MusicAndHistory.com

1 January 1956 All newspapers in China appear with horizontal writing.

The Republic of Sudan is proclaimed independent of Great Britain and Egypt under a five-man sovereignty council and Prime Minister Ismail al-Azhari.  Great Britain and Egypt established a condominium over Sudan in 1899.

The three victorious parties in recent Saarland elections form a coalition government under Herbert Ney.

The total number of defections from East to West Germany during 1955 is put at 271,000.

2 January 1956 Elections for the French National Assembly take place.  Communists win the most votes and the most seats, however center-right parties do well, followed by the “Republican Front”.

4 January 1956 The new Trans-Mongolian railway opens a new link between Peking and Moscow.

The Internal Security Subcommittee of the US Senate opens an investigation into Communist infiltration of the New York Times.  15 of 18 witnesses called refuse to answer some or all questions put to them.

Igor Stravinsky (73) is awarded the Sibelius Medal in a ceremony at the Finnish consulate in New York City.

5 January 1956 Mr. and Mrs. John B. Kelly Sr. of Philadelphia announce the engagement their daughter Grace to Prince Rainier III of Monaco.  A spring wedding is planned.

7 January 1956 Benjamin Britten (42) and Peter Pears arrive in Jakarta.  Indonesian music has had and will have an important impact on Britten’s music.

Jordanian caretaker Prime Minister Ibrahim Hashim resigns.  Promised elections in April are cancelled.  A mob protesting this and the Middle East Treaty Organization attacks the US consulate in East Jerusalem wielding stones.  Marine guards firing shots in the air chase them away.  In Amman, a mob attacks western interests, including the Philadelphia Hotel.

Three Sacred Songs for female voices and violin by Bohuslav Martinu (65) are performed for the first time, in Policka.  Also premiered is Martinu’s Easter for voice and piano to words of Erben.

9 January 1956 Samir el-Rifai forms a new cabinet in Jordan claiming he will not enter into any “new pacts” such as the Middle East Treaty Organization.  A nationwide curfew goes into effect restricting citizens to their homes except for 15:00-17:00.  Communications between Amman and the outside world are cut off.

Voters in the Commonwealth of Virginia approve by 2-1 a referendum calling for a convention to amend the state constitution so that public funds could be used for private schools.  It is an attempt to circumvent the federal requirement for racial desegregation of schools.

Fantasias op.3 for clarinet in A and piano by Alexander Goehr (23) is performed for the first time, at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London.

The Virginia legislature votes to provide funding for private schools to maintain segregation.

12 January 1956 After concerts in Bandung and Surabaya, Benjamin Britten (42) and his party arrive in Bali where they will stay until 25 January.  They will experience Balinese music, dance, and ritual which will have an important impact on Britten’s music.

William Walton’s opera Troilus and Cressida opens in Teatro alla Scala, Milan.  It is a fiasco and receives whistles, boos, and a hostile press.

Incidental music for Shakespeare’s play King Lear by Otto Luening (55) and Vladimir Ussachevsky (44) is performed for the first time, in New York City Center in a production by Orson Welles.  It is a disaster.

14 January 1956 The government of Jordan lifts the curfew it imposed 9 January following anti-western riots.

Idyll of Theocritus for soprano and orchestra by Roger Sessions (59) to words translated by Trevelyan, is performed for the first time, in Louisville.

15 January 1956 Dmitri Shostakovich (49) receives the Diploma of Santa Cecilia, Rome.

16 January 1956 The announcement by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru that Bombay will be a federal district and not the capital of the new Maharashtra State begins six days of rioting that kills 71 people.  550 are injured.

Three years to the day after the previous constitution was suspended, President Gamal Abdel Nasser announces a new constitution for Egypt.  He plans a national plebiscite on 23 June with the first president to be elected two weeks later.

The first desegregation in the State of Kentucky takes place in Columbia without incident.

18 January 1956 The East German Volkskammer votes to convert the People’s Police into an East German Army.

The French government creates Société de Radio-diffusion de la France d’Outre-Mer (Soraform) to improve radio in French colonies.  Its first Chairman in Pierre Schaeffer (45).

Strict Songs for chamber orchestra and male chorus by Lou Harrison (38) to his own words, is performed for the first time, in Louisville.  See 20 November 1992.

20 January 1956 Elegy op.44 for orchestra by Howard Hanson (59) is performed for the first time, in Boston.

22 January 1956 Sofia Gubaidulina (24) marries Mark Alyeksandrovich Liando, a geologist, in Moscow.

24 January 1956 At a conference in Richmond, Virginia, the governors of Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Virginia agree on a unified plan to block court-ordered desegregation of schools.

26 January 1956 The USSR formally returns Porkkala naval base, south of Helsinki, to Finland.

The Seventh Winter Olympic Games open in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.

27 January 1956 Suite op.133 for trumpet and orchestra by Florent Schmitt (85) is performed for the first time, in Paris.

Another Sleep, a cycle for voice and piano by Ned Rorem (32) to words of Green, is performed for the first time, in Town Hall, New York.

28 January 1956 The US government rejects a call by the Soviet Union for a 20-year friendship treaty between the two countries.

The Political Consultative Committee of the Warsaw Pact accepts the entry of the newly formed East German Army into the unified military command.

31 January 1956 Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira becomes President of Brazil replacing acting President Nereu Ramos.

An electronic music synthesizer developed by HF Olsen and H. Belar at RCA is unveiled at a meeting of the American Institute of Electrical Engineering in New York.  See 14 October 1958.

Alan Alexander Milne dies in Hartfield, Sussex at the age of 74.

1 February 1956 Socialist Guy Mollet replaces Edgar Faure of the Radical Party as Prime Minister of France.

The South African government orders the closure of all Soviet consulates in the country.

The legislature of the Commonwealth of Virginia passes a resolution declaring the Supreme Court desegregation decision an “illegal encroachment” on the rights of the state.

2 February 1956 Long Day’s Journey Into Night, a play by Eugene O’Neill, is first performed at the Royal Dramatic Theatre, Stockholm.

Medea’s Meditation and Dance of Vengeance, an orchestral excerpt from the ballet Medea, by Samuel Barber (45), is performed for the first time, in New York.  See 10 May 1946.

3 February 1956 The US State Department reimposes a ban on travel by its citizens to Hungary.  The ban was lifted last 31 October.  This action is in retaliation for the imprisonment of two US embassy employees for espionage and the sentencing of two Hungarian employees of western wire services.

Under orders from the US Supreme Court, the University of Alabama accepts its first African-American student, Autherine Lucy.  The Ku Klux Klan and white students begin two days of rioting.

The Buenos Aires newspaper La Prensa resumes publication for the first time since 25 January 1951 under the leadership of its owner Alberto Gainza Paz.

4 February 1956 Relief statique, musique concrète by Toru Takemitsu (25), is performed for the first time, in Yamaha Hall, Tokyo.

5 February 1956 On a fact-finding mission to Algiers, French Prime Minister Guy Mollet is attacked by an angry mob armed with flower pots and produce.  The protesters fear that Mollet will give in to nationalist demands.

The Seventh Winter Olympic Games close in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.  In eleven days of competition, 821 athletes from 32 countries took part.

Parades op.57 for piano by Vincent Persichetti (40) is performed for the first time, at Philadelphia Conservatory.

6 February 1956 Whites at the University of Alabama resume rioting.  They throw rocks and eggs at the recently admitted black student, Autherine Lucy, and her car.  They also surround the home of University President Oliver Carmichael.

Concerto para violão for guitar and orchestra by Heitor Villa-Lobos (68) is performed for the first time, in Houston under the baton of the composer.

7 February 1956 The trustees of the University of Alabama suspend Autherine Lucy “for your safety and for the safety of the students and faculty members.”  She will eventually be expelled.

8 February 1956 Benjamin Britten (42) and Peter Pears arrive in Tokyo from Hong Kong.  They will stay almost two weeks.

The legislature of the State of Georgia declares the Supreme Court desegregation decision “null, void, and of no effect” in Georgia.

Three Part Songs for female voices by Bohuslav Martinu (65) are performed for the first time, in Brno.

9 February 1956 Autherine Lucy and the NAACP file suit in federal court in Birmingham, Alabama.  She asks to be reinstated to the university, damages of $3,000, and imprisoning of the Board of Trustees if they do not reinstate her.

Challenge the Family of Man for orchestra by Ralph Shapey (34) is performed for the first time, in Carnegie Hall, New York.

10 February 1956 State of siege measures in Brazil are lifted ten days after the successful inauguration of the new president.

Two new works are performed for the first time, at the Juilliard School of Music, New York:  Piano Concerto by Roger Sessions (59) and Concerto for cello and orchestra by Peter Mennin (32).

11 February 1956 Benjamin Britten (42) witnesses a Noh drama, Sumida River, in Tokyo.  It’s story will be adapted by Britten and William Plomer for Curlew River.

Guy Burgess and Donald MacLean, two senior officials of the British Foreign Office who disappeared in 1951, give a five-minute news conference in Moscow.  Only reporters from TASS, Pravda, Reuters and the London Sunday Times are allowed.  Their prepared statement says they went to the Soviet Union to contribute “to a policy aimed at achieving greater mutual understanding between the Soviet Union and the West…”

13 February 1956 The School Board of Wilmington, Delaware votes to end racial segregation of the schools.

14 February 1956 The 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union opens in Moscow.  In a seven-hour speech, General Secretary Nikita Khrushchev tells the delegates that war with capitalist imperialism is no longer inevitable.

Drei sinfonische Etuden für Orchester by Hans Werner Henze (29) is performed for the first time, in Hamburg.

15 February 1956 Symphony in E flat by Ernest Bloch (75) is performed for the first time, in London.

The Wife of Martin Guerre, an opera by William Bergsma (34) to words of Lewis, is performed for the first time, in New York.

16 February 1956 Speaking to the 20^th Party Congress in Moscow, Deputy Prime Minister Anastas Mikoyan criticizes the “cult of the individual” in favor of collective leadership.

The British House of Commons votes to abolish the death penalty.

Toccata for orchestra by Leon Kirchner (37) is performed for the first time, in San Francisco.

17 February 1956 The Brazilian Federal Territory of Guaporé is renamed Rondônia.

Two Madrigals for voice and piano by Hugo Weisgall (43) to 17th century English texts are performed for the first time, at the Juilliard School, New York.

18 February 1956 Benjamin Britten (42) conducts a performance of his Sinfonia da Requiem over the airwaves of NHK, originating in Tokyo.  The work was written in response to a commission from the Japanese government in 1940 but was rejected as insulting.

Gustave Charpentier dies in Paris, aged 95 years, seven months, and 24 days.

19 February 1956 In a pastoral letter, Archbishop Joseph Francis Rummel of New Orleans calls racial segregation immoral and announces that all parochial schools in his archdiocese will be desegregated.

20 February 1956 New works are performed for the first time at the Juilliard School, New York:  Spring Comes Singing for voice and piano by Henry Cowell (58) to words of Hagemeyer, Piano Sonata no.10 op.67 by Vincent Persichetti (40), and Three Children’s Songs for Grownups (later Childhood Fables for Grownups) for voice and piano by Irving Fine (41) to words of Norman.

21 February 1956 The French government announces that, pursuant to the Indochina Treaty, President Ngo Dinh Diem has requested the complete withdrawal of French troops.  France will comply.

A Birmingham, Alabama grand jury indicts 115 people for instigating a boycott of the city buses by black citizens.  The boycott is almost 100% effective.

22 February 1956 US President Eisenhower authorizes the sale or lease of 40,000 kg of Uranium-235.  Half will go to the US power industry, the other half to countries not yet producing it.

Over the next three days, 90 African-American leaders in Montgomery, Alabama (including 24 ministers) are arrested for leading a boycott of the city buses.  They are among the 115 indicted yesterday.

Movements 1, 2, 3, and 5 of Folk Fantasy for Festivals for folksingers, soloists, speakers, chorus, and piano by Roy Harris (58) are performed for the first time, at the Juilliard School of Music, New York.  See 14 November 1957 and 6 May 1963.

Calcium Light Night from Set no.1 for chamber orchestra by Charles Ives (†1), edited and arranged by Henry Cowell (58), is performed for the first time, in Sprague Memorial Hall, Yale University.  Also premiered are Ives’ songs No More to words of Whittier, There is a certain garden, Yellow Leaves to words of Bellamann, and A Sea Dirge to words of Shakespeare.

23 February 1956 Representatives of five British colonies in the Caribbean (Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, the Windward Islands, and the Leeward Islands) end a two-week conference in London.  They agree to federate, with single elections and legislature.

Concerto for piano and orchestra no.1 by Leon Kirchner (37) is performed for the first time, in New York, the composer at the keyboard.

24 February 1956 A meeting takes place between Le Corbusier and representatives of the Philips Corporation in the architect’s Paris studio.  They discuss a building to be erected at the upcoming world’s fair in Brussels.

Symphony no.5 by Walter Piston (62), commissioned by the Juilliard School in honor of its 50th anniversary, is performed for the first time, in New York.

25 February 1956 General Secretary Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev announces a de-Stalinization of Soviet history in his speech entitled “Crimes of the Stalinist Era” to a meeting of the 20th party Congress.  The speech is made late at night to a select audience and is kept secret.  It will be made public in June by the United States State Department.

26 February 1956 In England on a Fulbright Scholarship, Sylvia Plath meets Ted Hughes for the first time, at a party in Cambridge.

27 February 1956 Alabama State Rep. WL Martin fails to force University of Alabama President Oliver Carmichael to give him the names of students who signed a petition urging the readmittance of Autherine Lucy.  He says that if whites in Alabama give in, “we will have but three choices to make—sell your homes and get out of Alabama, be humiliated, or take up your shotguns.”

28 February 1956 In a radio and television speech to Algeria, French Prime Minister Guy Mollet offers Algerians a cease-fire or all-out war.

29 February 1956 Talks between British Colonial Secretary Alan Lennox-Boyd and Archbishop Makarios on the future of Cyprus break down.

A federal judge in Birmingham, Alabama orders the University of Alabama to reinstate its first black student, Autherine Lucy.  He dismisses her claim that the trustees be held in contempt.  Shortly afterward, the University trustees expel Ms. Lucy for making “outrageous, false, and baseless accusations” against the trustees.

The legislature of the State of Mississippi declares the Supreme Court desegregation decision “invalid” in the state.

President Carlos Ibañez of Chile lifts the nationwide state of siege begun in January in the face of a threatened general strike.

Fourth Quintet for strings op.350 by Darius Milhaud (63) is performed for the first time, in Brussels.

...if He please for chorus, children’s chorus, and orchestra by Henry Cowell (58) to words of Taylor, is performed for the first time, in Carnegie Hall, New York.

1 March 1956 Urho Kaleva Kekkonen becomes President of Finland replacing Juho Kusti Paasikivi.  The first general strike in the history of Finland begins over wages.

The legislature of the State of Alabama unanimously resolves to ask the federal government for funds to transport southern blacks to the north and midwest where blacks are “wanted and needed and can be assimilated.”

Prelude and Fugue for four percussionists by Charles Wuorinen (17) is performed for the first time, in the Recital Hall of the School of Music, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

2 March 1956 A constituent assembly meeting in Karachi adopts a constitution for the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

The Kingdom of Morocco is proclaimed independent of France in a treaty signed in Paris.  Moroccan leaders are Sultan Sidi Mohammed ben Youssef and Prime Minister M’barek Bekkai.

King Hussein of Jordan sacks the commander of the Arab Legion, John Bagot Glubb, for refusing to carry out his orders.  Glubb and his family are put on a plane and flown to Cyprus.

The NAACP, Autherine Lucy, and four other African-Americans are sued in Birmingham by four men asking $4,000,000 in damages.  They were all named in Ms. Lucy’s original suit.

Symphony no.11 by Heitor Villa-Lobos (68) is performed for the first time, in Boston the composer conducting.  Critics are very positive.

3 March 1956 Karl Fagerholm replaces Urho Kekkonen as Prime Minister of Finland.

5 March 1956 In National Assembly elections in South Vietnam, supporters of President Ngo Dinh Diem win 112 of 123 seats.

Great Britain begins jamming radio broadcasts from Greece to Cyprus.

6 March 1956 The West German Parliament approves 14 constitutional amendments which allow for rearmament and civilian control over the armed forces.

Tartiniana Seconda for violin and piano by Luigi Dallapiccola (52) is performed for the first time, in Vienna, the composer at the keyboard.  See 15 March 1957.

7 March 1956 Demonstrations against the de-Stalinization campaign take place at the University of Tbilisi today and tomorrow.

A constitutional convention in the Commonwealth of Virginia adopts an amendment allowing for state funds to private schools.  This is for a scheme to circumvent the desegregation order.

9 March 1956 Archbishop Makarios and three other Greek Orthodox leaders are deported from Cyprus to the Seychelles for giving active support to terrorism.

French Tunisians attack the US Consulate in Tunis, charging that the US has aided Tunisian nationalists.

The Argentine government seizes the assets of 17 Perónista firms and individuals including three Buenos Aires newspapers.  Today ends a 30-day period during which Perónistas were to explain how they acquired their assets.

Concerto per il Marigny for eight players by Hans Werner Henze (29) is performed for the first time, in Paris.

10 March 1956 Greek Cypriots stage a one-day general strike against the deportation of Archbishop Makarios.  Greece recalls its ambassador from Britain in protest.  Greeks in Candia, Crete attack the British consulate and force the consul to go into hiding under police protection.

Oiseaux exotiques for piano and chamber orchestra by Olivier Messiaen (47) is performed for the first time, in Petit Théâtre Marigny, Paris.

Sonata for cello and piano by Ralph Shapey (34) is performed for the first time, in Carnegie Recital Hall, New York.

11 March 1956 The teaching of English in Greek schools is suspended indefinitely to protest the exile of Archbishop Makarios.

A Declaration of Constitutional Principles is signed by 19 Senators and 77 Congressmen from southern states.  It denounces school desegregation and joins all together to fight the Supreme Court decision by all legal means.

12 March 1956 Boleslaw Bierut, First Secretary of the Polish United Workers’ Party dies in Moscow, reportedly of a “fatal heart complication.”

A commission from the Ministry of Culture assembles in the Moscow apartment of Dmitri Shostakovich (49) to hear him play through his revision of Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District.  After hearing the entire opera, they vote unanimously not to allow a production.

The US Supreme Court rules that the University of Florida must admit a black student, Virgil Hawkins, to its law school “without delay.”  He has been waiting for seven years.

Sonata for violin and piano by Bohuslav Martinu (65) is performed for the first time, in New York.

Septet for madrigal singers, clarinet, and keyboard by Henry Cowell (59) is performed for the first time, in the Baltimore Museum of Art.

13 March 1956 Organ works by Charles Koechlin (†5) are performed for the first time, over the airwaves of French Radio:  Four of the 24 chorals sur de thèmes anciens op.82 and the second and twelfth of the 12 chorals sur des thèmes anciens op.136.

14 March 1956 A state of siege in Peru, in place since 6 February, is lifted.  Political prisoners are released.

Assistant Secretary of State Robinson McIlvaine tells a committee of the US House of Representatives that a tour of the Middle East by the Symphony of the Air has been cancelled because they suspect 30 members of the orchestra are communists.

De vives voix op.131 for chorus of three equal voices by Florent Schmitt (85) is performed for the first time, in Brussels.

15 March 1956 Reports of Nikita Khrushchev’s 25 February anti-Stalin speech begin reaching the west.

Lerner and Loewe’s My Fair Lady opens in New York.

17 March 1956 Incidental music to Sutherland’s play Junius on Horseback by Peter Sculthorpe (26) is performed for the first time, in the Playhouse, Hobart, Tasmania.

18 March 1956 A Piece for Tape Recorder by Vladimir Ussachevsky (44) is performed for the first time, in New York.

Preamble and Fugue op.61 for orchestra by Wallingford Riegger (70) is performed for the first time, in Oklahoma City.

19 March 1956 Greek Cypriots carry out a pogrom against the ethnic Turks in the village of Vasilia.  British troops end the violence after 17 people are injured.

The first general strike in the history of Finland ends after 19 days when 500,000 workers are given a pay increase.

Otello, a film with music by Aram Khachaturian (52), is released.

A subcommittee of the United States Congress holds that Leonard Bernstein (37), identified only as “no.5”, and several members of the Symphony of the Air are risks to the security of the United States.

Piano Sonata no.8 op.41 by Vincent Persichetti (40) is performed for the first time, at the Philadelphia Conservatory.

20 March 1956 Ali Sastroamidjojo replaces Burhanuddin Harahap as Prime Minister of Indonesia.

In a protocol signed in Paris, the Kingdom of Tunisia is proclaimed independent of France under King Muhammad al-Amin and Prime Minister Tahar ben Ammar.

Edward Ochab is elected First Secretary of the Polish United Workers’ Party, replacing Boleslaw Bierut.

A time bomb is discovered between the mattresses of Field Marshal Sir John Harding, Governor of Cyprus.  A Greek servant is suspected.  All Cypriot household staff will be removed from the house.

Summer Music for wind quintet by Samuel Barber (46) is performed for the first time, at the Detroit Institute of the Arts.

22 March 1956 The pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is found guilty of conspiring to boycott the city’s buses.  He is sentenced to $1,000 in fines or 386 days in jail.  The sentence is suspended pending appeal.

23 March 1956 Iskander Mirza becomes the first President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.  Pakistan retains membership in the British Commonwealth.

24 March 1956 Prelude for organ by Thea Musgrave (27) is performed for the first time, in St. James’s, Picadilly, London.

25 March 1956 British authorities impose a 24-hour curfew on Cyprus on Greek Independence Day.

In national elections for a constituent assembly in Tunisia, the Neodestour Party wins 97% of the vote and their entire slate is elected.  The only opposition was the Communist Party.

26 March 1956 Haut Voltage by Pierre Henry (28) is performed for the first time, at l’Opéra de Metz.  It is one of the first examples of electro-acoustic music, combining musique-concrète, electronic sound generators, voices, and instruments.

27 March 1956 Agents of the Internal Revenue Service seize offices of the Communist Party newspaper The Daily Worker in New York, Chicago, and Detroit and party headquarters in several cities for non-payment of taxes.  The editor tells the press that since the paper lost $200,000 last year, it owes no taxes.

28 March 1956 Pravda denounces Stalin for abuse of power.

The Parliament of Iceland asks all NATO forces to leave the country.

29 March 1956 As part of the de-Stalinization process, Hungarian Communist Party First Secretary Matyas Rakosi announces the rehabilitation of Laszlo Rajk and others executed in 1949 on charges of “Titoism.”  Others still imprisoned are released.

Seven Haiku for piano by John Cage (43) is performed for the first time, at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.

30 March 1956 Algerians in France begin strikes in demonstrations of support for Algerian nationalists.

31 March 1956 Lt. General Kenryo Sato, the last major Japanese war criminal still in prison, is paroled in Tokyo.  He has served ten years of a life sentence.

Police in Paris break up a parade in support of the Algerian independence movement.  3,000 people are arrested.

Comoedia de Christi Resurrectione by Carl Orff (60) to his own words, is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of Munich Radio.  See 21 April 1957.

2 April 1956 Leonard Bernstein (37) signs his first contract with Columbia Records.

The US Supreme Court rules that states do not have the right to try citizens for advocating the violent overthrow of the government.  Only the federal government can do that.  The ruling invalidates laws in 42 states.

3 April 1956 The Spanish government announces that it has approved the independence of Spanish Morocco and its incorporation into the Kingdom of Morocco.

The French military estimates that 745 people have been killed over the last week in fighting in Algeria.

The US Internal Revenue Service agrees to return the assets of the Daily Worker and the Communist Party on payment of $3,000 by the newspaper and $1,500 by the party.

4 April 1956 Symphony for trombone and orchestra by Ernest Bloch (75) is performed for the first time, in Houston.

5 April 1956 Constant border incidents escalate into serious fighting between Egyptian and Israeli soldiers near the town of Gaza.  A cease-fire brokered by the UN begins at 18:00.

Los meridos de mamá, a film with music by Alberto Ginastera (39), is released in Argentina.

6 April 1956 Warsaw Radio reports that First Secretary of the Polish United Workers’ Party Edward Ochab and several people imprisoned in 1951 and 1953 on charges of “Titoism” have been released.  Among these is former First Secretary Wladyslaw Gomulka.

7 April 1956 Egypt begins sending small suicide squads across the border into Israel to kill civilians and destroy infrastructure.

In an agreement signed in Madrid, Spain ends its protectorate over Spanish Morocco and transfers it to the Kingdom of Morocco.  Spain will maintain a military presence until a Moroccan army can be formed.

8 April 1956 The Trial at Rouen, a television opera by Norman Dello Joio (43) to his own words, is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of NBC.  See 16 April 1959.

9 April 1956 UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld arrives in Beirut to begin a peace mission to Israel and the surrounding Arab states.

11 April 1956 France calls up more reservists to deal with the uprising in Algeria.

Habib Bourguiba is named Prime Minister of Tunisia.

Six Ku Klux Klan members assault Nat King Cole during a performance at the Birmingham, Alabama Municipal Auditorium.

12 April 1956 The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit opens in New York.

13 April 1956 The National Assembly of Tunisia adopts a constitution.

22 Jewish young people invade the Egyptian consulate in New York and hold it for more than an hour while they conduct a memorial service to Israeli civilians killed by Egyptian death squads.

The Interamerican Music Center is established in Washington sponsored by the Organization of American States.  It promotes music throughout the Western Hemisphere.

14 April 1956 The Ampex Corporation demonstrates a magnetic video-tape recorder at the convention of the National Association of Radio and Television Broadcasters in Chicago.  The audience is astonished at the immediate playback.

16 April 1956 Liebeslied for chorus and instruments by Luigi Nono (32) to his own words is performed for the first time, in London.

Dalton Suite for school orchestra by Henry Cowell (59) is performed for the first time, in New York.

Symphony for Band op.69 by Vincent Persichetti (40) is performed for the first time, in St. Louis, Missouri.

17 April 1956 In a de-Stalinization move, Bulgarian Prime Minister Vulko Velyov Chervenkov is replaced by Anton Tanev Yugov.

The Information Office of the Communist Parties (Cominform) is abolished.

18 April 1956 A cease-fire between Israel and Egypt, brokered by UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld, goes into effect.

An agreement is reached between twelve nations on a charter for an International Atomic Energy Agency.

Four white men who attacked Nat King Cole on 11 April receive fines and jail time in a Birmingham, Alabama court.

19 April 1956 Prince Ranier III of Monaco marries American actress Grace Kelly in St. Nicholas Cathedral in Monte Carlo.

20 April 1956 Two works are performed for the first time, in Juilliard Concert Hall, New York:  Theatre Piece no.2 for tape, piano, voice, narrator, percussion, and winds by Otto Luening (55), and Meditation on Ecclesiastes for strings by Norman Dello Joio (43).  See 6 May 1957.

21 April 1956 Fighting between Algerian rebels and French troops reaches to within 25 km of Constantine.

Variations for Orchestra by Elliott Carter (47) is performed for the first time, in Columbia Auditorium, Louisville.

22 April 1956 The Polish government announces an amnesty for 70,000 political prisoners.

Soviet authorities discover a CIA tunnel into East Berlin.  They will turn it into a tourist attraction.

23 April 1956 The US Supreme Court rules unanimously against racial segregation on intrastate buses.

24 April 1956 Clyde Sellers, police commissioner of Montgomery, Alabama, warns that bus operators who permit racial integration on their buses will be prosecuted.

26 April 1956 Clarinet Duets by Leslie Bassett (33) are performed for the first time, in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

28 April 1956 Eight Czech Duets for piano by Karel Husa (34) is performed for the first time, at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.

29 April 1956 The First Echelon, a film with music by Dmitri Shostakovich (49), is shown for the first time.

30 April 1956 The first elected parliament in Somaliland convenes in Mogadishu.

Cuban President Fulgencio Batista suspends constitutional rights and imposes censorship for 45 days.

1 May 1956 3,000 troops of the new East German army parade in Berlin for the first time.

President Pedro Aramburu of Argentina restores the country’s original constitution of 1853.

2 May 1956 The General Council of Methodist Churches votes to abolish segregation within the church.

Symphony no.8 by Ralph Vaughan Williams (83) is performed for the first time, in Free Trade Hall, Manchester.

Ad Te Domine for chorus by Kenneth Gaburo (29) is performed for the first time, at the University of Illinois.

3 May 1956 Violinist Isaac Stern becomes the first American concert artist to perform in Moscow in ten years.

5 May 1956 An orchestral suite from Dominick Argento’s (28) unperformed ballet The Resurrection of Don Juan is performed for the first time, at the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, New York.  See 24 May 1959.

6 May 1956 73 rebels are reported killed by French troops near Ouenza, Algeria.

7 May 1956 In retaliation for rebel attacks on French farms, 150 Algerian rebels are reported killed by French troops in the Ain Temouchent area.

8 May 1956 The constitutional union between Indonesia and the Netherlands is dissolved.

9 May 1956 A plebiscite in British Togoland votes for integration with the Gold Coast.

Greek crowds protesting upcoming executions in Cyprus battle police and rush the British consulate in Thessaloniki and the US Information Agency in Athens.  Three people are killed and 124 injured.

10 May 1956 Two Greek Cypriot rebels are executed by British authorities on Cyprus.

Eastern Algeria is placed under martial law by the French Resident Minister.

Fugitive Songs, a cycle for voice and piano by Ulysses Kay (39) is performed for the first time, at Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington.

11 May 1956 Cypriot rebels announce that they have executed two British soldiers they held, in retaliation for the executions yesterday.

12 May 1956 After Algerian rebels injure 13 people by bombing a café in Constantine, French troops and vigilantes retaliate by killing 13 Algerians and wounding 37.  French officials report 175 rebels killed in fighting in eastern Algeria.

13 May 1956 Following fighting between Europeans and Algerians in Constantine, the city center is placed under armed guard.

In parliamentary elections in Austria, the Peoples Party gains nine seats but comes one seat short of an overall majority.  The Peoples-Socialist coalition led by Chancellor Julius Raab continues.

Several works by Charles Wuorinen (17) are performed for the first time in New York:  Song and Dance and Scherzo for piano solo performed by the composer, settings of two lute songs by Thomas Campion (†336) for male chorus,  Faire, If You Expect Admiring and Turne Backe, You Wanton Flyer and Te Decet Hymnus for vocal soloists, chorus, timpani, organ and piano, the composer at the keyboard.

14 May 1956 The Soviet government announces that it plans to reduce its military by 1,200,000 men over the next year.

While driving on a country road near Lodi, Hans Werner Henze (29) crashes into a milk cart and breaks his collarbone.  With his arm in a cast for six weeks, he is unable to complete the ballet Maratona he is writing for the Ballets Babilée in Paris.

Ich singe wieder, wenn es tagt for chorus and string orchestra by Ernst Krenek (55) to words of Walther von der Volgelweide, is performed for the first time, in the Kongresssaal der Arbeiterkammer, Linz the composer conducting.

15 May 1956 University students in Czechoslovakia demonstrate against government educational policies.

French officials report they have taken the rebel-held town of Rivet, near Algiers, claiming 110 rebels are killed.

Talks in London over the possible independence of Singapore break down.

16 May 1956 Five Romances on Verses of Yevgeni Dolmatovsky op.98, a cycle for voice and piano by Dmitri Shostakovich (49), is performed for the first time, in Philharmonic Hall, Kiev.

Piano Concerto no.5 op.346 by Darius Milhaud (63) is performed for the first time, in New York.

17 May 1956 Jacques Barzun’s Music in American Life is published.

Pantaloon, an opera by Robert Ward (38) to words of Stambler after Andreyev, is performed for the first time, in the Juilliard Concert Hall, New York.  It will be renamed He Who Gets Slapped.

18 May 1956 16 French soldiers are killed by Algerian nationalists near Palestro.  Some of the bodies are horribly mutilated.  Six survivors are carried off, but only one will live to see France again.  These are the first reservists killed in Algeria, a fact which raises concerns in France.

British authorities ban all shipping from the north coast of Cyprus in an attempt to cut off the importation of arms.

The first of the Two Theatre Pieces by Lejaren Hiller (32) is performed for the first time, at the University of Illinois, Urbana.

19 May 1956 Poem of the Motherland op.74, a cantata for solo voices, chorus, and orchestra by Dmitri Shostakovich (49) to words of various authors, is performed for the first time.  It was intended for the 30th anniversary of the October Revolution.

For tax purposes, William Walton (54) is declared a British citizen resident wholly abroad.

The second of the Two Theatre Pieces by Lejaren Hiller (32) is performed for the first time, at the University of Illinois, Urbana.

20 May 1956 Grace to You and Peace for chorus and organ by Ulysses Kay (39) to words of Melnechuk after the Bible is performed for the first time, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

21 May 1956 The US detonates its first airborne hydrogen bomb above Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands.

Piano Sonata no.7 op.40 by Vincent Persichetti (40) is performed for the first time, at Philadelphia Conservatory.

22 May 1956 300 French reservists at Bar-le-Duc uncouple their car from the train that was to take them to transport to Algeria.  After the train is put back together, they stage anti-government demonstrations at Dujon and Châlons-sur-Marne.

French troops destroy the village of Ouled Djerrah, 50 km from Algiers, in retaliation for the action of 18 May.

24 May 1956 Turkish Cypriots riot in several cities on the island, attacking Greek businesses.

25 May 1956 Concerto for viola with piano, winds, and percussion by Karl Amadeus Hartmann (50) is performed for the first time, in Frankfurt-am-Main.

26 May 1956 An airplane lands in Lhasa for the first time.

Five Neapolitan Songs for voice and orchestra by Hans Werner Henze (29) is performed for the first time, in Frankfurt.

27 May 1956 French troops raid the Casbah in Algiers, arrest 4,000 people, and seize arms and printing equipment.

Choral Variations on Von Himmel hoch da komm ich Her by Igor Stravinsky (73) is performed for the first time, in Ojai, California.

28 May 1956 A treaty is signed in New Delhi formally transferring sovereignty over all French possessions in the subcontinent to India.

An agreement is signed between France and Morocco completely ending the 1912 Treaty of Fez and returning control over foreign affairs to Morocco.

29 May 1956 The first passenger aircraft lands in Lhasa.

Arnold Schoenberg’s (†4) unfinished Modern Psalm for chorus, speaker, and orchestra, to his own words, is performed for the first time, in Cologne.

30 May 1956 Clap Vocalism, musique concrete on tape by Toru Takemitsu (25), is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of New Japan radio.

Several works involving magnetic tape are performed for the first time, over the airwaves of WDR, originating in Cologne:  Gesang der Junglinge no.8 by Karlheinz Stockhausen (27) to words from the Bible, Klangfiguren II by Gottfried Michael Koenig (29) and Spiritus intelligentiae, sanctus by Ernst Krenek (55) for two solo voices and tape.

Several new works are performed for the first time, in Carl Fischer Hall, New York:  4 More by Earle Brown (29), Structures for string quartet, and Three Pieces for String Quartet by Morton Feldman (30), and Radio Music by John Cage (43)

31 May 1956 Brendan Behan becomes a folk hero overnight after appearing, drunk and unintelligible, on a BBC television interview with Malcolm Muggeridge.

2 June 1956 In an overt sign of reconciliation, Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito is welcomed to Moscow for a three-week visit.

3 June 1956 The Soviet government announces further measures in its decentralization process by shifting justice and economy functions to the republics.  Several ministries in the federal government are abolished.

4 June 1956 The US State Department publishes all 26,000 words of Nikita Khrushchev’s speech before the 20^th Party Congress in February.  It was the beginning of the Soviet “de-Stalinization” process.

A Vision of Aeroplanes, a motet for chorus and organ by Ralph Vaughan Williams (83) to words from the Bible, is performed for the first time, at St. Michael’s, Cornhill, London.

Variations sur le nom de Marguerite Long for winds, timpani, and strings is performed for the first time, at the Sorbonne, Paris at a Jubilée Marguerite Long.  Contributors are Jean Françaix, Henri Sauguet, Darius Milhaud (63), Jean Rivier, Henri Dutilleux, Daniel Lesur, Francis Poulenc (57), and Georges Auric.  Milhaud’s contribution is Valse en forme de Rondo op.353b, while Poulenc’s is called Bucolique.

5 June 1956 West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and French Prime Minister Guy Mollet agree in Luxembourg to integrate the Saar into West Germany.

9 June 1956 Members of the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission are expelled from South Korea by the UN command.  They charge that Polish and Czech members of the Commission colluded with the North Koreans to hamper the implementation of the 1953 armistice agreement.

10 June 1956 The Eastman School of Music confers an honorary DMus on Ernest MacMillan (62).

Perónista rebels take the government radio station in Santa Rosa, La Pampa, Argentina and hold it for twelve hours before surrendering to loyal troops.  Rebels in La Plata, Buenos Aires Province surrender after being bombed by the Air Force.  26 people are summarily executed.  2,000 are arrested throughout the country.

12 June 1956 Le Corbusier writes to Edgar Varèse (72) suggesting a collaboration on the Philips Pavilion at the upcoming Brussels World’s Fair.  He mentions that the actual design for the building is being made by Iannis Xenakis (34).  Varèse immediately accepts.

Leader of the Argentine revolt, General Juan José Valle, is executed by firing squad.

13 June 1956 General elections in the Netherlands once again leave the two largest parties, the Catholic Peoples Party and the Labor Party, almost evenly divided each with one-third of the seats.  Willem Drees of the Labor Party will continue as Prime Minister.

The House of Delegates of the American Medical Association resolves that the government distribution of the Salk polio vaccine should be halted.  They call it an unnecessary interference in medical practice.

14 June 1956 The last British troops leave the Suez Canal, turning control over to Egypt.

15 June 1956 Three Stalinists are purged from the Czech government, including Culture Minister Ladislav Stoll.

16 June 1956 Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath are married in London.  The wedding is secret because Ms. Plath is under the mistaken impression that she will lose her scholarship if she is married.

Edgard Varèse (72), in New York, responds affirmatively to Le Corbusier’s correspondence of 12 June.

In presidential elections held today in Peru, women vote for the first time.

17 June 1956 Soviet Foreign Minister Dimitri Shepilov confers in Cairo with President Nasser and offers to fund the Aswan Dam project.

18 June 1956 In ceremonies marking the transfer of the Suez to Egypt, President Nasser raises the Egyptian flag over Port Said.

A bomb thrown into a Nicosia restaurant kills the US Vice-Consul to Cyprus and injures three consular officials.

19 June 1956 President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt ends press censorship and martial law in the country.  It has been in effect since the revolution of 1952.

President Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia speaks to an audience in Dynamo Stadium, Moscow, saying the split with the USSR is now over and mutual understanding has been reached.

Two Algerian terrorists are executed by the French authorities in Algiers, by guillotine.

20 June 1956 Nikita Khrushchev and Josip Broz Tito sign an agreement in Moscow reestablishing diplomatic relations between the USSR and Yugoslavia.

21 June 1956 Arthur Miller, appearing before the House Un-American Activities Committee, refuses to betray his associates.  He says he will sign a non-Communist affidavit to obtain a visa to honeymoon in Europe after marriage to Marilyn Monroe.

The US Atomic Energy Commission reports that scientists in its laboratory in Los Alamos, NM recently discovered a neutrino, a “vanishingly small” part of the atom.

Three Songs from “The Heart of the Matter” for tenor, horn and piano by Benjamin Britten (42) to words of Edith Sitwell is performed for the first time, in Aldeburgh the composer at the piano.

24 June 1956 France grants Togo internal autonomy.

On his return from Moscow, Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito stops in Romania and holds talks with the leaders there.

Ceremonies today reopen the Cathedral of Rouen.  It was damaged by Allied bombers in 1944 and had to be restored.

25 June 1956 According to official results, Egyptian voters simultaneously approve a new constitution and a six-year term for President Gamal Abdel Nasser.

Today’s edition of Soviet Musician identifies Sofia Gubaidulina (24) as the winner of first prize in gymnastics at an athletic competition of students at all of Moscow’s higher education institutions.  She is studying at Moscow Conservatory.

Robert Briscoe becomes the first Jewish Lord Mayor of Dublin.

20 Cuban exiles, one named Fidel Castro Ruz, are arrested in Mexico City, charged with plotting to kill Cuban President Fulgencio Batista.

Darius Milhaud’s (63) Piano Concerto no.5 is performed for the first time, at Lewisohn Stadium, New York.

26 June 1956 17 people are arrested in Havana charged with plotting to kill Cuban President Fulgencio Batista.

Guatemalan troops fire on students in Guatemala City protesting the suspension of constitutional rights.  Four students are killed, 19 injured.  Martial law is declared.

28 June 1956 50,000 workers strike in Poznan against poor living conditions and price rises.  They attack the headquarters and jail of the security police, the Communist Party building and a radio station which jams foreign broadcasts.  Over the next three day, seventy people are killed, hundreds injured.  Troops sent to quell the strike go over to their side.  The city is surrounded and placed under curfew.

Percy L. Julian, John Wayne Cole, Edwin W. Meyer, and William J. Karpel receive a US patent for the preparation of cortisone.

29 June 1956 Sporadic fighting continues in Poznan.

Marilyn Monroe marries Arthur Miller in a civil ceremony in White Plains, New York.

Incidental music to Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night by Peter Sculthorpe (27) is performed for the first time, in Canberra.

US President Dwight Eisenhower signs the Federal Aid Highway Act creating the Interstate Highway System.

30 June 1956 Kommunist, the periodical of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, publishes several notes and letters written by Lenin shortly before his death in 1924.  They include his “Testament” of 24 December 1922, which praises Trotsky and recommends the removal of Stalin as General Secretary of the Party.

Lina Llubera, first wife of Sergey Prokofiev (64), is released after eight years in Soviet labor camps, mostly in eastern Russia.

Fighting comes to an end in Poznan.  In three days of revolt, 70 people have been killed and hundreds injured.  (Polish Radio announces 48 killed, 424 wounded)

First Secretary Mátyás Rákosi calls a meeting of the Central Committee of the Hungarian Workers’ Party and announces his decision to foil an alleged plot against his government by reformers.

650,000 US steelworkers go on strike against 100 companies.  They are still without a contract.

Homage à Bach for organ by Charles Wuorinen (18) is performed for the first time, in First Congregational Church, Gardner, Massachusetts.

Colin McPhee (56) arrives by bus in Los Angeles from New York.  He is to take up a residency with the Huntington Hartford Foundation in New York.

1 July 1956 The British government separates Montserrat from the Leeward Islands Territory.

5 July 1956 Suite for flute and piano or strings by Ernst Krenek (55) is performed for the first time, in Santiago, Chile.

7 July 1956 The West German Bundestag approves the first military conscription bill in that country since World War II.

Lines from the Dead Sea Scrolls for male chorus and orchestra by Henry Cowell (59) is performed for the first time, at Tanglewood in Lenox, Massachusetts.

Duke Ellington (57) and his band play the last night of the Newport Jazz Festival.  In the middle of an extended solo by saxophonist Paul Gonsalves, one audience member, Elaine Anderson, is so moved by the music, she begins to dance.  This works the crowd of 7,000 into a frenzy and urges Gonsalves on to new heights.  The audience rises from their seats and presses on to the stage.  The remainder of the performance takes place in an atmosphere of wild excitement, by musicians and listeners.

11 July 1956 Divertimento for piano and strings by Dominick Argento (28) is performed for the first time, at the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, New York.

12 July 1956 Emperor Jones, a ballet by Heitor Villa-Lobos (69) after O’Neill, is performed for the first time, in Ellenville, New York, conducted by the composer.

13 July 1956 Ten trucks are produced in Changchun, the first ever produced in China.

Seven anti-Communist students hijack a Hungarian airliner on an internal flight and force it to fly to West Germany.  The students and two passengers request asylum.

A burning cross is found outside the Sheraton Park Hotel in Washington, the residence of Chief Justice Earl Warren.  Burning crosses are also placed outside the homes of Associate Justice Felix Frankfurter and Solicitor General Simon Sobeloff.

14 July 1956 Ode to Consonance for orchestra by Roy Harris (58) is performed for the first time, in Hotel Netherland Hilton, Cincinnati.

15 July 1956 Speaking to the Supreme Soviet in Moscow, Foreign Minister Dmitri Shepilov offers to negotiate an atomic test ban treaty with the United States and Great Britain.

Jordan begins a three-day boycott of the Armistice Commission after they vote to condemn Jordan for a 9 July cross-border raid which killed two Israelis.

A Flute Sonatina by Pierre Boulez (31) is performed for the first time.

Piano Sonata no.2 by Thea Musgrave (28) is performed for the first time, in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.

16 July 1956 The United States suspends aid to Yugoslavia because of improving Yugoslav-Soviet relations.

The editor of the Paris newspaper L’Express, Jean-Jacques Servan Schreiber, an outspoken critic of the government’s Algeria policy, is recalled to active service in Algeria.

17 July 1956 Anastas Mikoyan and Mikhail Suslov, members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, go to Budapest and force Mátyás Rákosi to resign as First Secretary in an attempt to quiet dissension within the Hungarian Workers’ Party.

18 July 1956 Ernö Gerö replaces Mátyás Rákosi as First Secretary of the Hungarian Workers’ Party.

Josip Broz Tito, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Gamal Abdel Nasser meet on Brijuni, Yugoslavia

19 July 1956 After two days of meetings on Brijuni Island, Josip Broz Tito, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Gamal Abdel Nasser issue a declaration deploring the existence to two massive geopolitical blocs but fail to create a “neutral” bloc.

The United States withdraws its offer to Egypt to fund the Aswan High Dam project.

Stefan Wolpe (53) lectures “On New (and not so new) Music in America” at Darmstadt.

20 July 1956 The United Kingdom withdraws its offer to Egypt to fund the Aswan High Dam project.

Part II of Perspektiven, music to an imaginary ballet for two pianos by Bernd Alois Zimmermann (38), is performed for the first time, in Darmstadt.  See 2 June 1957.

21 July 1956 Hermann Jonasson replaces Olafur Thors as Prime Minister of Iceland.

23 July 1956 The World Bank announces that the offer of loans to Egypt for the Aswan High Dam project “automatically expired” because they were contingent on US and British grants.

The US Public Health Service reports that a ten-year test of fluoridation of drinking water in Grand Rapids, Michigan resulted in a “striking reduction” of tooth decay among children.

24 July 1956 Ground and Fuguing Tune for organ by Henry Cowell (59) is performed for the first time, in St. Paul’s Chapel, Columbia University.

25 July 1956 Contempt citations are brought against eight individuals by the Committee on Un-American Activities for refusing to cooperate with them.  Among those honored are playwright Arthur Miller, folk singer Pete Seeger, and actors Elliot Sullivan and George Tyne.  None of the citations will pass court scrutiny.

Shortly before midnight, 70 km south of Nantucket Island, the Swedish liner Stockholm rams the Italian liner Andrea Doria in dense fog.

26 July 1956 In Alexandria, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser announces the nationalization of the Suez Canal Company.  He plans to use the revenue to build the Aswan High Dam.

Israel charges before the UN Security Council that Jordan has been guilty of 101 border violations since April.

10:15  The Italian liner Andrea Doria sinks 70 km south of Nantucket Island, about ten hours after being struck by the Stockholm.  Most of the passengers and crew are saved by the Stockholm and other ships which came to the distress call.  53 lives are lost.

27 July 1956 The US, Great Britain, and France begin meetings on how to counter the nationalization of the Suez Canal.  The Suez Canal Company appeals to banks holding its assets not to honor the nationalization.  They tell their 487 employees to follow orders only from them.

28 July 1956 The British government freezes all Egyptian assets in British banks.

The British government begins jamming all Greek-language broadcasts from Cairo to Cyprus.

29 July 1956 The French government freezes all Egyptian assets in French banks.

Egypt bans all exports to Britain or her colonies.

30 July 1956 British Prime Minister Anthony Eden tells the House of Commons that all arms shipments to Egypt have been halted.

31 July 1956 Six leaders of the Communist Party of the United States are convicted of violating the Smith Act, by advocating the violent overthrow of the government.

2 August 1956 British and French nationals begin to leave Egypt.

The governments of Great Britain, France, and the US call for a conference to create an international body to control the Suez Canal.

The French National Assembly proclaims Egyptian President Nasser “a permanent menace to peace.”

109-year-old Albert Woolson, the last survivor of the Union Army which fought in the US Civil War, dies in Duluth, Minnesota.

3 August 1956 Great Britain and France begin the deployment of military forces into the Mediterranean.  Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain declares a “great emergency” and authorizes the government to call reservists to active duty.

Die Sänger der Vorwelt for chorus and orchestra by Carl Orff (61) to words of Schiller, is performed for the first time, in Stuttgart.

4 August 1956 Indonesia repudiates its debt of 4,081,000,000 guilders to the Netherlands.

5 August 1956 French Minister of Defense Maurice Bourges-Manoury announces that Egyptian President Nasser is carrying out a “racial and religious crusade against Europe” which “must be crushed in the Egyptian egg.”

Symphony no. 2 by Ned Rorem (32) is performed for the first time, in La Jolla, California.

6 August 1956 The French Southern and Antarctic Territory is created.  It includes Adelie Land (Antarctica between 142°E and 136°W), Crozet Island, the Kerguelen Islands, Saint-Paul Island, and Amsterdam Island.

Griffelkin, an opera by Lukas Foss (33) to words of Reid, is performed completely for the first time, at Tanglewood, Lennox, Massachusetts.  See 6 November 1955.

7 August 1956 Peking Radio announces that a typhoon which struck Chekiang, Honan, and Hopeh last week killed 2,161 people.

Seven Colombian army trucks filled with dynamite explode in Cali.  Over 1,100 people are killed and more than 2,000 buildings destroyed.

8 August 1956 Concerto for oboe and chamber orchestra by Bohuslav Martinu (65) is performed for the first time, in Sydney.

9 August 1956 Three Greek Cypriots are hanged in Nicosia, one for killing a Turkish policeman and the other two for killing a British soldier.

The first three movements of Illiac Suite by Lejaren Hiller (32) and Leonard Isaacson are performed for the first time.  It is a string quartet composed with the Illiac computer at the University of Illinois.

10 August 1956 Igor Stravinsky (74) is granted an audience with Giuseppe Cardinal Roncalli, archbishop of Venice, who gives permission for the performance of Canticum Sacrum in the Cathedral of San Marco, for which it was composed.

11 August 1956 Jackson Pollock is killed in an automobile accident near East Hampton, New York.

14 August 1956 Bertolt Brecht dies of a heart attack in East Berlin at the age of 58.

15 August 1956 Sonatina for woodwind quartet by Charles Wuorinen (18) is performed for the first time, in Bennington, Vermont.

16 August 1956 Four Israelis are killed and twelve injured when Arabs, apparently from Jordan, attack a bus in the Negev.

Representatives of 22 nations meet in London to discuss the future of the Suez Canal.  Egypt is not present.

17 August 1956 The Federal Constitutional Court of West Germany rules that the Communist Party is illegal and must be dissolved.  Police arrest 50 party leaders and close party headquarters.  The offices of the party newspaper Vreies Volk in Düsseldorf are seized.

18 August 1956 On the Nature of Things for solo woodwinds, strings, and glockenspiel by Henry Brant (42) is performed for the first time, in Bennington, Vermont.  Also premiered is Concertpiece for piano and strings by Charles Wuorinen (18).

20 August 1956 At the London Conference on the Suez, the United States puts forth a proposal (amended tomorrow) that the canal be run by an international body.  This is supported by 17 of the 22 nations represented.  India proposes a different plan, that the canal be run by Egypt in liaison with and international consultative body.

22 August 1956 Chinese aircraft shoot down a US Navy patrol plane 260 km north of Taiwan and 51 km off the coast of China.

The Bonfire of Immortality, a film with music by Aram Khachaturian (53), is released.

Into the Organ Pipes and Steeples for eleven players by Charles Wuorinen (18) is performed for the first time, in Bennington, Vermont.

23 August 1956 Marian MacDowell (Mrs. Edward MacDowell (†48)) dies in Los Angeles at the age of 99.

24 August 1956 The government of West Germany formally charges Dr. Otto John with treason for his defection to East Germany in 1954-55.

25 August 1956 1,000,000 travel to Jasna Gora monastery to mark the 300th anniversary of the Polish defeat of the Swedes at Czestachowa.  It is widely seen as an expression of anti-communism.

Simplefolk, a film with music by Dmitri Shostakovich (49), is shown for the first time.  The film was banned in 1946 because it depicts child labor.

26 August 1956 The Egyptian military orders the expulsion of three western reporters.  No reason is given.  One, William Stevenson of the Toronto Daily Star, says it is because he uncovered the fact that the Egyptian anti-Jewish propaganda campaign is being run by a former Nazi.

The Frescoes of Piero della Francesca for orchestra by Bohuslav Martinu (65) is performed for the first time, in Salzburg.

27 August 1956 Egyptian police arrest two British citizens and an Egyptian, charging them with leading a British spy ring.  The public prosecutor announces that one of them implicated four other Egyptians and two foreign diplomats.

28 August 1956 President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt agrees to meet with representatives of 18 of the 22 nations attending the London Conference on the Suez Canal.  Meanwhile, his government expels two British diplomats, charging them with running a spy ring.  Britain denies the allegations.

29 August 1956 Egypt confirms the arrest of a third British citizen in the alleged espionage plot.

Great Britain gives permission to France to station troops in Cyprus to insure “the protection of French nationals and their interests in the Eastern Mediterranean.”  The move is widely seen as a threat against Egypt and the nationalization of the Suez Canal.  Britain has already called up 500,000 reservists.

Three days after their enrollment in the high school of Clinton, Tennessee, eleven black students are escorted home by police in the face of a demonstration by about 1,000 whites.

30 August 1956 The Egyptian government releases a photostatic copy of a confession of espionage by Briton James Swinburn, implicating the former first and second secretaries of the British embassy in Cairo.

Two Egyptian diplomats are expelled from Britain.

Egyptian troops kill two Israeli soldiers in the Negev.

A thousand people of both races participate in a race riot in Clinton, Tennessee.  Police clear the streets.

31 August 1956 Israeli forces launch three attacks into Gaza and El Auja in retaliation for the Egyptian attack of yesterday.  13 Egyptians and two Israelis are killed.

1 September 1956 Two choruses for male voices by Leos Janácek (†28) to words of Krásnohorská, are performed for the first time, in Prerov:  The Little Dove and Leave-Taking, 68 years after they were composed.

2 September 1956 Civilian volunteers use tear gas to disperse a mob of rioting segregationists in Clinton, Tennessee.  600 National Guard troops move into the city.

3 September 1956 A committee representing 18 nations, chaired by Prime Minister Robert Gordon Menzies of Australia, meets with President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt in Cairo over the future of the Suez Canal.

A fourth British citizen is arrested by Egypt in the alleged espionage plot.

The Tennessee National Guard deploys seven tanks to quell disturbances in Clinton.

4 September 1956 National Song by Zolán Kodály (73) to words of Petöfi is performed for the first time, in Budapest.

In Oliver Springs, Tennessee, whites rampage over rumors that their schools will soon be integrated.

Eleven black students return to the high school of Clinton, Tennessee, protected by National Guard troops.  Two-thirds of the white students boycott classes in protest.

5 September 1956 Newsmen covering the race riots are attacked and beaten in Oliver Springs, Tennessee.

White mobs prevent blacks from entering a high school in Mansfield, Texas.

Piano Concerto no.4 op.53 for piano left hand by Sergey Prokofiev (†3) is performed for the first time, in West Berlin, 25 years after it was composed.  The work was commissioned by Paul Wittgenstein but rejected and never performed by him.

The Kentucky National Guard is called out to quell violence over school desegregation in Sturgis.

6 September 1956 Whites who were arrested for rioting in Clinton, Tennessee are released on bond.  Upon leaving the courtroom they attack and beat waiting newsmen.

8 September 1956 Voters in North Carolina approve an amendment to the state constitution to strengthen segregation in the state.

9 September 1956 A week of talks between President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt and the “Committee of Five” nations headed by Prime Minister Robert Gordon Menzies of Australia over the future of the Suez Canal ends in failure.  In Cairo, Menzies calls the situation “very, very grim.”

10 September 1956 Jordanian troops kill six Israeli soldiers near Hebron and carry their bodies into Jordanian territory.

A mob of 300 whites bars two blacks from entering a junior college in Texarkana, Texas.  National Guardsmen, under orders to preserve the peace, do not force the issue.

All public schools in Louisville, Kentucky are desegregated without incident.

11 September 1956 Great Britain and France withdraw their request of the Suez Canal Company that all non-Egyptian employees remain at their posts.  Anyone who asked to return home before 15 August is “authorized to stop working on either September 14 or 15…”

Israelis kill five Egyptian soldiers in the Sinai in retaliation for sabotage of an Israeli railroad.

National Guardsmen are withdrawn from Clinton, Tennessee after the admission of twelve black students to the local high school.  75% of white students are now attending classes.

12 September 1956 The US, UK, and France propose the creation of a Suez Users’ Association to oversee movement through the canal.  The idea is rejected by Egypt.

Israel attacks Jordanian territory in Behron, killing 19 Jordanians.  Jordanians kill three Israelis at Hatzeva.

Four black children enter an all-white grade school in Clay, Kentucky with the help of the National Guard.  On the recommendation of the town’s mayor, all white students at the school boycott classes.

13 September 1956 Canticum sacrum for tenor, baritone, chorus, and orchestra by Igor Stravinsky (74), to words from the Bible, is performed for the first time, in the Cathedral San Marco, Venice the composer conducting.

14 September 1956 93 non-Egyptian pilots, along with 400 engineers and administrative personnel, depart the Suez Canal, leaving it in the hands of 50-60 Egyptian and Greek pilots.  15 Soviets, four Yugoslav, and one West German pilot arrive to lend a hand.

16 September 1956 Parliamentary elections take place in Sweden.  Despite minimal losses, the Social Democratic/Farmers Party coalition of Prime Minister Tage Erlander continues in power.

17 September 1956 Meeting in Cairo, the Arab League supports Egyptian seizure of the Suez Canal and condemns the military buildup by Britain and France in the eastern Mediterranean.

Four black students who have been attending a white grade school in Clay, Kentucky for five days, are barred from the school by a new ruling of the local school board.

18 September 1956 The British government announces that the Gold Coast colony will receive independence on 6 March in union with British Togoland.

19 September 1956 A second meeting of 18 nations takes place in London.  Over three days they discuss the formation of a Suez Canal Users’ Association.

21 September 1956 The three day conference in London about the Suez ends.  There is a joint declaration which sets up a Suez Canal Users’ Association.  The US, UK, and Italy accept the declaration.  France rejects it, their cabinet split over how to proceed.

During a party celebrating his reelection campaign, President Anastasio Somoza of Nicaragua is shot four times and wounded in León by poet Rigoberto López Pérez.  The attacker is immediately shot to death by Somoza’s aide.

22 September 1956 President Anastasio Somoza of Nicaragua is airlifted to a US hospital in the Panama Canal Zone for treatment of wounds suffered yesterday.  A team of doctors is personally sent by US President Dwight Eisenhower.

23 September 1956 Great Britain and France request that the UN Security Council take up the Suez situation.

Jordanian troops fire on an archeological party at kibbutz Ramat Rahel near Jerusalem.  Four Israeli civilians are killed, 17 injured.

Two members of the Czechoslovakian Air Force steal a plane, fly it to Passau, West Germany, and ask for political asylum.

Nicaraguan police arrest about 200 people in the wake of the shooting of President Somoza, including opposition leaders and members of the press.  Meanwhile, in the Panama Canal Zone, Somoza undergoes surgery.  The surgical team leader was sent personally by President Eisenhower.

Parts of König Hirsch, an opera by Hans Werner Henze (30) to words of von Cramer after Gozzi, are performed for the first time, in the Berlin Städtische Oper.  Demonstrations break out, for and against, in the audience.  See 4 October 1957, 10 March 1963 and 5 May 1985.

24 September 1956 It is announced that Dmitri Shostakovich has been awarded the Lenin Prize, on the eve of his fiftieth birthday.

Egypt requests that the UN Security Council study the military buildup by Great Britain and France in the eastern Mediterranean.

Israeli forces occupy the El Auja demilitarized zone between it and Syria.

Peyton Place by Grace Metalious is published in the United States.

25 September 1956 The first transatlantic telephone service goes into operation with underwater cables stretching from Clarenville, Newfoundland to Oban, Scotland.

A Polish Air Force pilot crash lands his MIG-15 on the Danish island of Bornholm and asks for political asylum.

Israeli forces attack into Jordan at Husan, southeast of Jerusalem, in retaliation for the Jordanian attack on Israeli civilians two days ago.  About 50 Jordanian troops are killed and an army base destroyed.

William Walton’s (54) Johannesburg Festival Overture, commissioned to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the city, is performed for the first time, in Johannesburg City Hall.

26 September 1956 Prime Minister Anthony Eden of Great Britain and Prime Minister Guy Mollet of France appear together on French television and declare that complete Anglo-French unity has been reached on the Suez question.

27 September 1956 Enigma de mujer, a film with music by Alberto Ginastera (40), is released in Argentina.

29 September 1956 The US backed dictator, President Anastasio Somoza García of Nicaragua, dies of wounds suffered on 21 September.  He is succeeded by his son Luis Somoza Debayle.

Antiphon op.56b for chorus and organ by Benjamin Britten (42) to words of Herbert is performed for the first time, at St. Michael’s College in Tenbury Wells.

30 September 1956 Three Arab women place bombs in three Algiers cafes frequented by Europeans.  Two of them go off causing three deaths and scores of injuries, many of them children.  Even those Algerians sympathetic to the nationalist cause are stunned by the indiscriminate nature of the attacks.

1 October 1956 At the beginning of a third conference in London, the Suez Canal Users’ Association is launched by 15 nations.

The last führer of the Third Reich, Admiral Karl Doenitz, is released from Spandau Prison, Berlin after serving his sentence of ten years.

2 October 1956 The first nuclear powered clock is unveiled at the Overseas Press Club in New York City.  It is called the Atomicron and is made by the National Company, Inc.  It measures 213x56x46 cm and is driven by the cesium atom.

While conducting his Symphony in C in Berlin, Igor Stravinsky (74) suffers a cerebral thrombosis near the end of the first movement.  In great pain, he finishes the performance, although he will not remember it.  In the dressing room afterwards, he is unable to write his name and has partial speech loss.  Eventually, the composer will make a complete recovery.

4 October 1956 Armed Jordanians kill five Israeli civilians near Sodom.

Piano Concerto no.4 “Incantation” by Bohuslav Martinu (65) is performed for the first time, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

5 October 1956 Police clear the campus of Lamar State College of Technology in Beaumont, Texas of anti-integration demonstrators, thus allowing 26 blacks to attend classes.

String Quartet no.5 by Henry Cowell (59) is performed for the first time, in Cleveland.

6 October 1956 László Rajk, executed in 1949 as a “Titoist” and who was posthumously rehabilitated last March, is given a funeral procession in Budapest.  Former Hungarian Prime Minister Imre Nagy leads the procession and embraces Rajk’s widow.  It becomes a mass demonstration in favor of Hungarian independence.

7 October 1956 Bulgaria and Yugoslavia resume diplomatic relations.

A subcommittee of the US House of Representatives begins an investigation of television quiz shows which are allegedly rigged.

String Quartet no.6 by Dmitri Shostakovich (50) is performed for the first time, in Glinka Concert Hall, Leningrad.

Hymns and Responses for the Church Year, volume 1 op.68 for chorus by Vincent Persichetti (41) is performed for the first time, at First Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia.

10 October 1956 The first Warsaw Autumn Festival of Contemporary Music opens.

Israel launches a retaliatory attack into Jordanian territory near Qalqilya.  Approximately 65 people are killed.

12 October 1956 After private meetings with UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld, representatives of Egypt, France, and Great Britain agree on six points as a basis for further discussions.

13 October 1956 Former Prime Minister Imre Nagy is readmitted to the Hungarian Workers’ Party as part of a “mass-rehabilitation” brought on by improved relations with Yugoslavia.

Sonate-Variations for piano by Ralph Shapey (35) is performed for the first time, in Carnegie Recital Hall, New York.

14 October 1956 Polish Prosecutor General Marian Rybicki reports to the Sejm that 19 military officers executed for espionage in 1952 have been exonerated.

Robert Browning Overture for orchestra by Charles Ives (†2) is performed for the first time, in Carnegie Hall, New York.

Symphony no.3 by Alan Hovhaness (45) is performed for the first time, in New York.

15 October 1956 A ban on interracial athletic contests or social events goes into effect in Louisiana.

Leonard Bernstein (38) is named one of two principal conductors of the New York Philharmonic.  He thus becomes the first conductor of a major orchestra born and trained in the United States.  He will share the post with Dmitri Mitropoulos.

Findings of 18 prominent US psychologists and social scientists are made public by Dr. Otto Klineberg of Columbia University.  They show that people of African descent do not have any less intellectual capacity than people of European descent.

16 October 1956 Under the flag of Sudan with a Greek captain, the Athos is stopped and boarded by the French Navy near the coast of Morocco.  It is found to be carrying 70 tons of arms and ammunition destined for the Algerian rebels.  It was all loaded in Alexandria, bought with Egyptian money.

17 October 1956 Calder Hall, at Windscale, is officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II, north of Liverpool.  It is the first nuclear power plant to produce electricity to the public in commercial quantities.

18 October 1956 Portrait for violin and orchestra by Bernard Rogers (63) is performed for the first time, in Cleveland.

19 October 1956 The USSR and Japan jointly end their state of war and establish diplomatic relations in a treaty signed in Moscow.

Nikita Khrushchev leads a high-level Soviet delegation to Warsaw, reportedly threatening military intervention if the Polish party replaces their hard-line politburo with a more independent group.

Workers at major factories in Warsaw are armed in preparation of Soviet military intervention.

Sonata concertante for violin and piano by Peter Mennin (33) is performed for the first time, at the Library of Congress, Washington.

20 October 1956 The high level Soviet delegation to Warsaw led by Nikita Khrushchev reportedly accepts a compromise list of politburo members and returns to Moscow.

21 October 1956 Moderate reformer Wladyslaw Gomulka replaces Edward Ochab as First Secretary of the Polish United Workers’ Party at the head of a new Politburo.

British forces capture Dedan Kimathi, leader of the Mau Maus, near Nyeri, 160 km north of Nairobi.

Variazioni for two basset horns and strings by Luciano Berio (30) is performed for the first time, in Donaueschingen.

Sept chansons pour Gladys op.151, a cycle for voice and piano by Charles Koechlin (†5) to his own words, is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of French Radio III.  The cycle was inspired by the performance of Lilian Harvey in the film Calais-Douvre.

The Unicorn, the Gorgon, and the Manticore, or The Three Sundays of a Poet for chorus, ten dancers, and nine instruments, by Gian-Carlo Menotti (45) to his own words, is performed for the first time, in the Library of Congress, Washington.

22 October 1956 News of the leadership changes causes widespread demonstrations of support throughout Poland.

Demonstrations in support of Polish workers take place in Budapest.  Intellectuals and university students publicly demand a reform of communism and multi-party elections.

While flying in a plane chartered by the Moroccan government, five leaders of the Algerian rebels are taken to Algiers by the French crew.  The five, including the military commander Mohammed Ben Bella, are imprisoned by the French.

23 October 1956 Zoltán Kodály (73) departs Budapest for the country and will not return until January.  He will miss the revolution.

Fearing violence, the Hungarian government lifts a ban on demonstrations.  Students in Budapest rally at the statue of General Józef Bem, a Pole who aided Hungary in the uprising against the Hapsburgs in 1848-9.  They demand the reappointment of Imre Nagy to power, trials of Stalinist leaders, removal of Soviet troops and freedom of the press, speech, and religion.  Within hours the population of Budapest is in the streets, joined by workers from the suburbs.  They destroy the statue of Stalin and proclaim Imre Nagy as Prime Minister.  The Hungarian army remains in barracks or provides demonstrators with weapons.

Great Britain and France announce that they can not consider direct negotiations with Egypt over the Suez dispute.

24 October 1956 India adopts the Gregorian Calendar for official business effective 22 March.

Early morning.  Ernö Gerö, First Secretary of the Hungarian Workers’ Party, appoints Imre Nagy as Prime Minister.  He appeals to the Soviet troops in Budapest to restore order.

02:00  Soviet armored vehicles appear in the streets of Budapest.

Students demonstrate in front of the Magyar Radio building, desiring their demands to be broadcast.  These include the removal of Soviet troops, democracy and free speech.  They are fired upon by Hungarian secret police and widespread fighting breaks out across the country.

Le Corbusier’s design for the Philips Pavilion at the Brussels World’s Fair is accepted by the company.

United States President Dwight Eisenhower states that atmospheric testing of thermonuclear weapons does not pose a health threat.

Il Canto Sospeso for soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, chorus, and orchestra by Luigi Nono (32) to words from letters written by resistance fighters, is performed for the first time, in the Großen Sendesaal, Cologne.

Serenata for orchestra by Walter Piston (62) is performed for the first time, in Louisville.

25 October 1956 Anastas Mikoyan and Mikhail Suslov arrive in Budapest from Moscow and depose Ernö Gerö as incapable of handling the situation.  They appoint János Kádár as First Secretary and leave.  Thousands of demonstrators congregate in front of the Parliament building.  They are fired upon by government agents from rooftops and perhaps as many as a hundred are killed.

26 October 1956 Revolutionary Workers’ Councils appear throughout Hungary acting as local governments.

A statue of Stalin is removed from East Berlin.

The statute of the International Atomic Energy Agency is signed at United Nations headquarters in New York.

The Village Voice is published for the first time, in New York.

Overture op.60 for orchestra by Wallingford Riegger (71) is performed for the first time, in Cincinnati. 

New England Triptych for orchestra by William Schuman (46) is performed for the first time, in Miami.  It will prove to be Schuman’s most popular work.

27 October 1956 Revolt spreads throughout Hungary.  Prime Minister Imre Nagy appoints a “National Front” cabinet, including some non-Communists.  Insurgents release political prisoners from detention in Vác.

The East German army cancels leaves and puts 120,000 troops on alert.  Loyalty demonstrations are organized.

A treaty returning the Saarland to West Germany from French control is signed in Luxembourg by the foreign ministers of both countries.  It will take effect 1 January.

28 October 1956 Hungarian Prime Minister Imre Nagy reorganizes the Party leadership to include a six-member Presidium which replaces the Central Committee.  Stalinists are denied seats.  Placing their faith in Nagy, Soviet troops leave the streets of Budapest.

Stefan Cardinal Wyszynski is released from detention by the Polish government.  He resumes his position as Primate of Poland.

The leader of Cuban military intelligence, Antonio Blanco Rio, is shot to death as he exits a Havana nightclub.  Two companions are seriously injured.

29 October 1956 The Hungarian government begins to gain some respect with insurgents when an editorial is published in the Party daily Free People.  It refutes Pravda’s claim that the Hungarian revolution is inspired by westerners and reasserts the desire of Hungarians to live in peace with the USSR.

Israeli forces invade the Sinai Peninsula from north of Elat and reaching within 40 km of the Suez Canal.

Morocco takes possession of Tangier.

Candide, a comic operetta by Leonard Bernstein (38) to words of Hellman, Wilbur, La Touche, Parker, and the composer after Voltaire, is performed for the first time, in the Colonial Theatre, Boston.  See 1 December 1956 and 20 December 1973.

30 October 1956 Insurgents occupy the Budapest headquarters of the Hungarian Communist Party.  In the fighting, hundreds of communists are killed.  An article in Pravda offers to revisit Soviet relations with eastern Europe.  József Cardinal Mindszenty is released from prison.  The cardinal immediately seeks asylum in the United States embassy.  Soviet envoys Anastas Mikoyan and Mikhail Suslov reappear in Budapest and reaffirm the decision to remove the Soviet troops from the streets.  Prime Minister Imre Nagy announces that the one-party system is abolished and he legalizes three non-communist parties.  János Kádár, First Secretary of the Communist Party, announces that the collective farm system is abolished.

British Prime Minister Anthony Eden announces that British and French forces will intervene in the Sinai war and occupy Port Said, Ismailia, and Suez.  An ultimatum by Great Britain and France demands the removal of Egyptian and Israeli forces beyond 16 km from the canal.  Prime Minister Eden tells the House of Commons that if both Egypt and Israel have not complied with the ultimatum within twelve hours, Britain and France will send in troops “in what ever strength may be necessary to secure compliance.”

Israeli forces capture El Quseima and reach within 30 km of the Suez Canal west of Nakhl.

Two attempts in the UN Security Council to end the Suez fighting, one by the US, one by the USSR, are vetoed by France and Great Britain.

Michael Tippett’s (51) Piano Concerto is performed for the first time, in Town Hall, Birmingham.

31 October 1956 As a result of yesterday’s fighting, most communists in Hungary seek refuge wherever they can find it.  Hungarian General Pál Maléter goes over to the insurgents.  József Cardinal Mindszenty resumes his duties as the leader of Hungary’s Catholics.

President Nasser of Egypt orders general mobilization.  Israeli forces reach the Suez Canal and then withdraw to 16 km east of the canal, the British-French ultimatum line.  British and French airplanes begin bombing Egyptian targets along the canal.

President Eisenhower makes a nationwide televised address announcing that the United States is not involved in the Suez fighting in any way.  He said the attack by Britain and France was a decision “taken in error.”  The USSR condemns Great Britain, France, and Israel for “armed aggression.”

A royal charter is granted to Sadler’s Wells Ballet, to be known as the Royal Ballet beginning in January.

Rear Adm. GJ Duefek of the United States becomes the first person to land an aircraft at the South Pole.  He is the first person to visit the pole since the expedition of Robert F. Scott left it in 1912.

1 November 1956 Indian states are reorganized, largely by language.  The number is reduced from 27 to 14.

It is reported that Soviet troops are entering Hungary.  Prime Minister Imre Nagy announces that his government has withdrawn from the Warsaw Pact and is declaring neutrality.  The Party publicly supports neutrality and calls for the withdrawal of Soviet troops.  However, János Kádár and five or six other Party leaders disappear and with Soviet help, reappear in Uzhgorod (Uzhhorod), Ukraine.

Israeli forces capture El Arish and Rafah, cutting off the Gaza Strip.  Egypt breaks diplomatic relations with Great Britain and France.  President Nasser orders all British and French property to be registered for confiscation.  British and French planes continue to bomb targets in the Canal and Delta areas.

2 November 1956 Hungarian Prime Minister Imre Nagy telegraphs United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld that Hungary denounces the Warsaw pact and declares neutrality and asks the organization to place Hungary on its agenda.  They agree.  Soviet troops surround all Hungarian airports.  Nagy now institutes a multi-party cabinet, pleasing all factions of the insurgents.  Fighting stops on Budapest streets.  Workers councils agree to return to their jobs on 5 November.

Israeli forces complete the capture of Gaza.

The UN General Assembly votes 64-5 to call on all parties in the Suez war to cease-fire and halt the movement of troops into the area.

3 November 1956 A joint Hungary-USSR military commission meets in Budapest to work out details of Soviet withdrawal from the country.  Later in the day, KGB agents arrest the Hungarian negotiators.

British and French commands report the “virtual destruction” of the Egyptian Air Force.  Their governments reject the call for a cease-fire by the UN General Assembly.

A Choral Flourish for chorus and organ by Ralph Vaughan Williams (84) to words from the Bible, is performed for the first time, in Royal Festival Hall, London.

4 November 1956 Soviet artillery begins bombarding Budapest as Soviet troops move in to crush the revolt.  Appeals from Prime Minister Imre Nagy and others for western aid go out over Radio Budapest.  Nagy is removed and replaced by János Kádár.  He gains refuge in the Yugoslav embassy.  Over the next week, the revolt will be smashed by a massive deployment of Soviet troops.  The official total will number 3,000 people killed, 13,000 injured, 20,000 imprisoned of which 2,000 will be executed and thousands more sent to Soviet labor camps.  4,000 buildings will be destroyed.

A large indignation meeting in Trafalgar Square to protest the British invasion of Suez turns violent as mounted police battle students.

The UN General Assembly votes 58-10 to condemn the USSR for the invasion of Hungary.

Israeli officers announce their Suez objectives have been reached and offensive operations in Northern Sinai are concluded.

The UN General Assembly votes 57-0 to ask the Secretary General to submit a plan for an international force “to obtain and supervise a Middle Eastern cease-fire.”  It then votes 59-5 for a second appeal for a cease-fire and demand of compliance within twelve hours.

5 November 1956 British planes bomb targets around Cairo, inflicting about 1,000 military and civilian casualties.  British and French paratroopers land at the northern end of the Suez Canal and are engaged by Egyptian forces.

Israeli forces reach Sharm el Sheikh, Ras Nusrani, and Tiran Island thus assuring Israeli passage into the Gulf of Aqaba to their port at Elat.

As many as 100,000 West Berliners demonstrate at the Brandenburg Gate in support of Hungarian rebels.

The UN General Assembly creates a military force for Suez and names a Canadian commander.

6 November 1956 00:45  Israel announces a cease-fire.

British and French amphibious units land at the north end of the Suez Canal.  The British take Port Said.  They begin to move south towards Ismailiya.

The Anglo-French command in Suez orders a cease-fire to take effect at midnight.

Deliberations of the French National Assembly are suspended when Communist members loudly jeer speakers supporting Hungarian rebels.

Spain and the Netherlands withdraw from the Olympic Games in protest over the Soviet invasion of Hungary.

The Boston Symphony Orchestra becomes the first American orchestra to perform in the USSR.  Their appearance at Leningrad Conservatory is given a tumultuous reception.

Voting in the United States ensures the reelection of President Dwight Eisenhower over Adlai Stevenson, former Governor of Illinois.  The standings of the parties in both houses of Congress are virtually unchanged and the Democratic Party continues in control.

7 November 1956 János Kádár arrives at the Parliament building in Budapest in a Soviet armored car.  He is there to take over the government.

3,000 demonstrators destroy the Paris offices of the Communist Party and communist newspaper L’Humanité.

The UN General Assembly votes 65-1-10 to order British and French forces out of Egypt and the removal of Israeli troops to the cease-fire line.  They also resolve 64-0-12 to create a UN emergency force and a seven-nation advisory committee.

During a broadcast of Gesang der Junglinge by Karlheinz Stockhausen (28), György Ligeti (33), unlike his fellow Hungarians who hide in cellars, braves explosions and shrapnel and stays above ground to hear the radio.

Ulysses Turns Homeward from the Edge of the World (Ulysses at the Edge) for clarinet, cello, and two original instruments by Harry Partch (55) is performed for the first time, at the University of Illinois, Urbana.  Also premiered is Blur, an opera by Kenneth Gaburo (30) for actors and tape to his own words.

Long Day’s Journey Into Night by Eugene O’Neill opens at the Helen Hayes Theatre, New York.

8 November 1956 About 8,000 Communists march in Paris to support the Soviet invasion of Hungary.  130 of them are arrested for disorderly conduct or possession of weapons.  Riots take place in Marseille, Strasbourg, Lyon and other French cities where Communist Party headquarters are destroyed.

Demonstrations against the Soviet invasion take place in Vienna, Milan, and other Italian cities, as well as Buenos Aires and Montevideo.  Denmark observes five minutes of silence throughout the country, in honor of Hungary.

When Swiss athletes refuse to compete against Soviet athletes, Switzerland withdraws from the upcoming Olympic Games.

The Ten Commandments, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, is released in the United States.

9 November 1956 Ulterior Motifs, a musical farce by Peter Sculthorpe (27) to words of Throssell and Godfrey-Smith, is performed for the first time, in the Riverside Theatre, Canberra.

Israel agrees to withdraw completely from the Sinai Peninsula.  They do not say whether they will withdraw from Gaza.

Britain and France stop sending troops to Suez.  They presently have about 70,000-80,000 men in theatre.

Jean-Paul Sartre severs all of his ties with the French Communist Party over Hungary.

The UN General Assembly votes 48-11-16 to demand the immediate withdrawal of Soviet troops from Hungary.  A second resolution, voted 53-9-13, demands that the USSR stop interfering with the distribution of relief supplies in Hungary.

Concierto serenata for harp and orchestra by Joaquín Rodrigo (54) is performed for the first time, in Palacio de la Música, Madrid.

10 November 1956 Iraq and Lebanon withdraw from the Olympic Games to protest the Suez war.

11 November 1956 Demonstrations against the invasion of Hungary take place in Calcutta.

The Hungarian government imposes martial law and begins to reorganize the military and police.  Hungarian Prime Minister Kádár broadcasts an appeal against a general strike currently going on, and promises that no revenge will be taken against any Hungarian who recognizes his government.

Yugoslav President Tito declares at Pula that “although we are against interference, Soviet intervention (in Hungary) was necessary.”

Today is the broadcast of the first of 22 programs in a series called Air Power by CBS.  The music for the series is by Norman Dello Joio (43).

12 November 1956 The Kingdom of Morocco, the Republic of Sudan, and the Kingdom of Tunisia, are admitted to the United Nations.

Rioting Arabs in Rafah, Gaza Strip try to loot a UN food warehouse.  Several are killed by Israeli guards.

13 November 1956 Marshall Rokossovsky, the defense minister of Poland, and 32 other Soviet officers are dismissed and return to Moscow.

The US Supreme Court rules that Alabama laws requiring racial segregation on buses are unconstitutional.

14 November 1956 The Greater Budapest Central Workers’ Council is set up and a general strike conducted.  The Council will last several weeks and acts as a second government.   In December the Council’s leaders will be arrested.

Hungarian rebels on Csepel Island in the Danube are subdued, thus ending open fighting in Budapest.

Soviet authorities seize Imre Nagy as he leaves the Yugoslav embassy under a safe conduct pass.

15 November 1956 UN troops reach Egypt.

Sweden orders a cut in fuel use because of Middle East fighting.

Love Me Tender, Elvis Presley’s first movie, opens in the United States.

16 November 1956 Denmark, Italy, and Norway order cuts in fuel consumption because of fighting in the Middle East.

17 November 1956 Polyphony for orchestra by Arthur Berger (44) is performed for the first time, in Louisville.

20 November 1956 Aleksander Zawadzki replaces Boleslaw Bierut as President of Poland.

Budapest Radio reports that coal mines are producing only one-seventh their usual output and that electric power production is at one-third former levels.

UN troops take up positions in the area of Port Said to separate British and French forces from Egyptians.

The British government announces mandatory oil rationing because supplies have been disrupted by Middle East fighting.  Turkey also announces a cut in fuel consumption.

Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld submits a report that says 40,000 Hungarians have fled the country since 23 October and that new refugees currently number 2,000 per day.

21 November 1956 Fuel rationing for highway and waterway use goes into effect in France.

Great Britain reports to the UN that one battalion of its troops will be withdrawn from Suez.  France says two-thirds of it warships have been withdrawn from Egypt and Israel reports it has pulled back 40 km from its most advanced positions.

The UN General Assembly votes 55-10 to ask the Soviet and Hungarian governments to stop deportations from Hungary and that they allow the return of those already fled.

22 November 1956 The Games of the 16th Olympiad of the Modern Era open in Melbourne, for the first time in the Southern Hemisphere.  Egypt, Iraq, and Lebanon boycott to protest the Israeli occupation of the Sinai.  The Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland boycott to protest the Soviet invasion of Hungary.  Public pressure in Switzerland, however, forces their Olympic committee to rescind the boycott.  Among those viewing the ceremony is Peter Sculthorpe (27).

23 November 1956 British Prime Minister Anthony Eden announces that on medical advice, he is leaving to vacation in the West Indies.

Henry Cowell’s (59) Variations for Orchestra is performed for the first time, in Cincinnati.

24 November 1956 The UN General Assembly votes 64-5 for Great Britain, France, and Israel to remove their forces from Egypt “forthwith.”

Egypt begins to expel “enemy nationals” from the country, including British and French citizens as well as Jews.  Their property is being confiscated.

Alagoana, a ballet suite for orchestra by Bernd Alois Zimmermann (38), is performed for the first time, in Baden-Baden.

25 November 1956 Konfigurationen for piano by Bernd Alois Zimmermann (38) is performed for the first time, in Basel.

26 November 1956 Six members of the press are indicted for contempt of Congress for refusing to answer questions of the Internal Security Committee of the US Senate about communist associations.

27 November 1956 Prime Minister Suleiman Nabulsi announces that his government will end the 20-year defense treaty with Great Britain.

Ballad for strings by Henry Cowell (59) is performed for the first time, at the University of Arizona in Tucson.

29 November 1956 Prof. Wolfgang Heinrich of Humboldt University is arrested by East German police.  He is convicted of establishing an anti-state group and sentenced to ten years imprisonment.

Bells are Ringing, music by Jule Styne, book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, opens in New York.

30 November 1956 US President Eisenhower orders emergency shipments of oil to Europe.

200 armed Cubans attack national police stations in Havana.  They are routed.

Piano Piece 1956 by Morton Feldman (30) is performed for the first time, in Vienna.

Cinque canti for baritone and eight instruments by Luigi Dallapiccola (52) to ancient Greek texts (tr. Quasimodo), is performed for the first time, at the Library of Congress, Washington.

1 December 1956 King Faisal of Iraq declares martial law and suspends the Parliament.  There are reports of violence in protest to Prime Minister Nuri as-Said.

Candide, a comic operetta by Leonard Bernstein (38) to words of Hellman, Wilbur, La Touche, Parker, and the composer after Voltaire, is performed for the first time in New York at the Martin Beck Theatre.  Critics are decidedly mixed.  See 29 October 1956 and 20 December 1973.

Music for Orchestra by Charles Wuorinen (18) is performed for the first time, at Columbia University, New York.

2 December 1956 Israel announces its forces have withdrawn to more than 50 km east of the Suez Canal.

82 Cuban revolutionaries led by Fidel Castro land on the southeastern coast of the island after a sea voyage from Mexico.  All but twelve are killed by government troops.  The survivors find refuge in the Sierra Maestra jungles, west of Santiago.

3 December 1956 The British and French governments announce that they will withdraw all their troops from Suez “without delay.”

4 December 1956 About 5,000 women and girls, supported by 10,000 others, go to Heroes Square in Budapest to lay flowers at the tomb of the unknown soldier.  After debating with the Defense Minister, the women are allowed to proceed.  Intense jeering of the Soviet troops on hand is answered by a volley over the heads of the crowd.

Nänie und Dithyrambe for chorus and orchestra by Carl Orff (61) to words of Schiller, is performed for the first time, in Bremen.

Cinq refrains op.132 for three equal voices and piano by Florent Schmitt (86) is performed for the first time, in Paris.

5 December 1956 Hungarian Police and Soviet troops and tanks disperse anti-government demonstrators in Budapest four times.

Police carry out raids throughout South Africa, arresting 144 people, black, white, south Asian, and colored, and charging them with treason.

6 December 1956 Pro and anti-government demonstrators clash in Budapest.  Four people are killed.

The Hungarian Federation of Writers protests the arrest of prominent writers yesterday.

Retired white farmer BT Dukes is arrested in Zebulon, Georgia for the shotgun murder of Maybelle Mahone, a 30-year-old black mother of six.  Dukes said that he did it because Mahone “sassed” him.

8 December 1956 The Games of the 16th Olympiad of the Modern Era close in Melbourne.  In 17 days of competition, 3,314 athletes from 72 countries took part (equestrian events were held in Stockholm, 10-17 June).

9 December 1956 In Hungary, the Central Workers’ Council, which has been operating as a counter-government, is declared illegal, as are all the local councils which sprang up during the revolution.  Martial law is declared.  Anyone found possessing a weapon after 11 December is subject to execution.  Travel in the region of the Austrian border is banned.

10 December 1956 A general strike begins in Hungary which paralyzes most industrial centers.

György Ligeti (33) and his wife Vera take a train from Budapest to the west, hoping to flee Hungary.  The train is stopped at Sárvár by Soviet troops, but the Ligetis manage to escape into the town and hide in the local post office.

11 December 1956 The Hungarian government makes possession of illegal weapons a capital offense.  The leader of the Budapest Central Workers Council, Sandor Racz, and his aide Sandor Bari, are arrested in Budapest.

Two days of rioting in Szeczin, Poland result in 88 arrests and the destruction of the Soviet consulate.

György Ligeti (33) and his wife Vera continue their escape from Hungary in a postal train from Sárvár hidden under mailbags.  They are let off a few kilometers from the border and, under the cover of darkness, they walk across into Austria making it finally to the town of Lutzmannsdorf.

The Hungarian delegation walks out of debate in the UN General Assembly on the Hungary issue.

12 December 1956 The United Nations General Assembly votes 55-8-13 to denounce the Soviet Union and demand that it withdraw its troops from Hungary.

After three days of anti-Soviet demonstrations, workers in Poznan adopt resolutions demanding the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Hungary.

The Irish Republican Army begins a campaign of violence for the unification of Ireland.

Pablo Casals announces that he will move from France to Puerto Rico.  He is in self-imposed exile from Spain because of the Franco regime.

13 December 1956 A day after escaping from Hungary, György Ligeti (33) and his wife are driven from the border town of Lutzmannsdorf to Vienna.

Pursuant to the referendum of last May, British Togoland is integrated into Ghana.

15 December 1956 Budapest Radio announces rebel Janos Soltesz has been hanged.

Zeitmasze no.5 for woodwind quintet by Karlheinz Stockhausen (28) is performed for the first time, in Paris conducted by Pierre Boulez (31).

Over the night of 15-16 December, Egyptian troops attack withdrawing British and French forces at Port Said.  27 Egyptians are reported killed.

17 December 1956 The general strike in Hungary is called off as the government appears ready to make limited concessions.  Rebels claim that 258 people have been hanged throughout the country.

Gasoline rationing begins in Great Britain for the first time since the removal of wartime controls.

18 December 1956 The Empire of Japan is admitted to the United Nations.

Israeli forces withdraw to a line 75 km east of the Suez Canal.

20 December 1956 Tanzan Ishibashi replaces Ichiro Hatoyama as Prime Minister of Japan.

Federal marshals serve a court injunction on officials of the State of Alabama, City of Montgomery, and the company operating Montgomery buses ordering an end to racial segregation on the city’s buses.  Shortly thereafter, African-Americans in the city call off their year long boycott of buses.

21 December 1956 Hands, Eyes, and Heart for voice and piano by Ralph Vaughan Williams (84) to the words of his wife Ursula Vaughan Williams, is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of the New Zealand Broadcasting Company, originating in Christchurch.

22 December 1956 An anti-government Revolutionary Council is set up in northern Sumatra.

The last British and French troops are withdrawn from Suez at Port Said.  UN Emergency Forces take control of Port Said and Port Fuad.

Former head of West German intelligence, Dr. Otto John, is convicted of treasonable conspiracy and publication of false material injurious to the Federal Republic.  He is sentenced to four years at hard labor and fined over $23,000 for court costs.

23 December 1956 Egyptian Army units enter Port Said amidst wild celebrations.

01:30  Persons unknown fire a shotgun into the front door of the home of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Montgomery, Alabama.

24 December 1956 A statue of Ferdinand de Lesseps in Port Said is destroyed by dynamite by an Egyptian crowd.

Blacks in Tallahassee, Florida call off a boycott of the city’s buses and ride them in a non-segregated fashion, even though the City Council has ordered the bus company to enforce segregation.

25 December 1956 President Sukarno of Indonesia declares northern Sumatra in revolt.

The Birmingham, Alabama home of Rev. FL Shuttlesworth, who called for the desegregation of his city’s buses, is destroyed by dynamite.  Shuttlesworth, his wife, two children, and a guest are all injured in the blast.

26 December 1956 21 blacks are arrested in Birmingham, Alabama for riding in the white sections of buses.

27 December 1956 Indonesian government troops retake Medan, Sumatra and disperse rebels.

Spartak, a ballet by Aram Khachaturian (53) to a story by Volkov, is performed for the first time, in the Kirov Opera and Ballet Theatre, Leningrad.  The composer’s party overseers discouraged him from using this subject as not relevant to the revolution.  He informed them that Marx once named Spartacus as a hero of his and they relented.

28 December 1956 President Sukarno of Indonesia declares southern Sumatra in revolt.

29 December 1956 UN salvage crews begin clearing the Suez Canal at El Suweis.

Concertino for cello and orchestra op.132 by Sergey Prokofiev (†3), completed by Mstislav Rostropovich and Dmitri Kabalevsky, is performed for the first time, accompanied by piano, in Moscow.  See 18 March 1960.

©2004-2011 Paul Scharfenberger

21 September 2011