1926
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1 January 1926 Sergey Prokofiev (34) arrives in New York from Le Havre aboard the De Grasse for a series of performances in the United States.
3 January 1926 Prime Minister General Theodoros Pangalos declares himself dictator of Greece.
4 January 1926 Andrei Tasev Lyapchev replaces Aleksandur Tsolov Tsankov as Prime Minister of Bulgaria.
The Romanian Parliament sets up a regency council for four-year-old Prince Mihai.
John Logie Baird applies for a license from the British General Post Office to broadcast television signals.
8 January 1926 Abdul Aziz III ibn Saud becomes King of Hejaz and Nejd in Mecca.
10 January 1926 A new Military March and an arrangement of the opera music for the film Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss (61) are performed for the first time, in the Dresden Opera House, conducted by the composer. Unfortunately, the film is a flop.
12 January 1926 Morton Feldman is born in New York.
13 January 1926 Sonata no.2 for clarinet and piano op.86 by Charles Koechlin (58) is performed for the first time, in Salle Pleyel, Paris.
15 January 1926 Arthur Honegger (33) writes the following note: In case of accident or sudden death, I declare that I am the father of Claire Croiza’s child. A.Honegger. Claire Croiza is a vocalist and actress and not the woman he is presently in a relationship with.
Incidental music to Maeterlinck’s (tr. Horgan) play Sister Beatrice by Otto Luening (25) is performed for the first time, at the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, New York.
19 January 1926 Frederick S. Converse (55) is awarded the David Bispham Medal by the American Opera Society of Chicago, for his opera The Pipe of Desire.
23 January 1926 On the night before the premiere of Carl Ruggles’ (49) Portals, the parts are found to be missing. Ruggles, Henry Cowell (28), and Charles Seeger spend the entire night copying out new parts.
24 January 1926 A bust of Leos Janácek (71) by Jan Stursa is unveiled at the Brno National Theatre. “…a bust like that suggests that it’s done for the future—when the living one will be no more. It saddened me.” (Tyrrell II, 587)
Suite no.2 from Albert Roussel’s (56) opera-ballet Padmâvati is performed for the first time, in the Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris.
Levee Land for soprano, two violins, woodwinds, tenor banjo, piano, and percussion by William Grant Still (30) is performed for the first time, at an International Composers' Guild concert in Aeolian Hall, New York. Also premiered is Portals for strings by Carl Ruggles (49). The audience, which includes George Gershwin (27), requires Portals to be repeated but the critics are mixed.
26 January 1926 John Logie Baird, a Scottish engineer, gives the first public demonstration of the televising of moving objects, at the Royal Institution, London. The only notice in the press consists of two paragraphs in The Times.
28 January 1926 Kurt Weill (25) marries Karoline Wilhelmine Charlotte Blamauer, a dancer and actress from Vienna who goes by the stage name Lotte Lenja, in a civil ceremony in Charlottenburg, Berlin. No relatives of either of them are present.
29 January 1926 Baron Reijiro Wakatsuki replaces Prince Takaaki Kato as Prime Minister of Japan.
31 January 1926 The First Rhineland Occupation Zone (Cologne) is evacuated by the Allies.
2 February 1926 Two works by Henry Cowell (28) are performed for the first time, in Aeolian Hall, New York: String Quartet no.1 and Seven Paragraphs for violin, viola, and cello.
7 February 1926 A piano reduction of the Symphony no.1 by Dmitri Shostakovich (19) is performed at Moscow Conservatory by the composer before the State Scientific Council and the People’s Commissariat for Education. See 12 May 1926.
Sean O’Casey’s The Plough and the Stars is given its first performance, at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin.
8 February 1926 Czechoslovakia recognizes the USSR
9 February 1926 The School Board of Atlanta forbids the teaching of evolution.
13 February 1926 Judith, a biblical opera by Arthur Honegger (33) to words of Morax, is performed for the first time, in Monaco. See 11 June 1925.
16 February 1926 Concertino for piano, 2 violins, viola, clarinet, bassoon, and horn by Leos Janácek (71) is performed for the first time, in Brno.
18 February 1926 Drei Anekdoten für Radio for clarinet, trumpet, violin, double bass, and piano by Paul Hindemith (30) is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of Frankfurt Radio.
19 February 1926 Skyscrapers, a ballet by John Alden Carpenter (49), is performed for the first time, at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York. The sold-out audience and critics are enthusiastic. See 5 November 1926.
26 February 1926 Symphonic Piece for orchestra by Henry F. Gilbert (57) is performed for the first time, in Symphony Hall, Boston. Reviews are mixed.
28 February 1926 Kurt Weill (25) writes of Arnold Schoenberg (51), “True, spurning all concessions, he proceeds with the straightforwardness of the fanatic who looks upon success in his lifetime almost as evidence of regression in his art. But even his opponents are forced to recognize in him the purest, noblest artistic personality and the most forceful spiritual force in musical life today.”
2 March 1926 Terzetto for flute, oboe, and viola by Gustav Holst (51) is performed for the first time, in the Faculty of Arts Gallery, Golden Square, London.
Suite no.1 for orchestra by Igor Stravinsky (43), an arrangement of the Five Easy Pieces for piano four hands, is performed for the first time, in Haarlem conducted by the composer.
3 March 1926 Ivar Lykke replaces Johan Ludwig Mowinckel as Prime Minister of Norway.
4 March 1926 Three works by Ottorino Respighi (46) are performed for the first time, in Amsterdam, conducted by the composer: the Third Suite of Ancient Airs and Dances, for orchestra, a Concerto in Mixolydian Mode for piano and orchestra, and Poema autunnale for violin and orchestra.
7 March 1926 The first transatlantic radio-telephone conversation occurs between London and New York.
8 March 1926 Dirk Jan de Geer replaces Hendrikus Colijn as first minister of the Netherlands.
13 March 1926 Alikeness for male chorus by Jean Sibelius (60) to words of Runeberg is performed for the first time, in Turku.
Sonata casi-fantasía for seven players by Julián Carrillo (51), a microtonal piece, is performed for the first time, in Town Hall, New York.
14 March 1926 A setting of Psalm 112 for two choruses and orchestra by Anton Bruckner (†29) is performed for the first time, in Vöcklabruck, 63 years after it was composed.
15 March 1926 Benjamin Burwell Johnston, Jr. is born in Macon, Georgia, the first of two children born to Benjamin Burwell Johnston, Sr., a journalist, and Janet Ross.
Impressions of a Rainy Day for string quartet by Roy Harris (28) is performed for the first time, in the Biltmore Hotel, Los Angeles.
16 March 1926 Students march against allowing Jews into the University of Bucharest. The school is forced to close.
Incidental music to Shakespeare’s play The Tempest (tr. Lembcke) op.109 by Jean Sibelius (60) is performed for the first time, in Copenhagen.
Dr. Robert Goddard demonstrates the first liquid fuel rocket in a flight from his aunt’s farm in Auburn, Massachusetts. The fuel is gasoline and liquid oxygen ignited by a blowtorch. The rocket flies for two-and-a-half seconds reaching an altitude of twelve meters and landing 56 meters from the launch site.
17 March 1926 German entry into the League of Nations is blocked by Brazil and Spain.
18 March 1926 A student demonstration against corruption in Peking is fired upon by government troops. 47 people are killed.
Jan Cerny replaces Antonín Svehla as Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia.
23 March 1926 Eamon de Valera founds the Fianna Fáil Party to run republican candidates for office in Ireland.
Two works for male chorus by Jean Sibelius (60) are performed for the first time, in Helsinki: Humoresque op.108/1, and Wanderers on the Long Way.
24 March 1926 Three fascists are sentenced to 75 days in prison for the “unintentional murder” of Italian Socialist leader Giacomo Matteotti. Two other fascists charged in the case are acquitted.
Tre commedie goldoniane, a triptych by Gian Francesco Malipiero (44) to his own words after Goldoni, is performed for the first time, in the Hessisches Landestheater, Darmstadt.
Chanson de Fagus for voice, string quartet, and piano by Arthur Honegger (34) is performed for the first time, in the Salle Gaveau, Paris.
26 March 1926 Fünf Lieder op.19 for voice and piano by Ernst Krenek (25) to words of Krzyzanowski and Klopstock, are performed for the first time, in Berlin.
27 March 1926 Der Protagonist, an opera by Kurt Weill (26) to words of Kaiser, is performed for the first time, at the Dresden Staatsoper. It is a tremendous success. The dedicatee, Lotte Lenja (Frau Weill) will remember forty curtain calls.
30 March 1926 Alexandru Averescu replaces Ion I. Constantin Bratianu as Prime Minister of Romania.
31 March 1926 The symphonic poem Hercule et Omphale by Claude Champagne (34) is performed for the first time, in Paris.
3 April 1926 Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, Baron Irwin replaces Victor Alexander George Robert Bulwer-Lytton, Earl of Lytton as Viceroy of India.
5 April 1926 HL Mencken is arrested in front of hundreds of cheering spectators after selling a banned copy of the American Mercury to the Chief Watcher of Boston’s Watch and Ward Society.
7 April 1926 Irish woman Violet Gibson fires three times at Benito Mussolini as he sits in a car, in Rome. She hits him once, across the nose. He survives and, with bandaging of his nose, continues his daily schedule. Gibson is almost torn apart by a mob but is rescued by police. She never tells why she tried to kill Mussolini but is presumed to be deranged.
8 April 1926 Nikola Uzunovic replaces Nikola Pasic as Prime Minister of the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes.
9 April 1926 Henry Cowell (29) gives a performance of his works in Brno at the invitation of the Club of Moravian Composers. While in Brno, Cowell makes the acquaintance of Leos Janácek (71) and the two have long conversations. Cowell will tell Janácek “that you are without doubt one of the very greatest of living composers, without reservations.”
Amériques, an orchestral work by Edgard Varèse (42), is performed for the first time, at the Philadelphia Academy of Music.
16 April 1926 T'an Yen-k'ai (Tan Yankai) replaces Wang Ching-wei (Wang Jingwei) as Head of State of China in the Nanking administration.
18 April 1926 Theodoros Pangalos replaces Pavlos Theodorou Koundouriotis as President of Greece.
19 April 1926 Gian Francesco Malipiero (44) writes to Benito Mussolini lauding fascism and offering his services to bring music into line.
Maria (Mimi) Kwast Pfitzner, wife of Hans Pfitzner (56), dies at the age of 46. “With the death of my wife Mimi, I had the feeling that my true life had ended.”
Incidental music to d’Annunzio’s (tr. Doderet) play Phaedre by Arthur Honegger (34) is performed for the first time, at the Teatro Costanzi, Rome the composer conducting.
Pitcairn Aviation is founded by Harold Frederick Pitcairn. Eventually it will become Eastern Airlines.
20 April 1926 Hu Wei-te (Hu Weide) replaces Tuan Ch’i-jui (Duan Qirui) as President of China in the Canton administration.
21 April 1926 Dmitri Shostakovich (19) graduates from Leningrad Conservatory and is immediately accepted into the post-graduate composition course.
23 April 1926 Andante for orchestra by Roy Harris (28) is performed for the first time, at the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, New York Howard Hanson (29) conducting.
25 April 1926 Turandot, a dramma lirico by Giacomo Puccini (†1) to words of Adami and Simoni, after Gozzi and Schiller, and finished by Franco Alfano, is performed for the first time, at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan. During the performance, after the death of Liù, the conductor, Arturo Toscanini, stops the orchestra, turns to the audience and announces, “at this point, the master put down his pen.” There is a long silence. Then, from the balcony comes the shout “Viva Puccini!”, followed by a long ovation. The “completed” version by Franco Alfano will be heard at the second performance, on 27 April. Mussolini is not present since Toscanini has refused to play the Fascist anthem La Giovinezza.
Several songs for voice and piano by Samuel Barber (16) are performed for the first time, in front of about a hundred guests at the composer’s home in West Chester, Pennsylvania: Sometime, Seven Nursery Songs, October Weather, Dere Two Fella Joe, My Fairyland, Two Poems of the Wind, A Slumber Song of the Madonna, Fantasy in Purple, Lady When I Behold the Roses, La nuit, I never thought that Youth would Go, Invocation to Youth, Au clair de la lune, Man, Music When Soft Voices Die, Thy Love, and Watchers.
28 April 1926 Leos Janácek (71) departs Prague making for London.
Two Basque Songs op.44 for voice and piano by Karol Szymanowski (43) to folk texts are performed for the first time, in Warsaw.
29 April 1926 Leos Janácek (71) arrives in London where his music will be performed.
The United States government forgives 60% of the debt owed to it by France. The rest is rescheduled at favorable terms. The Europeans have been unable to repay their debts due to very high restrictions on trade put in place by the US.
James B. Sumner of Cornell University crystallizes urease. It is the first enzyme to be crystallized and proves that enzymes are proteins.
1 May 1926 A general strike begins in Britain which closes mines, iron and steel production, transportation, and the press. The strike begins when workers support a strike by miners against the withdrawal of subsidies by the Conservative government.
Henry Ford institutes a five-day, 40-hour week for his factory workers. The same will be applied to office workers on 1 August.
2 May 1926 Two works by Francis Poulenc (27) are performed for the first time, in the Salle des Agriculteurs, Paris: Chansons gaillardes, a song cycle to various seventeenth century texts, and the Trio for oboe, bassoon, and piano. In addition, Poulenc’s piano work Napoli is performed completely for the first time. For the Chansons gaillardes, the composer accompanies Pierre Bernac for the first time. They will be an important performing duo for decades to come. See 17 March 1924.
3 May 1926 The first general strike in British history begins. It will last until 12 May.
Canto a Sevilla for voice and orchestra by Joaquin Turina (43) to words of San Roman, is performed for the first time, in Teatro San Fernando, Seville.
4 May 1926 Artur Alberings replaces Karlis Ulmanis as Prime Minister of Latvia.
5 May 1926 New works by Americans are performed for the first time in a concert sponsored by the US ambassador Myron T. Herrick at the Salle des Concerts, Maison Gaveau, Paris: Two Pieces for violin and piano by Aaron Copland (25), the composer at the keyboard, Piano Sonata by Walter Piston (32) and the Sonata da chiesa for Eb clarinet, D trumpet, viola, horn, and trombone by Virgil Thomson (29).
6 May 1926 A concert of the music of Leos Janácek (71) in London at Wigmore Hall, with the composer in attendance, takes place during a country-wide general strike. There is no public transportation, no programs, and no reviews. Although the audience is less than full, their response is enthusiastic.
The Brazilian Chamber of Deputies moves into the new Palácio Tiradentes in Rio de Janeiro.
7 May 1926 Ralph Vaughan Williams’ (53) oratorio Sancta civitas for tenor, baritone, chorus, semi-chorus, distant chorus, and orchestra, to texts from the Bible, is performed for the first time, at the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford.
Les Malheurs d’Orphée, a chamber opera by Darius Milhaud (33) to words of Lunel, is performed for the first time, at the Théâtre de la Monnaie, Brussels.
8 May 1926 After ten days of music, meetings, and sightseeing, Leos Janácek (71) departs London for home.
Chansons madécasses for voice, flute, cello, and piano by Maurice Ravel (51) to words of de Forges is performed for the first time, privately in the American Embassy in Rome, Alfredo Casella (42) at the keyboard. See 13 June 1926.
9 May 1926 Americans Richard E. Byrd and Floyd Bennett become the first humans to fly over the North Pole. In a three engine Fokker monoplane, the Josephine Ford, they fly 2,486 km to and from King’s Bay Spitsbergen in 15 hours and 30 minutes.
French planes bomb Damascus a second time during the Syrian revolt.
Incidental music to Goethe’s play Der Triumph der Empfindsamkeit by Ernst Krenek (25) is performed for the first time, in the Kassel Staatstheater, conducted by the composer. See 28 November 1927.
10 May 1926 Stanislaw Vojciechowski becomes President of Poland. Wincenty Witos replaces Aleksander, Count Skrzynski as Prime Minister of Poland.
Arthur Honegger (34) marries Andrée “Vaura” Vaurabourg, a pianist. He already has a son by a previous liaison.
11 May 1926 Roald Amundsen, Umberto Nobile, Lincoln Ellsworth, and 13 others depart Spitsbergen on the airship Norge making for the North Pole.
12 May 1926 General Józef Pilsudski leads a coup d’etat in Warsaw supported by Socialists. Heavy fighting ensues with loyal troops. Because of a strike of railway workers, government troops can not be maneuvered.
A general strike in Britain ends after twelve days, although coal miners remain on strike. No movement has been gained from the Conservative government who withdrew subsidies.
Symphony no.1 by Dmitri Shostakovich (19) is performed for the first time, in the Philharmonic Bolshoy Hall, Leningrad. The work is a graduation piece from Leningrad Conservatory. This is also the first radio broadcast from this hall. The second movement is encored. Shostakovich will mark this anniversary for the rest of his life. See 6 May 1925 and 7 February 1926.
A Graduation Song for unison chorus and piano by John Ireland (46) to words of Drinkwater is performed for the first time, in Royal Albert Hall, London.
The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts upholds the convictions of Sacco and Vanzetti and denies all motions for a new trial.
13 May 1926 Yen Hui-ching (Yan Huiqing) replaces Hu Wei-te (Hu Weide) as President of China in the Canton administration.
The airship Norge arrives in Alaska, having flown over the North Pole.
15 May 1926 President Vojciechowski of Poland resigns. Józef Pilsudski names Kazimierz Bartel to replace Wincenty Witos as Prime Minister.
16 May 1926 Wilhelm Marx replaces Hans Luther as Chancellor of Germany.
Sonatine française for piano duet op.60/1, 4 by Charles Koechlin (58) are performed for the first time, in Salle Albert Ier, Paris.
17 May 1926 Kazimierz Bartel replaces Wincenty Witos as Prime Minister of Poland.
Sur une jeune fille op.31/3 and Sur une songe op.32/3, both songs for voice and piano by Albert Roussel (57) to words translated by de Lisle, are performed for the first time, in the Salle Erard, Paris. See 30 May 1927.
Two stage works by Erik Satie (†0) are performed for the first time, in a concert setting, in the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Paris on what would have been Satie’s 60th birthday: Genevieve de Brabant, possibly a shadow theatre play, to words of Latour, and Cinq grimaces pour Le songe d’une nuit d’été to words of Shakespeare adapted by Cocteau. See 13 April 1983.
The first two of the Huit mélodies sur des poèmes de ‘Shéhérazade’ de Tristan Klingsor op.84 for voice and piano by Charles Koechlin (58) are performed for the first time, in Salle Erard, Paris.
Three days of voting conclude in the Estonian general election. The Socialist Workers Party and the conservative Farmers Union do best.
19 May 1926 Having remained in his sister’s Warsaw home during the recent fighting, Karol Szymanowski (43) emerges for the first time in a week, to mail a postcard.
20 May 1926 Marcel Henri Jaspar replaces Prosper, Vicomte Poullet as Prime Minister of Belgium.
24 May 1926 Gustav Holst’s (51) choral ballet The Golden Goose op.45/1 to words of Joseph, is performed for the first time, in Hammersmith, the composer conducting.
25 May 1926 General Manuel Gomes da Costa announces in Braga his intention to march on Lisbon and seize power.
26 May 1926 Abd el-Krim, leader of the Moroccan rebels, the Riffians, who have fought a five-year, sometimes successful fight against both France and Spain, surrenders.
Symon Petlyura, the leader of Ukraine’s independence movement after the Great War and responsible for numerous pogroms, is killed in Paris by Shalom Schwarzbard, a Jewish student, in revenge for the deaths of his family and 50,000 other Jews killed under orders of Petlyura. Schwarzbard will be acquitted.
27 May 1926 Arnold Schoenberg (51) takes the oath as a Prussian official, teaching a master class in composition at the Prussian Academy of Arts.
28 May 1926 Constitutional government in Portugal is overthrown by a military coup led by General Manuel de Oliveira Gomes da Costa as he enters Lisbon. Prime Minister António Maria da Silva resigns.
30 May 1926 After two days of resistance, President Bernardino Machado Guimarães of Portugal resigns. José Mendes Cabaçadas Júnior replaces António Maria da Silva as Prime Minister.
1 June 1926 Ignacy Moscicki replaces Stanislaw Wojciechowski as President of Poland.
José Mendes Cabeçadas Júnior replaces Bernardino Luis Machado Guimarães as President of Portugal.
3 June 1926 General Gomes da Costa, leader of the military revolt, enters Lisbon in triumph and forms a junta. He will soon be deposed and exiled.
Erik Satie’s (†0) pantomime Jack-in-the-Box to a scenario by Balanchine, orchestrated by Darius Milhaud (33), is performed for the first time, in the Théâtre Sarah-Bernhardt, Paris, 27 years after it was composed.
Preface au Livre de Vie for two pianos, four soloists, and orchestra by Nicolas Obouhow (34) is performed for the first time, in Paris, the composer at one keyboard. It is the first part of his massive Le Livre de Vie, a work of about 2,000 pages.
4 June 1926 Six Studies in English Folksong for cello and piano by Ralph Vaughan Williams (53) is performed for the first time, at the Scala Theatre, London.
6 June 1926 Carl Gustaf Ekman replaces Rickard Johannes Sandler as Prime Minister of Sweden.
7 June 1926 Adli Yegen Pasha replaces Ahmad Ziwar Pasha as Prime Minister of Egypt.
Kazys Grinius replaces Aleksandras Stulginskis as President of Lithuania.
Lev Sergeyevich Termen (Leon Theremin) (29) defends his thesis at the Physico-Technical Institute in Leningrad. Before 200 students and faculty he demonstrates his “Mechanism of Electric Distance Vision.” (television)
9 June 1926 Afghanistan is created a kingdom with Amanullah Shah as king.
13 June 1926 Chansons madécasses for voice, flute, cello, and piano by Maurice Ravel (51) is performed publicly for the first time, in the Salle Erard, Paris. See 8 May 1926.
14 June 1926 Brazil withdraws from the League of Nations.
15 June 1926 Mykolas Slezevicius replaces Leonas Bistras as Prime Minister of Lithuania.
16 June 1926 Pour le Cantique de Salomon for reciter and chamber group by Arthur Honegger (34) is performed for the first time, in Salle Gaveau, Paris.
19 June 1926 With the support of most of the army, General Manuel de Oliveira Gomes da Costa replaces José Mendes Cabaçadas Júnior as acting President of Portugal.
Karol Szymanowski’s (43) opera King Roger, to words of Iwaszkiewicz and the composer, is performed for the first time, in the Grand Theatre, Warsaw.
Ballet méchanique by George Antheil (25) is performed for the first time, in Paris.
20 June 1926 Manuel de Oliveira Gomes da Costa replaces José Mendes Cabaçadas Júnior as Prime Minister of Portugal.
22 June 1926 Tu Hsi-kuei (Du Xigui) replaces Yen Hui-ching (Yan Huiqing) as President of China in the Canton administration.
William Walton’s (24) overture Portsmouth Point is performed for the first time, in the Zürich Tonhalle.
23 June 1926 Anton Webern's (42) Five Pieces for orchestra op.10 is performed for the first time, in the Zürich Tonhalle during the fourth ISCM festival. Aaron Copland (25) is in the audience. He writes, “The orchestral sonorities he manages to get are magical, nothing less.”
25 June 1926 Willem Keesom of the Netherlands solidifies one cubic centimeter of helium at the Kamerlingh Onnes low-temperature physics laboratories in Leiden.
26 June 1926 Sinfonietta for orchestra by Leos Janácek (71) is performed for the first time, in Smetana Hall, Prague.
28 June 1926 Väinö’s Song, a cantata for chorus and orchestra by Jean Sibelius (60) to words from the Kalevala, is performed for the first time, in Sortavala.
29 June 1926 Arthur Meighen replaces William Lyon Mackenzie King as Prime Minister of Canada.
1 July 1926 Hans Werner Henze is born in Gütersloh, the first of six children born to Franz Gebhart Henze, a schoolteacher, and Margarete Adele Geldmacher, daughter of a miner.
Great Britain and Portugal come to an agreement on the border between Angola and South West Africa.
2 July 1926 Five Phrases from The Song of Solomon for soprano and percussion by Virgil Thomson (29) is performed for the first time, at the home of Mrs. Christian Gross, in Paris. See 22 April 1928.
5 July 1926 On his first concert tour, Dmitri Shostakovich (19) witnesses a performance of his Symphony no.1 in Kharkov. The under-strength orchestra is not very good, the concert is outside, and as soon as the downbeat is given a nearby pack of dogs begin to howl at great volume and great length. He remarks that the experience is like watching ten thugs rape his girlfriend and being able to do nothing about it.
Kenneth Louis Gaburo is born in Somerville, New Jersey.
9 July 1926 Another military coup d’etat led by General Sinel de Cordes, replaces Manuel de Oliveira Gomes da Costa with António Oscar de Fragoso Carmona as acting President of Portugal.
11 July 1926 The National Revolutionary Army of the Kuomintang occupies Changsha.
With accompanying celebrations (despite some rain), a plaque is unveiled at the birthplace of Leos Janácek (72) in Hukvaldy, Czechoslovakia.
15 July 1926 Eight Preludes for piano op.2 by Dmitri Shostakovich (19) are performed for the first time, in Kharkov by the composer.
16 July 1926 The first underwater color photographs appear in National Geographic Magazine. They were taken by Dr. William Harding Longley of Goucher College and Charles Martin of the National Geographic Society near the Florida Keys.
19 July 1926 Edouard Herriot replaces Aristide Briand as Prime Minister of France.
Athanasios Eftaxias replaces Theodoros Michail Pangalos as Prime Minister of Greece.
23 July 1926 Raymond Nicolas Landry Poincaré replaces Edouard Herriot as Prime Minister of France.
24 July 1926 Konzertmusik op.41 for wind orchestra by Paul Hindemith (30) is performed for the first time, in Donaueschingen.
25 July 1926 Musik für mechansiche Instrumente op.40 by Paul Hindemith (30) is performed for the first time, in Donaueschingen along with the premiere of Rondo aus der Klaviermusik op.37 for mechanical piano.
26 July 1926 That Lost Barber Shop Chord, a song by George Gershwin (27) to words of Ira Gershwin, is performed for the first time, as part of the revue Americana in the Belmont Theatre, New York.
31 July 1926 In opposition to the anti-clerical stand of President Calles, Mexican priests refuse to say mass.
5 August 1926 Betsy Jolas is born in Paris, the first child of Eugène Jolas, poet and the founder of a literary magazine, and Maria Jolas, a translator.
The first broadcast licenses for television are issued by the Postmaster General of Britain to Television, Ltd. which is associated with John Logie Baird.
The first talking movie, Don Juan, starring John Barrymore, is shown in Warner Theatre, New York. The sound is produced by phonograph records.
9 August 1926 António Oscar Fragoso Carmona replaces Manuel de Oliveira Gomes da Costa as President of Portugal.
13 August 1926 1922. Suite for piano op.26 by Paul Hindemith (30) is performed for the first time.
14 August 1926 George Minot and William Murphy publish “Treatment of Pernicious Anemia by a Special Diet” in the Journal of the American Medical Association. They show that pernicious anemia is caused by a vitamin deficiency and can be controlled by eating significant amounts of liver.
22 August 1926 Pavlos Theodorou Koundouriotis replaces Theodoros Michail Pangalos as President of Greece.
23 August 1926 Georgios Kondilis replaces Athanasios Eftaxias as Prime Minister of Greece.
24 August 1926 Theodoros Pangalos is overthrown as dictator of Greece by military officers. Pavlos Theodorou Koundouriotis replaces him as President. Georgios Kondilis replaces Athanasios Eftaxias as Prime Minister.
30 August 1926 George Gershwin (27) autographs a copy of Rhapsody in Blue for WC Handy, writing “For Mr. Handy, whose early ‘blue’ songs are the forefathers of this work. With admiration and best wishes.”
1 September 1926 Incidental music to Klabund’s and Brown’s (after Grabbe) Hörspiel Herzog Theodor von Gothland by Kurt Weill (26) is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of Berlin Radio.
5 September 1926 The First National Congress of Music opens in the Palacio de Minería, Mexico City. It goes through 12 September.
8 September 1926 Germany enters the League of Nations.
11 September 1926 In protest to the admission of Germany into the League of Nations, Spain withdraws from the League.
13 September 1926 After being transported from the MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire, Amy Beach (59) enters Fenway Hospital in Boston and undergoes a hemorrhoidectomy. She will later remark that it was “the worst day of my life, too horrid to remember.”
14 September 1926 Less than a year after the last election, Canadians go to the polls to elect the 16th Parliament of Canada. The Liberal Party wins the largest share of seats but not a majority. They govern with the support of smaller parties.
15 September 1926 After he learns that Liberal rebels in Nicaragua are buying arms in the United States, President Calvin Coolidge imposes an embargo on all arms sales to that country.
21 September 1926 Gustav Holst’s choral ballet The Golden Goose op.45/1 to words of Joseph, is performed completely for the first time, in a BBC broadcast concert conducted by the composer on his 52nd birthday.
22 September 1926 Thomas Wolfe and James Joyce are on the same tour bus visiting the battlefield at Waterloo. They do not meet.
25 September 1926 William Lyon Mackenzie King replaces Arthur Meighen as Prime Minister of Canada.
30 September 1926 Amy Beach (59) is discharged from Fenway Hospital in Boston following a hemorrhoidectomy on 13 September.
1 October 1926 Ku Wei-chün (Gu Weijun) replaces Tu Hsi-kuei (Du Xigui) as President of China in the Canton administration.
Dmitri Shostakovich (20) is accepted into the postgraduate course in composition at Leningrad Conservatory.
2 October 1926 Józef Klemens Pilsudski replaces Kazimierz Bartel as Prime Minister of Poland.
5 October 1926 Gottfried Michael Koenig is born in Magdeburg.
9 October 1926 Marc Blitzstein (21) sails for France aboard the SS Mauretania for study with Nadia Boulanger (39).
10 October 1926 The National Revolutionary Army of the Kuomintang completes the capture of Wuhan from the warlord Wu Pei-fu (Wu Peifu).
12 October 1926 Antonín Svehla replaces Jan Cerny as Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia.
14 October 1926 Winnie-the-Pooh by AA Milne is published in London.
16 October 1926 Háry János op.15, a singspiel by Zoltán Kodály (43) to words of Paulini and Harsányi, is performed for the first time, at the Hungarian Royal Opera House in Budapest.
Our Flag for two sopranos and male chorus by Leos Janácek (72) to words of Prochazka is performed for the first time, in Prerov.
18 October 1926 Oh, Kay!, a musical comedy with a book by Bolton and Wodehouse, lyrics by Dietz and Ira Gershwin, and music by George Gershwin (28), is performed for the first time in Philadelphia. One of the new songs is Someone to Watch Over Me. See 8 November 1926.
19 October 1926 The semi-automatic rifle is patented by John C. Garand of Somerset, Maryland.
20 October 1926 Ignaz Seipel replaces Rudolf Ramek as Chancellor of Austria.
The Toccata for piano by Gustav Holst (52) is performed probably for the first time, over the airwaves of the BBC originating in Liverpool.
Entente cordiale, a postwar comedy by Ethel Smyth (68) to her own words, is performed professionally for the first time, in Theatre Royal, Bristol.
21 October 1926 A monument in honor of Jules Massenet (†14) is unveiled in the Jardin du Luxembourg, near Rue Guynemer, Paris.
Concerto for flute and orchestra by Carl Nielsen (61) is performed for the first time, in the Salle Gaveau, Paris. Short of time, the composer has created a provisional ending. Arthur Honegger (34) will tell the composer, “You formulated the aims for which we are all striving now, a generation before the rest of us.” See 25 January 1927.
22 October 1926 The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway is published in New York.
25 October 1926 Lev Davidovich Trotsky and Lev Borisovich Kamenyev are expelled from the Politburo of the CPSU.
28 October 1926 A provisional charter for the Juilliard School of Music is granted by the State of New York. It is a merger of the Juilliard Music Foundation and the Institute of Musical Art.
Symphony no.3 by Willem Pijper (32) is performed for the first time, in Amsterdam.
Lindaraja for piano-four hands by Claude Debussy (†8) is performed for the first time, in Paris.
29 October 1926 John Ireland (47) resigns his post as organist and choirmaster at St. Luke’s, Chelsea.
30 October 1926 The unfinished incidental music to Shakespeare’s play King Lear by Claude Debussy (†8) is performed for the first time, in the Théâtre-Mogador, Paris.
31 October 1926 The Sleep Music of the Dagna for piano and strings by Henry Cowell (29) is performed for the first time, in the Fairmont Hotel, San Francisco.
1 November 1926 Krämerspiegel, a pastiche for voice and piano by Richard Strauss (62) is performed for the first time, in Berlin.
2 November 1926 About 26 men led by Augusto Sandino attack the Nicaraguan government installation at Jarico, not far from San Albino. They are repulsed.
Voting takes place in the United States for members of Congress. The opposition Democratic Party makes modest gains in the House of Representatives while the Republican majority in the Senate is virtually unchanged.
4 November 1926 Stücke für Orchester by Ernst Krenek (26) are performed for the first time, in Winterthur.
5 November 1926 Concerto for harpsichord, flute, oboe, clarinet, violin, and cello by Manuel de Falla (49) is performed for the first time, in Palau de Música Catalana, Barcelona, the composer conducting. The critics find it a step back artistically for the composer.
The Skyscrapers Suite for orchestra by John Alden Carpenter (50), from the ballet of the same name, is performed for the first time, in Chicago. See 19 February 1926.
6 November 1926 In Prague for a performance of Wozzeck, Alban Berg (41) downs some alcohol and attempts to find the house of his ferne geliebte Hanna Fuchs-Robettin. He wanders through the city for hours, sometimes misdirected, and manages to reach it after midnight. He walks around the house but refrains from entering and makes it back to his hotel at 03:00. Berg calls it “a night of madness.”
7 November 1926 A general election in Greece ends in a hung Parliament.
8 November 1926 Oh, Kay!, a musical comedy with a book by Bolton and Wodehouse, lyrics by Dietz and Ira Gershwin, and music by George Gershwin (28), is performed for the first time in New York, at the Imperial Theatre. One of the new songs is Someone to Watch Over Me. It runs for 256 performances. One night during the rehearsals, Gershwin was so stressed he reached for a book to help him sleep. Instead, he became so interested in it, he continued reading until he finished the book, about 04:00. He immediately wrote a letter to its author, DuBose Heyward, proposing an opera on it. The book is named Porgy. See 18 October 1926.
9 November 1926 Cardillac op.39, an opera by Paul Hindemith (30) to words of Lion, after Hoffmann, is performed for the first time, at the Dresden Staatsoper. See 20 June 1952.
11 November 1926 The upper house of the Hungarian Parliament is reconstituted to ensure the rights of the landed aristocracy and capitalist elites.
14 November 1926 Before leaving Prague, Alban Berg (41) writes a letter to Herbert Fuchs-Robettin telling him that although he “reveres” Fuchs’ wife, he is not “capable of any action touching your honor and that of your house.” (Floros, 45)
The designated choice of the United States, Adolfo Díaz, replaces Emiliano Chamorro as President of Nicaragua.
The San Antonio Express (Texas) announces that Silvestre Revueltas (26), “violin virtuoso and conductor”, has been added to the faculty of the San Antonio College of Music.
15 November 1926 Washington Luis Pereira de Souza replaces Arturo da Silva Bernardes as President of Brazil.
The Italian government imposes a tax on all box-office receipts of opera, drama, and mime.
Meu país for chorus and orchestra by Heitor Villa-Lobos (39) to words of Zé Povo (pseud. of Villa-Lobos) is performed for the first time, in the Teatro Municipal, Rio de Janeiro. Also premiered is Villa-Lobos’ Choro no.10 for chorus and orchestra to words of da Paixão Cearense, the composer conducting.
With 5,800 km of telephone cables, 21 affiliates and four other stations, the National Broadcasting Company begins regular network broadcasts with a live variety show from the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York. Remotes also come from Chicago and Kansas City.
16 November 1926 Antoninius Wilhemus Adrianus (Ton) de Leeuw is born in Rotterdam.
Whistles and demonstrations break out at the third performance of Wozzeck in Prague, probably organized by conservative subscribers of the National Theatre.
18 November 1926 “An International Exhibition of Modern Art Assembled by the Société Anonyme” opens at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. It is the largest exhibition of modern art in the United States since the 1913 Armory Show. It includes the first showing of The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even by Marcel Duchamp.
20 November 1926 Non-fascist parties and unions are outlawed in Italy. The fascist government also introduces the death penalty.
Amy Beach (59) departs Boston for her second tour of Europe.
21 November 1926 Concerto for piano and orchestra no.1 by Bohuslav Martinu (35) is performed for the first time, in Prague.
22 November 1926 Trial begins in Washington of Edward L. Doheny of the Pan-American Petroleum and Transport Company, his son Edward L. Doheny, Jr., and former Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall, all charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States in the Teapot Dome scandal.
24 November 1926 Siesta for small orchestra by William Walton (24) is performed for the first time, in Aeolian Hall, London, the composer conducting.
27 November 1926 The Miraculous Mandarin op.19, a pantomime by Béla Bartók (45) to a scenario by Lengyel, is performed for the first time, in the Cologne Stadttheater. At the conclusion, the chorus of abuse from the audience is so great that the safety curtain is lowered. The press is savage.
Orpheus und Eurydike op.21, an opera by Ernst Krenek (26) to words of Kokoschka, is performed for the first time, in the Kassel Staatstheater.
28 November 1926 Mayor Konrad Adenauer of Cologne informs opera conductor Jenö Szenkár that The Miraculous Mandarin by Béla Bartók (45) must not be performed again in the city. It is far too scandalous. Szenkár considers resignation but the composer talks him out of it.
Darker America, a symphonic poem by William Grant Still (31), is performed for the first time, at an International Composers’ Guild concert in Aeolian Hall, New York. Also premiered is Pastorale and Rondino for two flutes, clarinet, trumpet, and piano by Colin McPhee (26).
29 November 1926 On the second anniversary of his death, the earthly remains of Giacomo Puccini are removed from the Toscanini family tomb in Milan and interred at the composer’s villa at Tore del Lago.
After disturbances rock the third Prague performance of Wozzeck by Alban Berg (41), city authorities ban further productions of the opera.
1 December 1926 Juan Bautista Sacasa returns to Nicaragua from exile and declares himself head of a provisional government at Puerto Cabezas, in opposition to the US backed President Adolfo Díaz. Mexico immediately extends recognition to Sacasa.
Poema autunnale for violin and orchestra by Ottorino Respighi (47) is performed for the first time, in Berlin.
2 December 1926 Piano Sonata no.1 by Dmitri Shostakovich (20) is performed for the first time, by the composer, in Leningrad Philharmonic Malyi Hall.
The first five of the Seven Part Songs op.44 for soprano, chorus, and strings by Gustav Holst (51) to words of Bridges are performed for the first time, in Liverpool.
Elegiac Poem for orchestra by Frederick S. Converse (55) is performed for the first time, in Cleveland.
Danish voters elect a new Folketing with only modest changes in the standing of the parties.
3 December 1926 Suite no.1 from Façade by William Walton (24) is performed for the first time, in the Lyceum, London the composer conducting.
4 December 1926 Alexandros Thrasivoulou Zaimis replaces Georgios Kondilis as Prime Minister of Greece.
The Bauhaus opens in Dessau, having been forced to leave Weimar.
Three Preludes and Two Novellettes for piano by George Gershwin (28) are performed for the first time, by the composer at the Hotel Roosevelt, New York.
5 December 1926 Claude Monet dies at Giverny at the age of 86.
Diptyque méditerranéen, for orchestra by Vincent d’Indy (75) is performed for the first time, in Paris.
6 December 1926 Pièce de circonstance op.90 for voice and piano by Darius Milhaud (34) is performed for the first time, in Paris.
7 December 1926 A United States patent is awarded to the Electrolux-Servel corporation for a commercial household refrigerator. It was invented by two Swedish engineering students, Carl G. Munters and Baltzar von Platen.
8 December 1926 Piano Sonata by Béla Bartók (45) is performed for the first time, in a broadcast originating in Budapest. Also premiered are nos. 1, 4 and 5 from Out of Doors and eight of the Nine Little Pieces.
Sonata in a minor for cello and piano by Ethel Smyth (68) is performed for the first time, in London, 39 years after it was composed.
9 December 1926 Le carnaval d’Aix for piano and orchestra by Darius Milhaud (34), based on themes from the ballet Salade, is performed for the first time, in New York, the composer at the keyboard. See 17 May 1924.
13 December 1926 Väinö Alfred Tanner replaces Kyösti Kallio as Prime Minister of Finland.
14 December 1926 Universal Edition, in the person of Emil Hertzka, agrees to pay Anton Webern (43) a regular monthly stipend, in order to give him enough security to compose.
Thomas Madsen-Mygdal replaces Thorvald August Marinus Stauning as Prime Minister of Denmark.
Lethe op.37 for baritone and orchestra by Hans Pfitzner (57) to words of Meyer is performed for the first time, in Munich.
Noches en los jardines de España, symphonic impressions for piano and orchestra by Manuel de Falla (50), is performed for the first time, in Teatro San Fernando, Seville. This is a revision of his 1916 suite of the same name.
17 December 1926 Margers Skujenieks replaces Artur Alberings as Prime Minister of Latvia.
Augustinas Voldemaras replaces Mykolas Slezevicius as Prime Minister of Lithuania.
John Ireland (47) marries his 17-year-old student, Dorothy Phillips at the Chelsea Registry Office. After a tempestuous marriage, they will divorce in March 1928.
Today begins two days of celebration honoring Manuel de Falla (50) in his natal city of Cádiz. He is named the city’s “favorite son.”
18 December 1926 Jonas Staugaitis replaces Kazys Grinius as acting President of Lithuania.
The Makropulos Affair, an opera by Leos Janácek (72) to his own words after Capek, is performed for the first time, at the National Theatre, Brno. It is a success.
In the face of a Liberal revolt against their Conservative client, the United States lifts the embargo against sending arms to Nicaragua.
19 December 1926 Aleksandras Stulginskis replaces Jonas Staugaitis as President of Lithuania, followed hours later by Antanas Smetona.
20 December 1926 The British Broadcasting Company receives incorporation with a royal charter. It will take effect on 1 January.
23 December 1926 United States Marines land at the Liberal strongholds of La Barra de Rio Grande and Puerto Cabezas. They seize weapons and tell the Liberal provisional government that they have 24 hours to withdraw.
25 December 1926 Emperor Yoshihito of Japan dies at Hayama, south of Tokyo, and is succeeded by his son Hirohito. The Emperor has been under the regency of his son from 25 November 1921 due to mental instability.
26 December 1926 Earle Appleton Brown is born in Lunenburg, Massachusetts.
Incidental music to Shakespeare’s play Macbeth by Granville Bantock (58) is performed for the first time, in London.
Tapiola, a symponic poem by Jean Sibelius (61), is performed for the first time, in the Mecca Temple, New York.
A masque with dancing, singing, and miming On Christmas Night, by Ralph Vaughan Williams (54), to words of Bolm and the composer, after Dickens, is performed for the first time, at the Eighth Street Theatre, Chicago.
29 December 1926 Rainer Maria Rilke dies in Montreux at the age of 51.
31 December 1926 Carl Nielsen’s (61) resignation as conductor of the Copenhagen Philharmonic Society becomes effective at midnight.
©2004-2011 Paul Scharfenberger
18 September 2011
Last Updated (Monday, 19 September 2011 08:43)