Witold Lutoslawski : Dance Preludes
for clarinet and piano
M :
Witold Lutoslawski : Concerto
for orchestra
M :
Milton Byron Babbitt : String Quartets
No.1 and No.2
M :
William Turner Walton : Opera, Troilus and Cressida
M :
Joaquín Rodrigo : Fantasía para un gentilhombre
('Fantasia for a Gentleman'), for guitar and orchestra
M :
Joaquín Rodrigo : Concierto serenata
for harp and orchestra
M :
Aaron Copland : Opera, The Tender Land
M :
Leonard Bernstein : Film music, On the Waterfront
M :
Benjamin Britten : Opera, The Turn of the Screw
PH :
Soviet Union grants sovereignty to East Germany
PH :
Dien Bien Phu, French military outpost in Vietnam, falls to Vietminh army
DL :
U.S. Supreme Court (in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka) unanimously bans racial segregation in public schools GO !
PH :
Eisenhower launches world atomic pool without Soviet Union
PH :
Eight-nation Southeast Asia defence treaty (SEATO) signed at Manila GO !
DL :
Dr. Jonas Salk starts inoculating children against polio
PH :
Algerian War of Independence against France begins
M :
Charles Ives dies 19 May
VA :
Henri Matisse dies
1955
DL :
Disneyland opens
PH :
Warsaw Pact signed
DL :
McDonald's corporation founded
LT :
Walter de la Mare: A Beginning, and Other Stories
LT :
Robert Graves: The Greek Myths
M :
Olivier Messiaen : Oiseaux exotiques
for piano, wind and percussion
M :
William Turner Walton : Film Score, Richard III
PH :
Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Nepal, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Sri Lanka admitted to the United Nations
PH :
Nikolai A. Bulganin becomes Soviet premier, replacing Malenkov
PH :
Churchill resigns; Anthony Eden succeeds him
PH :
West Germany becomes a sovereign state
PH :
Western European Union (WEU) comes into being
PH :
Argentina ousts Perón
DL :
Rosa Parks refuses to sit at the back of the bus :
Martin Luther King, Jr., leads black boycott of Montgomery, Ala., bus system (1 Dec.); desegregated service begins 21 Dec. 1956
LT :
Wallace Stevens dies 2 August
M :
Arthur Honegger dies 27 November
1956
PH :
Grace Kelly marries Prince Rainier III of Monaco
PH :
Workers' uprising against Communist rule in Poznan, Poland, is crushed in June; rebellion inspires Hungarian students to stage a protest against Communism in Budapest in Oct. Hungarian rebellion forces Soviet troops to withdraw from Budapest in Oct.
DL :
T.V. remote control invented
LT :
Richard Wilbur: Things of This World
M :
Karlheinz Stockhausen : Gesang der Junglinge
(electronic work)
M :
Karlheinz Stockhausen : Zeitmasse
M :
John Cage : Music for Piano
(nos 1-84)
M :
Edgard Varèse : Good Friday Procession in Verges
M :
Elliott Cook Carter :
Variations for Orchestra
M :
Ernst Toch : Third Symphony
M :
William Turner Walton : Cello Concerto
M :
Francis Poulenc : Flute Sonata
M :
Francis Poulenc : Opera, Dialogues des carmélites
M :
Leonard Bernstein : Opera, Candide
PH :
Japan, Morocco, Sudan, and Tunisia admitted to the United Nations
PH :
Egypt takes control of Suez Canal in July, Israel launches attack on Egypt's Sinai
peninsula and drives toward Suez Canal in Oct., British and French invade Port Said
on the Suez Canal on 5 Nov., Cease-fire forced by U.S. pressure stops British, French, and Israeli advance 6 Nov.
PH :
Imre Nagy announces Hungary's withdrawal from Warsaw Pact; Soviet troops enter and reclaim Budapest in Nov.
PH :
Morocco gains independence
LT :
Walter de la Mare dies 22 June
1957
PH :
European Economic Community established
ST :
Soviet satellite Sputnik launches "Space Age"
LT :
Theodore Roethke: The Exorcism
LT :
Howard Nemerov: Homecoming Game
M :
Karlheinz Stockhausen : Gruppen
M :
Pierre Boulez : Sonata
No.3
M :
Harrison Birtwistle : Refrains and Choruses
for wind quintet
M :
Paul Hindemith : Opera, Die Harmonie der Welt
M :
Ernst Bacon : Elegy
M :
Ernst Bacon :
Great River Symphony
M :
Ernst Bacon : Concerto Grosso
M :
Milton Byron Babbitt : All Set
for jazz ensemble
M :
William Turner Walton : Partita
for orchestra
M :
Dmitry Shostakovich : Piano Concerto
No.2
M :
Dmitry Shostakovich : Symphony
No.11, 'The Year 1905'
M :
Samuel Barber : Opera, Vanessa
M :
Leonard Bernstein : Musical, West Side Story
M :
Benjamin Britten : Opera, Noye's Fludde
M :
Igor Stravinsky : Ballet, Agon
M :
Stephen Sondheim : Lyrics, West Side Story
PH :
Eisenhower Doctrine calls for aid to Mideast countries which resist armed aggression from Communist-controlled nations
DL :
Little Rock, Arkansas, school integration crisis
PH :
Ghana and Malaysia admitted to the United Nations
M :
Jean Sibelius dies 20 September
1958
ST :
NASA founded
VA :
Frank Cadogan Cowper dies
LT :
Theodore Roethke: Words for the Wind
LT :
Archibald MacLeish: J.B.
LT :
T S Eliot: The Elder Statesman
LT :
ee cummings: 95 Poems
M :
John Cage : Aria
for solo voice
M :
Pierre Boulez : Figure-Double-Prisme
M :
Edgard Varèse : Poème électronique
M :
Olivier Messiaen : Catalogue d'oiseaux
for piano
M :
Witold Lutoslawski : Funeral Music
for strings
PH :
Egypt and Syria merge into United Arab Republic
PH :
Khrushchev becomes premier of Soviet Union as Bulganin resigns
PH :
Eisenhower orders U.S. Marines into Lebanon at request of President Chamoun, who fears overthrow
PH :
New French constitution adopted 28 Sept., de Gaulle elected president of 5th Republic
PH :
Guinea admitted to the United Nations
M :
Ralph Vaughan Williams dies 26 August
1959
PH :
Cuban President Batista resigns and flees — Castro becomes dictator of Cuba
LT :
The Sound of Music opens on Broadway
M :
Karlheinz Stockhausen : Zyklys
M :
Karlheinz Stockhausen : Refrain
M :
John Cage : Fontana Mix
M :
Harrison Birtwistle : Monody for Corpus Christi
for soprano, flute, horn and violin
M :
Virgil Garnett Thomson : Song cycle, Mostly About Love
M :
Henryk Mikolaj Górecki : Symphony
No.1
M :
Dmitry Shostakovich : Cello Concerto
No.1
M :
Francis Poulenc : Gloria
for soprano, choir, and orchestra
M :
Carl Orff : Opera, Oedipus der Tyrann
M :
Aaron Copland : Ballet, Dance Panels
M :
Stephen Sondheim : Lyrics, Gypsy
PH :
Alaska and Hawaii become states
ST :
Leakeys discover hominid fossils
ST :
St. Lawrence Seaway opens, allowing ocean ships to reach Midwest
John Cage : Theater Piece :, from guidelines 8 performers create their own actions and sounds
M :
John Cage : Cartridge Music
M :
Harrison Birtwistle : Precis
a piano solo
M :
Harrison Birtwistle : Three Sonatas
for Nine Instruments
M :
Lukas Foss : Time Cycle
M :
Virgil Garnett Thomson : Missa pro defunctis
M :
Henryk Mikolaj Górecki : Scontri
('Collisions'), for orchestra
M :
William Turner Walton : Symphony
No.2
M :
Dmitry Shostakovich : String Quartet
No.8
M :
Carl Orff : Christmas play, Ludus de Nato Infante Mirificus
M :
Benjamin Britten : Opera, A Midsummer Night's Dream
PH :
American U-2 spy plane, piloted by Francis Gary Powers, shot down over Russia ; Khrushchev kills Paris summit conference as a result
PH :
Communist China and Soviet Union split in conflict over Communist ideology
PH :
Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria, Madagascar, and Zaire (Belgian Congo) gain independence
PH :
Cuba begins confiscation of $770 million of U.S. property
PH :
Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Cyprus, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Madagascar, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia and Togo admitted to the United Nations
1961
PH :
Berlin Wall built
ST :
Soviets launch first man in space
LT :
Richard Wilbur: Advice to a Prophet and Other Poems
LT :
Theodore Roethke: I Am! Says the Lamb
M :
Pierre Boulez : Structures for 2 pianos
Book II
M :
Harrison Birtwistle : The World Discovered
M :
Elliott Cook Carter : Double Concerto
for Harpsichord and Piano with 2 Chamber Orchestra
M :
Witold Lutoslawski : Venetian Games
for chamber orchestra
M :
Milton Byron Babbitt : Composition
for synthesizer
M :
Milton Byron Babbitt : Vision and Prayer
M :
Darius Milhaud : Symphony
No.12, 'Rurale'
M :
Zoltán Kodály : Symphony
in C-Major
M :
Benjamin Britten : War Requiem
PH :
Robert Frost recites The Gift Outright at John F. Kennedy's inauguration as president of U.S.
PH :
U.S. breaks diplomatic relations with Cuba 3 Jan.; Cuba invaded at Bay of Pigs by an estimated 1,200 anti-Castro exiles aided by U.S.; invasion crushed 17 April
PH :
Mauritania, Mongolia, Sierra Leone and United Republic of Tanzania admitted to the United Nations
1962
VA :
Marc Chagall : Dance
VA :
Andy Warhol exhibits his Campbell's Soup Can
PH :
Cuban Missile Crisis
LT :
Robert Frost: In the Clearing
LT :
ee cummings: Adventures in Value
M :
John Cage : 4'33" No.2 or 0'0" :
solo to be performed in any way by anyone
M :
Pierre Boulez : Pli selon pli
(includes soprano)
M :
Harrison Birtwistle : Entr'acts
for flute, viola and harp
M :
Paul Hindemith : Organ Concerto
M :
Henryk Mikolaj Górecki : Genesis I, Elementi
('The Elements') for string trio
M :
Henryk Mikolaj Górecki : Genesis II, Canti strumentali
('Instrumental Songs') for orchestra
M :
Dmitry Shostakovich : Symphony
No.13, 'Babi-Yar'
M :
Francis Poulenc : Clarinet Sonata
M :
Francis Poulenc : Oboe Sonata
M :
Samuel Barber : Piano Concerto
M :
Aaron Copland : Connotations
for orchestra
M :
Stephen Sondheim : Music and Lyrics, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
PH :
France agrees to Algeria's independence
PH :
Burundi, Jamaica, Western Samoa, Uganda, and Trinidad and Tobago become independent
RP :
Pope John XXIII opens Second Vatican Council — Council holds four sessions, finally closing 8 Dec., 1965
ST :
Rachel Carson's Silent Spring
ST :
Lt. Col. John H. Glenn, Jr., is first American to orbit Earth—three times in 4 hr 55 min
PH :
Algeria, Burundi, Jamaica, Rwanda, Trinidad and Tobago and Uganda admitted to the United Nations
LT :
ee cummings dies 3 September
1963
LT :
Theodore Roethke: Party at the Zoo and Sequence, Sometimes Metaphysical published (posth.)
M :
Harrison Birtwistle : Music for Sleep
(a child-performed lullabye)
M :
Harrison Birtwistle : Narration: a description of the passing of the year"
for acapella chorus
M :
Harrison Birtwistle : Chorales
for Orchestra
M :
Paul Hindemith : Mass
M :
Lukas Foss : Echoi
M :
Olivier Messiaen : Couleurs de la cité céleste
M :
Witold Lutoslawski : Three Poems of Henri Michaux
M :
Milton Byron Babbitt : Philomel
M :
Leonard Bernstein : Symphony
No.3, 'Kaddish'
M :
Benjamin Britten :
Cello Symphony
ST :
Artificial heart implanted in human for first time; patient lives for four days
RP :
Pope John XXIII dies; succeeded by Cardinal Montini, who becomes Paul VI
PH :
U.K.'s Profumo scandal
PH :
Civil rights rally held by 200,000 blacks and whites in Washington, D.C.; Martin Luther King delivers "I have a dream" speech
PH :
Washington-to-Moscow "hot line" communications link opens, designed to reduce risk of accidental war
PH :
President Kennedy shot and killed by sniper in Dallas, Tex. Lyndon B. Johnson becomes president same day
PH :
Kenya achieves independence
PH :
Kenya and Kuwait admitted to the United Nations
LT :
Robert Frost dies 29 January
M :
Francis Poulenc dies 30 January
LT :
Theodore Roethke dies 1 August
VA :
Georges Braque dies
M :
Paul Hindemith dies 28 December
1964
PH :
Civil Rights Act passes in U.S.
LT :
Theodore Roethke: The Far Field published (posth.)
LT :
Howard Nemerov: The Next Room of the Dream
LT :
Robert Graves: The Hebrew Myths
M :
Karlheinz Stockhausen : Mixtur
(electronic work)
M :
Karlheinz Stockhausen : Momente
M :
Harrison Birtwistle : Ring a Dumb Carillon
for soprano,clarinet and percussion
M :
Harrison Birtwistle : Entr'acts and Sappho Fragments
for soprano,flute,oboe,violin,viola,harp and percussion
M :
Harrison Birtwistle : Three Movements
for Fanfares, for chamber orchestra
M :
Virgil Garnett Thomson : Feast of Love
M :
Olivier Messiaen : Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum
for wind and percussion
M :
Milton Byron Babbitt : Ensemble
for synthesizer
M :
Benjamin Britten : Church Parable, Curlew River
M :
Stephen Sondheim : Music and Lyrics, Anyone Can Whistle
DL :
The Beatles appear on The Ed Sullivan Show
PH :
Congress approves Gulf of Tonkin resolution
DL :
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and more than 2,600 other blacks arrested in Selma, Ala., during three-day demonstrations against voter-registration rules
PH :
Malawi, Malta and Zambia admitted to the United Nations
M :
Sir George Dyson dies 28 September
M :
Ernst Toch dies 1 October
1965
PH :
U.S. sends troops to Vietnam
LT :
Theodore Roethke: On the Poet and His Craft published (posth.)
Steve Reich : Pendulum Music
for 3 or more microphones, amplifiers, loudspeakers, and performers
M :
Pierre Boulez : e. e. cummings is der Dichter
M :
Pierre Boulez : Domaines
M :
Pierre Boulez : Livre pour cordes
M :
Milton Byron Babbitt : Relata II
for orchestra
M :
Harrison Birtwistle : Down by the Greenwood Side
PH :
Martin Luther King, Jr., civil rights leader, is slain in Memphis
PH :
Czechoslovakia is invaded by Russians and Warsaw Pact forces to crush liberal regime
PH :
Equatorial Guinea, Mauritius and Swaziland admitted to the United Nations
VA :
Marcel Duchamp dies
1969
ST :
ARPANET, the precursor of the Internet, created
PH :
Yasser Arafat becomes leader of the PLO
LT :
Richard Wilbur: Walking to Sleep: New Poems and Translations
M :
Karlheinz Stockhausen : Hymnen
(includes tape)
M :
Karlheinz Stockhausen : Fresco
M :
John Cage : HPSCHD
(with Lejaren Hiller)
M :
Olivier Messiaen : Meditations sur le mystere de la Sainte Trinité
M :
Olivier Messiaen : La transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jesus Christ
M :
Elliott Cook Carter : Concerto, for Orchestra
M :
Henryk Mikolaj Górecki : Muzyka staropolska
('Old Polish Music'), for brass and strings
M :
William Turner Walton : Film Score, Battle of Britain
M :
Dmitry Shostakovich : Symphony
No.14
M :
Joaquín Rodrigo : Concierto madrigal
for two guitars and orchestra
PH :
Richard M. Nixon is inaugurated 37th president of the U.S.
ST :
Apollo 11 astronauts—Neil A. Armstrong, Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., and Michael Collins—take man's first walk on moon
DL :
Woodstock Festival
M :
Frank Loesser dies 28 June
1970
PH :
Rhodesia severs last tie with British crown and declares itself a racially segregated republic
PH :
Biafra surrenders after 32-month fight for independence from Nigeria
M :
Karlheinz Stockhausen : Mantra
(electronic work)
M :
Pierre Boulez : Éclats/Multiples
an extension of Éclats
M :
Harrison Birtwistle : Signals
M :
Witold Lutoslawski : Concerto
for cello
M :
Milton Byron Babbitt : String Quartet
No.3
M :
Milton Byron Babbitt : Phonemena
M :
Stephen Sondheim : Music and Lyrics, Company
PH :
Senate repeals Gulf of Tonkin resolution
PH :
U.S. troops invade Cambodia
PH :
Fiji admitted to the United Nations
1971
M :
Karlheinz Stockhausen : Trans
M :
Pierre Boulez : ....explosante-fixe
M :
Dmitry Shostakovich : Symphony
No.15
M :
Leonard Bernstein : Mass
for singers, players and dancers
M :
Stephen Sondheim : Music and Lyrics, Follies
PH :
UN seats Communist China and expels Nationalist China
PH :
Twenty-sixth Amendment to U.S. Constitution lowers voting age to 18
PH :
Bahrain, Bhutan, Oman, Qatar and United Arab Emirates admitted to the United Nations
M :
Igor Stravinsky dies 6 April
1972
LT :
Theodore Roethke: Straw for the Fire, From the Notebooks of Theodore Roethke published (posth.)
LT :
Howard Nemerov: Reflections on Poetry and Poetics
M :
Karlheinz Stockhausen : Ylem
(electronic work)
M :
Steve Reich :
Clapping Music, for 2 musicians clapping
M :
Harrison Birtwistle : The Triumph of Time
M :
Henryk Mikolaj Górecki : Symphony
No.2, 'Copernican'
PH :
President Nixon makes unprecedented eight-day visit to Communist China and meets with Mao Zedong
PH :
Britain takes over direct rule of Northern Ireland in bid for peace
PH :
Start of the Watergate scandal
PH :
Eleven Israeli athletes at Olympic Games in Munich are killed after eight members of
an Arab terrorist group invade Olympic Village; five guerrillas and one policeman are also killed
PH :
"Christmas bombing" of North Vietnam
VA :
Frank E. Schoonover dies
LT :
Marianne Moore dies 5 February
VA :
Maurits Cornelis Escher dies
1973
M :
Steve Reich :
Music for Mallet Instruments, Voices and Organ
M :
Benjamin Britten : Opera, Death in Venice
M :
Stephen Sondheim : Music and Lyrics, A Little Night Music
M :
Harrison Birtwistle : The Mask of Orpheus
PH :
Great Britain, Ireland, and Denmark enter European Economic Community
DL :
Supreme Court rules on Roe v. Wade
PH :
Vietnam War ends with signing of peace pacts
PH :
Greek military junta abolishes monarchy and proclaims republic
PH :
U.S. bombing of Cambodia ends, marking official halt to 12 years of combat activity in Southeast Asia
PH :
Chile's Marxist president, Salvadore Allende, is overthrown
PH :
Fourth and biggest Arab-Israeli conflict begins as Egyptian and Syrian forces attack Israel as Jews mark Yom Kippur, holiest day in their calendar
PH :
Bahamas, Federal Republic of Germany and German Democratic Republic admitted to the United Nations
VA :
Pablo Ruiz y Picasso dies
LT :
Wystan Hugh Auden dies 28 September
1974
M :
Karlheinz Stockhausen : Inori
M :
Olivier Messiaen : Des canyons aux étoiles
PH :
House Judiciary Committee adopts three articles of impeachment charging
President Nixon with obstruction of justice, failure to uphold laws, and
refusal to produce material subpoenaed by the committee; Richard M. Nixon announces he
will resign the next day, the first president to do so - Vice President Gerald R. Ford
of Michigan is sworn in as 38th president of the U.S. on 9 August
PH :
Bangladesh, Grenada and Guinea-Bissau admitted to the United Nations
VA :
David Alfaro Siqueiros dies
M :
Darius Milhaud dies 22 June
1975
VA :
Marc Chagall : Rest
M :
Pierre Boulez : Rituel in memoriam Maderna
M :
Elliott Cook Carter : A Mirror on Which to Dwell
for Soprano and 9 players
M :
Witold Lutoslawski : Les espaces du sommeil
M :
Milton Byron Babbitt : Reflections
for piano and synthesized tape
PH :
Pol Pot and Khmer Rouge take over Cambodia
ST :
Apollo and Soyuz spacecraft take off for U.S.-Soviet link-up in space
PH :
Cape Verde, Comoros, Mozambique, Papua New Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe, Suriname and admitted to the United Nations
M :
Dmitry Shostakovich dies 9 August
1976
LT :
Richard Wilbur: The Mind-Reader: New Poems
LT :
Richard Wilbur: The Mind-Reader: New Poems
M :
Karlheinz Stockhausen : Amour
M :
Steve Reich :
Music for Eighteen Musicians
M :
Elliott Cook Carter : A Symphony of Three Orchestras
M :
Milton Byron Babbitt : Concerti
for Violin, Small Orchestra, and Tape
M :
Henryk Mikolaj Górecki : Symphony
No.3 'Symphony of Sorrowful Songs'
M :
Leonard Bernstein : Songfest
M :
Stephen Sondheim : Music and Lyrics, Pacific Overtures
DL :
U.S. celebrates bicentennial
ST :
Mysterious disease that eventually claims 29 lives strikes American Legion convention in Philadelphia "Legionnaire's Disease"
PH :
Jimmy Carter elected U.S. president
PH :
Angola, Samoa and Seychelles admitted to the United Nations
M :
Benjamin Britten dies 4 December
1977
LT :
Howard Nemerov: Collected Poems
M :
Karlheinz Stockhausen : Opera, Sirius
M :
Karlheinz Stockhausen : Opera, Samstag aus Licht
M :
Karlheinz Stockhausen : Opera, Donnerstag aus Licht
M :
John Cage : Telephones and Birds
(3 performers, telephone announcements and recordings)
M :
Pierre Boulez : Messagesquisse
ST :
Scientists report using bacteria in lab to make insulin
PH :
Deng Xiaoping, purged Chinese leader, restored to power as "Gang of Four" is expelled from Communist Party
PH :
Nuclear-proliferation pact, curbing spread of nuclear weapons, signed by 15 countries, including U.S. and U.S.S.R
PH :
Djibouti and Viet Nam admitted to the United Nations
1978
LT :
Howard Nemerov: Figures of Thought
M :
John Cage : Variations
VIII, for no music or recordings
M :
John Cage : Pools,
for conch shells and tape
M :
John Cage : l treno,
3 happenings for prepared trains
M :
Elliott Cook Carter : Syringa
a Cantata for Soprano and Small Ensemble
M :
Joaquín Rodrigo : Concierto pastoral
for flute and orchestra
PH :
Rhodesia's prime minister Ian D. Smith and three black leaders agree on transfer to black majority rule
PH :
U.S. Senate approves Panama Canal neutrality treaty; votes treaty to turn canal over to Panama by year 2000
DL :
Supreme Court, in Bakke case, bars quota systems in college admissions but affirms constitutionality of programs giving advantage to minorities
RP :
Pope Paul VI, dies; new Pope, John Paul I, dies after only 34 days in office; succeeded by Karol Cardinal Wojtyla of Poland as John Paul II
PH :
"Framework for Peace" in Middle East signed by Egypt's president Anwar Sadat and Israeli premier Menachem Begin after 13-day conference at Camp David led by President Carter
RP :
Jim Jones's followers commit mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana
PH :
Dominica and Solomon Islands admitted to the United Nations
VA :
Norman Rockwell dies
1979
LT :
Howard Nemerov: By Al Lebowitz's Pool
M :
Milton Byron Babbitt : A Solo Requiem
for soprano and 2 pianos
M :
Stephen Sondheim : Music and Lyrics, Sweeny Todd
ST :
Oil spills pollute ocean waters in Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico
PH :
Vietnam and Vietnam-backed Cambodian insurgents announce fall of Phnom Penh, Cambodian capital, and collapse of Pol Pot regime
PH :
Shah leaves Iran after year of turmoil; revolutionary forces under Muslim leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, take over
ST :
Nuclear power plant accident at Three Mile Island, Pa., releases radiation
PH :
Carter and Brezhnev sign SALT II agreement
PH :
Nicaraguan president Gen. Anastasio Somoza Debayle resigns and flees to Miami; Sandinistas form government
PH :
Iranian militants seize U.S. embassy in Teheran and hold hostages
PH :
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan stirs world protests
PH :
Saint Lucia admitted to the United Nations
1980
LT :
Howard Nemerov: Sentences
M :
Pierre Boulez : Notations I-IV
based on the earlier Douze Notations
M :
Witold Lutoslawski : Concerto
for oboe and harp
DL :
Smallpox eradicated
PH :
8-year Iran-Iraq war begins
PH :
Ronald Reagan elected president in Republican sweep
DL :
Mount St. Helens Erupts
DL :
Ted Turner Establishes CNN
PH :
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines as well as Zimbabwe admitted to the United Nations
1981
M :
Steve Reich : Tehillim :
Psalms for 4 sopranos, percussion, woodwinds, electric organ and string quartet
M :
John Cage :
Thirty Pieces for Five Orchestras
M :
Milton Byron Babbitt : The Head of the Bed
for voice and chamber ensemble
M :
Joaquín Rodrigo : Concierto como un divertimento
('Concerto like a Divertimento'), for cello and orchestra
M :
Stephen Sondheim : Music and Lyrics, Merrily We Roll Along
ST :
New Plague Identified as AIDS
DL :
Personal Computers (PC) Introduced by IBM
PH :
Antigua and Barbuda, Belize and Vanuatu admitted to the United Nations
PH :
Antigua and Barbuda, Belize and Vanuatu admitted to the United Nations
M :
Samuel Barber dies 23 January
1982
M :
Henryk Mikolaj Górecki : Lullabies and Dances
for violin and piano
PH :
Falkland Islands Invaded by Argentina
M :
Carl Orff dies 29 March
LT :
Archibald MacLeish dies 20 April
1983
M :
Steve Reich :
Music for Mallet Instruments, Voices, and Organ
M :
Olivier Messiaen : Opera, Saint François d'Assise
M :
Witold Lutoslawski : Third Symphony
M :
Milton Byron Babbitt : Morephonemena
for 12 unaccompanied voices
PH :
Reagan announces defence plan called Star Wars
PH :
Saint Kitts and Nevis admitted to the United Nations
M :
William Turner Walton dies 8 May
1984
LT :
Howard Nemerov: Inside the Onion
M :
Steve Reich : Desert Music
for orchestra
M :
Harrison Birtwistle : Opera, The Mask of Orpheus
M :
Olivier Messiaen : Livre du saint sacrement
M :
Stephen Sondheim : Music and Lyrics, Sunday in the Park with George
PH :
Indira Gandhi, India's Prime Minister, Killed by Two Bodyguards
PH :
Brunei Darussalam admitted to the United Nations
1985
M :
Steve Reich : New York Counterpoint
for clarinet and tape
M :
Elliott Cook Carter : Penthode
M :
Milton Byron Babbitt : Concerto
for Piano and Orchestra
DL :
Famine in Ethiopia
ST :
Hole in the Ozone Layer Discovered
PH :
Mikhail Gorbachev Calls for Glasnost and Perestroika
VA :
Marc Chagall dies 28 March
LT :
Robert Graves dies 7 December
1986
M :
Pierre Boulez : Dérives I
M :
Harrison Birtwistle : Earth Dances
M :
Elliott Cook Carter : String Quartet
No. 4
ST :
Chernobyl Nuclear Accident
PH :
Iran-Contra Scandal Unfolds
ST :
U.S.S.R. Launches Mir Space Station
PH :
U.S. Bombs Libya
VA :
Georgia O'Keeffe dies
1987
LT :
Howard Nemerov: War Stories
M :
Stephen Sondheim : Music and Lyrics, Into the Woods
ST :
DNA First Used to Convict Criminals
DL :
New York Stock Exchange Suffers Huge Drop on "Black Monday"
VA :
Andy Warhol dies
1988
LT :
Richard Wilbur: New and Collected Poems
M :
Steve Reich : Different Trains
M :
Pierre Boulez : Répons
M :
Pierre Boulez : Le visage nuptial
(includes 2 solo voices, chorus, and full orchestra)
M :
Henryk Mikolaj Górecki : String Quartet
No.1, 'Already it is Dark'
M :
Leonard Bernstein : Concerto, for orchestra
1989
M :
Pierre Boulez : Dérives II
PH :
Berlin Wall Falls
VA :
Salvador Dali dies
M :
Virgil Garnett Thomson dies 30 September
1990
M :
Elliott Cook Carter : Violin Concerto
M :
Stephen Sondheim : Music and Lyrics, Assassins
ST :
Hubble Telescope Launched Into Space
PH :
Lech Walesa Becomes First President of Poland
PH :
Liechtenstein and Namibia admitted to the United Nations
M :
Ernst Bacon dies 16 March
M :
Leonard Bernstein dies 15 October
M :
Aaron Copland dies 2 December
1991
M :
Harrison Birtwistle : Opera, Gawain: The Green Knight
PH :
Collapse of the Soviet Union
PH :
Operation Desert Storm
DL :
South Africa Repeals Apartheid Laws
PH :
Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Estonia, Federated States of Micronesia, Latvia, Lithuania, Marshall Islands and Republic of Korea admitted to the United Nations
LT :
Howard Nemerov dies 5 July
1992
M :
Andre Previn : Song cycle, Honey and Rue
PH :
Official End of the Cold War
PH :
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, San Marino, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan admitted to the United Nations
M :
Olivier Messiaen dies 27 April
VA :
Francis Bacon dies
M :
John Cage dies 12 August
1993
M :
Andre Previn : Sonata
written for Yo-Yo Ma
M :
Witold Lutoslawski :
Fourth Symphony
PH :
Andorra, Czech Republic, Eritrea, Monaco, Slovak Republic and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia admitted to the United Nations
1994
M :
Harrison Birtwistle : Opera, The Second Mrs Kong
M :
Stephen Sondheim : Music and Lyrics, Passion
ST :
Channel Tunnel Opens, Connecting Britain and France
PH :
Nelson Mandela Elected President of South Africa
PH :
Rwandan Genocide Begins
PH :
Palau admitted to the United Nations
M :
Witold Lutoslawski dies 7 February
1995
DL :
Ebola Virus Spreads in Zaire
1996
PH :
Taliban overthrows Afghan government
1997
ST :
Hale-Bopp Comet Visible
ST :
Scientists Clone Sheep
VA :
Roy Lichtenstein dies
1998
M :
Andre Previn : Opera, A Streetcar Named Desire
1999
PH :
NATO Attacks Serbia
PH :
Kiribati, Nauru and Tonga admitted to the United Nations
M :
Joaquín Rodrigo dies 6 July
2000
PH :
Tuvalu, Serbia and Montenegro admitted to the United Nations
2002
PH :
Switzerland and Timor-Leste admitted to the United Nations
