February 1, 1880:
Francesco Balilla Pratella is born in Lugo di Romagna, Kingdom of Italy.
September 13, 1905:
Lilia, an opera by Francesco Pratella (25) to his own words, is performed for the first time, in Lugo di Romagna.
December 4, 1909:
La sina d’Vergöun, an opera by Francesco Pratella (29) to his own words, is performed for the first time, in Bologna.
August 20, 1910:
Francesco Pratella (30) meets Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, the organizer of Futurism, at a concert including some of Pratella’s music at Imola. The two find common ground.
October 11, 1910:
Francesco Pratella (30) issues his Manifesto dei Musicisti Futuristi in Milan. He calls on young composers to leave conservatories and ignore critics and give up music for sale.
March 11, 1911:
Francesco Pratella (31) issues a Manifesto Tecnico della Musica Futurista in Milan. He calls for a new kind of music and a “futurist melody.”
July 18, 1912:
Francesco Pratella (32) publishes a new manifesto called Destruction of Quadrature in Milan. He opposes the dictatorship of binary meters and calls for a “new musical order of disorder.”
February 21, 1913:
Sinfonia de lla vita for orchestra by Francesco Pratella (33) is performed for the first time, at a Futurist gathering in the Teatro Costanzi in Rome. Before a largely invited audience, the performance goes well.
March 9, 1913:
Francesco Pratella (33) gives a second concert of his music in Teatro Costanzi, Rome. “The spectacle was opened by me with my Musica futurista per orchestra, which proceeded to the end amidst an infernal clamor, made up of whistles, applause, cries, acclamations, and invectives. The public seemed driven insane, and the frantic mass boiled and from time to time exploded in rage resembling a mass of burning lava during a volcanic eruption. Some threw upon the orchestra and also on me, the conductor, an uninterrupted shower of garbage, of fruit, of chestnut cakes; others shouted themselves hoarse crying every kind of thing; some protested not being able to hear; some became exalted, others infuriated, some laughed and enjoyed themselves, others quarreled and started rows, with frequent blows between friends and enemies.” (Payton, 33-35)
March 11, 1913:
Luigi Russolo (27) writes his The Art of Noises in the form of a letter to Francesco Pratella (33). He claims it came to him while witnessing Pratella’s recent futurist concert in Teatro Costanzi, Rome.
September 4, 1920:
L’Aviatore Dro, an opera by Francesco Pratella (50) to his own words, is performed for the first time, in Teatro Comunale Rossini, Lugo di Romagna.
May 21, 1923:
La ninna nanna della bambola, an children’s opera by Francesco Pratella (43) to his own words after de Nardis, is performed for the first time, in Milan.
May 17, 1955:
Francesco Balilla Pratella dies in Ravenna, Republic of Italy, aged 75 years, three months, and 16 days.