Tutorial

Assignment - 16 April
1960s Timeline
1960
MUSIC
Elvis Presley returns to the USA after serving in the army for two years records Its Now or
Never and Are You Lonesome Tonight.
First appearance of the Beatles in Hamburg (Germany).
Music of our Time Festival is launched by Ian Lake, for unknown composers music.
SOCIO-POLITICAL
Kennedy becomes youngest ever President of the United States, defeating Nixon.
Great Chilean Earthquake biggest on record, also causing a tsunami
U.S. announces it will send 3,500 soldiers to Vietnam for the Vietnam war.

1961
MUSIC
Pavarotti makes his first appearance in opera, as Rodolfo in La Bohme.
Elvis Presley performs a benefit concert in Hawaii, raising $62,000 for U.S.S. Arizona
memorial fund.
Ligeti composes Atmosphres, discarding melody and metre in favour of dense sound
textures, as an example of what he called micropolyphonic music.
SOCIO-POLITICAL
Kennedy establishes the Peace Corps, a volunteer programme.
First Israeli rocket is launched (Shavit 2)
USA founds Alliance for Progress, to establish cooperation between North and South America.

1962
MUSIC
Georges Auric becomes director of Opra National de Paris.
Beatles replace Pete Best with RIngo Starr.
Mashed Potato became popular dance craze, with several songs composed based on the
style.
SOCIO-POLITICAL
U.S. refuses trade with Cuba with embargo against them, due to their alignment with the
Soviet Union in the Cold War.
Fighting erupts from the conflict at the border of China and India.
Cuban Missile Crisis Soviets begin dismantling their missiles in Cuba.

1963
MUSIC
Beatles 5-day tour in Scotland, featuring Love Me Do
Pierre Monteux conducts the LSO performing Rite of Spring, with Stravinski in the Audience,
at the Royal Albert Hall.
Oliver! opens on Broadway for 744 performances.
SOCIO-POLITICAL
Kennedy gives Ich bin ein Berliner speech in West Berlin
U.S., U.K. and Soviet Union sign a nuclear test ban treaty.
Kenya becomes independent Jomo Kenyatta is president.

1964
MUSIC
Top of the Pops broadcast for the first time, on the BBC.
Fiddler on the Roof opens on Broadway for 3242 performances.
La Monte Young composes The Well-Tuned Piano for a just-tuned piano, a defining work of
American Minimalism, with some performances exceeding six hours in length.
SOCIO-POLITICAL
U.S. State Department discovers over 40 hidden microphones in the U.S. embassy in
Moscow.
Soviet Union launches Voskhod 1 into Earths orbit first spacecraft with more than one crew
member and without space suits.
Labour Party wins elections in U.K. after 13 years of Conservative rule.

1965
MUSIC
Michael Tippett invited as guest composer to music festival in Aspen (Colorado), resulting in
major changes to his style.
Bob Dylan performs at the Royal Albert Hall to conclude his tour of Europe.
Stockhausen composes Mikrophonie II, featuring normally inaudible vibrations using sound
detection.
SOCIO-POLITICAL
Funeral of Winston Churchill, with largest number of statesmen in the world (until the funeral
of Pope John Paul II in 2005).
U.S. spacecraft Marnier 4 returns with images of Mars (for the first time)
Cigarette advertising is banned on British television.

1966
MUSIC
Premire of Samual Barbers Anthony and Cleopatra opera in Metropolitan Opera House,
rejected by critics.
John Lennon quoted saying the Beatles were now more popular than Jesus.

 Sir John Serry writes Concerto for Free Bass Accordion, in traditional concerto form,
illustrating the orchestral capabilities and qualities of the bass accordion.
SOCIO-POLITICAL
Soviet spacecraft Venera 3 crashes on Venus first to land on an other planets surface.
China ceases economic aid with Indonesia.
National Organization for Women founded now the largest feminist organisation in the U.S.

1967
MUSIC
Influential album Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band released by Beatles.
Steve Reich composes Piano Phase for two pianos, his first attempt at using his phasing
technique.
William Walton composes The Bear, opera, described as an Extravaganza in One Act, with
minimal vocal/instrumental forces.
SOCIO-POLITICAL
Soviet Union approves treaty with U.S. and U.K., banning nuclear weapons from space.
Peoples Republic of China test their first hydrogen bomb.
First U.K. colour television broadcasts on BBC2.

1968
MUSIC
The Yardbirds perform for the last time before disbanding.
Led Zeppelin performs for the first time, as the New Yardbirds formed by Jimmy Page.
Das Flo der Medusa composed by Hans Werner Henze, regarded as a major work in his
left-wing political alignments.
SOCIO-POLITICAL
British Prime Minister (Harold Wilson) authorises campaign for working an extra half-hour a
day without pay.
First Battle of Saigon ends (Vietnam War)
Martin Luther King (Junior) killed in Tennessee, causing riots over America.

1969
MUSIC
Elvis Presley finally hits number one after seven years off the top charts his last number one
during his lifetime.
Shostakovich composes his 14th Symphony, dedicated to Benjamin Britten, featuring soprano,
bass and a small orchestra with percussion, and themes of death.
Beatles give their last public performance, a spontaneous concert, which had to be broken up
by the police.
SOCIO-POLITICAL
Huge oil spill in California (harbour had to be closed).
First episode of Scooby-Doo, and Monty Python.
Apollo 11 astronauts return from first successful Moon landing.