Historical Events
Music History
Dec 2 Camille Saint-Saëns' opera "Samson et Dalila" premieres in Weimar
Edison's Phonograph
Dec 6 Thomas Edison enters the offices of Scientific American and turns the crank on his cylinder phonograph, astonishing those present with the recording, "Good morning. How do you do? How do you like the phonograph?" [1]
- Dec 6 Washington Post publishes 1st edition
- Dec 9 Russo-Turkish War: Turkish troops attempt to break Russian and Romanian encirclement of Plevna, Ottoman Empire (now Pleven, Bulgaria), fails
- Dec 10 Russo-Turkish War: Turkish commander Osman Pasha surrenders the city of Plevna, Ottoman Empire (now Pleven, Bulgaria) to Romanian Col. Mihail Cerchez
Symphony No. 3
Dec 16 Anton Bruckner reluctantly steps in to conduct the premiere of his "Symphony No. 3", dedicated to Richard Wagner; it is a critical disaster and undergoes many revisions [1]
- Dec 22 "American Bicycling Journal" begins publishing (Boston, Mass)
Edison's Cylinder Phonograph
Dec 24 Thomas Edison files for a patent for the cylinder phonograph [1]
Brahms' 2nd Symphony
Dec 30 Johannes Brahms' 2nd Symphony in D, premieres in Vienna
Famous Birthdays
- Dec 8 Paul Ladmirault, French composer, born in Nantes, France (d. 1944)
- Dec 13 Mykola Leontovych, Ukrainian composer (Carol of the Bells), born in Selevyntsi, Podolia, Russian Empire (d. 1921)
- Dec 14 Lieven Duvosel, Flemish composer (De Leiecyclus - The Lys-cycle), born in Ghent, Belgium (d. 1956)
- Dec 18 Max Pallenberg [Pollack], Austrian extempore farce actor (Morn to Midnight), husband of operetta star Fritzi Massary, born in Vienna, Austria (d. 1934)
- Dec 31 Lawrence Beesley, English journalist and author, born in Wirksworth, United Kingdom (d. 1967)
Famous Deaths
- Dec 7 Benjamin Huger, American Major General (Confederate Army), dies at 72
- Dec 10 Federico Ricci, Italian composer, dies at 68
- Dec 10 Jared Kirtland, American physician, naturalist and reformed penitentiaries, dies at 84
- Dec 12 José de Alencar, Brazilian writer (O Guarani), dies at 48
- Dec 23 Thomas Wright, English antiquarian and writer, dies at 87
- Dec 24 Robert Parker Parrott, American inventor (developed the rifled cannon known as the Parrott gun), dies at 73
- Dec 27 Nikolay Alekseyevich Nekrasov, Russian poet, writer and publisher (Russkije Zjenjshiny), dies at 56
- Dec 29 Willem Sassen, Dutch attorney general on Curacao (Affair-S), dies
- Dec 31 Alberto Mazzucato, composer, dies at 64
- Dec 31 Gustave Courbet, French realist painter (Demoiselles the la Seine), dies at 58
