1900

born on 23 August in Vienna

1906

first music lessons; first compositions

1916

beginning of studies with Franz Schreker at the Vienna Music Academy

1918

military service

1919

study of philosophy at the University of Vienna (two semesters)

1920-23

Krenek follows Franz Schreker to the State School for Music in Berlin; meets Ferruccio Busoni, Hermann Scherchen, Eduard Erdmann, Artur Schnabel, and others

1921

first compositions using free atonality

1923-25

residence in Switzerland; encounters Friedrich Gubler (arts section editor of the

Frankfurter Zeitung), Rainer Maria Rilke, and Werner Reinhart

1924

first meeting with Theodor W. Adorno; trip to France; 

acquaintance with the music of Igor Stravinsky and "Les Six";

compositional approach to neoclassicism; 

marries Anna Mahler

1925-27

assumes post as Paul Bekker's assistant at the Kassel State Opera; 

essays on opera; study of Schubert's music; 

"romantic" compositional phase

1927

Bekker's assistant at the Wiesbaden State Opera; 

premiere of Jonny spielt auf in Leipzig; and international recognition 

1928

marries actress Berta Haas (Hermann); returns to Vienna; 

meets Karl Kraus

1932-33

founds music journal Dreiundzwanzig together with Alban Berg, Rudolph Ploderer, and Willi Reich; active in the International Society for New Music; first compositions using twelve-tone technique

1933

commission from the Vienna State Opera for Karl V.; Krenek's name put on the Nazis' blacklist in Germany

1934

following a Nazi-tainted campaign, the minister of education cancels the première of Karl V.; trip to Spain

1935-37

intense literary activity; articles for the Wiener Zeitung; concerts and lectures in Vienna and elsewhere

1937

first trip to the USA

1938

second trip to the USA; expulsion from Austria following the Anschluss; concerts and lectures in the USA

1939-42

professor of music at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

1939-42

guest lecturer at the Universities of Michigan and Wisconsin

1942-47

Professor of Music, Head of the Department of Music, and Dean of the School of Fine Arts at Hamline University, St. Paul, Minnesota

1945

American citizenship

1947-49

guest lecturer at universities and colleges in New Mexico and Los Angeles and at the Chicago Musical College

1947-66

residence in Los Angeles

1948

first publication in German of the autobiography, Selbstdarstellung

1950

marries composer Gladys Nordenstrom; resumption of concert and lecture tours in Europe; lecturer at the International Darmstadt Summer Courses

1954

Krenek Festival, Madison, Wisconsin

1956

serial compositions; electronic music; study of medieval counterpoint

1957

guest professor at Princeton University

1960

Venice Krenek Festival

1963

Krenek Festival founded by the North Carolina Music Society in Raleigh

1965

Krenek Festival in Minneapolis/St. Paul; guest professor at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusettes

1966

move to Palm Springs, California

1967

guest professor at Peabody Institute in Baltimore, Maryland and at the University of Hawaii

1968

European tour conducting and teaching

1969

first Krenek Festival at the "steirischer herbst" in Graz, Austria

1974

Krenek Festival at California State University Northridge

1975

75th birthday celebration at the College of the Desert in Palm Desert, California; Twin Cities Music Festival in Honor of Ernst Krenek at Hamline University in Minnesota; Krenek festivals at California State University Northridge and University of California, San Diego

1978

Ernst Krenek Archive founded at the University of California San Diego

1979

Krenek Festival at the University of California Santa Barbara

1980

Ernst Krenek Archive founded in the Vienna City and State Library; 10-city tour through the USA and Canada (sponsored by the German Goethe Institut)

1982

"Our Thanks to Ernst Krenek," exhibition by the Vienna City and State Library; Krenek begins to spend summers at the Arnold Schönberg House in Mödling (near Vienna)

1984

première of Karl V. at the Vienna State Opera

1985

Krenek Festival, University of California San Diego

1986

first composition competition for the Ernst Krenek Prize, instigated by the City of Vienna

1990

Krenek Archive (USA) Newsletter first published

1991

dies on 22 December in Palm Springs

1992

transferral of remains and burial in an honorary grave of the City of Vienna

1994

Ernst Krenek Society/Palm Springs founded