1816
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3 January 1816 Meyer Beer (Giacomo Meyerbeer) (24) arrives back in Paris from London.
6 January 1816 The details of the Holy Alliance are made public by Tsar Alyeksandr.
9 January 1816 Wilhelm replaces Friedrich Wilhelm as Prince and co-ruler of Nassau.
Ludwig van Beethoven (45) wins custody of his nephew in opposition to the boy’s mother. See 28 November 1815.
12 January 1816 Giunone, a cantata for the birthday of King Ferdinando IV of Naples by Gioachino Rossini (23), is performed for the first time, in Teatro San Carlo, Naples.
24 January 1816 Sri Vikrama Rajasinha, the deposed King of Kandy (Sri Lanka), is deported to exile in India by the British.
Juan Esteban Lozano de Torres replaces Pedro Cevallos Guerra as First Secretary of State of Spain.
26 January 1816 Pedro Cevallos Guerra replaces Juan Esteban Lozano de Torres as First Secretary of State of Spain.
28 January 1816 The Septet op.74 for piano, flute, oboe, horn, viola, cello and bass by Johann Nepomuk Hummel (37) is performed for the first time, in Vienna
2 February 1816 Karl van Beethoven is taken from his mother and entered in the private boarding school of Cajeten Giannatasio del Rio. He is officially under the guardianship of his uncle Ludwig (45).
7 February 1816 Lord Byron’s The Siege of Corinth and Parsinia are published together.
The Congress of New Granada invests Simón Bolivar with political and military control of the invasion of Venezuela from Haiti.
13 February 1816 Teatro San Carlo in Naples is destroyed by fire. The cost of rebuilding will be paid entirely by the wealthy Domenico Barbaja.
20 February 1816 Almaviva, ossia L’inutile precauzione (later called Il barbiere di Siviglia ), a commedia by Gioachino Rossini (23) to words of Sterbini after Beaumarchais and Petrosellini, is performed for the first time, in Teatro Argentina, Rome. The evening is a disaster. A hostile audience whistles Rosina. Bartolo trips over a trap door and bloodies his nose (for which the onlookers called for an encore). A cat appears and steals the show, urged on by the audience. See 10 August 1816.
21 February 1816 Ludwig van Beethoven (45) obtains a court order forbidding his late brother’s wife Johanna from visiting her son at boarding school.
22 February 1816 Spanish forces annihilate a rebel army at Cachirí (Colombia).
27 February 1816 Great Britain restores Surinam to the Netherlands.
5 March 1816 La fête du village voisin, an opéra comique by Adrien Boieldieu (40) to words of Sewrin, is performed for the first time, at the Théâtre Feydeau, Paris. The performance is a disaster due to the inept libretto and the poet is whistled when he appears at the end.
11 March 1816 A joint concert by Nicolò Paganini (33) and Charles Philippe Lafont in Teatro alla Scala, Milan develops into a duel between the two.
18 March 1816 Gli amori di Teolinda, a dramatic cantata for soprano, clarinet, chorus and orchestra by Giacomo Meyerbeer (24) to words of Rossi is performed for the first time, in Verona.
20 March 1816 Maria I, the insane, Queen of Portugal dies in Rio de Janeiro. She is succeeded by her son João VI in Brazil.
21 March 1816 The Principality of Isenburg-Birstein is annexed by Hesse-Darmstadt.
All four children of Abraham and Lea Mendelssohn, Fanny (10), Felix (7), Rebecka and Paul, are secretly baptized into the Lutheran faith in the Jerusalemkirche, Berlin. Felix is given the added names Jakob Ludwig. Fanny is baptised Cäcilie.
24 March 1816 Upon the death of Friedrich August, Duke of Nassau, the co-rulership of Nassau is unified in Wilhelm, who is styled Duke of Nassau.
9 April 1816 Johann Nepomuk Hummel (37) gives a solo performance in Prague. It is his first time in the city in 20 years.
10 April 1816 In response to the banking crisis of 1814, the President James Madison signs a bill creating the Second Bank of the United States. The first bank lost its charter in 1811.
17 April 1816 Josef von Spaun writes to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, enclosing manuscript copies of settings of Goethe poems by “a 19-year-old composer by the name of Franz Schubert.” He asks permission from Goethe that Schubert might dedicate an edition of his German songs to the poet. The manuscripts will be returned without comment.
24 April 1816 Le nozze di Teti, e di Peleo, a cantata by Gioachino Rossini (24) to words of Ricci, is performed for the first time, in Naples for the wedding of Carolina Ferdinanda Luigia, daughter of the Hereditary Prince of the Two Sicilies, and Charles-Ferdinand, Duc de Berry, second son of future King Charles X of France. The work is performed in Teatro del Fondo because Teatro San Carlo burned down two months ago.
27 April 1816 The US government imposes a highly restrictive tariff on most goods.
29 April 1816 Inno alla primavera, a cantata for four solo voices and orchestra by Luigi Cherubini (55) to words of Vestri, is performed for the first time, in London. This is the last of his commissions from the Royal Philharmonic Society and was intended for last year when the composer was present, but was not ready for performance before the season ended.
1 May 1816 The Duchy of Salzburg is returned to Austria.
2 May 1816 Princess Charlotte Augusta, daughter of the Prince Regent of Great Britain, marries Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld at Carlton House.
3 May 1816 Having sailed from Haiti with 250 men, Simón Bolívar once again sets foot in Venezuela at Juan Griego Harbor.
4 May 1816 Luigi Cherubini (55), Gaspare Spontini (41) and Adrien Boieldieu (40) are named members of Conseil Musical of the Royal Academy of Music.
5 May 1816 Carl August of Saxe-Weimar grants the first German constitution.
The first published poem by John Keats, “O Solitude”, appears in The Examiner.
A Spanish army captures the rebel capital of Bogotá, putting many of the inhabitants to death.
7 May 1816 Johann Nepomuk Hummel (37) gives an all-Hummel performance in Leipzig.
8 May 1816 Legal since 1792, divorce is once again outlawed in France.
12 May 1816 Johann Nepomuk Hummel (37) gives a second performance in Leipzig. Both this and the one of five days ago are extraordinarily successful.
19 May 1816 The Spanish government allows Jesuits to return to New Spain.
25 May 1816 Christabel and Other Poems by Samuel Taylor Coleridge is published.
27 May 1816 The British sign an alliance with Raja Madhoji Bhonsle of Nagpur.
5 June 1816 Giovanni Paisiello dies at his home in Naples of hepatitis and meterorism (gaseous distention of the stomach or intestine), aged 76 years and 27 days.
13 June 1816 Franz Schubert’s (19) song Amalia D.195 to words of Schiller, is performed for the first time, in the Vienna home of Frau von Jenny.
A Spanish army defeats a larger rebel force under Simón Bolívar at Los Aguacates, Venezuela. At night, Bolívar flees to Bonaire.
16 June 1816 Celebrations take place in Vienna honoring the 50th anniversary of Antonio Salieri’s (65) arrival in the city. He receives a gold medal from the Lord Chamberlain in the name of Emperor Franz. High Mass is celebrated, during which Salieri conducts his own music. In the evening, a concert by his pupils takes place in his Vienna home, wherein Beitrag zur fünfzigjährigen Jubelfeier des Herrn Salieri D.441 for solo voices and piano by Franz Schubert (19) is performed for the first time.
During a rainstorm at his villa in Geneva, Lord Byron writes and reads several horror tales to his guests and suggests they do the same. One of the guests is 19-year-old Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, who thereupon pens Frankenstein.
17 June 1816 Franz Schubert (19) records in his diary that today he composed for money for the first time. It is his cantata Prometheus. See 24 July 1816.
As part of the “year without a summer”, a blizzard hits New England.
18 June 1816 Charles de France ou Amour et Gloire, an opéra comique by Adrien Boieldieu (40) and Louis Joseph Ferdinand Hérold (25) to words of Théaulon de Lambert, d’Artois de Bournonville and de Rancé, is performed for the first time, in the Théâtre Feydeau, Paris.
20 June 1816 An Aria per mezzosoprano by Giacomo Meyerbeer (24) is performed for the first time, in Naples.
21 June 1816 King Willem I of the Netherlands adheres to the Holy Alliance.
Les dieux rivaux, ou Les fêtes de Cythère, an opéra-ballet by Gaspare Spontini (41) to words of Dieulafoy and Brifaut, is performed for the first time, at the Paris Opéra.
22 June 1816 Britain ends its 13-year occupation of St. Pierre and Miquelon. The islands revert to a French colony.
3 July 1816 The French frigate La Méduse, carrying many passengers including the new governor of Senegal, many soldiers and colonists, is wrecked upon rocks off Cap Blanc. Important officers and their dependents are placed in lifeboats while about 150 enlisted men and settlers have to make do with an improvised and highly unseaworthy raft. When the raft is finally rescued after twelve days, only 15 are left alive. The incident causes a scandal in the French government and inspires a very important painting by Theodore Gericault.
9 July 1816 An assembly of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata (Argentina) in Tucumán declares independence from Spain.
13 July 1816 On his way back to Prague from Berlin, Carl Maria von Weber (29) stops in Carlsbad (Karlovy Vary) where he will stay until 17 July. While there he will meet Count Heinrich Vitzthum von Eckstädt, Intendant of the royal Saxon Theatre. Vitzthum will propose that Weber direct a new German language opera company in Dresden.
21 July 1816 Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel dates the forward to the second volume of his Wissenschaft der Logik in Nuremberg.
24 July 1816 Adrien Boieldieu (40) is named a member of the Conseil Littéraire of the Royal Academy of Music.
Prometheus D.451, a cantata for two solo voices, chorus and orchestra by Franz Schubert (19) to words of Dräxler von Carin, is performed for the first time, in the garden of the Erdberggasse house, Vienna. It is his first commission.
A combined US land and naval force destroys Fort Scott on the Apalachicola River, Florida. The fort, manned by blacks and Seminoles, is in Spanish territory.
25 July 1816 British forces evacuate Guadeloupe, returning it to French control.
27 July 1816 At Negro Fort, Florida (near Blountstown), United States troops and Creek Indians destroy a settlement of Seminoles and runaway slaves. 270 men, women and children are killed, 64 wounded. None of the attackers is hurt. News of the massacre is suppressed by the US government.
10 August 1816 Almaviva, ossia L’inutile precauzione, a commedia by Gioachino Rossini (24) is produced at Teatro Contovalli, Bologna, for the first time under the title Il barbiere di Siviglia. See 20 February 1816.
14 August 1816 Great Britain annexes Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic.
17 August 1816 Publication of the Septet op.74 for piano, flute, oboe, horn, viola, cello and bass by Johann Nepomuk Hummel (37) is announced in the Wiener Zeitung.
19 August 1816 The British authorities in Batvia (Djakarta) hand the Dutch East Indies back to the Netherlands.
Carl Maria von Weber (29) accepts the terms of Count Heinrich Vitzthum von Eckstädt and will be appointed Kapellmeister in Dresden. His primary duties will be to direct the German opera but will also include church music at court and the Italian opera.
27 August 1816 Ten Royal Navy and Dutch ships battle the shore defenses of Algiers for eight hours. One British ship is damaged but the shore batteries are silenced and over 5,000 Algerians are killed.
28 August 1816 Despondent over the death of a child and unable to work, Samuel Wesley (50) writes to his brother and sister pleading for a loan, secured against his inheritance.
1 September 1816 Faust, an opera by Louis Spohr (32) to words of Bernhard, is performed for the first time, in Prague, conducted by Carl Maria von Weber (29). See 11 December 1814.
5 September 1816 Urged on by his liberal advisors, King Louis XVIII of France dissolves the conservative Chamber of Deputies and calls new elections.
7 September 1816 Franz Schubert (19) learns that his application to be music master in Laibach (Ljubljana) has been refused.
13 September 1816 While working at the Hôpital Necker in Paris, French physician René Théophile-Hyacinthe Laënnec rolls up a piece of paper and puts his ear at one end and a patient’s chest at another. He will shortly develop the instrument into the stethoscope.
24 September 1816 Algeria signs peace terms with Great Britain, promising to restrict piracy, abolishing enslavement of Christians and releasing 1,083 Europeans held for ransom.
26 September 1816 Gioachino Rossini’s (24) dramma La gazzetta to words of Palomba after Goldoni is performed for the first time, in Teatro dei Fiorentini, Naples. It falls flat.
27 September 1816 Concerto for violin and orchestra no.8 by Louis Spohr (32) is performed for the first time, in Teatro alla Scala, Milan.
30 September 1816 Carl Maria von Weber (29) conducts his last opera performance in Prague.
2 October 1816 Johann Nepomuk Hummel (37) accepts a position with King Friedrich I of Württemberg in Stuttgart.
3 October 1816 Perchè muni tiranni, a rondo for soprano, chorus and orchestra by Giacomo Meyerbeer (25) is performed for the first time, in Genoa.
4 October 1816 A second round of voting concludes elections to the French legislature. Moderate royalists win a majority of seats.
7 October 1816 Carl Maria von Weber (29), having resigned his position as opera director, leaves Prague for Berlin. Soprano Caroline Brandt and her mother travel with him.
11 October 1816 Johann Nepomuk Hummel (37) reaches Stuttgart to take up his new position with King Friedrich I of Württemberg.
13 October 1816 Carl Maria von Weber (29) and Caroline Brandt arrive in Berlin from Prague.
18 October 1816 Louis Spohr (32) performs on the violin today in Venice. Here he will meet Nicolò Paganini (33) and, although he does not hear him play, Spohr is impressed by all the things Venetians, laymen and connoisseurs alike, have to say about him. “No instrumental player has ever captivated the Italians as he has done...”
24 October 1816 Adolphus Frederick, Duke of Cambridge, the youngest son of King George III, becomes Governor-General and Viceroy of Hannover.
27 October 1816 An invading Portuguese army from Brazil soundly defeats Uruguayans at Carumbé Hill, northwest of Santana do Livramento.
30 October 1816 King Friedrich I of Württemberg dies and is succeeded by his son, Wilhelm I.
José García de León y Pizarro replaces Pedro Cevallos Guerra as First Secretary of State of Spain.
5 November 1816 The Diet of the German Confederation meets at Frankfurt-am-Main.
6 November 1816 Georg Wilhelm replaces Karl II Ludwig Friedrich as Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.
8 November 1816 A setting of the Tantum ergo by Gaetano Donizetti (18) for male chorus and orchestra is performed for the first time.
10 November 1816 Piano Sonata J.199 by Carl Maria von Weber (29) is performed for the first time, in a private home in Berlin, by the composer.
14 November 1816 The Senate of Genoa requires Nicolò Paganini (34) to pay 3,000 francs in damages to Ferdinando Cavanna. The musician refuses to pay.
15 November 1816 Henry “Orator” Hunt addresses a meeting of 10,000 people at Spa Fields in favor of a petition to the Prince Regent requesting parliamentary reform, universal male suffrage, annual general elections and secret ballot. He will attempt to present the petition to the Prince Regent but will be denied twice.
16 November 1816 La journée aux aventures, an opéra comique by Étienne-Nicholas Méhul (53) to words of Chapelle and Mézières-Miot, is performed for the first time, in the Théâtre Feydeau, Paris.
18 November 1816 Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage: Canto the Third by George Gordon, Lord Byron is published.
19 November 1816 On the eve of her departure from Berlin, soprano Caroline Brandt becomes engaged to Carl Maria von Weber (30).
Uruguayans are once again defeated by invading Portuguese at India Muerta Creek.
25 November 1816 Having divorced himself from the London Philharmonic Society, Muzio Clementi (64) departs London for Paris.
2 December 1816 A second meeting is held at Spa Fields to protest the treatment afforded Henry “Orator” Hunt by the Prince Regent after the first meeting of 15 November. Before Hunt arrives a section of the crowd, led by a tricolor, marches on the Tower of London to liberate the weapons there, a la Bastille. They are easily thwarted by the authorities and the ringleaders are arrested and charged with treason. They will be acquitted.
4 December 1816 Otello, ossia Il moro di Venezia, a dramma by Gioachino Rossini (24) to words of Berio di Salsa after Shakespeare, is performed for the first time, in the Teatro del Fondo, Naples. The work is a success.
5 December 1816 The Prisoner of Chillon, and Other Poems by George Gordon, Lord Byron is published.
8 December 1816 The Kingdom of Naples and the Kingdom of Sicily formally unite as the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
11 December 1816 Indiana becomes the 19th state of the United States.
12 December 1816 At a General Meeting of the London Philharmonic Society, a replacement is named for Muzio Clementi (64) as treasurer. It is decided to leave his name on the list of directors.
15 December 1816 On the eve of his 46th birthday, Ludwig van Beethoven suffers the death of one of his most important patrons, Prince Franz Joseph Lobkowitz.
23 December 1816 Having sat up most of the night in Rome going through possible opera scenarios, the impresario Pietro Cartoni, the librettist Jacopo Ferretti and the composer Gioachino Rossini (24) finally settle on Cinderella.
25 December 1816 Carl Maria von Weber (30) is informed by letter in Berlin that he has been appointed Kapellmeister to the King of Saxony in Dresden. He is appointed in an attempt to equate German opera with the Italian opera dominant in the city.
©2004-2012 Paul Scharfenberger
7 July 2012
Last Updated (Saturday, 07 July 2012 04:49)