1962

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    1 January 1962 The Independent State of Western Samoa, under joint heads of state Tupua Tamasese Meaole and Malietoa Tanumafili II and Prime Minister Fiame Mata’afa Faumuina Mulin’u II, is proclaimed independent of New Zealand.

    The new Council of State, headed by President Joaquín Balaguer takes power in the Dominican Republic.

    Marauding Congolese soldiers and Baluba tribesmen murder 19 Roman Catholic missionaries in Kongolo, Katanga.

    William Schuman (51) enters upon duties as President of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York.

    2 January 1962 Officials in West Berlin announce that 207,026 East Germans fled to West Berlin and West Germany during 1961.

    3 January 1962 41 people are killed, 74 injured in terrorist attacks in Algeria.

    4 January 1962 Katangan President Moise Tshombe tells his parliament that only six of the eight points in the 20 December peace agreement are acceptable.

    In the midst of a new wave of terror, conservative paramilitaries in Algeria call for an insurrection against President de Gaulle.  Conservatives, Moslems, and French security forces battle in Algiers and Oran resulting in 15 killed and 40 injured.

    The Organization of American States votes 20-0-1 to lift its sanctions against the Dominican Republic.

    5 January 1962 Moslems ambush French troops near Bougie.  18 French are killed.

    Piano Quintet no.2 by Ross Lee Finney (55) is performed for the first time, at UCLA.

    6 January 1962 The US and the Dominican Republic resume diplomatic relations.

    7 January 1962 Terrorist attacks in Algeria result in 19 deaths and 34 injuries.

    An orchestral suite from the music to the film Five Days, Five Nights by Dmitri Shostakovich (55) is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of Radio Moscow.  See 23 November 1961.

    8 January 1962 The Congolese Parliament orders Deputy Prime Minister Antoine Gizenga to return to Léopoldville from Stanleyville and face charges of leading a secession movement in Oriental Province.

    John Tavener (17) begins studies at the Royal Academy of Music.

    Theme and Interludes for youth orchestra by Thea Musgrave (33) is performed for the first time, in Glasgow.

    10 January 1962 An avalanche on Mt. Husacrán, Peru destroys 16 villages and kills 3,000 people.

    Air and Scherzo for alto saxophone and piano by Henry Cowell (64) is performed completely for the first time, at Southwestern Louisiana University in Lafayette.  See 14 August 1961.

    12 January 1962 The Indonesian army publicly admits that it has begun operations against the Dutch in West Irian.

    21 people are killed by terrorists in Algeria.  The OAS paramilitary organization calls on all French in Algeria to stockpile two months of food.

    13 January 1962 20 people are killed by terrorists in Algiers and Oran.

    Fighting breaks out in Stanleyville between Congolese troops and followers of the leftist Antoine Gizenga.

    60 Freedom Riders are arrested at segregated restaurants in Cambridge, College Park, and Beltsville, Maryland.

    14 January 1962 The Council of Ministers of the European Economic Community, meeting in Brussels, announces agreement to start the second stage of economic integration, retroactive to 1 January.

    32 people are killed in Algiers and Oran.

    Most of the troops supporting Antoine Ginzenga surrender in Stanleyville, thus bringing the area under control of the central Congolese government.

    15 January 1962 Dutch warships sink an Indonesian torpedo boat in their territorial waters off Etna Bay, Netherlands New Guinea.  70 survivors are rescued by the Dutch.  It was one of three boats carrying 100 troops to land near Kaimana.

    American tanks stationed near the Berlin Wall are withdrawn.

    The Congolese Parliament sacks Antoine Gizenga as deputy Prime Minister.

    Portuguese representatives walk out of the UN General Assembly during a debate on Angola.

    16 January 1962 Igor Stravinsky (79) receives the United States State Department Medal in Washington.

    A seven-man military/civilian junta, led by Major General Rafael Rodriguez Echevarria, seizes power in the Dominican Republic.

    La cité nouvelle, rêve d’avenir op.170, a symphonic poem by Charles Koechlin (†11), is performed for the first time, in Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Paris.

    17 January 1962 Soviet tanks stationed near the Berlin Wall are withdrawn.

    Bishops of the Church of England meeting in London call for the abolition of the death penalty.

    Symphony no.8 by Roy Harris (63), commissioned to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the San Francisco Orchestra, is performed for the first time, in the War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco.

    18 January 1962 The United States military begins using herbicides on the jungles of Vietnam.

    Over the next week, 35 bombs set by conservative extremists go off in and around Paris.  They oppose President de Gaulle’s less than hard line policies in Algeria.

    A group of air force officers overthrows the Dominican junta installed two days ago and restores the Council of State, led by Rafael Filiberto Bonnelly.

    Igor Stravinsky (79) and his wife are guests of President and Mrs. Kennedy at the White House along with a small group of artists, including Leonard Bernstein (43).

    19 January 1962 Three princes heading the warring factions in Laos agree on a coalition government, in Geneva.

    Bara for orchestra by Isang Yun (44) is performed for the first time, in Berlin.

    20 January 1962 A Bulgarian MIG crashes near Bari, Italy on what is believed to be a spy mission.

    Former separatist Antoine Gizenga is transported from Stanleyville to Léopoldville in a UN plane.

    29 people are killed by both the OAS and Moslem rebels in Algeria.

    Antifone for eleven instruments by Hans Werner Henze (35) is performed for the first time, in Berlin.

    21 January 1962 Sub-Lt. Milusc Solakov, pilot of the crashed Bulgarian jet, asks for political asylum in Italy.

    Concerto in Slendro for violin, two tack-pianos, celesta, and percussion by Lou Harrison (44) is performed for the first time, in Santa Cruz, California.

    22 January 1962 French authorities institute strong security measures in major Algerian cities.  Algiers, Oran, and Bône (Annaba) are sealed off and all incoming traffic is inspected.  Civilian traffic is banned after 21:00.  The military surrounds all districts prone to terrorism.  Searches and seizure take place without warrant.  A general strike paralyzes Bône.

    One person is killed and 13 injured when a bomb explodes in the courtyard of the Foreign Ministry headquarters in Paris.

    Sit-in demonstrators are beaten and sprayed with chemicals at a segregated lunch counter in Huntsville, Alabama.

    Violence begins in Caracas in protest against the foreign ministers conference in Punta del Este, Uruguay.  A bomb explodes at the US embassy causing a hole in the wall.  President Betancourt orders the army onto the streets.

    23 January 1962 Jules et Jim, a film by François Truffaut, is shown for the first time, in Paris.

    24 January 1962 Ranulfo González Ovalle, head of the Guatemalan secret police, is shot and killed outside his home in Guatemala City.  Leaders of leftist political parties are arrested.

    Discourse for flute, clarinet, piano, and cello by Ralph Shapey (40) is performed for the first time, in Town Hall, New York.

    Duke Ellington (62) plays his first solo concert as pianist, at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

    25 January 1962 The West Berlin government announces that a tunnel, which has been used by 28 East Berliners to escape to the west, has been discovered by East German police.

    14 bombs explode in Paris at the homes of important French leaders.

    President Miguel Ydígoras Fuentes announces a state of siege in Guatemala following the events of yesterday.

    Most of Caracas is reported calm after violence broke out 22 January.  At least 40 people have been killed and 820 arrested.

    Bold Island Suite by Howard Hanson (65) is performed for the first time, in Severence Hall, Cleveland.

    26 January 1962 Conservative gunmen invade a racially mixed school in Algiers and murder its principal in front of a class.

    President Claude Bissell of the University of Toronto informs Ernest MacMillan (68) that the new theatre at the university will be named after him.

    Symphony no.7 by David Diamond (46) is performed for the first time, in Philadelphia.

    27 January 1962 The Soviet government changes the names of all places honoring Molotov, Kaganovich, and Malenkov.

    29 January 1962 After 353 meetings since 1958, the three-nation Geneva talks on banning atomic weapons tests collapse in failure.

    Fritz Kreisler dies in New York of heart disease at the age of 89.

    Lynchburg, Virginia public schools begin court ordered desegregation without incident.

    The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman is published.

    Sete vezes for voice and orchestra by Heitor Villa-Lobos (†2) to words of Vasconcellos is performed for the first time, in Rio de Janeiro.  See 2 June 1960.

    30 January 1962 Former Prime Minister of Pakistan Hussein Shaheed Suhrawardy is arrested in Karachi charged with “activities prejudicial to security and defense of Pakistan.”

    Albania is excluded from a meeting of Warsaw Pact defense ministers in Prague.

    The UN General Assembly calls on Portugal to end its colonial war and prepare Angola for independence.

    Les Paul receives a US patent for a solid body electric guitar.

    31 January 1962 Foreign ministers of the Organizaton of American States meeting in Punta del Este, Uruguay, vote to exclude Cuba “from participation in the inter-American system.”

    Lt. Commander Samuel Gravely takes command of the USS Falgout at Pearl Harbor.  He is the first African-American to command a US warship.

    1 February 1962 Two weeks of protests and riots erupt in East Pakistan (Bangladesh) over the arrest of Hussein Shaheed Suhrawardy two days ago.

    Conservative terrorists (OAS) destroy the government communications center in Algiers.  The French authorities can not communicate with Paris.

    One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey is published in the US by Viking Press.

    2 February 1962 A Dutch airliner carrying 110 soldiers to New Guinea refuels at Anchorage, Honolulu, and Wake Island, all US territory.

    Amintore Fanfani resigns as Prime Minister of Italy.  President Gronchi asks him to remain in a caretaker capacity.

    Herma for piano by Iannis Xenakis (39) is performed for the first time, in Tokyo.

    Metapièce (Mimetics) and Mimetics (Metapièce) for keyboard by Mauricio Kagel (29) are performed for the first time, in Munich.  Also performed is 27'10.554” for a percussionist by John Cage (49), presumably for the first time.

    3 February 1962 US President Kennedy imposes an almost total embargo on trade with Cuba to take effect 7 February.

    4 February 1962 US helicopters and crews take part in an operation by the South Vietnamese army to capture the village of Hung My.

    William Walton (59) is appointed accademico onorario di Santa Cecilia in Rome.

    5 February 1962 Angry at the events of 2 February, Indonesians attack the US embassy in Jakarta.  The US State Department temporarily bans the refueling of Dutch planes on such missions.

    Two days of parliamentary elections end in Finland.  The Social Democrats and Communists lose a combined total of 13 seats while the centrist Agrarian League of Prime Minister Martti Miettunen wins the most seats.

    6 February 1962 By agreement with local blacks, 29 stores and ten other businesses in Memphis peacefully desegregate their dining facilities.

    7 February 1962 Ten bombs explode in Paris, set by the OAS.  One, intended for the Boulogne-sur-Seine home of André Malreaux, Minister of Culture, blinds a four-year-old girl in one eye.  Malreaux is not home at the time.

    Morocco lifts bans on emigration by Jews imposed 19 December.

    Intervals for bass-baritone, trombone, percussion, and cello by Morton Feldman (36) to his own words is performed for the first time, in Kaufmann Concert Hall of the 92nd Street Y, New York.

    8 February 1962 Widespread protests by leftists against the recent bombings take place in Paris.  Eight people are killed when French police attack the crowds.

    Argentina breaks diplomatic relations with Cuba.

    9 February 1962 Conservative terrorists bomb and destroy the courthouse in Oran, Algeria.

    British and Jamaican officials sign an agreement in London calling for Jamaican independence to take place on 6 August.

    A British inquiry in Northern Rhodesia finds that the crash of the plane carrying UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld last September was caused by pilot error.

    10 February 1962 American spy pilot Francis Gary Powers is exchanged for Soviet spy Rudolf Ivanovich Abel on the Glienicker Bridge between West Berlin and Potsdam.

    Wedge for two flutes/piccolo, two trumpets, two trombones, tuba, percussion, piano, and double bass by Roger Reynolds (27) is performed for the first time, in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

    11 February 1962 Moslem and European mobs battle in Oran.  Police intervene to separate them.

    13 February 1962 500,000 people participate in a funeral procession through Paris for four of those killed by police on 8 February.  A general strike during the ceremonies closes down transportation, schools, communications, public schools, and other businesses.

    A general strike called by the OAS paralyzes Algiers.  25 people are killed.

    The Paris premiere of Olivier Messiaen’s (53) Chronochromie for orchestra at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées causes violent disagreement in the audience.  The composer himself is almost accosted by a furious music lover.

    Henry Cowell (64) is elected Vice-President of the National Institute of Arts and Letters.

    14 February 1962 After four Soviet demands for reservation of part of the Berlin air corridors for their military use, Soviet fighters begin harassing western flights to Berlin.  Seven “buzzing” incidents are reported today.

    44 bombs go off in Oran, Algeria.  Eleven people are killed in shootings.

    15 February 1962 Buzzing incidents continue in the air corridors to Berlin after the western powers reject a fifth Soviet demand.

    Uruguay decides to retain its diplomatic relations with Cuba.

    A Solemn Music for orchestra by Virgil Thomson (65) is performed for the first time, in New York, conducted by Nadia Boulanger (74).

    16 February 1962 A severe windstorm causes breaches in dikes and severe flooding in coastal areas of northern West Germany.  Hamburg is particularly hard hit.  315 people are killed, 60,000 homes destroyed.

    Symphony no.12 “Rural” by Darius Milhaud (69) is performed for the first time, at the University of California, Davis.

    17 February 1962 Bruno Walter dies in Beverly Hills at the age of 85.

    A Song of Orpheus for cello and orchestra by William Schuman (51) is performed for the first time, in Indianapolis.  The press is very positive.

    Movements for woodwind quintet by Ralph Shapey (40) is performed for the first time, in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

    18 February 1962 Public Opinion Descends upon the Demonstrators, an electronic music theatre by Robert Ashley (31) to his own words, is performed for the first time, in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

    19 February 1962 Nine days of secret meetings between French officials and the Algerian provisional government end in agreement.  A cease-fire will be instituted, a referendum on Algerian independence will take place, and agreement is reached on an administration for the province until the referendum.

    26 people are killed by conservative terrorists in Algeria.

    The Dove Descending Breaks the Air, an anthem for chorus by Igor Stravinsky (79) to words of Eliot, is performed for the first time, in Los Angeles.

    From the Hearts of Women, a cycle for voice and piano by William Grant Still (66) to words of his wife, Verna Arvey, is performed for the first time, in Los Angeles.

    20 February 1962 09:47  John H. Glenn Jr. blasts off from Cape Canaveral, Florida.  Five minutes later he becomes the third man to orbit the Earth as his Mercury-Atlas 6 spacecraft makes three revolutions in four hours, 55 minutes, and 23 seconds.  The capsule hits the Atlantic near Grand Turk Island in the Bahamas.

    String Quartet no.3 by Ulysses Kay (45) is performed for the first time, at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

    21 February 1962 The ruling Council of State declares a state of emergency in the Dominican Republic.  They claim danger from extremists of both the left and right.

    22 February 1962 A new cabinet formed by Prime Minister Amintore Fanfani is sworn in in Rome.

    An army uprising by about 8,000 Turkish soldiers is crushed in Ankara.

    23 February 1962 Time magazine reports the findings of Dr. Widukind Lenz of Hamburg University that thalidomide causes birth defects.

    Igor Stravinsky’s (79) cantata A Sermon, a Narrative, and a Prayer to words of Dekker and the Bible, is performed for the first time, in Basel.  It is very successful and the audience requires the entire work to be encored.

    The Juggler of Our Lady, an opera by Ulysses Kay (45) to words of King is performed for the first time, at Xavier University, New Orleans.

    25 February 1962 All members of a South Vietnamese force sent into Dinh Tuong Province are killed, wounded or missing following an ambush by the Viet Cong.

    European gunmen roam the Babel-Oued district of Algiers shooting people at random.  25 Moslems are killed.

    26 February 1962 The Irish Republican Army announces that it is ending its violent campaign against British occupation of Northern Ireland.

    European gunmen open up with machine guns on a street in Algiers.  13 Moslems are killed.

    The United States Supreme Court rules that racial segregation in all transportation is unconstitutional.

    At a UN press conference, Soviet Deputy Foreign Minister Valerian A. Zorin predicts that the US is becoming “bogged down in a very disadvantageous and politically unjustified war” in Vietnam.

    John Glenn addresses a joint session of Congress in Washington.

    27 February 1962 Two South Vietnamese air force pilots bomb and strafe the Presidential Palace in Saigon.  Although present in the building, President Ngo Dinh Diem is unhurt.  One pilot is shot down and captured in South Vietnam.  The other crash lands in Cambodia and is arrested.

    28 February 1962 Two car bombs go off in Oran killing 30 Moslems.

    1 March 1962 Pakistan adopts a new constitution calling for a presidential form of government.

    Great Britain grants internal self-government to Uganda.  Benedicto Kiwanuka is sworn in as Prime Minister.

    A federal judge in Macon, Georgia rules that Georgia laws against racial integration on buses are unconstitutional.

    2 March 1962 The Burmese military led by General Ne Win overthrows the government of Prime Minister U Nu.

    30 people are killed when Moslem rebels attack a French unit sent into the Casbah in Algiers.

    In a nationwide speech, President Kennedy says that the US will resume atmospheric atomic weapons tests.

    Kanon Igor Strawinsky zum 80. Geburtstag for chorus by Ernst Krenek (61), to his own words, is performed for the first time, in Fiesta Hall, Plummer Park, Los Angeles.

    3 March 1962 The British Antarctic Territory, the South Shetland Islands and the South Orkney Islands are separated from the Falkland Islands.

    George Borg Olivier is sworn in as the first Prime Minister of Malta as the island takes on internal self-government.

    4 March 1962 Duo for violin and cello no.2 by Bohuslav Martinu (†2) is performed for the first time, in Basel.

    5 March 1962 Speaking for six hours in Moscow, General Secretary Nikita Khrushchev announces that Soviet agriculture has failed to meet its goals and the entire system is being reorganized to provide for more direct party control.  “The fact is…there is simply not enough meat in the Soviet Union.”

    The OAS sets off 135 bombs in Algiers today.

    The Swallows of Salangan for chorus, four flutes, alto flute, five trumpets, two tubas, two vibraphones, two pianos, and seven cellos by Morton Feldman (36) is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of Radio Brussels, directed by Mauricio Kagel.

    6 March 1962 Francis Gary Powers makes his first public appearance before a committee of the US Senate in Washington.  He tells the story of his capture by the Soviets in 1960.

    Invention for percussion quintet by Charles Wuorinen (23) is performed for the first time, at the Manhattan School of Music, New York.  The composer plays timpani.

    7 March 1962 A second round of peace talks opens in Evian between French officials and the Algerian government in exile.

    8 March 1962 Syrian guns fire on Israeli police on the Sea of Galilee, injuring two policemen.

    East Germany opens two customs stations on the Berlin Wall indicating that it is an international boundary.

    About 1,000 supporters of ex-President Joaquín Balaguer riot in Santo Domingo.  They attack the US embassy and destroy US property.

    The US and USSR sign a two-year cultural and scientific exchange agreement in Washington.

    Piano Sonata no.9 op.58 by Vincent Persichetti (46) is performed for the first time, in Madison, Wisconsin.

    9 March 1962 The US State Department confirms that US pilots are flying combat-training missions over South Vietnam.

    Fantasy and Variations for piano and orchestra by Norman Dello Joio (49) is performed for the first time, in Cincinnati.

    Water! Water!, a satirical intermission by Harry Partch (60) to his own words, is performed for the first time, at the University of Illinois, Urbana.

    10 March 1962 An OAS bomb wounds 47 people in Issy-les-Moulineaux, a Paris suburb.

    11 March 1962 The foreign ministers of the US, UK, and USSR meet in Geneva.

    King Midas, a cantata by Ned Rorem (38) to words of Moss, is performed for the first time, in Carnegie Recital Hall, New York the composer at the piano.

    Studies in Improvisation for clarinet, french horn, cello, percussion, and piano by Lukas Foss (39) is performed for the first time, at the New School, New York.

    12 March 1962 After diplomacy by US Attorney General Robert Kennedy, the Netherlands announces that it will negotiate with Indonesia for the transfer of West Irian to Indonesia.

    The British Ministries of Health and Education announce a plan to inform the public about the dangers of smoking tobacco.

    Reverie for organ by William Grant Still (66) is performed for the first time, in Pasadena Presbyterian Church, California.

    13 March 1962 The French government bans all civilian flights, except those by regularly scheduled airlines, as an anti-terrorism measure.

    Magnificat and Nunc dimittis for chorus and organ by Michael Tippett (57) is performed for the first time, in Cambridge.

    The NBC news program The Land with music by Ulysses Kay (45) is shown for the first time, over the airwaves of the network.

    14 March 1962 India formally annexes Goa, Diu, and Damão.

    A meeting of 17 nations to discuss disarmament convenes in Geneva under UN auspices.

    Three of the 15 études pour alto saxophone et piano op.188 by Charles Koechlin (†11) are performed for the first time, in Brussels.  See 18 February 1963.

    Serenade for flute, clarinet, harp, viola, and cello by Thea Musgrave (33) is performed for the first time, in London.

    15 March 1962 Syrian guns open fire on Israelis on the Sea of Galilee for a second time.

    Talks between the US, UK, and USSR on a nuclear test ban resume in Geneva.

    US Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara announces that US military personnel have been directly involved in fighting in Vietnam and have exchanged fire with the enemy.

    The Abbot of Drimock, a comic opera by Thea Musgrave (33) to words of Lindsay, is staged for the first time, at Morley College, London.

    16 March 1962 Syrian guns open fire on Israelis on the Sea of Galilee for a third time.

    Strikes called by the OAS paralyze most Algerian cities.  30 people are killed in terrorist attacks in Algiers.

    17 March 1962 After three separate incidents where Syrians fired on Israelis on the Sea of Galilee, Israeli armed forces attack Syrians on the eastern shore of the sea.  In a six-hour raid, 35 people are killed.

    Romania announces that the total collectivization of agriculture has been achieved.

    Fanfare for a Great Occasion for brass by William Walton (59) is performed for the first time, in Centennial Hall, Wayville, Australia.

    18 March 1962 A truce between French colonial and Algerian rebel forces is agreed to at Evian-les-Bains.  France will retain sovereignty until a popular referendum on the future of the region.  In a nationwide address, President de Gaulle asks his citizens to support the pact.  Prime Minister Benyoussef Ben Khedda of the provisional government of Algeria orders his troops to stop fighting in a broadcast from Tunis.  Five members of the rebel Algerian cabinet are released by France and flown to Geneva.  The Secret Army Organization (OAS) declares war on the French government and the peace agreement.

    Dmitri Shostakovich (55) is elected a deputy to the Supreme Soviet for Leningrad.

    Perónists score victories in provincial and congressional elections in Argentina.

    19 March 1962 Noon.  A truce agreed to yesterday goes into effect in Algeria, ending the seven-year war between France and Moslem rebels.  Christian Fouchet is named high commissioner for Algeria during the transition period.

    TWO for mezzo-soprano, double bass, and alto flute by Kenneth Gaburo (35) to words of Hommel, is performed for the first time, at Yale University.

    20 March 1962 The French Parliament begins two days of debate during which the government is jeered and abused by conservatives for the Algeria accord.  50 people are killed when Moslems begin fighting Moslems in Oran.  European extremists fire mortar shells into a public square in Algiers killing ten and injuring 50.

    Talks between the Netherlands and Indonesia over Netherlands New Guinea begin near Washington.

    The William S. Merrell Company of Cincinnati removes its thalidomide product from sale in Canada.

    21 March 1962 After the military government institutes a law banning 3,000 former officials from politics, President Yun Po Sun of South Korea resigns.

    The five members of the rebel Algerian cabinet held by the French since 1956 fly to Casablanca where they meet the rest of the cabinet.  King Hassan II accompanies the entire group to Rabat where they are welcomed by 50,000 people.

    The OAS begins open warfare against French troops in Algeria.  They battle for two hours in Oran where 14 people are wounded.  OAS attacks kill eleven Moslems in Algiers and nine in Mostaganem.

    22 March 1962 OAS members attack French security forces at three places in Algiers.  Three people are killed, three wounded.  Six Moslems are killed by the OAS elsewhere in Algiers.

    23 March 1962 As French troops search a European district of Algiers for arms they are fired on.  At least 15 people are killed and 75 wounded in the fighting.  President de Gaulle orders that the developing insurrection be crushed “without pity.”

    Blacks in Birmingham, Alabama begin a boycott of downtown stores owned by whites.

    Fragment for ten players by Györgi Ligeti (38) is performed for the first time, in Munich.  The composer conducts, one of only three times in his life.

    Symphony (1962) by Irving Fine (47) is performed for the first time, in Symphony Hall, Boston.

    String Quartet no.2 by George Rochberg (43) is performed for the first time, privately in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.  See 30 March 1962.

    24 March 1962 Junta leader Maj. Gen. Park Chung Hee becomes President of South Korea.

    The scene of yesterday’s fighting in Algiers is sealed off by French troops.  A house-to-house search nets a thousand suspected terrorists.  An almost complete curfew is imposed.

    25 March 1962 French troops battle Europeans in Oran for five hours. French security forces capture the OAS second-in-command, Edmond Jouhaud, in Oran.

    Six Pieces for clarinet and chamber orchestra by TJ Anderson (33) is performed for the first time, in Oklahoma City.

    26 March 1962 French troops fire on a banned pro-OAS march by European civilians in Algiers.  They are in turn fired on by Europeans hiding in buildings.  At least 70 civilians are killed, 150 wounded.

    Indonesian delegates walk out of talks with the Dutch near Washington.

    President de Gaulle opens a campaign to win popular approval for the Algerian truce agreement in a referendum on 8 April.

    The US Supreme Court prohibits racial segregation at a restaurant in the Memphis airport.

    The first four of the Eight Instrumental Miniatures by Igor Stravinsky (79) are performed for the first time, in Los Angeles.  See 29 April 1962.

    27 March 1962 The foreign ministers of the US, UK, and USSR recess their meetings in Geneva after 17 days, with no progress on substantive issues.

    OAS terrorists fire rifle grenades and rockets into Moslem neighborhoods in Algiers and Oran.  At least nine people are killed, 25 wounded.

    Hymn and Celebration for orchestra by Robert Ward (44) is performed for the first time, in Phoenix, Arizona.

    28 March 1962 The Syrian military overthrows the government of President Nazem al-Kodsi and Prime Minister Maarouf Dawalibi.  A state of emergency is declared.

    Leaders of Argentina’s military overthrow President Arturo Frondizi and imprison him after he refuses to resign in the face of growing Péronist unrest.  They also imprison War Secretary Brig. Gen. Rosendo Fraga for refusing to join the coup.

    US President Kennedy says the three-power talks on banning nuclear weapons tests are at a “real impasse.”

    29 March 1962 Senate President José María Guido becomes acting President of Argentina.

    20,000 French troops are withdrawn from a European district of Algiers after arresting 3,500 people.

    30 March 1962 Six weeks of harassment of allied planes by Soviet jets in the air corridors to Berlin end without explanation.

    Senate President José María Guido is sworn in as President of Argentina.

    String Quartet no.2 by George Rochberg (43) is performed publicly for the first time, in Harrison Auditorium at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.  See 23 March 1962.

    31 March 1962 Several of the 20 sonneries pour trompes de chasse opp.123 and 142 by Charles Koechlin (†11) are performed for the first time, over the airwaves of French Radio III.

    1 April 1962 OAS commandos attack a Moslem area near Lamartine.  French troops fight off the attack, taking 40 prisoners.

    Swiss voters reject a constitutional amendment banning nuclear weapons from the country.

    2 April 1962 After national elections, the third Lok Sabha begins its term in New Delhi.  The Indian National Congress of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru continues in power with a slightly reduced majority.

    3 April 1962 OAS terrorists enter a Moslem clinic and open fire with machine guns.  Ten patients are killed, seven wounded.  The terrorists then blow up part of the building.

    A federal judge in New Orleans strikes down a Louisiana pupil-placement law and orders New Orleans to desegregate the first six grades of its school by the autumn term.

    Ecuador breaks diplomatic relations with Cuba, Poland, and Czechoslovakia.

    The City Commission of Birmingham, Alabama votes to withhold its share of the cost of a county program which distributes surplus food to those in need.  This is in retaliation to a boycott of downtown businesses by blacks.  90% of the recipients of the program are black.

    5 April 1962 The Angolan Revolutionary Government in Exile is established in Leopoldville to fight Portuguese colonial rule.

    Mass demonstrations take place in Athens against the extravagance of the upcoming royal wedding.  The crowds, which number in the hundreds of thousands, are attacked by police.  Among them is Mikis Theodorakis (36) who, in the melee, comes upon a young woman unconscious on the street.  He picks her up and gets her into a taxi for transport to a hospital.

    When black leaders protest the city commission vote of yesterday, Mayor Arthur Hanes dismisses them as a “typical reaction from New York Socialist radicals.”

    6 April 1962 OAS gunmen fire randomly in Algiers killing 23 people.

    British and Kenyan leaders sign an interim constitution for the country in London.  It grants Kenya internal self-government.

    7 April 1962 A twelve-member (nine Moslems, three Europeans) provisional executive for Algeria is installed at Rocher Noir, 50 km from Algiers.  Communications between Rocher Noir and Algiers are cut by OAS bombs.  18 people are killed in random OAS shootings in Algiers and Oran.

    1,179 counterrevolutionaries who participated in the Bay of Pigs invasion are sentenced to 30 years in prison.

    8 April 1962 Over 90% of French voters endorse the peace agreement for Algeria.

    26 people are killed in random OAS shootings throughout Algeria.

    Evolutio Organ for organ solo by Charles Wuorinen (23) is performed for the first time, at the Church of the Advent, Boston.  The work is dedicated to the memory of Lili Boulanger (†44) in gratitude for the presentation of the Lili Boulanger Award to the composer on 13 March 1961.  The dedicatee’s sister, Nadia Boulanger (74), is in the audience.

    9 April 1962 Suite de Ballet for flute and piano by Ralph Vaughan Williams (†3) is performed publicly for the first time, over the airwaves of the BBC Home Service.  See 20 March 1920.

    10 April 1962 Eight people are killed in random OAS shootings in Algiers.  Moslem rebels make their first attack on the OAS, killing 30 in the Ouarsenis Mountains.

    A new ministry for Kenya is sworn in.  It includes Jomo Kenyatta and Tom Mboya.

    11 April 1962 17 people are killed in random OAS shootings in Algiers.  14 OAS gunmen are captured by French security forces.

    Abide with Me, a song by Charles Ives (†7) to words of Lyte, is performed for the first time, at the National Institute of Arts and Letters in New York.

    In Two Parts for 6 Players by Stefan Wolpe (59) is performed for the first time, in the YMHA, New York, conducted by Ralph Shapey (41).

    12 April 1962 In letters to French newspapers, former Prime Minister Georges Bidault says he has gone underground to assume leadership of the OAS.  French security agents and OAS members battle in the center of Oran.  Nine Moslems are killed in Algiers by the OAS, who also blow up the control tower at the Algiers airport.

    13 April 1962 Ahti Kalle Samuli Karjalainen replaces Martti Johannes Miettunen as Prime Minister of Finland.  At 39 he is the youngest prime minister of Finland to date.

    Nazem al-Kodsi is released from prison and reinstated as President of Syria by the coup leaders who overthrew him.

    Edmond Jouhaud, second-in-command of the OAS, is sentenced to death for insurrection by a military court in Paris.  Seven Moslems are killed, 21 wounded in Algiers by OAS shootings.

    14 April 1962 A general strike called by the OAS to protest yesterday’s condemnation paralyzes Algiers and Oran.  15 Moslems are killed during the strike.

    15 April 1962 Georges Jean Raymond Pompidou replaces Michel Debré as Prime Minister of France.

    Moslems in Algiers drag two Europeans from a car and beat them to death.  15 Moslems are killed and 22 wounded in OAS attacks in Algiers.

    Three Pieces for two pianos by Arthur Berger (49) is performed for the first time, in Sanders Theatre, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

    16 April 1962 25 people are killed by the OAS in Algiers and Oran.  They also bomb five government tax offices.

    Polymorphia for 48 strings by Krzysztof Penderecki (28) is performed for the first time, in Hamburg.

    17 April 1962 Moslems kill three Europeans and injure six others in Oran.  The OAS kill 20 Moslems in Oran.  The Algiers daily Le Journal d’Alger is destroyed by bombs.

    To Music, a cycle for voice and piano by Leslie Bassett (39) to words of Jonson, Herrick, and Billings, is performed for the first time, in Rome.

    Jest of Cards, a ballet version of Marginal Sounds by Ernst Krenek (61), is performed for the first time, in Geary Theatre, San Francisco.  See 22 February 1960.

    18 April 1962 Eight Moslems are killed by the OAS in Algiers.

    20 April 1962 General Raoul Salan, leader of the OAS, is captured by French agents in Algiers.  He is flown to Paris to face trial.

    Anti-government demonstrators battle about 7,000 police in the streets of Athens.  80 people are injured.

    A dance suite from the Mikis Theodorakis’ (36) musical play The Ballad of the Dead Brother is performed for the first time, at the Rex Theatre, Athens.  See 15 October 1962.

    A plan by white segregationists to give free one-way rides to blacks to any city in the north is put into effect in New Orleans.

    Rappresentazione e festa di Carnasciale e della Quaresima, an opera by Gian Francesco Malipiero (80) to his own words after a 16th century Florentine text, is performed for the first time, in a concert setting, in Teatro La Fenice, Venice.  See 20 January 1970.

    21 April 1962 The 1962 World’s Fair in Seattle officially opens.  An inaugural speech is given by President Kennedy by telephone from his residence in Palm Beach, Florida.

    23 April 1962 Honeyrêves for flute and piano by Bruno Maderna (42) is performed for the first time, in Venice.

    24 April 1962 MIT scientists bounce television signals off Echo I from Camp Parks, California to Westford, Massachusetts.  It is the first satellite relay of a television signal.

    President José María Guido orders the cancellation of state election victories by Péronists in the 18 March elections.  Those state governments are taken over by the federal government.

    Three works for chorus by Kenneth Gaburo (35) are performed for the first time, in St. Louis:  Ave Maria, Laetantur coeli, and Terra tremuit.

    25 April 1962 The Chinese foreign minister publishes a note to India protesting “violations” of Chinese territory by the Indian military.

    Yekaterina Alekseyevna Furtseva replaces Nikolay Aleksandrovich Mikhailov as Minister of Culture for the USSR.

    A car bomb goes off at a bus stop in a Moslem district of Algiers.  Two people are killed, 22 wounded.  French security forces and Moslem rebels join together to prevent a mob of Moslems from entering a European neighborhood and taking revenge.  In other incidents in Algiers, 12 Moslems are killed, 34 injured.

    President José María Guido orders the cancellation of election victories by Péronists to the Chamber of Deputies in the 18 March elections.

    The United States carries out its first atmospheric nuclear test since 1958, near Christmas Island in the Pacific.

    26 April 1962 The OAS blows up an Air Algérie Constellation airliner at Algiers airport.  The OAS begins a series of attacks over the next six days against French security forces in Oran.  None will be successful.

    Chamber Concerto no.1 for nine instruments by Thea Musgrave (33) is performed for the first time, at the University of Glasgow, the composer conducting.  See 19 January 1973.

    28 April 1962 Die Soldatenliebschaft, a comic opera written by Felix Mendelssohn (†114) at the age of 10, to words of Casper, is performed for the first time, in Wittenberg 142 years after it was composed.

    29 April 1962 Le Voyage, a ballet by Pierre Henry (34) to a choreography by Béjart, is performed for the first time, at the Cologne Opera.

    The last four of the Eight Orchestral Miniatures by Igor Stravinsky (79) are performed for the first time, in Toronto, the composer conducting.  See 26 March 1962.

    30 April 1962 Duuiensela for cello and piano by Charles Wuorinen (23) is performed for the first time, at the Jewish Community Centre, New Haven, Connecticut.

    A Day in the Country for violin and tape by Otto Luening (61) is performed for the first time, in Kaufmann Concert Hall, New York.

    1 May 1962 Students protest against the government and poor economy in Prague.

    France carries out an underground nuclear test in the Sahara, 800 km south of their usual test site at Reggane.  The test will not be made public for a week.

    2 May 1962 As about 1,500 Moslems gather on the Algiers waterfront to receive work assignments, an OAS car bomb explodes.  62 people are killed, about 110 injured.  48 other people are killed in shootings elsewhere in Algiers.

    A federal judge in Biloxi rules that nine Mississippi laws are unconstitutional.  They require separate travel accommodations for blacks and whites.

    3 May 1962 Pathet Lao forces begin an offensive against government troops in northern Laos at Muong Sing.

    4 May 1962 37 people are killed and 59 wounded by OAS shootings in Algiers.

    Volumina for organ by György Ligeti (38) is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of Radio Bremen.  This was to be a live performance by Karl-Erik Welin but when Welin practiced the piece at Göteborg Cathedral the electronic organ was overloaded and began to smoke, giving off the smell of burning rubber.  Upon hearing of this, the Bremen Cathedral authorities refused to allow the performance to proceed and the premiere over Bremen Radio consists of a tape recording made of Welin practicing the piece at the Johanniskyrkan in Stockholm.  Unfortunately, the tape was too short and the last few minutes are missing.  A complete premiere will take place in the Westerkerk, Amsterdam on 10 May.  Also premiered is Improvisation ajoutée for organ and two assistants by Mauricio Kagel (29).

    Night Music for accordion and string quartet by David Diamond (46) is performed for the first time, in Carnegie Recital Hall, New York.

    5 May 1962 Five Moslems who open fire at civilians in the Jewish district of Algiers are all killed by Jews.

    6 May 1962 The USS Ethan Allen, a nuclear powered submarine, fires a Polaris missile with an atomic warhead which explodes successfully.  It is the first time an atomic warhead has been delivered by a long range missile fired from a submarine.  The test takes place near Christmas Island in the Pacific.

    Sur scène, a kammermusikalisches Theaterstück by Mauricio Kagel (30) is performed for the first time, in Bremen.

    Rondo for accordion by Otto Luening (61) is performed for the first time, in Town Hall, New York.

    Wind Quintet no.2 by George Perle is performed for the first time, in New York on the composer’s 47th birthday.

    Élégie et rondeau for alto saxophone and orchestra by Karel Husa (40) is performed for the first time, at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York conducted by the composer.  See 29 July 1960.

    7 May 1962 Robert Ward (44) wins the Pulitzer Prize in Music for The Crucible. See 26 October 1961.

    8 May 1962 A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, a musical by Stephen Sondheim, opens in New York.

    9 May 1962 31 people are killed in attacks in Algiers and Oran.

    Sinfonia for orchestra by Peter Maxwell Davies (27) is performed for the first time, in Royal Festival Hall, London.

    Piece for violin and instruments by Ralph Shapey (41) is performed for the first time, in Kaufman Auditorium of the 92nd Street Y, New York.

    10 May 1962 OAS terrorists kill 40 people in Algiers and Oran.

    Serenade no.1 for viola and chamber ensemble by George Perle (47) is performed for the first time, in New York.  Also premiered is Perle’s Monody I for flute.

    11 May 1962 Antonio Segni replaces Giovanni Gronchi as President of Italy.

    French authorities arrest 500 people in Oran suspected of OAS sympathies.  Among them is Jules Camouze, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Oran.

    Volumina for organ by György Ligeti (38) is performed for the first time, in the Westerkerk, Amsterdam.  See 4 May 1962.

    Concert for double bass alone by Charles Wuorinen (23) is performed for the first time, in Southport, Connecticut.

    String Quartet no.1 by Krzysztof Penderecki (28) is performed for the first time, in Cincinnati.

    Triple Rondo for flute and harp by Henry Cowell (65) is performed for the first time, at the New School, New York.

    12 May 1962 As government troops flee across the Mekong into Thailand, the Pathet Lao take control of all of Laos north of Luang Prabang.  A US carrier task force is ordered into the Gulf of Siam to prepare for any military eventuality.

    Invocatión y danza (Homenaje a Manuel de Falla) for guitar by Joaquín Rodrigo (60) is performed for the first time, in Château de la Brède, France.  Also premiered is Rodrigo’s La grotte for voice and piano to words of Emié.

    13 May 1962 Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan replaces Rajendra Prasad as President of India.

    Piece for Piano and 16 Instruments by Stefan Wolpe (59) is performed for the first time, at the New School, New York conducted by Ralph Shapey (41).  Also premiered are Shapey's Dimensions for soprano and 23 instruments and Chamber Concerto by Arthur Berger (49).  Shapey will remember it as one of the most exciting of his life.  In the audience are Edgar Varèse (76), Aaron Copland (61), Elliott Carter (53), Milton Babbitt (46), Erich Leinsdorf, Harold Rosenburg, Dore Ashton, Jack Tworkove, and Willem de Kooning.  It is a great success.

    14 May 1962 A lone gunman tries to kill President Sukarno of Indonesia during a religious ceremony in Jakarta.  Five people are injured but the president is unhurt.

    Former Vice President Milovan Djilas of Yugoslavia is convicted in a Belgrade court of revealing state secrets in his book Conversations with Stalin.  He is sentenced to five years in prison.

    Moslems begin random machine gun attacks of their own in Algiers.  17 Europeans and two Moslems are killed in drive by shootings.  44 people are wounded.

    15 May 1962 Indonesian paratroopers are dropped into the areas of Fakfak and Kaimana, Netherlands New Guinea.

    76 people are killed in Algiers in OAS attacks.  A new curfew goes into effect at 18:00.

    President Kennedy announces that 5,000 US troops will be sent to Thailand in light of the new Laotian situation.

    Sonority Canon for Four Solo Flutes Accompanied by 33 Flutes on Tape by Otto Luening (61) is performed for the first time, at Columbia University, New York.

    16 May 1962 Dutch forces capture a boat carrying 20 Indonesian soldiers heading for Fakfak, Netherlands New Guinea.

    42 people, almost all Moslem, are killed in random attacks in Algiers.

    17 May 1962 Hong Kong authorities begin constructing a new barrier along the border with China in an effort to stop the influx of refugees.  An estimated 50,000 Chinese have entered the colony since 1 May.

    Dutch forces shoot down a plane carrying Indonesian paratroopers near Fakfak, Netherlands New Guinea.

    Concert for Eight for flute, clarinet, mandolin, guitar, accordion, percussion, piano, and double bass by Roberto Gerhard (65) is performed for the first time, in London.

    Traversée op.393 for chorus by Darius Milhaud (69) to words of Verlaine is performed for the first time, in Cork.

    18 May 1962 French authorities report a sharp increase in Europeans leaving Algeria for France.  20 people are killed by terrorists in Algiers, eight near Oran.

    Twelve people disclose that they tunneled their way into West Berlin from the suburb of Glienicke.

    Les funérailles de Phocion for orchestra op.385 by Darius Milhaud (69) is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of Radio Belge.  Also premiered is Milhaud’s ballet La branche des oiseaux.  See 1 April 1965.

    19 May 1962 Indonesian paratroopers land on the Vogelkop Peninsula, Netherlands New Guinea, and are engaged by Dutch troops.

    20 May 1962 President José María Guida of Argentina dissolves the Congress and suspends the constitution.  He says elections will be held next March.

    Alma Redemptoris Mater for baritone, violin, trombone, and tack piano by Lou Harrison (45) is performed for the first time, in Nepenthe, California.

    21 May 1962 Terrorists from both sides kill eleven people in Algiers.

    Momente no.13 for soprano, four choruses, and 13 players by Karlheinz Stockhausen (33), to the words of various authors, is performed for the first time over the airwaves of WDR, originating in Cologne conducted by the composer.

    22 May 1962 16 people are killed by OAS terrorists in Algiers.  The crush of European refugees at the Algiers airport is so great that it must be closed until 4,500 are put on planes for France.

    Heterophonie for 42 solo instruments by Mauricio Kagel (30) is performed for the first time, in Cologne.

    23 May 1962 General Raoul Salan, leader of the Secret Army Organization opposed to independence for Algeria, is convicted on five counts of insurrection and sentenced to life in prison by a military court in Paris.

    23 people are killed in terrorist attacks in Algeria.

    As an East German boy swims a canal to the west, West Berlin police fire on East Germans firing on him.  The boy is wounded seven times but survives.  One East German in killed, one wounded.

    US President Kennedy announces his country will expedite admission of refugees from Hong Kong to help alleviate the problem in the crown colony.

    The Brazilian Council of Ministers sets out rules under which all major public services are to be nationalized.

    The first human limb transplant takes place at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston.  Dr. Donald A. Malt and Dr. J. McKhann replace the entire right arm of a 12-year-old boy.

    Vertrauenssache (What Price Confidence?), a chamber opera by Ernst Krenek (61) to his own translation of his own words, is performed for the first time, in the Saarbrücken Stadttheater.

    24 May 1962 16 people are killed in terrorist attacks in Algeria.

    Scott Carpenter blasts off from Cape Canaveral, Florida and orbits the Earth three times and returns to Earth in the Caribbean.  He is the fourth human to orbit the Earth.

    25 May 1962 A squadron of British fighters arrives in Thailand.

    21 people are killed in terrorist attacks in Algeria.

    Mosaic for flute/piccolo and piano by Roger Reynolds (27) is performed for the first time, at Michigan State University, Lansing.

    As part of the first International Webern Festival, in Seattle, Im Sommerwind, idyll for orchestra by Anton Webern (†16), is performed for the first time, at the University of Washington, 58 years after it was composed.

    26 May 1962 Pathet Lao forces resume their offensive with strong attacks towards Saravane.

    OAS terrorists blow up and destroy 18 elementary schools in Algiers.  13 Moslems are killed.

    Four holes are blown in the Berlin Wall.  They are quickly repaired.

    The Simplon Orient Express makes its last run from Paris to Istanbul.

    As part of the first International Webern Festival, in Seattle, several works by Anton Webern (†16) are performed for the first time:  Three Poems for Voice and Piano to words of Avenarius, Dehmel, and Falke (1899-1903), Three Songs After Poems by Ferdinand Avenarius (1900-1901), String Quartet (1905) and Five Songs After Poems by Richard Dehmel (1906-1908).

    27 May 1962 Pathet Lao forces begin an attack towards Houayxay on the upper Mekong River.

    A further nine elementary schools and several tax offices are destroyed by OAS bombs today and tomorrow.  35 people are killed in terrorist attacks in Algeria.

    To Light That Shines for chorus and piano or organ by Ulysses Kay (45) to words of Johnson is performed for the first time, in New York.

    As part of the First International Webern Festival, in Seattle, two works by Anton Webern (†16) are performed for the first time:  Eight Early Songs for voice and piano to various authors (1901-1904), and Langsamer Satz for string quartet (1905).

    Henry Cowell (65) is awarded the Henry Hadley Medal by the National Association of American Composers and Conductors.

    28 May 1962 23 people are killed in terrorist attacks in Algeria.

    The South African Parliament approves a bill providing for the death penalty for any act of “sabotage.”

    29 May 1962 4,000 US troops are ordered to Thailand in response to Communist activity in Laos.

    Two more schools are bombed in Algiers and 14 people are killed in terrorist attacks.

    Genesis I:  Elementi op.19/1 for string trio by Henryk Górecki (28) is performed for the first time, in Kraków.

    Movements for flute and string orchestra by Gunther Schuller (36) is performed for the first time, in Dortmund.

    King Priam, an opera by Michael Tippett (57) to his own words, is performed for the first time, in Coventry.

    Incidental music to Shakespeare’s play The Tempest by Michael Tippett (57) is performed for the first time, at the Old Vic, London.

    30 May 1962 Two more schools are destroyed in Algiers and 13 people are killed.

    Armand Belvisi, reported to be leader of the attempted assassination of President de Gaulle last September, is captured in Paris after a gun battle with police.

    Benny Goodman begins a seven-week tour of the Soviet Union with a concert in Moscow, attended by General Secretary Nikita Khrushchev.

    War Requiem op.66 for soprano, tenor, baritone, chorus, orchestra, and organ by Benjamin Britten (48) to words of the Latin requiem and Wilfred Owen, is performed for the first time, conducted by the composer, at the reconsecration of Coventry Cathedral, destroyed during World War II.

    Journey Into Jazz for narrator, jazz quartet, and orchestra by Gunther Schuller (36) is performed for the first time, in Washington.

    31 May 1962 Adolf Eichmann is hanged in Israel for crimes against humanity.

    Two people are killed in Algiers by terrorists.

    Great Britain dissolves the Federation of the West Indies with the constituent entities resuming their former colonial status: Antigua, Barbados, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

    Invocation à l’ange Raphaël op.395 for women’s chorus and orchestra by Darius Milhaud (69) to words of Claudel is performed for the first time, in Paris.

    A concert of “symphonic jazz” takes places in Constitution Hall, Washington when Duke Ellington (63) and his Orchestra join the National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Howard Mitchell and Gunther Schuller (36).

    1 June 1962 The conservative Secret Army Organization (OAS) suspends its terrorist campaign in Algeria.  Secret negotiations have begun between the OAS and the provisional executive in Algeria.

    4 June 1962 The Reivers by William Faulkner is published in New York.  It is his last novel.

    5 June 1962 An intermediate court judge in Buenos Aires rules that the nullification of elections by President Guido is unconstitutional.

    6 June 1962 Hard line elements of the OAS announce a resumption of the terror campaign in Algeria.

    7 June 1962 A new constitution for Pakistan goes into effect.

    OAS bombs destroy dozens of buildings in major Algerian cities, including Algiers University library which houses 500,000 volumes.  Six Moslems are killed by OAS gunmen.

    Two OAS men are executed by firing squad near Paris for the 31 May 1961 murder of Roger Gavoury, police commissioner for Algiers.

    8 June 1962 President Mohammed Ayub Khan of Pakistan announces the end to martial law at the inauguration of the first parliament under the new constitution.

    The OAS destroys the television station in Algiers.

    14 East Germans take an excursion boat through furious gunfire to the western bank of the river Spree in Berlin.  They are covered by fire from West Berlin police.

    The Outcasts of Poker Flat, an opera by Samuel Adler (34) to words of Stampfer after Harte, is performed for the first time, in Denton, Texas.

    9 June 1962 The OAS attacks and destroys the USIA facility in Algiers.

    The Spanish government suspends provisions in the Bill of Rights giving citizens the right to live wherever they like.  They are trying to keep any opposition out of large cities.

    10 June 1962 Quintet for strings and piano by Leslie Bassett (39) is performed for the first time, in Rome.

    11 June 1962 Prince Souphanouvong of the Pathet Lao, Prince Souvanna Phouma of the neutralist faction, and Prince Boun Oum of the royal government announce they have reached agreement on a coalition government for Laos after five days of meetings on the Plaine des Jarres.

    12 June 1962 John Ireland dies of heart failure, in Rock Mill, Washington, Sussex, aged 82 years, nine months, and 30 days.

    In the midst of a general exodus of Europeans from Algeria, 10,000 people arrive in Marseille.

    Escapes by 33 people in two tunnels under the Berlin Wall are reported.

    13 June 1962 Lolita, a film by Stanley Kubrick based on the novel by Vladimir Nobokov, is released in the United States.

    14 June 1962 Representatives of ten nations form the European Space Research Organization at a ceremony in Paris.

    Samsara, a symphonic poem by Toshiro Mayuzumi (33), is performed for the first time, in Tokyo.

    The Flood, a musical play by Igor Stravinsky (79) to words of Craft after the York and Chester Mystery Plays and the Bible, is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of the commissioner of the work, the CBS television network.  See 30 April 1963.

    15 June 1962 Authorities in East Berlin begin new, stronger fortifications on their side of the Berlin wall.

    OAS terrorists blow up the Algiers city hall, killing three French soldiers and wounding 43 others.  They also dynamite the Mustapha Hospital in Algiers, although none of the patients is injured.

    The Brazilian federal territory of Acre becomes a state.

    At a convention in Lakeport, Michigan, north of Port Huron, Students for a Democratic Society approve the Port Huron Statement.  It becomes their manifesto.

    16 June 1962 The mortal remains of John Ireland are laid to rest in the church of St. Mary the Virgin at Shipley, West Sussex.

    Gun battles break out in Oran between OAS fighters and French security forces.  55 OAS members are arrested.

    The New Yorker publishes the first of three installments of Silent Spring by Rachel Carlson.

    King Herod and the Cock, a carol for voices and piano by Benjamin Britten (48) to traditional words, is performed for the first time, in Aldeburgh Parish Church, the composer at the keyboard.  Also premiered is Britten’s The Twelve Apostles for solo voice, unison voices, and piano, the composer at the keyboard.

    17 June 1962 China shells Quemoy (Jinmen).

    A truce is concluded between the OAS French extremists and FLN Algerian rebels.

    Brazil defeats Czechoslovakia 3-1 in Santiago de Chile to win the seventh FIFA World Cup™.

    18 June 1962 China charges India with an “atrocity” wherein Indian troops north of the MacMahon Line shot Tibetan civilians.

    Four people escape into West Berlin through a tunnel but five of their companions are prevented from entering by East German border guards.

    OAS fighters in Oran reject the truce announced yesterday.  The truce takes hold in Algiers.

    In national elections in Canada, the Progressive Conservative Party of Prime Minister John Diefenbaker suffers the loss of almost half of their seats.  They are reduced to a minority government.

    Atlántida, a scenic cantata by Manuel de Falla (†15) to his own words, after Verdaguer, and completed by Halffter, is staged completely for the first time, at Teatro alla Scala, Milan.  See 24 October 1961.

    19 June 1962 Olivier Messiaen (53) leaves France on his first trip to Japan.

    The OAS sends shells into the Casbah in Oran.

    20 June 1962 OAS bombers destroy the Bône (Annaba) city hall and library.

    Night Fantasy for band by Robert Ward (44) is performed for the first time, in Central Park, New York.

    22 June 1962 The compromise coalition government is installed in Vientiane, Laos by King Savang Vathana.  Prince Souvanna Phouma becomes Prime Minister.

    President Macapagal of the Philippines announces his country’s claim to North Borneo.

    OAS terrorists blow up the Oran city hall.

    23 June 1962 Mainzer Umzug for soprano, tenor, baritone, chorus, and orchestra by Paul Hindemith (66) to words of Zuckmayer, is performed for the first time, at the Städtisches Theater, Mainz.

    Electronic Fanfare for percussion, recorder, and electronically generated sounds by Otto Luening (62) and Halim El-Dabh is performed for the first time, in Spoleto.

    24 June 1962 The OAS destroys eight schools and several other public buildings in Oran.

    A fountain honoring Richard Strauss (†12) is erected on the site of his birthplace in Munich.  The house was destroyed during an Allied air raid in World War II.

    The editor of the New York Herald Tribune publishes a telegram he recently received from Igor Stravinsky (80).  “The only blight on my eightieth birthday is the realization my age will probably keep me from celebrating the funeral of your senile music columnist.”

    25 June 1962 The OAS blows up eight oil storage tanks in Oran.

    The Supreme Court of the United States rules 6-1 in Engel v. Vitale that the State of New York may not compose a prayer and require its recitation in its public schools.

    27 June 1962 The OAS declares a truce in its terrorism campaign in Algeria.

    The UN General Assembly votes 93-0 to grant the independence of Ruanda-Urundi as two countries.  Belgian troops are to be withdrawn by 1 August.

    Composition for Carillon by Gunther Schuller (36) is performed for the first time, at the University of Chicago.

    28 June 1962 Atrées for eleven musicians by Iannis Xenakis (40) is performed for the first time, in Paris.

    29 June 1962 Cornelius Cardew (26) marries Stella Sargent Underwood, an artist and mother of two, at the Kensington Registry Office.  It is the second marriage for both.

    1 July 1962 The Kingdom of Burundi, under Mwami Mwambutsa IV and Prime Minister André Muhirwa, and the Republic of Rwanda, under President Grégoire Kayibanda, are proclaimed independent of Belgium.

    A plebiscite in Algeria votes 99.72% in favor of independence.

    Physical Review Letters reports the discovery of two kinds of neutrinos.

    The Lord’s Prayer for chorus by Peter Maxwell Davies (27) is performed for the first time, in St. Matthew’s Church, Cheltenham the composer conducting.

    2 July 1962 Meetings resume in Geneva between 14 nations interested in a final agreement on the neutrality and independence of Laos.

    Concerto for violin and orchestra op.13 by Alexander Goehr (29) is performed for the first time, in Cheltenham.

    3 July 1962 President Charles de Gaulle of France declares the independence of Algeria under the Chairman of the Provisional Executive Abderrahmane Farès.  In the eight year war for independence, 250,000 people were killed, 500,000 injured.  Within hours, the provisional government in Tunis arrives in Algiers, including Prime Minister Ben-Youssef Ben Khedda.

    The Argentine government announces plans to disband anti-Semitic organizations responsible for a wave of attacks on Jews following the execution of Adolf Eichmann.

    No Exit, a film with music by Vladimir Ussachevsky (50), is shown for the first time, at the Berlin Film Festival.

    5 July 1962 Prime Minister Ben Khedda of Algeria orders a halt to independence celebrations after gunfire in Oran kills around 100 people and injures 163.

    The Czechoslovak government reports that it has failed to reach industrial and agricultural goals.

    A revised version of Don for soprano and orchestra by Pierre Boulez (37) to words of Mallarmé, is performed for the first time, in Amsterdam conducted by the composer.  See 13 June 1960.

    Five Movements for orchestra by Leslie Bassett (39) is performed for the first time, in Rome.

    6 July 1962 Talduwe Somarama Thero is hanged for the murder of Prime Minister SWRD Bandaranaike of Ceylon in 1959.

    A third OAS man is executed by firing squad near Paris for complicity in the 31 May 1961 murder of Roger Gavoury, police commissioner for Algiers.

    William Faulkner dies in Oxford, Mississippi at the age of 64.

    A conference of 17 nations on disarmament resumes in Geneva after a month recess.

    8 July 1962 Livres pour quatuor IIIa, IIIb, IIIc for string quartet by Pierre Boulez (37) are performed for the first time, in Darmstadt.

    The United States detonates a nuclear device about 300 km above the Pacific Ocean.  It was sent aloft in an intermediate range ballistic missile.  An auroral display is visible in Honolulu, some 1,200 km away, for seven minutes, and can also be seen in Auckland, 4,800 km away.

    9 July 1962 Andy Warhol gives his first one-man show, in the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles.  Seen for the first time is Campbell’s Soup Cans.

    10 July 1962 India charges that an Indian post in Ladakh is now surrounded by 400 Chinese troops.  China denies the report and charges that India has set up four military strong points in Sinkiang (Xinjiang).

    04:35  The first privately-owned Earth satellite, Telstar (owned by American Telephone and Telegraph) is launched from Cape Canaveral.  It relays live transatlantic television broadcasts from North America to Europe today.

    Francisco Brochado da Rocha becomes Prime Minister of Brazil.

    Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and three others are jailed in Albany, Georgia after being convicted of violating a public assembly ordinance.

    11 July 1962 The first east-west transatlantic television transmission take place via Telstar.  The French broadcast a speech by the Minister of Communication followed by Yves Montand singing La Chansonette.  The broadcast from Pleumeur-Boudou, Brittany is received at 19:35 New York time.

    A mass protest meeting against yesterday’s imprisonment is held in Shiloh Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia.  32 people march to City Hall where they are arrested.  At night a mass meeting takes place at the church where some participants hurl missiles at the police.

    12 July 1962 Mohammed Ben Bella, in command of dissident Algerian forces, enters Oran and speaks against the Ben Khedda regime.

    Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and three others are released from prison in Albany, Georgia when an anonymous person pays their fines.

    15 July 1962 Composition for oboe, chamber ensemble, and tape by Bruno Maderna (42) is performed for the first time, in Darmstadt.

    17 July 1962 After seeking medical care in London for a serious illness, Mikis Theodorakis (36) returns to Athens, incognito.  He goes immediately to Tsangaris Sanatorium.

    Bearbeitungen über das Glogauer Liederbuch for flute, clarinet, violin, and bass by Charles Wuorinen (24) is performed for the first time, at the University of Hartford.

    18 July 1962 A junta led by Maj. Gen. Ricardo Pío Pérez Godoy overthrows the government of President Manuel Prado y Ugarteche of Peru.  They dissolve the Congress and suspend the constitution.

    A Song for the Lord Mayor’s Table, six songs for soprano and piano by William Walton (60) to words of various authors, is performed for the first time, in Goldsmiths Hall, London.  See 7 July 1970.

    19 July 1962 The government of East Germany creates a five-kilometer exclusion zone along its Baltic coast to prevent increasing numbers of people from attempting a sea escape to Scandinavia.

    Leopardi Fragments, a cantata for soprano, alto, and several instruments by Peter Maxwell Davies (27), is performed for the first time, in Stationers’ Hall, London.

    20 July 1962 East Germany sets up a 5 km wide forbidden zone along the Baltic Coast to halt the escape of refugees.

    21 July 1962 Chinese and Indian troops battle in two separate incidents in the disputed territory of Ladakh.

    The Egyptian military test launches four Egyptian-made missiles in the desert northeast of Cairo.  The larger ones are said to have an effective range of 580 km.

    A new series of explosions begins blowing small holes in the Berlin Wall from the western side.

    161 people are arrested in a civil rights march on City Hall in Albany, Georgia.

    22 July 1962 A group led by Mohammed Ben Bella proclaims its political authority in Tlemcen, Algeria, in opposition to the government of Prime Minister Benyoussef Ben Khedda.

    The Soviet Union announces it will resume atomic testing because of the continuing testing of the United States.

    23 July 1962 Representatives of 14 nations sign an agreement in Geneva designed to guarantee the neutrality and sovereignty of Laos.

    24 July 1962 39 people are arrested in a civil rights march on City Hall in Albany, Georgia.  After this about 2,000 people gather and fire rocks and bricks at police.

    25 July 1962 Civil war threatens in Algeria when troops loyal to Vice President Mohammed Ben Bella take over Bone and Constantine.  There is fighting in Constantine.

    East Berlin border guards shoot and kill one of three refugees during an escape attempt to the west.

    Ausgerechnet und verspielt, a television opera by Ernst Krenek (61) to his own words, is performed for the first time, under the composer’s direction over the airwaves of Osterreicher Fernsehen, originating in Vienna.

    26 July 1962 The US Public Health Service announces its scientists have isolated the virus responsible for rubella.

    27 July 1962 Direct negotiations between rival factions in Algeria begin, easing tensions.

    The East German government announces it has failed to meet production goals in agriculture, heavy machinery, and electricity for the first half of 1962.  But they say success in coal and chemical production makes up for the losses.

    27 people are arrested in a civil rights prayer pilgrimage to City Hall in Albany, Georgia.

    29 July 1962 East Berlin border guards shoot a refugee attempting to escape to the west.

    The Bulgarian government orders higher prices for food to help fight shortages.

    Psalm 150 op.67 for children’s choir and instruments by Benjamin Britten (48) is performed for the first time, in St. Mary’s Church, Thorpe Morieux, for the centennial of his old school, South Lodge (presently called Old Buckenham School).  See 24 June 1963.

    30 July 1962 US helicopters begin a series of flights over East Berlin in an attempt to assert western rights under the Berlin agreement.  The Soviet Union protests the flights.

    Incidental music to Hofmannsthal’s play Jedermann by Ernst Krenek (61) is performed for the first time, in Salzburg.

    The first public performance of several of the Studies for Player Piano by Conlon Nancarrow (49) takes place in the Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City.  They are studies 1-4, 10-19, and 21.

    31 July 1962 The French government announces that almost half of Algeria’s 1,000,000 Europeans have moved to France since the beginning of the year.

    Dutch and Indonesian negotiators meeting near Washington agree to a plan to give Indonesia control over Netherlands New Guinea by May of next year.

    An agreement is signed in London by British Prime Minister Harold MacMillan and Malayan Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman intended to create a Federation of Malaysia.  The Federation is intended to include Malaya, Singapore, Brunei, Sarawak, and North Borneo.

    1 August 1962 Six Renaissance Lyrics for tenor and seven instruments by Gunther Schuller (36) is performed for the first time, at Tanglewood, Lenox, Massachusetts.

    2 August 1962 The Soviet Union begins using armored personnel carriers to transport its troops guarding the Soviet war memorial in West Berlin because of attacks on them by civilians.

    3 August 1962 Mohammed Ben Bella returns to Algiers for the first time since 1956 and is accorded a hero’s welcome.

    4 August 1962 East German authorities begin strengthening the Berlin Wall after a series of small explosions have blown holes from the western side.

    Algerian Affairs Minister Louis Joxe reports to the French National Assembly that during the Algerian war there were 42,090 terrorist attacks which killed 19,166 people and injured 21,151.  13,671 people are still listed as missing.

    5 August 1962 One of the leaders of the African National Congress, Nelson Mandela, is arrested in Johannesburg by South African agents, assisted by the United States Central Intelligence Agency.  He will be sentenced to five years imprisonment.  A later trial will sentence him to life imprisonment.

    Marilyn Monroe is found dead in her Los Angeles home from an overdose of sleeping pills.  She was 36.

    6 August 1962 Jamaica, under Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister W. Alexander Bustamente, is declared independent of Great Britain.  Power is transferred by Princess Margaret in ceremonies in Kingston.

    East Germany announces tighter controls on meat due to problems in food production.

    7 August 1962 All power in Algeria is handed over from the provisional government of Prime Minister Benyoussef Ben Khedda to a junta led by Mohammed Ben Bella.

    9 August 1962 Hermann Hesse dies in Montagnola, Switzerland at the age of 85.

    Phonologie symphonique for orchestra by Toshiro Mayuzumi (33) is performed for the first time, in West Berlin.

    10 August 1962 Prime Minister Francisco Brochado da Rocha of Brazil asks Congress for decree powers to deal with the economic crisis.  They also ask for a referendum to return the country to a presidential form of government.

    11 August 1962 Andrian Grigoryevich Nikolayev is launched into orbit aboard Vostok 3.

    12 August 1962 Pavel Romanovich Popovich is launched into orbit aboard Vostok 4. It is the first time that two humans are in space simultaneously.

    Don Perlimplin, a radio opera by Bruno Maderna (42) to his own words after García Lorca, is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of RAI.

    13 August 1962 On the first anniversary of the Berlin Wall, West Berliners gather for three minutes of silence and then begin throwing insults at the East Berlin guards, followed by rocks and other missiles.  The East Germans respond with water cannon and tear gas.  West Berlin police respond with their own tear gas.  Rioting continues well after dark.  Three attempts to escape are made today.  One border guard is successful but another is killed.  A man is shot to death by East German guards as he swims the Werra River.

    14 August 1962 French and Italian workers meet midway under Mont Blanc, thus connecting an 11.6 km tunnel between Chamonix and Courmayeur.

    15 August 1962 The Netherlands agrees to transfer sovereignty of West Irian to a United Nations administration which will transfer the area to Indonesia by May 1963.  Agreements are signed by representatives of the Netherlands and Indonesia at the UN in New York.

    Andrian Grigoryevich Nikolayev, aboard Vostok 3, returns to Earth after a record 94 hours and 22 minutes in space.  Pavel Romanovich Popovich also returns safely to Earth.  Both land in Kazakhstan six minutes apart.

    16 August 1962 Agreement is reached in London to join the colony of Aden with the British controlled Federation of South Arabia.

    What I Expected Was... for chorus, brass, and percussion by John Corigliano (24) to words of Spender is performed for the first time, at Tanglewood, Lenox, Massachusetts.

    17 August 1962 Two East Berlin construction workers attempt a break to the west.  One escapes but the other, 18-year-old Peter Fechter, is shot by East Berlin guards and falls back into the east.  As a crowd of enraged West Berliners watches, Fechter is left unattended for 90 minutes crying for help.  Attempts from the west to help him are blocked by East German guards with guns.  Police on both sides exchange tear gas as West Berlin police and US soldiers are unable to do anything.  Fechter’s body is finally removed by the East Germans.

    US President John Kennedy awards the gold medal for distinguished federal civilian service to Dr. Frances Oldham Kelsey.  As a medical officer of the Food and Drug Administration, she denied the application of the William S. Merrell Company to market thalidomide and continued to do so in the face of furious appeals by the company for 14 months.

    18 August 1962 Over the next three days, tens of thousands of West Berliners protest the events of yesterday, battling police and stoning buses taking Soviet guards to their war memorial in West Berlin.  They also mock US troops for not helping Peter Fechter.  A teenaged girl makes it to freedom under barbed wire and a hail of bullets.  Her male companion is shot and captured.

    Incidental music to Cocteau’s play Renaud et Armide by Francis Poulenc (63) is performed for the first time, in Baalbeck.

    20 August 1962 During an electrocardiogram examination at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, Irving Fine (47) suffers a mild heart attack.  He is admitted to the hospital.

    The Phoenix and the Turtle for chorus and orchestra by Thea Musgrave (34) to words of Shakespeare is performed for the first time, in Royal Albert Hall, London.

    Flowers in the Valley for chorus by Ulysses Kay (45) to anonymous words is performed for the first time, in Chicago.

    Supplication:  Processional for organ, two trumpets, two trombones, and unison chorus by Henry Cowell (65) is performed for the first time, in the Drake Hotel, Chicago.

    21 August 1962 The Allied command in West Berlin stations an ambulance at the Friedrichstrasse crossing to aid future refugees.

    22 August 1962 OAS gunmen fire automatic weapons at a car carrying President Charles de Gaulle, his wife and son-in-law near Petit-Clamart south of Paris.  No one in the car or accompanying security detail is injured.  One passing motorist is slightly wounded.

    The USSR announces that it is abolishing the office of commandant of Soviet troops in East Berlin in an attempt to ignore the quadripartite agreements regarding the city.

    Canti di vita d’amore:  sul ponte di Hiroshima for soprano, tenor, and orchestra by Luigi Nono (38) to words of Anders, Pacheco, and Pavese, is performed for the first time, in Edinburgh.

    23 August 1962 Early morning.  Irving Gifford Fine dies of a heart attack at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, aged 47 years, eight months, and 20 days.

    24 August 1962 A funeral service in memory of Irving Fine takes place at the Leah and Mendel Berlin Memorial Chapel of Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts.  Among those attending are Aaron Copland (61), Arthur Berger (50), Leonard Bernstein (43), Leon Kirchner (43), and Richard Wernick (28).  His mortal remains are then laid to rest in Sharon Memorial Park, Sharon, Massachusetts.

    25 August 1962 Alpbach Quintet for wind quintet and percussion by Ernst Krenek (62) is performed for the first time, in Alpbach, Austria, the composer conducting.

    28 August 1962 Prime Minister Viggo Kampmann of Denmark suffers a heart attack.

    75 clergymen are arrested in an anti-segregation prayer vigil at City Hall in Albany, Georgia.

    Cantate de l’initiation op.388 by Darius Milhaud (69) is performed for the first time, in Jerusalem.

    29 August 1962 US President Kennedy agrees to Soviet proposals that the current series of atomic tests by both countries be ended by 1 January.

    The West German government estimates that 10,000 birth defects have been caused by thalidomide.  Half of the babies are still alive.

    30 August 1962 The government of South Africa publishes the names of citizens who are forbidden to make public statements under the anti-sabotage law.

    31 August 1962 Prime Minister Viggo Kampmann of Denmark resigns his post after suffering a heart attack three days ago.

    Trinidad and Tobago, under Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Eric Eustace Williams, is proclaimed independent of Great Britain.

    1 September 1962 A popular referendum in Singapore votes on the terms of merger with Malaysia.

    An earthquake in northwestern Iran causes 12,230 deaths.

    Crosses are burned by the Ku Klux Klan in 14 Louisiana communities and the capital, Baton Rouge, as a protest against racial integration.

    3 September 1962 Piano Sonata no.2 by Michael Tippett (57) is performed for the first time, in Freemasons’ Hall, Edinburgh.

    Jens Otto Krag replaces Viggo Kampmann as Prime Minister of Denmark.  Kampmann suffered a heart attack on 28 August.

    The Parliament of India creates Nagaland as the country’s 15th state effective 1 December.

    ee cummings dies in North Conway, New Hampshire at the age of 67.

    4 September 1962 The USSR claims that a US U-2 spy plane flew into Soviet airspace over Sakhalin Island on 30 August and demands and apology.  The US admits that this could be true but that it was accidental.

    Roman Catholic schools in and around New Orleans are desegregated.

    Meeting in Mexico City, the Latin American Free Trade Association votes 7-0-2 to deny admission to Cuba.

    5 September 1962 Two East German workers ram a truck through a barrier, climb a fence, and swim a canal to West Berlin all under a hail of bullets.

    6 September 1962 While being transported in a prison ambulance to a New York-bound plane to be tried in the United States, convicted Soviet spy Robert Soblen ingests an overdose of barbiturates, in London.  He is taken to the hospital.

    President José María Guido of Argentina formally dissolves Congress and orders presidential and congressional elections for October 1963.  They are part of military demands that he deal with communism and Perónism.

    As part of the US-USSR cultural exchange agreement, the Bolshoy ballet opens in New York.

    7 September 1962 The French Interior Ministry announces the capture of five conspirators in the assassination attempt of 22 August.

    Five OAS men are convicted in a court in Troyes of the assassination attempt of 9 September 1961.  They receive sentences of from 10-20 years.  A sixth defendant is tried in absentia and sentenced to life in prison.

    The New York Times reports that about 4,000 Soviet and other eastern European soldiers are currently serving in Cuba.

    The conference of 17 nations discussing disarmament recesses in Geneva.

    The National Assembly of Ghana extends the term of President Kwame Nkrumah to his natural life.

    8 September 1962 Lt. Colonel Martin Loeffler becomes the highest ranking East German soldier to flee to West Berlin so far.

    9 September 1962 Peking radio announces that China has shot down a Nationalist Chinese U-2 spy plane over “eastern China.”

    4,000 troops led by Houari Boumdienne and loyal to Ahmed (no longer Mohammed) Ben Bella enter Algiers, thus averting a civil war.

    France and Syria restore diplomatic relations.  They were broken following the Suez War of 1956.

    A bomb goes off outside the presidential palace in Accra, Ghana as a crowd of 2,000 gathers to pledge loyalty to President Kwame Nkrumah.  Three children are killed, 63 people are injured.  The President is unhurt.

    10 September 1962 The US announces it plans to resume atmospheric and high altitude atomic testing above Johnston Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.

    At the end of a long legal battle, US Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black orders that James Meredith, a black man, be admitted to the University of Mississippi.

    Sound Patterns by Pauline Oliveros (30) is performed for the first time.

    11 September 1962 Five days after taking an overdose of barbiturates, convicted Soviet spy Robert Soblen dies in a London hospital.  He took the drugs presumably to avoid deportation to the United States.

    Lunch counters in 15 New Orleans stores are desegregated when about 200 blacks in small groups are served without incident.  The plan was negotiated in advance by black leaders and white store owners.

    13 September 1962 Governor Ross Barnett invokes the doctrine of interposition and vows to bar the admission of James Meredith to the University of Mississppi.

    First Fantasia on an In Nomine of John Taverner for orchestra by Peter Maxwell Davies (28) is performed for the first time, in Royal Albert Hall, London the composer conducting.

    14 September 1962 Soviet soldiers guarding their war memorial in West Berlin are brought to their posts by bus.  Since 2 August they have been using armored personnel carriers to protect them from West Berlin civilians.

    29 men, women, and children escape to West Berlin through a 120 meter tunnel dug west to east from the French sector.  It is the largest mass escape to date.  30 others have already come through the tunnel in small groups.

    15 September 1962 27 members of the OAS are convicted of terrorist acts by a Paris military court.

    16 September 1962 Genesis 2:  Canti Strumentali op.19/2 for fifteen players by Henryk Górecki (28) is performed for the first time, in Warsaw.

    17 September 1962 Two OAS men are convicted of terrorist acts in a Paris military court.  One is sentenced to death, the other to life in prison.

    Three newspapers are seized by Turkish authorities in Ankara.  They published pictures of former Prime Minister Adnan Menderes to commemorate the first anniversary of his execution.

    18 September 1962 Four nations are admitted to the United Nations:  the Kingdom of Burundi, Jamaica, the Republic of Rwanda, and Trinidad and Tobago.

    Hermes Lima replaces Francisco Brochado da Rocha as Prime Minister of Brazil.

    20 September 1962 Algeria holds its first post-independence election.  Candidates for the National Assembly are from a single list and all support Ahmed Ben Bella.

    In a national address, President Charles de Gaulle of France suggests a referendum on a constitutional amendment providing for direct popular election of the president.

    Authorities in Southern Rhodesia ban the Zimbabwe African Peoples Union led by Joshua Nkomo.

    Two different factions of the Argentine military battle each other, starting at the La Plata Anti-Aircraft Artillery School, near Buenos Aires.

    Pursuant to a federal court order, James Meredith attempts to register at the University of Mississippi.  He is denied by Governor Ross Barnett personally.  2,000 jeering white students and 100 policemen are on hand for the event.

    21 September 1962 Igor Stravinsky (80), his wife and Robert Craft land at Sheremetievo Airport, Moscow.  It is the composer’s first visit to his homeland in 48 years.

    Fighting continues in Argentina between rival factions of the military.

    Tony Richardson’s film The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner is released in Great Britain.

    Kanon for strings and two tape players by Krzysztof Penderecki (28) is performed for the first time, in Warsaw.

    Songs for Ariel, excerpts for voice and piano of the incidental music to The Tempest by Michael Tippett (57), is performed for the first time, at Fenton House, London.

    22 September 1962 Speaking in Lusaka, Joshua Nkomo announces a government-in-exile for Southern Rhodesia to be formed in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanganyka.

    President José María Guido joins rebel forces in the Argentine military and orders the air force into the battle.  The fighting essentially ends.

    Forever Free for band by Ulysses Kay (45) is performed for the first time, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, on the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.

    23 September 1962 Connotations for orchestra by Aaron Copland (61) is performed for the first time, at the inauguration of Lincoln Center, directed by Leonard Bernstein (44).  The concert is televised by the CBS television network.  Among the attenders are composers Walter Piston (68), Roger Sessions (65), Henry Cowell (65), Roy Harris (64), Samuel Barber (52) and the Center’s director, William Schuman (52), along with Rudolf Bing, Isaac Stern, Secretary-General of the United Nations U Thant, first lady Jacqueline Kennedy, Secretary of State Dean Rusk, Governor Nelson Rockefeller and New York Mayor Robert Wagner.

    24 September 1962 Piano Concerto op.38 by Samuel Barber (52) is performed for the first time, at Lincoln Center, New York.  It will win for Barber his second Pulitzer Prize.

    25 September 1962 A federal appeals court orders Governor Ross Barnett to admit James Meredith to the University of Mississippi.  Meredith attempts to register at the University trustees’ office in Jackson.  Barnett stands in the door and denies Meredith admittance.  Another federal court issues a contempt citation against Barnett.

    Walter Piston’s (68) Lincoln Center Festival Overture is performed for the first time, in Lincoln Center, New York.

    26 September 1962 James Meredith attempts for a third time to enroll in the University of Mississippi but is stopped at the gate of the Oxford campus by Lt. Governor Paul Johnson and about 35 state security personnel.  US marshal James McShane attempts to push his way through but ends up scuffling with the Lt. Governor and police.  A federal court issues a contempt citation against Johnson and a second citation against Governor Ross Barnett.

    Igor Stravinsky (80) makes his first appearance in his homeland since the revolution as he conducts a concert of his own music in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory.  The audience is filled with many musicians, including Dmitri Shostakovich (56) and Aram Khachaturian (59).

    Two young East Germans drive a motorcycle through the Babelsburg Checkpoint into West Berlin.

    Trois Bagatelles for pianist by György Ligeti (39) is performed for the first time, in Wiesbaden.

    27 September 1962 Silent Spring by Rachel Carlson is published by Houghton, Mifflin in Boston.

    Harry Partch (61) travels from San Francisco to Petaluma, California.  He inspects a former chick hatchery and finds its 100 sq. meters adequate to hold his equipment.  Here he will produce And on the Seventh Day Petals Fell in Petaluma.

    Octet for oboe, clarinet, horn, trombone, violin, cello, bass, and piano by Charles Wuorinen (24) is performed for the first time, in Carnegie Recital Hall, New York.

    28 September 1962 Ahmed Ben Bella forms the first independent government for Algeria.

    A federal court in New Orleans finds Governor Ross Barnett of Mississippi guilty of contempt and orders him to comply with court orders or face a fine of $10,000 per day.

    The Canadian satellite Alouette is sent into obit by a US rocket launched from Point Arguello, California.  It is the first artificial satellite designed and built by a country other than the US or the USSR.  It is to be used in the study of the ionosphere.

    A man claiming to be a member of the American Nazi Party assaults Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Birmingham, Alabama by punching him twice in the face.  Neither King nor anyone around him retaliates.  The man is arrested and sentenced to 30 days in prison.

    Toccata for the Sixth Day by William Bergsma (41) is performed for the first time, at Lincoln Center, New York.

    29 September 1962 Lt. Governor Paul Johnson of Mississippi is found guilty of contempt.

    30 September 1962 By the terms of a federal court order, James Meredith, a black student, takes up residence at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, guarded by US marshals.  President Kennedy nationalizes the Mississippi National Guard.  At about 20:00, whites go on a riotous rampage at the University and through the town.  At 22:30, President Kennedy broadcasts a televised appeal for calm in the state and asks acceptance of federal court orders, which has no effect on the riots.  French journalist Paul Guihard is shot execution style by rioters behind a dormitory.  His killers will never be brought to justice.

    William Schuman (52) appears as a mystery guest on the television game show What’s My Line?

    1 October 1962 The United Nations Temporary Executive Authority replaces Dutch administration in Netherlands New Guinea.

    Cornelius Cardew (26) gets a job as assistant art editor for Aldus Books in London.

    At an evening reception given by the Soviet Minister of Culture, Igor Stravinsky (80) meets with leading Soviet composers including Dmitri Shostakovich (56) and Aram Khachaturian (59).  According to Robert Craft, this is “the most extraordinary event of the trip.”

    About 3,000 federal troops and 400 US marshals manage to restore order in Oxford, Mississippi and the University of Mississippi.  60-70 people are injured and around 150 are arrested.  James Meredith attends classes guarded by four marshals.  His total security contingent includes 75 US marshals.  White students jeer him and hurl racial epithets.

    2 October 1962 Peter Mennin (39) replaces William Schuman (52) as President of the Juilliard School, New York.

    The United States announces that it has resumed atmospheric nuclear testing near Johnston Island in the Pacific.

    3 October 1962 08:15  Walter Schirra blasts off from Cape Canaveral, Florida aboard a Mercury capsule, orbits the Earth almost six times, and returns to Earth nine hours and 13 minutes later, 530 km northeast of Midway.

    About 50 white University of Mississippi students protest near the residence of James Meredith and burn him in effigy.  They are dispersed by federal troops.

    Orchesterstück 2 by Gottfried Michael Koenig (35) is performed for the first time, in Palermo.

    4 October 1962 US President Kennedy creates stronger measures in the embargo against Cuba.  He orders US flagged ships to avoid Cuba entirely, and ships which bring goods to Cuba will not be welcome at US ports.

    Igor Stravinsky (80) and his companions fly from Moscow to Leningrad, his native city.

    Symphony no.8 by William Schuman (52) is performed for the first time, at Lincoln Center, New York, conducted by Leonard Bernstein (44).  It was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic for the inauguration of Philharmonic Hall (Avery Fisher Hall).

    5 October 1962 The last group of US military advisors leave Laos a day before the deadline set by the Geneva agreement.

    Igor Stravinsky (80) visits Lomonosov and tries to find the house where he was born.  Unknown to him and his hosts, the building was destroyed 30 years ago.

    The French National Assembly censures the Pompidou government for its acceptance of the referendum plan of President Charles de Gaulle.

    Dr. No, the first film featuring James Bond, is shown for the first time, in London.

    Amplification for jazz band and tape by Lejaren Hiller (38) is performed for the first time, at the University of Illinois, Urbana.

    6 October 1962 West Berliners break a tunnel through into the basement of shop in the East.  After helping the two shopkeepers out, they are discovered by East Berlin police.  One West Berliner is shot.  A British military ambulance dispatched to the scene is refused passage through the wall, the first time a military vehicle has been denied entry into East Berlin.  A Red Cross ambulance is also turned back.

    Prime Minister Georges Pompidou and his cabinet resign after the censure of yesterday.

    7 October 1962 Concerto-Rhapsody for violin and orchestra by Aram Khachaturian (59) is performed for the first time, in Yaroslavl.

    8 October 1962 Algeria is admitted to the United Nations.

    A gun battle erupts between East and West Berlin police when East Berlin police kill two refugees attempting to swim the Spree River.

    President Rómulo Betancourt suspends constitutional liberties in Venezuela after a week of terrorism.

    Before conducting a concert of his music in the Great Hall of the Leningrad Philharmonic, Igor Stravinsky (80) tells his audience, “69 years ago I sat with my mother in that corner at a concert conducted by Napravnik to mourn the death of Tchaikovsky.  Now I am conducting in the same hall.  It is a great occasion for me.”

    String Quartet no.5 by Walter Piston (68) is performed for the first time, in Berlin.

    9 October 1962 President Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam tells his National Assembly that there has been an “incontestable turn” for the better in the war against the Viet Cong.

    Igor Stravinsky (80) and his companions depart Leningrad by train for Moscow.

    Uganda, under Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Milton Obote, is proclaimed independent of Great Britain.

    Wilson Greatbatch receives a US patent for a cardiac pacemaker.

    R. Murray Schafer (29) outlines his ideas about music education for the first time, to a meeting of secondary school teachers in Toronto.  He advocates more listening skills than theory.

    10 October 1962 Fighting breaks out between Chinese and Indian troops near Dhola, Northeast Frontier Territory.  At least 28 people are killed.

    French President Charles de Gaulle dissolves the National Assembly and calls elections for late November.  Every party but his own has opposed his referendum plan as unconstitutional.

    At a dinner at the Metropole in Moscow, Igor Stravinsky (80) is seated near Dmitri Shostakovich (56).  The two speak amiably, but not in great depth.

    Klavierstück X by Karlheinz Stockhausen (34) is performed for the first time, in Palermo.

    11 October 1962 Nikita Khrushchev receives Igor Stravinsky (80) and his party at the Kremlin for 40 minutes.  A few hours later they board a plane for Paris.

    2,500 participants celebrate the opening of the Second Vatican Council in Rome.

    12 October 1962 The largest statue of Stalin is blown up in Prague.

    Trio for strings by LaMonte Young (26) is performed for the first time, in Judson Hall, New York.

    13 October 1962 Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee opens on Broadway.

    14 October 1962 Thousands of Flemish speakers march on Brussels protesting imbalances in representation and language discrimination.  There they battle French speakers.  19 people are injured, 50 arrested.

    The Robert Shaw Chorale begins a tour of the Soviet Union.

    15 October 1962 The Ballad of the Dead Brother, a musical play by Mikis Theodorakis (37) to his own words, is staged for the first time, in Athens.  The work causes protest, both artistically and politically, from all sides of the political spectrum.

    16 October 1962 US President Kennedy is shown secret aerial photographs of Soviet missile installations in Cuba.

    The Argentine government announces that elections scheduled for October 1963 will be held in March and June instead.

    18 October 1962 Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko meets with US President Kennedy in the White House.  He assures the President that Soviet assistance to Cuba is purely humanitarian and any military assistance is only defensive.  He is lying and Kennedy knows it.

    20 October 1962 Armed forces of the Peoples Republic of China launch a major offensive into India, in Ladakh and the Northwest Frontier Agency (Arunachal Pradesh), moving 130 km without effective Indian opposition.

    Armed forces of the United States begin preparation for a quarantine and possible invasion of Cuba.  Large numbers of troops are moved into the southeast of the country while hundreds of navy vessels are sent into the Caribbean.

    A stranger to myself for baritone, male chorus, two trombones, and timpani by Ross Lee Finney (55) to words of Camus is performed for the first time, at Colgate University.

    Trio for flute, violin, and harp by Henry Cowell (65) is performed for the first time, at Michigan State University, Oakland.

    21 October 1962 China lodges a “most urgent” protest against a “massive” Indian incursion along the border.

    Fluorescences for orchestra by Krzysztof Penderecki (28) is performed for the first time, in Donaueschingen.

    22 October 1962 Prime Minister Nehru addresses the Indian nation, preparing them for war with China.

    Benjamin Britten (48) receives the Freedom of the Borough of Aldeburgh.

    US President John Kennedy announces to the world the presence of Soviet offensive missiles in Cuba and demands their removal.  He announces that the US will institute a quarantine of all offensive weapons to Cuba.  Military dependents are evacuated from the US naval base at Guantanamo.

    Chamber Symphony for ten players by Ralph Shapey (41) is performed for the first time, in McMillin Auditorium at Columbia University, conducted by the composer.

    Trio for flute, cello, and piano by Otto Luening (62) is performed for the first time, in New York.  Charles Wuorinen (24) plays the piano part.

    23 October 1962 The Soviet government announces that any aggressive move by the US against Cuba could result in thermonuclear war.  The Soviet military is placed on alert.  Leaves are cancelled.  Fidel Castro calls the quarantine “a violation against the sovereign rights of our country…”

    The Organization of American States votes 19-0-1 to support a quarantine of Cuba to prevent the shipment of offensive ballistic missiles.  US military forces worldwide are put on alert.

    24 October 1962 10:00  A quarantine of Cuba goes into effect, conducted by the United States.  20 Soviet ships closest to the quarantine line either stop dead in the water or reverse direction.

    0’0” for any player by John Cage (50) is performed for the first time, in Tokyo by the composer.  The most important part of the score reads, “IN A SITUATION PROVIDED WITH MAXIMUM AMPLIFICATION (NO FEEDBACK), PERFORM A DISCIPLINED ACTION.”  For this simultaneous composition and first performance, Cage writes a manuscript.  The work is dedicated to the young Japanese composer Toshi Ichiyanagi and his wife Yoko Ono.

    25 October 1962 Chinese forces capture Towang, India near the border with Bhutan.

    Uganda is admitted to the United Nations.

    In the UN Security Council, US Ambassador Adlai Stevenson demands that Soviet ambassador Valerian A. Zorin admit or deny the presence of Soviet offensive missiles in Cuba.  When Zorin refuses to answer Stevenson replies “I am prepared to wait for my answer until Hell freezes over if that is your decision.”  Stevenson then presents photographic evidence to the Council, proving the existence of Soviet offensive missiles in Cuba.

    Two new works are performed for the first time in the Beethovensaal der Stuttgarter Liederhalle:  Polla ta dhina for children’s chorus, wind and percussion by Iannis Xenakis (40) to words of Sophocles and Nach wie vor der Reihe nach for orchestra by Ernst Krenek (62).

    26 October 1962 The US explodes an atomic weapon near Johnston Island in the Pacific.

    India declares a state of emergency and appeals to the United States, Great Britain, France, and Canada for military aid.  All will respond affirmatively.

    The first Soviet ship to be stopped at the quarantine line around Cuba is boarded by US Navy personnel.  It is found to not contain any weapons and is allowed to proceed.

    18:00  US President Kennedy receives a personal message in a conciliatory tone from Soviet Premier Khrushchev.  He tells Kennedy that if the US pledges not to invade Cuba and to end the quarantine, the missiles will be removed.

    Federal agents raid the offices of Der Spiegel in Bonn and Hamburg, apparently in reaction to the 10 October publication of an article on the poor state of readiness of West Germany’s armed forces.  Publisher Rudolf Augstein and five other staff members are arrested on charges of treason and bribery.

    Concerto for piano and orchestra by Gunther Schuller (36) is performed for the first time, in Cincinnati.

    27 October 1962 Indian Prime Minister Nehru rejects Chinese peace feelers until Chinese troops withdraw from Indian territory.  Chinese troops advance into Ladakh in the area of Damchok.

    Morning.  The US government receives a second letter signed by Soviet Premier Khrushchev, but probably not written by him.  It proposes a trade of Soviet missiles in Cuba for US missiles in Turkey and the pledge of no invasion of the two countries.

    A surface-to-air missile from Cuba shoots down a United States U2 spy plane.

    Four power stations of the US-owned Creole Petroleum Corporation are blown up around Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela.  The government blames communists.

    US President Kennedy responds to the more conciliatory letter of last night and ignores the letter of this morning.  He agrees that the quarantine of Cuba will end and pledges not to invade Cuba if the missiles are removed.

    19:45  US Attorney General Robert Kennedy meets Soviet Ambassador Antoly Dobrynin in Kennedy’s office in the Justice Department.  Kennedy agrees to the removal of US missiles in Turkey as long as there is no appearance of a quid pro quo.

    22:00  The US receives word that the USSR agrees to remove its offensive missiles in Cuba.  The US agrees to remove missiles in Turkey within six months, end the quarantine of Cuba and pledge not to invade Cuba.

    28 October 1962 The removal of Soviet missiles from Cuba is publicly announced by Radio Moscow.

    A national referendum in France votes in favor of President de Gaulle’s plan for the popular election of the president.

    29 October 1962 John Kenneth Galbraith, US ambassador to New Delhi, announces that the US is granting an Indian request for arms in its struggle against China.

    While black student James Meredith eats in the cafeteria, 200 white students at the University of Mississippi hurl bottles and firecrackers at soldiers guarding him.

    30 October 1962 The US quarantine of Cuba is suspended at dawn while UN Secretary General U Thant travels to Havana to work out inspections of the missile sites.

    31 October 1962 West German Justice Minister Wolfgang Stammberger resigns after he was not informed in advance of the raid on Der Spiegel on 26 October.  Stammberger is a member of the FDP, the junior coalition partner.

    Belgium’s House of Representatives approves a bill to divide the country into two sections based on language.

    1 November 1962 When U Thant returns to New York without an agreement on the inspection of missile dismantling, the US resumes its quarantine of Cuba.

    Two songs by Charles Ives (†8) are performed for the first time, at the Philadelphia Art Alliance:  The Cage and Soliloquy, both to his own words.

    2 November 1962 President Kennedy announces that the Soviet offensive missiles in Cuba are being dismantled.

    Four pipelines of US oil companies are blown up in Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela.

    Monody II for double bass by George Perle (47) is performed for the first time, in New Paltz, New York.

    3 November 1962 The first shipment of arms from the US arrives in Calcutta to aid India in the war against China.

    Hundreds of thousands of Chinese march to the Cuban embassy in Peking over the next three days to express support for Cuba against the United States.

    Four students are expelled from the University of Mississippi after weapons are found in their dormitory.

    4 November 1962 US President Kennedy announces that his country has concluded its current round of atomic testing in the Pacific and is ready to sign a treaty banning further tests.

    5 November 1962 India reports that its troops have abandoned Daulet Beg Oldi at the southern end of the Karakoram Pass.  This gives China control over all 25,000 sq km they claim in Ladakh.

    West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer sacks Walter Strauss, state secretary in the Justice Ministry, and places Volkmar Hopf, state secretary in the Defense Ministry, on indefinite leave.  This comes on the demand of the FDP after the two failed to inform Justice Minister Wolfgang Stammberger (FDP) of the 26 October raid on Der Spiegel.

    Prime Minister Anton Yugov of Bulgaria and seven other high ranking officials are purged from the Central Committee of the Communist Party.  They will be removed from the party at the close of its current congress.

    6 November 1962 A conference in London on a constitution for British Guiana ends in failure.  Britain postpones setting a date for independence.

    A bomb explodes near Accra after a meeting of Ghanaian President Nkrumah’s ruling Convention People’s Party.  Two people are injured.

    Saudi Arabia cuts diplomatic relations with Egypt claiming that Egyptian planes bombed Muwassam and Khalaf near the border with Yemen, in support of republican forces in Yemen.

    Congressional elections in the United States leave the Democratic Party in control of both houses, their numbers virtually unchanged.

    The first NewYork solo exhibition of Andy Warhol opens at the Stable Gallery.  If features the first showing of 210 Coca-Cola Bottles, Red Elvis, the Marilyn Diptych, and several other “Marilyn” works.

    7 November 1962 Indian troops repulse Chinese attacks yesterday and today in the area of Walong in the far northeast of India.

    The former secretary general of the African National Congress, Nelson Mandela, is sentenced to five years in prison, three years for inciting a strike and two years for leaving the country without a passport.

    8 November 1962 The US Defense Department announces that its aerial surveillance shows that all medium and intermediate range ballistic missiles in Cuba have been dismantled.

    Thomas Galloway Dunlop Galbraith, Joint Undersecretary for Scotland, tenders his resignation to British Prime Minister Harold MacMillan after publication of letters he wrote to William Vassall, presently imprisoned for espionage.  The letters instruct Vassall to bring secret documents to Galbraith’s home in Scotland and also include “personal requests and comments.”  Vassall is a homosexual.

    West German Defense Minister Franz Josef Strauss admits that his ministry was responsible for the arrest of Conrad Ahlers in Spain.  Ahlers wrote the Der Spiegel article claiming the West German military is unprepared.

    9 November 1962 Gunther Schuller (36) begins his Twentieth Century Innovations concert series at Carnegie Recital Hall, New York.

    10 November 1962 A court in Liège acquits Suzanne Coipel Van De Put and four others of murder in the death of her infant daughter.  The girl, a victim of thalidomide, had been born without arms and with other deformities.  The defendants admitted poisoning the child.

    Canção do poeta do século XVIII for voice and guitar by Heitor Villa-Lobos (†2) to words of Ferreira is performed for the first time, in the Auditório do Ministério da Educaçao e Cultura, Rio de Janeiro.

    Preghiere for baritone and chamber orchestra by Luigi Dallapiccola (58) to words of Mendes (tr. Jacobbi) is performed for the first time, in Herz Hall, Berkeley, California.

    11 November 1962 Genesis, an oratorio for tenor, narrator, chorus, brass, percussion, organ, piano, and string quartet by John Tavener (18) is performed for the first time, in St. Andrews’, Frognal.

    12 November 1962 At a festival of his music in Gorky, Dmitri Shostakovich (56) conducts his music in public for the first and only time, in performances of the Festive Overture and the Cello Concerto no.1.

    Modinha for solo voice and guitar by Heitor Villa-Lobos (†2) to words of Bandeira is performed for the first time, in the Auditório do Palácio da Cultura MEC, Rio de Janeiro.

    Ouverture philharmonique op.397 for orchestra by Darius Milhaud (70) is performed for the first time, in Lincoln Center, New York.

    14 November 1962 Praeludium for brass, bells and percussion by Michael Tippett (57) is performed for the first time, at Royal Festival Hall, London.

    Serenade no.12 op.88 for tuba by Vincent Persichetti (47) is performed for the first time, in Elkhart, Indiana.

    16 November 1962 Concert de chambre op.389 by Darius Milhaud (70) is performed for the first time, at Dartmouth College.

    Two chamber works by Heitor Villa-Lobos are performed for the first time, in Rio de Janeiro, on the eve of the third anniversary of the composer’s death:  Sexteto místico for flute, oboe, alto saxophone, harp, celesta, and guitar (completed 1917), and Instrumental Quintet for flute, violin, viola, cello, and harp.

    17 November 1962 Sacrifice for alto flute, lute, antique cymbals, and vibraphone by Toru Takemitsu (32) is performed for the first time, in Asahi Hall, Tokyo.

    Sonata for flute and piano by Charles Wuorinen (24) is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of WNYC, New York.

    18 November 1962 Parliamentary elections in Austria leave the parties virtually unchanged.  The Peoples-Socialist coalition continues under Chancellor Alfons Gorbach.

    19 November 1962 Soviet General Secretary Nikita Khrushchev announces a sweeping revision of the Soviet government, which provides for two administrations from the national to the local level, to govern industrial and agricultural affairs.

    Todor Khristov Zhivkov replaces Anton Tanev Yugov as Prime Minister of Bulgaria.  Yugov was removed on 14 November as part of a purge of Stalinists in the Central Committee.

    The Free Democratic Party withdraws its five members from the ruling West German coalition over the Der Spiegel affair.

    20 November 1962 The United States ends its quarantine of Cuba after the USSR agrees to remove all its bombers from the island.

    US President Kennedy signs an executive order prohibiting racial and religious discrimination in federal and federally funded housing.  Senator John Stennis of Mississippi calls it an “audacious usurpation of power.”

    21 November 1962 The Peoples Republic of China announces a unilateral withdrawal of its forces from India and a cease-fire.

    The USSR announces that it has cancelled a Warsaw Pact alert ordered at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

    22 November 1962 The government of China orders its troops in India to cease-fire.

    23 November 1962 An agreement on a constitution and self-rule for Nyasaland is announced in London.

    25 November 1962 In the second round of National Assembly elections in France, Gaullists win an absolute majority.  Leftists do better than 1958, but not much.

    26 November 1962 UN disarmament talks by 18 nations resume in Geneva.

    Four carols for chorus by Peter Maxwell Davies (28) to 15th century Latin words, are performed for the first time, in St. Pancras Town Hall, London:  Carol on St. Stephen, Jesus autem hodie, Nowell, and Alma redemptoris mater.

    27 November 1962 Stabat mater for three choruses by Krzysztof Penderecki (29) is performed for the first time, in Warsaw.

    28 November 1962 Former Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands dies at Het Loo, near Apeldoorn.

    The Paris Gestapo chief and his deputy are released from prison by President Charles de Gaulle.

    29 November 1962 Suite for clarinet and piano by Ernst Krenek (62) is performed for the first time, in Beaumont Lecture Hall, University of Miami, Florida.

    30 November 1962 Coral Island for soprano and orchestra by Toru Takemitsu (32) to words of Ooka, is performed for the first time, in a Japan radio broadcast.

    Acting Secretary-General Sithi U Thant is elected to a full term as Secretary-General of the United Nations.

    Giostra Genovese for orchestra by Bernd Alois Zimmermann (44) is performed for the first time, in the Stadttheater Bonn.

    Overture Philharmonique by Darius Milhaud (70) is performed for the first time, at Lincoln Center, New York.

    1 December 1962 China withdraws its troops in India to a line 20 km behind the 1959 line of control.

    A concert setting of the music to the film Journey to the Stars by Gunther Schuller (37) is performed for the first time, in Toledo conducted by the composer.

    2 December 1962 Zoltán Kodály (79) receives the Order of the Hungarian Peoples Republic, the nation’s highest state honor.

    3 December 1962 Five days of dense fog begins, covering most of England.  Transportation virtually halts and Heathrow Airport is closed.  106 people will die in London because of the fog.

    4 December 1962 Hexagrams for chamber orchestra by Richard Wernick (28) is performed for the first time, in Kiamesha Lake, New York.

    5 December 1962 China releases 64 sick and wounded Indian prisoners at Bombila.

    Martial law, imposed following the May 1961 coup, ends in South Korea.  However, the military still wield extraordinary power in civil justice.

    The Cuban government nationalizes all clothing, shoe, and hardware firms, retail and wholesale.

    6 December 1962 The mobile version of Répons for seven musicians by Henri Pousseur (33) is performed for the first time, in Brussels.  The fixed version was premiered in 1960.  The work is dedicated to John Cage (50).

    Two orchestral works by Charles Ives (†8) are performed for the first time, in Carnegie Recital Hall, New York:  Set no.3 for chamber orchestra (first complete), finished in 1918 and Chromâtimelôdtune, completed in 1919 and realized by Gunther Schuller (37).  See 10 May 1951.

    7 December 1962 Kirsten Flagstad dies in Oslo at the age of 67.

    Trio for violin, clarinet, and cello by Richard Wernick (28) is performed for the first time, at Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts.

    8 December 1962 Rebellion breaks out in Brunei, Sarawak, and Sabah against incorporation into Malaysia.  Rebels attack the Sultan’s palace and the Brunei Shell Petroleum Company, unsuccessfully.  They manage to capture the Shell International Oil Company fields to the southwest, and some small towns in Sarawak and North Borneo.  The rebels are given covert aid by Indonesia.  British troops are transferred from Singapore.

    Pope John XXIII ends the first session of the Second Vatican Council.

    Make Ye Merry for Him that is to Come for women’s chorus and children’s chorus by Thea Musgrave (34) to a 15th century text, is performed for the first time, in St. Bartholemew’s the Great, Smithfield.

    9 December 1962 Brunei and British forces recapture Seria from rebels.  They also retake Weston and Tulong.

    Tanganyika declares itself a republic under President Julius Kambarage Nyerere.

    10 December 1962 Four Portraits for baritone, clarinet, and piano by Thea Musgrave (34) to words of Davies, is performed for the first time, in London.

    11 December 1962 The three-week-old West German cabinet crisis ends when the CDU and FDP agree on a lineup for a new government.

    Chorale Prelude:  So Pure the Star op.91 for band by Vincent Persichetti (47) is performed for the first time, in Durham, North Carolina the composer conducting.

    12 December 1962 China releases 17 sick and wounded Indian prisoners.

    Speaking from the Supreme Soviet in Moscow, General Secretary Nikita Khrushchev fires back at Chinese criticism of his handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

    US President Kennedy strongly urges the creation of a direct communications link between the White House and the Kremlin.

    13 December 1962 The British command in northern Borneo announces the end of the rebellion.

    China releases 80 sick and wounded Indian prisoners at Dirang Dzong.

    Fanfare for two trumpets and trombone op.400 by Darius Milhaud (70) is performed for the first time, in Paris.

    The Brazilian Federal Territory of Rio Branco is renamed Roraima.

    14 December 1962 Mariner 2, an American space probe, passes within 35,000 km of Venus.

    British Governor Sir Evelyn Hone announces the formation of the first African-dominated cabinet for Northern Rhodesia.

    15 December 1962 China releases 78 sick and wounded Indian prisoners at Waling.

    In the first elections under a new constitution for Southern Rhodesia, the apartheid Rhodesian Front Party wins a majority of seats.

    Chaconne for piano by Sofia Gubaidulina (31) is performed for the first time, in Gnesin Hall, Moscow.  The first half of the program is dedicated to her works.

    Bohor for four-track tape by Iannis Xenakis (40) is performed for the first time, in Paris.  Although the work is dedicated to Pierre Schaeffer (52), this will cause a break between the two.

    New works for organ are performed for the first time, at the dedication of the Aeolian-Skinner organ in Philharmonic Hall (Avery Fisher Hall), New York:  Pange lingua by Virgil Thomson (66), Hymn and Fuguing Tune no.14 for organ by Henry Cowell (65), and Shimah B’Koli op.89 for organ by Vincent Persichetti (47).

    16 December 1962 Morsima-Amorsima for piano, violin, cello and double bass by Iannis Xenakis (40) is performed for the first time, in Athens, conducted by Lukas Foss (40).

    17 December 1962 South Korean voters approve a new constitution written by the country’s military.

    A new constitution in Monaco grants women the right to vote and abolishes capital punishment.

    Cinque Capricci di Girolamo Fresobaldi “La Frescobalda” for orchestra by Bernd Alois Zimmermann (44) is performed for the first time, in Cologne.

    18 December 1962 Symphony no.13 “Babi Yar” for bass, male chorus, and orchestra by Dmitri Shostakovich (56) to words of Yevtushenko, is performed for the first time, in Moscow Conservatory Bolshoy Hall.  In the afternoon, Party and government officials attend a dress rehearsal.  They apply strong pressure on Shostakovich, Yevtushenko, and the conductor, Kiril Kondrashin to cancel the performance.  All refuse.  At the evening concert, the words, some mildly critical of the government, are not printed in the program and television coverage of the event is cancelled.  But there is an overflow crowd which is swept into wild, rhythmic applause at the conclusion of the performance, bringing the composer and poet out for bows several times.  When Shostakovich returns home he finds KGB agents outside.

    Several works in honor of the 60th birthday of Stefan Wolpe are performed in Carnegie Recital Hall, New York, two for the first time:  Birthday Piece for Stefan Wolpe for piano by Ralph Shapey (41), and Only for voices by Morton Feldman (36) to words of Rilke.  In response is the premiere of Wolpe’s Street Music:  A Counter-Offering to the Musical Offerings of Ten Composers on My 60th Birthday for baritone, narrator, flute, oboe, clarinet, cello and piano to his own words.

    He Shall Not Cry for female chorus and organ by John Harbison (23) is performed for the first time, in the Princeton University Chapel.

    19 December 1962 China releases 368 sick and wounded Indian prisoners at Dirang Dzong.

    The Communist Party daily Pravda reports yesterday’s premiere of Symphony no.13 by Dmitri Shostakovich (56) in one sentence.

    The British government agrees in principle to the secession of Nyasaland from the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.

    Dos poemas de Juan Ramón Jiménez for voice and flute by Joaquín Rodrigo (61) is performed for the first time, in Teatro Principale, Valencia.

    20 December 1962 They Found a Cave, a film with music by Peter Sculthorpe (33), is shown for the first time, at the Hobart Odeon, Tasmania.

    The last round of negotiations this year in Brussels on the membership of Great Britain in the Common Market ends in failure.

    In the first free elections in the country since 1924, Juan Bosch is elected President of the Dominican Republic.

    21 December 1962 After four days of meetings in Nassau, Bahamas, US President Kennedy and UK Prime Minister MacMillan agree on steps towards a unified western nuclear force.

    Cuban leader Fidel Castro agrees to release 1,113 prisoners from the Bay of Pigs invasion in return for $53,000,000 of baby food and medicine.

    22 December 1962 Conrad Ahlers, who wrote the Der Spiegel article criticizing the West German military, is released from prison.  Other staff members of the magazine have already been released.

    23 December 1962 Mobile for piano by Leslie Bassett (39) is performed for the first time, in Rome.

    25 December 1962 Richard Mulligan’s film To Kill a Mockingbird is released in the United States.

    26 December 1962 A spokesman for the Communist Party of the Soviet Union announces:  “The preoccupation of some young composers with experiments in the style of dodecaphonic music bodes no good.”

    Eight people in an armored bus crash through barriers and a hail of bullets to reach West Berlin at the Babelsberg checkpoint.

    Blake Edwards’ film The Days of Wine and Roses is released in the United States.

    The “unofficial” premiere of Katerina Izmailova, the reworking of Dmitri Shostakovich’s (56) controversial opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, takes place at the Stanislavsky-Nemirovich-Danchenko Theatre, Moscow.  The performance is announced today for the first time, perhaps due to the desire of the government to test audience reaction before allowing an “official” premiere.  See 28 January 1936 and 8 January 1963.

    27 December 1962 An East German circus performer walks (tightrope fashion) 100 meters across a power line 15 meters above the ground to West Berlin.  He falls into the west suffering two broken arms.

    28 December 1962 Lukas Foss (40) signs a two-year contract as conductor and music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.

    29 December 1962 After fierce fighting, United Nations troops (Ethiopia, India) occupy Elisabethville (Lubumbashi), Congo.  President Moise Tshombe flees to Southern Rhodesia.

    30 December 1962 UN troops (Ghana) seize Kamina and Kiowa, while others (Ireland) take Kipushi in Katanga.  The UN then announces its offensive against Katanga is over.

    Egyptian planes bomb the Saudi Arabian town of Najran near the Yemeni border.  They claim it is a supply station for royalist Yemeni forces.

    31 December 1962 The Peoples Daily of Peking publishes a lengthy statement by the Chinese Communist Party assailing the “peaceful coexistence” policies of Nikita Khrushchev.

    China releases 108 sick and wounded Indian prisoners at Jang.

    Katangan President Moise Tshombe returns to Jadotville, Katanga from Southern Rhodesia.

    ©2004-2012 Paul Scharfenberger

    22 November 2012


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