August 14, 1910:
Pierre Henri Marie Schaeffer is born in Nancy, Republic of France, the son of Henri Schaeffer, a violinist and Lucie Labriet, a singing teacher.
May 14, 1940:
World War II: After an attack begun 12 May, German forces destroy French defenders along the Meuse at Sedan, Dinant, Givet, Revin, and Monthermé. Thousands (military and civilian) flee in panic. By 15 May, French resistance along the Meuse will be completely smashed.
The French 13th Infantry Division, including signal Lieutenant Pierre Schaeffer (29) begins a retreat through the Somme.
Anthony Eden, British Secretary of State for War, makes a radio appeal to all men aged 17-65, “able to fire a rifle or shotgun” to enlist in a new force called Local Defense Volunteers.
The Luftwaffe annihilates the center of the city of Rotterdam. 814 civilians are killed. The home of Willem Pijper (45) is destroyed, along with most of his sketches and manuscripts. Pijper escapes with his life to Amersfoort, where he is given shelter by a former student, Louise Bolleman.
November 22, 1940:
Jeune France is founded by Pierre Schaeffer (30) and several others “to receive all artistic and cultural projects and to provide work for young, unemployed artists...”
February 15, 1941:
The Association Jeune France, led by Pierre Schaeffer (30), is told by the Vichy Secretary of Youth Affairs to organize pageants for a new holiday on 11 May celebrating Jeanne d'Arc.
May 11, 1941:
A pageant in celebration of the life of Jeanne d’Arc in ten tableaux by Pierre Schaeffer (30) and Pierre Barbier is performed simultaneously throughout Vichy France. The music is a collection of composers including Olivier Messiaen (32) and his Choeurs pour une Jeanne d’Arc for chorus. 35,000 people see it in Lyon, 25,000 in Marseille, and 20,000 in Toulouse.
January 1, 1943:
Studio d'Essai, led by Pierre Schaeffer (32), is inaugurated in Paris.
August 5, 1943:
Pierre Schaeffer (32) joins the Comité de Libération de la Radio in Paris. He will set up five transmitters in and around Paris.
August 18, 1944:
Pierre Schaeffer (34), under authority of the Resistance, goes to the Studio d’Essai in Paris to “take possession of the premises, personnel and means of the ex-Radiodiffusion nationale and the ex-Radio-Paris.”
August 21, 1944:
Pierre Schaeffer (34) begins broadcasting from the Studio d’Essai, Paris.
August 22, 1944:
World War II: Japan begins the conscription of women aged 12-40.
A US submarine sinks the Japanese passenger ship Tsushima Maru near the island of Akusekijima. It is carrying almost 1,500 civilians, mostly children, from Okinawa to Kagoshima. A total of 177 people survive.
Soviet troops take Jassy (Iasi), Romania.
Pierre Schaeffer (34) broadcasts the call to arms to the Resistance.
October 4, 1944:
Resigning after only a few weeks as director of Radio France, Pierre Schaeffer (34) becomes technical adviser to the Studio d’Essai.
April 21, 1948:
As part of ongoing experiments into recording of sound at Radiodiffusion Télevision Française, Pierre Schaeffer (37) discovers that by placing a volume control between the microphone and disc cutter, he is able to remove the attack from recorded bell tones.
May 15, 1948:
Pierre Schaeffer (37) writes, “This determination to compose with materials taken from an existing collection of experimental sounds, I name musique concrète to mark well the place in which we find ourselves, no longer dependent upon preconceived sound abstractions, but now using fragments of sound existing concretely and considered as sound objects defined and whole...”
October 5, 1948:
The first Concert de bruit of musique-concrète by Pierre Schaeffer (38) is broadcast over the airwaves of Paris Radio. The five works performed are Étude aux chemins de fer, Étude aux tourniquets, Étude violette, Étude noire and Étude pathétique. Reactions of listeners are mixed.
November 3, 1949:
Variations sur une flûte mexicaine for tape by Pierre Schaeffer (39) is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of Radio Paris IV.
March 16, 1950:
Bidule en ut for tape by Pierre Schaeffer (40) and Pierre Henry (22) is performed for the first time, in Amphithéâtre Richelieu at the Sorbonne.
March 18, 1950:
In the first public concert devoted to electronic music, in the École normale de musique, Paris, Symphonie pour un homme seul by Pierre Schaeffer (39) and Pierre Henry (22) is performed for the first time. It is the first major work of musique-concrète. In the audience are Irving Fine (35) and his wife.
April 29, 1951:
Diapason Concertino for tape by Pierre Schaeffer (40) is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of Radio France IV.
May 6, 1951:
L’oiseau RAI for tape by Pierre Schaeffer (40) is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of Radio Paris IV.
July 6, 1951:
Toute la lyre, a musique concrète opera by Pierre Schaeffer (40) and Pierre Henry (23), is performed for the first time, at Théâtre de l’Empire, Paris.
July 10, 1951:
Pierre Schaeffer (40) delivers his lecture "La musique concrète" at Darmstadt.
October 20, 1951:
On a train between Amboise and Paris, in the “fog of a headache”, Pierre Schaeffer (41) works out his ideas for Symphonie pour un homme seul.
May 23, 1952:
Masquerage, a film with music by Pierre Schaeffer (41), is shown for the first time, at Cannes.
June 14, 1952:
An English version of Kurt Weill’s (†2) Die Dreigroschenoper by Marc Blitzstein (47) is performed at the new Adolph Ullman Amphitheatre at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. Also on the program is Symphonie pour un homme seul by Pierre Schaeffer (41) and Pierre Henry (24), and Les Noces by Igor Stravinsky (69). See 10 March 1954.
March 27, 1953:
After a period working with Pierre Schaeffer (42) in Paris, Karlheinz Stockhausen arrives in Cologne where the new electronic music studio will open in May.
June 8, 1953:
The First International Decade of Experimental Music begins today at UNESCO in Paris. It is organized by the Groupe de Recherces de Musique Concrète de la Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française and its director Pierre Schaeffer (42) and will last until 18 June.
September 23, 1954:
Through the intercession of Olivier Messiaen (45), Iannis Xenakis (32) meets Pierre Schaeffer (44) in Paris.
January 18, 1956:
The French government creates Société de Radio-diffusion de la France d’Outre-Mer (Soraform) to improve radio in French colonies. Its first Chairman in Pierre Schaeffer (45).
September 30, 1957:
Pierre Schaeffer (47) is removed as Chairman of Soraform, in spite of the fact that it has done what it was set up to do, improve radio in the French colonies. The staff strikes for his reinstatement but the government refuses.
October 5, 1958:
On the tenth anniversary of his first Concert de bruit, Pierre Schaeffer’s (48) Étude aux allures and Étude aux sons animés for tape are performed for the first time, at the Brussels International Exposition. Also premiered is Diamorphoses for two-track tape by Iannis Xenakis (36).
July 30, 1959:
Étude aux objets for tape by Pierre Schaeffer (48) is performed for the first time, in the Salle Gaveau, Paris.
October 31, 1962:
Pierre Schaeffer (52) marries his second wife, Jacqueline de Lisle.
December 15, 1962:
Bohor for four-track tape by Iannis Xenakis (40) is performed for the first time, in Paris. Although the work is dedicated to Pierre Schaeffer (52), this will cause a break between the two.
January 20, 1969:
Pianist Aleksey Lubimov performs an avant-garde program at the House of Composers in Moscow. He presents works by Morton Feldman (43), Pierre Schaeffer (58), Terry Riley (33), Estonian Kuldar Sink, and Swiss composer Pierre Mariétan. As an encore he plays 4’33” by John Cage (56). It is seen as opposition to official Soviet orthodoxy and causes a scandal.
December 17, 1976:
Le trièdre fertile for tape by Pierre Schaeffer (66) is performed for the first time, in Salle de l’Ancien Conservatoire, Paris.
December 11, 1979:
Bilude for piano and tape by Pierre Schaeffer (69) is performed for the first time, at Musée Guimet, Paris.
August 19, 1995:
Pierre Henri Marie Schaeffer dies of Alzheimer's Disease at his home in Les Milles, near Aix-en-Provence, Republic of France, aged 85 years and five days. His mortal remains will be laid to rest in the Cimitière de Delincourt.