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World War I Begins
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Stravinsky: Rite of Spring
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The First Recording of Jazz by Original Dixieland Jazz Band
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Alban Berg: Wozzeck, Op. 7, Act III, Scenes 2 & 3
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Arnold Schoenberg: Piano Suite, op. 25, Prelude, Minuet and Trio
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Bessie Smith: Back Water Blues
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Hindemith: Kammermusik No. 5
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Kurt Weill: Die Dreigroschenoper (The Threepenny Opera): Prelude: "Die Moritat von Mackie Messer"
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Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five: West End Blues (composed by Joe "King" Oliver)
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Black Tuesday (start of the Great Depression)
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Igor Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms, Mvt. I
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William Grant Still: Afro-American Symphony (Symphony No. 1), Mvt. I, Moderato Assai
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Ruth Crawford Seeger: String Quartet 1931, Mvt. 4
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Billie Holiday: "You Let Me Down"
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Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5, Op. 47, Mvt. II, Allegretto
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Billie Holiday: "A Sailboat in the Moonlight"
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Heitor Villa-Lobos: Bachianas Brasilieras No. 5, no. 1, Aria (Cantilena)
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World War II Begins
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Duke Ellington: Cotton Tail
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Charles Ives: the Unanswered Question
Finished in 1906, revised and published in 1941 -
Olivier Messaien: Quartet for the End of Time, Mvt. 1, "Liturgie du cristal"
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Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No. 7, "Leningrad," Mvt. 1
Finished in 1941, premiered 1942 -
Duke Ellington: Black, Brown, and Beige, Mvt. 1, "Black"
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Aaron Copland: Appalachian Spring
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Béla Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 3, Mvt. 1
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Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie: Anthropology
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Johnny Otis: "Midnight At the Barrel House"
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Bud Powell: "Tempus Fugit"
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The comic strip "Peanuts" is first published by Charles M. Schulz
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The Golden Gate Quartet: "Listen to the Lambs"
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John Cage: Music of Changes
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John Cage: 4'33"
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Mount Everest is first successfully summited by Sir Edmund Hillary
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Miles Davis/Bill Evans: "Blue in Green" from Kind of Blue
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John Coltrane: "Giant Steps" from Giant Steps
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Ornette Coleman: Free Jazz (Double Quartet)
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Little Julian Herrera: "Lonely, Lonely Nights"
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Milton Babbitt: Philomel
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Nina Simone: "Mississippi Goddam"
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Shirley Scott and Stanley Turrentine: "Rapid Shave"
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John Coltrane: "Psalm" from A Love Supreme
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Steve Reich: Piano Phase
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Ravi Shankar and Yehudi Menuhin: "Raga Piloo" from West Meets East
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Jimi Hendrix: "Star Spangled Banner at Winterland"
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Jimi Hendrix: "Star Spangled Banner" at Woodstock
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Jimi Hendrix: "Star Spangled Banner" at Record Plant
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Moon Landing
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Alfred Schnittke: Concerto Grosso No. 1, Mvt. 2, Toccata
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Zimbabwe gains independence
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Sofie Gubaidulina: Rejoice!, Mvt. 5, "Listen to the still, small voice within"
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Public Enemy: "Fight the Power"
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Destruction of the Berlin Wall
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Creation of the World Wide Web
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Bright Sheng: Seven Tunes Heard in China, No. 1, "Seasons"
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Osvaldo Golijov: La Pasión según San Marcos, Nos. 24, 25, & 26
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Jennifer Higdon: blue cathedral
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Ken Burns' "Jazz" Series
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Terrorist attack on the World Trade Center
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John Adams: Doctor Atomic: "Batter My Heart"
Libretto by Peter Sellars -
Hiromi Trio: "Return of the Kung Fu World Champion"
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Rabih Abouh-Khalil: Arabian Waltz
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Kim Jong-Un is appointed Supreme Leader of North Korea
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Andre Myers: "From the Dark Tower"
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Hildegard Westerkamp: At the Edge of Wilderness
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José James, "Peace: Power, Change"
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Yo-Yo Ma & the Silk Road Ensemble: The Music of Strangers (film)
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Wu Man (with Silk Road Ensemble): "Green (Vincent's Tune)"
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Beyoncé: "Formation" from Lemonade
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Samora Pinderhughes: The Transformation Suite, "Momentum, pt. 2"
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Childish Gambino: "This Is America"