1881
James A. Garfield, 20th President of the USA is assassinated four months after taking office; Vice-President Chester A. Arthur becomes the 21st President • Treaty of Pretoria; Transvaal’s independence is recognised by Britain • Tunis becomes a French protectorate • Tsar Aleksandr II of Russia is assassinated; his son, Aleksandr III, succeeds him • Louis Pasteur (Fr) develops an anthrax vaccine • Construction of Canadian Pacific Railway is started • Louis Pasteur (Fr) develops anthrax vaccine • Claude Monet (Fr) paints Sunshine and Snow • Henrik Ibsen (Nor): play Ghosts • Anatole France (Fr): The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard • Henry James (US): Portrait of a lady
1882
Germany, Austria and Italy form Triple Alliance (ends 1914) • The USA issues the Chinese Exclusion Act, banning immigration of Chinese into the USA for an intended period of ten years; the ban lasts until 1943 • British forces occupy Cairo and Sudan after defeating rebel forces at Tel-el-Kebir • Italy makes Eritrea a colony • Jews suffer repressive regulations in Russia • Robert Koch (Ger) discovers the bacillus of tuberculosis • Edouard Manet (Fr) paints The Bar at the Folies-Bergeres • Edgar Degas (Fr) paints The Laudresses • Henrik Ibsen (Nor): play An Enemy of the People • Thomas Edison switches on the first commercial electrical power station, serving customers in Lower Manhattan
1883
Germany founds settlements in south-west Africa • Paul Kruger becomes President of the Boer South African Republic • France begins to colonise west Africa and gains control of Tunisia in north Africa • In Egypt, Muhammad Ahmad al Mahdi organises the defeat of Egyptian troops at El Obeid and obtains control of most of Sudan • John Carbutt (US) introduces a coated celluloid film for photography • Edwin Klebs (Ger) identifies the diphtheria germ • Pierre Renoir (Fr) paints Children at the Beach at Guernsey • Ilya Repin (Russ) paints Easter Procession • Robert Louis Stevenson (Scot): Treasure Island • Friedrich Nietzsche (Ger): philosophical novel Thus Spake Zarathustra
1884
European colonisation in Africa continues: the Berlin Conference establishes an independent State of the Congo • Germany establishes protectorates over Togoland and Cameroons • Britain sends General Gordon to direct Egyptian withdrawal from Sudan • Charles Parsons (Eng/lre) devises a practical steam-turbine engine • Boston and New York City are connected by telephone • Third Reform Act extends voting rights in UK; women and many working-class men still not allowed to vote • France presents the Statue of Liberty to the USA • In Chicago, the first skyscraper is built • Georges Seurat (Fr) paints Bathers at Asnieres • Mark Twain (US): The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
1885
General Gordon Killed at Khartoum; Muhammad Ahmad dies five months later but Dervishes maintain control of Sudan under khalifa Abdullah • Belgium establishes Congo colony • Germany makes a protectorate of north New Guinea, and annexes Tanganyika and Zanzibar • British establish protectorates in Nigeria, north Bechuanaland and south New Guinea • British at war with Burmese • Gottlieb Daimler (Ger) develops an internal-combustion gasoline engine; with Wilhelm Maybach he builds the first motorcycle: Daimler Reitwagen.* Karl Benz (Ger) produces a three-wheel automobile • Louis Pasteur (Fr) successfully vaccinates a child against rabies • Emile Zola (Fr): Germinal

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, cultural critic, composer, poet, philologist, and a Latin and Greek scholar whose work has exerted a profound influence on Western philosophy and modern intellectual history.
1881
Alexander Borodin composes his String Quartet No. 2 in D major, famous above all for its infectiously melodic third movement ‘Notturno’.
Alexander Borodin - Quartet No. 2 in D major
I. Allegro moderato
II. Scherzo
III. Notturno
IV. Finale
CLEVELAND QUARTET: Donald Weilerstein, Violin; Peter Salaff, Violin; James Dunham, Viola; Paul Katz, Violoncello.
Emmanuel Chabrier completes his 10 pieces pittoresques for piano.
Emmanuel Chabrier - Pièces Pittoresques
Paysage 00:00
Mélancolie 05:46
Tourbillon 07:59
Sous-Bois 09:23
Mauresque 14:00
Idylle 17:12
Danse villageoise 22:24
Improvisation 26:35
Menuet pompeux 31:07
Scherzo-Valse 37:51
Rena Kyriakou, piano
10 February
Jacques Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann is premiered four months after the composer’s death, in Paris. Incorporating the figure of E. T. A. Hoffmann as a character within the writers own stories, the ‘serious’ opera fantastique is an immediate sensation, topping 100 performances at the Opera-Comique by the end of the year.
28 March
Composer Modest Mussorgsky, having battled with alcoholism for many years, dies in a St Petersburg hospital, aged 42.

23 April
Arthur Sullivan - Patience
Patience; or, Bunthorne's Bride, is a comic opera in two acts with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert.
Gilbert & Sullivan -
"Patience (or, Bunthorne's Bride)"
9 May
Franz Liszt's orchestrated Second Mephisto Waltz premieres in Budapest. New works this year include his loosely tonal, impressionistic Triibe Wolken/Nuages gris (Gloomy Clouds) for piano.
The Mephisto Waltzes are four waltzes composed by Franz Liszt in 1859–62, 1880–81, 1883 and 1885. Nos. 1 and 2 were composed for orchestra, and later arranged for piano, piano duet and two pianos, whereas 3 and 4 were written for piano only.
LISZT - MEPHISTO Waltzes 2, 3, 4, Polka, Bagatelle without tonality
Tibor Szasz, USA, 1984
19 August
Composer George Enescu is born.
20 February
Richter conducts a hugely successful first performance of Anton Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony (second version, 1880) in Vienna. It is the composer’s first triumph. Later this year Bruckner completes his Sixth Symphony and immediately begins his Seventh.
Anton Bruckner - Symphony No 6 in A Major
(Nowak edition)
1. Maestoso
2. Adagio: Sehr feierlich
3. Scherzo: Nicht schnell
4. Finale: Bewegt, doch nicht zu schnell
New York Philharmonic
Leonard Bernstein, conductor. 1976
20 October
Max Bruch draws on sacred Jewish chant in Kol Nidrei, Adagio on Hebrew Melodies for cello and orchestra, premiered in Leipzig. Bruch is currently the director of the Liverpool Philharmonic.
Max Bruch - Kol Nidrei, op. 47, Adagio on Hebrew Melodies
TRIO APOLLON:
Matthias Glander - Klarinette
Felix Schwartz - Viola
Wolfgang Kühnl - Piano
Bearbeitung - Uwe Hilprecht
25 February
Tchaikovsky’s opera The Maid of Orleans is first performed in St Petersburg.
The Maid of Orleans (Orleanskaja deva) is an opera in 4 acts, 6 scenes, by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. It was composed during 1878–1879 to a Russian libretto by the composer, based on several sources: Friedrich Schiller’s The Maid of Orleans as translated by Vasily Zhukovsky; Jules Barbier’s Jeanne d’Arc (Joan of Arc); Auguste Mermet’s libretto for his own opera; and Henri Wallon’s biography of Joan of Arc.
Tchaikovsky - Maid of Orleans
Gennady Rozhdestvensky Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus
Joan of Arc - Irina Arkhipova
King Charles VII - Vladimir Makhov
Agnes Sorel - Claudia Radchenko
Dunois - Vlasimir Valaitis
Lionel - Sergei Yavkovchenko
Archbishop - Lev Vernigora
Raymond - Andrei Sokolov
Bertrand - Viktor Selivanov
Soldier - Vartan Makelian
Thibaut - Evgeni Vladimirov
30 October
Johan Svendsen’s Violin Romance, Op. 26, is introduced at Kristiania, Norway.
Johan Svendsen - Romance for Violin and Orchestra Op. 26
Stefan Milenkovich, violinist"Romance"
Belgrade Philharmonic and conductor Eiving Gulberg Jensen. Belgrade, Serbia.
9 November
Johannes Brahms gives the first performance of his symphonic four-movement Second Piano Concerto in Budapest.
Johannes Brahms - Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 83
Piano: Hélène Grimaud
Conductor: David Zinman
NHK Symphony Orchestra
25 March
Composer Bela Bartok is born in Nagyszentmiklos, southern Hungary (now Sinnicolau Mare, Romania).

19 December
Jules Massenet - Herodiade
Hérodiade is an opera in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Paul Milliet and Henri Grémont, based on the novella Hérodias (1877) by Gustave Flaubert. It was first performed at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels on 19 December 1881.
George Enescu
(b. Liveni-Virnav [now George Enescu], August 19, 1881; d. Paris, May 4, 1955)
Romanian violinist, pianist, conductor, and composer. A musical prodigy of the first magnitude, he was the preeminent Romanian composer of the 20th century. Pablo Casals called him “the most amazing musician since Mozart,” and Yehudi Menuhin, who was his student and friend, held him in similarly high esteem. He began taking violin lessons when he was four, and continued his musical studies at the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna (1888-94), under the tutelage of Joseph Hellmesberger and Robert Fuchs, among others, and subsequently at the Paris Conservatoire (1895-99), where his teachers included Gabriel Faure and Jules Massenet. He launched his performing career with an unprecedented double demonstration of instrumental mastery, playing the violin at the first performance of his Violin Sonata No. 1 in 1898 (accompanied by Alfred Cortot), and the piano in the first performance of his Violin Sonata No. 2, in 1900 (accompanying Jacques Thibaud). Paris would remain his artistic base for the rest of his life, though he would spend long periods in Romania, holing up there for the duration of World War I and again during World War II, and seeking throughout his career to contribute to his native country’s musical life as conductor, musicologist, and educator. He conducted frequently in Bucharest; among his many engagements was one in 1903 in which he led the premiere of what would become his most popular work, the uncharacteristically gaudy Romanian Rhapsody in A, Op. 11, No. 1 , composed two years earlier. He was also active in Iasi, where he served as an honorary chairman of the conservatory, and in 1917 inaugurated a series of symphony concerts bearing his name. Prior to 1915, and during the interwar years, he traveled and concertized widely in Europe and America as well, appearing as conductor and violinist with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1923, and guest conducting the New York Philharmonic several times during the 1937-39 seasons. Following the Communist takeover of his homeland in 1946, he returned to Paris in self-imposed exile; his last years there were clouded by illness and financial duress.
Enescu was a formidable teacher whose students included the American prodigy Menuhin (from 1927), and later Arthur Grumiaux, Ida Haendel, Christian Ferras, and Ivry Gitlis. His list of works as a composer, necessarily short because of his career as a virtuoso and his obligations as a teacher and administrator, nonetheless includes contributions to a variety of vocal, instrumental, and orchestral genres. Just as he had a divided loyalty to two countries—his native Romania and his adopted France—he also had a dual personality as a composer—the one part nationalistic and folk-oriented (reflected in the two Romanian Rhapsodies, and, much later, in 1948, the Ouverture de concert sur des themes dans le caractere populaire roumain), the other cosmopolitan and progressive. His greatest work was the four-act opera Oedipe, based in part on the dramas of Sophocles. Sketched in 1910 and composed mainly between 1921 and 1931, it received its premiere at the Paris Opera on March 13, 1936. Other compositions that have found a place in the repertoire include the Violin Sonata No. 3 (1926), two string quartets, and three symphonies.

George Enescu - Complete Orchestral Works - Vol 1
Romain Natonal Radio Orchestra: Horia Andrescu, condutor
01.Ov on Popular Romanian Themes in A, Op.32 10:09
02.Study Sym (No.4) in E flat I. Molto vivace 8:32
03.Study Sym (No.4) in E flat II. Andante 9:10
04.Study Sym (No.4) in E flat III. Vivace-Meno mosso-Vivace. Prestissimo 18:34
05.Sym. No.1in E flat, Op.13 (To Alfred Casella): I. Assez vif et rythme 10:59
06.Sym. No.1in E flat, Op.13 (To Alfred Casella): II. Lent 12:41
07.Sym. No.1in E flat, Op.13 (To Alfred Casella): III. Vif et vigoureux 9:16
George Enescu - Complete Orchestral Works - Vol 2
Horia Andreescu: Romanian National Radio Orchestra & Choir
01.Symphony #2 In A, Op. 17 - 1. Vivace, Ma Non Troppo 18:56
02.Symphony #2 In A, Op. 17 - 2. Andante Giusto 12:32
03.Symphony #2 In A, Op. 17 - 3. Un Poco Lento, Marziale, Allegro Vivace, Marziale 16:59
04.Romanian Rhapsody #1 In A, Op. 11/1 11:52
05.Romanian Rhapsody #2 In D, Op. 11/2 11:53
George Enescu: Oedipe
Monte Pederson (Oedipe)
Egils Siliņš (Tirésias)
Davide Damiani (Créon)
Michael Roider (Le berger)
Goran Simic (Le grand prêtre)
Peter Köves (Phorbas)
Walter Fink (Le veilleur)
Yu Chen (Thésée)
Josef Hopferwieser (Laïos)
Marjana Lipovšek (Jocaste/La Sphinge)
Ruxandra Donose (Antigone)
Mihaela Ungureanu (Mérope)
Wiener Sängerknaben, Chor und Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper - Dirigent: Michael Gielen- 1997
1882
Edward MacDowell composes his First Piano Concerto. The 21-year-old American is currently a piano teacher at Darmstadt’s Academy for Musical Arts.
Edward MacDowell - Piano Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 15
1. Maestoso; Allegro con fuoco
2. Andante tranquillo
3. Presto
Stephen Prutsman, piano and the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland conducted by Arthur Fagen
German composer Carl Reinecke conjures a female water-nymph in his limpid Flute Sonata in E minor
(Undine).
Carl Reinecke - Sonata in E minor, Op. 167 "Undine"
Allegro
Intermezzo: Allegretto vivace
Andante tranquillo
Finale: Allegro molto agitato ed appassionato, quasi Presto
Xue Su, flute
Rhett Lei, piano
13 January Richard Wagner completes Parsifal, his final opera. It has been arranged that Hermann Levi, the son
of a Rabbi, will conduct the ‘sacred festival drama’.
Wagner is unsuccessful in his attempt to persuade his friend to undergo Christian baptism before the premiere.
10 February
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera Snegurochka (The Snow Maiden), based on an old Russian folk tale, is first staged in St Petersburg.
The Snow Maiden (subtitle: A Spring Fairy Tale), (Snegúrochka–Vesennyaya Skazka) is an opera in four acts with a prologue by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, composed during 1880–1881. The Russian libretto, by the composer, is based on the like-named play by Alexander Ostrovsky.
The first performance of Rimsky-Korsakov's opera took place at the Mariinsky Theatre, Saint Petersburg on 29 January 1882 (OS; 10 February NS) conducted by Eduard Nápravník.
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov - Snegurochka (The Snow Maiden) Part I
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov - Snegurochka (The Snow Maiden) Part II
29 March
The 16-year-old Alexander Glazunov has his First Symphony introduced with great success under Mily Balakirev in St Petersburg.
Glazunov - Symphony No. 1
Moscow Symphony Orchestra, Alexander Anissimov
17 June
Composer Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky is born in Oranienbaum, near St Petersburg.

30 August
Charles Gounod conducts his commissioned 'sacred trilogy’, La Redemption, at the Birmingham Festival, England.
Gounod - Unfold ye Portals from "The Redemption"
31 August
Hubert Parry’s Symphony No. 1 is premiered at the Birmingham Festival.
Sir Hubert Parry - Symphony No.1 in G-major
Mov.I: Con fuoco 00:00
Mov.II: Andante 12:28
Mov.III: Presto - Meno mosso 23:24
Mov.IV: Allegretto molto vivace 32:58
The London Philharmonic - Matthias Bamert
24 October
Composer Emmerich Kalman, born.
16 December
Composer Zoltan Kodaly is born in Kecskemet, Hungary.
Emmerich Kalman
Emmerich Kálmán, Hungarian form Kálmán Imre, (born Oct. 24, 1882, Siófok, Hung.—died Oct. 30, 1953, Paris, France), Hungarian composer, one of the leading exponents of the last era of Viennese operetta.
Kálmán was born to a lower middle-class Jewish family. He studied composition at the Academy of Music in Budapest under János Koessler; for a time his fellow students included Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály. He worked as a music critic for the Pesti Napló (“Pest Journal”) from 1904 to 1908 and as a lawyer’s assistant to supplement the cost of his studies. In 1907 he was awarded several prizes for music, which enabled him to pursue trips to Bayreuth, Munich, and Berlin.
Kálmán’s musical talent was obvious from his first orchestral works. Kálmán added variety and colour to the Viennese operetta form by incorporating Hungarian elements to his works. His musical inventions, brimming with joie de vivre, brought him international acclaim. (At the time, he was also writing licentious cabaret songs under a pseudonym.) His reputation as a composer of operettas was made by his first stage work, Tatárjárás (1908; The Gay Hussars). The strongly Hungarian tone of this piece succeeded in winning over Viennese audiences, and The Gay Hussars was performed throughout Europe and the United States.
A few years later, Kálmán moved to Vienna and began to compose German-language operettas for theatre companies there. His greatest success came from Csárdáskirálynõ (1915; “The Czardas Queen”); it was performed by almost every musical theatre in the world, often enjoying runs of thousands of performances. The productions of his works Bajadér (1921; “Bayadère”), Marica grófnõ (1924; “Countess Marica”), Cirkuszhercegnõ (1926; “Princess of the Circus”), and Montmartre-i ibolya (1930; “Montmartre Violet”) rescued several theatres from bankruptcy.
In 1936 the premiere of his operetta Josephine császárnõ (“Empress Josephine”) took place not in Vienna but in Zürich because of increasing political tension in Austria. With the Nazi occupation of Austria in 1938, Kálmán and his family fled to Paris and then, in 1940, to the United States. There he pursued a successful career as a conductor of his own works. In 1945 he returned to Europe, settling in Paris. He received the cross of the Legion of Honour from the French government. He was buried in Vienna.
