1819
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5 January 1819 A contract with Johann Nepomuk Hummel (40) appointing him as Kapellmeister to the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, is submitted to Grand Duke Carl August for his approval.
11 January 1819 A hearing is held in the Magistrat (commoners’ court) in Vienna concerning the guardianship of Karl van Beethoven. The court will rule that his uncle, Ludwig van Beethoven (48) should no longer be his guardian and the boy must be placed in the care of his mother until another guardian can be found.
Ein Mädchen ging die Wies’ entlang, a lied by Carl Maria von Weber (32), is performed for the first time, as part of Der Abend am Waldbrunnen, a play by Kind, in the Dresden Hoftheater.
14 January 1819 Grand Duke Carl August of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach approves a contract with Johann Nepomuk Hummel (40) appointing him as Kapellmeister.
25 January 1819 Largely through the efforts of Thomas Jefferson, the Commonwealth of Virginia charters the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.
29 January 1819 Thomas Stamford Raffles lands on the island of Singapore, having come from India, to set up a British trading station.
3 February 1819 Semiramide riconosciuta, a dramma per musica by Giacomo Meyerbeer (27) to words of Rossi after Metastasio, is performed for the first time, in Teatro Regio, Turin before the King and Queen of Sardinia. It is well received today, but will not last.
5 February 1819 Nicolò Paganini (36) gives his first concert in Rome. It is so successful that he goes on to give two more.
6 February 1819 Thomas Stamford Raffles signs a treaty with the Hussain Shah of Johor providing for an annual payment in return for the right of the East India Company to establish a trading settlement at Singapore, and the creation of fortifications.
British merchant captain William Smith reaches a furthest south at 62°17'S and 60°12'W and discovers Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands.
A Hochzeitslied ‘Auf Freunde, singt dem Gott der Ehen’ WoO105 by Ludwig van Beethoven (48) is performed for the first time.
8 February 1819 A measure of censure of Andrew Jackson for entering and seizing Florida without authorization is voted down by the US House of Representatives.
16 February 1819 Prince Honoré IV of Monaco dies and is succeeded by his son Honoré V.
At Angostura, Simón Bolívar is elected President of the Congress of Venezuela.
17 February 1819 Carl Maria von Weber’s (32) Mass in G is performed for the first time, in Dresden, to celebrate the 50th wedding anniversary of the Saxon royal couple.
18 February 1819 Les troqueurs, an opéra comique by Louis Joseph Ferdinand Hérold (28) to words of d’Artois and d’Artois after Vadé after La Fontaine, is performed for the first time, in the Théâtre Feydeau, Paris.
20 February 1819 Omaggio umiliato, a cantata by Gioachino Rossini (26) to words of Niccolini, is performed for the first time, in Teatro San Carlo, Naples as part of celebrations over the recovery of King Ferdinando from an illness.
22 February 1819 The Adams-Onis Treaty is agreed to by Spain and the United States. Spain cedes East Florida and gives up all claim to West Florida. The southern boundary of the Louisiana Purchase is defined. The US gives up its claim to Texas.
23 February 1819 Johann Nepomuk Hummel (40) signs a contract with Grand Duke Carl August of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach making him Kapellmeister.
28 February 1819 Die Huldigung, a cantata by Johann Baptist Schenk (65) to words of Hölty, is performed for the first time, in the Vienna Redoutensaal.
Schäfers Klagelied D.121 by Franz Schubert (22) to words of Goethe, is performed for the first time, in the Gasthof ‘zum römischen Kaiser’, the first of Schubert’s lieder to be presented in public.
1 March 1819 A symphony by Muzio Clementi (67) is performed for the first time, in London. It is either WO 32 or 33.
3 March 1819 An executive meeting of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna, it is decided that Jan Václav Vorísek (27) should henceforth conduct the concerts and have a greater say in the choice of music. He will conduct the next two performances.
14 March 1819 Overture in e D.648 by Franz Schubert (22) is performed for the first time, in Josef Müllerscher Kunstsaal am Rothen Thurm, Vienna.
16 March 1819 The first clinical description of an allergy is delivered by Dr. John Bostock to a London meeting of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society. He describes hay fever.
18 March 1819 Carl Maria von Weber (32) is confined to bed with fever, in Dresden. Because of his illness, his wife does not inform him of the illness of their three-month-old daughter. Later this month the child will die.
19 March 1819 The Sinfonia “L’incendio” by Gaetano Donizetti (21) is performed for the first time, in Bergamo.
23 March 1819 August von Kotzebue, a reactionary and agent of the Russian Tsar, is killed by a Bavarian student, Karl Ludwig Sand, in Mannheim. Kotzebue wrote several articles denouncing Liberalism, civil liberties and constitutions. Sand is so enraged that he goes to Kotzebue’s house and stabs him to death. Sand then stabs himself but fails in his suicide.
26 March 1819 The court appoints Councillor Mathias von Tuscher as guardian over Beethoven’s (48) nephew Karl, the composer having been stripped of the guardianship.
27 March 1819 Ermione, an azione tragica by Gioachino Rossini (27) to words of Tottola after Racine, is performed for the first time, in Teatro San Carlo, Naples. The audience reaction is tepid.
31 March 1819 Nicolò Paganini (36) gives his first concert in Naples at Teatro del Fondo.
4 April 1819 Zemire und Azor, an opera by Louis Spohr to words of Ihlee after Marmontel, is performed for the first time, in Frankfurt-am-Main, on the eve of the composer’s 35th birthday.
16 April 1819 The publication of Muzio Clementi’s (67) Gradus ad Parnassum Volume II is entered at Stationers’ Hall, London.
24 April 1819 Gioachino Rossini’s (27) dramma Eduardo e Cristina to words of Schmidt, revised by Bevliacqua-Aldobrandini and Tottola, is performed for the first time, in Teatro San Benedetto, Venice. It is an unqualified success.
1 May 1819 The first press liberties are instituted in France.
5 May 1819 04:00 Stanislaw Moniuszko is born at Ubiel near Minsk, the son of Czeslaw Moniuszko, a poet and painter, and Elzbieta Madzarska, an amateur pianist.
The Decurionato (city council) of Catania, Sicily vote to grant their favorite son, Vincenzo Bellini (17), a pension enabling him to go to Naples to study.
7 May 1819 Johann Baptist Schenk’s (65) cantata Der Mai for solo voices, chorus and orchestra is performed for the first time, in the Vienna Redoutensaal.
8 May 1819 King Kamehameha the Great, who unified of the Hawaiian Islands, dies in Kailua and is succeeded by his son Kamehameha II.
9 May 1819 Gioachino Rossini’s (27) cantata 9 maggio 1819 to words of Genoino is performed for the first time, in Teatro San Carlo, Naples for the visit of Emperor Franz I to the city.
President James Monroe, in town to inspect the new steamship Savannah about to depart on its transatlantic voyage, attends the dedication of the new Independent Presbyterian Church of Savannah, Georgia. The musical portions of the ceremony are conducted by the church’s choir director Lowell Mason (27). Unfortunately, the new organ planned for the church will not be ready until next year.
15 May 1819 William Buckland delivers his inaugural lecture as Reader of Mineralogy and Geology at the University of Oxford. His purpose is to place geology on a level with with other sciences and to show that the Bible and geological evidence are compatible.
22 May 1819 The Savannah leaves the port of Savannah, Georgia making for Liverpool. Upon arrival, she will complete the first crossing of the Atlantic by a steamship.
24 May 1819 Princess Mary Louisa Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, wife of Edward, Duke of Kent, younger brother of the Prince Regent delivers her first and only child at Kensington Palace. She is named after her mother, Victoria.
At a performance of La Gazza ladra in Gioachino Rossini’s (27) home town of Pesaro, followers of Caroline of Brunswick, Princess of Wales do everything they can to disrupt the proceedings. She and her lover are hoping to repay an alleged snub he gave them last year. Most citizens hope to make his return a gala occasion but the toughs force the town fathers to smuggle him in the stage door. They carry out whistling and disruptions from all sides of the theatre. Rossini will never set foot in Pesaro again.
4 June 1819 Archduke Rudolph, patron of Ludwig van Beethoven (48), is created Archbishop of Olmütz (Olomouc) in Moravia.
12 June 1819 Manuel González Salmón y Gómez de Torres replaces Carlos Fernando Martínez de Irujo y Tacón, marqués de Casa-Irujo, duque de Sotomayor as First Secretary of State of Spain.
A rebel army defeats the Spanish at Cantaura Ranch, south of Barcelona, Venezuela and chases them 25 km up the Unare River.
18 June 1819 Vincenzo Bellini (17) arrives in Naples from Catania to matriculate at the Real College de musica di San Sebastiano.
19 June 1819 The legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts grants an act of incorporation to the Philharmonic Society, its purpose being “extending and enlarging and improving the style of performance of vocal and instrumental music.”
20 June 1819 03:00 Jacob (Jacques) Offenbach is born in Cologne (Köln), seventh of twelve children born to Isaac Juda Eberst “Der Offenbacher” (from Offenbach-am-Main), bookbinder, music teacher, composer and cantor, and Mariane Rindskupf, daughter of a money-changer and lottery-office keeper in Deutz.
The Savannah reaches Liverpool from Savannah, Georgia. Thus completes the first crossing of the Atlantic by a steamship.
22 June 1819 Karl van Beethoven, nephew of Ludwig (48), is admitted to a residential school directed by Joseph Blöchlinger.
26 June 1819 Emma di Resburgo, a melodramma eroico by Giacomo Meyerbeer (27) to words of Rossi after Tottola, is performed for the first time, in Teatro San Benedetto, Venice. It will eventually receive 74 performances.
2 July 1819 The Cotton Mills and Factories Act receives royal assent. Children under nine may no longer be employed, and those aged nine to 16 are limited to twelve hours work per day.
15 July 1819 Don Juan parts I&II by George Gordon, Lord Byron is published.
17 July 1819 Rebels capture Barcelona, Venezuela.
25 July 1819 Spanish forces engage rebels under Simón Bolívar at Pantano de Vargas, Colombia. The battle is virtually a draw, although the Spanish suffer greater losses. Both sides will withdraw.
1 August 1819 King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia and King Friedrich August I of Saxony meet in reconciliation at Pillnitz.
5 August 1819 Rebels begin three days of attacks at Bordones, Venezuela which will end in failure.
6 August 1819 Representatives of the German Confederation meet in the Carlsbad Congress called to develop police control over intellectual activities, particularly universities. It will last until 31 August. Its resolutions will be approved by the German Diet in Frankfurt next month.
7 August 1819 Rebel forces under Simón Bolívar defeat Spanish and Loyalist troops at Boyacá near Bogotá. This causes the Spanish Viceroy, Juan José de Sámano y Urribarri de Rebollar y Mazorra to flee Bogotá.
10 August 1819 Kantate zum Geburtstag des Sängers Johann Michael Vogl D.666 for mixed voices and piano by Franz Schubert (22) to words of Stadler is performed for the first time, at the house of Josef von Koller, in Steyr.
Simón Bolívar enters Bogotá in triumph at the head of his troops.
16 August 1819 50,000 workers from Manchester and environs gather peacefully in St. Peter’s Field to protest unemployment, the inhuman conditions of their living and workplaces and low wages, and to hear a speech by labor leader Henry “Orator” Hunt. Local magistrates call in the cavalry who, along with the police, charge the crowd with sabres drawn. Eleven people are killed, 400 injured. The confrontation, perhaps the first shot in the war between the old order and the new, is forever known as the Massacre at Peterloo.
24 August 1819 A detachment of US soldiers reaches the mouth of the St. Peter’s (Minnesota) River and begins constructing an encampment. This is the beginning of white settlement in the area of the present Minneapolis-St. Paul.
25 August 1819 James Watt dies in Birmingham at the age of 83.
31 August 1819 Variations on “Non più mesta accanto al fuoco” by Nicolò Paganini (36) is performed, probably for the first time, in Teatro dei Fiorentini, Naples.
11 September 1819 A Genoa court orders seizure of the settlement against Nicolò Paganini (36), which he has yet to pay, plus interest, to be handed over to the widow of Ferdinando Cavanna. See 14 November 1816.
12 September 1819 Joaquín José Melgarejo y Saurín, duque de San Fernando de Quiroga replaces Manuel González Salmón y Gómez de Torres as First Secretary of State of Spain.
13 September 1819 Clara Josephine Wieck (Schumann) is born in the Neumarkt, Leipzig, second of five (and eldest surviving) children born to Friedrich Wieck, pianist and teacher and owner of a piano shop, and Marianne Tromlitz, singer and pianist, daughter and granddaughter of musicians.
17 September 1819 A Vienna court accepts the resignation as guardian over Karl van Beethoven of Councillor Mathias von Tuscher and rules that Ludwig van Beethoven’s (48) nephew be placed with his mother and a court-appointed guardian, Leopold Nussböck, a city official.
18 September 1819 Le testament et les billets-doux, a comédie mêlée de chant by Daniel François Esprit Auber (37) to words of Planard, is performed for the first time, at the Théâtre Feydeau, Paris.
20 September 1819 To control the ever growing nationalist, revolutionary and liberal movement among German students, the Prussian government issues the Carlsbad Decrees, including press censorship and control and close supervision of universities.
21 September 1819 Prince Nicholas Esterházy hears Franz Liszt (7) play for the first time, at Raiding. Franz’ father, Adam, has been petitioning his employer, Prince Nicholas, to transfer him to Vienna so he can further his son’s musical training. The prince has always refused but, after hearing young Franz play, he promises financial backing for the boy’s education and grants Adam a one year leave of absence.
Antonio Salieri (69) writes a letter of recommendation for his student, Franz Schubert (22).
25 September 1819 A liberal constitution for Württemberg is promulgated.
30 September 1819 Louis Spohr’s (35) resignation as Director of Opera in Frankfurt goes into effect.
6 October 1819 Returning to his find of 6 February, merchant captain William Smith lands on Desolation Island in the South Shetlands and plants a British flag, claiming the islands for Britain. It is the beginning of a massive wave of seal hunting in the South Shetlands.
10 October 1819 Two months after Simón Bolívar and his army captured Bogotá, his Vice-President Francisco Santander, left in control of the city, executes 38 captured royalist officers before the Cathedral after Bolívar spared their lives.
24 October 1819 La donna del lago, a melodramma by Gioachino Rossini (27) to words of Tottola after Scott, is performed for the first time, in Teatro San Carlo, Naples. The work receives a general yawn.
25 October 1819 The Principality of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen signs a treaty with Prussia adhering to the Prussian tariff system. This is seen as the beginning of the German Zollverein.
31 October 1819 Ludwig van Beethoven (48) appeals the ruling of 17 September.
4 November 1819 An Austrian magistrate denies the appeal by Ludwig van Beethoven (48) to the order of 17 September.
16 November 1819 Élie, Comte de Decazes replaces Jean Joseph Paul Augustin, Marquis Dessolles as Prime Minister of France.
19 November 1819 The National Museum of Painting and Sculpture is opened at the Prado in Madrid.
Das Dörfchen D.598 for male voices by Franz Schubert (22) to words of Bürger is performed for the first time, in the Vienna home of Ignaz von Sonnleithner.
6 December 1819 The Sixteenth Congress of the United States convenes in Washington. Voting for the House of Representatives took place between April 1818 and September 1819. Republicans increase their majority by 14 seats to 160-26. Their majority in the Senate is 37-19.
7 December 1819 A liberal constitution for Hannover is granted by the Prince-Regent.
11 December 1819 The earliest datable compositions by Fanny (14) and Felix (10) Mendelssohn are performed this day in honor of their father’s birthday in Berlin: Lied zum Geburtstag meines guten Vaters by Felix and Ihr Töne, schwingt euch fröhlich! by Fanny.
The Training Prevention Act receives royal assent. One of the “Six Acts” following the Peterloo Massacre, it bans unauthorized meetings to give men military training.
14 December 1819 Alabama becomes the 22nd state of the United States.
17 December 1819 Two publications of songs by Louise Reichardt (40) are announced in the Hamburg Wöchentliche Nachricht. One is for 12 songs, the other six songs of Novalis.
The Republic of Colombia is founded by the union of New Granada and Venezuela. Simón Bolivar is named president.
18 December 1819 The Seizure of Arms Act receives royal assent. One of the “Six Acts” following the Peterloo Massacre, it allows for the search and seizure of weapons held by those disliked by the state.
19 December 1819 The Requiem of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (†28) is performed for the first time in Brazil, in Rio de Janeiro.
20 December 1819 An Austrian magistrate denies a second appeal by Ludwig van Beethoven (49) to the order of 17 September.
Ivanhoe by Walter Scott is published.
22 December 1819 Olimpie, a tragédie lyrique by Gaspare Spontini (45) to words of Dieulafoy and Brifaut after Voltaire, is performed for the first time, at the Paris Opéra.
23 December 1819 The Misdemeanors Act receives royal assent. One of the “Six Acts” following the Peterloo Massacre, it requires defendants to plead to misdemeanors within four days.
24 December 1819 The Seditious Meetings Act receives royal assent. One of the “Six Acts” following the Peterloo Massacre, it bans any meetings of more than fifty people without official approval and bans any meeting to discuss “any public grievance or any matter on Church and State.”
25 December 1819 British sealers land on Rugged Island in the South Shetlands and claim it for Britain.
26 December 1819 Il falegname di Livonia, o Petro il grande, czar delle Russie, an opera buffa by Gaetano Donizetti (22) to words of Bevilacqua-Aldobrandini after Duval, is performed for the first time, in Teatro San Samuele, Venice.
Gioachino Rossini’s (27) melodramma Bianca e Falliero, ossia Il consiglio dei tre to words of Romani after Arnault, is performed for the first time, in Teatro alla Scala, Milan. It is received indifferently.
30 December 1819 The Blasphemous and Seditious Libels Act and the Newspaper Stamp Duties Act receive royal assent. Part of the “Six Acts” following the Peterloo Massacre, the first allows authorities to suppress any periodical which prints ideas disliked by the state. The second puts a tax on newspapers and requires publishers to pay security for their “good behavior.”
©2004-2012 Paul Scharfenberger
7 July 2012
Last Updated (Saturday, 07 July 2012 04:52)