1952
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1 January 1952 The Secret People, a film with music by Roberto Gerhard (55), is released in the United States.
Music of Changes for piano by John Cage (39) is performed completely for the first time, in the Cherry Lane Theatre, New York. Also premiered is Morton Feldman’s (25) Intersections 2 for piano. See 5 July 1951.
4 January 1952 French forces begin an offensive into the Ba Tai forest against the Viet Minh.
Serenade for two clarinets, violin, viola, and cello by Bohuslav Martinu (61) is performed for the first time, in New York.
5 January 1952 Governor Herman Talmadge of Georgia attacks television shows which depict whites and blacks of both sexes “on a purely equal, social basis.”
Four movie studios, Columbia, MGM, Universal, and Warner Brothers, settle law suits brought by nine of the Hollywood Ten. The plaintiffs sought over $300,000 in damages and lost wages. Reports are that they will receive just over $100,000.
West Point Suite for band op.313 by Darius Milhaud (59) is performed for the first time, in Carnegie Hall, New York.
6 January 1952 Four people convicted of spying for mainland China are executed in Taipei.
7 January 1952 Conservatives riot outside the Knesset in Jerusalem over the plan by Prime Minister Ben-Gurion to negotiate reparations with West Germany. 390 people are injured.
Socialists stage job actions in Austria to protest the restoration of a fortune to Nazi leader Prince Ernst Rüdiger von Starhemberg, presently in Argentina.
The French cabinet of René Pleven resigns over his attempts to balance the budget.
General Dwight Eisenhower reveals that he is a member of the Republican Party and would accept a draft of that party for president.
Philip Loeb, an actor on the US television series The Goldbergs, is cut from the show by its producer, Gertrude Berg. Berg says that no one will sponsor the show with Loeb in it because he has been accused publicly of being a communist. Loeb denies the charge.
8 January 1952 Karlheinz Stockhausen (23) arrives in Paris from Hamburg. Here he will work on a commission from Donaueschingen and study with Darius Milhaud (59) and Olivier Messiaen (43).
9 January 1952 Egyptians attack a British army convoy near Suez. Two people are killed.
10 January 1952 Two civilian employees of the US Army who were fired four years ago for allegedly attending communist meetings are restored to duty by the court and awarded back pay.
Harpsichord Sonata no.1 by Vincent Persichetti (36) is performed for the first time, at Shippensburg State College, Pennsylvania.
11 January 1952 Czechoslovak agents seize $2,600,000 in gold and silver from Prague jewelry shops where it was allegedly hidden by opponents of the government.
Suite for violin, piano, and small orchestra by Lou Harrison (34) is performed for the first time, in Carnegie Hall, New York.
12 January 1952 Today begins five days of gunfire between British troops and Egyptian snipers in the Suez Canal Zone. 25 people are killed.
Concerto for cello and orchestra no.1 by Bohuslav Martinu (61) is performed for the first time, in The Hague.
13 January 1952 The White House announces that it is withdrawing a nomination for an ambassador to the Vatican. Protestant groups hail the decision.
15 January 1952 Jean van Houtte replaces Joseph Pholien as Prime Minister of Belgium.
The Egyptian Chamber of Deputies passes a bill making collaboration with foreign troops in Egypt a crime punishable by life imprisonment.
16 January 1952 Soviet authorities order foreign diplomats to stay within 25 miles of Moscow and bar them from 22 cities.
British troops conduct raids in Tel el-Kebir and El Hammada taking 120-160 Egyptian policemen into custody.
The first son of King Farouk of Egypt is born. He is named Ahmed Faud.
17 January 1952 William Walton (49) is named a member of the Swedish Academy of Music.
18 January 1952 Anti-British riots erupt in Egypt.
Edgar Faure replaces René Pleven as Prime Minister of France.
French forces in Tunisia are mobilized and twelve Tunisian nationalist leaders, including Habib Bourgiba, are arrested.
Imaginary Landscape no.5 for any 42 recordings, “the score to be realized as a magnetic tape”, by John Cage (39), is performed for the first time, in the Hunter College Playhouse, New York for the dance Portrait of a Lady. It was composed six days ago in the space of 18 hours. Morton Feldman’s (26) piano work Nature Pieces is premiered for the dance Changing Woman.
Gian Carlo Menotti’s (40) symphonic poem Apocalypse is performed completely for the first time, in Philadelphia. See 9 October 1951.
19 January 1952 French troops fire on Tunisian demonstrators in Mateur, killing eight and injuring 26.
20 January 1952 Arthur George Farwell dies in Lexington Hospital, New York after a short illness, aged 79 years, eight months, and 28 days.
Harmonium op.50, a cycle for voice and piano by Vincent Persichetti (36) to words of Stevens, is performed for the first time, at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
21 January 1952 Iran forces the closure of three British consulates in the country claiming that they had interfered with Iranian internal affairs.
16 people are killed and over 100 injured in clashes between French forces and Tunisian nationalists. Rioting broke out after the arrest of Habib Bourguiba and other leaders of the New Constitution Party.
Canticle II “Abraham and Isaac” op.51 for alto, tenor, and piano by Benjamin Britten (38) to an anonymous medieval play, is performed for the first time, in Albert Hall, Nottingham the composer at the piano.
Francis Poulenc (53) and Pierre Bernac begin their third North American tour with a performance at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington.
Melodies passagères, a cycle for voice and piano by Samuel Barber (41) to words of Rilke, is performed completely for the first time, in Washington.
23 January 1952 27 people are killed in clashes between Tunisian nationalists and French troops in Tebouba and Moknine.
24 January 1952 UN truce negotiators report that talks in Panmunjom have reached a “complete state of paralysis.”
14 people are killed in clashes between Tunisian nationalists and French troops in Teboulba, Kairouan and Kelibia.
25 January 1952 President Sveinn Björnsson of Iceland dies in Reykjavik. His position is taken by an interim triumvirate.
The French administration declares a state of siege in Cap Bon, east of Tunis which serves to quell civil disorders.
British troops battle Egyptian police in Isamiliya. 42 people are killed, 58 injured.
Paul Hindemith’s (56) symphony Die Harmonie der Welt, commissioned to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Kammerorchester of Basel, is performed for the first time, in Basel.
26 January 1952 On “Black Saturday in Cairo,” mobs burn approximately 700 businesses, most of them foreign owned, in a display of nationalistic fervor. At least 67 people are killed.
Marian Anderson sings to the first integrated audience in Miami. 250 white patrons are given refunds when they learn the audience will not be segregated.
27 January 1952 Over a week of anti-British riots in Egypt end when King Farouk appoints Ali Maher Pasha as Prime Minister.
29 January 1952 Epigraph for orchestra by Norman Dello Joio (39) is performed for the first time, in Denver.
30 January 1952 Career diplomat John Carter Vincent appears before a committee of the US Senate to deny charges that he was once a communist or held pro-communist views.
31 January 1952 US President Truman calls Senator Joseph McCarthy pathological, untruthful, and a character assassin.
US immigration officials announce that they stopped Paul Robeson from crossing the border into Canada.
Sinfonia by Leon Kirchner (33) is performed for the first time, in New York.
1 February 1952 Französische Suite nach Rameau, a ballet by Werner Egk (50), is performed for the first time, in the Hamburg Staatsoper.
6 February 1952 King George VI of Great Britain dies in his sleep of a heart attack at Sandringham and is succeeded by his daughter, Elizabeth II. The new queen is presently in a game park in Kenya.
The Argentine government announces that General Francisco Suarez and about 100 others have been arrested for plotting to overthrow the government.
Five Songs from William Blake for baritone and orchestra by Virgil Thomson (55) is performed for the first time, in Louisville.
8 February 1952 String Quartet in D by Arnold Schoenberg (†0) is performed for the first time, at the Library of Congress, Washington.
9 February 1952 Italy announces that it is no longer bound by peace treaty agreements with the Soviet Union. They claim the USSR broke its treaty commitments to support Italian membership in the UN when it vetoed Italy’s application.
10 February 1952 Two Pastorales for prepared piano by John Cage (39) is performed completely for the first time, in the Cherry Lane Theatre, New York. Also premiered are Fugue for David Tudor for piano by Lou Harrison (34), Intermission 4 and Intermission 5 for piano by Morton Feldman (26), and Three Pieces for Piano by Earle Brown (25). See 9 December 1951.
Three works by Donald Martino (20) are performed for the first time, in Syracuse, New York: From the Bad Child’s Book of Beasts for voice and piano to words of Belloc, Separate Songs for voice and piano to words of Joyce and Houseman, and the Clarinet Sonata, the composer as soloist.
11 February 1952 Four Songs to Poems of Thomas Campion for mezzo-soprano, clarinet, viola, and harp by Virgil Thomson (55) is performed for the first time, in Town Hall, New York.
The Tenor, an opera by Hugo Weisgall (39) to words of Shapiro and Lert after Wedekind, is performed for the first time, in Baltimore.
14 February 1952 The Sixth Winter Olympics open in Oslo.
15 February 1952 Along with several other patrons of the Silver Slipper Club in San Antonio, Texas, Duke Ellington (52) is arrested for liquor curfew violations. He pleads guilty, pays a fine of $5.00, and is released.
17 February 1952 Boulevard Solitude, a lyric drama by Hans Werner Henze (25) to words of Jokisch after Weil, is performed for the first time, at the Hanover Opera House. See 7 June 1952.
Improvvisazione no.1 for orchestra by Bruno Maderna (31) is performed for the first time, in Hamburg.
To you, America! for band by William Grant Still (56), composed for the 150th anniversary of the United States Military Academy at West Point, is performed for the first time.
Waltz for Merle, a dance for piano by Stefan Wolpe (49), is performed for the first time, at the YMHA in New York.
18 February 1952 A riot by North Korean civilians at an internment camp on Koje Island near Pusan results in the deaths of 75 camp inmates.
Greece and Turkey are admitted to NATO.
President Juan Perón of Argentina orders extreme austerity measures to avert financial crisis.
The Symphony-Concerto op.125 for cello and orchestra by Sergey Prokofiev (60) is performed for the first time, at Moscow Conservatory. The concert is attended by the ailing composer but he is too ill to go to the stage to receive applause.
Composition for Orchestra no.1 by Luigi Nono (28) is performed for the first time, in Hamburg conducted by Bruno Maderna (31).
19 February 1952 Hungary nationalizes privately owned apartment houses. They also expropriate all private homes having more than five rooms.
The US State Dept. Loyalty and Security Board clears career diplomat John Carter Vincent of charges of communism laid against him by Senator Joseph McCarthy.
20 February 1952 President Juan Perón of Argentina orders the nationalization of three telephone companies owned by IT&T.
The African Queen starring Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn, is released in the United States.
21 February 1952 Amahl and the Night Visitors, an opera by Gian Carlo Menotti (40) to his own words, is staged before a live audience for the first time, in Bloomington, Indiana. See 24 December 1951.
22 February 1952 Sergey Prokofiev’s (60) festive poem The Meeting of the Volga with the Don River op.130, composed to celebrate the completion of the Volga-Don Canal, is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of Radio Moscow.
24 February 1952 French forces abandon the stronghold of Hoa Binh, 65 km west of Hanoi.
String Quartet no.2 by Peter Mennin (28) is performed for the first time, in New York.
Cycle of Holy Songs for voice and piano by Ned Rorem (28) to words of the Bible is performed for the first time, in Washington.
Igor Stravinsky (69) witnesses a performance of Suite for seven instruments op.29 of Arnold Schoenberg (†0) and the Quartet for clarinet, tenor saxophone, violin and piano op.22 of Anton Webern (†6). This is seen as a point of transition into serial technique.
25 February 1952 The Sixth Winter Olympic Games close in Oslo. In twelve days of competition, 694 athletes from 30 countries took part.
A meeting of NATO defense, foreign, and finance ministers concludes in Lisbon. They agree to a European army which will include Germans, inclusion of Greek and Turkish forces in the NATO force and a revision of the organization.
A US Court of Appeals in New York upholds the death sentences of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg and the 30-year sentence of Morton Sobell.
Actor Harvey Matusow testifies before the Un-American Activities Committee of the Ohio Legislature that three members of The Weavers, Pete Seeger, Fred Halterman and Ronnie Gilbert, are Communists. He said that a fourth member, Lee Hays, is a former Communist.
Piano Trio no.3 by Bohuslav Martinu (61) is performed for the first time, in New York.
26 February 1952 Prime Minister Churchill announces that the United Kingdom has produced its own atomic bomb.
West Germany agrees to contribute DM11,250,000,000 to the defense of western Europe.
Professor Owen Lattimore of Johns Hopkins University begins three days of testimony before the Senate Internal Security Committee and denies charges that he was ever a communist, that he was ever part of a communist organization, or that he convinced the State Department to abandon the Nationalist Chinese.
The fourth suite from the score to the film Descobrimento do Brasil by Heitor Villa-Lobos (64) is performed for the first time, in the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Paris.
27 February 1952 The United Nations Trusteeship Council meets in the Council Building in New York. It is the first meeting of a major organ of the UN in its permanent headquarters.
Four Cummings Choruses op.46 by Vincent Persichetti (36) is performed for the first time, in Dallas.
28 February 1952 The United States and Japan sign an agreement in Tokyo which allows the United States to set up military bases on Japanese territory.
29 February 1952 Violin Concerto by Carlos Chávez (52) is performed for the first time, in the Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City, conducted by the composer.
1 March 1952 Ahmed Naguib al-Hilali Pasha replaces Ali Maher Pasha as Prime Minister of Egypt.
The trial of 29 people accused being members of a communist spy network concludes in a military court in Athens. Eight are sentenced to death, four to life in prison, ten to lesser sentences, and seven are acquitted.
2 March 1952 Die Göttin im Putzzimmer for chorus by Richard Strauss (†2) to words of Rückert, is performed for the first time, in Vienna.
Nonet for brass op.49 by Wallingford Riegger (66) is performed for the first time, in Urbana, Illinois.
3 March 1952 In the case of Alder v. Board of Education of New York, the US Supreme Court finds it lawful for states to sack any teacher whose opinions they dislike.
Voters in Puerto Rico approve a new constitution making the island a commonwealth.
Symphony in One Movement by Bernd Alois Zimmermann (33) is performed for the first time, in Cologne. See 20 November 1953.
5 March 1952 The first cabinet is installed in the Gold Coast Colony (Ghana) with Kwame Nkrumah as Prime Minister.
Kentucky Concerto by Otto Luening (51) is performed for the first time, in Louisville, the composer conducting.
6 March 1952 Antoine Pinay replaces Edgar Faure as Prime Minister of France.
7 March 1952 The Socialist Party of Argentina rejects an offer by President Perón to reopen its newspaper until “freedom of expression is once more a reality” in the country.
A special federal court holds that the school segregation laws in Virginia are constitutional. They claim that segregation has “begotten greater opportunities for the Negro.”
8 March 1952 While traveling in southern California with Robert Craft and others, Igor Stravinsky (69) describes his current crisis and claims he can compose no longer. “I could not continue in the same strain, could not composer a sequel to The Rake, as I would have had to do.” He tells of the power of Schoenberg’s (†0) music and that he wants to learn more.
9 March 1952 Tartiniana for violin and orchestra by Luigi Dallapiccola (48) is performed for the first time, in Zürich.
10 March 1952 Fulgencio E. Batista y Zaldivar overthrows President Carlos Prio Socarras and becomes dictator of Cuba for a second time.
The US Supreme Court rules that foreign citizens may be deported for the sole reason that they were once a member of the Communist Party.
Quintet for clarinet, two violas, and two cellos by David Diamond (36) is performed for the first time, in Town Hall, New York.
12 March 1952 General Lord Ismay is appointed the first Secretary General of NATO.
13 March 1952 Fighting between North Korean prisoners on Koje Island leads to the deaths of 13 of them at the hands of South Korean soldiers.
Wolfgang Rihm is born in Karlsruhe.
14 March 1952 King Oedipus for solo voices, chorus and original instruments by Harry Partch (50) to his own words after Yeats after Sophocles, is performed for the first time, at Mills College, Oakland, California. It is a popular and critical triumph. See 28 November 1951.
15 March 1952 The Italian Senate ratifies the European Coal and Steel Community agreement.
The government of Argentina places price controls on most consumer goods.
Extensions I for violin and piano by Morton Feldman (26) is performed for the first time, in McMillin Theatre of Columbia University.
16 March 1952 The Nordic Council is established by Denmark, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden.
Negotiations in Teheran between the International Bank and Iran to operate the Iranian oil industry break down.
Three Traditional Rhymes op.17 for voice, clarinet, bass clarinet, violin and viola by Anton Webern (†6) to anonymous words, is performed completely for the first time, in New York. On the same program is the first performance of Webern’s Three Songs on Poems by Hildegard Jone op.25 for voice and piano. See 8 May 1951.
17 March 1952 National Police in Havana prevent congressmen from entering the Capitol Building on orders of the new dictator Fulgencio Batista.
18 March 1952 The government of Mexico returns a painting to the artist Diego Rivera which he created for an art exhibit in Paris. They object to the “pro-Communist” nature of the work, Nightmare of War and Dream of Peace.
20 March 1952 The Supreme Court of South Africa rules that placing colored voters on separate electoral roles is unconstitutional. Prime Minister Daniel Malan rejects the decision.
Four days of rioting begins in Trieste by Italians desiring the return of the Istrian Peninsula to Italy.
The United States Senate ratifies the Japan Peace Treaty.
21 March 1952 Representatives of West Germany and Israel meet at The Hague to discuss Jewish damage claims against Germany.
Professor Owen Lattimore ends twelve days of testimony before a committee of the US Senate. Senators could not budge him from his contention that he has never been a communist and his Institute of Pacific Relations is not controlled by communists. However, they do accuse him of being “defiant, contumacious, insolent, overbearing, arrogant, and disdainful.”
22 March 1952 Prime Minister Don Stephen Senanayake of Ceylon dies of head injuries suffered in a fall from a horse yesterday.
The Brazilian Security Police arrest the chauffeur of the chief of the Superior General Staff as a Communist agent.
Tape recording equipment is installed in the New York studio of Edgard Varèse (68).
Three songs from Kurt Weill’s (†1) unfinished musical Huckleberry Finn, to words of Anderson, orchestrated by Bennett, are performed for the first time, in New York.
23 March 1952 Choeurs monodiques op.169 for male chorus by Charles Koechlin (†1) is performed publicly for the first time, in a production of Alceste by Euripedes (tr. Marchand) over the airwaves of French Radio III. See 10 December 1943.
24 March 1952 While Aaron Copland (51) and his sister Laurine are having lunch in another part of the city, their brother Ralph leaps from the 16th story of a Manhattan office building. The two were meeting to discuss Ralph’s personal problems. Copland will support Ralph’s widow for the rest of her life.
25 March 1952 The US State Department discloses that it sacked 119 employees last year because they were homosexual.
The government of Canada announces that in 1951, the population of Montreal passed the 1,000,000 mark.
26 March 1952 Dudley Senanayake replaces his father as Prime Minister of Ceylon, ad interim, four days after the elder man’s death.
Prime Minister Mohammed Chenik of Tunisia and three of his ministers are arrested on orders of the French Resident in Tunis. Prime Minister Chenik brought the Tunisian situation to the attention of the UN Security Council.
US Senator Joseph McCarthy sues Senator William Benton for $2,000,000 and costs charging libel, slander, and conspiracy. Benton is trying to convince the Senate to expel McCarthy.
27 March 1952 The United States recognizes the new Cuban dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista.
Singin’ in the Rain, a film starring Gene Kelly, opens in the United States.
In the Concert Hall of the Juilliard School of Music in New York, John Cage (39) first reads the “Juilliard Lecture.”
28 March 1952 The National Assembly of France approves the Japan Peace Treaty.
Chants Alizés op.125 for woodwind quintet by Florent Schmitt (81) is performed for the first time, in Paris.
29 March 1952 Anti-US rioters attack the US Information Service library in Teheran.
US President Truman announces he will not be a candidate for reelection.
30 March 1952 Teheran is placed under martial law following the riots of yesterday.
Moroccans riot in Tangier on the 40th anniversary of the Treaty of Fez. They attack businesses and property of Europeans. Police fire on the mobs. Ten people are killed, 150 injured.
Four leftists are executed by the Greek government by firing squad.
31 March 1952 Arabs riot in Safi, French Morocco, resulting in three deaths and 14 arrests.
1 April 1952 Wilopo replaces Sukiman Wirjosandjojo as Prime Minister of Indonesia.
The government of Argentina begins the rationing of electricity.
The Romanian Concerto by György Ligeti (28) is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of Budapest Radio.
2 April 1952 General Dwight D. Eisenhower asks to be relieved from his post as Supreme Commander of NATO. He plans to run for President of the United States.
A court in French Morocco sentences 64 people to prison terms for their parts in the Safi riots three days ago.
Incidental music to Gregor’s play Fire by Ben Johnston (26) is performed for the first time, at the University of Illinois.
3 April 1952 The USSR breaks diplomatic relations with Cuba. Two Soviet officials were barred from Cuba on 21 March because they refused to let Cuban customs inspect their luggage.
4 April 1952 The UN Security Council meets for the first time in its permanent chamber in New York.
5 April 1952 Howard Hughes halts production on eleven films in his RKO Radio Pictures because the screen writers are suspected of being communists. This virtually closes down the company.
8 April 1952 The official bulletin of the Catholic Clergy of Rome declares psychoanalysis to be a mortal sin.
US President Truman orders the seizure of 92 steel companies to avert a strike by 650,000 workers. He blames the companies for the impasse in negotiations.
Youth for chorus by György Ligeti (28) is performed for the first time, in Budapest.
Cuatro estampas andaluzas for piano by Joaquín Rodrigo (50) are performed for the first time, in Valencia.
10 April 1952 The application of Doria Shafik to be a candidate for Parliament in Egypt is denied. Women are not allowed to vote or hold office.
Film director Elia Kazan testifies before the House Un-American Activities Committee. He states that he was a member of the Communist Party for 19 months and gives the names of his former associates.
A federal judge orders Kansas City to open a public pool to blacks.
Le candélabre à sept branches op.315 for piano by Darius Milhaud (59) is performed for the first time, in Ein-gev, Israel.
11 April 1952 France completes its ratification of the Japan Peace Treaty.
Film director Elia Kazan testifies before the UN-American Activities Committee of the US Congress. He claims to be a former communist and accuses several others in the theatre and films of being communists.
13 April 1952 The US Federal Communications Commission opens 70 channels of Ultra-High Frequency hoping for greater competition. They differentiate between licenses for commercial and non-commercial stations.
14 April 1952 The Greek government releases 19,666 prisoners held for having communist views or collaboration with the Nazis. 2,000 death sentences are commuted to life in prison.
The UN Security Council, by a vote of 5-2-4, refuses to hear the case of Tunisia against France.
15 April 1952 For the fourteenth time, a nuclear weapon is tested at Yucca Flat, Nevada.
Partita in A for violin and piano by Ulysses Kay (35) is performed for the first time, at the American Academy, Rome.
Verna Arvey (wife of William Grant Still (56)) hears from State Department official Wilson Compton that recordings of Still’s music were withdrawn by the State Department not for musical reasons but because of the quality of the recording. See 6 March 1951.
17 April 1952 The first Lok Sabha convenes in New Delhi following the first general elections since independence. The Indian National Congress of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru holds an overwhelming majority.
Carlos Chávez (52) receives the Estrella de la Solidaridad Italiana.
19 April 1952 Roger Sessions (55) writes to the President of the University of California, Berkeley that he will resign to take up a position at Princeton in the Fall of 1953.
20 April 1952 Iran announces that it has resumed the production of motor oil at its nationalized Abadan refinery.
21 April 1952 A court in West Berlin clears Leni Riefenstahl for a second time of charges she was a Nazi.
Serenade no.1 op.1 for ten wind instruments by Vincent Persichetti (36) is performed for the first time, at San Angelo College, Texas, 23 years after it was composed.
23 April 1952 The Allied Control Council for Japan, set up in 1945 to oversee the occupation of the country, holds its final meeting, in Tokyo.
22 April 1952 Due to his worsening medical condition, Sergey Prokofiev (60) is granted a pension of 2,000 rubles a month. The decree is signed by Stalin.
The United States explodes a nuclear device at Yucca Flat, Nevada. As part of a military exercise, about 2,000 soldiers enter the drop zone within an hour after the blast.
23 April 1952 Chancellor Konrad Adenauer of West Germany announces the negotiations between France and Germany over the future of the Saar have broken down.
Praises for Hummingbirds and Hawks for chamber orchestra by Lou Harrison (34) is performed for the first time, in Brooklyn.
25 April 1952 The State of Baden-Württemberg is created by joining Baden, Württemberg-Baden and Württemberg-Hohenzollern.
Allegria Godimento in quattro tempi for orchestra by Werner Egk (50) is performed for the first time, in Baden-Baden, the composer conducting.
27 April 1952 Flirtatious Jig for violin and string orchestra by Henry Cowell (55) is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of radio station WCBS, New York.
Six Piano Pieces by Leslie Bassett (29) are performed for the first time, in Los Angeles.
28 April 1952 The peace treaty signed by Japan and 49 other nations on 8 September 1951 goes into effect as the United States deposits its ratification. Only nine countries out of the 49 which signed it have completed ratification. Japan is no longer an occupied country.
Phantom of the Winds for violin and piano by Peter Maxwell Davies (17) is performed for the first time, in Manchester City Hall, the composer at the keyboard.
29 April 1952 The ANZUS mutual defense treaty between Australia, New Zealand, and the United States goes into effect.
An Air France DC-4 en route from Frankfurt-am-Main to Berlin is attacked over East Germany by Soviet fighters. Three passengers and two crew members are injured by gunfire before the French pilot seeks cover in clouds. The plane reaches Berlin safely.
30 April 1952 Six of the 15 préludes for piano op.209 by Charles Koechlin (†1) are performed for the first time, in the École Normale, Paris.
1 May 1952 Leftists riot in Tokyo, attempting to break into the palace grounds and shouting anti-US slogans. US citizens and property are attacked. Police restrain the crowd. One person is killed, about 450 injured.
A bill requiring citizens to pay for many National Health Service programs is given final approval by the British House of Commons.
In a military exercise at Yucca Flat, Nevada, 2,000 marines take cover in foxholes 6,400 meters from ground zero of a nuclear explosion.
A George Peabody Award is given to Gian Carlo Menotti for his Amahl and the Night Visitors.
2 May 1952 Jet airplane passenger service begins with a flight from London to Johannesburg.
At King’s College, Rosalind Franklin makes her most famous X-ray image of DNA, showing the double helix shape.
Generalissimo Francisco Franco frees all prisoners in Spain serving terms of less than two years. All others, except those considered politically dangerous, have their terms reduced.
Water Music for pianist by John Cage (39) is performed for the first time, at the New School for Social Research, New York. Also premiered is Extensions 3 for piano by Morton Feldman (26).
Psalm for band op.53 by Vincent Persichetti (36) is performed for the first time, at the University of Louisville, conducted by the composer.
3 May 1952 Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Fletcher pilots a US Air Force C-47 to a landing on the North Pole. It is the first aircraft to land at the pole. When Fletcher steps out of the plane, he probably becomes the first person to stand at the exact North Pole. (Neither of the competing claims of Robert Peary and Frederick Cook are thought to be accurate.)
The Unforgettable Year 1919, a film with music by Dmitri Shostakovich (45), is shown for the first time.
Doce canciones españolas for voice and piano by Joaquín Rodrigo (50) is performed for the first time, in the Ataneo de Madrid. Also premiered is Rodrigo’s Dos canciones sefardies del siglo XV for chorus to anonymous words.
Romance in Db for harmonica, strings and piano by Ralph Vaughan Williams (79) is performed for the first time, in Town Hall, New York.
4 May 1952 Iran sells its first oil since the nationalization of its oil industry.
Structures Ia for two pianos by Pierre Boulez (27) is performed for the first time, in the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Paris, by the composer and Olivier Messiaen (43). The hall is full, the audience uneasy. Some violence occurs. Igor Stravinsky (69) is present and is not impressed. See 13 November 1953.
Evocations de Slovaquie for clarinet, viola, and cello by Karel Husa (30) is performed for the first time, in Paris.
5 May 1952 Four Trumpets for Alan for four trumpets and muted piano by Henry Cowell (55) is performed for the first time, in Cherry Lane Theatre, New York.
The Snow Queen, an opera by Kenneth Gaburo (25) to words of Wilson, is performed for the first time, in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
6 May 1952 Six Pieces for kettle drums and orchestra by Elliott Carter (43) is performed for the first time, at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
7 May 1952 Brigadier General Francis T. Dodd, commander of the Koje Island prisoner of war camp, is captured by inmates who thereupon make demands of the UN command.
The concept for the integrated circuit (microchip) is first published by Geoffrey WA Dummer in Washington.
Nonet for five recorders, clarinet, two violins, and cello by Bohuslav Martinu (61) is performed for the first time, at Basel Conservatory.
Solemn Prelude for band by Ulysses Kay (35) is performed for the first time, at the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, New York.
Pageant op.59 for band by Vincent Persichetti (36) is performed for the first time, in Miami conducted by the composer.
8 May 1952 Over the next week, Soviet officials refuse the right of passage from the British occupation zone to West Berlin.
Transposition, Reverberation, Experiment, Composition and Underwater Valse for tape by Vladimir Ussachevsky (40) are performed for the first time, in McMillin Theatre at Columbia University in the first public demonstration of music from magnetic tape. Also premiered is Ussachevsky’s Two Autumn Songs on Rilke’s Text for voice and piano the composer at the keyboard. See 28 October 1952.
10 May 1952 Inmates at the Koje Island prisoner of war camp in Korea release the camp’s commander, Brigadier General Francis T. Dodd, three days after taking him. He is required to admit to crimes against the inmates and agree to redress grievances.
11 May 1952 Dr. Linus Pauling of the California Institute of Technology announces that the US State Department refused him a visa to attend a scientific conference in Britain. They think he is a communist, something he has denied under oath.
13 May 1952 Luxembourg ratifies the European Coal and Steel Community Treaty.
The Manuel de Falla(†5) chair in the History of Music in the University of Madrid is created. The professorship is first held by Joaquín Rodrigo (50) until 1978.
Cantata from Proverbs for female chorus, harp, oboe, and cello by Darius Milhaud (59) is performed for the first time, in Lawrence, New York.
14 May 1952 Three works by Peter Maxwell Davies (17) are performed for the first time, over the airwaves of the BBC originating in Manchester: Cameo, Ye Olde English Lullabye for violin and piano, the composer at the keyboard, and Alle Vogel sind schonda for celesta.
Olivier Messiaen (43) begins his notebooks of birdsong in the forest of St.-Germain-en-Laye. They will eventually number over 200.
Incidental music to Sophocles’ (tr. Thierry Maulnier) play Oedipe-Roi by Arthur Honegger (60) is performed for the first time, in the Comédie-Française, Paris.
15 May 1952 El álbum de Cecilia for piano by Joaquín Rodrigo (50) is performed for the first time, in Circulo Cultural Medina, Madrid by the composer’s daughter, Cecilia.
17 May 1952 Quintet for piano and strings op.312 by Darius Milhaud (59) is performed for the first time, at Mills College, Oakland.
18 May 1952 Miracles de la foi op.314 for tenor, speaker, chorus, and orchestra by Darius Milhaud (59) to words of the Bible is performed for the first time, at Coe College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
String Quartet no.4 by Walter Piston (58) is performed for the first time, in Oakland.
19 May 1952 The fifth assembly of the World Health Organization in Geneva drops plans to study the relief of population problems through birth control.
Clifford Odets begins two days of testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee. He says that he was a communist in 1934-35 but quit over party criticism of his plays. He names individuals he knew as communists in those days.
Josef Matthias Hauer (69) proclaims his Twelve-tone Manifesto in Vienna.
Toccata, villancico y fuga op.18 for organ by Alberto Ginastera (36) is performed for the first time, in Buenos Aires.
20 May 1952 Song for horn and harp and dance band by Pauline Oliveros (19) is performed for the first time, at the University of Houston.
21 May 1952 Lillian Hellman testifies before the House Un-American Activities Committee. She says she is not a communist but refuses to say if she had ever been one, nor did she name any communists among her acquaintances. “I can not and will not cut my conscience to fit this year’s fashions.”
Toronto newspapers report that the Toronto Symphony Orchestra has not renewed the contracts of six of its musicians because the US government has refused them entry into the country. They therefore could not take part in orchestra engagements in the US.
Je suis jaloux, Psyché op.104/2 for voice and piano by Charles Koechlin (†1) is performed for the first time, in Salle Berlioz of the Conservatoire Nationale de Musique, Paris, 24 years after it was composed.
Timbres-Durées, musique concrète for tape by Olivier Messiaen (43) and Pierre Henry (24) is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of French Radio.
Musica su due dimensioni for flute, cymbal, and tape by Bruno Maderna (32) is performed for the first time, in Darmstadt.
23 May 1952 All railroads in the United States are returned to their owners by order of President Truman. The US Army ran the railroads during a 21-month labor dispute.
Masquerage, a film with music by Pierre Schaeffer (41), is shown for the first time, at Cannes.
Three works for tape by Pierre Henry (24) are performed for the first time, in the Salle de l’Ancien Conservatoire, Paris: Microphone bien tempéré, Musique sans titre, and Concerto des ambiguïtés.
25 May 1952 President Syngman Rhee of South Korea imposes martial law in Pusan because of civil disturbances over the upcoming election.
The United States explodes an atomic device at Yucca Flat, Nevada with about 1,000 soldiers in foxholes 6,400 meters away.
Song for piano and Undertone for violin and piano by Pauline Oliveros (19) are performed for the first time, at the University of Houston.
26 May 1952 The state-owned railroad in Vietnam is transferred from French to Vietnamese control.
In the absence of a comprehensive peace treaty, West Germany signs a “peace contract” with France, Great Britain, and the United States in Bonn. It effectively restores the sovereignty of West Germany and ends occupation. West Germany is required to continue obligations under the occupation and the allies are allowed to station troops in the country.
Six musicians in the Toronto Symphony Orchestra are sacked because the United States refuses to allow them into the country for a tour with the orchestra. The US feels they are a threat to the security of the country.
The US Supreme Court unanimously overturns a ban by the State of New York on the Italian film, The Miracle. They find that free speech guarantees extend to films.
27 May 1952 The Assembly of South Korea votes 96-3 against martial law in Pusan. President Syngman Rhee arrests twelve of the assemblymen.
Representatives of West Germany, France, Great Britian, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg sign a treaty in Paris creating the European Defense Community. Its assets will be placed at the disposal of NATO.
East Germany announces that it will stop all traffic between West Germany and West Berlin after 30 May, except by special permit.
28 May 1952 East Berlin authorities divide the city’s phone system and cut most lines to West Berlin and West Germany.
5,000 leftists riot in Paris at the Place de la Republique to protest the arrival of the new Allied commander, General Matthew Ridgway. One demonstrator is shot to death. Dozens of police and rioters are injured. About 700 rioters are arrested, among them Jacques Duclos, a French deputy and acting Secretary-General of the French Communist Party.
29 May 1952 Demonstrators march from East Berlin to West Berlin to protest the recent German treaties. They battle West German police. 300 of them are arrested.
Labyrinth, a choreographic fantasy by Hans Werner Henze (25), is performed for the first time, in a concert setting, in Darmstadt. See 25 May 1997.
30 May 1952 Three new works commissioned for the sesquicentennial of the United States Military Academy Band are performed at West Point, New York: Fantasie (Enigma Variations) on a Theme by Ferdinand Kücken by Henry Cowell (55) (world premiere), West Point Suite by Darius Milhaud (59) and Symphony in One Movement by Roy Harris (54) (world premiere). See 5 January 1952.
31 May 1952 The completion of a new canal between Stalingrad and Kalach linking the Volga and the Don rivers is announced by the Soviet government. It connects the Baltic Sea to the Caspian Sea.
French police raid Communist Party headquarters in major cities throughout the country searching for weapons and evidence of sedition.
1 June 1952 The Soviet Union bars residents of West Berlin from entering the Soviet zone of Germany.
2 June 1952 Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej replaces Petru Groza as Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Romania.
In the case of Youngstown v. Sawyer, the US Supreme Court rules that President Truman’s seizure of the steel industry is unconstitutional. The President immediately orders the steel industry returned to its owners. Steel workers immediately go on strike.
Dr. Harry Grundfest of Columbia University, Chairman of the American Medical Advisory Board to Hebrew University and the Hadassah Medical School is denied a passport to travel to Israel because it “would not be in the best interests of the US.”
3 June 1952 The Soviet Union announces that for the first time it will participate in the Olympic Games.
Petru Groza replaces Constantin Parhon as Chairman of the Presidium of the Grand National Assembly of Romania (Head of State).
The High Court of Parliament Act is signed into law in South Africa. It creates a parliamentary court which will constitute an authority higher than the constitutional court.
Benjamin Saltzman, a Latvian immigrant who has lived in the US for 39 years, and whose son died while serving in US forces in World War II, is ordered deported from the country. He was a Communist Party member for three years during the 1930s.
4 June 1952 A regency council takes over for King Talal of Jordan. The King is now in Switzerland seeking treatment for a “nervous disorder.”
The United Church of Canada urges the Toronto Symphony Orchestra to reinstate the “Symphony Six.” See 21 May 1952.
6 June 1952 Concertino for piano and orchestra by Karel Husa (30) is performed for the first time, in Brussels.
7 June 1952 President Antonín Zapotocky of Czechoslovakia says in a radio broadcast that the coal shortage in the country is “desperate” and collective farms have “completely failed.” The response to the situation is to reorganize trade unions to ensure worker initiative.
Merlijn, a symphonic drama by Willem Pijper (†5) to words of Vestdijk, is performed for the first time, in a concert setting in Rotterdam.
Hans Werner Henze’s (25) Sinfonische Zwischenpiele aus dem lyrischen Drama “Boulevard Solitude” is performed for the first time, in Aachen. See 17 February 1952.
8 June 1952 The Sunday Washington Star announces that Ruth Crawford Seeger (50) has won a contest for a chamber work sponsored by the Washington Chapter of the National Association for American Composers and Conductors with her Suite for wind quintet. See 2 December 1952.
Eight Inventions for piano by Ulysses Kay (35) are performed for the first time, at the National Gallery of Art, Washington.
9 June 1952 Over the next three days, Iran presents its case in the Anglo-Iranian oil dispute before the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
10 June 1952 Resistance by prisoners of war on Koje Island, South Korea is broken after a two-and-a-half hour battle with US troops. 39 people are killed in the battle, 38 of them prisoners.
11 June 1952 The British House of Commons accepts a plan to extend the BBC Charter for ten years but to open the television airwaves to competition.
12 June 1952 Des Menschen Unterhaltsprozess gegen Gott, a radio opera by Bernd Alois Zimmermann (34) to words of Rüttger after Calderón, is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of WDR originating in Cologne.
Leonard Bernstein’s (33) opera Trouble in Tahiti, to his own words, is performed for the first time, at Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts under the baton of the composer.
13 June 1952 Over the next four days, Great Britain presents its case in the Anglo-Iranian oil dispute before the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
14 June 1952 South Korean President Syngman Rhee imposes censorship over all publications and broadcasting to blunt criticism of his recent actions.
16 June 1952 Soviet fighters shoot down an unarmed Swedish Air Force seaplane on a search for a training plane missing in the Baltic since 13 June. The Swedish plane manages to land at sea and the crew is rescued by a German merchant ship.
Italy completes ratification of the European Coal and Steel Community Treaty, the last of the signatories to do so.
17 June 1952 The East German government announces plans for a conscripted army to counter the rearming of West Germany.
At his trial in Stockholm, Communist editor Johan Fritiof Enbom confesses to espionage for the Soviet Union.
The Soviet Union opens the Danube in its occupation zone to Austrian shipping.
Decree 900 is enacted in Guatemala which will take 370,000 hectares of unused land and distribute it to about 87,000 peasants over the next two years. It is opposed by wealthy landowners and the Catholic Church as communistic.
18 June 1952 Japan recognizes the Taiwan government as the sovereign government of Taiwan and its dependencies.
The British government proposes to create a unified Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.
An agreement is reached in Washington between the United States and France wherein the US will substantially increase its aid to Vietnam. This will be mostly military aid to the French-backed anti-Communist forces.
19 June 1952 An Oxford Elegy for speaker, small chorus, and small orchestra by Ralph Vaughan Williams (79) to words of Arnold, is performed publicly for the first time, at Queen’s College, Oxford. See 20 November 1949.
20 June 1952 Prisoners at the Anchieta Island prison revolt and kill 17 guards. About 300 escape to terrorize the coast south of São Paulo for about a week.
A revised version of Cardillac, an opera by Paul Hindemith (56) to his own words after Lion, is performed for the first time, in the Zürich Stadttheater.
22 June 1952 Soviet troops kidnap 40 West German workers at a disputed border area at Hohensleben, Germany.
23 June 1952 UN planes destroy five hydroelectric plants on the Yalu River over the next four days. They are the largest air raids of the Korean War so far. Also hit are two power plants on the Changjin Reservoir and two on the Pujon Reservoir.
With opposition members boycotting, Syngman Rhee is reelected President of South Korea. He is given what amounts to an indefinite term of office.
With the aid of British troops and West German police, the 40 men kidnapped yesterday are freed.
25 June 1952 As South Korean President Syngman Rhee is speaking in Pusan on the second anniversary of the beginning of the Korean War, Ryu Shi Tai points a gun at him from 1.5 meters away. The gun fails to go off and the would-be assassin, a member of a nationalist organization, is subdued by two US Army officers.
US President Truman vetoes the revised McCarran-Walter Act claiming it would “intensify the repressive and inhumane aspects of our immigration procedure.” Senator McCarran, author of the bill, called the President’s action “one of the most un-American acts I have witnessed in my public career.” He claims the veto will find favor with Communists.
National elections in the Netherlands leave the Catholic Peoples Party and the Labor Party each with 30 seats out of 100. Willem Drees of the Labor Party will continue as Prime Minister.
Ouverture de l’homme tel for orchestra by Heitor Villa-Lobos (65) is performed for the first time, in Lisbon, conducted by the composer.
26 June 1952 East Germany bars West Berliners from commuting to work on property outside West Berlin.
27 June 1952 Kim Si Hyon, leader of the Korean opposition Nationalist Party, is arrested for complicity in the assassination attempt of 25 June.
The United States Congress overrides President Truman’s veto of the McCarran-Walter Act which provides for the exclusion or deportation of aliens belonging to political groups disliked by the state.
28 June 1952 500 demonstrators invade the Assembly building in Seoul and take 103 legislators prisoner demanding that President Syngman Rhee be reelected. Five hours later the hostages are freed by the Home Minister and police.
29 June 1952 The research vessel Galathea returns to Copenhagen. It has taken samples of the sea bed in the deepest ocean trenches for the first time.
30 June 1952 In accordance with an agreement with France, Chandernagore is absorbed into India by order of President Rajendra Prasad.
Ernest MacMillan’s (58) resignation from the Royal Conservatory of Music of Toronto becomes effective.
1 July 1952 The Indian government transfers 24,000,000 hectares of land in Uttar Pradesh from absentee landlords to about 13,000,000 farmers who have been working the land as tenants or hired laborers.
Acting Secretary-General of the French Communist Party Jacques Duclos is released from a Paris prison on orders of an appeals court. The court ruled that Duclos, as a member of the National Assembly, was immune from arrest.
Stefan Rais, Justice Minister of Czechoslovakia, announces the reorganization of the legal system along Soviet lines.
2 July 1952 A report issued by a subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee of the US Senate charges that Prof. Owen Lattimore of Johns Hopkins University was “a conscious articulate instrument of the Soviet conspiracy.” It calls for a grand jury to investigate charges of perjury against him and John Paton Davies, now deputy director of the Office of Political Affairs in Bonn.
3 July 1952 US President Truman signs legislation approving a new charter for Puerto Rico, provided certain changes are made.
The SS United States departs New York on its maiden voyage.
5 July 1952 It is reported that 8,000 East Berliners fled to West Berlin in June.
7 July 1952 In a compromise between President Syngman Rhee and his opposition, the South Korean president signs constitutional amendments into law which provide for the popular election of the president, a bicameral legislature and a cabinet responsible to the legislature.
The SS United States arrives in England after an Atlantic crossing of three days, ten hours and 40 minutes, a record.
8 July 1952 Dr. Walter Linse, chief economist of the League of Free Jurists, is kidnapped by three men in West Berlin and taken by car to the Soviet zone. The West Berlin government responds by closing all boundary crossings between East and West Berlin.
A bomb damages the US Information Service library in Buenos Aires. Perónistas are suspected.
President Perón authorizes the erection of statues to his wife Eva in Buenos Aires and provincial capitals.
Second Quintet for strings op.316 by Darius Milhaud (59) is performed for the first time, at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
10 July 1952 About 25,000 West Berliners demonstrate against the kidnapping of Dr. Walter Linse two days ago. Pro-Communists try to disrupt the peaceful protest and a riot ensues. Police are called in to quell the fighting.
William Marshall, a radio operator in the British Foreign Office, is sentenced in London to five years in prison for handing sensitive materials to the Soviets.
11 July 1952 One of the largest air raids of the Korean War takes place when 54 UN B-29s attack Pyongyang, supported by 900 other planes. They drop 1,400 tons of explosives including 90,000 litres of napalm.
12 July 1952 Pavel S. Kuznetsov, second secretary of the Soviet embassy in London, is expelled from Britain for receiving secret information from William Marshall, sentenced two days ago.
15 July 1952 The World Health Organization reports that deaths from cancer worldwide have doubled in the last 50 years.
16 July 1952 Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh of Iran is driven from office. He is replaced by Ahmad Qawan as-Saltana.
17 July 1952 It is reported that Eva Perón, First Lady of Argentina, is gravely ill from cancer.
18 July 1952 The Austrian Parliament adopts measures to restore civil and property rights to 28,000 ex-Nazis. They also vote to restore property rights to 6,000 more senior ex-Nazis.
When Iranian Prime Minister Ahmad Qawan as-Saltana announces he will settle the oil dispute with Great Britain, civil disturbances against his regime increase.
19 July 1952 The Games of the Fifteenth Olympiad of the Modern Era open in Helsinki.
The Iranian Army is called out to quell violence against Prime Minister Ahmad Qawan as-Saltana.
21 July 1952 In the face of growing public unrest, Iranian Prime Minister Ahmad Qawan as-Saltana resigns.
Kreuzspiel no.1/7 for oboe, bass clarinet, piano, and percussion by Karlheinz Stockhausen (23) is performed live for the first time, in Darmstadt, conducted by the composer. Bruno Maderna (32) plays percussion. It was broadcast over WDR last December.
Exerzitien, part 2 of Enchiridion for piano by Bernd Alois Zimmermann (34), is performed for the first time, in Darmstadt.
España en el corazón for soprano, baritone, speaking chorus, chorus, and orchestra by Luigi Nono (28) to words of García Lorca and Neruda is performed for the first time, in Darmstadt conducted by Bruno Maderna (32). See 4 October 1957.
22 July 1952 Mohammed Mossadegh returns to power as Prime Minister of Iran replacing Ahmad Qawan as-Saltana. Three days of rioting across the country have caused 300-500 deaths.
The World Court in The Hague rules in favor of Iran in the Anglo-Iranian oil dispute, saying that it has no jurisdiction over a case between a nation and a private company.
A new constitution for Poland, based on the 1936 Soviet constitution, goes into effect. The country is renamed the Polish Peoples Republic.
Pas d’action, a ballet by Hans Werner Henze (25), is performed for the first time, in the Prinzregententheater, Munich. The composer will withdraw this work and use the music in Tancredi. See 15 January 1953.
23 July 1952 Egyptian army officers led by Major General Mohammed Neguib overthrow the government of King Farouk and Prime Minister Ahmad Naguib Hilali Pasha. Ali Mahir Pasha is named Prime Minister.
The German states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thüringen, and Mecklenburg are dissolved into smaller units.
Three officers in the Yugoslav Air Force fly to Graz and apply for political asylum.
24 July 1952 The strike of steelworkers in the United States is settled.
US President Harry Truman commutes the death sentence of Oscar Collazo to life in prison. Collazo, a Puerto Rican nationalist, killed a guard while trying to kill Truman in 1950.
High Noon is released in the United States.
25 July 1952 Clashes occur between Chinese and Portuguese troops at Macao.
The European Coal and Steel Authority, made up of Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands, goes into effect.
Puerto Rico becomes a commonwealth of the United States.
The first four permits for “educational” television stations are issued by the US Federal Communications Commission.
26 July 1952 King Farouk of Egypt abdicates his throne in favor of his six-month-old son Ahmed Fuad II, who succeeds him.
A new law in East Germany requires police permission for citizens to leave their home district for more than 24 hours and provides for confiscation of property of those who flee to the west.
A 54-day strike by 650,000 US steelworkers is settled.
Eva Perón dies of cancer in Buenos Aires.
29 July 1952 Seven members of the South Korean Assembly, who were arrested in May for conspiring to overthrow the government, are released by a court in Pusan for lack of evidence.
Former-King Farouk of Egypt, his wife and four children arrive in Italy and exile.
30 July 1952 Noble titles are abolished in Egypt. Anyone in prison for lèse majesté is released.
The British Bank of Iran and the Middle East closes in Teheran. They say they can not operate under new government restrictions.
31 July 1952 La Guirlande de Campra: Sept variations ou méditations sur un thème de son opéra for orchestra is performed for the first time, in Aix-en-Provence. Contributors include François Lesur, Roland-Manuel, Germaine Tailleferre, Henri Sauguet, Georges Auric, Arthur Honegger (60) and Francis Poulenc (53). Honegger’s offering is called Toccata, Poulenc’s is Matelote provençal.
1 August 1952 Asgeir Asgeirsson replaces an interim triumvirate as President of Iceland.
The British House of Commons ratifies the West German peace agreement.
The Argentine Union of Food Industry Workers sends a cable to Pope Pius XII urging that the late Señora Eva Perón be elevated to sainthood.
Television service begins in the Dominican Republic.
Kemmons Wilson opens his first Holiday Inn, in Memphis.
2 August 1952 Yugoslavia extends its laws to Zone B of Trieste. Italy calls it illegal.
3 August 1952 The Games of the Fifteenth Olympiad of the Modern Era close in Helsinki. In 16 days of competition, 4,955 athletes from 69 countries took part. The USSR participated for the first time.
4 August 1952 Czechoslovak Minister of Education, Science, and Art Zdenek Nejedly says that workers are traitors if they refuse to work more than eight hours.
5 August 1952 In the first popular presidential election in South Korea, Syngman Rhee wins a second term.
The Egyptian government seizes the property of ex-King Farouk and sets up a regency council.
Fourteen communist leaders in California are found guilty of advocating the overthrow of the government by a court in Los Angeles.
Just before his team leaves Helsinki, Olympic shooter Panait Calcai of Romania escapes to western custody.
8 August 1952 Shortly after his divorce from his first wife, Györgi Ligeti (29) marries Veronika Spitz, a psychologist, in Budapest. They marry solely to prevent her deportation (her family is considered bourgeois) and with an understanding of a rapid divorce. They will divorce in 1954 after the death of Stalin, but will remarry in January 1957.
The legislature of Buenos Aires Province changes the name of the capital from La Plata to Eva Perón.
9 August 1952 The first movement of Uninterrupted Rest for piano by Toru Takemitsu (21) is performed for the first time, at Ichigaya Women’s College, Tokyo.
The Stronger, an opera by Hugo Weisgall (39) to words of Hart after Strindberg, is performed for the first time, with piano accompaniment, in Westport, Connecticut.
10 August 1952 The High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community is established in Luxembourg.
11 August 1952 The Iranian Parliament grants dictatorial powers to Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh for a period of six months.
King Talal ibn Abd Allah of Jordan is declared mentally unfit to rule and is replaced by his son, Hussein I ibn Talal. He will reign under a regency council until his 18th birthday next May.
Emperor Haile Selassie signs a new constitution which includes the unification of Ethiopia and Eritrea.
George Mares resigns as the General Consul of Czechoslovakia in Montreal and is given asylum in Canada.
12 August 1952 A committee of the Japanese Diet reveals the disappearance of “a considerably large quantity of precious metals and diamonds” from government vaults. They imply that the loss was due to Japanese government officials and US occupation officers.
A demonstration by 6,000 workers at the Kafr el Dawar cotton mills near Alexandria turns into a riot.
13 August 1952 Martial law is lifted in Teheran. Almost immediately, fighting begins between leftists and fascist nationalists.
Egyptian tanks and armored cars break up a riot by 6,000 workers at the Kafr el Dawar cotton mills. Eight people died in the riot, 567 are arrested.
14 August 1952 Mátyás Rákosi replaces István Dobi as Prime Minister of Hungary. Rákosi is the first communist to hold that post. Dobi is named Chairman of the Presidential Council, replacing Sándor Rónai.
Avery Brundage of the United States replaces J. Sigfrid Edström as President of the International Olympic Committee.
Die Liebe der Danae, an opera by Richard Strauss (†2) to words of Gregor after Hofmannsthal, is performed for the first time, in the Salzburg Festspielhaus. See 16 August 1944.
15 August 1952 In London, the BBC announces that it has completed its network of five television stations throughout the country.
18 August 1952 Six members of the Yugoslav Olympic rowing team ask for political asylum in Wiesbaden.
19 August 1952 The headquarters of the Tudeh (Communist) Party in Teheran are set afire by Sumka (fascist) Party members. The arsonists battle firemen who arrive to douse the flames.
Estancia, a ballet by Alberto Ginastera (36), is performed for the first time, in the Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires. See 12 May 1943.
20 August 1952 The Iranian government reimposes martial law in Teheran to stop street battles between members of the Tudeh (communist) and Sumka (fascist) parties.
The piano score to Sergey Prokofiev’s (61) Symphony no.7 is played before the Union of Soviet Composers in Moscow. The composer, unable to attend due to illness, receives unstinting praise, an indication of his restoration to favor.
21 August 1952 A Constituent Assembly for Kashmir abolishes the monarchy and proposes an elected chief of state. It accepts an agreement with New Delhi giving it near-independent status within India.
The wealthy of Iran are ordered by the government to pay ten years of back taxes. Traditionally, the wealthy in Iran are not forced to actually pay their taxes.
25 August 1952 14 US Air Force transport planes begin an airlift of 3,763 Moslems from Beirut to Jidda so that they may attend the pilgrimage to Mecca. The Moslems are airlifted free of charge.
On his 50th birthday, Stefan Wolpe is asked to stay on and become music director of Black Mountain College in North Carolina. Without other prospects, he accepts.
On his 34th birthday, Leonard Bernstein and his family move into an apartment a 205 West 57th St. in New York, near Carnegie Hall.
26 August 1952 20 leaders of the passive resistance against apartheid are indicted in Johannesburg for encouraging Communism. Included are leaders of the African National Congress, James Moroka, and the South African Indian Congress, Yusuf Dadoo. Mass arrests of protestors takes place in Port Elizabeth and Capetown. Over the last two months, 3,000 civil resistors have been jailed.
27 August 1952 South Africa officially prohibits Blacks from voting.
The Bratislava newspaper Pravda discloses that Czechoslovak farmers have resisted forced harvest collection by murder, arson, and sabotage.
A subcommittee of the US Senate releases a report charging that the Radio Writers Guild is controlled by Communists, that Actors Equity was dominated by Communists from 1937-1950 but has “improved” since then, and that the Authors League of America shares the blame for the situation at the Radio Writers Guild.
29 August 1952 UN planes fly 1,403 sorties against Pyongyang in the largest air raid of the Korean War to date.
Mohammed Alaya, Mufti of Lebanon, orders prayers for Americans in all mosques to thank them for the airlift of the past four days.
4’ 33” for any instrument or instruments by John Cage (39) is performed for the first time, in Maverick Concert Hall, Woodstock, New York. At a question period after the lengthy concert, this work received heated disapproval from the audience, one artist exclaiming, “Good people of Woodstock, let’s drive these people out of town.”
Symphony no.2 by Charles Koechlin (†1) is performed for the first time, in Mexico City.
1 September 1952 Der Idiot, a ballet-pantomime by Hans Werner Henze (26) to a scenario by Bachmann after Dostoyevsky, is performed for the first time, in Berlin.
2 September 1952 The world’s first open heart surgery is performed in Minneapolis by Drs. Floyd John Lewis, C. Walton Lillehei, and Richard Varco.
6 September 1952 Regular television broadcasting debuts in Canada, in Montreal.
7 September 1952 Mohammad Neguib becomes Prime Minister of Egypt.
Duo for oboe and clarinet by Arthur Berger (40) is performed for the first time, on Long Island, New York.
8 September 1952 The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway is published.
9 September 1952 President Miguel Alemán of Mexico proposes a three-point compromise in the Korean truce negotiations on the main sticking point, prisoner repatriation.
10 September 1952 A treaty is signed in Luxembourg City Hall. The Federal Republic of Germany agrees to pay DM3,000,000,000 to the State of Israel and DM450,000,000 to Jewish organizations as reparation for “material damage” done to Jews by Germany.
The 78 members of the General Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Community meet in Strasbourg. It is the first European assembly with powers over its member states.
14 September 1952 Piano Concerto no.1 by Hans Werner Henze (26) is performed for the first time, in Düsseldorf.
15 September 1952 The French Resident in Tunisia releases all but 67 political prisoners in the country.
16 September 1952 A communiqué from a Soviet-Chinese conference in Moscow announces that the Manchurian part of the Trans-Siberian Railroad will revert to complete Chinese control by the end of the year. The Soviets will continue to hold Port Arthur (Lüshun).
The last British troops leave Eritrea. It is now “independent” in federation with Ethiopia.
17 September 1952 18 “second tier” leaders of the US Communist Party are arrested across the country by the FBI.
18 September 1952 The brigantine Zarja sets sail from Helsinki making for the USSR. It is the last installment in reparation payments required of Finland by the USSR.
The New York Post reports that Republican candidate for Vice-President of the US, Senator Richard Nixon, controls a private political expense fund.
19 September 1952 East of Eden by John Steinbeck is published in New York.
Charlie Chaplin and his family depart New York aboard the Queen Elizabeth intending a short trip to England. While he is away, the US government revokes his passport because they think he holds political opinions they dislike. He will never return to the United States.
21 September 1952 National elections in Sweden result in minimal losses for the ruling Social Democrat/Farmers Party coalition and they continue in power under Prime Minister Tage Erlander.
23 September 1952 A new constitution for Romania is approved, based on the Soviet model.
In a nationally televised address, Republican candidate for the US Vice-Presidency, Senator Richard Nixon, refutes charges that he received improper gifts (the Checkers speech). General Eisenhower, his running mate, expresses his confidence in Nixon.
25 September 1952 Petites légendes op.319, a cycle for voice and piano by Darius Milhaud (60) to words of Carême, is performed for the first time, in Aspen, Colorado.
30 September 1952 Earl Browder, once the head of the Communist Party of the US, and his wife are arrested in New York on charges of perjury.
A new motion picture process, Cinerama, is publicly demonstrated in New York.
After 15 years of work, the Revised Standard Version of the King James Bible is published in New York.
1 October 1952 On the anniversary of the declaration of the Peoples Republic, Chinese POWs riot on Cheju Island, Korea. 52 of them are killed, 113 injured as US troops subdue them.
National elections in Japan are a victory for the Liberal Party, but with a somewhat reduced majority.
The first Ultra-high Frequency (UHF) television station goes on the air in Portland, Oregon.
The Harvest According, a ballet by Virgil Thomson (55) to a scenario by De Mille, is performed for the first time, in the Metropolitan Opera House, New York the composer conducting.
2 October 1952 The East German Parliament votes to restore civil rights to ex-Nazis not convicted of war crimes.
Former Colonel-General Everhard von Mackensen is released from custody by the British. He was serving a life sentence for his part in the murder of 335 Italian men and boys in the Fosse Ardeatine in March 1944. British authorities say there is evidence that he tried to “mitigate the severity” of the crime.
3 October 1952 Great Britain explodes an atomic weapon for the first time, in the Monte Bello Islands off northwest Australia.
The USSR demands that the US recall its ambassador George F. Kennan because of “slanderous statements” he made comparing life in Moscow similar to that which he experienced in Berlin under the Nazis.
The trustees of the Boston Public Library vote 3-2 to continue to make Communist publications available to its patrons.
Two works for twelve solo voices by Pierre Boulez (27) are performed for the first time, in Cologne: Séquence and Oubli signal lapidé.
4 October 1952 In ceremonies in Asmara, Eritrea is formally united with Ethiopia.
6 October 1952 Chinese and North Korean forces begin the largest offensive in Korea in over a year. They make little progress.
The first uranium plant in South Africa opens near Krugersdorp.
7 October 1952 Incidental music to Molière’s play The Miser by Peter Sculthorpe (23) is performed for the first time, in Launceston, Tasmania.
8 October 1952 After their 122nd session, truce negotiators in Panmunjom agree to an indefinite recess.
In an “expression of good will”, Great Britain returns the El Firdan Bridge across the Suez Canal to Egyptian control and releases $14,000,000 of Egyptian sterling.
11 October 1952 Demetrios Kiusopoulos replaces Nikolaos Plastiras as Prime Minister of Greece.
Symphony no.7 op.131 by Sergey Prokofiev (61) is performed for the first time, in Moscow. It is his last public appearance.
Spiel no.1/4 for orchestra by Karlheinz Stockhausen (24) is performed for the first time, in Donaueschingen.
Concerto for oboe and chamber orchestra by Bernd Alois Zimmermann (34) is performed for the first time, in Donaueschingen.
12 October 1952 Brass Quartet by Ulysses Kay (35) is performed for the first time, at the Brooklyn Museum.
13 October 1952 Tunisian nationalists begin a wave of bombing attacks.
By a vote of 8-1, the US Supreme Court refuses to hear the case of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Their death sentence stands.
Over the next three days, twelve US employees of the United Nations refuse to tell a Senate subcommittee whether they have ever been communists. A 13th said she had been around 1935 but refused to name anyone else.
14 October 1952 After battling for a week, South Korean forces capture White Horse Mountain north of Chorwon.
The three-member regency council for Egypt is dissolved by Prime Minister Neguib and replaced by Prince Mohammed Abdel Moneim.
16 October 1952 Viet Minh forces begin an offensive against the French in the Ngialo Basin.
20 October 1952 Viet Minh forces capture Giahoi from the French.
The Mau Mau uprising begins against white settlers in Kenya.
Concertato for orchestra “Moby Dick” by Peter Mennin (29) is performed for the first time, in Erie, Pennsylvania.
21 October 1952 A state of emergency is declared in the Kenya colony because of Mau Mau attacks. British troops are receiving reinforcements from abroad.
Several works by Charles Koechlin (†1) are performed for the first time, over the airwaves of French Radio-National originating in Paris: Sonate à sept op.221 for oboe, harpsichord or harp, flute, and string quartet, Second Quintet with harp op.223 for flute, harp, violin, viola, and cello, and eight of the 15 motets de style archaïque op.225. See 17 December 1993.
22 October 1952 Viet Minh forces capture Vanyen from the French.
Iran breaks diplomatic relations with Great Britain, claiming British interference in Iranian affairs.
Great Britain grants internal self-government with a constitution to Sudan.
At least 110 Kenyans are arrested for Mau Mau activity, including the President of the Kenya African Union, Jomo Kenyatta.
23 October 1952 Former Field Marshall Albert Kesselring is released from custody by the British in Bochum because he is suffering from cancer. Kesselring was serving a life sentence for his part in the murder of 335 Italian men and boys in the Fosse Ardeatine in March 1944.
East Germany and Poland agree to a border along the Oder and Neisse Rivers.
24 October 1952 US presidential candidate Dwight Eisenhower pledges to go to Korea to seek an “early and honorable end” to the war.
25 October 1952 Experimental television service begins in Poland, broadcasting from Warsaw.
28 October 1952 This year’s Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry, ee cummings, gives the first of his non-lectures at Harvard University.
The first public “concert” of tape-recorder music in the United States takes place at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. It is given by the Columbia University electronic music group and includes premieres of Sonic Contours for tape by Vladimir Ussachevsky (41) and three works for flute on tape by Otto Luening: Fantasy in Space, Invention in Twelve Tones, and Low Speed. The flutist in all three Luening pieces is the composer. The performance is broadcast by radio stations WNYC New York and WGBH Boston. A Tanglewood student named Luciano Berio (27) is present and is fascinated. Also premiered is Eight Studies and a Fantasy for flute, oboe, clarinet and bassoon by Elliott Carter (43).
29 October 1952 Police disperse neo-Nazi election rallies in Hanover.
30 October 1952 A French counteroffensive reaches Hung Hoa, 70 km northwest of Hanoi.
Carl Orff’s (57) musical play Ein Sommernachtstraum is performed for the first time, in Darmstadt. See 12 March 1964.
31 October 1952 Suite from Das Gelb und das Grün for instrumental ensemble by Bernd Alois Zimmermann (34) is performed for the first time, in Hamburg.
1 November 1952 The first atomic fusion bomb (hydrogen bomb) is detonated on Enewetak Atoll by the United States.
2 November 1952 A French counteroffensive out of Hanoi reaches Phu Tho.
4 November 1952 Georges Hilaire, secretary general of the Vichy government’s Interior Ministry, surrenders to police in Paris. He was convicted of collaboration in absentia in 1947.
Elections in the United States ensure the victory of General Dwight Eisenhower as President over Adlai Stevenson, Governor of Illinois. His Republican Party gains two seats in the Senate and 22 in the House of Representatives to capture control of both.
6 November 1952 The Sun Shines Over our Motherland op.90, a cantata for boys’ chorus, chorus, and orchestra by Dmitri Shostakovich (46) to words of Domatovsky, is performed for the first time, in Moscow Conservatory Bolshoy Hall.
Carlos Chávez (53) receives the Swedish Order of the Polar Star.
8 November 1952 Police fire on rioting diamond miners in Kimberley, South Africa. 13 people are killed, 34 inured.
9 November 1952 President Chaim Weizmann of Israel dies of a heart attack near Rehovoth after a long illness. He is replaced ad interim by Yosef Sprinzak.
Over the next four days, British authorities arrest over 400 Kikuyus in an effort to find Mau Maus in Kenya. One person is killed today resisting arrest.
In race rioting over the next two days, nine people are killed and 30 injured near Durban, South Africa.
10 November 1952 Trygve Lie announces that he will resign as Secretary-General of the United Nations as soon as a successor is named. He says that the Soviet boycott of him makes it impossible to work for peace in Korea.
11 November 1952 Mack Ingram, an African-American, is convicted by an all-white jury in Yanceyville, North Carolina of assault by “leering” at a white woman.
Pierre Boulez (27), as part of the Renaud-Barrault company, reaches New York on their North American tour. It is here, over the next two months, that Boulez will first meet Edgard Varèse (68).
Two works by Igor Stravinsky (70) are performed for the first time, in Los Angeles: Concertino for Twelve Instruments, a transcription of his Concertino for string quartet, and Cantata for soprano, tenor, female chorus, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, and cello, to anonymous words, conducted by the composer.
13 November 1952 The South African Appellate Court declares the new Parliamentary Court unconstitutional.
Paul Zoll of Harvard University uses electric shock for the first time to treat cardiac arrest.
Abraham Feller, general counsel to the United Nations and personal counsel to Trygve Lie, jumps to his death from his Twelfth-story New York apartment. Secretary-General Lie says it is because of strain over defending US employees of the UN from “indiscriminate smears and exaggerated charges” of the McCarran Committee of the US Senate.
16 November 1952 The US Atomic Energy Commission announces that recent activities at Enewetok “included experiments contributing to thermonuclear weapons research.” This virtually confirms the explosion of a hydrogen bomb.
The Lamb for chorus and piano by Leslie Bassett (29) to words of Blake is performed for the first time, in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
17 November 1952 Duo for cello and piano by Arthur Berger (40) is performed for the first time, in Town Hall, New York.
18 November 1952 Prelude on an Old Carol Tune for orchestra by Ralph Vaughan Williams (80) is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of the BBC.
19 November 1952 Alexandros Leonidou Papagos replaces Demetrios Kiusopoulos as Prime Minister of Greece.
20 November 1952 14 former leaders of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia go on trial charged with forming an “anti-state, Titoist, Zionist, bourgeois-nationalist group.”
Symphony no.7 by Roy Harris (54) is performed for the first time, in Orchestra Hall, Chicago conducted by the composer.
21 November 1952 Boleslaw Bierut replaces Józef Cyrankiewicz as Prime Minister of Poland.
Television service begins in East Germany.
22 November 1952 WDR in Cologne broadcasts First Construction and Second Construction by John Cage (40). It helps to make Cage’s music better known in Europe.
23 November 1952 During a demonstration in Kirawa, Kenya 17 people are killed and 350 arrested.
Song of Peace for children’s chorus by Zoltán Kodály (69) to words of Weöres, is performed for the first time.
Two Meditations for organ by Ulysses Kay (35) is performed for the first time, at Fisk University, Nashville.
24 November 1952 The government of the Kenya Colony assumes the power to punish entire villages for harboring Mau Maus.
25 November 1952 Greek police arrest Nikos Ploumbides, a leading member of the Communist Party.
Symphony no.7 by Henry Cowell (55) is performed for the first time, at Peabody Conservatory, Baltimore.
Immortal autumn for tenor and chorus by Ross Lee Finney (45) to words of MacLeish is performed for the first time, in Carnegie Music Hall, Pittsburgh. Also premiered is Ave Verum Corpus for female chorus by Francis Poulenc (53).
27 November 1952 Eleven former leaders of the Czechoslovak Communist Party are condemned to death after confessing to treason, sabotage, and espionage. Three others are sentenced to life in prison. Most of the defendants are Jewish. During the trial, several prominent Czechoslovak Jews are reported to have committed suicide.
One of the first German radio programs on the music of John Cage (40) is broadcast over NWDR.
28 November 1952 Due to food shortages, non-residents of East Berlin are forbidden from buying at government stores.
29 November 1952 Piano Sonata no.1 op.22 by Alberto Ginastera (36) is performed for the first time, in Pittsburgh. Also premiered is Quaderno musicale di Annalibera for piano by Luigi Dallapiccola (48).
Concerto for Piano, Four Hands op.56 by Vincent Persichetti (37) is performed for the first time, in Pittsburgh, by the composer and his wife Dorothea Persichetti.
30 November 1952 Parties favoring closer union with France win the Saarland elections. Pro-German parties are banned from the ballot or boycott.
Sonata concertante for violin and piano by Leon Kirchner (33) is performed for the first time, in Carnegie Hall, New York.
1 December 1952 Adolfo Ruiz Cortines replaces Miguel Alemán Váldez as President of Mexico.
The New York Daily News reports on its front page about a recent operation in Denmark whereby Bronx native George Jorgensen became Christine Jorgensen.
2 December 1952 US President-elect Dwight Eisenhower makes his promised visit to Korea. Over the next four days, he inspects the front and holds meetings with Korean and UN leaders as well as common soldiers.
Viet Minh forces attack the fortress of Na San, 188 km west of Hanoi. The French and colonial defenders repel the attack.
Suite for wind quintet by Ruth Crawford Seeger (51) is performed for the first time, at American University in Washington.
3 December 1952 Eleven former communist leaders, including General Rudolf Slansky, are executed by the Czechoslovak government. Ten of them are Jews.
Traffic between East and West Berlin is virtually halted when 300 vehicles owned by West Berliners are confiscated in East Berlin.
The United Nations General Assembly approves a 17-point plan devised by India to end the Korean War. China has already said they reject the idea.
4 December 1952 Today begins five days of smog in London during which up to 4,000 people die from smog-related causes.
5 December 1952 The body of Farhat Hached, a Tunisian labor leader, is found mutilated and riddled with bullets outside Tunis. The Tunisian Labor Federation calls a three-day general strike.
One of the worst fogs in London’s recorded history descends on the city over the next five days. 240 deaths are blamed on the condition. Air, road, and rail traffic slows to a crawl.
Violin Concerto by Gian-Carlo Menotti (41) is performed for the first time, at the Philadelphia Academy of Music.
6 December 1952 Tunisian labor leaders are arrested by French authorities.
7 December 1952 Nine people charged with being communist spies are executed in Taipei. This makes 38 such executions since 26 November.
As about 300 demonstrators march in Tunis, they are fired upon by police. Two people are killed. In violence in French Morocco today and tomorrow, over 50 people are killed.
10 December 1952 Isaac Ben Zvi replaces interim president Yosef Sprinzak as President of Israel.
Prime Minister Mohammed Neguib of Egypt abolishes the royal constitution. A transitional government takes power until a new constitution can be written.
String Quartet by Irving Fine (38) is performed for the first time, at Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts.
Sea Piece With Birds for orchestra by Virgil Thomson (56) is performed for the first time, in McFarlin Memorial Auditorium, Dallas.
12 December 1952 Technicians mistakenly remove four of twelve control rods out of the fuel core of the Chalk River nuclear reactor, 180 km northwest of Ottawa. No one is hurt, but the 4,000,000 litres of radioactive water will take six months to clean up.
Concerto for harp and chamber orchestra by Ernst Krenek (52) is performed for the first time, in Philadelphia.
13 December 1952 The United Nations sacks Nikolay Skvortsov, the aide to Assistant Secretary-General Constantin Zinchenko, for spying on the United States.
14 December 1952 UN guards fire on over 3,000 rioting POWs on Pongam Island, Korea. 84 prisoners are killed, 118 injured.
15 December 1952 The Peoples Republic of China formally rejects the peace plan offered 3 December.
Thème varié for piano by Francis Poulenc (53) is performed for the first time, in Salle Gaveau, Paris.
16 December 1952 Potti Sriramulu dies after a hunger strike of 58 days, in support of the creation of a new state from the Telugu speaking areas of Madras state. Riots ensue which kill five people.
Professor Owen Lattimore of Johns Hopkins University is indicted by a federal grand jury in Washington on seven counts of perjury. Lattimore has been the subject of investigations into communists in the government by Senator Joseph McCarthy.
String Quartet no.2 by Hans Werner Henze (26) is performed for the first time, in Baden-Baden.
17 December 1952 French authorities in Indochina announce the evacuation of Phong Tho, 40 km from the border with China.
Yugoslavia breaks diplomatic relations with the Vatican after the elevation of Archbishop Aloysius Stepinac to the College of Cardinals.
Y su sangre ya viene cantando for flute and chamber orchestra by Luigi Nono (28) to words of García Lorca is performed for the first time, in Baden-Baden. See 4 October 1957.
19 December 1952 Sofia Gubaidulina (21), a student at Kazan Conservatory, wins a Stalin Scholarship.
Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, led by Albert Ghiorso, identify the element Einsteinium in the debris of the thermonuclear explosion set off on 1 November. For security reasons, the discovery must be kept secret.
20 December 1952 French troops take Son La, west of Hanoi, after heavy bombing.
21 December 1952 Set of Five for violin, piano and percussion by Henry Cowell (55) is performed for the first time, in Town Hall, New York.
22 December 1952 Eight people are sentenced to death by a French military court for the murder of hundreds of civilians in the time leading up to the liberation of Paris. Four others receive prison terms.
Eleven Kikuyus are sentenced to death by a British court in Nairobi for Mau Mau activities.
23 December 1952 A committee of the US House of Representatives hears testimony from ex-Communist Louis Budenz that 30 people associated with important philanthropic organizations are Communists.
Twelve of the 24 Preludes and Fugues op.87 for piano by Dmitri Shostakovich (46) are performed for the first time, in Glinka Hall, Leningrad.
Hans Abrahamsen is born in Copenhagen.
24 December 1952 Field Marshal Wilhelm List, who commanded the German invasion of Yugoslavia and Greece, is paroled in Munich. He was serving a life sentence for war crimes.
A West Berlin policeman is killed when he tries to prevent three Soviet soldiers from kidnapping three people from the French sector.
The McCarran-Walter Immigration and Nationality Act goes into effect in the United States. It requires all seamen on ships entering US ports to be screened for Communist activity. Governments, news organizations and merchant marines around the world protest the act as unworkable.
Carlos Chávez (53) is made an Officer in the French Legion of Honor.
25 December 1952 Television service begins in West Germany.
28 December 1952 Twelve of the 24 Preludes and Fugues op.87 for piano by Dmitri Shostakovich (46) are performed for the first time, in Glinka Hall, Leningrad.
29 December 1952 The first hearing aid using a transistor goes on sale. It is manufactured by the Sonotone Corp. of Elmsford, New York. It weighs 100 grams.
30 December 1952 For the first time in 71 years of record keeping, Tuskegee Institute finds that no lynchings were reported in the United States over the last year.
31 December 1952 Control of the Changchun railroad is transferred from the USSR to China.
©2004-2011 Paul Scharfenberger
21 September 2011
Last Updated (Wednesday, 21 September 2011 08:29)