Also in February 1854
16th: In Weimar, Franz Liszt conducts the first performance of his symphonic poem Orpheus. The work, according to Liszt’s preface to the score, is inspired partly by an Etruscan vase in the Louvre that depicts the mythological poet and musician ‘clad in a starry robe’. A performance of Gluck’s opera Orfeo ed Euridice follows the premiere.
17th: The eminent English painter John Martin dies aged 64 on the Isle of Man.
Best known for his dramatic landscapes and literary and biblical scenes, his most famous work included Belshazzar’s Feast, winner of the prize for best picture at the British Institution in 1821. His popularity spread across Europe, and the poet Heinrich Heine once referred to his Romantic style in describing the music of Berlioz.
23rd: At the First Raadsaal in Bloemfontein, British special commissioner Sir George Clerk and representatives of the Boer people sign the Orange River Convention. This recognises the independence of the area between the Orange and Vaal rivers that will eventually become known as the Orange Free State. 27th: As tension continues to build over the declining Ottoman Empire, Britain sends an ultimatum to Russia demanding that it removes its forces from the Romanian provinces of Moldova and Wallachia following its recent invasion. Though Russia will eventually withdraw from the region, it does not do so within the time set by the ultimatum, and Britain and France subsequently instigate the Crimean War. 28th: American attorney Alvan E Bovay and fellow former members of the Whig party gather at the Congregational church in Ripon, Wisconsin, to discuss creating a new political party to oppose the spread of slavery threatened by the proposed Kansasnebraska Act. Weeks later, when the Act is passed, they form what will eventually become the Republican Party.