MusicAndHistory.com

1 January 1820 Spanish army units near Seville, destined for America, revolt against the Bourbon monarchy.  The revolution spreads through the country so quickly that the king is forced to restore the constitution of 1812.

5 January 1820 Seyyid Ali Pasha replaces Dervis Mehmed Pasha as Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire.

7 January 1820 Ludwig van Beethoven (49) appeals to the Imperial Royal Court of Appeal of Lower Austria to reverse the decision of the lower court of 17 September 1819.

9 January 1820 Heinrich August Marschner (24) marries for the second time, to Eugenie Franziska Jaeggi, an accomplished pianist, the daughter of a valet, in Pressburg.

12 January 1820 The Royal Astronomical Society is founded by 14 gentlemen in Freemason's Tavern, in Lincoln's Inn Fields, London.

16 January 1820 A Russian government expedition led by Thaddeus von Bellingshausen reaches a furthest south at 69°25’S and 1°11’ W when they are halted by the Fimbul Ice Shelf.  But from their position they can see the Antarctic continent, the first human beings in recorded history to do so.

20 January 1820 Friedrich VI replaces Friedrich V as Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg.

22 January 1820 Edward Bransfield, on a Royal Navy expedition, lands on King George Island in the South Shetlands and claims it for Britain.

Portuguese troops destroy an Uruguayan army at the Tacuarembó River, temporarily ending resistance to Portuguese occupation.

27 January 1820 Le bergère châtelaine, an opéra comique by Daniel-François-Esprit Auber (37) to words of Planard, is performed for the first time, in the Théâtre Feydeau, Paris.

29 January 1820 20:32  King George III of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, King of Hannover, dies at Windsor Castle, and is succeeded by his son, George IV.

30 January 1820 Sent south on a private venture by Captain Shireff, RN, Edward Bransfield, in command of the British merchant ship Williams, sights and lands on the Trinity Peninsula on the northern tip of Graham Land.

1 February 1820 Under a plan put forth by economist David Ricardo, the Bank of England begins issuing gold ingots to be used by merchants to make foreign payments in gold.  They will be very successful.

Adrien Boieldieu (44) is named Professor of Composition at the Paris Conservatory.

Gaspare Spontini (45) takes up his position as Generalmusikdirektor in Berlin.

2 February 1820 Lowell Mason (28) is officially appointed organist at the Independent Presbyterian Church of Savannah, Georgia, although he has been performing that function for five years.

6 February 1820 86 freed slaves sail from New York to Sierra Leone aboard the Mayflower of Liberia.

Royalists in Valdivia, Chile surrender to rebel naval forces.

12 February 1820 Acting on the wishes of King George, the British cabinet removes the name of Queen Caroline from the weekly liturgy of the Church of England

13 February 1820 In an attempt to extinguish the Bourbon line, an admirer of Napoléon, Louis Louvel, stabs the heir presumptive to the French throne, the Duc de Berry, nephew of King Louis XVIII at the Paris Opéra.  He dies a few hours later.  Following this incident, the Paris Opéra moves from the Salle Montansier, its home since 1794, to the Salle Favart.

18 February 1820 Following the assassination of 13 February, a more hard line Armand Emmanuel du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu replaces Élie, Comte de Decazes as Prime Minister of France.

Ludwig van Beethoven (49) dates a memorandum as part of his appeal of the ruling of last 17 September.  It is 48 pages long.

23 February 1820 British authorities break into a meeting of Arthur Thistlewood and about 25 of his associates in Cato Street, London just before they hatch a plot to kill the entire cabinet at a dinner at the residence of Lord Harrowby.  It is known as the Cato Street Conspiracy.  Thistlewood kills a constable and escapes.

24 February 1820 Arthur Thistlewood is apprehended by London police.

3 March 1820 The Missouri Compromise is passed by the United States Congress.  Slavery will be allowed in Missouri, but nowhere else west of the Mississippi north of 36°30’ latitude.  Missouri will be admitted as a slave state, Maine as a free state.

4 March 1820 Fanny Mendelssohn (14) begins writing down her compositions in her new music album.

6 March 1820 Louis Spohr (35) appears as soloist in a concert with the Philharmonic Society Orchestra, delayed because of the death of King George III.  He is judged one of the great violinists and composers of the age.

7 March 1820 Three days after his sister Fanny (14), Felix Mendelssohn (10) begins writing down his compositions in his new music album.

9 March 1820 The Royal Palace being surrounded by rebellious troops, King Fernando VII of Spain accepts the Constitution of 1812 and abolishes the Inquisition.

One of Ludwig van Beethoven’s (49) most loyal patrons, Archduke Rudolf, is installed as a cardinal in Olmütz.  The composer intended his Missa Solemnis for the occasion, but he has not finished it.

15 March 1820 Maine becomes the 23rd state of the United States.

18 March 1820 Evaristo Pérez de Castro Brito replaces Joaquín José Melgarejo y Saurín, duque de San Fernando de Quiroga as First Secretary of State of Spain.

22 March 1820 Two navy men, Stephen Decatur and James Barron, fight a duel in Bladensburg, Maryland.  Decatur, hero of the war against Tripoli, sat on the court martial which expelled Barron from the navy for a term of five years.  Both men are wounded, but Decatur dies a few hours later in Washington.  Barron will recover and be reinstated next year to the navy.

24 March 1820 Gioachino Rossini’s (28) Messa di gloria is performed for the first time, in San Ferdinando, Naples.

Marche funebre et De profundis for chorus and orchestra by Fromental Halévy (20) is performed for the first time, in the rue Sainte-Avoye synagogue, Paris.  The work is part of nationwide mourning over the murder of the Duc de Berry.

28 March 1820 Six Antiphons for the consecration of Palms on Palm Sunday D.696 for mixed choir by Franz Schubert (23) are performed for the first time, in the Alt-Lerchenfelder Kirche, Vienna.  They were all composed two days ago in the space of 30 minutes.

29 March 1820 A hearing is held in the appellate court in Vienna in the case of the guardianship of Karl van Beethoven.

30 March 1820 The hard-line French government of Armand du Plessis, duc de Richelieu reinstitutes press censorship.

4 April 1820 The first group of missionaries from Boston arrives in Hawaii.

5 April 1820 A setting of the Agnus Dei by Carl Maria von Weber (33) is performed for the first time, as part of Carlo, a play by von Blankensee, in Berlin.

7 April 1820 An overture by Franz Schubert (23), probably D.648, is performed in Graz.  This is the first time a composition by Schubert is heard outside Vienna.

8 April 1820 The Imperial Royal Court of Appeal of Lower Austria overturns a lower court decision and rules that Karl van Beethoven be taken from the care of his mother and placed under the joint guardianship of his uncle Ludwig (49) and Karl Peters.

A statue of Aphrodite (now known as Venus de Milo) is discovered on the Aegean island of Milos.

10 April 1820 The Symphony no.2 by Louis Spohr (36) is performed for the first time, in London under the direction of the composer.  Spohr “conducts” the Philharmonic Society by waving his bow at them.

14 April 1820 Five weeks of voting conclude in the British general election.  The Tories of the Earl of Liverpool are returned to power with a healthy majority.

21 April 1820 During a lecture at the University of Copenhagen, Danish physicist Hans Christian Ørsted notices that a compass needle jumps when held near a wire through which electricity is passing.  It points perpendicular to the current.  When he reverses the current, the compass needle reverses likewise.  This begins the study of electromagnetism and opens a floodgate of rapid discovery.

24 April 1820 Four pieces for harp by Carl Maria von Weber (33) are performed for the first time, as part of Der Leuchtthurm, a play by von Houwald, in the Dresden Hoftheater.

1 May 1820 Arthur Thistlewood and four of his associates are hanged for the events of last 23 February.  Théodore Géricault is present and immortalizes the event in his drawing Public Hanging in London.

Andrew Law (71) signs his will in Cheshire, Connecticut.

4 May 1820 The Dawning of Music in Kentucky, or The Pleasures of Harmony in the Solitudes of Nature, Opera Prima, is copyrighted by its author Anton Philipp Heinrich (39).

6 May 1820 Because of the uncertain political situation in Spain, royalist General Pedro Morillo y Morillo declares a unilateral 40-day cease fire in Colombia and Venezuela.  All other combatants agree.

15 May 1820 In the final act of the Congress of Vienna, the Bundestag passes the German Constitution of 65 articles, under the direction of Metternich.  It is a very conservative repressive document and authorizes larger German states to interfere in the affairs of smaller ones.

The United States Congress establishes the penalty of death for the importation of slaves.

20 May 1820 Karl Ludwig Sand is beheaded in Mannheim for the murder of August von Kotzebue.

23 May 1820 Publication of Muzio Clementi’s (68) Piano Sonata op.46 is entered at Stationers’ Hall, London.

25 May 1820 Despite mutinies in their own ranks, rebels destroy a larger royalist force at Laguna Salada, Colombia.

28 May 1820 A royalist army reoccupies Jujuy, Argentina.

31 May 1820 A royalist army reoccupies Salta, Argentina.

4 June 1820 Queen Caroline of Great Britain meets with Henry Brougham and Lord Hutchinson at St. Omer, France.  They implore her not to return to Britain and offer her £50,000 per year if she agrees not to enter any domain of the British Empire.  She has been accused of carrying on an affair with her Italian chamberlain, Bartolommeo Pergami.  The Queen refuses the offer and proceeds to Calais.

5 June 1820 Queen Caroline arrives at Dover from Calais on a public ship.  She is met by a large, cheering crowd.

6 June 1820 Queen Caroline travels from Dover to London with ever increasing crowds along the way cheering her on.  In London she stays at the house of Alderman Matthew Wood.  Supporting crowds surround the house for two days.

Rebels attack and defeat royalists at Pitayó, Colombia.

7 June 1820 Louis Louvel is put to death by guillotine for the murder of the Duc de Berry, heir apparent to the French throne.

8 June 1820 A rebel force attacks royalists southeast of Salta, Argentina, forcing them back to the city.  The royalists will soon abandon Salta.

14 June 1820 Franz Schubert’s (23) singspiel Die Zwillingsbrüder D.647 to words of Hofmann is performed for the first time, in the Kärntnertortheater, Vienna.  It will receive six performances.

23 June 1820 The Western Minstrel is copyrighted by its author, Anton Philipp Heinrich (39).

25 June 1820 Rebel vessels defeat a Spanish force at Tenerife, Colombia.  Due to the wholesale slaughter by the rebels, only 27 of 300 Spaniards are captured alive.

1 July 1820 Today marks the last appearance of Muzio Clementi (68) at a meeting of the London Philharmonic Society.

Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St Agnes, and other Poems by John Keats is published in London.

2 July 1820 Two junior officers, members of the Order of the Carbonari, lead their troops on Naples in an attempt to force King Ferdinando to grant a constitution.  Other army units soon join them.

5 July 1820 Leaders of disaffected Neapolitans demand of King Ferdinando that he grant a constitution.

A bill is introduced in the British House of Lords, accusing Queen Caroline of adultery, to strip her of the title of Queen and possibly to end the marriage between her and King George.

7 July 1820 King Ferdinando of Naples promises a liberal constitution.

9 July 1820 General Guglielmo Pepe, leader of the Neapolitan revolt, enters the city at the head of his rebel troops.

10 July 1820 Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka (16) plays a piano concerto at the graduation ceremonies of the Boarding School of the Nobility, St. Petersburg.

16 July 1820 In Paris, Abraham Mendelssohn writes to his daughter Fanny (14), “Music will perhaps become his (Felix) profession, while for you it can and must be only an ornament, never the root of your being and doing.”

19 July 1820 Heinrich IV und d’Aubigné, a grosse Oper by Heinrich August Marschner (24) to words of Hornbostel, is performed for the first time, in Dresden Hoftheater.

21 July 1820 Hans Christian Ørsted publishes his findings of 21 April in the Annales de Chimie et de Physique, Paris.

24 July 1820 After four-and-a-half years of litigation, the case of Karl van Beethoven is declared closed by the court.

26 July 1820 Complete freedom of the press is proclaimed in Naples.  At the same time, Prince Metternich announces that the Neapolitan revolution will not stand.

27 July 1820 Giacomo Meyerbeer (28) is elected a member of the Accademia Filarmonica in Bologna.

31 July 1820 The overture to Carl Maria von Weber’s (33) Der Freischütz is performed for the first time, in Halle.  The opera is completely composed, but the premiere has been postponed due to construction delays at the new Schauspielhaus in Berlin.  Also heard for the first time is the overture to Weber’s incidental music to Preciosa.

3 August 1820 Simon Mayr (57) reads his study of Franchinus Gaffurius (†298) to the Ateneo, Bergamo.  It is the first part of a projected book on various people by Mayr.  He will be prevented from completing the work by illness and death.

13 August 1820 Field Marshall William Carr Beresford, Duke of Elvas, administrator of Portugal, sails for Brazil to visit the absent King João.

17 August 1820 A public enquiry into the alleged adultery of Queen Caroline begins in the House of Lords.  The Queen makes a triumphal trip to the House in a state carriage through cheering throngs.

19 August 1820 Evidence begins to be heard in the House of Lords in the matter of Queen Caroline’s alleged adultery.  It will continue for several months.

Die Zauberharfe D.644, a melodrama by Franz Schubert (23) to words of von Hofmann, is performed for the first time, in the Theater-an-der-Wien, Vienna.  The overture is from the composer’s music for Rosamunde.

20 August 1820 A setting of Spiritus meus by Antonio Salieri (70) is performed for the first time, in Vienna.

24 August 1820 A revolution against the Bragança dynasty of Portugal begins among liberal army officers in Porto.  A rebel junta is set up in the city led by Brigadier António da Silveira Pinto da Fonseca.

31 August 1820 Radical leader Major Rafael de Riego makes a triumphal entry into Madrid in support of the 1812 constitution.

4 September 1820 French physicist François Arago presents Ørsted’s findings to the French Academy in Paris.

7 September 1820 The Attorney-General rests his case against Queen Caroline in the House of Lords.  She responds by sailing down the Thames in her state barge.  An estimated 200,000 people view the procession.

A Chilean/Argentine army disembarks at Paracas Bay, Peru and proceeds to capture the royalist garrison at Pisco.

15 September 1820 Liberal riots occur in Lisbon in sympathy with those in Porto last month.  A rebel junta takes over in the capital deposing the Regency Council and Field Marshall William Carr Beresford, Duke of Elvas.

16 September 1820 Carl Loewe (23) visits Goethe in Jena.

German physicist Johann Salomo Christoph Schweigger presents a paper at the University of Halle describing his electromagnetic experiments.  He finds that the strength of a current running through a wire can be measured based on the amount of deflection of a compass needle, in effect creating a galvanometer.

18 September 1820 André-Marie Ampère presents a paper to the French Academy outlining his findings based on those of the Danish physicist Hans Christian Ørsted.  Wires carrying electric current show magnetic properties.  Over the next few months Ampère will lay the foundation for the science of electrodynamics.

27 September 1820 The two rebel juntas in Portugal meet in Alcobaça and create one provisional government led by Bishop Gomes Freire de Andrade.

28 September 1820 Widerschein D.639, a song by Franz Schubert (23) to words of Schlechta, is published in the Taschenbuch zum geselligen Vergnügen, Leipzig.

1 October 1820 The first constitutional parliament for Naples convenes.

Fanny (14) and Felix (11) Mendelssohn enter the Berlin Singakademie as altos.

3 October 1820 Min Ning succeeds Yung Yen as Emperor of China.

The defense of Queen Caroline opens before the House of Lords.

4 October 1820 Carl Maria von Weber (33) performs before the King and Queen of Denmark at Fredriksborg.

A rebel contingent marches out of Pisco, Peru into the Andes to encourage insurrection.

6 October 1820 Two British frigates enter the bay of Naples in support of the status quo.

Charles Valentin Alkan (6) is admitted to the Paris Conservatoire.

9 October 1820 The British government reattaches Cape Breton to Nova Scotia.

10 October 1820 Field Marshall William Carr Beresford, Duke of Elvas returns from Brazil but is not allowed to disembark by the revolutionary government.

20 October 1820 Representatives of the major powers meet at Troppau (Ostava, Czech Republic) to discuss what to do about liberal revolutions, especially Naples.  Attending are Tsar Alyeksandr I of Russia, Emperor Franz I of Austria, and Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia.  Lower level officials represent Great Britain and France.

28 October 1820 The rebel army under San Martín, having been transported by sea from Pisco, disembarks at Ancón, 50 km northwest of Lima.

2 November 1820 The last phase of the “trial” of Queen Caroline begins in the House of Lords.

5 November 1820 Rebel warships attack and capture a Spanish frigate in the harbor of Callao.

4 November 1820 Carl Maria von Weber (33) and his wife Caroline Brandt return to Dresden after a successful concert tour of Germany.

10 November 1820 After a “trial” of over two months, a vote on the third reading of the bill against Queen Caroline takes place in the House of Lords.  The bill is approved 108-99, but the margin is so small, it is abandoned by the government and not introduced in the House of Commons.  Spontaneous celebrations go on for three days throughout the country.

12 November 1820 Having once again been transported by sea, San Martín’s rebel army lands at Huacho, Peru.

13 November 1820 The second round of voting in elections to the French legislature take place.  Royalists win 187 seats, Liberals 33.

14 November 1820 Margherita d’Anjou, a melodramma semiserio by Giacomo Meyerbeer (29) to words of Romani after Pixérécourt, is performed for the first time, in Teatro alla Scala, Milan.  It receives great popular and critical success.

19 November 1820 Austria, Prussia and Russia issue the Protocol of Troppau.  They bind themselves together against liberal revolutions, peaceful or otherwise.

20 November 1820 King Ferdinando of Naples is summoned to Laibach (Ljubljana) to confer with Emperor Franz I of Austria, King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia and Tsar Alyeksandr I of Russia.

Elections are held by the revolutionary government of Portugal to a new Cortes.

26 November 1820 After a successful first performance in October in Oedenburg (Sopron), Franz Liszt (9) appears in a noon concert in Pressburg (Bratislava).  Both concerts were arranged by Liszt’s father, Adam, who timed this performance to coincide with a meeting of the Hungarian Diet, when many important notables are in the city.  The mostly upper class audience is delighted and impressed.

A six-month truce is arranged between royalist and revolutionary forces at Trujillo (Venezuela).

1 December 1820 Franz Schubert’s (23) song Erlkönig to words of Goethe is performed for the first time outside the Schubert circle, in the home of Ignaz Sonnleithner, Vienna.

3 December 1820 Maometto II, a dramma by Gioachino Rossini (28) to words of della Valle, is performed for the first time, in Teatro San Carlo, Naples.  It is not well received.

6 December 1820 Upon receiving the letter of 20 November, King Ferdinando of the Two Sicilies, immediately consults Parliament who give him leave to attend.

Rebels defeat and scatter a royalist force at Cerro de Pasco in the Peruvian Andes.

7 December 1820 Louis Spohr (36) and his wife arrive in Paris for the first time.  There he will meet Cherubini (60) and produce a new violin concerto.

9 December 1820 Die Forelle D.550, a song by Franz Schubert (23) to words of Schubart, is published in Zeitschrift für Kunst, Vienna.

11 December 1820 Die Soldatenliebschaft, a singspiel by Felix Mendelssohn (11) to words of Casper, is performed for the first time, with piano accompaniment, at the Mendelssohn home in Berlin for the fiftieth birthday of the composer’s father.  See 3 February 1821.

13 December 1820 King Ferdinando leaves Naples for Laibach (Ljubljana).

15 December 1820 Giacomo Meyerbeer (29) signs a contract with Giovanni Paterni of the Teatro Argentina, Rome, to compose an opera entitled Almanzore to be performed next February.  It will never be performed.

17 December 1820 George Canning resigns as President of the Board of Trade.  He opposes the actions taken against the Queen.

The first edition of John Bull, edited by Thomas Hook, is published.  It is intended to attack Queen Caroline and the enemies of King George IV.

18 December 1820 L’auteur mort et vivant, an opéra comique by Louis Joseph Ferdinand Hérold (29) to words of Planard, is performed for the first time, at the Théâtre Feydeau, Paris.

20 December 1820 A new law in South Carolina forbids the freeing of any slave without formal consent of the state legislature.  Free Blacks are barred from entering the state.

26 December 1820 Fedra, a melodramma serio by Simon Mayr (57) to words of Romanelli, is performed for the first time, in Teatro alla Scala, Milan.

©2004-2012 Paul Scharfenberger

7 July 2012