1926
Hejaz becomes the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia • Germany is admitted to the League of Nations • The Riff rebels, led by Abd-el-Krim, are defeated in Morocco by the French • Lebanon becomes a republic • The Russian revolutionary leader Lev Trotsky is expelled from the Soviet Politburo • General Strike (first and last) across Britain lasts ten days • The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is formed with a royal charter • John Logie Baird (Scot) demonstrates television in London • British economist John Keynes: The End of Laisez-Faire • T. E. Lawrence (‘of Arabia’): autobiographical The Seven Pillars of Wisdom • Ernest Hemingway (US) The Sun Also Rises
1927
Allied military control ends in Germany and Hungary • Josef Stalin secures political control in the Soviet Union; Lev Trotsky is expelled from the Russian Communist Party • Chinese Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-Shek purges communists from the Kuomintang • The German economy collapses and the Mark becomes worthless • German scientists Fritz London and Walter Heitler introduce concept of quantum chemistry • Charles Lindbergh (US) makes first solo transatlantic flight • Universum Film AG (Ger) release Fritz Lang’s pioneering science-fiction film Metropolis • L. S. Lowry (Eng) paints Peel Park, Salford • Virginia Woolf (Eng): To the Lighthouse
1928
Albania becomes a kingdom, with King Zog as monarch • The Fascist Grand Council extends its political power in Italy • Newly-elected president Alvato Obregon of Mexico is assassinated • The Soviet Union launches its first five-year Economic Plan • The Economy of Brazil collapses • Islam ceases to be the state religion of Turkey • Alexander Fleming (Scot) discovers penicillin • Voting rights for women over 21 in Britain • First Mickey Mouse cartoons are released, including Steamboat Willie—first cartoon with synchronised sound • John Logie Baird (Scot) demonstrates early colour television • Rene Magritte (Belg) paints The Empty Mask • Evelyn Waugh (Eng): Decline and Fall
1929
Herbert Hoover becomes 31st President of the USA • A world economic crises begins with the collapse of the US Stock Exchange • Fascists monopolise Italian parliament • An experimental public TV service begins in Britain; regular TV broadcasts begin in Germany • Italian government recognises Vatican City as an independent state • Popeye the Sailor makes his comic strip debut • Paul Klee (Switz) paints Monument in Fertile Country • Salvador Dali (Sp) paints Enigma and gives his first solo exhibition, in Paris • Ernest Hemingway (US): A Farewell to Arms • D. H. Lawrence (Eng): Lady Chatterley’s Lover • Erich Remarque (Ger): All Quiet on the Western Front
1930
In the USA, the Great Depression worsens and unemployment grows • Indian ‘Salt March’: Mohandas Gandhi leads a civil disobedience campaign seeking independence from British rule; he and thousands of protestors are arrested and jailed • Haille Selassie (statesman Ras Tafari) becomes Emperor of Ethiopia • The Allied occupation of Germany (since World War I) ends • The National Socialists (Nazis) win one third of the seats in the German Reichstag • The Empire State Building is built in New York (USA) • Clyde Tombaugh (US) discovers the planet Pluto • Uruguay wins the first World Cup football final • Grant Wood (US) paints American Gothic • Noel Coward (Eng): play Private Lives

Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his adventurous lifestyle and his public image brought him admiration from later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the mid-1950s, and won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. He published seven novels, six short-story collections, and two non-fiction works.
1926
Bela Bartok in a flurry of piano compositions, writes Out of Doors (suite), Nine Little Pieces, the Piano Sonata and the Piano Concerto, and the first works of his compilation Mikrokosmos.
Bartok - Nine Little Pieces, Sz. 82
Chris Breemer, piano
Béla Bartók - Piano Sonata Sz.80
Dušan Holý - piano
Béla Bartók - Piano Concerto No. 1
Radio Symphonie Orchester Berlin - Ferenc Fricsay
Soloist: Géza Anda, 1960
Béla Bartók - Microcosmos, Part I, II & III
Microcosmos - part I
Volume I, II & III
Parts 1 - 16
Claude Helffer, piano
Håkon Austbø, second piano
Recorded in december 1972 - january 1973
Béla Bartók - Microcosmos - part IV, V & VI
Nrs. 1 - 12
Claude Helffer, piano
Håkon Austbø, second piano
Béla Bartók: Out of Doors [“Szabadban”], Sz. 81, BB 89 Piano: Zoltán Kocsis
5 November
Manuel de Falla conducts the first performance of his neo-classical Concerto for Harpsichord, Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Violin and Cello—one of his last and finest pieces—in Barcelona. At the keyboard is the renowned harpsichordist Wanda Landowska, who has suggested and commissioned the work.
Manuel de Falla: Concerto per clavicembalo, flauto, oboe, clarineto, violino e violoncello
Allegro • 3:10 Lento - Tempo giusto - Molto energico • 9:10 Vivace
Joaquín Achúcarro, Mata, London Symphony Orchestra
9 November
Dresden Staatsoper debuts Paul Hindemith’s opera Cardillac.
"CARDILLAC" - Paul Hindemith
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau--Cardillac
Elisabeth Söderstrom--The Lady
Leonore Kirschstein--Cardillac's Daughter
Joseph Keilbeth--Conductor
Köln Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester, 1968
11 November
Heitor Villa-Lobos melds popular Brazilian song, rainforest evocations and contemporary classical harmonies in his Choros No. 10, colourfully scored for chorus and orchestra, premiered in Rio de Janerio.
Heitor Villa-Lobos
Chôros No. 10, W209 ("Rasga o Coração"):
0:21 – Animé
2:51 – Lent
6:18 – Très peu animé et bien rhytmé
Zóltan Kocsis, conductor - Hungarian National Philharmonic
12 January
Composer Morton Feldman is born in New York.
26 April
Giacomo Puccini’s unfinished opera Turandot is introduced posthumously under Toscanini at La Scala, Milan. Completed by Franco Alfano, the audience only hears the music of Puccini: after the death of the slave girl Liu in Act 3, Toscanini lays down his baton and proclaims, 'Here, at this point, Puccini broke off his work’.