• 1900 - In Helsinki, Jean Sibelius' Finlandia premiered and in Rome, Giacomo

Puccini's opera Tosca premiered.

• 1901 - In Munich, Gustav Mahler's Fourth Symphony debuts.
• 1902 - In London, Enrico Caruso's debut singing in Rigoletto. That same year, Claude
DeBussy introduced the concept of impressionism through his work Pelléas and
Mélisande at the Opéra Comique in Paris.
• 1903 - Pope Pius X helped restore the importance of Gregorian Chant in the Catholic
church.
• 1904 - The London Symphony Orchestra was founded.
• 1906 - Interest on the music of central Europe was sparked by the publication of a
book called Hungarian Folk Songs by Bela Bartok and Zoltan Kodaly.
• 1908 - Arnold Schoenberg published Book of Hanging Gardens which introduced the
concept of dissonance.
• 1909 - Arnold Schoenberg composed his atonal works Opus 11, No. 1, and Five
Orchestral Pieces, Opus 16.
• 1910 - Igor Stravinsky finished his work The Firebird.
• 1911 - In Dresden, Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier premiered.
• 1913 - At the Théâtre des Champs Élysées, a riot ensued during the premiere of Igor
Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring.
• 1914 - The Irish composer Victor Herbert helped to establish the American Society of
Composers, Arrangers, and Producers (ASCAP).
• 1916 - Charles Ives completed his Fourth Symphony.
• 1918 - In Riga, the Latvian National Opera was founded.
• 1919 - Chicago was jazz capital and Arnold Schoenberg introduced the concept of
serialism; a composition where a melodic line is repeated.
• 1921 - Arnold Schoenberg composed his Piano Suite, Opus 25 which was his first 12-
tone work.
• 1922 - The British Broadcasting Corporation was established.
• 1924 - In New York, Julliard School opened and George Gershwin's Rhapsody in
Blue premiered. In Paris, Maurice Ravel's Bolero opened.
• 1925 - In Berlin, Alban Berg's Wozzeck premiered. In Nashville, Tennessee. the
Grand Ole Opry was founded.
• 1928 - In Berlin, Die Dreigroschenoper by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill premiered.
• 1931 - Billie Holiday's stature as jazz singer was established.
• 1934 - In Lenox, Massachusetts, the Berkshire Music Festival began.
• 1935 - Jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald starts her career with the Chick Webb orchestra.
• 1936 - The debut of electric guitars.
• 1937 - In Basel, Bela Bartok's Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta premiered
and in New York, the Glenn Miller Band debuts.
• 1938 - Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber premiered.
• 1939 - The Nat King Cole Trio was formed. Charles Parker moved to New York and
performed with Dizzy Gillespie and other jazz musicians.
• 1940 - Frank Sinatra established himself as a solo performer.
• 1942 - The release of Bing Crosby's "White Christmas".
• 1944 - Premiere of Appalachian Spring, a ballet by Aaron Copland. Also, Dizzy
Gillespie founded the "bop" orchestra. In London, Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes
premiered.
• 1946 - Virgil Thomson and Gertrude Stein worked on an opera about women's
suffrage called Louisiana Story.
• 1947 - Louis Armstrong formed his All Stars jazz ensemble. Also, Oklahoma by
Rodgers and Hammerstein opened in Broadway.
• 1948 - The 33 1/3 LP, or commonly known as long-playing album, was introduced by
Columbia Records. Also, Charlie Parker experimented with "bebop" and Bill Monroe
invented bluegrass music.
• 1949 - Mahalia Jackson won in the French Academy's Grand Prix du Disc.
• 1951 - String Quartet #1 by Elliot Carter was first performed and NBC hires Gian
Carlo Menotti to write Amahl and the Night Visitors, the first opera for television.
• 1953 - Stockhausen composed Karlheinz Stockhausen's Elektronische Studie I, the
first composition using sine wave sounds.
• 1954 - Bill Haley and the Comets venture into the rock n' roll music form.
• 1956 - Elvis Presley establishes himself as the icon of rock n' roll.
• 1957 - In New York, West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein premiered. Also, Johnny
Cash established his stature as country music artist.
• 1959 - Grammy Awards was sponsored by The National Academy of Recording Arts
and Sciences with Frank Sinatra winning Best Album for "Come Dance with Me." In
London, the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields was founded by Neville Marriner.
Also, Berry Gordy, Jr. founded the Motown Recording Corporation.
• 1960 - John Coltrane, with his newly formed quartet, fans the flames of the New
Wave movement.
• 1961 - Milton Babbitt published his Composition for Synthesizer.
• 1962 - The album Please Please Me by the Beatles was released in the UK.
• 1963 - The first solo album of Barbra Streisand was released.
• 1964 - Bob Dylan's popularity increased and John Coltrane released his album A Love
Supreme.
• 1965 - In Washington, D.C., the National Endowment for the Arts was founded.
• 1967 - Aretha Franklin was hailed as "Queen of Soul" and the Beatles released their
album Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. That same year, Jimi Hendrix
released his album Are You Experienced?.
• 1969 - At La Scala in Milan, the tenor great Plácido Domingo made his debut. In
Bethel, N.Y., millions flocked to watch the Woodstock music festival. Also, opera
singer Jessye Norman debuts as Elisabeth in Richard Wagner's Tannhäuser.
• 1970 - The Beatles disbanded.
• 1971 -Soprano Kiri Te Kanawa shone on stage as Countess in Mozart's Marriage of
Figaro. In Paris, Jim Morrison died. Also, Duke Ellington was elected to the Royal
Music Academy.
• 1973 - The album Catch a Fire by Bob Marley introduced reggae to America and
Europe.
• 1974 - The single Hey Joe by Patti Smith was released, introducing the punk rock
music style.
• 1975 - The opera Einstein on the Beach by Philip Glass premiered; an example of
minimalist composition.
• 1977 - Elvis Presley died.
• 1978 - Sony unveils the Walkman.
• 1980 - The compact disc first appeared and in New York City, John Lennon was
killed.
• 1981 - MTV made its TV debut.
• 1982 - Michael Jackson released "Thriller."
• 1984 - To raise funds for the children of Africa, Band Aid released their song "Do
They Know It's Christmas."
• 1985 - Madonna goes on her "Virgin Tour."
• 1987 - The term "world music" was coined to describe eclectic music.
• 1990 - The Grammy's revoked Milli Vanilli's award.
• 1991 - The album Ten by grunge rock band Pearl Jam was released. Also, Nirvana
released their song "Smells Like Teen Spirit." That same year, "I Will Always Love
You" by Whitney Houston topped the charts.
• 1993 - Symphony No. 3: Symphony of Sorrowful Songs by Henryk Gorecki was a
success.
• 1995 - In Cleveland, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum opened and Jerry
Garcia of the Grateful Dead passed away.
• 1997 - The all-girl group Spice Girls were a hit. Also, Sarah McLachlan founded
Lilith Fair.
• 1998 - Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire premiered at the San Francisco
Opera. Also, Frank Sinatra died of a heart attack.
• 1999 - Lauryn Hill won five Grammy Awards, Universal and Polygram merged and
Latin music was made popular by artists like Ricky Martin and Jennifer Lopez. Also,
the tenor great Andrea Bocelli topped the charts with his album Sogno