1891
Germany, Austria and Italy renew their Triple Alliance; Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany fails to persuade Britain to join • Nyasaland (now Malawi) becomes a British protectorate • Britain and Italy agree spheres of influence in East Africa • Building of the Trans Siberian Railroad is begun • Physicist Johnstone Stoney (Ire) coins the word electron’ • Anthropologist Eugene Dubois (Neth) discovers bones of Pithecanthropus erectus (Java Man) • Paul Gauguin (Fr) paints Women on the Beach • Thomas Hardy (Eng): Tess of The D’Urbervilles • Rudyard Kipling (Eng): The Light that Failed • Oscar Wilde (Ire): The Picture of Dorian Gray
1892
The People’s Party, founded in St Louis, Mo, urges financial reforms • Corruption in Panama Canal dealings causes scandal in France • In Egypt, Abbas Hilmi II (pro French, anti-British) succeeds Tewfik Pasha as khedive (ruler) • Russia suffers famine • The marriage age for girls in Italy is raised to 12 years • English physicist Oliver Heavsidet discovers the ionosphere • Pierre-Auguste Renoir (Fr) paints Girls at the Piano • Toulouse-Lautrec (Fr) paints At the Moulin Rouge • Paul Cezanne (Fr) paints The Card players • Oscar Wilde (Ire): play Lady Windermere’s Fan • Henrik Ibsen (Nor): play The Master Butler • Emile Zola (Fr): The Debacle
1893
The Independent Labour Party is founded in Britain • Financial panic in USA follows British investors’ sales of US stock • Ivory Coast and Guinea become French colonies, and Dahomey becomes a French protectorate • Uganda becomes a British colony • In southern Africa, British troops suppress a rising by Matabele tribesmen • Anarchist outrages in France include a bomb explosion in the Chamber of Deputies • Laos becomes a French protectorate • Women are given the vote in New Zealand • Paul Gauguin (Fr) paints Tahitian Landscape • Edvard Munch (Nor) paints first version of The Scream • Oscar Wilde (Ire): A Woman of No Importance
1894
French President Sadi Carnot is assassinated • Japan at war with China over Korea (until 1895) • Tsar Alexandr III of Russia dies; is succeeded by his son, Nikolai II • In France, army officer Alfred Dreyfus sentenced to life imprisonment for spying; evidence against him has been faked, and soon causes a public outcry • Italian forces invade Ethiopia • Inventor Hiram Maxim (US) experiments with a heavier-than-air flying machine • Bacteriologist Shibasaburo Kitasoto (Jap) isolates the bubonic plague germ • An inheritance tax is introduced in Britain • Monet (Fr) paints Rouen Cathedral • Rudyard Kipling (Eng): The Jungle Book • George Bernard Shaw (Ire): play Arms and the Man
1895
Armenians in Turkey form a revolutionary movement; Turks massacre many Armenians • Italian invaders are defeated by Ethiopians at Amba Alagi • Territories claimed by British South Africa Company named Rhodesia, after Cecil Rhodes • USA protests against brutal Spanish suppression of a Cuban uprising • Wilhelm Konrad Rontgen (Ger) detects X-rays • The Lumiere brothers (Fr) begin motion picture screenings • Sir Frederick Leighton (Eng) paints Flaming June • Vasily Surikov (Russ) paints The Conquest of Siberia by Yermak • H. G. Wells (Eng): The Time Machine • Oscar Wilde (Ire): The Importance of Being Ernest • Henryk Sienkiewicz (Pol): Quo Vadis

Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s. He is best remembered for his epigrams and plays, his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, and the circumstances of his imprisonment and early death.
1891
Antonin Dvorak composes his concert overture triptych Nature, Life and Love. He later renames each overture to emphasise its individual identity:
In Nature's Realm, Carnival and Othello (Opp. 91-93).
Antonín Dvořák: Nature, Life and Love, Overtures Opp. 91, 92 & 93
Hrůša, PKF – Prague Philharmonia
In Nature’s Realm, Op. 91 (Allegro ma non troppo)
14:54 Carnival, Overture Op. 92 (Allegro)
24:38 Othello Overture, Op. 93 (Lento)
Hugo Wolf completes his Spanisches Liederbuch (Spanish Song Book), begun two years previously. The two-volume set comprises 44 translated settings of Spanish poetry from the 16th and 17th centuries. The following year Wolf will complete the first volume of his Italienisches Liederbuch (Italian Song Book).
Hugo Wolf - "Spanisches Liederbuch"
Anne Sofie von Otter--Mezzo-soprano
Geoffrey Parsons--Piano
00:00:00 "Nun bin ich dein"
00:05:00 "Die ihr schwebet um diese Palmen"
00:08:15 "Ach, des Knaben Augen sind mir so schön und klar"
00:10:00 "Mühvoll komm' ich und beladen"
Hugo Wolf - "Italienisches Liederbuch"
Christian Gerhaher-Baritone
Gerold Huber-Piano
2009
10 January
Austrian composer Carl Zeller secures his greatest success with the operetta Der Vogelhandler (The Bird Seller), first performed at the Theater an der Wien (Vienna).
DER VOGELHÄNDLER - Carl Zeller
DER VOGELHÄNDLER - Carl Zeller
(operetta-audio), 1998
16 January
Stage composer Leo Delibes dies in Paris, aged 54.

Summer
Sergei Rachmaninov, aged 18, completes his First Piano Concerto, begun while studying at the Moscow Conservatory. He will revise it in 1917.
Sergei Rachmaninoff - Piano Concerto No. 1 in F-sharp minor, Op. 1 (1891, rev. 1917)
Performed by Simon Trpceski, pianist, with Vasily Petrenko conducting the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, recorded in 2010.
00:00 - No. 1: Vivace
12:20 - No. 2: Andante
18:55 - No. 3: Allegro vivace
2 August
Composer Arthur Bliss is born in Barnes, London.
9 October
Antonin Dvorak's Requiem (1890) premieres and delights the public at the Birmingham Music Festival. While in England the composer is awarded an honorary doctorate from Cambridge University.
Antonín Dvořák - Requiem.
Recorded in Chartres Cathedral on 6 September 2002.
Antonello Allemandi conducts the Colonne Orchestra and Choir. With Cécile Perrin (soprano), Sylvie Brunet (mezzo-soprano), Jean-Pierre Furlan (tenor) and René Schirrer (bass).
10 October
Frederick Delius achieves his first public performance with the Ibsen-inspired symphonic poem Paa Viddeme (On the Heights), introduced in Christiania.
Frederick Delius - Paa Vidderne, symphonic poem
Bergen Philharmonic orchestra
Sir Andrew Davis, conductor
Frederick Delius - Irmelin
Opera in three acts
Delius - Irmelin
Irmelin, a Princess - Eileen Hannan (soprano)
The King, her Father - Michael Rippon (baritone)
Nils, a Prince, Swineherd to Rolf - John Mitchinson (tenor)
Rolf, a robber - Brian Rayner Cook - (baritone)
Old Knight (First) - Eric Shilling - (baritone)
Young Knight (Second) - Michael Goldthorpe (tenor)
Warlike Knight (Third) - Philip O'Reilly (bass)
The Maid - Ann Howard (mezzo-soprano)
The Voice in the Air - Sally Bradshaw (soprano)
The Woman - Patricia Taylor - (mezzo-soprano
BBC Concert Orchestra BBC Singers Norman del Mar, conductor, 1984
11 April
Antonin Dvorak's Dumky Piano Trio (Op. 90) is heard for the first time, in Prague.
Antonin Dvorak - Piano Trio No. 4 in e minor, Op. 90 (Dumky)
- Margaret Soper Gutierrez, violin
- Charles Tucker, cello
- Alexandra Nguyen, piano
23 April
Composer Sergey Prokofiev is born in Sontsovka, Ukraine.

31 October
L'amico Fritz is an opera in three acts by Pietro Mascagni, premiered in 1891 from a libretto by P. Suardon (Nicola Daspuro) (with additions by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti), based on the French novel L'ami Fritz by Émile Erckmann and Pierre-Alexandre Chatrian.
Pietro Mascagni - Amico Fritz
Registrazione dal vivo Teatro di Livorno 2002
Ed. Casa Musicale Sonzogno - Milano
Orchestra e Coro CittàLirica
Direttore Roberto Tolomelli
Regia Simona Marchini
Direttore del Coro Marco Bargagna
Fritz Kobus - tenore José Bros
Suzel - soprano Dimitra Theodossiou
Beppe - messosoprano - Sandra-Pacheco Quintero
David - baritono - Alessandro Paliaga
Federico - tenore - Emanuele Giannino
Hanezò - basso - Antonio Taschini
Caterina - soprano Corinna Justian Schmidt
Arthur Bliss
Sir Arthur Bliss, original name in full Arthur Edward Drummond Bliss, (born August 2, 1891, London—died March 27, 1975, London), one of the leading English composers of the first half of the 20th century, noted both for his early, experimental works and for his later, more subjective compositions.
Bliss studied under Ralph Vaughan Williams and Gustav Holst. Up to the early 1920s, his music was frequently experimental, e.g., Rhapsody (1919), for solo voices and chamber ensemble, in which the voice plays an instrumental role, singing vocalises (meaningless syllables), and A Colour Symphony (1922, revised 1932), whose four movements are intended to suggest the colours purple, red, blue, and green. Later, although he never abandoned experimentation, he began composing in classical forms, e.g., the quintets for oboe and strings and for clarinet and strings, the Piano Concerto, and the Conversations for chamber orchestra. He composed the scores for three films, including Things to Come (1935; after H.G. Wells).
Other works include the television opera Tobias and the Angel (1960) and his choral symphony Morning Heroes (1930). His ballets are Checkmate (1937; choreographed by Ninette de Valois), Miracle in the Gorbals (1944; choreographed by Robert Helpmann), and Adam Zero (1946; Helpmann). His last composition, a choral work called Shield of Faith, was performed initially a few weeks after his death, at the 500th anniversary celebration at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor. Bliss was knighted in 1950 and in 1953 became Master of the Queen’s Musick.

Arthur Bliss - A Colour Symphony (1921/1932).
I. Purple. Andante Maestoso
II. Red. Allegro vivace [06:18]
III. Blue. Gently flowing [13:20]
IV. Green. Moderato [23:29]
English Northern Philharmonia diretta da David Lloyd-Jones.
Arthur Bliss - Checkmate
Ballet in one Scene with a Prologue (1937).
Royal Scottish National Orchestra diretta da David Lloyd-Jones.
Arthur Bliss - Metamorphic Variations, basato sul ciclo di dipinti "Tantris" di George Dannatt (1973).
I. Elements
II. Ballet [03:30]
III. Assertion [05:04]
IV. Speculation [07:20]
V. Interjections [09:09]
VI. Scherzo I [13:08]
VII. Contemplation [15:59]
VIII. Polonaise [18:24]
IX. Funeral Processions [22:10]
X. Cool Interlude [26:16]
XI. Scherzo II [29:13]
XII. Duet [30:58]
XIII. Dedicated to G.D. and A.D. [33:18]
XIV. Affirmation [34:09]
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra - David Lloyd-Jones
1892
Ernest Chausson completes his Poeme de l'amour et de la mer (Poem of love and the sea), scored for voice and orchestra.
Ernest Chausson - Poème de l'amour et de la mer, Op. 19 (1882-1890)
I. La Fleur des eaux
Ia. Interlude (12:34)
II. La Mort de l'amour (15:41)
Montserrat Caballé, soprano
Symphonica of London conducted by Wyn Morris
21 May
Ruggero Leoncavallo triumphs with the raw emotions of Pagliacci (Clowns, or Strolling Players), staged at the Teatro Dal Verme, Milan, and conducted by Toscanini.