Chronology, 1855–1950

Sources include the Zeittafel in Bernard Grun, Kulturgeschichte der Operette (Munich: Langen Müller Verlag, 1961), 552–63; the chronology in Ewen, European Light Opera, 263–7; Bernard Grun, The Timetables of History: A Horizontal Linkage of People and Events (New York: Simon and Schuster, new edition 1979); Hywell Williams, Cassell’s Chronology of World History: Dates, Events and Ideas that Made History (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2005), and Music and History http://musicandhistory.com/.

1855

Alexander II becomes Tsar of Russia. Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman. Les deux aveugles and Ba-ta-clan, Offenbach.

1856

Crimean War ends. Sigmund Freud born. Les Contemplations, Hugo. Le financier et le savetier, Offenbach. Schumann dies.

1857

Siege of Delhi. Madame Bovary, Flaubert. Le mariage aux lanternes, Offenbach.

1858

Arthur Sullivan studies in Leipzig. Covent Garden opera house is built. Orphée aux enfers, Offenbach.

1859

Victor Herbert born. On the Origin of Species, Darwin. A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens. Faust, Gounod. Geneviève de Brabant, Offenbach.

1860

End of Second Opium War (China); Victor Emmanuel proclaimed king of Italy. Das Pensionat, Suppé (first Viennese operetta).

1861

Abraham Lincoln is President of the USA; outbreak of US Civil War. The emancipation of Russian serfs is completed. Great Expectations, Dickens. La Chanson de Fortunio, Offenbach.

1862

Bismarck becomes prime minister of Prussia. Austrian botanist Ludwig Ritter von Köchel catalogues Mozart’s compositions. Anton Rubinstein founds St Petersburg Conservatoire. The first Monte Carlo gambling casino opens in Monaco. Fathers and Sons, Turgenev. La forza del destino, Verdi. Bavard et bavarde, Offenbach.

1863

Emancipation Proclamation issued by Lincoln. World’s first underground railway opens in London (The London Underground). The Football Association is established in London and draws up the rules for the game. First instalment of War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy published. Lischen et Frizchen, Offenbach.

1864

Marx founds First International Workingmen’s Association. Notes from the Underground, Dostoyevsky; Voyage au centre de la terre, Jules Verne. Millöcker is Kapellmeister in Graz. Ku Klux Klan (KKK) is formed in Pulaski, Tennessee. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll. La belle Hélène, Offenbach.

1865

End of American Civil War. Tristan und Isolde, Richard Wagner. Die schöne Galathée, Franz von Suppé.

1866

Austro-Prussian War. Cretan Revolt. Paul Lincke born. Travel agent Thomas Cook offers its first organized tours to the USA. Moscow Conservatoire is founded by Nicholas Rubinstein. Crime and Punishment and The Gambler, Dostoyevsky. Barbe-bleue and La vie parisienne, Offenbach; Les chevaliers de la table ronde, Hervé; Leichte Kavallerie, Suppé.

1867

Paris World Exposition. The USA buys Alaska from Russia for $7,200,200. Peer Gynt, Ibsen; Thérèse Raquin, Zola. La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein, Offenbach. Granados born.

1868

Shogunate abolished in Japan. Spanish Revolution. The game of badminton invented in Gloucester. Die Meistersinger, Wagner. La Périchole, Offenbach.

1869

Opening of the Suez Canal. The National Woman Suffrage Association is established in the USA. The first college for women is founded at Cambridge University (Girton College). Rickshaw invented in Japan. The Idiot, Dostoyevsky. The first performance of Wagner’s Das Rheingold in Munich. Les brigands, Offenbach; Le petit Faust, Hervé. Berlioz dies.

1870

Franco-Prussian War. Franz Lehár and Oscar Straus born. Vingt mille lieues sous les mers, Jules Verne. Dickens dies.

1871

Paris Commune. The Royal Albert Hall opens in London. The German Second Reich. Stanley finds Livingstone in East Africa. Johann Strauss Jr visits the USA. Aida, Giuseppe Verdi, premiered at the newly built Cairo Opera House. Indigo und die 40 Räuber, Strauss.

1872

World Peace Jubilee, Boston. Japan’s first railway opens, built by British engineers. James Abbott McNeill Whistler paints Arrangement in Grey and Black No 1: Portrait of the Painter’s Mother. La fille de Madame Angot, Charles Lecocq.

1873

Crash of the Vienna Stock Exchange in May. Leo Fall born. Une Saison en enfer, Arthur Rimbaud; Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours, Jules Verne. La veuve du Malabar, Hervé.

1874

The first Remington typewriter is sold. First impressionist exhibition, Paris. Boris Godunov, Mussorgsky; Die Fledermaus, Johann Strauss. Giroflé-Girofla, Lecocq; El barberillo, Barbieri.

1875

Uprising against Ottoman rule in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Paris Opera House, designed by Charles Garnier, is completed, where Bizet’s Carmen is premiered. Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor, Tchaikovsky. Trial by Jury, Gilbert and Sullivan.

1876

Japan recognizes Korea’s independence from China. Bayreuth Festival opens. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain; Daniel Deronda, George Eliot. Offenbach in the USA. Fatinitza, Suppé. Manuel de Falla born.

1877

Russo-Turkish War. Queen Victoria proclaimed Empress of India. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy. Swan Lake, Tchaikovsky. Les cloches de Corneville, Robert Planquette.

1878

Congress of Berlin. H.M.S. Pinafore, Gilbert and Sullivan; Madame Favart, Offenbach.

1879

Zulu War. Frank Winfield Woolworth opens the store where everything costs 5 cents. Albert Einstein born. Eugene Onegin, Tchaikovsky. Gilbert and Sullivan in the USA. Boccaccio, Suppé; Gräfin Dubarry, Millöcker; The Pirates of Penzance, Gilbert and Sullivan.

1880

Disraeli resigns and Gladstone becomes prime minister for a second time. The game of table tennis is invented. Robert Stolz born. Victor Herbert is a cellist in the Strauss Orchestra. Nana, Zola. L’Arbre de Noël, Lecocq. Flaubert and Offenbach die.

1881

Alexander II is assassinated and is succeeded by his son, Alexander III. Boston Symphony Orchestra is founded. Electric lighting in the Savoy Theatre, London. Der lustige Krieg, Strauss. Patience, or Bunthorne’s Bride, Gilbert and Sullivan. Mussorgsky and Nicholas Rubinstein die.

1882

Robert Koch discovers that tuberculosis is a communicable disease. Parsifal, Wagner. Emmerich Kálmán born. Der Bettelstudent, Millöcker; Iolanthe, Gilbert and Sullivan.

1883

Metropolitan Opera House opens. Brooklyn Bridge opens. Eine Nacht in Venedig, Strauss; Mam’zelle Nitouche, Hervé. Wagner dies.

1884

Paul Nipkow’s invention of rotating scanning devices anticipates development of television technology. Ralph Benatzky born. Princess Ida, Gilbert and Sullivan; Gasparone, Millöcker.

1885

Fingerprint identification system is invented. A bicycle with two wheels of the same size is developed in France. The Boston Pops Orchestra is formed and gives the first concert of light classical music. Eduard Künneke, Jerome Kern and Alban Berg born. Germinal, Zola. Der Zigeunerbaron, Strauss; The Mikado, Gilbert and Sullivan.

1886

Gladstone introduces Irish Home Rule Bill. Coca Cola is invented as a headache and hangover cure. Liszt dies. Le Baiser (sculpture), Auguste Rodin. La Gran Vía, Chueca.

1887

Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. Esperanto is invented. Otello, Verdi. Ruddigore, Gilbert and Sullivan; Ali-Baba, Lecocq.

1888

Dunlop invents the pneumatic tyre. Irving Berlin born. The Sunflowers, Vincent Van Gogh. The Yeomen of the Guard, Gilbert and Sullivan.

1889

Eiffel Tower opens as entrance to the World Exposition in Paris where Ode triomphale en l’honneur du centenaire de 1789 by Augusta Holmès is premiered by 1,200 performers. Three Men in a Boat, Jerome K. Jerome. Les Bourgeois de Calais, Rodin. The Gondoliers, Gilbert and Sullivan.

1890

First Japanese general election. Electric chair is introduced in New York state as a ‘humane alternative’ to hanging. Paul Whiteman born. Frühlings Erwachen (Spring Awakening), Frank Wedekind. Sleeping Beauty and Queen of Spades, Tchaikovsky; Cavalleria rusticana, Pietro Mascagni. L’Égyptienne, Lecocq.

1891

Formation of the Young Turk Movement. The first advertising agency is founded in New York. A telephone link is established between London and Paris. Carnegie Hall opens in New York. The first electric oven for domestic use is sold in the USA. Hedda Gabler, Ibsen; The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde. Der Vogelhändler, Zeller.

1892

Pan-Slav Conference, Kraków. Paul Abraham born. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; The Diary of a Nobody, George and Weedon Grossmith. The Nutcracker, Tchaikovsky; Werther, Massenet.

1893

World Exposition, Chicago. Wall Street market crash is followed by a four-year depression. The first cultured pearl is produced in Japan. Ivor Novello and Cole Porter born. The Scream, Edvard Munch. Hänsel und Gretel, Engelbert Humperdinck; Symphony No. 6 in E minor (Pathétique), Tchaikovsky.

1894

Tsar Alexander III dies and is succeeded by his son Nicholas II. First motorcycle (Hilldebrand & Wolfmüller, Munich). Arms and the Man, Shaw; The Jungle Book, Rudyard Kipling. Der Obersteiger, Zeller. La verbena de la Paloma, Bretón.

1895

Gillette invents the safety razor. The first American pizzeria opens in New York. Oscar Wilde is sentenced to two years’ hard labour for ‘gross indecency’ (homosexual behaviour). Brothers Lumière stage the first public screening of a motion picture in Paris. The first commercial screening of a four-minute film of a boxing match in New York. Henry Wood conducts the first of the annual Promenade Concerts (‘Proms’) in London. Waldmeister, Strauss; The Wizard of the Nile, Herbert. Suppé dies.

1896

Marconi invents the wireless telegraph. Daily Mail is founded. The Tate Gallery opens in London. The Seagull, Chekhov. The Geisha, Sidney Jones. Bruckner dies.

1897

Famine in India. Discovery of the electron. La Bohème, Giacomo Puccini. The Stars and Stripes Forever, Sousa. The Belle of New York, Gustave Kerker. Brahms dies. La revoltosa, Chapi.

1898

Construction of Paris métro begins. Stanislavsky founds Moscow Arts Theatre. George Gershwin and Vincent Youmans born. Véronique, André Messager; Der Opernball, Heuberger; The Fortune Teller, Herbert. Spanish–American War.

1899

Boer War. Global cholera pandemic starts. Aspirin is developed. Uncle Vanya, Chekhov; Resurrection, Leo Tolstoy. Frau Luna, Lincke; Die Landstreicher, Ziehrer. Johann Strauss and Suppé die.

1900

Paris métro opens. First Mercedes car. Kurt Weill born. Isaak Dunayevsky born. Tosca, Puccini. Arthur Sullivan dies.

1901

The Commonwealth of Australia established. Queen Victoria dies. Marconi transmits the first transatlantic wireless signals. First Nobel prizes are awarded. Buddenbrooks, Thomas Mann. The Toreador, Caryll. Verdi dies.

1902

Caruso’s first acoustic recordings. Richard Rodgers born. Imperialism, J. A. Hobson. Merrie England, Edward German; The Duchess of Dantzic, Caryll.

1903

The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party splits into Menshevik and Bolshevik factions. Severe anti-Jewish pogroms begin in Russia. Emmeline Pankhurst founds the Women’s Social and Political Union. First successful aeroplane flight by the Wright brothers. The Cherry Orchard, Chekhov. Bruder Straubinger, Eysler; Babes in Toyland, Herbert. Planquette and Whistler die.

1904

Japanese–Russian War. The Trans-Siberian Railway opens. First radio transmission of music in Graz, Austria. Picasso’s ‘pink period’ begins with his arrival in Paris. Madama Butterfly, Puccini. Die lustigen Nibelungen, Straus. Chekhov dies.

1905

‘Bloody Sunday’ in Russia provokes a series of revolutionary outbursts. A treaty of separation between Sweden and Norway is signed. Einstein’s theory of relativity. Salome, Richard Strauss. Die lustige Witwe, Lehár.

1906

Opening of Simplon rail tunnel between Switzerland and Italy. Tausend und eine Nacht, Strauss, arr. Reiterer. Cézanne dies.

1907

First mass march by suffragettes in London. Women are given the right to vote in Norway. Florenz Ziegfeld’s revue Follies of 1907 starts a new vogue for the slim figure as a model for female fashion. Ein Walzertraum, Straus; Der fidele Bauer, Fall; Die Dollarprinzessin, Fall.

1908

Model T Ford car. Two-sided phonograph record discs are invented. Der tapfere Soldat, Straus; Die geschiedene Frau, Fall. The Kiss, Gustav Klimt.

1909

Freud gives lectures in the USA on psychoanalysis. The Victoria and Albert Museum opens in London. Elektra, R. Strauss. Ein Herbstmanöver, Kálmán; Der Graf von Luxemburg, Lehár; The Arcadians, Talbot and Mockton.

1910

Traité de radioactivité, Marie Curie. The Firebird, Stravinsky. Zigeunerliebe, Lehár; Die keusche Susanne, Jean Gilbert; Naughty Marietta, Herbert. Leo Tolstoy dies.

1911

Famine causes mass starvation in Russia. Revolution in China. ‘Alexander’s Ragtime Band’, Berlin; Der Rosenkavalier, R. Strauss. Eva, Lehár. Mahler dies.

1912

Sinking of the Titanic. Pierrot Lunaire, Schoenberg. Der Zigeunerprimas, Kálmán; Der liebe Augustin, Fall; Der lila Domino, Cuvillier. La generala, Vives.

1913

Balkan War. Grand Central Station is completed in New York. Man with a Guitar, Picasso. Le sacre du printemps, Stravinsky. Endlich allein, Lehár; Die Kino-Königin, Gilbert; Polenblut, Nedbal; Sweethearts, Herbert; La vida breve, Falla.

1914

World War I commences. Concert of noise music in Milan given by Luigi Russolo. Dubliners and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce. Rund um die Liebe, Straus.

1915

Torpedo sinks the Lusitania. Absinthe is outlawed in France. In the USA, the millionth Ford car is produced. Die Csárdásfürstin, Kálmán; Die Kaiserin, Fall.

1916

Easter Rising, Dublin. Die Rose von Stambul, Fall; Das Dreimäderlhaus, Berté/Schubert; Chu Chin Chow, Asche and Norton.

1917

Russian Revolution. Schwarzwaldmädel, Leon Jessel; The Maid of the Mountains, Harold Fraser-Simson.

1918

End of World War I, but there is worldwide deadly influenza pandemic from January 1918 to December 1920. Leonard Bernstein born. Lecocq dies. Wo die Lerche singt, Lehár; Phi-Phi, Christiné.

1919

Spartacist Uprising, Germany. Das Dorf ohne Glocke, Kunneke; Die Frau im Hermelin, Gilbert; Monsieur Beaucaire, Messager; La La Lucille, Gershwin.

1920

League of Nations established. Das Hollandweibchen, Kálmán; Die blaue Mazur, Lehár; Der letzte Walzer, Straus; Sally, Kern.

1921

BBC founded. First regular radio programmes begin in USA. Der Tanz ins Glück, Stolz; Der Vetter aus Dingsda, Künneke; Die Bajadere, Kálmán; Blossom Time, Romberg.

1922

Creation of Irish Free State. Mussolini becomes Italian Prime Minister. Frasquita, Lehár; Madame Pompadour, Fall.

1923

Value of German mark drops severely. Die Perlen der Cleopatra, Straus; Mädi, Stolz; Katja, die Tänzerin, Gilbert; Ciboulette, Hahn; Doña Francisquita, Vives.

1924

Herbert and Puccini die. Gräfin Mariza, Kálmán; Rose-Marie, Rudolf Friml; The Student Prince, Sigmund Romberg; Lady Be Good, Gershwin.

1925

Fall dies. Der Orlow, Granichstaedten; Paganini, Lehár; No, No, Nanette, Youmans.

1926

General Strike, UK. Muskrat Ramble, first of Armstrong’s Hot Five recordings. Die Zirkusprinzessin, Kálmán; The Desert Song, Romberg; Oh Kay!, Gershwin.

1927

Der Zarewitsch, Lehár; Die gold’ne Meisterin, Eysler; A Connecticut Yankee, Rodgers; Funny Face, Gershwin; Show Boat, Kern.

1928

Fleming discovers penicillin. Gershwin in Vienna. Friederike, Lehár; Die Herzogin von Chicago, Kálmán; Die Dreigroschenoper, Weill; The New Moon, Romberg; Casanova, Benatzky/Strauss.

1929

Wall Street Crash. Das Land des Lächelns, Lehár; Strike up the Band, Gershwin; Bitter Sweet, Noël Coward.

1930

Viktoria und ihr Husar, Abraham; Im weißen Rössl, Benatzky; Schön ist die Welt, Lehár; Walzer aus Wien, Strauss/Korngold/Bittner; Die Drei von der Tankstelle (film operetta), Heymann.

1931

Die Blume von Hawai, Abraham; Of Thee I Sing, Gershwin; Die Dubarry, Millöcker, arr. Mackeben; Der Kongress tanzt (film operetta), Heymann.

1932

Famine in USSR. Ball im Savoy, Abraham; Glückliche Reise, Künneke; Wenn die kleinen Veilchen blühn, Stolz; Eine Frau, die weiss, was sie will, Straus; Gay Divorce, Cole Porter.

1933

Hitler becomes Chancellor. Clivia, Dostal; Zwei Herzen in Dreivierteltakt, Stolz; Let ’em Eat Cake, Gershwin.

1934

Mosley holds Fascist mass meetings in UK. Giuditta, Lehár; Anything Goes, Porter; Conversation Piece, Coward.

1935

Porgy and Bess, Gershwin; Drei Walzer, Strauss/Straus; Glamorous Night, Novello; Der Kuhhandel, Weill.

1936

Spanish Civil War. BBC television service begins. Careless Rapture, Novello; Johnny Johnson, Weill; On Your Toes, Rodgers; Kaiserin Josephine, Kálmán; La tabernera del puerto, Sorozábal.

1937

Gershwin dies. Polnische Hochzeit, Beer; Die Maske in Blau, Raymond; The Cradle Will Rock, Marc Blitzstein; Crest of the Wave, Novello; Babes in Arms, Rodgers.

1938

Austrian Anschluss. Saison in Salzburg, Raymond; The Boys from Syracuse, Rodgers; Operette, Coward.

1939

World War II commences. Die ungarische Hochzeit, Dostal; The Dancing Years, Novello.

1940

Trotsky assassinated in Mexico. Die Geigerin von Wien, Steinbrecher; Ein Liebestraum, Lincke.

1941

Bombing of Pearl Harbor. Quatuor pour le fin du temps, Messiaen. Traumland, Künneke; Lady in the Dark, Weill.

1942

Mass extermination of Jews by Nazis using gas chambers. Symphony No. 7, ‘Leningrad’, Shostakovich. Hochzeitsnacht im Paradies, Schröder; Black, el pavaso, Sorozábal.

1943

Warsaw ghetto massacre. Oklahoma!, Rodgers and Hammerstein; One Touch of Venus, Weill.

1944

D-Day landings in Normandy. On the Town, Bernstein.

1945

Nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. World War II ends; Nuremberg trials begin; United Nations established. Kern and Youmans die. Perchance to Dream, Novello; Carousel, Rodgers.

1946

Peace conference attended by twenty-one nations in Paris. Lincke dies. Annie Get Your Gun, Berlin.

1947

Partition of India into two independent states. Brigadoon, Lerner and Loewe; Street Scene, Weill.

1948

Gandhi assassinated. Lehár dies. Kiss Me, Kate, Porter.

1949

Communist People’s Republic proclaimed in China. South Pacific, Rodgers and Hammerstein; King’s Rhapsody, Novello.

1950

Protests in Johannesburg against apartheid. Weill dies. Call Me Madam, Berlin; Guys and Dolls, Loesser; Feuerwerk, Burkhardt.