Very little attention was given to music during the first hundred years of colonial life beyond the singing of psalms, but since the establishment of musical societies at the beginning of the nineteenth century, the study and practice of music have become increasing factors in life throughout the
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| First practical instruction-book on singing, compiled by Rev. John Tufts, published in New England | 1712 |
| Organ presented to the Queen's chapel, Boston, by Thomas Brattle, Esq. | Aug., 1713 |
| Singing societies established in different parts of New England | 1720 |
| Beggar's Opera, written by John Gay in 1727 (probably), first produced in New York | Dec. 3, 1750 |
| William Billings, of Boston, publishes a collection of his musical compositions entitled The New England psalm-singer, or American chorister, in 4 and 5 parts | 1770 |
| Stoughton (Mass.) Musical Society organized | Nov. 7, 1786 |
| Oliver Holden, of Charlestown, composer of Coronation, publishes The American harmony, in 3 and 4 parts | 1792 |
| Mrs. Oldmixon, Nee George, makes her debut in America in Inkle and Yarico | Dec. 5, 1798 |
| Euterpean Musical Society, New York City | 1800 |
| Massachusetts Musical Society, Boston. | 1807 |
| Barber of Seville sung by French artists in New Orleans | July 12, 1810 |
| Handel and Haydn Society organized in Boston, April 20, 1815; incorporated. | Feb. 9, 1816 |
| Clari, the maid of Milan, libretto by John Howard Payne, containing the song Home, sweet home, first produced in New York | Nov. 12, 1823 |
| New York Sacred Music Society, organized 1823, gives its first concert | March 15, 1824 |
| New York Choral Society gives its first concert at St. George's Church, Beekman Street | April 20, 1824 |
| Manuel Garcia, with his wife, his son Manuel, daughter Marietta (Malibran), appears in Italian opera in New York City | Nov. 29, 1825 |
| Musical conventions in America originate in New Hampshire, where the Central Musical Society holds its first convention at Concord | Sept., 1829 |
| Thomas Hastings, invited by various churches, coming to New York, organizes church choirs, and regulates psalmody on a more religious basis | 1832 |
| Boston Academy of Music, founded for Instruction in the Pestalozzian system, with Lowell Mason at the head, opens | 1833 |
| Harvard Musical Association established | Aug. 30, 1837 |
| Balfe's Bohemian girl produced for the first time in America by the Seguin Opera Company at the Park Theatre, New York | Nov. 25. 1844 |
| Tour of the Hutchinson family, temperance and anti-slavery singers, in the United States and England | 1846-58 |
| Concert tour of Edward Remenyi, violin virtuoso, in the United States. | 1848 |
| Germania orchestra give their first concert in America at Astor Place Opera-house, New York | Oct. 5. 1848 |
| First public concert of the Mendels-sohn Quintet Club at Boston. | Dec. 4, 1849 |
| Jenny Lind sings in concert at Castle Garden, New York | Sept. 11, 1850 |
| Chamber music introduced in New York, 1849; Theodore Eisfeld opens his quartet-soirees at Hope Chapel | Feb. 18, 1851 |
| Henrietta Sontag appears in the United States | Sept., 1852 |
| Dwight's Journal of Music founded in Boston | 1852 |
| Gottschalk's first concert in New York City | 1853 |
| Cecilia Society of Cincinnati, O., organizes and gives its first concert | Sept. 19, 1856 |
| Peabody Institute, Baltimore, Md., founded | 1857 |
| Wagner's Tannhauser produced for the first time in America, at the Stadt Theatre, New York | Aug. 27, 1859 |
| Adelina Patti makes her debut in Lucia at the Academy of Music, New York | Nov. 24, 1859 |
| Clara Louise Kellogg makes her debut in Rigoletto at the Academy of Music, New York | 1860 |
| Theodore Thomas begins his symphony soirees in New York | Dec., 1864 |
| Oberlin Conservatory of Music founded. | 1865 |
| “Der Nordamerikanische Sangerbund” reorganized at Chicago | 1868 |
| National Peace Jubilee held in Boston, Mass.; over 10,000 singers and 1,000 musicians; P. S. Gilmore, conductor. | June 15-20, 1869 |
| New England Conservatory of Music established at Providence, R. I., 1859: removed to Boston, 1867; incorporated | 1870 |
| Beethoven Conservatory of Music founded at St. Louis | 1871 |
| Fisk University “Jubilee singers” | Oct., 1871, to May, 1872 |
| World's Peace Jubilee and International Musical Festival held in Boston | June 17 to July 4, 1872 |
| Beethoven Quintet Club organized in Boston | 1873 |
| Music Teachers' National Association organized | 1876 |
| New York College of Music incorporated | 1878 |
| Cincinnati College of Music incorporated | 1878 |
| The Metropolitan Opera-house, New York, opened with the opera Faust | Oct. 22, 1883 |
| Dr. Leopold Damrosch engaged for a season of German opera which began. | Nov. 17, 1884 |
| Dr. Damrosch died | Feb. 15, 1885 |
| American College of Musicians incorporated | 1886 |
| Adelina Patti sings at the dedication of the Auditorium, and the Opera-house, Chicago | Dec. 9, 1889 |
| The first Wagner Cycle, occupying three weeks, and including all the operas excepting Parsifal, in season of | 1889-90 |
