1946
The League of Nations is wound up • The United Nations establish permanent headquarters in New York; Trygve Lie (Nor) is elected secretary-general • Albania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia adopt Communist governments • King Vittorio Emanuele III of Italy abdicates; is succeeded by his son, Umberto II, who leaves Italy aftera referendum favouring a republic • Republic of Hungary proclaimed • Jordan becomes independent • Juan Peron becomes president of Argentina • The Philippines becomes an independent republic • US Supreme Court declares racial segregation on interstate buses unconstitutional • Marc Chagall (Russ/Fr) paints Cow with Sunshade
1947
UN approves a partition of Palestine with an internationalised Jerusalem against strong Arab opposition • Independence of India creates separate dominions of India and Pakistan; riots follow • Burma becomes an independent republic • Ceylon (later Sri Lanka) gains independence as a dominion • General Agreement on Tariffs and Tradesis signed by 23 countries • US Marshall Plan for European recovery is established • The Dead Sea Scrolls are discovered at Qumran, Jordan • Jackson Pollock pours paint on to canvas in what becomes known as his ‘drip period’ • Marc Chagall The Falling Angel (1923 - 1947) • Tennessee Williams (US): A Streetcar Named Desire • Yasunari Kawabata (Jap): Snow Country
1948
Indian religious leader Mohandas K. Gandhi is assassinated • The ‘Cold War’ intensifies; Russians begin a blockade of West Berlin; Western Powers start a successful airlift in reply • British mandate in Palestine ends: Jews proclaim the State of Israel, which is immediately recognised by the USA; an Arab-lsraeli war begins • Republic of Korea is established with Seoul as its capital; Communist North Korea is established as a rival republic • South Africa adopts Apartheid as official policy • John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley (US) unveil the transistor • Jackson Pollock (US) paints Number One • Ezra Pound (US): The Pisan Cantos • Evelyn Waugh (Eng): The Loved One
1949
Communist forces under Mao Tse-tung seize power in China • Belgium, Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and the USA pledge mutual assistance in the North Atlantic Treaty • The Council of Europe is established in Strasbourg • West Germany becomes the German Federal Republic •The USSR ends its blockade of Berlin • The East German Democratic Republic is created • India becomes a republic within the British Commonwealth • The USA withdraws its occupying forces from South Korea • Russians test their first atomic bomb • Fienry Moore (Eng) sculpts Family Group • George Orwell (Eng): 1984
1950
The USSR announces it has the atomic bomb • The McCarthy Committee begins a ‘witch-hunt’ of Communists in the USA • The German Federal Republic becomes a member of the Council of Europe • The Korean War (until 1953) begins when North Korean troops invade South Korea; UN sends troops to aid South Korea; Chinese forces come to the aid of the North Koreans • Albert Giacometti (Switz) sculpts Seven Figures and a Head • Jackson Pollock (US) paints Autumn Rhythm (No. 30) • Mark Rothko (Latvia/US) paints rectangular No. 10 • Belfast-born C. S. Lewis launches his Narnia Chronicles with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III (March 26, 1911– February 25, 1983) was an American playwright. Along with Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the three foremost playwrights of 20th-century American drama.
1946
Igor Stravinsky introduces his Symphony in Three Movements in New York.
Igor Stravinsky - Symphony in Three Movements
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Igor Stravinsky
London, December 1958
Arthur Honegger responds to the horrors of war in his Symphony No. 3 (Symphonie liturgique). This year also marks his lighter Symphony No. 4.
Honegger: Sinfonia n.4 "Deliciae Basilienses" (H. 191) Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion
Française diretta da Georges Tzipine
I. Lento e misterioso
II. Larghetto
III. Allegro
Honegger — Symphony No. 3 "Symphonie Liturgique"
0:00 — I. Dies irae
7:31 — II. De profundis clamavi
19:21 — III. Dona nobis pacem
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Conductor: Mariss Jansons
25 January
Sacher conducts the first performance of Richard Strauss’s sombre Metamorphosen, scored for 23 solo strings, in Zurich.
Richard Strauss: Metamorphosen for 23 strings
Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, 2016
Terje Tønnesen, artistic leader
8 February
Bela Bartok’s Third Piano Concerto, completed by Tibor Serly. is posthumously premiered in Philadelphia.
Béla Bartók - Piano Concerto No. 3 in E major, Sz. 119, BB 127
Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Ferenc Fricsay
Soloist: Géza Anda - Year of recording: 1959
00:00 - I. Allegretto
07:22 - II. Adagio religioso
17:38 - III. Allegro vivace
25 March
Igor Stravinsky’s Ebony Concerto (1945) for clarinet and jazz band is performed for the first time, in New York. The composer describes it as ‘a jazz concerto grosso with a blues slow movement’.
Stravinsky - Ebony Concerto for clarinet and jazz band
Conductor: Michel Havenith
Clarinet solo: Sigrid Heijdra.
Ebony Ensemble - 2012, Zoetermeer, Netherlands
5 April
Charles Ives has his entire Third Symphony (completed c.1911) premiered under the direction of Lou Harrison in New York. Subtitled The Camp Meeting, the piece wins Ives a Pulitzer Prize the following year, 'though the septuagenarian away, declaring, ‘prizes are grown up’.
Ives: Symphony No. 3 "The Camp Meeting"
The Orchestra Now, conducted by James Bagwell
Andante: Old Folks Gatherin’ 0:04
Allegro: Children's Day 7:39
Largo: Communion 14:11
14 May
Paul Hindemith’s When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom’d, a ‘Requiem for those we love’, based on the poem by Walt Whitman, is introduced in New York. This year the composer takes American citizenship.
Hindemith: When liilacs last in the dooryard bloom'd: A Requiem...
1.Prelude
2. Quiet - When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom'd (baritone and chorus)
3. Arioso. In the swamp (mezzo-soprano)
4. March. Over the breast of spring
5. Fast. O western orb (baritone and chorus)
6. Arioso. Sing on, there in the swamp
7. Song. O how shall I warble
8. Introduction and Fugue. Lo! body and soul
9. Sing on! you gray-brown bird
10. Death Carol. Come, lovely and soothing Death (chorus)
11. To the tally of my soul
12. Finale. Passing the visions (mezzo-soprano, baritone, and chorus)
Louise Parker, contralto
Geroge London,bass-baritone
The Schola Cantorum of New York
New York Philharmonic
Conducted by Paul Hindemith, 1946
12 June
Part I of Sergei Prokofiev’s operatic epic War and Peace (1942), based on Tolstoy’s novel, is introduced in Leningrad. Part II, scheduled the following year, fails to progress beyond its dress rehearsal. Prokofiev will make continued revisions to his sixth and final opera over the next six years.