1968
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1 January 1968 US Commander in Vietnam, Gen. William Westmoreland, sends a year-end assessment to Washington saying, in part, that the “gains of 1967 [will] be increased many fold in 1968.”
5 January 1968 Alexander Dubcek replaces Antonín Novotny as First Secretary of the Czechoslovak Communist Party.
9 January 1968 Sweden grants political asylum to four US airmen who deserted last October.
La Morte ha fatto l’uovo, a film with music by Bruno Maderna (47), is released in Italy.
10 January 1968 John Grey Gorton replaces John McEwen as Prime Minister of Australia.
The Spanish government closes the Political and Economic Science College of Madrid University claiming it is a center of anti-government unrest.
Jazz Band Piece by Gustav Holst (†33) is performed for the first time, in Queen Elizabeth Hall, London 36 years after it was composed.
12 January 1968 After four days of talks in Phnom Penh, the US and Cambodia issue a joint statement wherein the US commits itself to respect of Cambodian sovereignty.
Four young writers, Alyeksandr Ginzburg, Yuri Galanskov, Aleksey Dobrovolsky, and Vera Lashkova are convicted of anti-Soviet activity in a closed trial in Moscow. They receive sentences to hard labor ranging from seven years to one year.
Shao Yang Yin for harpsichord by Isang Yun (50) is performed for the first time, in Freiburg.
14 January 1968 15 prominent writers and artists send a message to the Soviet Union protesting the sentences of 12 January. Among the signers are Igor Stravinsky (85), Yehudi Menhuin, Cecil Day Lewis, Julian Huxley, Henry Moore, and Bertrand Russell.
15 January 1968 Pathet Lao and North Vietnamese forces capture Nambac, 100 km north of Luang Prabang. It is an important supply center for government troops.
16 January 1968 Andreas Papandreou, an opposition leader, leaves Greece and flies to Paris. He was a political prisoner who was released last 24 December.
Two military attaches at the US embassy in Guatemala are shot to death on a street in Guatemala City. Two other embassy employees are wounded. The leftist Rebel Armed Forces claims responsibility. The shootings are part of a wave of attacks on individuals associated with the right wing government.
19 January 1968 Second Sacred Concert for soloists, choruses and players by Duke Ellington (68) is performed for the first time, in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York. It is a disaster.
Excercises of a Late Hour for orchestra by Ernst Krenek (67) is performed for the first time, at the University of California at San Diego the composer conducting.
20 January 1968 Turkey resumes diplomatic relations with the military dictatorship in Greece.
21 January 1968 The American base at Khe Sanh is besieged by North Vietnamese troops as a feint to the upcoming Tet offensive. It works. The base will not be relieved until 5 April.
Ford’s Theatre reopens in Washington, 103 years after the murder of Abraham Lincoln.
A “Broadway for Peace” concert takes place at Philharmonic Hall, New York to raise money for the Congressional Peace Campaign Committee. So Pretty for voice and piano by Leonard Bernstein (49), to words of Comden and Green, is performed for the first time the composer at the keyboard accompanying Barbra Streisand.
22 January 1968 A US B-52 carrying four hydrogen bombs crashes at Thule, Greenland. The bombs are incinerated in the resulting fire.
Aram Khachaturian (64) makes his American debut in Constitution Hall, Washington.
23 January 1968 Naval forces of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea seize the United States spy ship USS Pueblo and its 83 crew members, accusing it of violating North Korean waters. They take the ship to the port of Wonsan.
The United States resumes diplomatic relations with the military dictatorship in Greece.
24 January 1968 North Korean radio broadcasts an alleged “confession” by Lloyd Bucher, captain of the Pueblo.
The Whale, a dramatic cantata for mezzo-soprano, baritone, narrators, six actors, children’s chorus, chorus, orchestra, organ, electronic organ, and tape by John Tavener (23) to words of the Collins Encyclopedia and the Bible is performed for the first time, in Queen Elizabeth Hall, London. The composer plays the electronic organ part. It is an unqualified popular and critical success.
25 January 1968 In response to the capture of the USS Pueblo, US President Johnson orders almost 15,000 reservists to active duty and sends reinforcements to Korea.
Great Britain resumes diplomatic relations with the military dictatorship in Greece.
The Oxen for female chorus and piano by Benjamin Britten (54) to words of Hardy is performed for the first time.
26 January 1968 A court in Pretoria sentences 30 South West Africans to prison for terrorism and membership in the South West African People’s Organization.
Spanish police invade the Medical School of Madrid University and battle hundreds of rock-throwing students.
Fanfare for St. Louis by Gunther Schuller (42) is performed for the first time, at the inaugural concert of the new Powell Symphony Hall in St. Louis.
27 January 1968 After five months in prison, Mikis Theodorakis (42) is freed by the Greek military government. They promise to lift the ban on his music if he agrees to refrain from any political activity. He does not agree.
29 January 1968 Police occupy Madrid University, arresting 100 students.
30 January 1968 North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces begin a major offensive against Saigon and thirty other cities. Taking place on the Chinese New Year, it is forever known as the Tet Offensive. The heaviest fighting takes place in Saigon and Hue.
Polish authorities close down a production of the play Dziady by Poland’s greatest romantic poet Adam Mickiewicz due to its anti-Russian tone.
31 January 1968 The Republic of Nauru, under President Hammer De Roburt, is proclaimed independent of Australia, New Zealand, and Great Britain.
Viet Cong fighters capture the US embassy in Saigon and hold it for six hours before being wiped out. Some Viet Cong enter the grounds of the Presidential Palace before being repulsed. Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops capture Hue, Da Lat, Kon Tum and Quang Tri.
West Germany and Yugoslavia resume diplomatic relations after ten years.
Musique pour les soupers du Roi Ubu, a ballet noir by Bernd Alois Zimmermann (49), is performed for the first time, in a concert setting in Berlin. See 25 April 1968.
1 February 1968 US commander in Vietnam General William Westmoreland says that the Tet Offensive is “about to run out of steam.” President Nguyen Van Thieu of the Saigon government declares nationwide martial law. The Viet Cong begin an offensive into the Mekong Delta.
Hilmer Baunsgaard of the Social Liberal Party replaces Social Democrat Jens Otto Krag as Prime Minister of Denmark.
2 February 1968 200 faculty and 1,500 students of the Medical School of Madrid University vote to strike to protest continued police occupation of the campus. As they leave the meeting, they are attacked by police.
US President Johnson calls the Tet Offensive “a complete failure.”
4 February 1968 Stephen Crane, a cantata by Ulysses Kay (51) to words of Crane, is performed for the first time, at Chicago Musical College.
5 February 1968 Artillery of the Saigon government begin shelling densely populated areas of Saigon being held by the Viet Cong.
A comprehensive constitutional review begins in Canada with a Federal-Provincial conference in Ottawa.
6 February 1968 The Tenth Winter Olympic Games open in Grenoble, France.
The scheduled publication of Cancer Ward by Alyeksandr Solzhenitsyn in the literary magazine Novy Mir is cancelled by authorities because of the author’s criticism of the Writers’ Union.
7 February 1968 North Vietnamese forces capture the US outpost of Lang Vei near Khe Sanh.
Prime Minister Paul Vanden Boeynants of Belgium resigns in the wake of a dispute between French and Flemish speaking members of his ruling party.
8 February 1968 Three black students are killed and 34 injured by South Carolina law officers at South Carolina State College at Orangeburg.
Symphony no.11 by Roy Harris (69) is performed for the first time, in Philharmonic Hall, New York the composer conducting.
That Morning Thing, an opera by Robert Ashley (37) to his own words, is performed for the first time, in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
9 February 1968 A Viet Cong assault on Tan An in the Mekong Delta is repulsed.
11 February 1968 US forces fight their way into the Citadel in Hue.
The Saigon government announces a plan to conscript 65,000 more men.
14 February 1968 A bill to divide Italy into 14 semi-autonomous regions by 1979 passes the Italian Senate, after a total of 43 days of debate in both houses, occasionally peppered by fisticuffs.
15 February 1968 Jordanian and Israeli artillery and tanks battle for 22 hours across the Jordan River between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea.
16 February 1968 In a nationwide broadcast, King Hussein of Jordan warns Arab terrorists not to use his country as a staging area for attacks on Israel.
The US government abolishes draft deferments for all graduate students, except for those in certain medical fields, and all occupational deferments.
17 February 1968 The Netherlands resumes diplomatic relations with the military dictatorship in Greece.
18 February 1968 Viet Cong forces in the Central Highlands and Mekong Delta begin coordinated rocket and artillery attacks on military targets. Viet Cong troops capture Phan Thiet but are driven out later in the day by US and Saigon reinforcements.
Thousands of people rally in London, Rome, and West Berlin to protest US policy in Vietnam. The Berlin march includes Hans Werner Henze (41) and Luigi Nono (44).
Great Britain shifts from Greenwich Mean Time to European time.
The Tenth Winter Olympic Games close in Grenoble, France. In 13 days of competition, 1,158 athletes from 35 countries took part.
19 February 1968 Responding to King Hussein’s statement of 16 February, Al-Fatah announces that no one will get in the way of its attacks on Israel.
20 February 1968 The Saigon government arrests 20 important opposition figures over the next week. No reasons are given for the arrests. Among those taken are Buddhist leaders and losing candidates in last year’s presidential election.
A military court in Cairo convicts and sentences to prison two high-ranking air force officers for their part in the defeat of June 1967. In another court martial, several high-ranking army officers are convicted for their part in the defeat.
Two Chinese Epitaphs for chorus and percussion by Stefan Wolpe (65) in an English version by Papernow-Shapiro, are performed for the first time, in McMillin Theatre of Columbia University, 31 years after the original versions were composed.
21 February 1968 A bomb explodes in the Soviet embassy in Washington. No one is hurt and no one takes responsibility.
Thousands rally in Stockholm to protest US policy in Vietnam. Among them is Minister of Education Olof Palme, the first government minister to take part in such a protest. In West Berlin, 150,000 people rally in support of the US.
22 February 1968 About 100 students at Rome University occupy the rector’s office, demanding reforms in buildings, standards, and professorial power. Fighting erupts when police attempt to forcibly evict them.
23 February 1968 Leftist students at Rome University attempt to retake the rector’s office but are met by police. Ten people are injured in the fighting.
24 February 1968 American and Saigon forces complete their recapture of the ancient capital of Hue by taking the Imperial Palace without opposition. Fighting has been raging in Hue since 31 January.
The Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory at Cambridge University announces the discovery of pulsars in an article in Nature. (although the word “pulsar” does not appear in the article)
Points d’aube for viola and 13 winds by Betsy Jolas (41) is performed for the first time, in the Maison de la Culture du Havre.
Part of Symphony no.12 “Pere Marquette Symphony” by Roy Harris (70) is performed for the first time, in Uihlein Auditorium, Milwaukee. See 8 November 1969.
25 February 1968 US Commander in Vietnam General William Westmoreland says he does not believe that North Vietnam “can hold up under a long war.” He says he will need additional troops.
26 February 1968 Israel agrees to a negotiation plan put forward by UN peace envoy Gunnar Jarring.
Two works by Peter Maxwell Davies (33) are performed for the first time, in Conway Hall, London both conducted by the composer: the stage work Revelation and Fall after Trakl for soprano and 16 instruments, and L’homme armé to words from the Latin Mass and the Bible, for piccolo, flute, clarinet, keyboards, percussion, violin, cello, and tape. See 28 September 1971.
27 February 1968 CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite presents an editorial on the evening news advocating a negotiated settlement to the Vietnam War.
Symphonie concertante for orchestra by Ross Lee Finney (61) is performed for the first time, in Kansas City, Missouri.
28 February 1968 Eldridge Cleaver’s Soul on Ice is published by McGraw Hill in the United States.
29 February 1968 Rome police evict students who have taken over several buildings at Rome University.
The National Commission on Civil Disorders, chaired by Governor Otto Kerner of Illinois, reports that the major cause of racial unrest in American cities is white racism and that the nation is headed towards two communities, one black, one white.
Symphony no.6 by Howard Hanson (71) is performed for the first time, in New York, under the baton of the composer.
1 March 1968 The British Parliament enacts a measure severely restricting Asian immigration into the country.
Rector Pietro Agostino d’Avack closes Rome University due to student unrest. When students attempt to occupy one building they are met by police. In the fighting, over 200 students are injured and 225 arrested. Similar events take place today at the Universities of Turin and Padua.
Kären, a song by Charles Ives (†13) to words of Ploug (tr. Kappey), is performed for the first time, in the Great Hall of Jonathan Edwards College, Yale University.
Haiku of Basho for soprano, flute, clarinet, violin, double bass, percussion, piano, and tape by Richard Wernick (34) is performed for the first time, at the University of Chicago.
2 March 1968 The Polish Writers’ Union condemns the government policy of repression of the arts.
3 March 1968 A second extended version of Figures-Doubles-Prismes for orchestra by Pierre Boulez (42) is performed for the first time, in The Hague conducted by the composer. See 10 January 1964.
4 March 1968 Posters in Peking announce the “overthrow” of Cheng Chin, member of the revolutionary committee of the Peking School of Art.
Viet Cong fire hits the US supply base at Cam Ranh Bay for the first time.
Three days of racial violence begin after a rally for presidential candidate George Wallace in Omaha. One person is killed, 16 injured and 18 arrested.
5 March 1968 The Czechoslovak government relaxes censorship.
Republican presidential candidate Richard Nixon pledges, if elected, to end the war in Vietnam. He does not lay out exactly how but says it will not be by precipitous withdrawal.
Reunion by John Cage (55) is performed for the first time, in Toronto. The work consists of Marcel Duchamp and the composer playing chess. The position and movement of the chess pieces determines sounds operated by David Tudor, Gordon Mumma (32), and David Behrman.
7 March 1968 Egyptian officials in Cairo inform UN peace envoy Gunnar Jarring that they refuse to meet with Israeli officials “in the present and the future.”
Ricercare for orchestra by Walter Piston (74) is performed for the first time, in New York, conducted by the dedicatee, Leonard Bernstein (49).
8 March 1968 Students at the University of Warsaw begin four days of protest over the arrest of fellow students following the events of 30 January.
In the New Hampshire Democratic Party Primary, anti-Vietnam War Senator Eugene McCarthy wins a surprising 42% of the vote against President Lyndon Johnson.
A military court in Clovis, New Mexico convicts Captain Dale Noyd of refusal to obey an order to train pilots for service in Vietnam. He is sentenced to one year at hard labor, discharge from the Air Force, and forfeiture of all pay and benefits. Noyd said that he believed the Vietnam War to be immoral.
Concerto for orchestra by Thea Musgrave (39) is performed for the first time, in Royal Festival Hall, London.
9 March 1968 General Charles Ailleret, chief of the French General Staff, and 18 others are killed in a plane crash on Réunion. Only one person survives.
10 March 1968 A revised version of Dialoge, concerto for two pianos and orchestra by Bernd Alois Zimmermann (49), is performed for the first time, in Mannheim. See 5 December 1960.
Protest and Incarceration, two songs for mezzo-soprano and orchestra by R. Murray Schafer (34), is performed for the first time, in Toronto.
11 March 1968 Polish police and workers attack students at the University of Warsaw. The eight-hour battle ends four days of demonstrations.
Schooltime Compositions for indeterminate players by Cornelius Cardew (31) is performed for the first time, at the International Students House, London.
12 March 1968 Mauritius, under Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, is proclaimed independent of Great Britain.
As Rome University is reopened for the first time since 1 March, 4,000 students stage a sit-in forcing the rescheduling of examinations.
Oil is discovered in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska.
13 March 1968 The sentence of life in prison for Isang Yun (50) for espionage is commuted to fifteen years by the South Korean government.
The Polish government begins an “anti-Zionist” campaign which will end in the removal of many Jews from party and government posts and the emigration of 10,000 Jews.
14 March 1968 University of Krakow students strike in solidarity with the University of Warsaw.
Grandma’s Footsteps for five groups of players and five music boxes by John Tavener (24) is performed for the first time, at St. Pancras Town Hall, London the composer conducting.
The Sun, the Soaring Eagle, the Turquoise Prince, the God, a cantata for chorus, brass, and percussion by William Bergsma (47), is performed for the first time, in Tacoma, Washington.
15 March 1968 About 50,000 US and Saigon government forces begin an offensive in the five provinces around Saigon.
Violence between Hindus and Moslems breaks out in Calcutta and Allahabad. Six deaths and many injuries are reported.
At the request of the United States, the London Gold Market is closed and will remain closed until 1 April. Queen Elizabeth declares a bank holiday. There have been repeated attacks on the US dollar and a run on gold.
Cantos de amor y de guerra for soprano and orchestra by Joaquín Rodrigo (66) to anonymous words, are performed for the first time, at the Ministry of Information and Tourism, Madrid.
16 March 1968 437 unarmed civilians are murdered by American soldiers in and around the village of My Lai, South Vietnam.
Leftist and Rightist students battle at Rome University causing over 200 injuries. Police move in to quell the violence. The university is closed for three days.
Senator Robert Kennedy announces that he is a candidate for President of the United States.
Night and Morning for unaccompanied chorus by György Ligeti (44) to words of Weöres are performed for the first time, in Stockholm.
17 March 1968 About 10,000 anti-Vietnam War protesters march from Trafalgar Square to the US embassy in London. They then try to storm the embassy, but are thwarted by police in a violent confrontation. 50 people are injured, 300 arrested.
Votre Faust, an opera by Henri Pousseur (38) with four alternate endings from which the audience chooses, is performed for the first time, in a concert setting, in Buffalo. See 15 January 1969.
Fanfares for massed trumpets, horns, and trombones by George Rochberg (49) is performed for the first time, at Settlement Music School, Philadelphia.
Concerto for alto saxophone and band by Karel Husa (46) is performed for the first time, in Ithaca, New York, conducted by the composer.
18 March 1968 Because of recent events involving gold, the US government ends the necessity of having enough gold to back up the US dollar.
19 March 1968 Eight more members of the US Army are given asylum by Sweden after they abandoned their posts in West Germany to protest the Vietnam War.
20 March 1968 Tabuh Tabuhan for wind quintet and percussion by Peter Sculthorpe (38) is performed for the first time, in Town Hall, Adelaide, South Australia.
String Quartet no.8 op.167 by Charles Villiers Stanford (†43) is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of BBC Radio Three. See 21 November 1968.
21 March 1968 About 15,000 Israeli troops enter Jordan in a retaliatory raid against Arab terrorist bases. They battle Jordanian troops.
Portuguese opposition leader Mario Soares is banished to the island of São Tomé.
Fra Angelico, a symphonic poem by Alan Hovhaness (57), is performed for the first time, in Detroit.
22 March 1968 After three weeks of negotiations, Mauno Koivisto replaces Listaa Rafael Paasio as Prime Minister of Finland.
Pressured by reformers, President Antonín Novotny of Czechoslovakia resigns. Josef Lenárt becomes acting President.
US President Johnson appoints General William Westmoreland to be Army Chief of Staff. Westmoreland is currently the commander of US troops in Vietnam.
23 March 1968 Communist Party leaders of most of Eastern Europe meet in Dresden and demand of Alexander Dubcek an explanation of his liberalization in Czechoslovakia.
Set of Five Take-Offs for piano by Charles Ives (†13) is performed for the first time, in Town Hall, New York 62 years after it was completed. Also premiered are Ives’ piano studies nos.1-2, 5-7, 15, 20, and 23 over 40 years after they were composed.
24 March 1968 President Marco Aurelio Robles of Panama is convicted by the National Assembly of abuse of power but he refuses to yield until the Supreme Court rules on his conviction. The National Guard comes to his aid.
Prometheus desmotes, an opera by Carl Orff (72) to his own words after Aeschylus, is performed for the first time, in Stuttgart.
27 March 1968 Acting President Suharto of Indonesia is elected to a five year term by the Consultative Assembly.
Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin, the first man to orbit the Earth, dies in a plane crash 65 km northeast of Moscow.
Czechoslovakia sends a formal protest to East Germany for its criticism of the liberalization program.
Fighting erupts when about 3,000 students attempt to reoccupy buildings at the University of the Sacred Heart in Milan. 52 people are injured ant 59 arrested.
Introit for March 27 for soprano, alto, chorus, and orchestra by John Tavener (24) is performed for the first time, in Queen Elizabeth Hall, London. The performance is to honor the London Bach Society. Tavener chose as his text the liturgy for St. John Damascene, on whose feast day the concert happens to fall.
28 March 1968 Student demonstrators at the University of Warsaw demand the reinstatement of six professors and the dismissal of all charges against fellow students arrested since 30 January. Over the next several days, the government will close eight departments at the university and will force more than 1,000 students to reapply.
About 600 Madrid University students agree to evacuate a campus building they have occupied after they are given assurances of safe conduct by the police. As they leave the building, police attack and club them. After months of violence, the university is closed by authorities.
Violence erupts after a protest march led by Martin Luther King in Memphis. One person is killed, 150 arrested.
Students riot in Rio de Janeiro after a young man is killed by police during a student demonstration.
Symphony by Ulysses Kay (51), commissioned to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the State of Illinois, is performed for the first time, in Macomb, Illinois.
29 March 1968 Israeli and Jordanian artillery battle along a 135 km front of the Jordan River.
30 March 1968 Ludvik Svoboda replaces Antonín Novotny as President of Czechoslovakia.
31 March 1968 US President Johnson announces an unconditional halt to the bombing of 90% of North Vietnam and asks for a peaceful response from the North Vietnamese. He also stuns the nation by announcing that he will not seek reelection.
National elections in Belgium see gains for nationalist parties at the expense of the three large broad-based parties.
Six Pieces for cello by Roger Sessions (71) is performed for the first time, in New York.
Estudios sinfónicos op.35 for orchestra by Alberto Ginastera (51) is performed for the first time, in Vancouver.
1 April 1968 30,000 US and Saigon government troops begin a drive to relieve the besieged US base at Khe Sanh.
Federal troops are sent into Rio de Janeiro to quell rioting.
2 April 1968 The North Vietnamese government calls President Johnson’s bombing halt and peace overtures “fraudulent.”
The press in Czechoslovakia reports on the death of Dr. Josef Brestansky, who was in charge of an investigation into the Stalinist past of the country. His body was found hanged in a wooded area 40 km south of Prague and is ruled a suicide. Some speculate the involvement of Soviet agents.
3 April 1968 For the first time, North Vietnam agrees to direct peace talks with the United States.
2001: a Space Odyssey, a film by Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, is shown for the first time.
4 April 1968 The Czechoslovak Communist Party elects a new presidium dominated by reformers.
18:01 American human rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is shot to death in Memphis by James Earl Ray. Over the next four days, violence will erupt in Washington, Chicago, Boston, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Memphis, Minneapolis, Jackson, Raleigh, Tallahassee, Cincinnati, and 114 other cities. A total of 46 people will be killed, 600 injured, 21,270 arrested, $45,000,000 damage done, and 36,000 federal troops deployed.
A week of student riots in Rio de Janeiro comes to an end. Four people have been killed. Mounted police attempt to attack a funeral for one of the victims but are stopped by Bishop José Castro Pinto and 14 priests.
5 April 1968 The American command in Vietnam announces that the North Vietnamese siege of Khe Sanh has been lifted.
The Central Committee of the Czechoslovak Communist Party adopts a Czech-Slovak federative state and an Action Program called the “new road to socialism.” It includes political plurality, freedom of the press, speech, assembly, religion, employment, the right to personal property and small business. This is the beginning of the “Prague Spring.”
President Johnson orders 4,000 federal troops into Washington to stop the racial violence.
The only effective opposition group in Brazil, The Front, is outlawed by the military government.
Olly Wilson (30) wins the first competition devoted to electronic music, at Dartmouth College with his composition Cetus. The three judges are Milton Babbitt (51), Vladimir Ussachevsky (56), and George Balch Wilson.
Wind Quintet no.3 by George Perle (52) is performed for the first time, in Chicago.
6 April 1968 France agrees to sell 54 Mirage fighters to Iraq.
According to official figures, 94.54% of East German voters approve a new constitution. This one eliminates many rights found in the old one, including the rights to strike, demonstrate, and emigrate. The state no longer protects churches nor pledges not to censor the press.
8,000 more federal troops are sent into Washington to quell violence. 6,000 National Guard are mobilized in Chicago, while 5,000 federal troops are sent to the city. 6,000 National Guard are sent into Baltimore.
7 April 1968 After four days of racial violence in Washington, ten people are dead, 1,191 injured and 7,650 arrested. Three days of rioting in Chicago end with eleven dead, 500 injured and almost 3,000 arrested. 3,000 federal troops are sent to Baltimore.
Black students at Tuskeegee Institute in Alabama hold twelve college trustees hostage for over twelve hours protesting the refusal of the trustees to institute reforms.
Nuits for twelve voices by Iannis Xenakis (45) is performed for the first time, in Royan.
Concerto for piano by John Corigliano (30) is performed for the first time, in San Antonio, Texas.
Peace Piece 1: Invocation for the Health of all Beings for chorus and chamber orchestra to Buddhist words, and Peace Piece 2 for tenor and chamber orchestra to words of Duncan, both by Lou Harrison (50) are performed for the first time, in the First Unitarian Church, Berkeley, California.
8 April 1968 In the largest American offensive of the Vietnam War, 100,000 men (US-Saigon government-Australia-New Zealand-Thailand) attempt to dislodge the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong from eleven provinces near Saigon.
Reformer Oldrich Cernik replaces hard-liner Josef Lenart as Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia.
Concerto for cello and orchestra en forme de “pas de trois” by Bernd Alois Zimmermann (50) is performed for the first time, in Strasbourg. See 12 May 1968.
9 April 1968 50,000 to 100,000 people accompany the body of Martin Luther King, Jr. to the burial site at South View Cemetery in Atlanta.
Elliott Carter (59) is one of three people who signed a letter appearing in the New York Times appealing to the South Korean government for clemency in the espionage case of Isang Yun (50).
Rioting ends in Baltimore after three days. Six people are dead, 700 injured, 5,000 arrested. Three days of riots begin in Kansas City, Missouri
10 April 1968 Jacobus Johannes Fouché replaces Jozua François Naudé as State President of South Africa.
11 April 1968 Marian Spychalski replaces Edward Ochab as Chairman of the Council of State of Poland.
Three shots are fired at Rudi Dütschke, leader of the Socialist League of German Students, on the Kurfürstendamm in West Berlin. Dütschke is hospitalized with wounds to the head and shoulder. Josef Bachmann, a house painter, is arrested by police about an hour later and confesses saying, “I read about Martin Luther King and thought I should do the same.” Up to 5,000 of Dütschke’s supporters riot and attack the offices of publisher Axel Caesar Springer whom they accuse of creating public hostility towards them.
President Johnson signs the Fair Housing Act, which prohibits racial discrimination in housing and real estate.
From Byron’s “Don Juan” for tenor and orchestra by Virgil Thomson (71) is performed for the first time, in Avery Fisher Hall, New York.
12 April 1968 Following the events of yesterday, rioters in West Berlin attack the offices of RIAS, the US radio station. Police use water cannon. Three more days of riots and student demonstrations take place in Berlin and most major West German cities.
The Boor, an opera by Ulysses Kay (51) to his own words after Chekhov, is performed for the first time, in a concert setting at the University of Kentucky at Lexington.
13 April 1968 Tanzania recognizes the independence of Biafra.
The Neue Züricher Zeitung becomes the first western non-communist newspaper to be sold in the Soviet Union. It is sold only at International Hotels in Moscow and only to foreigners.
The first public performance of the work of Philip Glass (31) takes place at Queens College, New York.
14 April 1968 Music for Mittagong for winds, strings, percussion, and many voices by Peter Sculthorpe (38) is performed for the first time, in Mittagong, New South Wales.
15 April 1968 Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago orders his police to “shoot to kill” arsonists, and “shoot to maim or cripple” looters in any future rioting.
16 April 1968 Rev. Philip Berrigan and three others are found guilty in a federal court in Baltimore of destroying government records. They poured blood on draft records in October of 1967.
Nonet for winds and piano by Leslie Bassett (45) is performed for the first time, in Ithaca, New York.
17 April 1968 A statement from ex-Prime Minister of Greece Georgios Papandreou reaches western reporters. He claims that freedom of speech, press, and assembly are gone in Greece and asks the world to overthrow the military dictatorship.
Duo for violin and piano by Charles Wuorinen (29) is performed for the first time, in Greenwich House Music School, New York the composer at the piano.
Parable II op.108 for brass quintet by Vincent Persichetti (52) is performed for the first time, in Carnegie Recital Hall, New York.
Movements for flute and piano by Joan Tower (29) is performed for the first time, in New York, the composer at the keyboard.
18 April 1968 Incidental music to Claudel’s play L’histoire de Tobie et Sara by Darius Milhaud (75) is performed for the first time, in Théâtre de Rideau, Brussels.
19 April 1968 US forces begin a major offensive into the A Shau Valley in Thua Tien Province.
Incidental music to Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet by Gian Carlo Menotti (56) is performed for the first time, in the Palais de Chaillot, Paris.
Partita-Fantasia for cello and 16 players by Ralph Shapey (47) is performed for the first time, in Mandel Hall of the University of Chicago.
An Avalanche for Pitchman, Prima Donna, Player Piano, Percussionist, and Pre-recorded Playback by Lejaren Hiller (44) to words of Parman is performed for the first time, at the University of Illinois, Urbana.
20 April 1968 The Alliance of National, Democratic, and Peace Forces of Vietnam is formed in Saigon to oppose the government and promote peace negotiations.
Conservative MP Enoch Powell tells a party meeting in Birmingham of the evils of non-white immigration into Britain. “As I look ahead, I am filled with foreboding; like the Roman, I seem to see ‘the River Tiber foaming with much blood.’”
Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau replaces Lester Bowles Pearson as Prime Minister of Canada.
21 April 1968 The London Sunday Times reports that the People’s Liberation Army has taken over the functions of the Chinese Supreme People’s Court.
Rainforest, a musical event by Gordon Mumma (33), David Tudor, and the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, is created by the Public Broadcast Laboratory Television Production in New York.
23 April 1968 Cello Studien by Ernst Krenek (67) are performed for the first time, in Riehen, Switzerland.
Stedman Doubles for clarinet and percussion by Peter Maxwell Davies (33) is performed for the first time, at the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff.
24 April 1968 Mauritius is admitted to the United Nations.
Students occupy two buildings on the campus of Columbia University in protest to the school’s policy of building a gymnasium in Morningside Heights Park and their connection to the Institute for Defense Analysis.
25 April 1968 Students at Columbia University seize two more buildings.
Shots are fired at the car of Algerian President Houari Boumedienne as he travels through Algiers. He is slightly hurt.
Musique pour les soupers du Roi Ubu, a ballet noir by Bernd Alois Zimmermann (49), is staged for the first time, in the Deutschen Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf. See 31 January 1968.
26 April 1968 William Walton (66) receives an honorary doctorate from the University of Sussex.
US Secretary of Defense Clark Clifford announces the creation of the Directorate of Civil Disturbances Planning and Operations in the Pentagon.
Students at Columbia University seize a fifth building on campus.
Two works by Mikis Theodorakis (42) are performed for the first time, in London: The song cycle Love and Death for mezzo-soprano and strings to words of Mavilis and the composer, and Oedipus Tyrannus, an ode for strings. The composer is currently under house arrest in Athens.
Monologhi op.16 for soprano and instruments by Henryk Górecki (34) to his own words is performed for the first time, in West Berlin.
27 April 1968 Abortion becomes legal in Great Britain.
87,000 people march to a Central Park rally in New York City to protest the war in Vietnam. It is the largest of protests going on in 17 cities across the United States.
28 April 1968 Israeli troops kill 13 Arab terrorists infiltrating from Jordan, just north of Jericho.
Romanza op.24 for cello and orchestra by Alexander Goehr (35) is performed for the first time, in Brighton.
29 April 1968 After several months off-Broadway, the musical Hair, by Galt MacDermot, James Rado, and Gerome Ragni, opens in the Biltmore Theatre, New York.
30 April 1968 The US embassy in Saigon announces evidence that up to 1,000 people were executed during the occupation of Hue during the Tet Offensive.
New York City policemen attack and rout students from five occupied buildings at Columbia University. 148 people are injured, 720 arrested.
The Trial of Anne Opie Wehrer and Unknown Accomplices for Crimes against Humanity, an electronic music theatre by Robert Ashley (38) to his own words, is performed for the first time, in Sheboygan, Wisconsin.
1 May 1968 South Vietnamese peace leader Truong Dinh Dzu is arrested by agents of the Saigon government at a Saigon hospital where he is being treated for a heart condition caused by a twelve-day hunger strike.
Police storm a peaceful protest rally at Columbia University. Eleven people are injured.
2 May 1968 Israeli troops kill twelve Arab terrorists at the southern end of the Dead Sea.
Classes at the Nanterre campus of the University of Paris are suspended when six leftist students occupy a lecture hall as part of a protest against imperialism.
The Poor People’s Campaign departs from Memphis, heading eventually to Washington.
Symphony no.8 by Roger Sessions (71) is performed for the first time, in New York.
3 May 1968 Students at the Sorbonne occupy a courtyard and a lecture room. Police storm the campus to force them off the university grounds. Students respond in the Latin Quarter by attack police with rocks. Dozens on both sides are injured. The university is forced to close for the first time. 573 students are arrested by riot police.
The House of Assembly of South Africa votes to end parliamentary representation for citizens of mixed race ancestry.
After a month of negotiation, the United States and North Vietnam agree on Paris as the site for peace talks.
Nore for cello and piano by Isang Yun (50) is performed for the first time, in Bremen.
4 May 1968 The National Union of Students, supported by the National Union of University Teachers, calls for a nationwide strike of all universities throughout France to take place 6 May.
Capriccio per Siegfried Palm for cello by Krzysztof Penderecki (34) is performed for the first time, in Bremen.
5 May 1968 Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces launch attacks inside Saigon and in 119 towns in South Vietnam. Baron Hasso Rüdt von Collenberg, first secretary of the West German embassy is found shot to death, execution style, in Saigon. Four foreign newsmen are also killed.
The faculty of Columbia University vote to end the Spring semester today following weeks of student protests and riots.
Kurzwellen no.25 for six players by Karlheinz Stockhausen (39) is performed for the first time, in Bremen. Also premiered is Funktion Grün for tape by Gottfried Michael Koenig (41).
6 May 1968 Negotiations between Nigerian and Biafran representatives begins in London.
Returning to his home in Kürten after the premiere of Kurzwellen, Karlheinz Stockhausen (39) begins a hunger strike to convince his wife, Mary Bauermeister, to return to him. She has written from the US that she wishes to end their relationship.
Police attack a peaceful student demonstration in the Latin Quarter of Paris. Students respond with cobblestones and gasoline bombs thrown from the street, buildings, and rooftops. By evening, 10,000 students have joined in. Riot police charge the students with armored vehicles and water cannons. The students throw back every advance. 437 students are arrested, 700 injured.
Authorities reopen Madrid University. It has been closed for six weeks due to violence between police and students.
A top is placed on the John Hancock Building, being built in Chicago.
George Crumb (38) wins the Pulitzer Prize in Music for his Echoes of Time and the River. See 26 May 1967.
7 May 1968 Tunisia breaks diplomatic relations with Syria claiming the Syrian government has meddled in Tunisian internal affairs.
Demonstrations in solidarity with Paris students take place at major university campuses throughout France.
The mixed-race Liberal Party of South Africa formally disbands.
On the second day of a seven-day hunger strike, in a frame of mind created by lack of food and the emotional trauma of the possible end of his marriage, Karlheinz Stockhausen (39) writes the first of 15 text compositions which he will create during the next four days. They will later be called Aus den sieben Tagen.
Incenters for 13 instruments by Jacob Druckman (39) is performed for the first time, at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey. See 23 November 1973.
8 May 1968 Gabon recognizes the independence of Biafra.
French President Charles de Gaulle warns students against any more violence. Police surround the Latin Quarter. Minister of Education Alain Peyrefitte announces that classes will resume tomorrow at the Sorbonne and Nanterre if there is no more violence.
9 May 1968 President Svoboda of Czechoslovakia grants amnesty to political prisoners.
10 May 1968 US and Saigon government troops gain control of the A Shau Valley.
An article appears in Le Figaro in which the choreographer Hubert Devillez says he plans to sue Olivier Messiaen (59) because the composer worked with him on a scenario to a ballet on Turangalîla. A different ballet, on the same music, is presently in rehearsal.
Joint Soviet-Polish military maneuvers take place in Poland near the Czechoslovak border.
On the fifth day of a hunger strike brought on by the possible end of his marriage, Karlheinz Stockhausen (39) writes the last of his text compositions Aus den sieben tagen. He lifts the lid of his piano and plays one note. “...that was like the first note of my whole life, of my whole existence, as if I had never heard a note before--how this note shocked me: everything within me was so still, so empty...for days on end I had heard nothing but birdsong, and this note hit me like a bombshell--I was super-electric, super-sensitive--and after a long gap, after the first note had completely died away, I played another one...and so I heard notes of a length, a beauty, an inner life such as I had never heard before.”
Preliminary peace talks between the United States and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam begin in Paris.
30,000 students at the Sorbonne demand the removal of police from the campus. At night, barricades go up in the Latin Quarter.
William Schuman (57) suffers a serious heart attack. He will not return to his duties as President of Lincoln Center until September.
Lejaren Hiller (44) writes to Jack McKenzie at the State University of New York at Buffalo, accepting his offer of appointment as Slee Professor of Composition.
The Pleiades op.107 for trumpet, chorus, and strings by Vincent Persichetti (52), to words of Whitman, is performed for the first time, at SUNY Potsdam.
Five Portraitures of Two People for piano four hands by TJ Anderson (39) is performed for the first time, in Nashville.
11 May 1968 Street fighting resumes in the Latin Quarter. 367 people are injured, 468 arrested but the police withdraw from the Latin Quarter. Prime Minister Pompidou announces an amnesty for all arrested students. French labor unions call a general strike.
12 May 1968 After two days of fighting, US and Saigon government troops abandon Kham Duc in the Central Highlands.
George Tsaroukhas, who was wounded the night that Grigoris Lambrakis was fatally injured in 1963, is killed by Greek police near Thessaloniki, where he has been hiding for over a year.
Concerto for cello and orchestra en forme de “pas de trois” by Bernd Alois Zimmermann (50) is staged for the first time, in the Wuppertal Opera House. See 10 March 1968.
13 May 1968 The North Vietnamese and Viet Cong offensive begun 5 May ends around Saigon.
Karlheinz Stockhausen (39) ends his seven-day hunger strike brought on by the request from his wife, now in the United States, to end their marriage.
A one-day general strike takes place in Paris for workers to show solidarity with protesting students. 200,000-500,000 students and workers march through Paris, protesting the repressive policies of the government of Charles de Gaulle. Protests occur in other French cities.
Leaders of the Poor People’s Campaign begin erecting prefabricated structures at Resurrection City, to be built in West Potomac Park in Washington.
14 May 1968 Striking workers at the Sud-Aviation aircraft factory in Nantes occupy the building and hold managers hostage. Similar actions occur in other factories. Students re-occupy the Sorbonne. President Charles de Gaulle gives presidential powers to Prime Minister Georges Pompidou and then leaves on a state visit to Romania.
The Ivory Coast recognizes Biafra.
15 May 1968 Olivier Messiaen (59) is formally installed in the Académie des Beaux-Arts of the French Institute.
16 May 1968 Workers take over the state-owned Renault automobile plants throughout France. Producers and directors at the state-owned radio and television service, RTF, walk off in protest to government censorship. Riot police are called out to surround the Eiffel Tower and the Paris Opéra. Prime Minister Pompidou speaks in a nationwide address calling on his countrymen to “reject anarchy.”
The United Auto Workers is suspended from the AFL-CIO for failure to pay dues.
Présence, a ballet blanc with five scenes for violin, cello, and piano by Bernd Alois Zimmermann (50), is staged for the first time, in Schwetzingen. See 8 September 1961.
17 May 1968 Air traffic is halted at the Paris airports of Le Bourget and Orly due to strikes. Later, rail, postal, and telegraph services shut down.
Revs. Philip and Daniel Berrigan and seven others break into a Selective Service (conscription) headquarters in Catonsville, Maryland. They take about 600 draft records to a parking lot and burn them. They are arrested.
Hyperion en Het Geweld for flute and orchestra by Bruno Maderna (48) is performed for the first time, in Brussels. It includes the premiere of Entropia I and Entropia II.
18 May 1968 Prime Minister Nguyen Van Loc of the Saigon government and his cabinet resign. President Nguyen Van Thieu appoints Tran Van Huong to replace him.
In Prague, Soviet Prime Minister Aleksey Kosygin promises that the USSR accepts the democratization of Czechoslovakia.
President de Gaulle returns to France to deal with the widespread strikes and protests. Subway and bus service ends in Paris, taxis are greatly reduced. Workers occupy the shipyards at St.-Nazaire. Police take over the international telephone and telegraph exchange.
Moralities, scenic cantatas by Hans Werner Henze (41) to words of Auden after Aesop, is performed for the first time, in Cincinnati. See 1 April 1970.
Seven Japanese Love Poems for voice and piano by Shulamit Ran (18) to traditional words, is performed for the first time, in Judson Hall, New York.
19 May 1968 Workers occupy the Paris Opéra and Opéra-Comique.
Nigerian Federal troops capture the main port of Biafra, Port Harcourt.
National elections in Italy see modest gains for the Communists, but the Christian Democrats remain the largest party and will form a new coalition.
Pieces in the Shape of a Square for two flutes by Philip Glass (31) is performed for the first time, at the Filmmakers’ Cinemathèque, New York. It is his first important concert in New York. Glass considers this to be his debut.
Making Ends Meet for piano four hands by Charles Wuorinen (29) is performed for the first time, in East Garden Court, National Gallery of Art, Washington.
20 May 1968 A strike by French communication and transportation workers, part of a general strike by French working people, bring the country to a standstill. Many factories and offices are occupied by strikers.
Biafran forces begin a counterattack against federal troops in Port Harcourt.
Zambia recognizes Biafra.
21 May 1968 French strikes spread to the Bank of France, the automobile makers Simca and Citroën, and to drug manufacturers, food processors, oil refineries, actors, and others. About 200,000 workers in Marseille walk off their jobs.
Police battle students for two days at Columbia University. 68 people are injured, 191 arrested.
22 May 1968 A move in the French National Assembly to force the downfall of the government of Prime Minister Georges Pompidou fails by eleven votes.
The Spanish government makes some concessions on education reform to protesting students.
H. Rap Brown, Chairman of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee, is convicted in a New Orleans federal court on one count of violating the Federal Firearms Act. He is sentenced to five years in prison and fined $2,000.
US Marshals invade the Arlington Street Church in Boston and arrest Robert Talmanson for draft evasion. He was granted sanctuary yesterday by the Unitarian-Universalist Church. Some 30-40 people attempt to block the entrance and scuffle with police as Talmanson is dragged away.
23 May 1968 French police inform the government of President de Gaulle of their sympathy with the national strike. They warn that they might not obey government orders in the future.
Students and others battle riot police in the Latin Quarter of Paris once again. Barricades go up.
About 500 students occupy the Free University of Brussels. They demand curriculum reform, lowering of fees and a student-faculty council. An attempt to solicit support from nearby factory workers fails.
24 May 1968 President Charles de Gaulle of France appeals to the nation in a television address, offering a reform program. He also offers to resign if his program is not accepted by French voters in a June referendum. Shortly thereafter, battles begin in Paris between about 20,000 students and workers and police. Fighting rages in about 30 different places in the city. Similar fighting takes place in Bordeaux, Lyon, Nantes, and Strasbourg. Farmers in the southwest of the country stage protests demanding price supports. Leftists invade the Paris Bourse, raise the red flag, sing The Internationale, and set the building alight.
Rev. Philip Berrigan and Thomas Lewis, an artist, are sentenced to six years in prison for pouring blood on draft records in Baltimore. David Eberhard receives a three-year prison term.
Bernard Rogers dies of a heart attack in Rochester, New York, aged 75 years, three months, and 20 days.
The Soviet Union orders the expulsion of the Canadian Air Attache in Moscow. Canada protests and responds in kind.
Invocation-Concerto for violin and orchestra by Ralph Shapey (47) is performed for the first time, in Mandel Hall at the University of Chicago conducted by the composer.
25 May 1968 Fighting begins just north of Saigon and moves into the city.
As yesterday’s fighting in Paris continues into the early morning, one person is killed, over a thousand injured and 795 are arrested. Television reporters join the strikers. The army announces it will take over some airport functions.
Benjamin Britten receives the Sonning Prize in Copenhagen.
26 May 1968 The French government raises the minimum wage by 35%.
Preludes for piano and string orchestra by William Grant Still (73) is performed for the first time, in Westchester, California.
27 May 1968 The National Guard is deployed to quell rioting in the black ghetto of Louisville, Kentucky. In three days of rioting, three people are killed, 100 injured, 350 arrested.
28 May 1968 After five days of anti-Israeli violence in Gaza, Israeli authorities seal off the Gaza Strip.
Israel pays $3,323,500 compensation to the United States for their attack on the USS Liberty last 8 June.
John Cage (55) is inducted into to the National Institute of Arts and Letters of the American Academy in New York. David Del Tredici (31) and Ned Rorem (44) receive music grants of $2,500.
29 May 1968 200,000 French citizens march through Paris demanding the resignation of President de Gaulle. Similar demonstrations are held in other French cities.
The Greek military junta sacks 30 judges claiming they support the Center Union Party.
Three days of street fighting between soldiers and students begin in Dakar.
The UN Security Council votes unanimously to end all intercourse with Rhodesia.
The nuclear submarine USS Scorpion, with its crew of 99, is reported missing two days after its expected arrival in Norfolk, Virginia.
30 May 1968 After a lull of two days, intense fighting resumes in and around Saigon.
Antonín Novotny and other hard-liners are expelled from the Czechoslovak Communist Party.
The Academy of Fine Arts of the German Democratic Republic names Mikis Theodorakis (42) a corresponding member, citing his music and his work for human rights.
President Charles de Gaulle dissolves the National Assembly and calls new elections for 23 and 30 June.
Stedman Caters for flute/piccolo, clarinet, harpsichord, viola, cello, and percussion by Peter Maxwell Davies (33) is performed for the first time, in Purcell Room, London, the composer directing.
31 May 1968 French Prime Minister Georges Pompidou revises his cabinet, bringing in members who might be more acceptable to striking workers.
Over 2,000 students occupy Rome University in solidarity with French students. When 3,000-5,000 people attempt to march on the French embassy they are stopped by police and a battle ensues. 20 people are injured.
President Léopold Sédar Senghor of Senegal declares a state of emergency to deal with student unrest and a general strike over government austerity measures.
1 June 1968 Civil war in France seems averted as many French workers return to their jobs.
Students opposed to the takeover of Rome University battle with pro-occupation students.
2 June 1968 A rocket from a US helicopter accidently kills seven high officials of the Saigon government as they visit the battle front in the city.
Students demonstrate in Belgrade for better conditions at the university, better job prospects, an end to police brutality, and an end to social inequality. Security forces respond with violence which results in the students occupying university buildings.
3 June 1968 Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces besiege Saigon for two days.
Opposing groups of students battle again at Rome University and the police clear the campus.
FBI agents invade the Church of the Mediator in Providence, Rhode Island and arrest two men for avoiding conscription. 50 people try to prevent the action but fail.
Andy Warhol is shot and seriously wounded in his New York studio by Valerie Solanis who appeared in one of his films. She will be judged incompetent to stand trial.
4 June 1968 Israeli and Jordanian forces engage in an all-day battle across the Jordan River near the Sea of Galilee. Both sides report heavy casualties.
Striking workers riot in Naples while students in Turin battle with police.
Striking workers in Senegal begin returning to work.
5 June 1968 Arabs demonstrate and battle with police in Jerusalem to mark the first anniversary of their defeat in the Six-Day War. Similar events continue over the next two days.
With the withdrawal of one of his coalition members, Prime Minister Aldo Moro of Italy resigns.
Cross Talk--for Painter Sam Francis for two bandoneons and tape by Toru Takemitsu (37) is performed for the first time, in Tokyo. Also premiered is PING for flute, percussion, piano, electronic sound generators, four-track tape, and slide and film projections by Roger Reynolds (33) after Beckett.
Cardenitas 68 for soprano, recorder, bassoon, trombone, double bass, percussion, and tape by Robert Erickson (51) to his own words is performed for the first time, at the University of California, San Diego.
Senator Robert Kennedy, a candidate for his party’s nomination for president, is shot and mortally wounded by Sirhan Sirhan, a Palestinian Arab nationalist, in Los Angeles. Sirhan opposes Kennedy’s support of Israel. Five other people are hit by bullets, but all will survive. Sirhan is arrested at the scene.
6 June 1968 01:44 Senator Robert Kennedy dies of his wounds in Los Angeles.
Trains in France and the Paris subway begin operations again. Mail and telephone service also resumes. Some banks reopen. Trash collectors begin collecting refuse for the first time in three weeks. 60,000 high school teachers vote to remain on strike as negotiations continue.
Colloquy for two pianos and orchestra by Gunther Schuller (42) is performed for the first time, in Berlin, the composer conducting.
7 June 1968 Striking workers and police battle at the Renault assembly plant in Flins, 40 km west of Paris.
The Paris stock exchange reopens.
Sirhan Bishara Sirhan is indicted in a Los Angeles court on one count of murder in the first degree and five counts of assault with intent to kill. The body of Senator Kennedy lies in state in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, New York.
Threshold for orchestra by Roger Reynolds (33) is performed for the first time, in Tokyo.
Valentine for four players, with amplification by Pauline Oliveros (36), is performed for the first time, in Carnegie Hall, New York.
8 June 1968 James Earl Ray, accused killer of Martin Luther King, Jr., is arrested at Heathrow Airport in London.
After riots last night, police clear the campuses of Milan State University, Milan Catholic University, the Milan Polytechnic Institute, and the Milan Triennale of Art.
Leonard Bernstein (49) conducts members of the New York Philharmonic at the funeral in memory of Senator Robert Kennedy in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, New York. They perform the Adagietto from the Symphony no.5 of Gustav Mahler (†57). Bernstein was placed in charge of the music for the ceremony at the request of Jacqueline Kennedy. The body of Senator Kennedy is then brought by train from New York to Washington where it is laid to rest near that of his brother in Arlington National Cemetery.
Punch and Judy, a tragical comedy or comical tragedy by Harrison Birtwistle (33) to words of Pruslin, is performed for the first time, in Jubilee Hall, Aldeburgh.
William Bolcom (30) marries Katherine Agee Ling, his second wife.
9 June 1968 After more than two weeks of fighting, Nigerian federal troops claim victory in Port Harcourt.
10 June 1968 Street fighting between students and police erupts again in the Latin Quarter of Paris. Charges by both groups into the other are punctuated by tear gas and gasoline bombs.
The Prodigal Son op.81, a church parable by Benjamin Britten (54) to words of Plomer after the Bible, is performed for the first time, in Orford Church.
Computer Piece no.1 by Vladimir Ussachevsky (56) is performed for the first time, in the Instituto Torcuato di Tella, Buenos Aires.
11 June 1968 Early morning. Police bring the situation in the Latin Quarter under control. But when a striking worker is shot and killed by police at the Peugeot plant in Sochaux, fighting begins again in Paris, with barricades in the heart of the city. Workers throughout the country stop work for one hour to protest the shooting. Battles between workers, students, and police occur in other large French cities.
East Germany places certain restrictions on travel to and from West Berlin.
12 June 1968 Yugoslav students end their occupation of university buildings after President Tito promises to look into their grievances.
The French government bans all street demonstrations during the election period, begun two days ago. They also dissolve eleven student political organizations.
The UN General Assembly accepts the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty worked out in Geneva by the Disarmament Committee.
13 June 1968 The Indian army is called in to Uttar Pradesh after three days of Hindu-Moslem rioting have caused the deaths of 27 people.
After street battles in Montevideo between police and students protesting inflation, President Jorge Pacheco Areco of Uruguay declares martial law.
14 June 1968 The West German Parliament approves an emergency powers act. Great Britain, France, and the US give up all remaining occupation rights in the country.
String Quartet no.12 op.133 by Dmitri Shostakovich (61) is performed for the first time, privately at the USSR Composers’ Club, Moscow. See 14 September 1968.
Dr. Benjamin Spock and three others are found guilty in a federal court in Boston of conspiring to aid young men to evade conscription. The convictions will be overturned on appeal.
15 June 1968 In an attempt to gain right-wing support in the upcoming election, French President Charles de Gaulle pardons General Raoul Salan and 13 other members of the OAS Algerian terrorist organization.
US marshals invade the Washington Square Methodist Church in New York and arrest Donald Baty for avoiding conscription.
The Last Gospel for soprano, rock group, and orchestra by David del Tredici (31) to words from the Bible, is performed for the first time.
16 June 1968 Police retake the Sorbonne from students occupying it.
17 June 1968 A four-month government crisis finally ends when Gaston Eyskens replaces Paul Vanden Boeynants as Prime Minister of Belgium.
Cello Suite no.2 op.80 by Benjamin Britten (54) is performed for the first time, at Snape Maltings.
18 June 1968 The US Supreme Court rules that racial discrimination in sales and rental of property is illegal.
19 June 1968 President Nguyen Van Thieu of the Saigon government signs an act requiring the conscription of 200,000 people.
35 Bengalis led by Sheik Mujibur Rahman go on trial in Dacca charged with plotting the secession of East Pakistan.
A rally of the Poor People’s Campaign in Washington attracts 50,000 people.
University students battle police for three days in Rio de Janeiro over government funding for education.
A Wealden Trio: the Song of the Women for female chorus by Benjamin Britten (54) to words of Ford is performed for the first time, in Aldeburgh.
20 June 1968 In response to the new rules of 11 June, the NATO Permanent Council in Brussels institutes new restrictions on travel by East Germans to NATO countries.
Twighlight in Texas for orchestra by Henry Cowell (†2) is performed for the first time, in New York.
21 June 1968 An East German delegation of 700 traveling to a political conference in Munich is refused entry into West Germany by border guards at Rudolphstein.
One policeman is killed in student-police battles in Rio de Janeiro. 1,000 people are arrested.
23 June 1968 The French National Assembly votes an amnesty for all involved in the Algerian uprising, whether convicted or fugitive.
The Poor People’s Campaign essentially ends when the permit for Resurrection City, near the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, runs out. The goals of the campaign are largely unmet.
The university and all secondary schools in Rio de Janeiro are closed by the government.
A Piano Concerto by Robert Ward (50) is performed for the first time, in Columbia, Maryland.
24 June 1968 Over the next four days, the Czechoslovak National Assembly passes many liberal reforms including the abolition of press censorship.
261 demonstrators led by Rev. Ralph Abernathy are arrested for unlawful assembly on the Capitol grounds. 124 remaining residents of Resurrection City are arrested by Washington police. Later, blacks riot in Washington. Police use tear gas to disperse them. The National Guard is called in and a curfew imposed. 316 people are arrested.
At a parade in Montreal honoring St. Jean Baptiste Day, about a thousand Quebec separatists attack a reviewing stand where Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau is seated. They hurl objects including acid and paint towards Trudeau but the Prime Minister holds his ground and the police manage to fight off the attackers. 123 persons are injured.
25 June 1968 Giovanni Leone replaces Aldo Moro as Prime Minister of Italy. He heads a stopgap Christian Democratic minority government designed to last only until a majority cabinet can be formed.
Parliamentary elections in Canada result in a victory for the Liberal Party of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. They gain 23 seats and a majority of the House.
The leader of the Poor People’s March, Rev. Ralph Abernathy, is sentenced to 20 days in jail for an illegal march on the Capitol. Resurrection City is abandoned as a failure.
26 June 1968 The Bonin Islands are returned to Japan by the US.
27 June 1968 The US command in Vietnam confirms that it has begun to abandon Khe Sanh.
Concerto for double bass and orchestra by Gunther Schuller (42) is performed for the first time, in New York, conducted by the composer.
28 June 1968 Musique pour Lisbonne op.420 for chamber orchestra by Darius Milhaud (75) is performed for the first time, in Lisbon.
29 June 1968 Olivier Messiaen (59) writes that the recent events in France have greatly disrupted his work on La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ .
30 June 1968 Buddhist leader Thich Tri Quang is released after four months of “protective custody” in Saigon.
The French electorate approves of President de Gaulle’s program and elects pro-de Gaulle candidates to a majority of National Assembly seats. For the first time, one party holds a majority of seats in the National Assembly.
Ten days of Warsaw Pact military exercises in Czechoslovakia end but Soviet troops do not leave the country.
Following two nights of violent demonstrations at the University of California, a state of emergency is declared in Berkeley including a dusk to dawn curfew.
1 July 1968 62 nations sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in London, Moscow, and Washington.
A new penal code goes into effect in East Germany. It broadens the use of the death penalty, especially for political offenses.
4 July 1968 The Czechoslovak National Assembly grants all citizens access to a passport, effectively opening unlimited travel.
Dedication Fanfare for band by William Schuman (57) is performed for the first time, in St. Louis for the opening of the Gateway to the West Arch.
6 July 1968 Syzygy for soprano, horn, and orchestra by David del Tredici (31) to words of Joyce, is performed for the first time, in Philharmonic Hall, New York.
Perspektiven for orchestra by Ernst Krenek (67) is performed for the first time, in Ravinia, Illinois.
7 July 1968 France resumes atmospheric explosions of nuclear weapons at Mururoa Atoll, 1,200 km southeast of Tahiti.
Cello Concerto no.1 op.36 by Alberto Ginastera (52) is performed for the first time, at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire.
9 July 1968 The International Herald Tribune goes on sale in Moscow. It is the first US newspaper to be sold in the Soviet Union in 40 years.
Talks aimed at the unification of the three main Quebec separatist groups end in failure.
Paragraph 1 of The Great Learning for chorus (speaking, playing stones and whistles), and organ by Cornelius Cardew (32) to words of Confucius, (tr. Pound), is performed for the first time, in Cheltenham. Some in the audience react badly and introduce disruptive sounds into the proceedings.
10 July 1968 The British House of Commons gives final approval to a bill outlawing discrimination against non-whites in the country.
A federal court in Boston imposes two-year jail sentences and fines on Dr. Benjamin Spock, Rev. William Sloan Coffin, and two others who were convicted of conspiring to aid, abet, and counsel young men to avoid conscription.
Night Jar for viola d’amore, tape, film, and mime by Pauline Oliveros (36) is performed for the first time, in New York.
11 July 1968 The military junta of Greece publishes a draft constitution for the country. They announce a referendum for 29 September.
13 July 1968 Maurice Couve de Murville replaces Georges Pompidou as Prime Minister of France.
14 July 1968 President Tito of Yugoslavia expresses support for the Czechoslovak reforms.
15 July 1968 An Aeroflot plane arrives in New York, thus inaugurating the first direct air service between New York and Moscow.
16 July 1968 Leaders of Bulgaria, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and the USSR send an ultimatum to Prague demanding an end to the liberal reforms.
Naboth’s Vineyard, a dramatic madrigal by Alexander Goehr (35) after the Bible, is performed for the first time, in Cripplegate Theatre, London.
17 July 1968 President Abdel Rahman Arif of Iraq is toppled by conservative military officers. Major General Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr is named leader of the Revolutionary Command Council.
Israeli forces kill 13 Arab terrorists in a battle north of the Dead Sea.
18 July 1968 The League of Communists of Yugoslavia express support for the Czechoslovak reforms.
Canadian postal workers walk off the job in a wage dispute. Mail comes to a halt.
Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce found Integrated Electronics Corporation (Intel) in California.
Hyperion--Orfeo Dolente by Bruno Maderna (48) is performed for the first time, in Bologna. It consists of Maderna’s Hyperion interspersed with the five intermedii of Orfeo Dolente of 1616 by Domenico Belli.
19 July 1968 The Soviet leadership demands a meeting with the Czechoslovak leadership in Moscow, Kiev, or Lvov.
The Central Committee of the Czechoslovak Communist Party unanimously backs the liberalization plans.
Representatives of Nigeria and Biafra, meeting in Niamey, Niger, agree to peace talks to be held in Addis Ababa.
The Blossom Music Center is opened in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. It is intended to house a summer music festival featuring the Cleveland Orchestra.
20 July 1968 The Biafran government reports that 4-5% of its population dies weekly from famine.
22 July 1968 The Czechoslovak leadership agrees to talks with the Soviets but within Czechoslovakia.
A military investigation reports to the Italian Parliament that General Giovanni de Lorenzo, former head of the Italian counterintelligence agency, compiled personal files on leading politicians of the country with “the aim and the posture for carrying out a coup d’etat.”
Israeli forces kill six Arab terrorists near the Jordan River.
An essay by Dr. Andrey Dmitryevich Sakharov appears in the New York Times asserting that the capitalist and communist systems will eventually reach a “convergence” because of the dangers of further conflict.
23 July 1968 The USSR announces that it will hold massive military exercises on the border of Czechoslovakia.
Arab terrorists hijack an Israeli commercial airliner over Italy and force it to fly to Algiers. Upon arrival, 19 non-Israeli passengers are released.
Great Britain’s highest court, the judicial committee of the Privy Council, rules that the declaration of independence by whites in Rhodesia is illegal and that all laws passed pursuant to it are void.
After a shoot-out between black militants and police in Cleveland wherein seven people are killed, and 15 injured, blacks riot for five days.
Structures for orchestra by Morton Feldman (42) is performed for the first time, in Mexico City.
24 July 1968 National Guard troops begin arriving in Cleveland in an attempt to quell racial violence.
25 July 1968 In an apparent concession to Moscow, the Presidium of the Czechoslovak Communist Party removes Lt. General Vaclav Prchlik as head of the military department of the Central Committee and abolishes his department. Prchlik has been outspoken in his criticism of the USSR.
Pope Paul VI issues the encyclical Humanae Vitae, restating the opposition of the Roman Catholic Church to any form of artificial birth control.
26 July 1968 About 20 commandos attack the US air base at Udorn, Thailand. Three people are killed, four wounded. Two planes are damaged.
Vietnamese peace activist Truong Dinh Dzu is sentenced to five years in prison by a Saigon military court for conduct “detrimental to the anti-Communist spirit of the people and the armed forces.”
Seven Arab terrorists and two Israelis are killed in a battle near Jericho.
Riul for clarinet and piano by Isang Yun (50) is performed for the first time, in Erlangen.
Los visitantes, the third revision of Panfilo and Lauretta, an opera by Carlos Chávez (69) to words of Kallman after Boccaccio (tr. Lindsay and Hernández Moncada), is performed for the first time, in Mexico City. See 9 May 1957, 28 October 1959, and 21 May 1963.
27 July 1968 Ten Israeli women and children from the plane hijacked on 23 July are released. Algeria continues to hold seven crew and five passengers.
In a nationwide broadcast address, Czechoslovak Communist Party chief Alexander Dubcek announces that his country will continue on the road of democratization “to the end.”
Further findings of the Kerner Commission on Civil Disorders are released. Among other things, they find that riots over the past few years are “a manifestation of race and racism in the United States [and] an indicator of the necessity for fundamental change in American society.”
Blacks riot for four days in Gary, Indiana. Six people are injured, 235 arrested, $35,000 damage done.
28 July 1968 Concerto for flute and strings by Easley Blackwood (35) is performed for the first time, at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire.
Pop-Pourri for soprano, rock group, and orchestra by David del Tredici (31) to words of Caroll, the Litany of the Blessed Virgin, and a Lutheran Hymn, is performed for the first time, in La Jolla, California.
29 July 1968 The Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Presidium of the Czechoslovak Communist Party meet in Cierna in eastern Slovakia in an attempt to resolve the differences between them. The USSR places its troops in East Germany on alert and sends significant numbers to the border with Czechoslovakia.
Arab residents of the Gaza Strip attempting to flee to Jordan from Israel, are turned back by Jordanian authorities at the Allenby Bridge.
After police raid the headquarters of the Black Panther Party in Seattle, blacks riot for three days. 13 people are injured, 101 arrested, $220,000 in damage.
30 July 1968 Street battles break out in Mexico City between police, federal troops, and students over charges of police brutality.
Symphonie pour l’univers Claudelien op.427b for orchestra by Darius Milhaud (75) is performed for the first time, in Aix-en-Provence.
31 July 1968 The French government declares support for the secessionist province of Biafra.
The Mexican government uses troops to quell student demonstrations in Villahermosa and Jalapa.
1 August 1968 Kristian Eldjarn replaces Asgeir Asgeirsson as President of Iceland.
About 10,000 people gather in Prague demanding to know the truth about the talks in Cierna.
After four days of meetings in Cierna, Czechoslovakia, Soviet and Czechoslovak leaders declare a compromise has been reached. Liberal reforms and criticism of them will be scaled back.
50,000 students, joined by the Rector of the National University, march peacefully through Mexico City to protest police brutality.
Rondo for string quartet by Anton Webern (†22) is performed for the first time, at the Fourth International Webern Festival, Hanover, New Hampshire, 62 years after it was composed. On the same program, Instant Remembered for soprano, orchestra, and tape by Ernst Krenek (67) to words of various authors, is performed for the first time, the composer conducting. The work is dedicated to the memory of Webern.
Music for saxophone and piano by Leslie Bassett (45) is performed for the first time, in Tempe, Arizona.
2 August 1968 Sun Music, a ballet by Peter Sculthorpe (39) to a choreography by Helpmann, is performed for the first time, in Her Majesty’s Theatre, Sydney.
Melitón Manzanas, head of secret police in Guipúzcoa, Spain, is killed, presumably by the Basque separatist group ETA.
Sonatensatz for piano by Anton Webern (†22) is performed for the first time, at the Fourth International Webern Festival, Hanover New Hampshire, 62 years after it was composed.
3 August 1968 Representatives of the USSR, Czechoslovakia, and four other Warsaw Pact nations meet in Bratislava and ratify the agreement reached at Cierna.
4 August 1968 US and Saigon government forces begin a five-day offensive into the A Shau Valley southwest of Hue.
Israeli warplanes attack Arab terrorist bases 15 km inside Jordan.
Incidental music to Corneille’s play Cinna by Lou Harrison (51) is performed for the first time, in San Francisco.
6 August 1968 Israeli troops enter Jordan in hot pursuit of terrorists about 50 km south of the Dead Sea.
7 August 1968 During the national convention of the Republican Party in Miami, racial violence erupts in Liberty City, a predominantly black district of the city.
8 August 1968 While defending against a Viet Cong attack, US troops kill 72 civilians and injure 240 more at Cai Rang in the Mekong Delta.
More racial violence occurs in Miami and the National Guard is called in. Three people are killed by gunfire.
9 August 1968 The Territorial Assembly of French Polynesia votes to ban nuclear testing in its area.
After a 24-day strike, Canadian postal workers agree to return to work with a compromise contract.
About 150,000 students at the National University and the National Polytechnic Institute in Mexico City begin a strike. They demand freedom for all political prisoners, the dissolution of special riot police, the resignation of the Mexico City police chief, and indemnities to students injured in July when police invaded the university campus.
Police raid the National University in Montevideo searching for the kidnapped president of the state telephone and electricity service. This precipitates ten days of fighting between students and police.
Fan Music, a sound work by Max Neuhaus, is inaugurated on the roof of 137-141 Bowery, New York on the composer’s 29th birthday. It exists for three days.
11 August 1968 Chamber Symphony by Andrew Imbrie (47) is performed for the first time, at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire.
Musique pour Nouvelle Orléans for orchestra by Darius Milhaud (75) is performed for the first time, in Aspen, Colorado. The work was commissioned for the 250th anniversary of New Orleans in 1966 but rejected by the anniversary committee. Also premiered is Milhaud’s Promenade Concert op.424 for orchestra.
Racial violence in Los Angeles leaves three people dead, 50 injured, 35 arrested and $40,00 damage.
12 August 1968 Walter Ulbricht (First Secretary of the East German Socialist Unity Party) meets Alexander Dubcek (First Secretary of the Czechoslovak Communist Party) at Karlovy Vary and demands that Czechoslovak reforms be reversed. Dubcek refuses.
In alium for soprano, orchestra, and tape by John Tavener (24) to words of Péguy and the Vulgate is performed for the first time, in Royal Albert Hall, London. The evening’s conductor, Norman Del Mar, refused to rehearse or conduct the piece and David Atherton is substituted.
Six Proverbs for voice and piano by Otto Luening (68) is performed for the first time, in Lincoln Center, New York.
13 August 1968 A bomb explodes near the car of Greek dictator Giorgios Papadapoulos as he travels along a coast road 30 km north of Athens. Alekos Panagoulis is almost immediately arrested. Papadapoulos is unhurt.
15 August 1968 The Nigerian government rejects an ICRC plan to airlift food to starving refugees in Biafra.
16 August 1968 Nigerian troops capture the Biafran towns of Owaza and Okuazu and murder 2,000 Ibos.
Birdland for two-channel tape by Robert Erickson (51) is performed for the first time, in Theatre Five, San Diego, California.
17 August 1968 Three works by Lou Harrison (51) are performed for the first time, in Aptos, California: France 1917-Spain 1937 (About the Spanish War) for string quartet and percussion (31 years after it was composed), Peace Piece 3: Little Song on the Atom Bomb for voice, two violins, viola, and harp to his own words, and Nova Odo for chorus and orchestra to his own words (first complete).
18 August 1968 North Vietnamese troops attack the provincial capital of Tay Ninh northwest of Saigon, and 15 other places in Tay Ninh and Binh Long Provinces. US forces arrive and engage in street fighting.
Arab terrorists explode three bombs in West Jerusalem. Ten people are injured. Enraged Israelis march into East Jerusalem, rioting and looting, until they are forced back by police.
19 August 1968 North Vietnamese troops withdraw from Tay Ninh.
Computer Music for percussion and tape by Lejaren Hiller (44) and G. Allan O’Connor is performed for the first time, in New York.
20 August 1968 23:00 Military forces from the USSR, the German Democratic Republic, Poland, Bulgaria, and Hungary numbering 200,000 men, enter Czechoslovakia and seize control of the country. The government orders the people not to resist.
21 August 1968 First Secretary Alexander Dubcek, Prime Minister Oldrich Cernik, National Assembly President Josef Smrkovsky and other Czechoslovak leaders are arrested and transported to a military base in Slovakia. President Ludvik Svoboda is surrounded by tanks in Hradcany Castle. The Czechoslovak Communist Party holds a secret congress in Prague and elects a new Central Committee led by Dubcek. The National Assembly locks itself in the Parliament building and vows not to adjourn until foreign troops leave the country.
Thousands of Czechoslovaks enter the streets of main cities in the country. They begin spontaneous passive resistance to the invaders, raising barricades and shouting angrily at soldiers. At 11:00, Soviet troops finally enter the studios of Prague Radio which has been broadcasting throughout the crisis. They silence the radio, but other clandestine broadcasts begin appearing through the day. Youths begin throwing Molotov cocktails at tanks, setting some on fire.
The North Vietnamese government expresses support for the invasion of Czechoslovakia.
In an address in Bucharest, Romanian leader Nicolae Ceausescu denounces the invasion of Czechoslovakia.
President Tito of Yugoslavia issues a statement calling the invasion of Czechoslovakia an act of aggression.
Leaders of communist parties in Italy, France, Great Britain, Austria, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Belgium condemn the invasion of Czechoslovakia.
The Greek Security Police transfer Mikis Theodorakis (43) and his wife to the village of Zatouna in the mountains of Arcadia.
22 August 1968 22 North Vietnamese rockets land in downtown Saigon killing 18 people and injuring 59 others. Two hit the National Assembly building.
20,000 people march peacefully to Wenceslas Square, Prague against the invasion of Czechoslovakia.
Pope Paul VI becomes the first reigning pontiff to visit South America when he begins a three-day visit to Bogotá.
Proprium Missae per a le festa de la nativitat de la mare de Deu (8 de setembre) for chorus, instruments, and organ by Ernst Krenek is performed for the first time, in Abadia, Montserrat, on the eve of the composer’s 68th birthday.
23 August 1968 The Chinese government condemns the invasion of Czechoslovakia as a “shameless act.”
North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces launch major rocket attacks throughout South Vietnam. Particular targets are Da Nang, Hue and Quang Tri. At Duc Lap, 200 km northeast of Saigon, the rocket attack is followed by a ground assault which overruns about one-third of a US Special Forces camp and the town of Duc Lap.
An hour-long general strike takes place throughout Czechoslovakia to protest the Warsaw Pact invasion.
Czechoslovak President Ludvik Svoboda and other high officials are flown to Moscow for talks with leaders of the invasion.
Nomos for orchestra by Harrison Birtwistle (34) is performed for the first time, in Royal Albert Hall, London.
24 August 1968 France becomes the fifth nation to explode a hydrogen bomb. The test takes place at Mururoa Atoll in the South Pacific.
Soviet soldiers kill three youths caught distributing leaflets in Prague.
Nigerian federal troops begin an offensive into Biafra.
26 August 1968 North Vietnamese troops are forced to retreat from all their gains at Duc Lap.
27 August 1968 Czechoslovak leaders are released from Moscow and return home with the Moscow “Agreement.” In return for the end of liberal reforms, the current regime may remain and Soviet troops begin to withdraw from the center of Prague.
Three days of rioting begin in Gary, Indiana after police attempt to arrest a black man suspected of rape.
28 August 1968 The Czechoslovak National Assembly declares the invasion of the country illegal and demands the withdrawal of troops.
The pro-Communist Rebel Armed Forces of Guatemala attempt to kidnap US ambassador John Mein in Guatemala City. Mein escapes and runs but is shot dead by the kidnappers.
Police and National Guardsmen attack anti-war demonstrators attempting to march on the Democratic Convention in Chicago. 100 people are injured, 175 arrested.
Police battle student demonstrators in front of the National Palace in Mexico City.
29 August 1968 Crown Prince Harald of Norway marries Sonja Haraldson in Oslo.
Following the events of yesterday, Guatemalan President Julio César Méndez Montenegro orders a 30-day state of siege throughout the country.
On the last night of the nominating convention of the US Democratic Party in Chicago, thousands of demonstrators, some led by delegates to the convention, attempt to march on the convention hall. They are largely stopped by police and National Guardsmen. During the four days of meetings, police and national guardsmen battled 15,000 demonstrators in the streets. Over 1,000 people require medical attention.
30 August 1968 Dawn. Police raid the Chicago headquarters of presidential candidate Senator Eugene McCarthy. No arrests are made but three campaign officials are so badly injured they require hospitalization.
Two days of violence between blacks and police in St. Paul, Minnesota leave 52 people injured, 15 arrested.
31 August 1968 An earthquake in northeastern Iran kills 12,000 people.
The Czechoslovak Communist Party elects a new presidium. 16 of 18 members are reformers.
Five weeks after their plane was hijacked by Arab terrorists, the remaining five passengers and seven crew are released by Algeria.
Ten major news organizations (including three television networks) send a letter of protest to Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago demanding an investigation into the actions of police during the Democratic convention. “Newsmen were repeatedly singled out by policemen and deliberately beaten and harassed. Cameras were broken and film destroyed. The obvious purpose was to discourage or prevent reporting of an important confrontation between police and demonstrators which the American public has the right to know about.”
1 September 1968 The Central Committee of the Czechoslovak Communist Party elects a new Presidium in Prague. However, most of the members are liberals.
Musik für ein Haus for 14 instruments and electronics by Karlheinz Stockhausen (40) is performed for the first time, in Darmstadt.
2 September 1968 The Czechoslovak government bans three journals considered counterrevolutionary by the USSR. They are the organs of the Writers’ Union, the Journalists’ Union, and the Students’ Union.
Duke Ellington (69) and His Orchestra arrive in Rio de Janeiro at the start of a two-and-a-half week tour of South America.
3 September 1968 A prominent Czechoslovak reformer, Deputy Prime Minister Ota Sik, resigns. Invading troops have been removed from important buildings in Prague and other cities by today.
The Nigerian government allows the International Red Cross to begin sending relief to the starving citizens of secessionist Biafra. Nigerian Lieutenant Macaulay Lamurde is executed by firing squad for murdering an Ibo civilian.
4 September 1968 Reimposition of press censorship goes into effect in Czechoslovakia. Non-communist political clubs are banned.
Caritas begins an airlift of starving Biafran children to São Tomé.
Arab terrorists explode three bombs near the central bus station in Tel Aviv. One person is killed, 71 injured. Enraged Israelis attack Arabs in the area, severely injuring eight of them. Police intervene and are also injured. Israelis also enter the Arab suburb of Jaffa, rioting and looting.
Nigerian federal troops capture the Biafran city of Aba.
About 150 whites wielding clubs, including many off-duty policemen, attack about ten Black Panthers in a hallway of the Brooklyn Criminal Court in New York.
5 September 1968 Peking Radio announces that revolutionary committees have been set up in Tibet and Sinkiang (Xinjiang), thus bringing all provinces of China under the control of supporters of Mao Tse-tung.
6 September 1968 The Kingdom of Swaziland, under King Sobhuza II and Prime Minister Makhosini Dlamini, is declared independent of Great Britain in ceremonies at Mbabane. Swaziland was the last British dependency on the continent of Africa.
8 September 1968 Ryszard Siwiec, a 59-year-old bookkeeper, sets himself on fire at a festival in a Warsaw stadium to protest the invasion of Czechoslovakia. He will die in four days. The event goes unnoticed.
Egyptian and Israeli forces exchange artillery fire for four hours across the Suez Canal from Port Suez to Qantara. Egyptian fire destroys two UN observation posts.
The New York Times publishes details of the Moscow Agreement from notes taken by the Czechoslovak negotiators.
Huey Newton, founder of the Black Panther Party, is found guilty of manslaughter in the killing of an Oakland policeman. He is sentenced to 2-15 years in prison.
A concert of the music of Harry Partch (67) draws standing-room-only crowds at the Whitney Museum in New York. The lines “twisted outside the museum, down Madison Avenue, and around the block.”
9 September 1968 Heralds I for brass octet by Ulysses Kay (51) is performed for the first time, in New York.
10 September 1968 The leadership of Czechoslovakia proclaims that all citizens retain their “personal security and freedom.” It is signed by President Svoboda, Prime Minister Cernik, and Communist Party First Secretary Dubcek.
A letter signed by 88 Soviet writers denouncing the invasion of Czechoslovakia surfaces in Great Britain.
11 September 1968 North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces attack Tay Ninh, 80 km north of Saigon.
Soviet tanks begin a withdrawal from Prague.
The First Circle by Alyeksandr Solzhenitsyn is published in the west, against the wishes of its author.
13 September 1968 The Czechoslovak National Assembly approves the reimposition of direct press censorship.
Albania announces that it has withdrawn from the Warsaw Pact.
14 September 1968 String Quartet no.12 op.133 by Dmitri Shostakovich (61) is performed publicly for the first time, in Moscow. See 14 June 1968.
15 September 1968 In parliamentary elections in Sweden, the ruling Social Democratic party gains twelve seats and a majority in the lower house.
16 September 1968 After a five-day battle, US and Saigon government forces still hold Tay Ninh.
China accuses the Soviet Union of violating its airspace 119 times over the last year.
Nigerian federal troops capture the Biafran city of Owerri.
Prime Minister António de Oliveira Salazar of Portugal, leader of the fascist government since 1932, suffers a debilitating stroke.
17 September 1968 US forces begin an offensive into the Demilitarized Zone of Vietnam.
18 September 1968 The Philippines officially claims the Malaysian state of Sabah.
Police attack barricades set up by students at the National University in Montevideo. Three days of battles follow.
19 September 1968 Malaysia breaks diplomatic relations with the Philippines.
Jiri Hajek, Foreign Minister of Czechoslovakia, is sacked under intense pressure from the USSR.
Arab terrorists kill six Israeli soldiers near Jenin. The terrorists are later annihilated by the Israelis.
Mexican armed forces take control of the National University in Mexico City, following seven weeks of student unrest.
20 September 1968 US officials in Saigon claim that their defoliation of five percent of the country has caused no harm to humans or animals and there is no damage to the region’s ecology. However, a report by an official of the US Department of Agriculture, released at the same news conference, shows “undeniable ecologic change.”
The solo part of Domaines for clarinet and 21 instruments by Pierre Boulez (43) is performed for the first time, in Ulm. See 20 December 1968.
22 September 1968 Soviet ships recover the space probe Zond 5 in the Indian Ocean. It is the first space ship to fly around the moon and then return to Earth.
The Washington Post reports that key Red Guard leaders in Peking have been arrested.
The government of Uruguay closes all universities and secondary schools in Montevideo following recent violence.
24 September 1968 The Kingdom of Swaziland is admitted to the United Nations.
Two days of battles between students and police in Mexico City leave three people dead.
26 September 1968 Theatre Set for orchestra by Ulysses Kay (51) is performed for the first time, in Atlanta.
27 September 1968 France vetoes the entry of Great Britain into the EEC for the third time.
Marcelo das Neves Alves Caetano replaces António de Oliveira Salazar as Prime Minister of Portugal. Salazar suffered a stroke on 16 September and is presently in a coma.
28 September 1968 North Vietnamese forces attack and lay siege to the US base at Anduc and the town of Thuongduc, 50 km southwest of Da Nang.
10,000 anti-war protesters march in Chicago to express their outrage at the violence which took place exactly one month ago.
29 September 1968 A sham plebiscite in Greece endorses the dictatorship in a new constitution.
Ulisse, an opera by Luigi Dallapiccola (64) to his own words after Homer, is performed for the first time, at the Deutsche Oper, Berlin. The response is unfavorable, and in some parts of the press, hostile. Later productions will fare better.
80 people march in Chicago to protest the march of yesterday and express support for the police.
Piano Concerto no.2 by Hans Werner Henze (42) is performed for the first time, at the opening of a new arts center in Bielefeld. The composer is called to the stage to acknowledge the applause, but the orchestra refuses to stand with him. He will later learn it is because of his leftist political views.
30 September 1968 Two members of the ICRC and two aid workers from the World Council of Churches are shot to death by Nigerian federal troops at Okigwe.
2 October 1968 In street fighting between Mexican troops and protesting students in the Plaza of the Three Cultures, Tlatelolco, Mexico City, unknown hundreds are killed when security forces open fire on the crowd. At least 360 government snipers are involved, one firing from the apartment of the sister-in-law of President Luis Echeverria Alvarez. Officially, 49 people are killed and several hundred injured. But many bodies are removed by the government before an independent count can be made.
Marcel Duchamp dies in Neuilly-sur-Seine at the age of 81.
3 October 1968 Leaders of Czechoslovakia, including First Secretary Alexander Dubcek and Prime Minister Oldrich Cernik, arrive in Moscow for high level talks with Soviet leaders.
An international observer team reports no evidence of genocide against the Ibos in Nigeria.
The government of President Fernando Belaúnde Terry of Peru is overthrown by the military of the country. He is put on a plane for Buenos Aires. Army chief General Juan Velasco Alvarado takes power. Congress and the constitution are banned.
To Thee Old Cause for oboe, brass, timpani, piano, and strings by William Schuman (58) is performed for the first time, in New York, conducted by Leonard Bernstein (50). It was commissioned for the 125th anniversary of the New York Philharmonic and was composed this summer while Schuman recovered from a heart attack.
4 October 1968 On the second day of meetings in Moscow between Czechoslovak and Soviet leaders, the government of Czechoslovakia agrees to dismantle what is left of their liberal reforms. They also agree to the stationing of foreign troops in the country indefinitely.
Two opposition members of Canada’s Parliament end a two-day visit to Biafra. They will report evidence of genocide by Nigerian federal troops against the Ibos.
5 October 1968 Police in Londonderry, Northern Ireland battle Roman Catholics who were denied a permit to march through Protestant areas to protest discrimination in voting and housing.
Newspapers in Czechoslovakia denounce inaccurate accounts of events in their country in the Soviet news media.
The American Jewish Committee in Paris reports that the Egyptian government has refused to allow the emigration of the 1,000 Jews left in the country.
6 October 1968 About 800 Roman Catholics gather in Londonderry to protest the events of yesterday. They are attacked and dispersed by police. About 100 people are injured over the last two days.
7 October 1968 Music for Vietnam for string quartet by Peter Sculthorpe (39) is performed for the first time, in Teachers Federation Hall, Sydney.
The Motion Picture Association of America announces a new rating code for films: G, M, R, X.
Mutations from Bach for brass and timpani by Samuel Barber (58) is performed for the first time, in New York.
8 October 1968 Students take over Lionel Groulx College, a junior college in Ste. Thérèse de Blainville, Quebec, 30 km north of Montreal. They demand a second French speaking university in Montreal and a reversal of the decision to reduce scholarship money. Within days, their protest spreads to almost every junior college in the province, as well as secondary schools. Students will occupy eleven junior colleges and disrupt classes at twelve others.
Major General Horst Wendtland, acting head of West German military intelligence, shoots himself to death in Pullach. He has been under secret investigation for espionage. On the same day, the body of West German Rear Admiral Hermann Lüdke is found in a hunting reserve in the Eifel Mountains near Trier. Lüdke recently retired as deputy chief of logistics at NATO supreme headquarters in Belgium. He is an apparent suicide, although murder is not ruled out.
Franco Zefferelli’s film of Romeo and Juliet is released in the United States.
9 October 1968 49 Jews are injured when an Arab terrorist throws a hand grenade into a religious ceremony at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron.
Nine Rivers from Jordan, an opera by Hugo Weisgall (55) to words of Johnston, is performed for the first time, in New York.
10 October 1968 Sinfonia for singers and orchestra by Luciano Berio (42) to words of Lévi-Strauss, Beckett, and the composer, is performed for the first time, without the fifth movement, in New York, the composer conducting. See 18 October 1969.
11 October 1968 Five Soviet citizens are sentenced in a Moscow court to prison terms and exile for taking part in a demonstration opposing the invasion of Czechoslovakia.
The French National Assembly adopts an education reform bill in response to the events of last May. It provides for the decentralization of the country’s universities.
The founding convention of the separatist Parti Québecois opens in the city of Quebec. It is a merger of the Mouvement Souveraineté-Association and the Ralliement National.
Apollo 7 is launched into space from Cape Kennedy, Florida. It is the first test of the vehicle designed to bring humans to the moon.
Funktion Gelb for tape by Gottfried Michael Koenig (42) is performed for the first time, in Berlin.
Linoi for clarinet and piano by Harrison Birtwistle (34) is performed for the first time, in the Purcell Room, London. See 22 April 1969.
Four of the Five Pieces for piano by Arthur Berger (56) are performed for the first time, in New York.
Reverie and Rondo for orchestra by Ulysses Kay (51) is performed for the first time, in Flint, Michigan.
12 October 1968 The Republic of Equatorial Guinea, under President Francisco Macias Nguema, is declared independent of Spain.
The Games of the Nineteenth Olympiad of the Modern Era open in Mexico City.
13 October 1968 Talks between British Prime Minister Harold Wilson and Ian Smith, the leader of the white minority government in Rhodesia, aboard HMS Fearless in Gibraltar harbor, end in failure.
Incidental music to Jonson’s play The Alchemist by George Rochberg (50) is performed for the first time, at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre, Lincoln Center, New York. See 31 October 1969.
An episode of the CBS television program The Twenty-first Century, entitled “Incredible Voyage”, with a sound track by Vladimir Ussachevsky (56), is shown for the first time, over the airwaves of the CBS television network.
14 October 1968 String Quartet no.3 by Karel Husa (47) is performed for the first time, in Chicago.
15 October 1968 Peking Radio announces that Liu Shao-ch’i (Liu Shaoqi) has been stripped of all his party posts.
Cancer Ward by Alyeksandr Solzhenitsyn is published in the west, against the wishes of its author.
Ornithologica multiplicata for two cages of birds and two microphones by Mauricio Kagel (36) is performed for the first time, in Cologne.
16 October 1968 A treaty signed in Prague allows for the “temporary” occupation of Czechoslovakia.
Nine Roman Catholic anti-war protesters are convicted in federal court in Baltimore for destroying Selective Service records in Catonsville, Maryland last May. They are given prison terms ranging from two to three-and-a-half years.
During the medal ceremony for the Olympic 200m run, gold medalist Tommie Smith and bronze medalist John Carlos, both Americans, raise their gloved fist in the black power salute during the national anthem. The United States Olympic Committee bans them from the Olympic Village.
17 October 1968 Incidental music to Tabori’s play The Cannibals by Vladimir Ussachevsky (56) is performed for the first time, in the American Place Theatre, New York.
18 October 1968 Four Interludes and a Tragedy for basset clarinet and tape by Harrison Birtwistle (34) is performed for the first time, in London. The first performance is without tape. See 10 February 1969.
19 October 1968 The new Symphony Hall in Atlanta is officially opened.
20 October 1968 Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy marries Aristotle Onassis on the Greek island of Skorpios.
21 October 1968 Hungarian troops which participated in the invasion of Czechoslovakia begin to withdraw from the country.
ST/48 for 48 instruments by Iannis Xenakis (46) is performed for the first time, in Paris, conducted by Lukas Foss (46).
22 October 1968 The Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences produces a 12,000-word argument against the stated aims of the USSR in invading the country.
Apollo 7 returns to Earth in the Atlantic Ocean south of Bermuda after 163 orbits and twelve days in space. The test of the moon ship is considered a success.
Most boycotting students in Quebec return to classes after a twelve-day uprising when administrators agree to meet with them about their demands.
23 October 1968 Arabs engage in violent demonstrations against Israel in Ramallah, Jenin, and Nablus. Israeli authorities impose a curfew on Ramallah.
Nine anti-Castro Cuban émigrés are arrested in New York and charged with bombing offices of six countries having trade with Cuba.
Friede Anno 48, a cantata for soprano, chorus and piano by Karl Amadeus Hartmann (†4) to words of Gryphius, is performed for the first time, in Cologne 32 years after it was composed.
Letters from Composers, a cycle for high voice and guitar by Dominick Argento (40) to words of several composers, is performed for the first time, at Macalester College, St. Paul, Minnesota.
25 October 1968 East German troops begin to pull out of Czechoslovakia.
26 October 1968 North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces assault the US base at Tay Ninh, 95 north of Saigon, but are repulsed.
Israeli and Egyptian forces exchange artillery fire across the Suez Canal. Egyptian ground troops attack Israeli positions at Qantara and Bûr Taufiq.
The Rassemblement pour l’Indépendence Nationale votes to join with the new Parti Québecois. The Quebec separatist movement thus achieves unity for the first time.
27 October 1968 50,000 people march in London to protest the war in Vietnam.
The Games of the Nineteenth Olympiad of the Modern Era close in Mexico City. In 16 days of competition, 5,516 athletes from 112 countries took part.
String Trio by Charles Wuorinen (30) is performed for the first time, in the National Gallery, Washington.
28 October 1968 On the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Czechoslovakia, thousands march through Prague in anti-Soviet protests. This day has not been celebrated since the Communists took control in 1948.
The Politics of Harmony, an opera by Charles Wuorinen (30) to words of Monaco, is performed for the first time, in McMillin Theatre, Columbia University directed by the composer.
29 October 1968 Troops from Poland and Bulgaria begin to withdraw from Czechoslovakia.
30 October 1968 Canadian military planes begin relief flights into Biafra.
President Svoboda of Czechoslovakia signs a bill creating two federated states within the country, Bohemia and Moravia in one, Slovakia in the other. This provides both with a degree of autonomy.
31 October 1968 The Chinese Communist Party Central Committee announces that Chief of State Liu Shao-ch’i (Liu Shaoqi) has been stripped of “all posts both inside and outside the party once and for all.” He is replaced as President by Tung Pi-wu (Dong Biwu).
Israeli commandos strike into Egypt and attack an electric transformer station and two bridges over the Nile.
The Association of the Pastors of the Evangelical Church of the Czech Brethren, meeting in Pardubice, demands the “complete withdrawal” of Soviet forces from Czechoslovakia.
US President Lyndon Johnson informs his country that he is ordering a halt in the bombing of North Vietnam “on the basis of the developments in the Paris talks.”
The US Navy announces that it has found the nuclear submarine USS Scorpion, missing since late May, in 3,000 meters of water, 650 km southwest of the Azores.
L’Apocalypse de Jean by Pierre Henry (40) is performed for the first time in the Théatre de la Musique, Paris.
Paradigm for percussionist, conductor, electric guitar or electric sitar, three instruments (high, middle and low), and electronics by Lukas Foss (46) is performed for the first time, at Hunter College, New York.
1 November 1968 Operation Rolling Thunder comes to an end. Three years of bombing of North Vietnam comes to a halt. In an attempt to stop North Vietnamese support of the south, 182,000 civilians (by US estimates) have been killed. North Vietnam announces that it accepts expanded talks to include the Viet Cong and the Saigon government.
2 November 1968 The Saigon government announces it will boycott the Paris peace talks over the inclusion of representatives from the National Liberation Front (Viet Cong).
3 November 1968 The Viet Cong announce acceptance of the expanded peace talks.
Jordanian troops battle a minor Arab terrorist group around Amman. 30 people, mostly civilians, are killed and 100 injured.
500,000 people accompany the body of George Papandreou to an Athens cemetery shouting anti-dictatorship slogans.
Nocturnes and Arias for orchestra by Thea Musgrave (40) is performed for the first time, in Zürich.
4 November 1968 Canadian relief flights into Biafra are halted because Biafra withholds permission for them to fly during daylight hours.
5 November 1968 Dmitri Shostakovich (62) is awarded the Glinka State Prize for The Execution of Stepan Razin.
Voting in the United States ensures the election of former Vice President Richard Nixon as President over Vice President Hubert Humphrey and George Wallace, former Governor of Alabama. His Republican Party picks up five seats in the Senate and five in the House of Representatives, but the Democratic Party retains control of both. His is the first President of the United States to face opposition majorities in both houses of Congress in his first year.
6 November 1968 Several hundred Czechoslovaks demonstrate in Prague against the Soviet Union on the eve of the anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution.
Students at San Francisco State College begin a 134-day boycott of classes. The students demand more non-white courses and students.
7 November 1968 Police fire into demonstrations favoring of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in Rawalpindi. One person in killed. This begins several days of student anti-government unrest throughout Pakistan.
Anti-Soviet demonstrations occur in Wenceslas Square, Prague. Police respond with tear gas.
8 November 1968 Symphony no.12 “Pere Marquette Symphony” for tenor singer/speaker and orchestra by Roy Harris (70) to words of the Catholic Mass and the Bible, is performed completely for the first time, in Uihlein Auditorium, Milwaukee. See 24 February 1968.
10 November 1968 Fighting breaks out in Prague between about 5,000 anti-Soviet demonstrators and 2,500 pro-Soviet communists attending a meeting. Police move in to break it up.
Portuguese socialist leader Mario Soares arrives in Lisbon after his banishment to São Tomé is revoked. He has been there since March.
12 November 1968 The Republic of Equatorial Guinea is admitted to the United Nations.
US Secretary of Defense Clark Clifford warns the Saigon government that if it does not end its boycott of the peace talks, the US will proceed without them.
13 November 1968 Former Foreign Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and 14 leading politicians are arrested in Lahore and charged with inciting the violence which has recently spread through Pakistan.
Thousands of university and secondary school students march through Rome in favor of educational reform. Traffic becomes hopelessly snarled. Demonstrations also occur in Padua, Bari, and Palermo.
The faculty of San Francisco State College vote to suspend classes in light of the student boycott. President Robert Smith orders the school closed.
Son of Heldenleben for orchestra and tape by R. Murray Schafer (35) is performed for the first time, in Montreal.
14 November 1968 About 12,000,000 Italian workers strike for 24 hours for greater benefits, joined by thousands of students.
16 November 1968 The Jordanian government reaches an agreement with several terrorist organizations operating within its borders.
Students at Prague University begin a sit-in, demanding a restoration of rights lost by the Soviet invasion. The students are openly supported by secondary school students, factory workers, miners, the Prague Union of Journalists, and the musicians of the Czech Philharmonic.
Over 3,000 Catholics march into the center of Londonderry where they are attacked by Protestants throwing rocks.
Credo for chorus and orchestra by Arvo Pärt (33) is performed for the first time, in Tallinn.
Carol for orchestra by Henry Cowell (†2) is performed for the first time, in the Municipal Theatre, Tulsa.
17 November 1968 Alekos Panagoulis receives two death sentences in a Greek court, one for deserting the army and the other for sedition. He is also given a sentence of 15 years in jail for the attempted murder of Prime Minister Giorgios Papadapoulos on 13 August. Eight other alleged plotters receive sentences of two-and-a-half years to life in prison. Four are acquitted.
18 November 1968 University students throughout Czechoslovakia begin a three-day protest against the invasion of their country.
Police in Londonderry battle Catholics outside a hearing for 46 people arrested on 5 October.
The Board of Trustees of California universities, led by Governor Ronald Reagan, orders the immediate reopening of San Francisco State College, saying there will be “no negotiation, arbitration, or concession” to students.
Livre pour orchestre by Witold Lutoslawski (55) is performed for the first time, in Hagen, West Germany.
Funktion Rot for tape by Gottfried Michael Koenig (42) is performed for the first time, in Utrecht.
19 November 1968 The UN General Assembly votes 44-58-23 against the seating of the Peoples Republic of China.
Fantasia concertante for piano, clarinet, and bassoon by Heitor Villa-Lobos (†9) is performed for the first time, in Sala Cecilia Meireles, Rio de Janeiro.
20 November 1968 European exchange markets close after speculation against the French Franc in favor of the West German Mark.
Tristorosa for piano by Heitor Villa-Lobos (†9) is performed for the first time, in Rio de Janeiro 58 years after it was composed.
21 November 1968 The student strikes in Czechoslovakia, begun 16 November, end peacefully. About 100,000 university and high school students evacuate their school buildings.
Student unrest against new educational requirements breaks out in Mansura, northeast of Cairo. Police open fire killing four people and injuring 43 others.
String Quartet no.8 by Charles Villiers Stanford (†44) is performed before a live audience for the first time, at the Savile Club, 49 years after it was composed. See 20 March 1968.
Duke Ellington (69) is named by US President Johnson to the National Council on the Arts.
Requiems for the Party-Girl for mezzo-soprano and chamber orchestra by R. Murray Schafer (35) is performed for the first time, in Vancouver.
22 November 1968 Peter Sculthorpe (39) is awarded a Britannica Australia Medal at Melbourne Town Hall. The prize is $10,000.
Arab terrorists explode a bomb in the Mahane Yehuda marketplace in Jerusalem. Twelve people are killed, 55 injured.
23 November 1968 The student unrest of two days ago reaches Alexandria, with battles against police. Seven people are hospitalized.
24 November 1968 Student protests begin in Cairo. To combat spreading student unrest, the Egyptian government closes universities indefinitely.
Organologia for organ by Ernst Krenek (68) is performed for the first time, in the Petri-Kirche, Mülheim.
25 November 1968 New anti-government demonstrations break out in 19 Pakistani cities.
In an agreement signed in Moscow, the USSR pledges military assistance, food, and agricultural materials for North Vietnam.
The Czechoslovak government resumes travel restrictions to the West.
In the last day of student unrest in Egypt, eleven people are killed in Alexandria. Students leave the university buildings they occupy.
Upton Sinclair dies in Bound Brook, New Jersey at the age of 90.
Projekt 1-Version1 for ensemble by Gottfried Michael Koenig (42) is performed for the first time, in Utrecht.
Treffpunkt and Es from Aus dem sieben Tagen no.26 by Karlheinz Stockhausen (40) are performed for the first time, in London.
26 November 1968 The Saigon government announces it will end its boycott and attend the peace conference in Paris.
President Robert Smith, unable to bring peace and order to San Francisco State College, resigns. He is immediately replaced by SI Hayakawa.
27 November 1968 Pakistani students attack the US Information Service library in Peshawar.
29 November 1968 Riots break out in Pristina and other towns in Kosovo District, Yugoslavia. Demands of the rioters include a republic status for Kosovo, the right of secession and an Albanian university. The government responds with a party purge and mass arrests.
Madrid University students battle police with rocks and Molotov cocktails. Three schools of the University are closed.
1 December 1968 In a national televised address, President Mohammed Ayub Khan of Pakistan makes some concessions to students but retains the right to arrest anyone leading or involved in civil disturbances.
In retaliation for 50 Arab incursions into Israel, Israeli forces strike 60 km inside Jordan and destroy two bridges. This precipitates two days of air and artillery duels between the two countries.
The National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence names the Chicago Police Department as the major cause of the violence surrounding the August Democratic Convention, saying that a “police riot” had occurred.
Livre pour cordes Ia for string orchestra by Pierre Boulez (43) is performed for the first time, in London directed by the composer.
Overture for Large Orchestra by Henry Cowell (†2) is performed for the first time, in Santa Rosa, California.
2 December 1968 Ten days of violence begins in Italy when police attempt to break up a demonstration by striking farm workers in Avola, Sicily. Two people are killed, five injured.
President SI Hayakawa orders the reopening of San Francisco State College.
3 December 1968 Rioting takes place in Italy in reaction to the shootings of yesterday.
Do It for speaker, chorus, gongs, double basses, and bassoons by Robert Erickson (51) to words of Peterson, is performed for the first time, at the University of California at San Diego.
4 December 1968 Israeli war planes attack Iraqi troop positions in northern Jordan in retaliation for Iraqi shelling of farm settlements in Israel.
A two-day general strike begins in Rome, closing schools, government buildings, and shutting down all public transportation. The protest is over low wages and benefits and restrictions on unions.
A strike against continued police presence on campus virtually closes Madrid University.
André Malraux, French Minister of Culture, announces that the independent École des Beaux-Arts will become part of the general university system. He also announces the end of the Prix de Rome.
5 December 1968 After several days of clashes, police use Mace® and draw weapons to keep demonstrators away from the administration building of San Francisco State College.
6 December 1968 After four days of testimony, the House Un-American Activities Committee announces that Communists took part in the demonstrations at the Democratic Convention in August.
President SI Hayakawa of San Francisco State College announces concessions to some of the striking students’ demands. But he says police will remain on campus and there will be no amnesties.
Connections, a Fantasy for string quintet by TJ Anderson (40) is performed for the first time, in Nashville.
7 December 1968 Capriccio burlesco for orchestra by William Walton (66) is performed for the first time, in Philharmonic Hall, New York. The work was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra to celebrate its 125th anniversary.
8 December 1968 Livre pour cordes Ib for string orchestra by Pierre Boulez (43) is performed for the first time, in Brighton the composer conducting.
9 December 1968 Thomas Merton dies in Bangkok at the age of 53.
The first demonstration of a computer mouse takes place at a computer conference at Stanford University by its inventor, Douglas Engelbart of Stanford.
Concerto-Rhapsody for piano and orchestra by Aram Khachaturian (65) is performed for the first time, in Gorky.
Stimmung für sex-tête no.24 for six voices by Karlheinz Stockhausen (40) is performed for the first time, in Paris.
Das Floss der “Medusa”, an oratorio volgare e militare for soprano, baritone, speaker, chorus, boys’ chorus, and orchestra by Hans Werner Henze (42) to words of Schnabel, is to be premiered tonight in Hamburg. Before the performance, a poster of Che Guevara is placed on stage, only to be torn down by the organizer of the concert. Left-wing students stick a red flag on the platform in retaliation. When concert officials attempt to remove the banner, the students vigorously defend it. Meanwhile, some members of the West German Radio Chorus refuse to sing under the red flag but the composer will not have it removed. Given these circumstances, the chorus departs. Meanwhile, police have arrived in battle gear, arrest several students and shove the poet, Ernst Schnabel, through a glass door before arresting him as well. Under these conditions the composer refuses to go on and the concert is cancelled. See 29 January 1971.
Concerto for amplified piano, brass, string basses, and percussion by Roy Harris (70) is performed for the first time, in Royce Hall at the University of California at Los Angeles, the composer conducting.
11 December 1968 Vietnam peace talks in Paris stall over disagreements about the size and shape of the table to be used.
12 December 1968 Industrial workers throughout Sicily stage a two-day strike against low wages.
Three Basque nationalists are sentenced to 48 years in prison by a military court in San Sebastian. They are found guilty of arson and terrorism. A fourth defendant is given a twelve-year sentence. A fifth is acquitted.
The Brazilian Chamber of Deputies votes not to permit member Márcio Moreira Alves to be turned over for trial for offending the military.
Some Trees, a cycle for soprano, mezzo-soprano, bass-baritone, and piano by Ned Rorem (45) to words of Ashberry, is performed for the first time, in New York the composer at the keyboard.
13 December 1968 Students demanding education reform and release of their comrades held in prison clash with police at the Nanterre campus of the University of Paris, and also at Marseille, Lyon, Bordeaux, Nantes, and Clermont-Ferrand.
Mariano Rumor replaces Giovanni Leone as Prime Minister of Italy.
Three members of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences are expelled from the Communist Party for criticizing the involvement of Hungary in the invasion of Czechoslovakia.
Following the events of yesterday, Brazilian President Costa e Silva suspends Congress and gives himself emergency decree power.
After weeks of demonstrations and battles between students and police, President SI Hayakawa closes San Francisco State College a week early for the Christmas holidays.
14 December 1968 The French government threatens to expel students involved in demonstrations, giving university rectors powers in such matters.
The Brazilian military begins making widespread arrests of opposition figures, including former presidents and governors, as well as newspaper publishers.
15 December 1968 Military censors are stationed at all media outlets in Brazil.
16 December 1968 The royal order banning Jews from Spain in 1492 is officially rescinded. The announcement is made at the opening of a synagogue in Madrid.
17 December 1968 A group led by Mario Soares publishes a manifesto in Lisbon calling on the government to end one-party rule, institute freedom of speech, and free political prisoners.
Governor Ronald Reagan commends President SI Hayakawa for his tough stance at San Francisco State College. He announces plans to purge the faculty and students of undesirable elements.
Traces for piano, flute, cello and tape by Roger Reynolds (34) is performed for the first time, in Carnegie Recital Hall, New York.
18 December 1968 The French government orders the removal of police restraints from the University of Paris but also threatens that students involved in strikes could lose their scholarships and military deferments.
20 December 1968 The US State Department announces that the Moscow State Symphony will begin an American tour in February. It is the first cultural exchange since the US banned such exchanges last August with the powers invading Czechoslovakia.
Two former Nazis are convicted in a Frankfurt court of killing 90,000 mentally or physically ill people in the 1940s. They are both sentenced to ten years at hard labor.
The flight program of the experimental X-15 rocket plane concludes. The three X-15s built set altitude and speed records throughout the nine-year program.
John Steinbeck dies in New York at the age of 66.
Domaines for clarinet and 21 instruments by Pierre Boulez (43) is performed completely for the first time, in Brussels the composer conducting. See 20 September 1968.
21 December 1968 07:51 Three astronauts blast off from Cape Kennedy aboard Apollo 8 making for the moon.
Help! Help! The Globolinks!, an opera by Gian-Carlo Menotti (57) to his own words, is performed for the first time, at the Hamburg Staatsoper.
22 December 1968 After eleven months in captivity, the 82 members of the crew of the USS Pueblo are released by North Korea at Panmunjom, along with the body of one man killed when the ship was seized.
24 December 1968 09:49 UTC The crew of Apollo 8, Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders, become the first beings from the planet Earth to orbit the moon. As they do, they broadcast live television pictures of the event.
25 December 1968 06:10 UTC After ten orbits in 20 hours, Apollo 8 leaves moon orbit.
26 December 1968 Two Arab terrorist attack an El Al plane as it is about to take off from the Athens airport. They fire machine guns at the plane and throw incendiary bombs into the engines, setting one alight. One person is killed, one seriously injured. Greek police arrest the terrorists.
27 December 1968 Contrappunto dialettico alla mente for magnetic tape by Luigi Nono (44) is performed for the first time, in Palermo.
28 December 1968 04:51 Apollo 8 returns safely to earth in the Pacific Ocean, about 1,600 km southwest of Hawaii, after orbiting the moon. It is the longest space flight so far, 855,000 km. After traveling that distance, they splash down six-and-a-half kilometers from the main recovery ship.
In retaliation for the attack of two days ago, Israeli forces raid Beirut International Airport. They destroy 13 planes belonging to the airlines of three Arab countries.
29 December 1968 Montage à titre de spectacle for three or more performers by Mauricio Kagel (37) is staged for the first time, in Palermo. Also premiered is Kagel’s Der Schall for five players. See 30 December 1967.
30 December 1968 The FBI reports that 1968 is the first year in which no executions took place in the United States.
31 December 1968 The Soviet supersonic transport, the Tupolev TU-144, is flown for the first time, outside of Moscow.
William Schuman (58) ends his tenure as President of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
False Relationships and the Extended Ending for trombone, chimes, three pianos, violin, and cello by Morton Feldman (42) is performed for the first time, in Teatro Biondo, Palermo.
©2004-2012 Paul Scharfenberger
22 July 2012
Last Updated (Sunday, 22 July 2012 18:42)