Music History on March 31

Schumann's 1st Symphony

1841 1st performance of Robert Schumann's 1st Symphony in B

  • 1883 1st performance of Caesar Franck's symphonic poem for orchestra "Le Chasseur Maudit" (The Accursed Huntsman) at the Salle Érard in Paris

Mahler Conducts NY Philharmonic

1909 Gustav Mahler conducts New York Philharmonic for his 1st time

  • 1923 First dance marathon in New York City; Alma Cummings sets record of 27 hours with 6 different partners
  • 1943 Rodgers & Hammerstein's musical "Oklahoma!" opens at the St. James Theatre, NYC; runs for 2,212 performances
  • 1949 RCA Victor of Camden, New Jersey, introduces the 45 RPM record player and the 7-inch single, a vinyl disc more durable than the 78 RPM shellac; initial releases include: Eddy Arnold's "Texarkana Baby"; Spade Cooley's "Spanish Fandango"; Arthur Crudup's "Crudup's After Hours"; and Saul Meisel's "A Klein Melamedl"

Troubled Island

1949 William Grant Still's opera "Troubled Island" with libretto by Langston Hughes and Verna Arvey, premieres at the New York City Opera; 1st grand opera composed by an African American produced by a major company

Cinderella

1957 Rodgers & Hammerstein's live television musical "Cinderella", starring Julie Andrews, with Kaye Ballard and Alice Ghostley, premieres on CBS-TV

Music History

1967 1st time Jimi Hendrix burns his guitar (and his fingers) at Finsbury Park Astoria theater in London: the guitar sold at auction for nearly $500K, the building is currently a church

  • 1972 Official Beatles Fan Club closes down
  • 1978 Wings release "London Town" album
  • 1979 24th Eurovision Song Contest: Gali Atari and Milk and Honey for Israel wins singing "Hallelujah" in Jerusalem
  • 1982 American rock group The Doobie Brothers split up

Music History

1990 Robert Wilson, Tom Waits, and William S. Burroughs' avant garde opera "The Black Rider" premieres March 31, 1990 at the Thalia Theater, Hamburg, Germany

  • 1996 "A Midsummer Night's Dream" opens at Lunt-Fontanne NYC for 66 performances
  • 1996 "Getting Away With Murder" closes at Broadhurst NYC after 17 performances
  • 2009 "Boom Boom Pow" single released by The Black Eyed Peas (Grammy Award for Best Music Video 2010, Billboard Song of the Year 2009)

Music History

2019 Elton John joins George Clooney's call to boycott hotels owned by the Sultan of Brunei after Brunei plans new anti-gay laws to make homosexual sex punishable by death

  • 2019 Rapper and activist Nipsey Hussle fatally shot outside his clothing store in Los Angeles

Music History

2021 Paul Simon sells his entire songwriting catalog of over 400 songs to Sony Music Publishing for an undisclosed sum