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Helen Frankenthaler
(1928 - )

1928

LT : First Oxford English Dictionary published
ST : Penicillin discovered
LT : W.B. Yeats: The Tower
VA : Sir Frank Bernard Dicksee dies
LT : Archibald MacLeish: The Hamlet of A. MacLeish
M : Anton von Webern : Symphony
M : Virgil Garnett Thomson : Symphony on a Hymn Tune
M : Virgil Garnett Thomson : Opera, Four Saints in Three Acts
M : Olivier Messiaen : Le banquet céleste for organ
M : Olivier Messiaen : Trois petites liturgies de la Presence Divine
M : Ralph Vaughan Williams : Opera, Sir John in Love (including 'Greensleeves')
M : Dmitry Shostakovich : Opera, The Nose
M : Arnold Schoenberg : Variations for Orchestra
M : Ottorino Respighi : Symphonic Poem, Roman Festivals
M : Maurice Ravel : Boléro for orchestra
M : Darius Milhaud : Opera, Christopher Columbus
M : Franz Lehár : Operetta, Das Land des Lächelns ('The Land of Smiles')
M : Leoš Janácek : String Quartet No.2, 'Intimate Letters'
M : Leoš Janácek : Opera, From the House of the Dead
M : Gustav Holst : A Moorside Suite for brass band
M : George Gershwin : Symphonic Poem, An American in Paris
M : Béla Bartók : String Quartet No.4
M : Igor Stravinsky : Ballet, Apollon musagète
M : Franz Schreker : Der singende Teufel
PH : Kellogg-Briand Pact, outlawing war, signed in Paris by 65 nations    GO !
RP : Anthropologist Margaret Mead publishes Coming of Age in Samoa
LT : Thomas Hardy dies 11 January
VA : Andy Warhol born
M : Leoš Janácek dies 12 August
M : Karlheinz Stockhausen born 22 August
VA : Helen Frankenthaler born in New York City

1929

LT : Edwin A Robinson: Cavender's House
LT : Robert Graves: Goodbye to All That
M : Ernst Toch : Bunte Suite
M : William Turner Walton : Viola Concerto
PH : Trotsky expelled from U.S.S.R.
PH : Lateran Treaty establishes independent Vatican City
DL : In U.S., stock market prices collapse, with U.S. securities losing $26 billion—first phase of Depression and world economic crisis
ST : Edwin Powell Hubble proposes theory of expanding universe
M : Andre Previn born 6 April

1930

ST : Pluto discovered
LT : Sara Teasdale: Stars To-night
LT : Sara Teasdale: Stars To-night
LT : Walter de la Mare: On the Edge
LT : Archibald MacLeish: New Found Land
LT : Robert Frost: Selected Poems
LT : T S Eliot: Ash-Wednesday
LT : Wystan Hugh Auden: Paid on Both Sides and Poems
M : Anton von Webern : Quartet for Violin, Clarinet, Tenor Saxaphone, Piano
M : Olivier Messiaen : Diptyque for organ
M : Ernst Toch : Gesprochene Musik
M : Ralph Vaughan Williams : Ballet, Job, a Masque for Dancing
M : Dmitry Shostakovich : Ballet, The Age of Gold
M : Gustav Holst : Prelude and scherzo for military band, Hammersmith
M : Gustav Holst : Choral Fantasia
M : George Gershwin : Musical, Girl Crazy
M : Aaron Copland : Piano Variations (later orchestrated)
M : Igor Stravinsky : Symphony of Psalms
PH : Britain, U.S., Japan, France, and Italy sign naval disarmament treaty
ST : Cyclotron developed
M : Stephen Sondheim born 22 March

1931

LT : Edwin A Robinson: Matthias at the Door
LT : Robert Graves: Poems: 1926-1930
LT : T S Eliot: Thoughts After Lambeth
LT : ee cummings: CIOPW and ViVa
M : Edgard Varèse : Ionisation
M : Paul Hindemith : Das Unaufhörliche
M : Arthur Honegger : Oratorio, Cris du monde
M : Arthur Honegger : Opera, Amphion
M : Sir George Dyson : The Canterbury Pilgrims
M : William Turner Walton : Cantata, Belshazzar's Feast
M : Maurice Ravel : Piano Concerto in G
M : Gustav Holst : Hammersmith for orchestra
M : Samuel Barber : Overture, The School for Scandal
M : Samuel Barber : Dover Beach for solo baritone and string quartet
M : Vincenzo Bellini : Opera, Norma
M : Béla Bartók : Piano Concerto No.2
M : Igor Stravinsky : Violin Concerto
PH : Spain becomes a republic with overthrow of King Alfonso XIII
PH : German industrialists finance 800,000-strong Nazi party
PH : Mukden Incident begins Japanese occupation of Manchuria
ST : Harold C. Urey discovers heavy hydrogen
DL : The Star Spangled Banner officially becomes U.S. national anthem
DL : Notorious Scottsboro trial begins, exposing depth of Southern racism in U.S.
PH : Mexico is admitted to the League of Nations

1932

LT : Edwin A Robinson: Nicodemus
LT : Archibald MacLeish: Conquistador
M : Ernst Bacon : Symphony No.1
M : Richard Strauss : Opera, Arabella
M : Dmitry Shostakovich : Opera, The Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District (later revised as Katerina Izmaylova)
M : Arnold Schoenberg : Opera, Moses and Aaron
M : Francis Poulenc : Concerto in D-minor, for two pianos and orchestra
M : George Gershwin : Musical, Of Thee I Sing
M : George Gershwin : Cuban Overture
M : Benjamin Britten : Sinfonietta
M : Franz Schreker : Der Schmied von Gent
PH : Nazis lead in German elections with 230 Reichstag seats
DL : Famine in U.S.S.R.
DL : In U.S., Congress sets up Reconstruction Finance Corporation to stimulate economy.
DL : Veterans march on Washington—most leave after Senate rejects payment of cash bonuses; others removed by troops under Douglas MacArthur
PH : Iraq, Turkey are admitted to the League of Nations
M : John Phillip Sousa dies 6 March

1933

PH : Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany
LT : W.B. Yeats: The Winding Stair and Other Poems
LT : Edwin A Robinson: Talifer
LT : Archibald MacLeish: Conquistador
LT : A E Housman: The Name and Nature of Poetry
LT : T S Eliot: The Use of Poetry and the Use of Criticism
LT : ee cummings: Eimi
VA : Marc Chagall : Solitude
M : Paul Hindemith : String Trio
M : Olivier Messiaen : L'Ascension (for orchestra, later for organ)
M : Sir George Dyson : St Paul's Voyage to Melita
M : Ottorino Respighi : Opera, La Fiamma
M : Sergei Prokofiev : Film Score, Lieutenant Kijé
M : Zoltán Kodály : Dances of Galánta for orchestra
M : Gustav Holst : Brook Green Suite for strings
M : Vincenzo Bellini : Opera, Beatrice di Tenda
PH : Reichstag fire in Berlin; Nazi terror begins
PH : Germany and Japan withdraw from League of Nations
PH : Roosevelt inaugurated; launches New Deal    GO !
DL : In U.S. Prohibition repealed
PH : U.S.S.R. recognised by U.S.
PH : Germany, Japan withdraw from the League of Nations
LT : Sara Teasdale dies 29 January
M : Henryk Mikolaj Górecki born 6 December

1934

VA : Marc Chagall : Bouquet with Flying Lovers
PH : Mao Zedong begins the Long March
LT : Edwin A Robinson: Amaranth
LT : Robert Graves: I, Claudius and Claudius the God
LT : T S Eliot: After Strange Gods
M : Edgard Varèse : Ecuatorial
M : Paul Hindemith : Symphony, Mathis der Maler
M : Arthur Honegger : Ballet, Sémiramis
M : Ralph Vaughan Williams : Symphony No.4
M : Sergei Rachmaninov : Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini (including '18th Variation'), for piano and orchestra
M : Pietro Mascagni : Opera, Nerone ('Nero')
M : Franz Lehár : Opera, Giuditta
M : Béla Bartók : String Quartet No.5
PH : Hitler becomes führer.
PH : U.S.S.R. admitted to League of Nations
PH : Afghanistan, Ecuador, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics are admitted to the League of Nations
M : Edward Elgar dies 23 February
M : Franz Schreker dies 21 March
M : Gustav Holst dies 25 May
M : Frederick Delius dies 10 June
M : Harrison Birtwistle born 15 July

1935

PH : Germany issues the anti-Jewish Nuremberg Laws
VA : Jessie Willcox Smith dies
LT : Wallace Stevens: Ideas of Order
LT : T S Eliot: Murder in the Cathedral
LT : ee cummings: No Thanks and Tom
M : Paul Hindemith : Viola concerto, Der Schwanendreher
M : Paul Hindemith : Opera, Mathis der Maler
M : Olivier Messiaen : La nativite de Seigneur for organ
M : Arthur Honegger : Film music, Mayerling
M : Arthur Honegger : Oratorio, Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher ('Joan of Arc at the Stake')
M : Sir George Dyson : Nebuchadnezzar
M : William Turner Walton : Symphony No.1
M : Sergei Prokofiev : Violin Concerto No.2
M : George Gershwin : Opera, Porgy and Bess
PH : Nazis repudiate Versailles Treaty, introduce compulsory military service
DL : Roosevelt opens second phase of New Deal in U.S., calling for social security, better housing, equitable taxation, and farm assistance
PH : Mussolini invades Ethiopia; League of Nations invokes sanctions
PH : Paraguay withdraws from the League of Nations of Nations
LT : Edwin A Robinson dies 6 April
VA : Malevich dies
VA : Paul Signac dies
M : Alban Berg dies 24 December

1936

PH : Spanish Civil War begins
PH : King George V dies; succeeded by son, Edward VIII, who soon abdicates to marry an American-born divorcée, and is succeeded by brother, George VI
M : Steve Reich dies
LT : Marianne Moore: The Pangolin and other verse
LT : Robert Frost: A Further Range
LT : ee cummings: 1/20
LT : Wystan Hugh Auden: Look Stranger!
M : Edgard Varèse : Density 21.5 for flute solo
M : Ernst Bacon : Twilight
M : Ernst Bacon : Songs of Eternity
M : Virgil Garnett Thomson : Film score, The Plow that Broke the Plains
M : Olivier Messiaen : Song-cycles, Poèmes pour Mi
M : Elliott Cook Carter : Tarantella for Male Chorus and Orchestra
M : Arnold Schoenberg : Violin Concerto
M : Sergei Rachmaninov : Symphony No.3
M : Sergei Prokofiev : Peter and the Wolf for narrator and orchestra
M : Sergei Prokofiev : Ballet, Romeo and Juliet
M : Darius Milhaud : Suite provençale
M : Mikhail Glinka : Opera, Zhizn'za tsarya ('A Life for the Tzar')
M : George Gershwin : Film music, Shall We Dance
M : Samuel Barber : Symphony No.1
M : Samuel Barber : String Quartet
M : Aaron Copland : El Salón México for orchestra
M : Béla Bartók : Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta
PH : Germans occupy Rhineland, Italy annexes Ethiopia, Rome-Berlin Axis proclaimed (Japan will join in 1940)
PH : War between China and Japan begins, to continue through World War II
PH : Japan and Germany sign anti-Comintern pact; joined by Italy in 1937
PH : Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua withdraw from the League of Nations
M : Ottorino Respighi dies 18 April
LT : A E Housman dies 30 April

1937

PH : Japan invades China
LT : Wallace Stevens: The Man With the Blue Guitar
LT : Wystan Hugh Auden: On This Island
M : Virgil Garnett Thomson : Film score, The River
M : Virgil Garnett Thomson : Ballet, Filling Station
M : Olivier Messiaen : O sacrum convivum!
M : William Turner Walton : Coronation march, Crown Imperial
M : Dmitry Shostakovich : Symphony No.5
M : Francis Poulenc : Mass in G-Major
M : Francis Poulenc : Song-cycle, Tel jour, telle nuit
M : Carl Orff : Cantata, Carmina Burana
M : Darius Milhaud : Suite for 2 pianos, Scaramouche
M : George Gershwin : Film music, A Damsel in Distress
M : Béla Bartók : Sonata for 2 pianos and percussion (later orchestrated)
M : Benjamin Britten : Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge
VA : Picasso's Guernica mural
PH : Hitler repudiates war guilt clause of Versailles Treaty; continues to build German power
PH : Egypt is admitted to the League of Nations,El Salvador and Italy withdraw
VA : David Hockney born
M : George Gershwin dies 11 July
M : Maurice Ravel dies 28 December

1938

VA : Marc Chagall : The Three Candles
VA : Marc Chagall : Madonna of the Village
LT : Broadcast of "The War of the Worlds" causes panic
LT : Robert Graves: Collected Poems
LT : Robert Graves: Count Belisarius
M : Paul Hindemith : Ballet, Nobilissima visione
M : Arthur Honegger : Oratorio, Cantique des cantiques
M : Sergei Prokofiev : Cantata, Alexander Nevsky (based on the film score)
M : Francis Poulenc : Concerto for organ, strings, and timpani
M : Carl Orff : Opera, Der Mond ('The Moon')
M : Samuel Barber : Adagio for Strings
M : Aaron Copland : Ballet, Billy the Kid
M : Béla Bartók : Violin Concerto No.2
M : Igor Stravinsky : Concerto 'Dumbarton Oaks'
PH : Hitler marches into Austria; political and geographical union of Germany and Austria proclaimed
PH : Munich Pact—Britain, France, and Italy agree to let Germany partition Czechoslovakia
DL : In U.S. the Fair Labor Standards Act establishes minimum wage
PH : Chile, Venezuela withdraw from the League of Nations

1939

LT : Archibald MacLeish: America Was Promises
LT : T S Eliot: The Family Reunion and The Idea of a Christian Society
LT : Wystan Hugh Auden: Journey to a War
M : Paul Hindemith : Violin Concerto
M : Olivier Messiaen : Les corps glorieux
M : Elliott Cook Carter : Ballet, Pocahontas
M : Ralph Vaughan Williams : Serenade to Music for voices and orchestra
M : William Turner Walton : Violin Concerto
M : Joaquín Rodrigo : Concierto de Aranjuez for guitar and orchestra
M : Zoltán Kodály : Variations on a Hungarian Folksong ('The Peacock'), for orchestra
M : Aaron Copland : Film Score, Of Mice and Men
M : Aaron Copland : Quiet City, for orchestra
M : Béla Bartók : Mikrokosmos for piano
M : Béla Bartók : String Quartet No.6
M : Benjamin Britten : Song cycle, Les Illuminations
M : Benjamin Britten : Violin concerto
PH : Russo-Finnish War begins
DL : New York World's Fair opens
DL : Gone with the Wind premieres
PH : In U.S., Roosevelt submits $1,319-million defence budget, proclaims U.S. neutrality, and declares limited emergency
ST : Einstein writes FDR about feasibility of atomic bomb
PH : Hungary, Peru, Spain withdraw from the League of Nations, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is expelled from the League
PH : Germany invades Poland; occupies Bohemia and Moravia; renounces pact with England and concludes 10-year non-aggression pact with U.S.S.R
LT : William Butler Yeats dies 18 January
PH : World War II begins
VA : Arthur Rackham dies

1940

PH : Rumania withdraws from the League of Nations
VA : Stone Age cave paintings found in France
LT : John Masefield: Basilissa
LT : T S Eliot: Notes Towards the Definition of Culture
LT : Wystan Hugh Auden: Another Time
M : John Cage : Bacchanale for prepared piano
M : Paul Hindemith : Cello Concerto
M : Paul Hindemith : Ballet, The Four Temperaments
M : Ernst Bacon : Symphony No.2 (Americana)
M : Anton von Webern : Variations for Orchestra
M : Anton von Webern : Cantatas No.1 and No.2
M : Arthur Honegger : Solo Violin Sonata
M : William Turner Walton : Overture, Scapino
M : Dmitry Shostakovich : Piano Quintet
M : Sergei Rachmaninov : Symphonic Dances
M : Sergei Prokofiev : Piano Sonata No.6
M : Darius Milhaud : Ballet, Moïse
M : Zoltán Kodály : Concerto for orchestra
M : Samuel Barber : Violin Concerto
M : Aaron Copland : Film Score, Our Town
M : Benjamin Britten : Sinfonia da Requiem
M : Igor Stravinsky : Symphony in C
PH : Russo-Finnish War ends; Finns lose one-tenth of territory in peace treaty
PH : Hitler invades Norway, Denmark (April 9), the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg (May 10), and France (May 12)
PH : Churchill becomes Britain's prime minister
PH : Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania annexed by U.S.S.R.
DL : The first official network television broadcast is put out by NBC
PH : June - Canadian National Resources Mobilisation Act
VA : Paul Klee dies

1941

LT : Theodore Roethke: Open House
LT : Marianne Moore: What Are Years?
LT : John Masefield: In the Mill
LT : Robert Graves: The Long Weekend
LT : ee cummings: Fifty Poems
M : Olivier Messiaen : Quatour pour la fin du temps
M : Witold Lutoslawski : Paganini Variations for two pianos
M : Sir George Dyson : Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in E flat
M : Dmitry Shostakovich : Symphony No.7, 'Leningrad'
PH : Germany attacks the Balkans and Russia
ST : Manhattan Project (atomic bomb research) begins
PH : Roosevelt enunciates "four freedoms"    GO !

1942

DL : T-shirt introduced
LT : Wallace Stevens: Notes Towards a Supreme Fiction
LT : Robert Frost: A Witness Tree
M : John Cage : Credo in Us
M : Paul Hindemith : Ludus tonalis
M : Lukas Foss : Oratorio, The Prairie
M : William Turner Walton : Film Score, The First of the Few
M : Richard Strauss : Horn Concerto No.2
M : Arnold Schoenberg : Ode to Napoleon, for speaker and chamber ensemble
M : Arnold Schoenberg : Piano Concerto
M : Sergei Prokofiev : Piano Sonata No.7
M : Carl Orff : Opera, Die Kluge ('The Clever Woman')
M : Aaron Copland : A Lincoln Portrait for speaker and orchestra
M : Aaron Copland : Ballet, Rodeo
M : Leonard Bernstein : Symphony No.1, 'Jeremiah'
M : Benjamin Britten : A Ceremony of Carols
PH : Declaration of United Nations signed in Washington on 1 January     GO !
PH : Nazi leaders attend Wannsee Conference to coordinate the "final solution to the Jewish question", the systematic genocide of Jews known as the Holocaust
ST : Enrico Fermi achieves nuclear chain reaction
DL : More than 120,000 Japanese and persons of Japanese ancestry living in western U.S. moved to "relocation centers", some for the duration of the war
PH : Haiti withdraws from the League of Nations

1943

LT : Robert Graves: Wife to Mr Milton
LT : T S Eliot: Four Quartets
M : John Cage : Tosses as it Is Untroubled for prepared piano
M : Paul Hindemith : Symphonic Metamorphoses on Themes of Carl Maria von Weber
M : Ralph Vaughan Williams : Symphony No.5
M : Joaquín Rodrigo : Concierto heroíco for piano and orchestra
M : Carl Orff : Cantata, Catulli Carmina ('Songs of Catullus')
M : Leonard Bernstein : Ballet, Fancy Free
M : Béla Bartók : Concerto for Orchestra
M : Benjamin Britten : Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings
PH : Mussolini deposed
PH : U.S. President freezes prices, salaries, and wages to prevent inflation
DL : Income tax withholding introduced in U.S.
PH : 14-24 January - Casablanca Conference: Churchill and Roosevelt meet, Stalin declines
M : Sergei Rachmaninov dies 28 March

1944

LT : Marianne Moore: Nevertheless
LT : ee cummings: 1 x 1
LT : Wystan Hugh Auden: For the Time Being and The Sea and the Mirror
M : John Cage : A Book of Music for two prepared pianos
M : John Cage : Perilous Night for prepared piano
M : Elliott Cook Carter : The Harmony of Morning for Female Chorus and Small Orchestra
M : Elliott Cook Carter : Symphony No.1
M : William Turner Walton : Film Score, Henry V
M : Sergei Prokofiev : Violin Sonata No.2
M : Sergei Prokofiev : Ballet, Cinderella
M : Sergei Prokofiev : Piano Sonata No.8
M : Sergei Prokofiev : Symphony No.5
M : Darius Milhaud : Symphony No.2
M : Aaron Copland : Ballet, Appalachian Spring
M : Leonard Bernstein : Musical, On The Town
PH : Bretton Woods Conference creates International Monetary Fund and World Bank
PH : Dumbarton Oaks Conference—U.S., British Commonwealth, and U.S.S.R. propose establishment of United Nations
VA : Edvard Munch dies 23 January
VA : Wassily Kandinsky dies

1945

ST : First electronic computer (ENIAC) built
LT : Robert Frost: A Masque of Reason
M : John Cage : Three Dances for two prepared pianos
M : Pierre Boulez : Douze Notations
M : Paul Hindemith : Piano Concerto
M : Richard Strauss : Metamorphosen, for strings
M : Dmitry Shostakovich : Symphony No.9
M : Sergei Prokofiev : Film Score, Ivan the Terrible
M : Francis Poulenc : L'histoire de Babar for narrator and piano
M : Carl Orff : Die Bernauerin ('Bernauer's Wife'), for voices and orchestra
M : Darius Milhaud : Suite française
M : Samuel Barber : Cello Concerto
M : Béla Bartók : Piano Concerto No.3
M : Benjamin Britten : Opera, Peter Grimes
M : Igor Stravinsky : Ebony Concerto
M : Igor Stravinsky : Symphony in Three Movements
M : Tomaso Albinoni : Adagio in G minor (arranged by Remo Giazotto)
PH : FDR dies on 12 April; Harry Truman becomes president    GO !
PH : Hitler commits suicide 30 April
PH : Germany surrenders 7 May; V-E Day declared 8 May
PH : U.S. drops atomic bombs on Japanese cities of Hiroshima (6 Aug. ) and Nagasaki (9 Aug.)
M : Pietro Mascagni dies 24 August
PH : Japan signs official surrender on 2 September : V-J Day     GO !
M : Anton von Webern dies 15 September
M : Béla Bartók dies 26 September
VA : Newell Convers Wyeth dies
PH : United Nations founded 24 October    GO !

1946

PH : Juan Perón becomes President of Argentina
LT : Robert Graves: King Jesus
M : Pierre Boulez : Sonatina for flute and piano
M : Pierre Boulez : Sonata No.1
M : Ernst Bacon : Piano Quintet
M : Ernst Bacon : Cello Sonata
M : Virgil Garnett Thomson : Opera, The Mother of Us All
M : Manuel de Falla : Cantata, Atlántida ('Atlantis') unfinished, later completed by Ernesto Halffter
M : Richard Strauss : Oboe Concerto
M : Samuel Barber : Ballet, Medea
M : Aaron Copland : Symphony No.3 (including Fanfare for the Common Man')
M : Benjamin Britten : Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra
DL : Benjamin Spock's childcare classic published
PH : League of Nations dissolved in April
PH : First meeting of UN General Assembly opens in London in January
PH : Italy abolishes monarchy in June
PH : Verdict in Nuremberg war trial: 12 Nazi leaders (including 1 tried in absentia) sentenced to hang; 7 imprisoned; 3 acquitted
PH : Afghanistan, Iceland, Sweden, Thailand admitted to the United Nations
M : Manuel de Falla dies 14 November

1947

LT : Richard Wilbur: The Beautiful Changes and Other Poems
LT : Howard Nemerov: The Image and the Law
LT : Robert Frost: A Masque of Mercy and Bush
LT : Wystan Hugh Auden: The Age of Anxiety
M : John Cage : Seasons for piano or orchestra
M : Paul Hindemith : Clarinet Concerto
M : Elliott Cook Carter : Ballet, The Minotaur
M : Milton Byron Babbitt : Three Compositions for piano
M : Ralph Vaughan Williams : Symphony No.6
M : William Turner Walton : String Quartet in A-minor
M : William Turner Walton : Film Score, Hamlet
M : Sergei Prokofiev : Opera, War and Peace (final version)
M : Sergei Prokofiev : Symphony No.6
M : Darius Milhaud : Concerto for marimba and vibraphone
M : Samuel Barber : Knoxville: Summer of 1915 for soprano and orchestra
M : Benjamin Britten : Opera, Albert Herring
M : Benjamin Britten : Cantata, Saint Nicholas
PH : Pakistan and Yemen admitted to the United Nations
PH : Peace treaties for Italy, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Finland signed in Paris
PH : Soviet Union rejects U.S. plan for UN atomic-energy control
PH : Truman proposes Truman Doctrine, which was to aid Greece and Turkey in resisting communist expansion    GO !
PH : Marshall Plan for European recovery proposed—a coordinated program to help European nations recover from ravages of war    GO !
ST : U.S. Air Force pilot Chuck Yeager becomes first person to break the sound barrier
PH : India and Pakistan gain independence from Britain
LT : Anne Frank's The Diary of a Young Girl published

1948

DL : Policy of Apartheid begun
PH : State of Israel founded
LT : Theodore Roethke: The Lost Son and Other Poems
LT : Archibald MacLeish: Actfive and Other Poems
LT : T S Eliot: The Cocktail Party
M : John Cage : Sonatas and Interludes for prepared piano
M : Pierre Boulez : Le soleil des eaux (includes voices)
M : Pierre Boulez : Sonata No.2
M : Virgil Garnett Thomson : Acadian Airs and Dances
M : Virgil Garnett Thomson : Film score, Louisiana Story
M : Olivier Messiaen : Turangalila-Symphonie
M : Milton Byron Babbitt : Composition for 4 Instruments
M : Richard Strauss : Four Last Songs for soprano and orchestra
M : Dmitry Shostakovich : Violin Concerto No.1
PH : Gandhi assassinated in New Delhi by Hindu fanatic
PH : Burma (4 Jan.) and Ceylon (4 Feb.) granted independence by Britain
PH : Communists seize power in Czechoslovakia
PH : Organization of American States (OAS) Charter signed at Bogotá, Colombia
PH : Independent Republic of Korea is proclaimed, following election supervised by UN
PH : United States of Indonesia established as Dutch and Indonesians settle conflict
DL : Truman ends racial segregation in military
M : Franz Lehár dies 24 October

1949

PH : Communist People's Republic of China formally proclaimed by Chairman Mao Zedong
LT : Howard Nemerov: The Melodramatists
LT : Robert Graves: Seven Days in New Crete
M : Paul Hindemith : Horn Concerto
M : Joaquín Rodrigo : Concierto en modo galante ('Concerto in the Galant Style'), for cello and orchestra
M : Francis Poulenc : Piano Concerto
M : Samuel Barber : Piano Sonata
M : Aaron Copland : Film Score, The Heiress
M : Leonard Bernstein : Symphony No.2, 'The Age of Anxiety'
M : Benjamin Britten : Spring Symphony
PH : Israel admitted to the United Nations
DL : South Africa institutionalizes apartheid
PH : Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) established 23 May, German Democratic Republic (East Germany) established under Soviet rule 7 Oct.
PH : Start of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)—treaty signed by 12 nations    GO !
M : Richard Strauss dies 8 September

1950

DL : First modern credit card introduced
ST : First organ transplant
PH : Korean War begins     GO !
ST : U.S. President Truman orders construction of hydrogen bomb
LT : Richard Wilbur: Ceremony and Other Poems
LT : T S Eliot: The Cocktail Party
LT : ee cummings: Xaipe
M : John Cage : String Quartet in Four Parts
M : Virgil Garnett Thomson : Cello Concerto
M : Olivier Messiaen : Messe de la Pentecote
PH : Indonesia admitted to the United Nations
PH : McCarthyism begins in U.S.
PH : Truman orders development of hydrogen bomb

1951

DL : Colour television introduced
PH : Truman signs peace treaty with Japan, officially ending WWII
LT : Wallace Stevens: The Necessary Angel
LT : Theodore Roethke: Praise to the End!
LT : Marianne Moore: Collected Poems
LT : Wystan Hugh Auden: Writes libretto for Stravinsky's Rake's Progress
M : Karlheinz Stockhausen : Kreuzspiel
M : John Cage : Concerto for Prepared Piano and Chamber Orchestra
M : John Cage : Music of Changes
M : Paul Hindemith : Symphony for Concert Band
M : Ernst Bacon : String Quintet
M : Virgil Garnett Thomson : 5 Songs from William Blake
M : Olivier Messiaen : Livre d'orgue
M : Witold Lutoslawski : Little Suite for orchestra
M : Ralph Vaughan Williams : Opera, The Pilgrim's Progress
M : Leonard Bernstein : Opera, Trouble in Tahiti
M : Benjamin Britten : Opera, Billy Budd
M : Igor Stravinsky : Opera, The Rake's Progress
ST : European Coal and Steel Community formed
PH : Libya gains independence
M : Arnold Schoenberg dies 13 July

1952

ST : Polio Vaccine Created
PH : George VI dies; his daughter Princess Elizabeth becomes queen at age 25
LT : John Masefield: So Long to Learn
LT : Archibald MacLeish: The Trojan Horse
M : Karlheinz Stockhausen : Spiel (revised, 1973)
M : John Cage : 4'33"
M : John Cage : Music for Carillon No.1
M : John Cage : Williams Mix
M : John Cage : Piano Solo, Waiting (1952)
M : Pierre Boulez : Structures for 2 pianos Book I
M : Ralph Vaughan Williams : Symphony No.7 'Sinfonnia antartica' (based on film score, Scott of the Antarctic)
M : Sergei Prokofiev : Symphony No.7
M : Aaron Copland : Ten Old American Songs
ST : AEC announces "satisfactory" experiments in hydrogen-weapons research; eyewitnesses tell of blasts near Enewetak

1953

ST : DNA discovered
LT : Theodore Roethke: The Waking, Poems
LT : Robert Graves: The Nazarene Gospel Restored
M : Karlheinz Stockhausen : Kontra-Punkte
M : William Turner Walton : Coronation march, Orb and Sceptre
M : Dmitry Shostakovich : Symphony No.10
M : Carl Orff : Trionfo di Afrodite for voices and orchestra
M : Darius Milhaud : Ouverture méditerranéenne
PH : Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower inaugurated president of United States    GO !
PH : Stalin dies 5 March: Malenkov becomes Soviet premier; Beria, minister of interior; Molotov, foreign minister
PH : East Berliners rise against Communist rule; quelled by tanks
PH : Dag Hammarskjöld begins term as UN secretary-general
PH : Egypt becomes republic ruled by military junta
PH : Korean armistice signed 27 July    GO !
PH : Tito becomes president of Yugoslavia
M : Sergei Prokofiev dies 5 March
VA : Raoul Dufy dies

1954

ST : First atomic submarine launched
LT : Wallace Stevens: Collected Poems
LT : T S Eliot: The Confidential Clerk
M : Pierre Boulez : Le marteau sans maitre with voice
M : Edgard Varèse : Déserts
M : Virgil Garnett Thomson : Opera, Lord Byron
M : 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

1960

ST : Lasers invented
LT : Howard Nemerov: A Commodity of Dreams
M : Karlheinz Stockhausen : Kontakte (electronic work)
M : Karlheinz Stockhausen : Carré
M : 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.)
LT : Wystan Hugh Auden: About the House
M : Karlheinz Stockhausen : Mikrophonie I-II (electronic works)
M : Pierre Boulez : Éclats
M : Harrison Birtwistle : Tragoedia
M : Elliott Cook Carter : Concerto for Piano
M : Witold Lutoslawski : Paroles tissees
M : Leonard Bernstein : Chichester Psalms
PH : U.S. Marines land in Dominican Republic as fighting persists between rebels and Dominican army
DL : Medicare, senior citizens' government medical assistance program, begins
PH : Gambia, Maldives and Singapore admitted to the United Nations
LT : T S Eliot dies 4 January
M : Edgard Varèse dies 8 November

1966

LT : Theodore Roethke: The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke published (posth.)
M : Karlheinz Stockhausen : Telemusik (electronic work)
M : Karlheinz Stockhausen : Adieu
M : Steve Reich : Melodica for tape
M : Steve Reich : Come Out for tape
M : Harrison Birtwistle : The Visions of Francesco Petrarca
M : Milton Byron Babbitt : Post-Partitions for Piano
M : Dmitry Shostakovich : String Quartet No.11
M : Samuel Barber : Opera, Antony and Cleopatra
M : Igor Stravinsky : Requiem Canticles for voices and orchestra
M : Harrison Birtwistle : Opera, Punch and Judy
PH : Barbados, Botswana, Guyana and Lesotho admitted to the United Nations
VA : Frederick Maxfield Parrish dies 10 March

1967

LT : Archibald MacLeish: Herakles
M : Karlheinz Stockhausen : Prozession (electronic work)
M : Steve Reich : Violin Phase for 4 violins or violin and tape
M : Steve Reich : My Name Is for 3 or more tape recorders, performers, and audience
M : Lukas Foss : Baroque Variations
M : Witold Lutoslawski : Second Symphony
M : Joaquín Rodrigo : Concierto andaluz for four guitars and orchestra
M : Samuel Barber : Agnus Dei for choir
ST : Dr. Christiaan N. Barnard and team of South African surgeons perform world's first successful human heart transplant — patient dies 18 days later
PH : Israeli and Arab forces battle; six-day war ends with Israel occupying Sinai Peninsula, Golan Heights, Gaza Strip, and east bank of Suez Canal
PH : Biafra secedes from Nigeria
PH : Democratic Yemen admitted to the United Nations
M : Zoltán Kodály dies 6 March
LT : John Masefield dies 12 May
VA : Edward Hopper dies
VA : René Magritte dies

1968

M : Karlheinz Stockhausen : Kurzwellen (electronic work)
M : Karlheinz Stockhausen : Stimmung
M : 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
Personae

Terms Defined

Referenced Works