1834
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1 January 1834 A customs union between 18 German states, headed by Prussia, goes into effect.
5 January 1834 The Gazette musicale appears for the first time, in Paris. One of its founders is Franz Liszt (22).
15 January 1834 Francisco Martínez de la Rosa replaces Francisco Cea Bermúdez as Prime Minister of Spain.
21 January 1834 Richard Wagner (20) moves back to Leipzig from Würzburg.
2 February 1834 Die drei Wünsche, a singspiel by Carl Loewe (37) to words of Raupach, is performed for the first time, in the Berlin Schauspielhaus.
13 February 1834 Delegates meet in London to form the Grand National Consolidated Trades Union, the first national workers association.
16 February 1834 A new law goes into effect in France giving local officials wide authority to refuse permits to sell newspapers and pamphlets.
17 February 1834 Representatives of Spain and the United States sign the Van Ness Convention in Madrid. Spain agrees to pay a lump sum of 12,000,000 reales to settle all US claims against it.
22 February 1834 César Franck (11) wins the First Prize in piano at the Royal Conservatory of Liège.
24 February 1834 In defiance of the law of 16 February, three newspapers are sold in the Place de la Bourse, Paris. Scuffles ensue for hours, ended by mounted police. Further arrests continue tomorrow.
Six Dorset farm workers are arrested for joining in an illegal association to protest their pitiful pay. They will become known as the Tolpuddle Martyrs.
27 February 1834 Rosmonda d’Inghilterra, a melodramma serio by Gaetano Donizetti (36) to words of Romani, is performed for the first time, in Teatro Pergola, Florence.
6 March 1834 Toronto is incorporated as a city.
10 March 1834 The Düsseldorf Theatrical Association constitutes itself to bring theatre and opera to the city. In charge of directing the operas will be Felix Mendelssohn (25).
16 March 1834 While Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka (29) is in Berlin with his sister, they receive word that their father has died. They immediately return to Russia. It is Glinka’s first return to his homeland in almost four years.
18 March 1834 The Tolpuddle Martyrs arrested on 24 February are sentenced in a Dorchester court to seven years transportation to Australia.
21 March 1834 Le Tribunal de Première Instance de la Seine orders that the annuity promised to Gioachino Rossini (42) by King Charles X be paid in perpetuity.
24 March 1834 Alexander replaces Alexius as Duke of Anhalt-Bernburg.
28 March 1834 US President Andrew Jackson is censured by the Congress for failing to turn over cabinet documents relating to the dismantling of the Bank of the United States.
3 April 1834 Robert Schumann’s (23) periodical Neue Leipziger Zeitschrift für Musik is published for the first time.
7 April 1834 Felix Mendelssohn’s (25) overture Melusine, or the Mermaid and the Knight is performed for the first time, in London. It will become known as Die schöne Melusine.
9 April 1834 After the French government attempts to suppress trade unions, unarmed republican workers in Lyon meet at the city court house to protest. They battle with police for six days. Over 500 people are killed.
10 April 1834 Hector (30) and Harriet Smithson Berlioz move to Montmartre. She is pregnant.
11 April 1834 Concerto da camera op.10/2 by Valentin Alkan (30) is performed for the first time, in Bath.
13 April 1834 Just before a republican insurrection is set to begin in Paris, their leader, Théophile Guillard de Kersausie, is arrested by police. Many disheartened workers go home. The ensuing action lasts only until tomorrow morning before being suppressed by authorities. 69 people are killed. Scores are arrested. In the midst of the fighting, government forces kill twelve civilians in a house in the Rue Transnonain, an act which horrifies the public.
18 April 1834 Szenen aus Mozarts Leben, a Singspiel by Albert Lortzing (32) to his own words, is performed for the first time.
21 April 1834 16-year-old Ernestine von Fricken arrives in Leipzig to take lessons with Friedrich Wieck. She will form an emotional relationship with Robert Schumann (23).
22 April 1834 Great Britain, France, Spain and Portugal form the Quadruple Alliance to support liberal governments in Iberia and to deter the Holy Alliance of Russia, Prussia and Austria.
St. Helena becomes a British Crown Colony.
25 April 1834 After witnessing a performance of Bellini’s (32) Norma, Giacomo Meyerbeer (42) writes to his wife from Modena. “I tremble and shake at the thought of my new opera (Les Huguenots) being directly compared with this Norma, since it is apparently to be given in Paris at almost the same time as my new opera.”
28 April 1834 For the first time, Robert Schumann (23) mentions the music of Hector Berlioz (30) in the Neue Leipziger Zeitschrift für Musik.
As part of an effort to oversee the advancement of French industry, King Louis-Philippe visits Erard’s in Paris. Franz Liszt (22) is present and plays music for the occasion.
Nicolò Paganini (51) debuts as a solo violist in London. Critics advise him against persisting.
5 May 1834 The last movement of the Concerto for piano and orchestra no.1 by Clara Wieck (14) is performed for the first time, in the Leipzig Gewandhaus, the composer at the keyboard and Felix Mendelssohn (25) conducting. See 9 November 1835.
6 May 1834 Sikh forces capture Peshawar, 230 km southeast of Kabul.
8 May 1834 Felix Mendelssohn’s (25) Rondo brillant in E flat for piano op.29 is performed for the first time, in London.
16 May 1834 Publication of Oberons Zauberhorn op.116, a fantasy for piano and orchestra by Johann Nepomuk Hummel (55) is announced in the Wiener Zeitung.
19 May 1834 Infelice op.94 for soprano and orchestra by Felix Mendelssohn (25) is performed for the first time, in London.
24 May 1834 King Louis-Philippe of France gives royal assent to a law making it a crime to give aid and comfort to an insurrection or insurrectionists without actually taking part in the rebellion.
Lestocq, ou L’intrigue et l’amour, an opéra comique by Daniel-François-Esprit Auber (52) to words of Scribe, is performed for the first time, in Théâtre de la Bourse, Paris.
26 May 1834 King Miguel I (Dom Miguel) of Portugal surrenders and abdicates at Evoramonte, 110 km east of Lisbon. He will be forced into exile and the 15-year-old Maria II is restored to the throne.
28 May 1834 All monasteries, backers of King Miguel, are abolished in Portugal.
1 June 1834 Former King Miguel of Portugal boards a British ship at Sines, 90 km south of Lisbon, and is taken into exile in Genoa, thence to Austria.
10 June 1834 Richard Wagner’s (21) first published essay, “Die deutsche Oper,” appears in Zeitung für die elegante Welt, Leipzig.
Captivity of Judah, an oratorio by William Crotch (58) to words of Schomberg and Owen, is performed for the first time, at ceremonies installing the Duke of Wellington as Chancellor of the University of Oxford. Also heard is the premiere of Crotch’s ode When these are days of old to words of Keble.
12 June 1834 Ioannis Kolettis replaces Alexandros Nikolaou Mavrokordatos as President of the Ministerial Council of Greece.
15 June 1834 Prince von Metternich grants permission for the publication in Zagreb of a political newspaper and literary magazine in Croatian, despite Hungarian opposition.
21 June 1834 Elections to the French legislature result in a large majority for conservatives.
Cyrus Hall McCormack receives a US patent for his grain reaping machine, changing the face of agriculture.
28 June 1834 William Crotch (58) makes his last public appearance, playing the organ at the Handel Festival in Westminster Abbey.
4 July 1834 Publication of Die Schule des Legato und Staccato op.335 by Carl Czerny (43) is announced in the Wiener Zeitung.
Today begins nine days of rioting by anti-abolitionists in New York City.
11 July 1834 Fresh from absolutist defeat in Portugal, Don Carlos arrives in Elizondo to join partisans who have already proclaimed him King Carlos V of Spain. He is supported by the Roman Catholic Church, conservatives and Basques. Queen Isabella is supported by Spanish liberals, Great Britain and France.
In a week of rioting since Independence Day, 60 homes and six churches owned by Blacks have been destroyed by Whites in New York City.
15 July 1834 Lord Napier, Superintendent of Trade sent by His Majesty’s government to replace the British East India Company, arrives off Macao.
The Spanish Inquisition is ended by Pope Gregory XVI.
16 July 1834 William Lamb, Viscount Melbourne replaces Charles, Earl Grey as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
18 July 1834 Étienne Maurice, comte Gérard replaces Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult, duc de Dalmatie as Prime Minister of France.
21 July 1834 Lord Napier lands at Canton with the intention of dealing with the local Viceroy. He takes up residence with British merchants. His secretary attempts to deliver a letter to Viceroy Lu K’un but no Chinese official will receive it.
25 July 1834 Samuel Taylor Coleridge dies in Highgate, London at the age of 61.
27 July 1834 Jean Baptiste, comte Drouet d’Erlon becomes the first Governor General of the French Possessions in the North of Africa.
31 July 1834 An ecclesiastical reform commission is set up by the liberal government of Portugal. It will pass judgment on the actions of the clergy in the recent civil war.
1 August 1834 As of today, slavery is abolished in the British Empire. Approximately 700,000 souls are liberated.
2 August 1834 Richard Wagner (21) debuts as opera conductor with a performance of Mozart’s (†42) Don Giovanni in Lauchstädt, Thuringia.
4 August 1834 Barthélemy Théodore, chevalier de Theux de Meylandt replaces Jean Louis Joseph Lebeau as head of government for Belgium.
7 August 1834 Samuel Wesley (68) gives his last public performance, accompanying his own anthem All go unto one place, in Exeter Hall, London. It is a funeral anthem for his recently departed brother Charles.
11 August 1834 The Ursuline Convent is burned to the ground by an anti-Catholic mob in Charlestown, Massachusetts. All the nuns and girls residing therein escape.
12 August 1834 A mob of about 500 whites invades a black neighborhood in Philadelphia and riots for three days. Several blocks are destroyed by fire.
14 August 1834 Harriet Smithson Berlioz gives birth to a son, Louis-Clément-Thomas, at their home in Montmartre.
15 August 1834 The South Australia Act receives Royal Assent, providing for the establishment of a colony there separate from New South Wales.
16 August 1834 In Canton, Viceroy Lu K’un restricts trade with foreigners.
20 August 1834 The Grand National Consolidated Trades Union is dissolved. Its founder, Robert Owen, transforms what is left into the British and Foreign Consolidated Association of Industry, Humanity, and Knowledge.
24 August 1834 The Sociedade Filarmonica is established in Rio de Janeiro.
25 August 1834 The Women of Algiers in Their Apartment by Eugène Delacroix is exhibited at the Paris Salon.
2 September 1834 Viceroy Lu K’un stops all trade with foreigners in Canton.
5 September 1834 Great Britain and Russia agree to respect the independence of Persia.
7 September 1834 Royal Navy vessels force their way up the Pearl River at Canton. Three Chinese forts are put out of commission.
During his first week back in St. Petersburg, Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka (30) meets Maria Ivanovna Petrovna, his future wife, for the first time.
20 September 1834 Queen Maria II of Portugal comes of age and the regency over her is ended.
24 September 1834 Dom Pedro, leader of the Portuguese liberal cause, dies of consumption, aged 36. He defeated his absolutist brother Dom Miguel four months ago. Pedro de Sousa Holstein, marquês e conde de Palmela replaces him as Prime Minister.
28 September 1834 Six-and-a-half years after departing for Vienna, Nicolò Paganini (51) departs Paris for Genoa and home. During this short time, Paganini has achieved fame and recognition as the greatest violin virtuoso of the age.
29 September 1834 Joseph replaces Friedrich as Duke of Saxe-Altenburg.
Giacomo Meyerbeer (43) signs a contract to produce Les Huguenots.
The Last Days of Pompeii by Edward Bulwer-Lytton is published in London.
2 October 1834 All clergymen appointed under the former King Miguel are removed from their posts.
While in Leipzig, Felix Mendelssohn (25) visits Friedrich Wieck who presents his daughter Clara (14). She plays some of her own music, some Chopin (24) and some music by a student of Wieck, Robert Schumann (24). Mendelssohn is favorably impressed by Clara.
8 October 1834 04:40 François-Adrien Boieldieu dies peacefully of “consumptive laryngitis” at Jarcy, aged 58 years, nine months and 22 days.
9 October 1834 Felix Mendelssohn (25) enters upon duties as Intendant of the Düsseldorf Opera.
11 October 1834 Chief Superintendent of Trade Lord Napier dies of a fever at Macao.
On the day after the Journal des Débats has reprinted a story by Hector Berlioz (30), the composer appears at the newspaper office to thank the editor. The editor offers him a job as music writer. Berlioz accepts and will begin in January.
Samuel Sebastian Wesley (24) wins a glee contest by the Manchester Gentlemen’s Glee Club (for the second time) with his At That Dread Hour to words of Linley.
13 October 1834 A state funeral service for François-Adrien Boieldieu is held at Les Invalides.
16 October 1834 The Palace of Westminster is almost entirely destroyed by fire.
18 October 1834 Buondelmonte, a tragedia lirica by Gaetano Donizetti (36) to words of Salatino, is performed for the first time, at Teatro San Carlo, Naples. The opera was to have been Maria Stuarda but when the censors objected to the tragic ending two weeks ago, Salatino took the libretto of Bardari and rewrote it. Donizetti then quickly fit his music to the new words. Needless to say, the production is a disaster and receives only one performance. See 30 December 1835.
21 October 1834 Seminoles on the south bank of the Alachua River (Florida) are informed that they are to be transported west of the Mississippi.
27 October 1834 A royal decree strips Don Carlos of any right to the Spanish throne.
2 November 1834 Felix Mendelssohn (25) resigns his position as opera conductor in Düsseldorf.
9 November 1834 Two works for male vocal quartet and orchestra by Hector Berlioz (30) are performed for the first time, in the Paris Conservatoire: Sara la baigneuse to words of Hugo and La belle voyageuse to words of Moore translated by Goumet. See 13 December 1840 and 22 October 1850.
10 November 1834 The new Zürich Theatre opens with a performance of Die Zauberflöte.
11 November 1834 Clara Wieck (15) begins a concert tour of Hamburg, Hannover and Magdeburg.
Fantaisie et variations brillantes sur des motifs de L’Opéra La Norma de Bellini op.25 for piano and strings by Otto Nicolai (24) is performed for the first time, in Leipzig.
13 November 1834 The earthly remains of François-Adrien Boieldieu are laid to rest in Rouen, his birthplace.
14 November 1834 Hughes Bernard Maret, duc de Bassano replaces Étienne Maurice, comte Gérard as Prime Minister of France.
Nicolò Paganini (52) plays his first concert in Italy since he left in 1828, in Parma.
17 November 1834 Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington replaces William Lamb, Viscount Melbourne as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
18 November 1834 Edouard Adolphe Casimir Joseph Mortier, Duc de Treviso replaces Hughes Bernard Maret as Prime Minister of France.
19 November 1834 A setting of Psalm 115 for solo voices, chorus and orchestra by Felix Mendelssohn (25) is performed for the first time, in Frankfurt.
20 November 1834 Dorothea (Dorette) Spohr, wife of Louis Spohr (50) for 28 years, dies in Kassel. The composer is devastated by the loss.
23 November 1834 Harold in Italy, a symphony for viola and orchestra by Hector Berlioz (30) is performed for the first time, in the Salle du Conservatoire, Paris. On the same program are two songs for soprano and orchestra by Berlioz: La captive to words of Hugo and the orchestraton of Le jeune pâtre breton to words of Brizeux. See 22 December 1833.
1 December 1834 US President Jackson asks Congress for authority to conduct reprisals on France for not paying claims they agreed to pay under the treaty of 1831.
7 December 1834 Andante spianato for piano by Frédéric Chopin (24) is performed for the first time, by the composer at a Berlioz (30) concert in the Paris Conservatoire.
10 December 1834 Sir Robert Peel replaces Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
17 December 1834 Giacomo Meyerbeer (43) is elected a Membre associé étranger of the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts de l’Institut de France.
18 December 1834 The Tamworth Manifesto of Prime Minister Robert Peel appears in the British press. It becomes the clearest statement of the goals of conservatism at the time.
23 December 1834 British architect Joseph Aloysius Hansom registers his design of a “patent safety cab.” The Hansom Cab will become a regular feature of cities in the 19th century.
24 December 1834 Robert Schumann (24) buys all publication rights to the Neue Leipziger Zeitschrift für Musik making him the sole owner.
Little more than a year after he entered the Paris Conservatoire, Jacques Offenbach (15) is officially removed from the list of students, voluntarily.
25 December 1834 All liberals in Spain receive a general amnesty.
Franz Liszt (23) and Frédéric Chopin (24) appear jointly at Stoepel’s Music School, Paris, playing Moscheles Grand Duo for piano four hands and Liszt’s own Grosses Konzertstück über Mendelssohns Lieder ohne Worte.
26 December 1834 Gaetano Donizetti’s (37) tragedia lirica Gemma di Vergy to words of Bidèra after Dumas is performed for the first time, in Teatro alla Scala, Milan.
31 December 1834 Gaetano Donizetti (37) leaves Milan for Paris where he hopes to produce an opera at the Théâtre-Italien.
©2004-2012 Paul Scharfenberger
9 July 2012
Last Updated (Monday, 09 July 2012 05:48)