano Concerto of Willem Pijper (33) is performed for the first time, in Amsterdam the composer at the piano.
Tonight is the first night of Béla Bartók’s (47) American concert tour. However, when the New York Philharmonic proves unable to negotiate his Piano Concerto no.1, Bartók has to substitute his Rhapsody op.1 at the last minute.
27 December 1927 At an All-Union Congress in Moscow, the Stalin faction is victorious. Lev Trotsky is expelled from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
Showboat, a musical play by Jerome Kern to words of Hammerstein (after Ferber), is performed for the first time, at the Ziegfeld Theatre, New York.
28 December 1927 Antigone, an opera by Arthur Honegger (35) to words of Cocteau (after Sophocles), is performed for the first time, at the Théâtre de la Monnaie, Brussels. Press and public are mixed.
29 December 1927 Where She Lies for voice and piano by Henry Cowell (30) to words of Millay is performed for the first time, in Town Hall, New York.
30 December 1927 The first subway in Asia opens in Tokyo.
©2004-2011 Paul Scharfenberger
18 September 2011
Last Updated (Monday, 19 September 2011 08:44)