1804
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1 January 1804 The Republic of Haiti is declared independent of France under Governor-general Jean-Jacques Dessalines.
Concerto for trumpet and orchestra by Johann Nepomuk Hummel (25) is performed for the first time, for Prince Esterházy in Vienna.
7 January 1804 The publication of Muzio Clementi’s (51) keyboard sonatas op.41 is announced in the Wiener Zeitung.
11 January 1804 William Blake is acquitted on a charge of sedition in a Chichester court. He was charged by a drunken soldier who claimed Blake cursed the King during a fight they had.
12 January 1804 Johann Nepomuk Hummel (25) signs a contract to serve as Konzertmeister to Prince Nikolas Esterházy at Eisenstadt.
23 January 1804 Tsar Alyeksandr I appoints Adrien Boieldieu (28) to a position comparable to Kapellmeister, at the Imperial court.
27 January 1804 Publication of Familiar Airs, in Various Styles, for the Piano Forte no.1 by John Crotch and William Crotch (28) is entered at Stationers’ Hall, London.
1 February 1804 Publication of a Symphony in G B.156 by Ignaz Pleyel (46) is announced in the Correspondance des professeurs et amateurs de musique, Paris.
4 February 1804 Incidental music to Duval’s play Guillaume le conquérant by Étienne-Nicolas Méhul (40) is performed for the first time, at the Théâtre Français, Paris.
5 February 1804 George Petrovic becomes Prince of Serbia.
11 February 1804 The second version of Gaspare Spontini’s (29) dramma giocoso per musica La finta filosofa to words of Piccinni is performed for the first time, at the Théâtre Favart, Paris.
12 February 1804 Immanuel Kant dies in Königsberg at the age of 80.
14 February 1804 Serbians begin a rebellion against Turkish rule.
15 February 1804 General Jean-Victor Moreau is arrested by French police as part of a royalist conspiracy to overthrow the government. He is taken to the Temple, a large prison in Paris.
16 February 1804 Stephen Decatur orders the burning of the United States frigate Philadelphia in Tripoli to block the harbor. The ship was captured by Tripolitanians last October.
20 February 1804 Giovanni Paisiello (63), resident in Paris, receives notification from the Regio Senato of Naples that he is named Maestro di Cappella.
General Jean-Charles Pichegru is arrested by French police as part of a royalist conspiracy to overthrow the government. 20 years ago, Pichegru was Napoléon’s mathematics instructor at the Royal Military School.
22 February 1804 The first verified trip on rails of a motorized vehicle occurs in Pennydarnen, Wales when Richard Trevithick demonstrates his second steam locomotive. The event ends when the rails collapse.
24 February 1804 The US Congress passes the “Mobile Act” in essence claiming West Florida to the Mississippi River.
25 February 1804 The French government levies the “combined duties” in an effort to pay for Napoléon’s incessant wars. This includes taxes on liquor, salt and an increase of the tobacco tax.
9 March 1804 The leader of a royalist conspiracy to overthrow the French government, Georges Cadoudal, is arrested by French police in Paris, but not before he kills one policeman and wounds another.
14 March 1804 As a pledge to the regicides (those who had voted to kill Louis XVI), Napoléon engineers the kidnapping of a Bourbon, the Duc d’Enghien, in Baden.
17 March 1804 Aline, reine de Golconde, an opéra comique by Adrien Boieldieu (28) to words of Vial and de Favières, is performed for the first time, in the Hermitage, St. Petersburg.
18 March 1804 Jan Ladislav Dussek (44) performs in the concert hall of the Nationaltheater, Berlin.
19 March 1804 The Portuguese regent Dom João signs an agreement with France that his country will remain neutral in any conflict between Great Britain and France.
20 March 1804 On orders from Napoléon, the Bourbon Duc d’Enghien is tried on trumped-up charges and shot at Vincennes.
21 March 1804 After four years of work, the French Civil Code (Code Napoléon) goes into effect.
31 March 1804 Ludwig van Beethoven (33) publishes the closest thing to a retraction in the Wiener Zeitung, admitting that Artaria and Co. were not involved in any way with the publication of his quintet. See 8 March 1805.
1 April 1804 Johann Nepomuk Hummel (25) enters upon duties as Konzertmeister to Prince Nikolas Esterházy at Eisenstadt. Effectively, he performs the duties of Kapellmeister, although Franz Joseph Haydn (72) still holds the title.
Franz Joseph Haydn (72) is made an honorary citizen of Vienna because of his charitable work.
10 April 1804 About this date, Giovanni Paisiello (63) obtains release as maître de chappelle to Napoléon.
15 April 1804 Diogo José de Noronha, conde de Vila Verde replaces João Rodrigues de Sá, visconde de Anadia as Secretary of State (prime minister) of Portugal.
16 April 1804 Hostilities begin between Jeshwant Rao Holkar of Indore and the East India Company.
20 April 1804 Emil Leopold August replaces Ernst II as Duke of Saxe-Gotha.
22 April 1804 Gioachino Rossini (12) organizes an accademia di musica in Imola.
25 April 1804 British forces capture the Dutch garrison of Braam Point, Surinam.
2 May 1804 The first general meeting of the British and Foreign Bible Society takes place in London. It is formed to translate the Bible into as many languages as possible and disseminate it through the world.
6 May 1804 The Dutch colony of Surinam surrenders to invading British.
8 May 1804 Carl Maria von Weber (17) is appointed Kapellmeister at the theatre in Breslau (Wroclaw).
10 May 1804 William Pitt replaces Henry Addington as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
12 May 1804 La petite maison, an opéra-comique by Gaspare Spontini (29) to words of Dieulafoy and Gersin, is performed for the first time, at the Théâtre Feydeau, Paris. Due to anti-Italian feelings in France, it will have only three performances.
14 May 1804 Sent by President Jefferson to survey the new Louisiana Purchase, Meriwether Lewis, William Clark and about 36 men set out west from St. Louis up the Missouri River.
17 May 1804 Eight-year-old Karl Egon replaces Karl Joachim as Prince of Fürstenberg under regency.
Samori, an heroic opera by Georg Joseph Vogler (54) to words of Huber, is performed for the first time, in the Theater-an-der-Wien, Vienna. The work is warmly received.
18 May 1804 The French Senate proclaims Consul-for-Life Napoléon Bonaparte Emperor of the French with the title Napoléon I. The action is not recognized by Russia, Austria, Sweden or the Ottoman Empire.
Publication of Familiar Airs, in Various Styles, for the Piano Forte no.2 by John Crotch and William Crotch (28) is entered at Stationers’ Hall, London.
Amor non ha ritegno, a melodramma eroicomico by Simon Mayr (40) to words of Marconi after Gozzi, is performed for the first time, at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan.
25 May 1804 In the face of extremely adverse weather conditions, the British suspend the campaign against Jeshwant Rao Holkar of Indore.
Having traveled about 100 km, the Lewis and Clark expedition pass La Charette, the last white settlement on the Missouri River.
26 May 1804 The Principality of Lübeck is placed in personal union with Oldenburg.
28 May 1804 Carl Maria von Weber (17) departs Vienna to travel to take up his new position in Breslau (Wroclaw).
1 June 1804 06:00 Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka is born in Novospasskoye (Glinka), 22 km from Yelnya in the Smolensk district, the second and eldest surviving of ten children born to Ivan Nikolayevich Glinka, a retired army captain and landowner and Yevgeniya Andreyevna Glinka, daughter of a landowner. His parents are second cousins.
11 June 1804 Carl Maria von Weber (17) arrives in Breslau (Wroclaw) to take up duties as kapellmeister.
14 June 1804 Incidental music to Duval’s play Les Hussites, ou Le siège de Naumbourg by Étienne-Nicolas Méhul (40) is performed for the first time, at the Théâtre de la Porte St. Martin, Paris.
15 June 1804 The Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution, reorganizing the method of electing the president and vice-president, is ratified.
16 June 1804 Johann Adam Hiller dies in Leipzig, aged 75 years, five months and 22 days.
20 June 1804 Publication of the Variations for piano op.10 and the Rondo for piano op.11 by Johann Nepomuk Hummel (25) is advertised in the Wiener Zeitung.
21 June 1804 British chemist Smithson Tennant reads his paper On Two Metals, found in the Black Powder Remaining after the Solution of Platina to the Royal Society, London. In it, he documents his discovery last year of two new elements: Osmium and Iridium.
23 June 1804 Although Franz Joseph Haydn (72) has not officially resigned as kapellmeister, Prince Nicholas Esterházy rearranges the duties of his musical employees to allow for Haydn’s absence. Most of his responsibilities are taken up by Vice-Kapellmeister Johann Nepomuk Fuchs and Konzertmeister Johann Nepomuk Hummel (25). He further commands that “the entire chapel, with male and female singers, will, according to the order that already exists, hold a weekly rehearsal every Thursday morning and are to appear, every individual without exception, in uniform in service at the Castle at 10:30 before my presence or that of my wife and children.” (Heartz2009, 665)
25 June 1804 Fantasia and Fugue for piano C.199 by Jan Ladislav Dussek (44) is entered at Stationers’ Hall, London.
29 June 1804 The name of the Théâtre de l’Opéra in Paris is changed to the Académie Impériale de Musique.
30 June 1804 Anton Viktor Joseph Raymund, Grand Duke of Austria replaces Karl II Ludwig Johann Grand Duke of Austria as Prince-Grand Master of Mergentheim.
4 July 1804 All children born of slave parents in the State of New Jersey after this date, shall gain freedom upon reaching the age of 25 for men and 21 for women.
6 July 1804 A rear guard force of 2,500 British and Indian troops is wiped out by the forces of Jeshwant Rao Holkar of Indore near the Chambal River.
António de Araújo de Azevedo, conde da Barca replaces Diogo José de Noronha, conde de Vila Verde as Secretary of State (prime minister) of Portugal.
10 July 1804 Forces of Jeshwant Rao Holkar of Indore attack the main body of British troops at the Mukandwara Pass (in present Rajasthan). The British repulse repeated cavalry charges. With the monsoon beginning today, the British fall back to Kota.
11 July 1804 In a duel on the Hudson Palisades, Weehawken, New Jersey, Vice-President Aaron Burr shoots and mortally wounds former Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton will die tomorrow.
15 July 1804 British troops continue to retreat, abandoning Kota, in the face of Jeshwant Rao Holkar of Indore.
20 July 1804 In spite of an onshore gale, Emperor Napoléon orders the Boulogne naval flotillas to test the effectiveness flat-bottomed boats intended for the invasion of Britain. Twenty ships run aground and 2,000 sailors are drowned. Admiral Bruix, who warned against the exercise and refused to give the order, is immediately removed from the service.
24 July 1804 Jeshwant Rao Holkar of Indore attacks British and Indian forces trying to cross water in their retreat from Kota. An all-day battle ensues.
27 July 1804 Retreating British and Indian troops reach the relative safety of Rampura where they are reinforced.
1 August 1804 Carl Maria von Weber (17) makes his first appearance in Breslau (Wroclaw) conducting Mozart’s (†12) La clemenza di Tito.
2 August 1804 Muzio Clementi (52) arrives in Berlin from Leipzig.
5 August 1804 Elisa, ossia Il monte San Bernardo, a dramma sentimentale per musica by Johann Simon Mayr (41) to words of Rossi, is performed for the first time, in Teatro San Benedetto, Venice.
10 August 1804 Simon Mayr’s (41) dramma per musica Zamori, ossia L’eroe dell’Indie to words of Prividali is performed for the first time, for the inauguration of the Nuovo Teatro Communale, Piacenza.
11 August 1804 The Austrian Empire is created under Emperor Franz I. Bohemia is created a kingdom under the Emperor of Austria.
14 August 1804 Admiral Louis Latouche-Tréville dies of natural causes. This causes Napoléon to postpone his invasion of Britain.
20 August 1804 Leaving a garrison at Rampura, the main British force continues to retreat northeast towards Agra.
22 August 1804 Georg August Griesinger writes to the publishers Artaria that “Haydn (72) has stopped all work because of his health, and a quartet of which he has finished two movements is the offspring to which he now devotes, albeit with difficulty, an occasional quarter of an hour.” (Heartz2009, 666-667)
24 August 1804 Forces of Jeshwant Rao Holkar of Indore attack retreating British and Indians at the Banas River. Most of the Sepoy troops with the British are killed.
Jean-Baptiste Biot and Joseph-Louis Gay-Lussac make the first scientific ascent in a balloon, to an altitude of 6.5 km over Paris, higher than any of the Alps. They measure the composition of the air and the state of the magnetic field of the earth.
25 August 1804 Exhausted and famished British and Indian troops reach Kushalgarh (in present Rajasthan) where they find supplies.
28 August 1804 Under constant bombardment from artillery of Jeshwant Rao Holkar of Indore, retreating British and Indian troops break ranks and flee headlong towards Agra.
29 August 1804 Giovanni Paisiello (64) departs Paris for Naples. He would have left earlier but Napoléon required that Paisiello compose a mass for the imperial coronation.
30 August 1804 A few hundred of the original 10,000 British and Indian troops reach Agra after a two-month retreat in the face of Jeshwant Rao Holkar of Indore.
1 September 1804 In Lilienthal, near Bremen, German astronomer Karl Ludwig Harding discovers Juno, the third asteroid to be viewed from Earth.
3 September 1804 Six Canzonets C.200-205 for voice and piano by Jan Ladislav Dussek (44) is entered at Stationers’ Hall, London.
16 September 1804 Joseph-Louis Gay-Lussac makes a balloon ascent to 7,016 meters over Paris. This record will stand for over 50 years and his measurements help establish the science of meteorology.
18 September 1804 Muzio Clementi (52) marries Caroline Lehmann, the 19-year-old daughter of the director of the Royal Opera, Berlin, in that city’s Nicolaikirche. The couple leave Berlin for Italy shortly after the ceremony.
25 September 1804 Yellow fever breaks out in Livorno.
26 September 1804 The Gazette Nationale reports that Jan Ladislav Dussek (44) is named Kapellmeister to Prince Ludwig Ferdinand of Prussia in Magdeburg, a passionate amateur pianist and composer.
28 September 1804 Franz Schubert (7) is one of several boys examined by Antonio Salieri (54) and found good enough to sing in the Imperial Court Chapel.
8 October 1804 Napoléon learns that his complete plans for attacking British interests on three continents have been captured by the British. He has to abandon them.
9 October 1804 The town of Hobart is founded on Tasmania by British colonists.
17 October 1804 Milan prohibits imports from Tuscany due to the yellow fever epidemic.
19 October 1804 Three Piano Sonatas with violin and cello accompaniment op.50 by Leopold Kozeluch (57) are entered at Stationers’ Hall, London.
24 October 1804 The Lewis and Clark expedition reach an Indian village of about 4,500 populated by Mandans and Hidatsas, north of present Bismarck, North Dakota. They decide to build their winter quarters directly across the river.
26 October 1804 Lucca closes its border with Livorno due to the yellow fever epidemic.
6 November 1804 An alliance is signed between Russia and Austria in St. Petersburg.
Official returns of a plebiscite held in France today show a 99.93% vote in favor of turning the country into an empire.
10 November 1804 Die Neger, a singspiel by Antonio Salieri (54) to words of Treitschke, is performed for the first time, in the Theater-an-der-Wien, Vienna. It will be withdrawn after only a few performances. This is Salieri’s last opera.
17 November 1804 After four days of fighting, British and Indian forces defeat the Jeshwant Rao Holkar at Farrukhabad on the Ganges southeast of Delhi.
27 November 1804 Milton, a fait historique by Gaspare Spontini (30) to words of de Jouy and Dieulafoy, is performed for the first time, at the Théâtre Favart, Paris.
2 December 1804 Napoléon Bonaparte crowns himself Emperor of the French in the presence of the Pope in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris. He then crowns his wife, Josephine, as Empress. The music for the occasion, a mass and a Te Deum, is by Giovanni Paisello (64).
8 December 1804 Publication of the Variations for piano op.15 of Johann Nepomuk Hummel (26) is announced in the Wiener Zeitung.
A Mass for double chorus by Antonio Salieri (54) is performed for the first time, in Vienna conducted by the composer to celebrate the adoption of the title Emperor of Austria by Franz I. The work was originally composed in 1799 to celebrate peace between Austria and France but since peace was not concluded, the mass was never performed.
12 December 1804 Spain declares war on Great Britain at the insistence of France.
18 December 1804 Achille à Scyros, a ballet pantomime by Luigi Cherubini (44), is performed for the first time, at the Paris Opéra.
21 December 1804 The Requiem of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (†13) is performed in France for the first time, in Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois, directed by Luigi Cherubini (64).
24 December 1804 The Lewis and Clark expedition move into their winter quarters, Fort Mandan, in present North Dakota.
©2004-2012 Paul Scharfenberger
6 June 2012
Last Updated (Wednesday, 06 June 2012 04:47)