1904

Great Baltimore Fire of 1904 destroys more than 1500 buildings. Death toll: 1

1904

Atrocity-happy Japanese people return to the scene of previous massacres to start the Russo-Japanese War for shits and giggles.

Oh yeah, Belgian atrocities in the Congo. Big year for atrocity.

NYC: Longacre Square renamed Times Square, on behalf of the New York Times. It is used for the first time as a now-traditional mecca on New Year's Eve.

First underground subway in NYC opens (IRT line).

Fire on the steamship General Slocum in the East River kills 1000, mostly children. My great-grandfather receives citation from the mayor for diving in and pulling drowning kids out of the water. Until 9/11, it is the worst disaster in NYC history.

Peter Pan premieres on the stage in London.

born: Cary Grant, Glenn Miller, Robert Oppenheimer, Fats Waller, Count Basie, Jacques Tourneur

died: Anton Chekov

Alessandro Moreschi - Oremus Pro Pontifice / Crucifixus (Get it right here, folks! The only existing sound recording of a real live castrato! Ever wonder what they actually sounded like? As it turns out, they--or Moreschi, at least--sounded a lot like a member of Monty Python impersonating a woman.)

Anton Webern - Im Sommerwind

Arnold Schoenberg - Pelleas und Melisande, op. 5

Claude Debussy - Masques (tres vif et fantasque)