| Year |
World Events |
Significant Musical Events |
Composer Births & Deaths |
| 1950 |
· Korean War begins
· Sen. Joseph McCarthy gains fame claiming rampant State Dept. Communist infiltration
· Assassination attempt on Pres. Truman
· Thor Heyerdahl: Kon-Tiki
· Bradbury: The Martian Chronicles |
· International Bach Year on bi-centennial of J.S. Bach's death
· Copland: Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson
· Gian Carlo Menotti: The Consul
· Poulenc: Stabat Mater |
|
| 1951 |
· Korean War intensifies
· Winston Churchill becomes British PM
· 22nd Amendment limits Pres. to two terms
· Heart-lung machine invented
· Color TV introduced in US
· J. D. Salinger: The Catcher in the Rye |
· Britten: Billy Budd
· Stravinsky: The Rake's Progress
· Vaughan Williams: The Pilgrim's Progress
· Gian Carlo Menotti: Amahl and the Night Visitors |
· Arnold Schoenberg died
· Serge Koussevitzky died
· Artur Schnabel died |
| 1952 |
· Elizabeth II crowned Queen of England
· Massive population shift from E. Berlin to free West Berlin
· US tests hydrogen bomb in Pacific
· Korean War ends
· First manufacture of contraceptive pill
· Hemingway: The Old Man and The Sea
· Steinbeck: East of Eden |
· Villa-Lobos: Guitar Concerto
· Walton: Orb & Sceptre Coronation March
· Hindemith: Cardillac
· Gail Kubik wins Pulitzer Prize for Symphony Concertante
· Harris: Symphony #7
· Bernstein: Trouble in Tahiti |
|
| 1953 |
· Former Allied Supreme Commander Dwight David Eisenhower becomes 34th US Pres.
· Death of Joseph Stalin, emergence of Nikita Kruschev at top of Russian government
· Miller: The Crucible
· Sir Edmund Hillary makes first successful climb to top of Mt. Everest |
· Britten: Gloriana
· Vaughan Williams: Sinfonia Antarctica
· Martinu: What Men Live By
· Bloch: Suite Hebraique
· William Schuman: Mighty Casey |
· Sergei Prokofiev died
· Arnold Bax died |
| 1954 |
· After 3+ years of making accusations and headlines, Joseph McCarthy gets his come-uppance on national television
· US Supreme Court issues opinion on Brown v. Board of Education: segregation illegal
· SS Nautilus becomes 1st nuclear sub
· Salk begins polio innoculation program
· Williams: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
· Tolkein: Lord of the Rings |
· Rodrigo: Fantasy for a Gentleman
· Copland: The Tender Land
· Britten: The Turn of the Screw
· Varese: Deserts
· Cage: 4'33'
· Schoenberg: Moses und Aron
· Walton: Troilus and Cressida
· Arturo Toscanini retires from conducting |
· Wilhelm Furtwangler died
· Charles Ives died |
| 1955 |
· Escalation of Jordan/Israel border conflicts
· Winston Churchill resigns from PM post
· Bus boycott by blacks in Montgomery, AL
· Death of Albert Einstein
· Vladimir Nabokov: Lolita
· Salvadore Dali: The Lord's Supper |
· Hovhaness: Symphony #2 (Mysterious Mountain)
· Prokofiev: Fiery Angel
· Tippett: The Midsummer Marriage
· Milhaud: Symphony #6
· Piston: Symphony #5 |
|
| 1956 |
· Israel invades Sinai Peninsula
· Egyptian president Nasser seizes Suez Canal
· Hungary occupied by Soviet troops
· Pres. Eisenhower sends first US troops to Vietnam
· Sabin develops oral Polio vaccine
· Sinking of the Andrea Doria
· Kennedy: Profiles in Courage (wins Pulitzer Prize) |
· Khachaturian: Spartacus
· William Schuman: New England Triptych
· Bernstein: Candide
· Stravinsky: Canticum Sacrum
· Herbert von Karajan named music director of Vienna State Opera
· Douglas Moore: Ballad of Baby Doe |
· Walter Gieseking died
· Erich Kleiber died |
| 1957 |
· Beginning of European Common Market
· Israel withdraws from Sinai Peninsula, UN regains control of Suez Canal
· Little Rock, Arkansas, is scene of major school desegregation crisis
· USSR launches 1st satellite: Sputnik
· Kerouac: On the Road
· Dr. Seuss: The Cat in the Hat |
· Poulenc: Dialogue of the Carmelites
· Walton: Cello Concerto
· Hindemith: Harmonie der Welt
· Britten: The Prince of the Pagodas
· Stravinsky: Agon |
· Jean Sibelius died
· Arturo Toscanini died
· Erich Wolfgang Korngold died |
| 1958 |
· Formation of United Arab Republic
· Fidel Castro wages populist conflict against Cuban president Batista
· NASA established
· Growth of Beatnik movement
· Capote: Breakfast at Tiffany's
· Pasternak: Dr. Zhivago
· Uris: Exodus |
· Varese: Poeme Electronique
· Britten: Noye's Fludde
· Van Cliburn wins Tchaikovsky Piano Competition
Barber: Vanessa
· Stravinsky: Lamentations of Jeremiah |
Ralph Vaughan Williams died |
| 1959 |
· Castro becomes Cuban Premier
· USSR sends monkeys into orbit
· Roth: Goodbye, Columbus
· Fleming: Goldfinger
· Michener: Hawaii
· Film: Ben Hur |
· Poulenc: Gloria
· Poulenc: The Human Voice |
· Heitor Villa-Lobos died
· Bohuslav Martinu died |
| 1960 |
· U-2 pilot Frances Gary Powers shot down over Russia, tried and convicted of spying
· First televised US presidential debate
· Construction of optical microwave laser
· US nuclear sub Triton goes around the world
· TV quiz show scandals
· Lee: To Kill A Mockingbird
· Shirer: Rise & Fall of the Third Reich
· Film: Psycho |
· Britten: A Midsummer Night's Dream
· Elliott Carter: String Quartet #2 |
· Jussi Bjoerling died
· Leonard Warren died
· Hugo Alfven died
· Ernst von Dohnanyi died |
| 1961 |
· John F. Kennedy is 35th US President
· Bay of Pigs fiasco (Cuba)
· Construction of Berlin Wall
· USSR Yuri Gagarin orbits earth
· US Alan Shepherd is first American in space
· Bobby Fischer becomes household name
· Heller: Catch-22
· Stone: The Agony and the Ecstacy |
· Britten: War Requiem
· Piston: Symphony #7 |
Sir Thomas Beecham died |
| 1962 |
· Cuban Missile Crisis
· U-2 pilot Frances Gary Powers exchanged
· Epidemic of 'thalidomide' babies in US
· James Meredith is first black to attend Univ. of Mississippi amidst campus riots
· Second Vatican Council
· Kesey: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
· Schulz: Happiness is a Warm Puppy |
· Tippett: King Priam
· Shostakovich: Symphony #12 |
· Bruno Walter died
· Jacques Ibert died
· Fritz Kreisler died
· Kirsten Flagstad died
· Alfred Cortot died |
| 1963 |
· President Kennedy assassinated
· Lyndon Johnson becomes 36th US President
· Britain excluded from Common Market
· Civil Rights riots in US South
· 'Hot Line' established between US/USSR
· Valentina Tereshkova becomes first female in space
· First use of artificial heart
· Movie: Dr. Strangelove
· Le Carre: Spy Who Came in from the Cold |
· Tippett: Concerto for Orchestra
· Gian Carlo Menotti: Death of Bishop of Brindisi
· Barber: Piano Concerto #1 |
· Francis Poulenc died
· Paul Hindemith died
· Edith Piaf died
· Fritz Reiner died |
| 1964 |
· Nikita Kruschev is removed from office by Politburo, replaced by Kosygin/Brezhnev
· LBJ defeats Goldwater in Pres. election
· First detailed photos of lunar surface
· Beatles' 'Ed Sullivan' appearance begins musical British Invasion in earnest
· Race riots in many US cities
· Popularity of discotheques
· Films: A Hard Day's Night, Mary Poppins |
· Britten: Curlew River
· Sessions: Montezuma |
|
| 1965 |
· Continued race riot violence in US cities
· Deaths of Churchill, Malcolm X
· Russian and American astronauts have first spacewalks
· Great Northeast Power Blackout results in significant birth rates 9 months later
· Op Art becomes very popular with Andy Warhol its unofficial spokesman
· Nader: Unsafe at Any Speed
· Films: The Sound of Music, Help! |
· Bernstein: Chichester Psalms
· Francaix: La Princesse de Cleve |
|
| 1966 |
· Indira Ghandi becomes India's Prime Minister
· Appearance or organized protests against US involvement in Vietnam
· USSR's Luna 9 makes first unmanned moon landing
· Capote: In Cold Blood
· Susann: Valley of the Dolls |
· William Schuman: The Witch of Endor
· Barber: Antony and Cleopatra |
|
| 1967 |
· Arab/Israeli Six-Day War
· Demonstrations for/against Vietnam War
· Thurgood Marshall becomes first African- American member of US Supreme Court
· First human heart transplant operation
· Cassius Clay indicted for refusing to serve in US Armed Forces in Vietnam
· Films: Belle de Jour, In the Heat of the Night, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner |
Walton: The Bear; |
· Zoltan Kodaly died
· Sir Malcolm Sargent died |
| 1968 |
· S.S. Pueblo incident
· LBJ announces he won't seek re-election, Robert F. Kennedy, leading Democractic candidate, assassinated in Los Angeles
· Martin Luther King, Jr., assassinated in Memphis, TN
· Czechoslovakia invaded by Soviet troops
· First manned orbit of moon
· Bob Beamon shatters world record for long jump at Summer Olympics (Mexico City)
· Hailey: Airport
· Vidal: Myra Breckinridge
· Films: 2001: A Space Odyssey, Odd Couple |
|
· Charles Munch died
· Tullio Serafin died |
| 1969 |
· Richard M. Nixon becomes 37th US President
· Neil Armstrong becomes first man on moon
· Protestant/Catholic violence in N. Ireland
· Charles De Gaulle resigns French presidency
· Yasir Arafat elected leader of PLO
· Government bans use of DDT pesticide
· Hurricane Camille devastates Gulf Coast
· Midnight Cowboy becomes first X-rated film to win Oscar for Best Picture |
· Menotti: Help! Help! The Globolinks!
· Tippett: Knot Garden
· Gian Carlo Menotti: Triple Concerto
· Panderecki: The Devils of Loudun
· Messiaen: The Transfiguration |
Ernest Ansermet died |
| 1970 |
· Biafran civil war ends
· 4 students die in war protest at Kent State U.
· Temporary cease fire at Suez Canal
· Arab terrorists hijack 3 commercial jets
· First successful use of pacemakers
· Apollo 13 experiences explosion while in space, miraculously makes it back to Earth
· Nobel Prize (Lit.): Alexander Solzhenitsyn |
· First US performance of Shostakovich's 13th Symphony (Philadelphia Orch./Ormandy)
· First UK performance of Shostakovich's 14th Symphony (conducted by Britten) |
· George Szell died
· Sir John Barbirolli died |
| 1971 |
· Vietnam War escalates to include Laos and Cambodia
· New York Times publishes Pentagon Papers
· Pakistan and India at war
· Idi Amin becomes top boss in Uganda
· Manson family murders in California
· No more cigarette commercials on TV
· Plath: The Bell Jar
· Segal: Love Story
· Wouk: The Winds of War
· Films: A Clockwork Orange, The French Connection |
· Bernstein: Mass
· Janacek: The Makropoulos Affair
· Penderecki: Utrenja Symphony
· Stockhausen: Hymnen Symphony |
Igor Stravinsky died |
| 1972 |
· Nixon visits China and Russia
· Watergate break-in, coverup begins
· Alabama governor and presidential candidate George Wallace is shot by Arthur Bremer
· Britain forces direct rule on N. Ireland
· 11 Israeli athletes killed by Arab extremist group during Munich Summer Olympics
· US slowly begins troop withdrawal (Vietnam)
Film: The Godfather |
Shostakovich: Symphony #15 |
· Robert Casadesus died
· Jean Claude Casadesus died
· Richard Crooks died |
| 1973 |
· Watergate dominates domestic news and serious talk of impeachment begins
· VP Spiro Agnew resigns due to tax evasion, Gerald R. Ford becomes new VP
· Cease-fire agreement signed in Vietnam War although fighting continues
· Another Israeli/Arab war
· First embargo on oil exports by Arab nations creates long lines and gas outages
· Vonnegut: Breakfast of Champions
· US Supreme Court issues Roe v. Wade
· Death of Picasso |
Britten: Death in Venice |
· Pablo Casals died
· Otto Klemperer died
· Karel Ancerl died |
| 1974 |
· House Judiciary Committee approves 3 articles of impeachment against Nixon
· US Supreme Court rules that Nixon must turn tapes over to Special Prosecutor Cox
· After Oval Office tape recordings make his early cover-up involvement clear, Nixon becomes 1st US President to resign
· VP Ford becomes first non-elected President
· Pres. Ford issues full pardon to Nixon
· Henry Aaron breaks Babe Ruth's HR record
· Films: The Sting, Save the Tiger |
|
· Darius Milhaud died
· David Oistrakh died |
| 1975 |
· Watergate fallout continues as former Nixon cabinet members and aides are convicted
· Saudi King Faisal killed by his nephew
· Last US troops withdraw from S. Vietnam
· Massive boatlift emigration of Vietnamese refugees to United States
· First joint Apollo/Soyuz mission
· Teamster official Jimmy Hoffa disappears
· Patty Hearst kidnapped, then robs bank
· Solzhenitsyn: Gulag Archipelago
· Woodward & Bernstein: All the President's Men
· Film: Jaws |
· Beverly Sills makes Metropolitan Opera debut
Sarah Caldwell is 1st woman conductor of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra |
· Dmitri Shostakovich died
· Leroy Anderson died
· Sir Arthur Bliss died
· Richard Tucker died
· Bernard Herrmann died |
| 1976 |
· US celebrates its bicentennial
· Reunification of North & South Vietnam
· Riots in S. Africa over policy of apartheid
· Quebec threatens to secede from Canada
· Angolan civil war
· Vikings I & II provide detailed photos of Mars surface
· First commercial supersonic flights
· Haley: Roots
· Films: Rocky, Taxi Driver |
Gian Carlo Menotti: The Hero |
· Jean Martinon died
· Benjamin Britten died
· Walter Piston died
· Geza Anda died
· Gregor Piatigorsky died
· Lotte Lehmann died |
| 1977 |
· Jimmy Carter becomes 39th US President
· Brezhnev becomes undisputed Russian leader
· War rages between Somalia & Ethiopia
· Egyptian President Sadat visits Israel
· First US test of neutron bomb
· 'Son of Sam' murders grip New York City
· TV mini-series Roots sweeps nation
· Films: Star Wars, Saturday Night Fever |
|
· Leopold Stokowski died
· E. Power Biggs died
· Sidney Foster died
· Thomas Schippers died
· Richard Addinsell died
· Maria Callas died |
| 1978 |
· Zaire civil unrest
· As result of Camp David Accords, Israeli President Begin & Egyptian President Sadat win Nobel Peace Prize
· Muslim cleric Ayatollah Khomeini agitates for ouster of Shah of Iran
· Birth of first test-tube baby
· Pope Paul VI dies, his successor John Paul I dies a few months later, Polish cardinal Karol Wojtyla becomes John Paul II
· Films: Deer Hunter, Grease, Animal House |
· Citizenship of Mstislav Rostropovich and his wife are stripped by Soviet government
· Zubin Mehta takes music director post at New York Philharmonic
· Penderecki: Paradise Lost |
· Aram Khachaturian died
· Ray Noble died
· William Grant Still died
· William Steinberg died |
| 1979 |
· Iran's Shah forced to flee, Khomeini takes power, staff at US Embassy taken hostage
· Uganda's Idi Amin overthrown
· Three Mile Island nuclear incident
· Styron: Sophie's Choice
· Shaffer: Amadeus
· Films: Apocalypse Now, Kramer v. Kramer |
· Beverly Sills retires from stage, assumes music director post for N.Y. City Opera
· Eugene Ormandy retires from Philadelphia Orchestra, succeeded by Riccardo Muti
· Barber: Third Essay for Orchestra
· Tippett: The Ice Break
· Schwantner: Aftertones of Infinity |
Arthur Fiedler died |
| 1980 |
· US attempt to rescue Iranian hostages fails
· Gdansk, Poland is site of Solidarity Union work stoppage which eventually forces major change in Polish government
· Iran/Iraq war
· Mt. Saint Helens volcano erupts
· Who Shot JR?: Dallas frenzy sweeps US
· US Hockey Team stuns world by defeating USSR Team in 1980 Winter Olympics
· Mailer: Executioner's Song
· Wolfe: The Right Stuff
· Films: Ordinary People, Airplane! |
|
Allan Pettersson died |
| 1981 |
· Ronald Reagan becomes 40th US President
· US hostages held in Iran released
· USSR invades Afghanistan and US boycotts Summer Olympics in Moscow in protest
· Marriage of Charles & Diana
· Assassination attempts on President Reagan and Pope John Paul II
· First flight of US space shuttle Columbia
· Growing awareness of AIDS
· IBM introduces the 'personal computer' (PC)
· Toole: A Confederacy of Dunces
· Films: Chariots of Fire, Raiders of Lost Ark |
· Philip Glass: The Panther
· Maxim Shostakovich, son of Dmitri, defects to United States |
Karl Bohm died |
| 1982 |
· Falkland War (Argentina/UK)
· Israel begins seige of Beirut, Lebanon
· AT&T divests 67% of its assets as result of 7-year anti-trust suit
· First surface pictures of Venus
· First appearance of USA Today newspaper
· Films: E.T., Ghandi, 48 HRS, Tootsie |
· Ward: Minutes Until Midnight
· Beria: La Vera Storia |
· Sir Clifford Curzon died
· Glenn Gould died
· Leonid Kogan died
· Carl Orff died
· Artur Rubinstein died
· Humphrey Searle died |
| 1983 |
· US Embassy in Beirut bombed
· USSR shoots down Korean air liner, 269 die
· Former Solidarity Union chief, Lech Walesa, receives Nobel Peace Prize
· Pioneer 10 leaves solar system
· First compact disc manufactured
· Final episode of M*A*S*H
· Walker: The Color Purple
· Films: The Big Chill, Terms of Endearment |
· The score for an early symphony by Mozart (composed when he was 9) is discovered in Denmark
· Centennial of Wagner's death observed with new production of Ring Cycle at Bayreuth |
· George Balanchine died
· Herbert Howells died
· William Walton died |
| 1984 |
· India's PM Indira Ghandi assassinated
· A black man is appointed to the cabinet of South African President Botha
· Apple introduces its Macintosh computer
· Russia and allies boycott Summer Olympics in Los Angeles
· Films: Amadeus; The Killing Fields |
Metropolitan Opera celebrates 100th anniversary season
· Bernard Rands' 'Canti del Sole' wins Pulitzer Prize for music
· Death of Ralph Kirkpatrick, cataloger of Domenico Scarlatti's keyboard works |
· Leonard Rose died
· Arthur Schwartz died
· Judith Raskin died
· Tito Gobbi died
|
| 1985 |
· Palestinians hijack cruise ship Achille Lauro
· More than 40 die at soccer riot (Belgium)
· Remote-control cameras give first extended view of Titanic under 14,000 feet of water
· US spy Arthur Walker sentenced to life
· Keillor: Lake Wobegon Days
· Films: Prizzi's Honor, Back to the Future |
· Celebrations around the world of the 300th anniversaries of births of Handel and Bach
· Stephen Albert wins Pulitzer Prize for Music for 'River Run'
· Elliott Carter is awarded National Medal of Arts |
· Emil Gilels died
· Eugene Ormandy died
· Efrem Zimbalist died |
| 1986 |
· Corazon Aquino becomes Phillipine president after Ferdinand Marcos flees due to unrest
· Libya target of US military action
· South Africa declares state of emergency
· 'Contragate' and 'Irangate' hearings
· Shuttle Challenger explodes after liftoff
· Chernobyl nuclear reactor explodes
· Film: Out of Africa, Platoon |
· Barry Douglas wins Tchaikovsky Piano Competition
· Birtwhistle: The Mask of Orpheus
· Gian Carlo Menotti: Goya
· Nigel Osbourne: Hell's Angels |
· Pierre Fournier died
· Arthur Grumiaux died
· Peter Pears died |
| 1987 |
· Soviet leader Gorbachev begins campaigns of 'glasnost' and 'perestroika'
· Senator (& pres. candidate) Gary Hart leaves race after some 'Monkey Business'
· Wall Street 'Black Monday'
· English Channel tunnel excavation begins
· Wolfe: Bonfire of the Vanities
· Films: Fatal Attraction, Wall Street |
· A notebook containing Mozart's notations for eight symphonies is auctioned for $4 million
· John Adams: Nixon in China |
· Jascha Heifetz died
· Andres Segovia died
· Jacqueline du Pre died
· Vincent Persichetti died |
| 1988 |
· Panamanian dictator Noriega indicted in US courts as drug smuggler
· Iranian airliner shot down by USS Vincennes
· Hawking: A Brief History of Time
· Smoking banned on US flights of 2 hrs or less
Morrison: Beloved
· Rushdie: The Satanic Verses
· Films: Die Hard, Rain Man, The Naked Gun |
· The unfinished 10th Symphony by Beethoven is premiered by London's Royal Philharmonic Society, 100+ years after commissioning it
· Philip Glass: Fall of the House of Usher
· Stockhausen: Montag Aus Licht
· Peter Maxwell-Davies: Resurrection |
· Antal Dorati died
· Lily Laskine died
· Leon Goossens died
· James McCracken died |
| 1989 |
· George Bush becomes 41st US President
· Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini hands down a death sentence on Salman Rushdie for his book Satanic Verses, Rushdie goes into hiding
· Tianenmen Square demonstrations (China)
· Berlin Wall is demolished
· Films: Driving Miss Daisy, Field of Dreams |
· Claudio Abbado is named conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic
· Tippett: New Year |
· Vladimir Horowitz died
· Herbert von Karajan died
· John Ogdon died |
| 1990 |
· Iraq invades Kuwait
· After a short siege by US Marines, Manuel Noriega surrenders, is arrested and extradited to Florida
· Nelson Mandela released from South African prison as prelude to end of apartheid
· Civil War in Liberia
· Former Solidarity Union chief Lech Walesa elected Poland's president
· Films: Goodfellas, Presumed Innocent |
|
· Aaron Copland died
· Leonard Bernstein died |
