1964
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1 January 1964 All open burning is banned in New York City.
British Honduras gains internal self-government.
Incidental music to Williams’ play The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore by Ned Rorem (40) is performed for the first time, in Brooks Atkinson Theatre, New York.
2 January 1964 A police constable fires five shots at President Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana as he leaves the presidential residence in Accra. A security guard is killed. The constable is arrested.
3 January 1964 Rightist troops attack the town of Xieng Khouang, Laos but are repulsed by the Pathet Lao defenders.
When it is reported that a Moslem relic has disappeared from a mosque in Srinigar, Moslems in East Pakistan go on a rampage. Over four days, 29 Hindus are killed.
4 January 1964 Pope Paul VI becomes the first pope to fly in an airplane and the first pope to leave Italy since 1809 as he travels to the Holy Land.
Harold Alonzo Franklin becomes the first black student at Auburn University in Alabama.
Concerto-Rhapsody for cello and orchestra by Aram Khachaturian (60) is performed for the first time, in Gorky.
5 January 1964 A five-day offensive by South Vietnamese troops into the Bensuc region ends in failure. The Viet Cong have all left.
Bulgaria announces the execution of Ivan-Assen Khristov Georgiev, former official of the Bulgarian mission to the UN, for espionage.
6 January 1964 Maj. General Duong Van Minh, chairman of the junta ruling South Vietnam, signs decrees placing the country under direct control of himself and two other generals.
The Berlin Wall closes again. In the 18 days of its opening, 1,250,000 Berliners crossed.
A Theatre Piece after Sonnet no.47 of Petrarch by Morton Subotnick (30) is performed for the first time, at the San Francisco Tape Music Center.
7 January 1964 Colin Carhart McPhee dies in Los Angeles, aged 63 years, nine months, and 23 days.
Three East German girls escape through a tunnel under the Berlin Wall dug from the west.
Internal self-government begins in the Bahamas.
In defiance of Governor Robert Fleming’s order that the US flag not be flown outside public buildings, students raise flags outside high schools in the Panama Canal Zone.
Serenade for woodwind quintet, strings, harp, and xylophone by Karel Husa (42) is performed for the first time, in Baltimore.
8 January 1964 In his first State of the Union message, US President Johnson declares a “war on poverty.”
9 January 1964 Hindus in Calcutta retaliate for the East Pakistan violence, attacking Moslem districts.
Panamanians march from Panama City to Balboa High School in the Canal Zone to demand that Panama’s flag be flown alongside the US. Troops are called out to protect the school. Attacks on US property quickly spread throughout the Canal Zone. The US embassy is evacuated.
The Masque of Angels, an opera by Dominick Argento (36) to words of Olon-Scrymgeour, is performed for the first time, in Tyrone Guthrie Theatre, Minneapolis. It is a hit with public and press.
10 January 1964 A nighttime curfew is imposed in Calcutta to quell communal violence.
Amidst rising anti-US violence, Panama cuts diplomatic relations with the US. President Roberto Chiari demands “complete revision” of the treaties governing the canal.
Figures-Doubles-Prismes for orchestra by Pierre Boulez (38), an expansion of his Doubles, is performed for the first time, in Strasbourg the composer conducting. See 16 March 1958.
11 January 1964 Indian troops move into Calcutta to help stop Hindu attacks on Moslems. When police order a Hindu mob not to attack a Moslem village near Calcutta, the mob kills three of them.
A five-man Peace Committee from the OAS arrives in Panama.
US Surgeon General Luther Terry releases a report calling smoking a definite “health hazard” and is by far the leading cause of lung disease.
14 major hotels in Atlanta agree to accept reservations without regard to race.
12 January 1964 In the face of increasing communal violence, the Indian army takes over parts of Calcutta. All schools and public gatherings are closed.
One month after independence is declared, African nationalists overthrow the Arab government of Zanzibar and establish a new government under President Sheikh Obeid Amami Karume.
Concerto grosso for flute, oboe, clarinet, cello, harp, and string orchestra by Henry Cowell (66), is performed for the first time, in Miami Beach, Florida.
13 January 1964 Anti-US violence begins to die down in Panama.
Three new songs are performed for the first time, in Carnegie Recital Hall, New York: Préparatif à la mort en allégorie maritime by Darius Milhaud (71), My Crow Pluto for voice and piano by Virgil Thomson (67) to words of Moore, and For Poulenc by Ned Rorem (40) to words of O’Hara.
Piano Variations by Charles Wuorinen (25) is performed for the first time, at Columbia University the composer at the keyboard.
14 January 1964 Governor Fleming of the Canal Zone orders the dual display of the US and Panama flags.
Voyage Four for orchestra by Henry Brant (50) is performed for the first time, in New Haven. The spatial environment requires three conductors.
A concert in memory of Colin McPhee (†0) takes place at UCLA.
15 January 1964 163 people are reported killed and 636 injured after a week of communal violence in West Bengal.
After meeting with the OAS Peace Committee for four days, the US and Panama agree to reestablish diplomatic relations and negotiate differences with 30 days.
16 January 1964 Hello Dolly! opens in the St. James Theatre, New York.
The first two movements of Symphony by Stefan Wolpe (61) are performed for the first time, by the New York Philharmonic. See 29 April 1965.
17 January 1964 Arab leaders meeting in Cairo authorize the establishment of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
Panama orders the entire US embassy staff and their dependents out of the country.
Sleep, a film by Andy Warhol showing John Giorno asleep for six hours, is shown for the first time at the Gramercy Art Theatre.
18 January 1964 The Sultanate of Zanzibar is renamed the Peoples Republic of Zanzibar by the new government.
The Port of New York Authority announces it will build the tallest buildings in the world, two towers to house the headquarters of the World Trade Center, in Manhattan. The plans call for two buildings of 110 stories to be 411 meters high. They are scheduled to be completed in 1970.
19 January 1964 An escaping East Berlin teenager becomes entangled in barbed wire on top of the Berlin Wall. He is shot in the foot by East German guards but West Berlin police come to his rescue and threaten the East Germans with their weapons. The boy is saved and brought to hospital.
Time Span II for orchestra by George Rochberg (45) is performed for the first time, in Buffalo.
20 January 1964 Brigade of Death, a radio play by Smoter after Weliczker, with music by Krzysztof Penderecki (30), is performed for the first time, in Warsaw.
21 January 1964 The 18-nation disarmament conference reconvenes in Geneva.
Marc Blitzstein (58) befriends three waterfront men in Fort-de-France, Martinique. They make a tour of several bars. Luring him into an alley, they beat him savagely and take most of his clothes and all of his money.
22 January 1964 Great Britain grants internal self-government to Northern Rhodesia (Zambia). Kenneth Kaunda becomes the first Prime Minister.
03:00-04:00 Marc Blitzstein is found by police seriously injured from a beating in an alley in Fort-de-France, Martinique and brought to the local hospital. He is treated and appears lucid, the doctor diagnosing only superficial injuries. His condition worsens through the day and around 20:00, Marc Samuel Blitzstein dies of his injuries, aged 58 years, ten months, and 20 days.
Negotiations led by the OAS Peace Committee between Panama and the US resume in Washington.
A Confederate General from Big Sur by Richard Brautigan is published by Grove Press in the US.
23 January 1964 After a week of shuttle diplomacy, US Attorney General Robert Kennedy, a personal emissary of President Johnson, announces in Bangkok a limited agreement in the dispute between Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
Pathet Lao forces begin a new offensive in central Laos forcing the rightists and neutralists into retreat.
Loyang for eleven players by Isang Yun (46) is performed for the first time, in Hannover.
Symphony no.7 “Variation Symphony” by Peter Mennin (40) is performed for the first time, in Cleveland.
After announcing the death of Marc Blitzstein to a stunned New York Philharmonic audience, Leonard Bernstein (45) dedicates their performance of the Eroica Symphony to him. Eric Salzman will write in the New York Herald-Tribune, “It was an incredible, agonized unbearable reading which, with its bursts of nervous energy, and wild relentless drive, left detail, clarity, accuracy and indeed everything but anguished, frenetic intensity far, far behind.”
24 January 1964 The world’s first heart transplant is performed by Dr. James D. Hardy in Jackson (Mississippi) University Hospital. He transfers a chimpanzee heart into a patient who lives three hours.
Percussion Quartet by Joan Tower (25) is performed for the first time, at the Manhattan School of Music, New York.
25 January 1964 After several diplomatic trips by US Attorney General Robert Kennedy, a cease-fire between Malaysia and Indonesia goes into effect.
26 January 1964 The Fifth Continent for speaker, chamber orchestra, and recorded sound by Peter Sculthorpe (34) to words of Lawrence is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of the Australian Broadcasting Commission.
27 January 1964 France and the Peoples Republic of China institute diplomatic relations.
US Defense Secretary Robert McNamara tells a Senate committee that the government intends to withdraw most of its 15,000 troops from South Vietnam by the end of next year.
28 January 1964 A US Air Force training plane crosses 100 km into East Germany and is shot down by Soviet warplanes. The three men aboard are killed.
29 January 1964 The Ninth Winter Olympic Games open in Innsbruck, Austria.
The royal family announces that Princess Irene, second in line to the Dutch throne, has converted to Catholicism. She is the first Catholic in the House of Orange in over 300 years.
Negotiations in Washington led by the OAS Peace Committee between Panama and the US collapse in total deadlock.
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, a film by Stanley Kubrick, is released in the United States.
30 January 1964 The second military coup in three months take place in South Vietnam. Major General Nguyen Khanh proclaims himself head of state.
Ewald Peters, head of personal security for West German Chancellor Ludwig Erhard, is arrested on charges of participating in the mass murder of Jews in Ukraine in 1942-43.
Night Music I for soprano, piano, and percussion by George Crumb (34) to words of Garcia Lorca, is performed for the first time, at Le Centre de Musique, Paris.
31 January 1964 Hans Krueger resigns as Refugee Minister in the West German cabinet after East Germany discloses that he was a deputy chief judge of a Nazi court in Poland during World War II.
A memorial for Marc Blitzstein (†0) takes place in the Helen Hayes Theatre on Broadway.
The Council of the Organization of American States meets in Washington on the US-Panama dispute.
Governor George Wallace of Alabama closes Tuskeegee High School. Since the implementation of a desegregation plan last September, only twelve students (all black) have been attending classes.
1 February 1964 A note in Physics Letters by American physicist Murray Gell-Mann introduces the term “quark” to describe a class of subatomic particles. He has taken it from Finnegan’s Wake.
3 February 1964 As one of a series of replies to Soviet criticism, the Chinese government claims that Nikita Khrushchev has betrayed world Communism and joined with the United States in a conspiracy to rule the world.
Ewald Peters hangs himself in a Bonn jail cell. He was Chancellor Ludwig Erhard’s personal security chief until he was arrested on 30 January and charged with participating in the mass murder of Jews in Ukraine during World War II.
Joaquín Rodrigo (62) and his wife arrive in Madrid from Puerto Rico where he just completed teaching a course in music history at the University of Rio Piedras.
The Warren Commission begins its investigation into the murder of President John Kennedy in Washington. The first witness is Mrs. Marina Oswald.
4 February 1964 A bomb goes off in the US embassy in Nicosia, Cyprus. Considerable damage is down but there are no injuries.
Government sponsored anti-US riots take place in Accra, Ghana today and tomorrow.
5 February 1964 320 dependents of US diplomatic personnel are flown from Cyprus to Beirut.
6 February 1964 Responding to the US seizure of four Cuban fishing boats, Cuba halts normal water deliveries to the US naval base at Guantanamo. Fidel Castro allows water for one hour each day.
Atlas Eclipticalis by John Cage (51) is performed by the New York Philharmonic in New York, the first time the work is heard with the orchestration intended by the composer. Conducted by Leonard Bernstein (45), the performance is deliberately sabotaged by the musicians, who talk, toy with or destroy their microphones, play music not connected to the score, or do nothing. One-third of the audience leaves, while those remaining engage in a chorus of boos. See 3 August 1961.
7 February 1964 The US Defense Department orders the sacking of any Cuban civilian employee of the US naval base at Guantanamo who refuses to spend his or her salary on the base.
Symphony no.1 by Arvo Pärt (28) is performed for the first time, in Tallinn.
Symphony no.5 by Roger Sessions (67) is performed for the first time, in Philadelphia.
Elegy for violin by Otto Luening (63) is performed for the first time, in New York.
8 February 1964 Duong Van Minh replaces Nguyen Khanh as President of South Vietnam.
Four Poems of Tennyson, a cycle for voice and piano by Ned Rorem (40), is performed for the first time, in Town Hall, New York.
9 February 1964 The Ninth Winter Olympic Games close in Innsbruck, Austria. In twelve days of competition, 1,091 athletes from 36 countries took part.
Prime Minister Victor Marijnen announces that Princess Irene, second in line to the Dutch throne, has become engaged to Prince Carlos Hugo of the Spanish royal house, a Roman Catholic. She waives parliamentary approval of her marriage, essentially giving up any claim to the succession.
10 February 1964 The Chinese government on Taiwan breaks diplomatic relations with France because of French recognition of the Peking government.
11 February 1964 26,000 students boycott classes in Cincinnati to protest de facto segregation.
12 February 1964 Friedrich Tillman, scheduled to be tried for the murder of 100,000 psychological patients during World War II, jumps to his death from an office building in Cologne.
Gustav Mahler’s (†52) unfinished Piano Quartet in a minor is performed for the first time, in New York, 86 years after it was composed.
Quartet Euphometric for string quartet by Henry Cowell (66) is performed for the first time, in Philharmonic Hall, New York, 45 years after it was composed.
Four cummings Choruses op.98 for chorus and piano by Vincent Persichetti (48) is performed for the first time, in Hanover, New Hampshire.
13 February 1964 Dr. Werner Heyde, scheduled to be tried for the murder of 100,000 psychological patients during World War II, hangs himself in his prison cell in Butzbach.
Philomel for soprano and four-track tape by Milton Babbitt (47) is performed for the first time, at Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts.
14 February 1964 Narration: A Description of the Passing of a Year for chorus by Harrison Birtwistle (29) after Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is performed for the first time, in Wigmore Hall, London.
16 February 1964 In Greek general elections, Mikis Theodorakis (38) is elected a deputy of the United Democratic Left from Piraeus.
17 February 1964 Chamber Concerto for cello and ten instruments by Charles Wuorinen (25) is performed for the first time, in New York.
Athaliah, an opera by Hugo Weisgall (51) to words of Goldman after Racine, is performed for the first time, in New York.
18 February 1964 Alexandre bis, an opera by Bohuslav Martinu (†4) to words of Wurmser, is performed for the first time, in Mannheim, 27 years after it was composed.
19 February 1964 Georgios Andreou Papandreou replaces Ioannis Paraskevopoulos as Prime Minister of Greece.
Jacques Demy’s film Les Parapluies des Cherbourg is released in France.
From Jewish Folk Poetry op.79a, a cycle arranged for three solo voices and orchestra by the composer, Dmitri Shostakovich (57), is performed for the first time, in Glinka Concert Hall, Leningrad the composer at the keyboard. See 15 January 1955.
Concertone for brass quintet and orchestra by Charles Wuorinen (25) is performed for the first time, in Iowa City.
20 February 1964 Algeria and Morocco reach agreement on their mutual border, thus ending the armed conflict over it.
21 February 1964 The first shipload of US wheat for the Soviet Union arrives in Odessa.
Mesut Suna, an electrician, fires three shots at a car containing Prime Minister Ismet Inönü of Turkey in Istanbul. All three bullets hit the car but Inönü is unhurt. Police subdue the would-be assassin.
A ballet on Variations pour une porte et un soupir by Pierre Henry (36) to a choreography by Béjart, is performed for the first time, in the Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels.
As Maryland State College Students demonstrate against a segregated restaurant in Princess Anne, Maryland, they are set upon by police with dogs. The two sides will battle until 24 February. 62 people are injured, 28 arrested.
Sonatina for accordion by David Diamond (48) is performed for the first time, in New York.
22 February 1964 Representatives of the US and USSR sign a fourth cultural exchange agreement in Moscow.
23 February 1964 Rabbi Akiba, a vocalise for flute, english horn, horn, trumpet, trombone, tuba, percussion, celesta, cello, and double bass by Morton Feldman (38), is performed for the first time, in Kaufmann Hall of the 92nd Street Y, New York.
25 February 1964 Over 170,000 students boycott classes in Chicago to protest de facto segregation.
Cassius Clay defeats Charles “Sonny” Liston in Miami Beach to win the world heavyweight boxing championship.
26 February 1964 After three days of fighting, Pathet Lao forces capture Phouke Mountain by the Plaines des Jarres.
Joaquín Rodrigo (62) undergoes an operation for a hernia, in Madrid. He will recover.
20,000 students boycott classes in Boston to protest de facto segregation.
27 February 1964 The government of Sudan orders the expulsion of 300 foreign Christian missionaries, charging them with aiding anti-government activity in the south.
An appeals court of the State of New York rules that Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure by John Cleland, written in 1749 and generally known as Fanny Hill, is obscene. It forbids the publisher to sell it or distribute it.
Machine Music for piano, percussion, and tape by Lejaren Hiller (40) is performed for the first time, in Smith Music Hall of the University of Illinois.
28 February 1964 The first two of Antiphonies I, II and III for two choruses by Jacob Druckman (35) to words of Gerard Manley Hopkins are performed for the first time, in Carnegie Hall, New York.
4 March 1964 The UN Security Council unanimously approves a peacekeeping force for Cyprus.
5 March 1964 Meetings in Bangkok by foreign ministers of Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines over the Malaysia question collapse in failure.
6 March 1964 King Pavlos of Greece dies after a stomach operation in Athens and is succeeded by his son Konstantinos II.
Colloquies, a suite for violin and piano by Norman Dello Joio (51), is performed for the first time, in Carnegie Recital Hall, New York.
Symphony no.3 by Ross Lee Finney (57) is performed for the first time, in Philadelphia.
7 March 1964 British and Indonesian troops battle along the border in Sarawak.
Greek and Turkish Cypriots battle in and around the town of Paphos.
8 March 1964 Duo for violin and viola by Otto Luening (63) is performed for the first time, in New York.
10 March 1964 A US bomber is shot down by Soviet aircraft 25 km inside East Germany. The three crewmen parachute safely and are captured.
Greek Cypriots inform that British that they no longer recognize the cease-fire line in Nicosia.
Senator Ernest Gruening of Alaska calls for the withdrawal of US troops from South Vietnam.
Sinfonia for violin and orchestra by John Harbison (25) is performed for the first time, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Two works for tape by Kenneth Gaburo (37) are performed for the first time, at the University of Illinois: For Harry, dedicated to Harry Partch (62) and Fat Millie’s Lament.
11 March 1964 Cambodians riot in Phnom Penh and attack the US and UK embassies.
The assembly of the World Health Organization in Geneva votes to suspend any member whose “official policy is based on racial discrimination.” The South African delegation walks out.
12 March 1964 Mikis Theodorakis (38) is part of an official delegation from the United Democratic Left to the funeral of King Pavlos in Athens.
Malcolm X announces his withdrawal from the Nation of Islam.
The final version of Ein Sommernachtstraum by Carl Orff (68) to words of Shakespeare (tr. Schlegel), is performed for the first time, in Stuttgart.
Symphony for cello and orchestra op.68 by Benjamin Britten (50) is performed for the first time, in Moscow Conservatory Bolshoy Hall, under the baton of the composer.
14 March 1964 34 Polish intellectuals sign a copy of “Letter 34” to Prime Minister Cyrankiewicz protesting a “change in Polish cultural policies” and pointing out constitutional guarantees of freedom of expression. The government responds with a storm of denunciations.
The first UN troops reach Cyprus.
Jack Ruby is convicted in a Dallas court of the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald. He is sentenced to death.
Mots for five solo voices and eight instruments by Betsy Jolas (38) to her own words is performed for the first time, in Geneva.
15 March 1964 Te Deum op.93 for chorus and orchestra by Vincent Persichetti (48) is performed for the first time, in Philadelphia.
16 March 1964 Nguyen Khanh replaces Duong Van Minh as President of South Vietnam.
Both houses of the Turkish Parliament grant power to President Inönü to invade Cyprus to protect the Turkish minority. They also rescind the special status of the Greek minority in Turkey.
A week of violence against Moslems erupts in eastern India amidst reports of persecution of Hindus in East Pakistan.
One-quarter of New York City’s school children boycott classes to protest de facto segregation.
19 March 1964 South Vietnamese air and ground troops attack the Cambodian village of Chantrea. 17 people are killed.
After ten days of relative calm, Greek Cypriots attack a Turkish village on the north coast of the island. Four people are killed.
The first automobile tunnel through the Alps opens between St. Rhémy, Italy and Canton d’en Haute, Switzerland.
20 March 1964 Brendan Behan dies in Dublin of the cumulative effects of alcoholism, aged 41.
Royal Invitation, or Homage to the Queen of Tonga, a ballet by Dominick Argento (36) to a scenario by Olon-Scrymgeour, is performed for the first time, in a concert setting at Central High School, St. Paul, Minnesota.
21 March 1964 One of the US pilots shot down over East Germany is handed over to US custody at a Soviet hospital in Magdeburg. He had suffered a broken leg and a broken arm in the parachute jump. He is place in a US Army ambulance and driven to West Germany.
22 March 1964 A week of violence against Moslems in eastern India is stopped by the infusion of troops who arrest hundreds of people. At least 200 people have been killed.
An arrangement of the music of Jean Sibelius (†6) by Igor Stravinsky (81) called Canzonetta, done in gratitude for his winning the Wihuri-Sibelius Prize in 1963, is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of the Finnish Broadcasting Company.
Diptych for brass quintet and concert band by Gunther Schuller (38) is performed for the first time, at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.
Five Bagatelles for orchestra by Gunther Schuller (38) is performed for the first time, in the Central High School of Fargo, North Dakota, conducted by the composer.
23 March 1964 When young blacks meet in a Jacksonville park to begin a school boycott, police move in to disperse them. Rioting ensues.
24 March 1964 The British Ministry of Agriculture drastically curtails the use of the pesticides aldrin, dieldrin, and heptachlor.
Rioting continues in Jacksonville, especially at the high school where police, firemen, reporters, and school officials are showered with rocks. About 465 people are arrested yesterday and today.
25 March 1964 Two works by Lejaren Hiller (40) are performed for the first time, at the University of Illinois, Urbana: a suite from his music to the film Time of the Heathen for chamber orchestra, and Nightmare Music for monaural tape. Also premiered is Concerto for brass for brass ensemble and timpani by Ben Johnston (38). It was performed in a version for piano four-hands in 1951.
26 March 1964 Funny Girl opens at the Winter Garden Theatre, New York.
27 March 1964 Dane Rudhyar (69) marries his third wife, Gail Tana Whittall.
The two US pilots shot down over East Germany still held by the Soviets are returned to US custody at the Marienborn checkpoint between East and West Germany.
The UN peacekeeping force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) formally begins operations.
One of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded strikes Alaska followed by days of aftershocks. 66 people are killed, over 100 injured. Tsunamis reach the coasts of Asia and North America, as well as Hawaii.
28 March 1964 The military government of Burma bans all political parties except their own.
A council of the Saudi royal family strips King Saud of his powers and hands them over to his half-brother and Prime Minister, Faisal. Saud retains the title of King.
29 March 1964 About 110,000 people pass through the Berlin Wall yesterday and today during the Easter weekend. Passes were issued to West Germans and foreigners to visit their relatives. West Berliners were not allowed in.
31 March 1964 The Army of Brazil begins a revolt in Minas Gerais against President João Goulart, who they claim is a Communist sympathizer. The General Confederation of Workers strikes the railroads in opposition to the revolt.
Umbrian Scene, a symphonic poem by Ulysses Kay (47) is performed for the first time, in New Orleans.
1 April 1964 On a visit to Budapest, Nikita Khrushchev makes several statements denouncing the Chinese leadership.
Most of the doctors in Belgium go on strike against mandated fees. Almost all doctors flee to the Netherlands and France to escape reprisals.
In Brasilia, President João Goulart denies reports that he has resigned.
President François Duvalier of Haiti is officially named President-for-Life.
The Plague for speaker, chorus and orchestra by Roberto Gerhard (67) is performed for the first time, in Royal Festival Hall, London.
Spring Cantata op.94 for female chorus and piano by Vincent Persichetti (48) is performed for the first time, is performed for the first time, in Boston.
2 April 1964 Josef Klaus replaces Alfons Gorbach as Chancellor of Austria.
A coup by senior military officers installs Pascoal Ranieri Mazzilli as President of Brazil, replacing João Belchior Marques Goulart. Mazzilli orders the immediate arrest of prominent leftists and others who hold views disliked by the military. US President Lyndon Johnson cables his congratulations and “warmest good wishes” to the military leaders who overthrew the democratically elected government.
3 April 1964 The US and Panama resume diplomatic relations.
4 April 1964 President Makarios of Cyprus announces he is withdrawing from the Turkey-Greece-Cyprus Treaty of Alliance. He claims that Turkey has misused their troops stationed in Cyprus under the treaty.
João Belchior Marques Goulart, deposed President of Brazil, crosses the border into Uruguay.
An article in Nature by LSB Leakey, John Napier, and Philip Tobias reports the discovery of a new hominid species, homo habilis, in Olduvai Gorge.
5 April 1964 A South Vietnamese government decree authorizes the conscription of men into the Civil Guard and the Self-Defense Corps.
The Geography of Eros for soprano and chamber orchestra by R. Murray Schafer (30) is performed for the first time, in Toronto.
6 April 1964 Elegy for JFK for baritone and three clarinets by Igor Stravinsky (81) to words of Auden is performed for the first time, in Los Angeles.
7 April 1964 A referendum on barring discrimination in public accommodation passes in Kansas City with 51% of the vote.
8 April 1964 India releases Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah, ex-Prime Minister of Kashmir, who has been imprisoned since 1953.
9 April 1964 Ralph Bunche, UN undersecretary for Political Affairs, begins a series of meetings in Nicosia with Greek and Turkish Cypriots in an attempt to resolve the crisis.
A revised version of Hans Werner Henze’s (37) Symphony no.1 is performed for the first time, in Berlin. See 25 August 1948.
Boxing, a sound-producing dance by Robert Ashley (34) is performed for the first time, in Detroit.
10 April 1964 44 members of the Congress of Brazil are expelled for “pro-Communist” activities, including former cabinet ministers. 60 others, including former President João Goulart, are stripped of their political rights.
11 April 1964 The Congress of Brazil elects General Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco as President.
The Orchestra Song by William Schuman (53) is performed for the first time, in Minneapolis.
Roger Reynolds (29) marries Karen Jeanne Hill.
12 April 1964 The Belgian government mobilizes 3,600 medical reserve officers and conscripts 3,000 doctors to provide health care during the doctors’ strike.
Being Beauteous for soprano, harp and four cellos by Hans Werner Henze (37) to words of Rimbaud, is performed for the first time, in Berlin.
Poems of Love and the Rain for voice and piano by Ned Rorem (40) to various authors, is performed for the first time, in Wisconsin Union Theatre, Madison the composer at the piano.
String Quartet no.2 by Carlos Chávez (64) is performed for the first time, in the Auditorio de Medicina, Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico City.
14 April 1964 Pandorasbox for bandoneon by Mauricio Kagel (32) is performed for the first time, in Munich.
15 April 1964 General Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco replaces Pascoal Ranieri Mazzilli as President of Brazil.
A 28.3 km bridge-tunnel across the entrance to Chesapeake Bay opens to the public.
Peter Maxwell Davies (29) returns to Great Britain from a year and a half in the United States, where he studied with Roger Sessions (67), Milton Babbitt (47) and Earl Kim at Princeton University.
16 April 1964 The white government of Southern Rhodesia banishes black nationalist leader Joshua Nkomo and three others. Violent demonstrations break out in protest.
18 April 1964 Talks aimed at restarting the three-party coalition government for Laos collapse in the Plaine des Jarres.
Doctors in Belgium end their strike, begun 18 days ago.
Macon County High School in Notasulga, Alabama is burned by arsonists just before desegregation begins.
19 April 1964 The three-party government of national unity for Laos is overthrown by the right-wing faction led by Brig. General Kouprasith Abhay. The new government proclaims a state of siege with unlimited search and seizure rights. Political meetings are banned.
Montezuma, an opera by Roger Sessions (67) to words of Borgese, is performed for the first time, in West Berlin. The public reaction is mixed. The press is scathing.
Fanfare for a New Theatre for two trumpets by Igor Stravinsky (81) is performed for the first time, at a private gala for the New York State Theatre, Lincoln Center, New York.
Sonata for cello and piano by Roy Harris (66) is performed for the first time, in the Main Auditorium of San Francisco State College. It is programmed under the name “Duo.”
Corona II (Corona for Strings) for one or more string instruments by Toru Takemitsu (33) is performed for the first time, in Honolulu.
20 April 1964 Dimitur Ganev Vurbanov, Chairman of the Presidium of the National Assembly of Bulgaria, dies in Sofiya and is replaced by Georgi Kulishev Gugov.
86% of the black students in Cleveland boycott the public schools protesting de facto segregation.
Symphony in Three Movements by TJ Anderson (35) is performed for the first time, in Oklahoma City. It is dedicated to the memory of John F. Kennedy.
21 April 1964 Secret testimony before a committee of the House of Representatives by FBI director J. Edgar Hoover is made public today. He says that communists are infiltrating and influencing the “Negro movement.”
The US government informs the states of Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi that the Velsicol Chemical Corp. is dumping toxic amounts of the pesticide endrin into the Mississippi River at Memphis. The company denies that the chemical is causing the massive fish kills observed last winter.
22 April 1964 President Johnson opens the New York World’s Fair of 1964-65.
23 April 1964 Prince Souvanna Phouma is restored as Prime Minister of Laos.
Georgi Traykov Girovski replaces Georgi Kulishev Gugov as Chairman of the Presidium of the National Assembly of Bulgaria.
The New York State Theatre opens in New York City. It is the second unit of Lincoln Center to open and will house the New York City Ballet and the Music Theatre of Lincoln Center.
24 April 1964 Hamlet, a film with music by Dmitri Shostakovich (57), is shown for the first time, in Moscow.
Portrait Suite for orchestra by Ulysses Kay (47) is performed for the first time, in Erie, Pennsylvania.
Fanfare for a New Theatre for two trumpets by Igor Stravinsky (81) is performed publicly for the first time, at the opening of the New York State Theatre, Lincoln Center, New York.
25 April 1964 Greek Cypriots attack St. Hilarion Castle, the last major Turkish Cypriot stronghold in northeastern Cyprus.
US President Lyndon Johnson appoints Lt. General William Westmoreland to command US troops in South Vietnam.
26 April 1964 Tanganyika and Zanzibar join to form the United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar, under President Julius Nyerere. They continue as members of the United Nations under one seat.
Composition for violin and ten instruments by Charles Wuorinen (25) is performed for the first time, in New York.
Piece in Two Parts for Violin Alone by Stefan Wolpe (61) is peformed for the first time, in the YMHA, New York.
Inscriptions from Whitman for chorus and orchestra by Ulysses Kay (47) is performed for the first time, in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
27 April 1964 Pathet Lao forces begin heavy attacks on the other two factions in northern Laos.
Nine cigarette manufacturers in the United States approve a voluntary ban on advertising in any publication “directed at persons under 21.”
Piano Quartet by Walter Piston (70) is performed for the first time, at Harvard University.
30 April 1964 The US Federal Communications Commission rules that all televisions sold in the United States must be equipped to receive both UHF and VHF stations.
Three Pieces in Old Style for strings by Henryk Górecki (30) is performed for the first time, in Warsaw.
1 May 1964 Student protests in Prague against the government, political indoctrination, and the poor economy are broken up by riot police.
The Creator, an oratorio by Henry Cowell (67) to words of Derzhavin, is performed for the first time, in De Land, Florida.
Stabat mater op.92 for chorus and orchestra by Vincent Persichetti (48) is performed for the first time, in Carnegie Hall, New York.
2 May 1964 Viet Cong fighters set off an explosive device on the USNS Card in Saigon harbor. The ship sinks but there are no injuries.
Prime Minister Souvanna Phouma of Laos announces that the neutralist and conservative forces in his country have merged to oppose the Pathet Lao.
The Indonesian Defense Minister announces that his country is giving “concrete aid” to anti-Malaysian rebels in the north of Borneo “to wipe out the British neo-colonialist plot.”
3 May 1964 Malaysia and the Philippines agree to resume diplomatic relations on the consular level.
4 May 1964 Over the last three days, voters on Malta vote to approve proposals for independence.
Ned Rorem’s (40) Lift Up Your Heads for chorus, brass quintet, and organ to words of Beaumont is performed for the first time, in Washington Cathedral.
Several works by Charles T. Griffes (†44) are performed for the first time, at Indiana University in Bloomington: the songs Entflieh mit mir, Es fiel ein Reif, Le Jardin, Impression du Matin, La Mer, Le Réveillon, Gedicht von Heine, In the Harem, Meeres Stille, Mir war als müßte ich graben, Song of the Dagger Mit schwarzen segeln and Two Birds Flew Into the Sunset Glow, as well as De profundis and Legend for piano, and Symphonische Phantasie for two pianos.
5 May 1964 The parliament of Transkei begins operations. It is the first of the “black homelands” planned by the South African government.
The US Public Health Service blames a massive fish kill on the Mississippi River in Louisiana on the pesticide endrin.
6 May 1964 Mensura sortis for two pianos by Krzysztof Penderecki (30) is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of Bremen Radio.
7 May 1964 Symphony no.6 by Carlos Chávez (64) is performed for the first time, in New York, conducted by Leonard Bernstein (45).
Chorale for Ascension Day for chorus, brass, timpani, and organ by Samuel Barber (54) to words of Browning, is performed for the first time, in Washington.
Suite for High and Low Instruments by Otto Luening (63) is performed for the first time, at the Chapin School, New York.
Serenade no.13 op.95 for two clarinets by Vincent Persichetti (48) is performed for the first time, in New York.
9 May 1964 Ngo Dinh Can, younger brother of former President Ngo Dinh Diem, is executed by firing squad in Saigon. He was convicted of murder and extortion during his time as governor of Central Vietnam.
Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev arrives in Egypt for a two-week visit including celebrations surrounding the completion of the first stage of the Aswan High Dam project.
Scherzo for piano by Lejaren Hiller (40) is performed for the first time, in Chicago.
10 May 1964 Sonata for violin and piano no.1 by Alfred Schnittke (29) is performed for the first time, in Kazan.
Cantata in honorem Almae Matris Universitatis Iagellonicae for two choruses and orchestra by Krzysztof Penderecki (30) is performed for the first time, in Kraków.
Epilogue to Profiles in Courage: JFK, an orchestral work by Roy Harris (66), is performed for the first time, in Royce Hall at UCLA.
12 May 1964 The new military government of Brazil breaks diplomatic relations with Cuba.
US President Johnson signs a law giving the Agriculture Dept. the power to stop the sale of pesticides until their safety can be determined.
14 May 1964 At a ceremony in southern Egypt, President Nasser, President Arif of Iraq, President Sallal of Yemen and Soviet General Secretary Nikita Khrushchev throw a switch diverting the River Nile, allowing the next stage of the Aswan Dam project to begin.
16 May 1964 Jubilate for Worship for chorus, brass, piano, and percussion by Roy Harris (66) is performed for the first time, in the First Unitarian Church of San Francisco.
17 May 1964 Bulldozers complete the destruction of the Pioneer Hatchery in Petaluma, California where Harry Partch (62) has lived with his instruments. It has been sold and is being demolished to build an apartment complex. During the destruction, Partch and his friends have been recording And on the Seventh Day Petals Fell in Petaluma. The recordings are cut short today.
18 May 1964 The Cypriot government confirms reports that they are planning a conscription law and are seeking to buy weapons abroad.
19 May 1964 Pathet Lao forces are reported in control of three-fourths of the Plaine des Jarres.
At the end of a conference in London, the British government announces that Northern Rhodesia will become independent on 24 October.
The US Department of State announces that at least 40 listening devices have been discovered in the US embassy in Moscow.
20 May 1964 A UN (Finland) soldier is killed by gunfire northwest of Nicosia. He is the first UN soldier to die in Cyprus.
21 May 1964 The Second Marathon Peace March takes place in Athens. 800,000 people take part.
22 May 1964 The University of Salamanca confers an honorary doctorate on Joaquín Rodrigo (62).
23 May 1964 The military government of South Vietnam closes three newspapers for printing articles critical of the government.
24 May 1964 The military government of South Vietnam closes six newspapers, three of them permanently, for printing articles critical of the government.
A riot occurs at an Olympic soccer elimination match in Lima between Peru and Argentina. At least 318 people are killed as they try to flee from police firing tear gas.
25 May 1964 Twelve officers of the American Jewish Congress are arrested as they picket outside the Jordanian pavilion at the New York World’s Fair. The pavilion contains an anti-Israel mural.
26 May 1964 Music for a Great City by Aaron Copland (63), commissioned to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the London Symphony Orchestra, is performed for the first time, in London conducted by the composer.
27 May 1964 Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru of India dies at his home in New Dehli of a heart attack. He is succeeded by Gulzarilal Nanda.
Suite for unaccompanied trombone by Leslie Bassett (41) is performed for the first time, in Decatur, Illinois.
28 May 1964 The Palestine Liberation Organization is established in East Jerusalem, pledged to the destruction of Israel.
30 May 1964 The first public performance of Study for Player Piano no.24 by Conlon Nancarrow (51) takes place in Ojai, California.
31 May 1964 The Music Makers, an ode for chorus and orchestra by Zoltán Kodály (81) to words of O’Shaughnessy, is performed for the first time, in Merton College, Oxford.
1 June 1964 The US Supreme Court strikes down two laws in the State of Washington requiring loyalty oaths. They also rule that the NAACP is allowed to operate in Alabama where it has been effectively barred since 1956.
2 June 1964 The city council of Oklahoma City bars racial discrimination in public accommodations, the first such law in Oklahoma.
3 June 1964 When 10,000 anti-government demonstrators surround the presidential mansion in Seoul, President Park Chung Hee declares martial law.
John Cage (51), David Tudor, Robert Rauschenberg, and the Merce Cunningham Dance Company depart from Kennedy Airport in New York for Paris and their first full foreign tour.
Martin’s Lie, a church opera by Gian-Carlo Menotti (52) to his own words, is performed for the first time, in Bristol Cathedral.
Caroles op.402 for chorus and orchestra by Darius Milhaud (71) is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of Radio France.
5 June 1964 The South Korean government closes all colleges and universities in the country. They are the center of unrest against the authorities.
The 1964 Festival of the Peking Opera opens. 35 operas will be performed between today and 31 July. Houses are packed for every performance.
The newly renovated and widened Volga-Baltic Waterway is opened.
Less than a month after being evicted from Petaluma, Harry Partch (62) arrives in Del Mar, north of San Diego and moves into a house being loaned to him by a friend.
6 June 1964 Major Dang Si is convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the killing of eight Buddhist demonstrators on 8 May 1963 in Hue, South Vietnam.
The Five Ages of Man for chorus and orchestra by Thea Musgrave (36) to words of Hesiod (tr. Lattimore), is performed for the first time, in St. Andrew’s Hall, Norwich.
7 June 1964 Over the last two days, two US reconnaissance planes are shot down by Pathet Lao forces over Laos.
8 June 1964 Christine Keeler, a central figure in the Profumo spy scandal, is released from prison in London after serving six months of a nine-month sentence for perjury and conspiracy.
The Brazilian government suspends the political rights of 39 of its opponents, including nine state legislators. This brings the total to 225 since 1 April. Among those stripped of their rights today is ex-President Juscelino Kubitschek, who is removed from the Senate.
Louisiana State University admits its first black student.
9 June 1964 US planes bomb Pathet Lao positions in Laos in retaliation for the shooting down of two US planes.
Lal Bahadur Shastri replaces Gulzarilal Nanda as Prime Minister of India.
Disarmament talks by 17 nations resume in Geneva after a recess of five weeks.
The UN Security Council votes 7-0-4 to call on South Africa to stop trials and executions of those opposed to apartheid.
Police in Tuscaloosa, Alabama attack a protest march with tear gas and water hoses. The protesters respond with rocks and bottles. 33 people are injured.
10 June 1964 A mob of whites in St. Augustine, Florida hurls bricks and sulphuric acid to break through police lines and assault black demonstrators. Tear gas disperses the rioters.
11 June 1964 The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and 17 others are arrested in St. Augustine, Florida when they refuse to leave a motor lodge restaurant after being denied service.
12 June 1964 Nelson Mandela and seven other opponents of apartheid are sentenced to life imprisonment in Pretoria.
The USSR signs a 20-year treaty of friendship with East Germany in Moscow. It recognizes East Germany and the inviolability of its borders but iterates the Soviet Union’s obligations under the Potsdam Treaty of 1945.
60 people are arrested at segregated restaurants in St. Augustine, Florida.
Harvard University confers an honorary degree on Roger Sessions (67). Considering his performance while a Harvard undergraduate 50 years ago Sessions asks himself, “I wonder if they looked at my academic record.”
Benjamin Britten’s (50) stage work Curlew River op.71, to words of Plomer after Motomasa, is performed for the first time, at Orford Church conducted by the composer. This day also sees the premiere of Britten’s Nocturnal after Dowland op.70 for guitar, in Jubilee Hall, Aldeburgh.
13 June 1964 Sir Richard Luyt, the Governor of British Guiana, invokes emergency powers to cope with violence between blacks and South Asians. 35 political and union leaders are arrested.
14 June 1964 17 people are arrested at segregated restaurants in St. Augustine, Florida.
Plus/Minus no.14 for unspecified instrumentation by Karlheinz Stockhausen (35) is performed for the first time, in Rome. The premiere is played on two pianos by Cornelius Cardew (28) and Frederic Rzewski (26).
The Cappemakers, a dramatic cantata by John Tavener (20) to the York Mystery Play, is performed for the first time, in Charleston Manor, conducted by the composer.
Horn of Plenty for orchestra by Roy Harris (66) is performed for the first time, in the auditorium of Beverly Hills High School, California.
15 June 1964 The Brazilian government suspends the political rights of 110 more people, bringing the total to 337. They then declare an end to the purges.
16 June 1964 Masked white men attack a meeting of the board of Mount Zion Methodist Church 20 km east of Philadelphia, Mississippi. They then set the church on fire. At the same time, a Roman Catholic church hall in Hattiesburg, Mississippi is destroyed by fire.
Der goldene Bock, an opera by Ernst Krenek (63) to his own words, is performed for the first time, at the Hamburg State Opera, under the baton of the composer.
17 June 1964 16 people are arrested at segregated restaurants in St. Augustine, Florida.
18 June 1964 41 people are arrested at a motor lodge in St. Augustine, Florida after some were removed from the restaurant and others dove into the pool. Among those arrested are 17 members of the Central Conference of American Rabbis.
19 June 1964 Congolese rebels capture Albertville, the capital of North Katanga Province.
The US Senate passes the Civil Rights Bill of 1964.
20 June 1964 A conference by the heads of government of Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines in Tokyo over the Malaysia question ends in failure.
Lt. General William C. Westmoreland takes up duties as head of the US Military Assistance Command in South Vietnam.
Pope Paul VI travels from Rome to Orvieto to take part in the 700th anniversary of the Feast of Corpus Christi. He thus becomes the first Pope to travel in a helicopter.
The UN Security Council extends the life of the peacekeeping force in Cyprus.
White gangs with clubs attack a racially integrated group swimming at a segregated beach in St. Augustine, Florida.
21 June 1964 Three young civil rights workers disappear after they are released from jail in Philadelphia, Mississippi.
22 June 1964 The US makes a formal announcement about southeast Asia. “There can be little doubt in the minds of the Communist leaders…that we are prepared to help the Vietnamese repel Communist aggression.”
For a second time, white gangs with clubs attack a racially integrated group swimming at a segregated beach in St. Augustine, Florida.
23 June 1964 A car belonging to the three civil rights workers missing since 21 June is found in a swamp near Philadelphia, Mississippi. It has been burned.
Fantasy for organ, brass, and timpani by Roy Harris (66) is performed for the first time, in Philadelphia, the composer conducting.
25 June 1964 Andy Warhol films the Empire State Building.
White mobs in St. Augustine, Florida assault black demonstrators throughout the day. 30 blacks are hospitalized.
26 June 1964 Moise Tshombe, former President of Katanga Province, returns from European exile to the Congo.
The US, France, and UK denounce the Soviet Union for signing a friendship treaty with East Germany.
After being defeated in a motion to add to government aid to Roman Catholic schools, the Italian government of Aldo Moro resigns. Moro remains as a caretaker.
27 June 1964 Albert Kolonji, former President of South Kasai Province, returns from European exile to the Congo.
29 June 1964 Retiring US ambassador to South Vietnam Henry Cabot Lodge meets with journalists in Washington. He says the local population have stopped supporting the Viet Cong and the rebels are in a desperate position.
30 June 1964 On the fourth anniversary of independence, the last UN troops (Nigeria/Canada) leave the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
About 80 owners of public accommodations in St. Augustine, Florida announce they plan to obey the new Civil Rights Act.
1 July 1964 Pierre Monteux dies in Hancock, Maine at the age of 89.
Sonance for carillon by Ralph Shapey (43) is performed for the first time, at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel at the University of Chicago.
2 July 1964 US President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964, ending racial discrimination in all places affected by interstate commerce. It guarantees voting rights and grants aid to desegregate schools.
3 July 1964 Speaking in Nicosia, Greek Cypriot leader Georgios Grivas makes his first public statement in favor of union with Greece.
Lester Maddox, owner of the Pickrick Restaurant in Atlanta, forces three black divinity students out of his establishment at gunpoint. They seek service under the Civil Rights Act signed into law yesterday.
The Lady From Colorado, an opera by Robert Ward (46) to words of Stambler after Croy, is performed for the first time, in Central City, Colorado.
4 July 1964 At the end of a constitutional conference in London, Great Britain pledges to grant independence to South Arabia no later than 1968.
Concerto for two pianos and orchestra by Walter Piston (70) is performed for the first time, at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire.
6 July 1964 Malawi, under Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Hastings Kamuzu Banda, is proclaimed independent of Great Britain in ceremonies in Blantyre.
7 July 1964 200 fascist thugs enter the Parliament building in Athens and begin battling with the deputies. Police clear the building but make few arrests.
Federal Judge Sidney Mize orders public schools in Jackson, Biloxi, and Leake County, Mississippi to desegregate beginning in September. Mize says his ruling is based on previous court rulings and not the facts since “the cranial capacity and brain size of the average Negro is approximately 10% less than that of the average white persons of similar age and size…”
8 July 1964 A mob of 300 whites attack a movie theatre in Tuscaloosa, Alabama throwing rocks and bottles after a rumor spreads that a white man escorted a black woman into the theatre. Police use tear gas and fire hoses to disperse them.
Three Movements with Fanfares for chamber orchestra by Harrison Birtwistle (29) is performed for the first time, in The Guildhall, London.
9 July 1964 Etudes for Pedals for organ by Roy Harris (66) is performed for the first time, at Columbia University.
10 July 1964 South Vietnamese leader Maj. General Nguyen Khanh demands an invasion of North Vietnam.
Moïse Tshombe replaces Cyrille Adoula as Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
A white man participating in an attempt to integrate a movie theatre in Lake City, Florida is shot in the stomach.
Sonata for violin and piano by John Corigliano (26) is performed for the first time, in Spoleto.
Veni sancte spiritus for soprano, alto, bass, chorus, and orchestra by Peter Maxwell Davies (29) is performed for the first time, in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.
Hymn and Fuguing Tune no.18 for soprano saxophone and contrabass saxophone by Henry Cowell (67) is performed for the first time, at the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, New York.
11 July 1964 Entr’actes and Sappho Fragments for soprano, flute, oboe, violin, viola, harp, and percussion by Harrison Birtwistle (29) to words of Sappho is performed for the first time, in Town Hall, Cheltenham.
12 July 1964 In the largest battle of the war so far, Viet Cong forces inflict heavy losses on South Vietnamese government troops in Chuong Thien Province.
When a group of blacks seek service at a restaurant in Henderson, North Carolina, they are set upon by whites. A melee goes on for three hours involving about 300 people. Five people are injured, 17 arrested.
14 July 1964 Five Poems and an Epigram of William Blake op.17 for chorus and trumpet by Alexander Goehr (31) is performed for the first time, in London.
15 July 1964 Anastas Ivanovich Mikoyan replaces Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.
16 July 1964 Congolese leftist leader Antoine Gizenga is released from prison by Prime Minister Moise Tshombe after two-and-a-half years behind bars.
18 July 1964 After a rally in Harlem (New York City) to protest police brutality, blacks begin four days of rioting. They begin destroying property, looting businesses, and battling with police who respond with nightsticks and thousands of warning shots.
Tempus loquendi, pezzi ellittici for flute, alto flute, and bass flute by Bernd Alois Zimmermann (46) is performed for the first time, in Darmstadt.
Blacks riot in Harlem after police shoot a black teenager to death. Over the next four days, one person is killed, 121 injured, 185 arrested.
20 July 1964 Rioting by blacks in New York spreads to the Bedford-Stuyvesant area.
Three Holy Sonnets for baritone, two horns, two trombones, timpani, and strings by John Tavener (20) to words of Donne is performed for the first time, in St. Bartholemew-the-Great, Smithfield.
21 July 1964 Sectarian violence in Singapore between Chinese and Malays kills 21 people.
22 July 1964 Witold Lutoslawski (51) is awarded the State Prize for music, first class, in Warsaw.
A federal court in Atlanta orders Lester Maddox to admit blacks into his restaurant and motel.
Speaking on the floor of the US Senate, Senator James Eastland of Mississippi says there is a “communist conspiracy to further or to participate in the invasion of Mississippi.” He further states that the disappearance of three civil rights workers on 21 June could be a “communist inspired hoax.”
The Brazilian Congress adopts a constitutional amendment extending the term of President Hunberto Castelo Branco to 15 March 1967.
23 July 1964 A new coalition government for Italy under Prime Minister Aldo Moro is sworn in.
Three white men are arrested in Greenwood, Mississippi, the first arrests under the Civil Rights Act. They beat a black man in a previously all-white movie theatre.
Dimensioni IV for flute and chamber ensemble, made up of Dimensioni III and Aria, by Bruno Maderna (44) to words of Hölderlin, is performed for the first time, in Darmstadt. See 16 November 1964.
24 July 1964 Blacks begin three days of rioting in Rochester, New York. Five people are killed, 350 injured and 750 arrested.
Don Rodrigo, an opera by Alberto Ginastera (48) to words of Casona, is performed for the first time, in Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires.
26 July 1964 A foreign ministers meeting of the Organization of American States in Washington votes to impose mandatory economic sanctions on Cuba.
27 July 1964 89-year-old Winston Churchill spends his last day in the House of Commons.
28 July 1964 Martial law, in place since 3 June, is lifted in Seoul.
30 July 1964 Colonial Secretary Duncan Sandys informs the House of Commons that the British government will grant independence to Gambia on 18 February 1965.
31 July 1964 Benjamin Britten (50) is presented with the Aspen Prize of $30,000 in Aspen Colorado.
The US space probe Ranger 7 takes and transmits 4,316 close up photographs of the Moon before crashing into it. They are the best images of the Moon yet and show that a manned landing is possible.
1 August 1964 The Bechuanaland Colony is created by Great Britain.
2 August 1964 United States destroyers Maddox and C.Turner Joy report that they are attacked by torpedo boats of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, in the Gulf of Tonkin.
Three days of rioting by blacks breaks out in Jersey City, New Jersey. At least 56 people are injured.
Concerto for piano and orchestra op.90 by Vincent Persichetti (49) is performed for the first time, at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire.
3 August 1964 The Mexican government announces that it will maintain its diplomatic relations with Cuba in spite of the OAS vote on 26 July.
String Sextet op.408 by Darius Milhaud (71) is performed for the first time, at the Library of Congress, Washington.
4 August 1964 US planes bomb coastal military installations in North Vietnam in retaliation for the alleged attacks of 2 August.
The bodies of three young civil rights workers are found by FBI agents nine km west of Philadelphia, Mississippi. They went missing on 21 June.
5 August 1964 Heavy fighting breaks out in northwestern Cyprus between Greek and Turkish Cypriots.
Rebel tribesmen capture Stanleyville, the third largest city in the Congo.
7 August 1964 The military government of South Vietnam orders a state of emergency to “deal with the Communist threat.”
Turkish warplanes begin three days of raids against Greek Cypriots battling Turkish Cypriots in northwestern Cyprus. At least 100 Greeks are killed, 200 injured.
President Antonio Segni of Italy suffers a cerebral hemorrhage and is partially paralyzed. His duties are taken over by Senate President Cesare Merzagora.
The United States Congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution giving the President sweeping powers to “combat communist aggression” in southeast Asia.
9 August 1964 The UN Security Council votes 9-0-2 to call on Turkey and Cyprus to institute an immediate cease-fire.
A Chamber Concerto for flute and ten instruments by Charles Wuorinen (26) is performed for the first time, at Tanglewood, Lennox, Massachusetts.
11 August 1964 Two nights of racially inspired rioting begin in Paterson and Elizabeth, New Jersey.
12 August 1964 Edward Ochab replaces Aleksander Zawadzki as President of Poland.
I Hear an Army for soprano and string quartet by David Del Tredici (27) to words of Joyce, is performed for the first time, in Lenox, Massachusetts.
13 August 1964 Direct military aid from the US arrives in Léopoldville for use by the Congo government against tribal rebels.
Deryck Cooke’s arrangement of the Symphony no.10 of Gustav Mahler (†53) is performed for the first time, in London.
Concerto for wind quintet by Donald Martino (33) is performed for the first time, at Tanglewood, Lenox, Massachusetts conducted by Gunther Schuller (38).
14 August 1964 Two Soviet jazz musicians, Boris Midney and Igor Berucshtis, leave a group touring Japan in Tokyo and ask for asylum in the US. It will be granted.
Five Etudes and a Fancy for woodwind quintet by TJ Anderson (35) is performed for the first time, in Aspen, Colorado.
16 August 1964 Under a new constitution, Nguyen Khanh is made President of South Vietnam by the ruling Military Revolutionary Council. Under the constitution, an appointed National Assembly will advise the president.
The Council for Tobacco Research—USA issues a 71-page report showing little evidence that smoking causes cancer or “any other cardiovascular disease that contributed importantly to mortality.”
1,000 blacks in Dixmour, Illinois battle police in the streets. 50 people are injured, 31 arrested.
17 August 1964 Nguyen Khanh replaces Duong Van Minh as President of South Vietnam.
Unsanctioned Indonesian paratroopers attempt an invasion in Malaya at Johore. 49 are killed, the rest captured.
19 August 1964 Students demonstrate in Saigon against the regime of President Nguyen Khanh and his state of emergency.
The central government of Cyprus lifts its economic blockade of Turkish Cypriot towns. Food, fuel, and water begin arriving in the besieged communities.
20 August 1964 Marking the first anniversary of government attacks on them, Buddhists demonstrate in Saigon against the Khanh government.
After two weeks of negotiation leading nowhere, UN forces dismantle three Turkish Cypriot gun positions threatening their positions in Nicosia.
21 August 1964 Students and Buddhists march in Hue against the South Vietnamese government.
After two days of fierce fighting, Congolese government troops regain control of Bukavu from rebels. The Congolese government rounds up and expels citizens of the Congo Republic, Burundi, and Mali on the grounds that these country support the rebels.
Bolivia breaks diplomatic relations with Cuba.
23 August 1964 Students invade and destroy the government radio station in Saigon after it broadcast false information about them.
Abraham and Isaac, a sacred ballad for baritone and chamber orchestra by Igor Stravinsky (82) to words from the Bible, is performed for the first time, in Jerusalem. The work was commissioned by the State of Israel to celebrate the composer’s 80th birthday.
Ariosi for soprano, violin, and orchestra by Hans Werner Henze (38) to words of Tasso, is performed for the first time, in Edinburgh.
24 August 1964 Student mobs invade the Information Ministry in Saigon and ransack the first floor. Thousands of students riot in Hue against the Khanh regime.
Over the next three days, 11,000 communists are arrested in India protesting the current food crisis.
25 August 1964 President Nguyen Khanh of South Vietnam resigns in the face of protests by students and Buddhists against his rule. The Military Revolutionary Council repeals the new constitution and will announce new leaders soon.
27 August 1964 A triumvirate of generals is formed to rule South Vietnam made up of Duong Van Minh, Nguyen Khanh, and Tran Thien Khiem. The move is an attempt to placate protesting Buddhists and students.
Turks demonstrate before the US and Greek embassies in Ankara. They are angry that the US has threatened to withhold further aid if US military equipment is used in Cyprus. Over three days they throw stones, break windows, and beat up reporters.
28 August 1964 Blacks riot over three nights in Philadelphia. 248 people are injured. 312 are arrested.
30 August 1964 Thousands of rioters in Izmir attack an international trade fair, beginning with the US pavilion but soon spreading to the Soviet, British, Egyptian, and Bulgarian exhibits.
Congolese government troops, aided by white mercenaries, recapture Albertville from rebels.
31 August 1964 Biloxi, Mississippi begins school desegregation without incident.
2 September 1964 About 100 paratroopers are sent into Johore state in a second attempt by Indonesian troops to invade Malaya.
Congolese rebels inform the UN that they are holding about 500 Europeans hostage in Stanleyville as protections against air raids.
3 September 1964 Maj. General Nguyen Khanh returns to Saigon, resumes his post of Prime Minister, and names Duong Van Minh to his former post of Chief of State.
4 September 1964 Prime Minister Nguyen Khanh of South Vietnam announces the resignation of all army officers from ministerial positions.
More riots between ethnic Chinese and Malays erupt in Singapore. It will continue for a week. Eight people are killed on the first day and a 14:00 curfew is imposed.
6 September 1964 Hyperion, lirica in forma di spettacolo for flute, chamber ensemble, and tape by Bruno Maderna (44) to words of Puecher and the composer after Hölderlin, is performed for the first time, in Teatro La Fenice, Venice.
8 September 1964 Duong Van Minh becomes Chairman of the Provisional Leadership Committee of South Vietnam.
Uruguay breaks diplomatic relations with Cuba leaving Mexico as the only western hemisphere nation maintaining ties.
9 September 1964 Prime Minister Nguyen Khanh of South Vietnam abolishes the press censorship imposed a month ago.
Four adults and eleven children from two families are driven through Checkpoint Charlie under the noses of East German guards in a meat delivery truck.
10 September 1964 Electronic Music for piano by John Cage (51) is performed for the first time, in Stockholm.
11 September 1964 Garak for flute and piano by Isang Yun (46) is performed for the first time, in Berlin.
12 September 1964 Johannes Virolainen replaces Reino Ragnar Lehto as Prime Minister of Finland.
13 September 1964 An attempt by dissident army officers to overthrow the government of South Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Khanh is put down by loyal troops.
Under fire from border guards, an East German man makes it over the Berlin Wall about 800 meters from Checkpoint Charlie. He is aided by a US soldier who cuts barbed wire on top of the wall. West Berlin police return the fire. The man, struck five times by bullets, is taken to hospital.
14 September 1964 In a White House ceremony, President Johnson confers the Medal of Freedom on 30 Americans, including Aaron Copland (63), TS Eliot, Helen Keller, Willem de Kooning, Leontyne Price, Carl Sandburg and John Steinbeck.
Jackson, Mississippi begins school desegregation without incident.
Kellogg introduces Pop-Tarts to the US market in Cleveland.
15 September 1964 Two black men win seats on the City Council of Tuskegee, Alabama. They are the first blacks to win election against white candidates in Alabama in the 20th century.
La fabbrica illuminata for solo voice and tape by Luigi Nono (40) to words of Scabia and Pavese is performed for the first time, in Teatro La Fenice, Venice.
17 September 1964 The Lambrakis Democratic Youth, led by Mikis Theodorakis (39), merges with the youth section of the United Democratic Left to form the Lambrakis Youth Movement.
The 17-nation disarmament conference in Geneva recesses having achieved nothing.
The Soviet Union vetoes a UN Security Council resolution condemning Indonesia for raids into Malaysia.
Resonancias for orchestra by Carlos Chávez (65), commissioned for the opening of Mexico’s National Museum of Anthropology, is performed for the first time, in Mexico City, under the baton of the composer.
18 September 1964 King Konstantinos II of Greece marries Princess Anne-Marie Dagmar Ingrid of Denmark, in Athens.
Sean O’Casey dies in Torquay, England at the age of 84.
19 September 1964 Fanfare for band by Ross Lee Finney (57) is performed for the first time, at the dedication of the new School of Music at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
20 September 1964 Parliamentary elections in Sweden leave the ruling Social Democratic Party of Prime Minister Tage Erlander in power.
Incidental music to Aristophanes’ (tr. Hacks) play Der Frieden by Hans Werner Henze (38), is performed for the first time, in the Munich Kammerspiele.
21 September 1964 By this date, over half of the Indonesian troops who invaded Malaya on 2 September have been killed or captured.
Prime Minister Otto Grotewohl of the German Democratic Republic dies of the effects of a stroke in Berlin.
Malta, under Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Giorgio Borg Olivier, is proclaimed independent of Great Britain.
22 September 1964 Parliamentary elections in Denmark leave the Social Democrats of Prime Minister Jens Otto Krag in power and the status of the parties virtually unchanged.
Choros I op.20 for strings by Henryk Górecki (30) is performed for the first time, in Warsaw.
Fiddler on the Roof, a musical with music by Bock to words of Harnick and Stein after Sholom Aleichem, opens in New York.
23 September 1964 The West German cabinet approves a one-year deal with East Germany to allow West Berlin residents into East Berlin to visit relatives during holidays or important family events.
24 September 1964 Willi Stoph replaces Otto Grotewohl as Prime Minister of East Germany.
The report of the President’s Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy is handed to US President Johnson by its chairman, Chief Justice Earl Warren. It concludes that both Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby acted alone in the murders of President Kennedy and Lee Oswald respectively.
26 September 1964 Anti-government unrest takes place in and around Qui Nhon, South Vietnam.
28 September 1964 Chansons du carnaval de Londres op.171b for voice and orchestra by Darius Milhaud (72) to words of Gay (tr. Fluchère), is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of Radio Marseille, conducted by the composer.
Le Rire for tape by Bruno Maderna (44) is performed for the first time, in Berlin.
29 September 1964 Defense Minister Pierre Messmer announces that French forces in former colonies will be reduced by 75% by next July.
The Free Speech Movement at the University of California, Berkeley, stages a twelve-hour sit-in at the University’s administration building to protest the banning of political activity by the school’s leaders.
1 October 1964 The new bullet train begins service between Tokyo and Osaka. It reaches a high speed of 210 kph.
4 October 1964 South Vietnamese troops are sent onto the streets of Saigon to head off expected anti-government protests.
5 October 1964 The government of West Berlin announces that over the last four days, 57 people escaped from East Berlin in a 150-meter-long tunnel under the wall. The tunnel was created by about 30 students from West Berlin. It is the largest mass escape since the wall was erected. The tunnel was discovered by East German authorities just as the last group was making its way through.
Meditation on Zeami, a symphonic poem by Alan Hovhaness (53), is performed for the first time, in New York.
8 October 1964 Night Flight, a revision of the second movement of Samuel Barber’s (54) Second Symphony, is performed for the first time, in Severance Hall, Cleveland.
9 October 1964 Festive Ode for chorus and orchestra by Karel Husa (43), to words of Blackall, is performed for the first time, at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.
10 October 1964 The Games of the Eighteenth Olympiad of the Modern Era open in Tokyo. It is the first time the Games are held in Asia.
11 October 1964 1,000 people demonstrate against the government in Wenceslas Square, Prague.
12 October 1964 A Voshkhod capsule carries three cosmonauts into space launched from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. It is the first time that more than one human at a time are in space in the same vehicle.
Being Beauteous for soprano, harp, and four cellos by Hans Werner Henze (37) to words of Rimbaud, is performed for the first time, in Berlin, the composer conducting.
Harry Partch (63) drives from San Diego to Pasadena to meet members of the Pasadena Art Museum where he will give a lecture-demonstration next month. Here he meets Betty Freeman who will be his chief source of income for the rest of his life.
Party Pieces for wind quintet by Virgil Thomson (67), Henry Cowell (67), John Cage (52), and Lou Harrison (47) is performed for the first time, in the San Francisco Tape Music Center.
13 October 1964 After 16 orbits, the three cosmonauts of Voshkhod return to Earth near Petropavlovsk.
15 October 1964 Announcement is made that Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev has been removed as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and is replaced by Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev. Aleksey Nikolayevich Kosygin replaces Khrushchev as Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR.
National elections in Great Britain result in a defeat for the ruling Conservative Party who lose 61 seats. Labour wins a small majority and will form the next government.
Cole Porter dies in Santa Monica, California.
Sonata for cello and orchestra by Krzysztof Penderecki (30) is performed for the first time, in Donaueschingen.
16 October 1964 China has explodes its first atomic bomb near Lop Noor, Sinkiang. It is a 20-kiloton device.
James Harold Wilson of the Labour Party replaces Conservative Sir Alec Douglas-Home as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
17 October 1964 Couleurs de la cité céleste for piano, 13 winds, and percussion by Olivier Messiaen (55) is performed for the first time, in the Stadthalle, Donaueschingen under the direction of Pierre Boulez (39).
18 October 1964 To Axion Esti (Worth of Being), a “popular oratorio” by Mikis Theodorakis (39) to words of Elytis, is performed for the first time, in the Rex Theatre, Athens. It is wildly successful.
Divertissement for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano by Ross Lee Finney (57) is performed for the first time, at Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine.
19 October 1964 Spain grants administrative autonomy to Rio Muni and Fernando Po.
Autumn: Concertino for harp, strings, and percussion by Virgil Thomson (67) is performed for the first time, in Madrid. Also premiered is Capriccio for harp and strings by Walter Piston (70).
20 October 1964 A new charter for South Vietnam, providing for a civilian government, is made public.
21 October 1964 Four East Berlin factory workers escape to the west after working for three weeks on a tunnel from under their work bench.
22 October 1964 The Nobel Prize in Literature is awarded to Jean-Paul Sartre. He refuses it, declaring, “A writer must refuse to allow himself to be transformed into an institution.”
24 October 1964 The Games of the Eighteenth Olympiad of the Modern Era close in Tokyo. In 15 days of competition, 5,151 athletes from 93 countries took part.
The Republic of Zambia, under President Kenneth David Kaunda, is proclaimed independent of Great Britain.
25 October 1964 Lyric Scene for flute and strings by Otto Luening (64) is performed for the first time, in Arlington, Virginia.
26 October 1964 Phan Khac Suu replaces Duong Van Minh as Chief of State of South Vietnam.
27 October 1964 The Bolshoy Opera of Moscow gives its first performance in a non-Communist country, as it puts on Boris Godunov at Teatro alla Scala, Milan.
28 October 1964 The president of Washington and Lee University in Virginia announces that henceforth the school will admit black students.
29 October 1964 About 50 Indonesian commandos land from fishing boats in Johore State, Malaysia. Within a few days, almost all of them will be captured.
The United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar changes its name to the United Republic of Tanzania.
30 October 1964 Berlin pass agreements go into effect. In the first week, over 300,000 West Berliners cross into the East to visit relatives.
Parole di San Paolo for mezzo-soprano and eleven instruments by Luigi Dallapiccola (60) is performed for the first time, in the Library of Congress, Washington the composer conducting.
Tonight is the first night of LaMonte Young’s (29) The Tortoise Droning Selected Pitches from the Holy Numbers for the Two Black Tigers, the Green Tiger, and the Hermit. The entire work will be presented over the weekends 30 October-1 November and 20-22 November 1964.
31 October 1964 About 100 people meet to reorganize the NAACP in Alabama. The group was banned in 1956 in the state but won the right to reconstitute itself from the US Supreme Court.
Sinfonia “Don Rodrigo” for soprano and orchestra by Alberto Ginastera (48) to words of Casona is performed for the first time, in Madrid.
Four new chamber works are performed for the first time, at the Library of Congress, Washington to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge: Amaryllis Variations for string trio by William Schuman (54), String Septet by Darius Milhaud (72), Four Psalms by Howard Hanson (68) and String Sextet by Walter Piston (70).
1 November 1964 Viet Cong forces raid the US Air Base at Bien Hoa, 20 km north of Saigon. They destroy five planes and damage 18 others, as well as four helicopters.
Two new works are performed for the first time, in Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, Washington: Bomarzo, a cantata by Alberto Ginastera (48) to words of Mujica Láinez, and The Feast of Love for baritone and orchestra by Virgil Thomson (67) from Pervigilium veneris (tr. Thomson).
2 November 1964 King Saud of Saudi Arabia is formally removed from office and succeeded by his brother Faisal.
3 November 1964 Eduardo Frei Montalva replaces Jorge Alessandri Rodriguez as President of Chile.
Voting in the United States ensures the reelection of President Lyndon Johnson over Senator Barry Goldwater. His Democratic Party retains control of both houses of Congress with two more seats in the Senate and 36 more in the House of Representatives.
4 November 1964 Tran Van Huong replaces Nguyen Khanh as Prime Minister of South Vietnam.
The fifth and sixth of the Sechs Lieder for tenor and piano by Paul Hindemith (†0) to words of Hölderlin are performed for the first time, in Frankfurt. See 10 April 1937.
Congolese government forces, with 400 white mercenaries, begin a drive against rebels towards Stanleyville.
Several works by Terry Riley (29) are performed at the San Francisco Tape Music Center: Music from the Gift, I, Shoeshine, In B-flat or is it A-flat?, Coulé, In C. Among the performers are Steve Reich (29), Pauline Oliveros (32), Morton Subotnick (31) and the composer. This concert, especially In C, help bring minimalism into the mainstream.
5 November 1964 Prime Minister Chou En-lai arrives in Moscow for his first visit since 1961. He is one of many foreign communist leaders arriving for the 47th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution and to meet the new Soviet regime.
6 November 1964 Three African nationalists are hanged in Pretoria by the white supremicist South African government.
9 November 1964 Eisaku Sato replaces Hayato Ikeda as Prime Minister of Japan. Ikeda resigned 25 October because of ill health.
An agreement is signed in Belgrade by representatives of Yugoslavia and the United States to exchange Fulbright scholars in the coming year. It is the first time the US has reached such an agreement with a communist country.
10 November 1964 The two main parties in Kenya, KANU and KADU merge. The country is now essentially a one-party state.
12 November 1964 Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg abdicates her throne in favor of her son Jean.
An appeals court in Rhodesia holds that Joshua Nkomo and 16 other African nationalists are being held illegally in prison.
Norman Dello Joio (51) begins a six-week tour of the Soviet Union, Romania, and Bulgaria as part of a cultural exchange sponsored by the United States State Department.
Scenes for baritone and orchestra on texts from Giraudoux’s Sodom et Gomorrhe by Karl Amadeus Hartmann (†0) is performed for the first time, in Frankfurt-am-Main.
13 November 1964 Syrian and Israeli air and ground forces battle for two days across their common border.
15 November 1964 Divertimento for wind quintet by Ross Lee Finney (57) is performed for the first time, in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Wesak Sonata for cheng by Lou Harrison (47) is performed for the first time, in San Francisco.
16 November 1964 Anti-colonial leader Joshua Nkomo and 16 others are released from prison in Southern Rhodesia.
The Robin’s Nest, a four-bar composition for piano by Ralph Vaughan Williams (†6), is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of BBC North of England Home Service, 86 years after it was composed.
Aria for voice and orchestra by Bruno Maderna (44) is performed for the first time, in Cologne. See 23 July 1964.
Trio in Two Parts for flute, cello and piano by Stefan Wolpe (62) is performed for the first time, in McMillin Theatre, Columbia University. Charles Wuorinen (26) plays the piano part.
17 November 1964 A major reorganization of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union is announced by the Central Committee in Moscow.
The documentary film The Louvre, with music by Norman Dello Joio (51), is shown for the first time, over the airwaves of NBC television.
18 November 1964 FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover calls Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “the most notorious liar in the country.”
20 November 1964 String Quartets nos.9 and 10 by Dmitri Shostakovich (58) are performed for the first time, in Moscow Conservatory Malyi Hall.
Down a Country Lane for school orchestra by Aaron Copland (64) is performed for the first time, in London.
21 November 1964 The Verrazano Narrows Bridge, uniting Brooklyn with Staten Island, opens to traffic.
Concerto for clarinet and orchestra by Easley Blackwood (31) is performed for the first time, in Cincinnati.
22 November 1964 Thousands of people demonstrate in Saigon against the regime of Prime Minister Tran Van Huong. They battle police who use tear gas to disperse them.
Paul Rochberg, the 20-year-old son of George Rochberg (46) dies of cancer in Philadelphia. “We were shaken to the core, traumatized, bewildered by the enormity of his loss.” (Rochberg, 147)
Five Shakespearean Songs for baritone and orchestra by Gunther Schuller is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the composer conducting on his 39th birthday.
The Salle Claude-Champagne (73) opens in Montreal with a retrospective concert of the works of the dedicatee. It is the first retrospective concert devoted to the symphonic works of a Canadian composer.
24 November 1964 The rebel capital of Stanleyville is captured by 600 Belgian paratroopers dropped from US planes and Congolese ground troops. A number of white hostages held by the rebels are killed.
The Florence B. Price (†11) Elementary School is dedicated in Chicago.
25 November 1964 Rioting by Buddhists against the government takes place throughout Saigon.
An all-white jury in Jacksonville, Florida acquits four Ku Klux Klansmen of dynamiting the home of Donald Godfrey, a six-year-old black boy admitted to a previously all-white school.
26 November 1964 Martial law is declared in Saigon to deal with widespread anti-government unrest by Buddhists.
Belgian troops capture Paulis and free 211 white hostages. They also find the bodies of 22 hostages killed by Congolese rebels. Over 2,000 Congolese reportedly have been killed by the rebels.
200 Egyptians protesting US-Belgian intervention in the Congo attack the US embassy in Cairo and burn the USIS library and Marine barracks. Demonstrators in Nairobi protest before the US and Belgian embassies in Nairobi. They roam the streets throwing firebombs.
President Humberto Castelo Branco orders the removal of Governor Mauro Borges of Goiás state, charging him with communist subversion.
27 November 1964 White mercenaries working for the Congolese government reach two mission stations at Stanleyville and find the mutilated bodies of 45 white hostages, some Roman Catholic clergy. They were killed two days ago. Six hostages survive.
Belgian troops depart Paulis and it is quickly reoccupied by Congolese rebels.
The pro-Communist Paris daily Libération ceases publication due to financial difficulties.
Blue Aurora for Toshi Ichiyanagi, a musical happening with two flutists and one percussionist by Toru Takemitsu (34), is performed for the first time, in Sogetsu Hall, Tokyo. John Cage (52) takes part.
28 November 1964 The joint US-Belgium mission to rescue white hostages from Congolese rebels concludes as 76 refugees land in Léopoldville.
A mob of about 2,000 attacks the US, Belgium, UK, and Congo embassies in Moscow. The crowd, mostly African, Asian, and Latin American students, appears to be directed by Soviet police.
29 November 1964 In a mass celebration in Athens commemorating the first Resistance attack against the Germans during World War II, an explosion goes off killing 13 people and injuring 75. Officials call it an accidental explosion of a 1940s era torpedo. Tonight, Mikis Theodorakis (39) and fellow deputy Leonidas Kyrkos visit the site. They will announce to the press that their findings show it was a deliberately set bomb.
Simultaneous Mosaics for violin, clarinet, cello, percussion, and piano by Henry Cowell (67) is performed for the first time, at the Albright-Knox art gallery, Buffalo directed by Lukas Foss (42).
30 November 1964 Divertimenti for two pianos by Hans Werner Henze (38) is performed for the first time, in New York.
1 December 1964 Viet Cong fighters overrun the district headquarters at Thien Giao east of Saigon. After killing the district chief and carrying of a large weapons cache, they retire before government reinforcements arrive.
West Germany accedes to the Common Market agricultural plan, thus paving the way for the integration of the agricultures of the six member countries.
Gustavo Díaz Ordaz Bolaños replaces Adolfo López Mateos as President of Mexico.
Malawi, Malta, and the Republic of Zambia are admitted to the United Nations.
Three Against Christmas, a comic opera by Andrew Imbrie (43) to words of Wincor, is performed for the first time, in Berkeley, California.
2 December 1964 In the longest journey ever taken by a reigning pontiff, Pope Paul VI arrives in Bombay for the International Eucharistic Conference.
Hundreds of students at the University of California, Berkeley stage a mass sit-in to protest the expulsion of Free Speech Movement leader Mario Savio and three others.
3 December 1964 The Sound of Time for soprano and piano by Jacob Druckman (36) to words of Mailer, is performed for the first time, in Town Hall, New York.
4 December 1964 Mobs attack and burn library of the United States Information Service in Jakarta in protest against US actions in the Congo.
Prime Minister Moise Tshombe of the Congo announces that his troops have liberated 600 whites from rebel areas since the end of the US-Belgium operation on 28 November.
Federal agents arrest 21 white men for the murders of three civil rights workers in Mississippi last June. They include three present or former law enforcement officers and a clergyman.
Findings by the Albany Medical College, National Heart Institute, and the US Public Health Service, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association show that “the heaviest cigarette smokers experience a hazard [of death] three times that of nonsmokers…”
5 December 1964 El hijo fingido, a zarzuela by Joaquín Rodrigo (63) to words of Arozamena and Kamhi (Sra. Rodrigo) after Lope de Vega, is performed for the first time, in Teatro de la Zarzuela, Madrid.
6 December 1964 President Antonio Segni of Italy resigns. He suffered a cerebral hemorrhage in August. Senate President Cesare Merzagora takes over as provisional president.
The Pavilion of the Music Center for the Performing Arts opens in Los Angeles with a concert today.
7 December 1964 Mobs attack and burn the library of the United States Information Service in Surabaya in protest against US actions in the Congo.
The US Supreme Court rules that a Florida law barring racially mixed, unmarried couples from living together is unconstitutional.
At an extraordinary convocation at the University of California, Berkeley, the school’s president announces that disciplinary action against Mario Savio and other leaders of the Free Speech Movement has been rescinded and concessions would be made. Savio, who was denied the right to speak to the meeting, comes on stage but is hustled away by campus security.
8 December 1964 Shakespeare Music for instrumental ensemble by Peter Maxwell Davies (30) is performed for the first time, at the John Lewis Theatre, London. It was commissioned by the BBC for the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth.
Elytres for flute, two violins, and instrumental ensemble by Lukas Foss (42) is performed for the first time, as part of dedication week for the Pavilion of the Music Center for the Performing Arts in Los Angeles.
9 December 1964 After three days of fighting, Viet Cong forces capture the district capital of An Lao and most of the An Lao Valley.
Mikrophonie I no.15 for tam-tam, two microphones, two filters, and potentiometers by Karlheinz Stockhausen (36) is performed for the first time, in Brussels.
10 December 1964 After two days of meetings in Saigon, Buddhist leaders declare a new campaign to oust the government of Prime Minister Tran Van Huong.
Mercenaries fighting for the Congolese government enter Yangambi and free 59 whites held hostage by rebels since September.
11 December 1964 The South African government announces the Bantu Laws Amendment Act will go into effect on 1 January. It gives all blacks living outside the homelands the status of temporary residents. This ends virtually all rights for blacks outside the reservations.
Alma Mahler Gropius Werfel dies in New York.
Three anti-Castro Cubans fire a 3.6 kg shell across the East River towards the United Nations during a speech by Cuban Industry Minister Ernesto Guevara. The shell explodes about 200 meters from shore. The rocket launcher is found in Queens with a Cuban flag attached to it. At the same time, a woman brandishing a hunting knife breaks out of a crowd of anti-Castro demonstrators and runs towards the UN buildings before being subdued by police. She claims to want to kill Guevara. Three demonstrators manage to cut down the Soviet flag outside the UN.
12 December 1964 On the first anniversary of its independence, Kenya becomes the Republic of Kenya under President Jomo Kenyatta.
A US Commissioner in Meridian, Mississippi dismisses all charges against 21 men charged in the killing of three civil rights workers last June.
Bun no.2 for orchestra by Cornelius Cardew (28) is performed for the first time, in Brussels. Unhappy with his work, the composer refuses to take a bow.
13 December 1964 Concerto no.1 for koto and orchestra by Henry Cowell (67) is performed for the first time, at the Philadelphia Academy of Music.
15 December 1964 An Italian crew launches San Marcos 1 into orbit aboard a US rocket from Wallops Island, Virginia. It is the first artificial satellite constructed wholly outside either of the two space powers.
The Canadian House of Commons approves a government plan to replace the red ensign flag with one featuring a red maple leaf in a white stripe with two red stripes at each end.
Lovers: A Narrative in Ten Scenes for harpsichord, oboe, cello, and percussion by Ned Rorem (41) is performed for the first time, in Carnegie Recital Hall, New York.
16 December 1964 The USSR government closes the embassy of the Congo in Moscow, claiming it has engaged in anti-Soviet activity.
Eonta for two trumpets, three trombones and piano by Iannis Xenakis (42) is performed for the first time, in Paris, conducted by Pierre Boulez (39).
17 December 1964 The film Zorba the Greek is released in the United States.
Documentary One for orchestra by William Bergsma (43) is performed for the first time, in Honolulu.
18 December 1964 Emblems for symphonic band by Aaron Copland (64) is performed for the first time, in Tempe, Arizona.
19 December 1964 A group of South Vietnamese army officers led by Air Commodore Nguyen Cao Ky overthrow the High National Council and arrest seven of its nine members. Two dozen opposition leaders are arrested and parts of the provisional constitution are abolished.
20 December 1964 The Berlin Wall is once again opened for Christmas visits.
22 December 1964 A cyclone strikes Ceylon and southern India killing 1,800 people.
26 December 1964 The Laotian government announces that its air forces have begun to strike the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos.
28 December 1964 The Execution of Stepan Razin op.119, a cantata for solo voice, chorus, and orchestra by Dmitri Shostakovich (58) to words of Yevtushenko, is performed for the first time, in Moscow Conservatory Bolshoy Hall.
29 December 1964 Giuseppe Saragat replaces Cesare Merzagora as President of Italy.
Mercenaries fighting for the Congolese government enter Wamba, about 90 km southeast of Paulis, and rescue 121 white hostages. They are told that 30 hostages were killed by rebels.
30 December 1964 Advance Democracy for chorus by Benjamin Britten (51) to words of Swingler is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of the BBC, 26 years after it was composed.
©2004-2011 Paul Scharfenberger
22 September 2011
Last Updated (Thursday, 22 September 2011 07:35)