1886

Nov 10

Born to Irish immigrants

Peter and Bridgit Collins; eight siblings

Joliet, IL

1890s

Piano and organ studies begin

Early music instruction: Parents, siblings, Mr. Shafer

Joliet, IL

1895

At age nine, begins giving concerts in Joliet; organist for church services

Collins, pf/organ

Joliet, IL

1900

Commences studies at Chicago Musical College

Instructors: Rudolf Ganz (piano); Felix Borowski, Adolph Weidig (composition)

Chicago, IL

1904

Oct 26

Chamber music debut

Zedeler Trio: Nicoline Zedeler, vln/Nicolai Zedeler, vcl/Collins, pf

Chicago, IL

1906

Travels by steamer, to commence studies of piano, organ, conducting, and timpani at Königliche Hochschule für Musik

Instructors: Max Bruch, Robert Kahn, Friedrich Gersheim, José Viana da Mota, and Engelbert Humperdinck

Berlin, GERMANY

1907

First of five summers of piano and language studies

Mentor: Rudolf Ganz

SWITZERLAND

1909

Sep 13

Solo recital, Cable Hall (Schumann Fantasie; Brahms Variations on a Handel Theme; four Brahms soli; Beethoven Sonata in C Major Op. 2, No. 3; Chopin Berceuse; Chopin Nocturne (in Eb Major); Liszt Sermon to the Birds; and, Liszt St. Francis Walking on the Waves

Collins, pf

Chicago, IL

1911

Nov 2

Piano trio debut (Bechstein Hall; trios by Gernsheim and Mendelssohn; Sonata for violin and piano by Kahn)

Heber, vln/unknown, vcl/Collins, pf

Berlin, GERMANY

1912

Mar 20

Solo debut

Collins, pf

Berlin, GERMANY

1912

Jul

Returns to USA

Chicago, IL

1912

Songs (various early works; titles unknown, performed on recital tour)

Ernestine Schumann-Heink, mez/Collins, pf

USA

1912-13

Season

Appointment with Century Opera Company

Collins, asst cond

New York, NY

1912

Dec 22

Performs as soloist for Liszt Concerto in A Major

Collins, pf /St. Louis Symphony Orchestra

St. Louis, MO

1913

Jan 1

Solo recital, Schubert Club

Collins, pf

St. Paul, MN

1914

Appointment with Bayreuth Festival

Collins, asst cond/timp

Bayreuth, GERMANY

1914

Aug 1

Festpielhaus closes for duration of WWI

Bayreuth, GERMANY

1914

Collins flees Europe Schumann-Heink

Collins, with sister Kate Collins and Ernestine Schumann-Heink

SWITZERLAND

<1917

Young Americana Suite

Unknown, cond/American Symphony Orchestra

Chicago, IL

1917

Jun 5

Registers for draft

Chicago, IL

1917

Recital (Bush Conservatory; program incl. Collins’s songs: Cradle Song, Butterflies, and June Night)

Collins songs: Charles Clark, bar; Collins, pf

Chicago, IL

1917

Solo recital (Playhouse: Bach-Tausig D minor; Beethoven; Chopin, including Scherzo (in C# minor); Borowski Lyrique; Louis Victor Saar Valse Tendre; encores: Dett Juba Dance; Collins waltz (title inknown)

Collins, pf

Chicago, IL

1918

Apr 29

Drafted; initially an infantry private

Fort Dodge, Iowa

1918

Service with U. S. Army’s 88th Division, as translator for Intelligence Unit; winning a citation for bravery and promotion to lieutenant

FRANCE

1918

March of the 88th Division (original titled Over the Top)

US. Army 88th Infantry Division Band

Gondrecourt, FRANCE

1919

Armistice appointment by John Philip Sousa to position of U. S. Army bandleader; holds position until release from service

1919

Apr 21-May 1

Who Can Tell? (Division Headquarters hangar)

US. Army 88th Infantry Division members

Gondrecourt, FRANCE

1919

May 12-17

Who Can Tell? (Théâtre des Champs Elysées; Paris premiere, eleven performances)

US. Army 88th Infantry Division members

Paris, FRANCE

1919

Aug

Returns by steamer to USA

Chicago, IL

1919

Autumn

Joins faculty of Chicago Musical College

Chicago, IL

1919

Nov 12

Solo recital, Kinsey Morning Musicals, Ziegfield Theatre

Collins, pf

Chicago, IL

1920

Marries Frieda Mayer, daughter of Oscar Mayer

1921

Jun 21

Daughter Dorothy Louise is born, first of four children

1922

Who Can Tell?

Organized by unknown fellow veteran of the US. Army 88th Infantry Division

Madison, WI

1923

May 26

Tragic Overture (then titled 1914) wins North Shore Festival Competition at Northwestern University; another Collins work, Mardi Gras (then titled Festival Overture), is also among the five finalists (world premieres)

Frederick Stock, cond/Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Evanston, IL

1924

Mar 28-29

Mardi Gras

Stock, cond/Chicago SO

Chicago, IL

1925

Feb 25

Daughter Marianna Louise is born, second of four children

1925

Mar 27-28

Concerto No. 1, in E-flat Major (world premiere)

Collins, pf/Frederick Stock, cond/Chicago SO

Chicago, IL

1925

Jun 1

Tragic Overture (Chicago premiere)

Stock, cond/Chicago SO

Evanston, IL

1925

Oct 2

Arabesque (Chickering Hall)

Jacques Gordon, vln/Leo Sowerby, pf

New York, NY

1926

Aug 21

Tragic Overture (Lewisohn Stadium Concert, City College; New York City premiere)

Stock, cond/New York Philharmonic

New York, NY

1927

Feb 11-12

Tragic Overture

Collins, cond/St. Louis SO

St. Louis, MO

1927

Mar 4-5

Tragic Overture

Collins, cond/Chicago SO

Chicago, IL

1929

Dec 22

Daughter Louise Joan is born, third of four children

Chicago, IL

1931

Nov 1

Son Edward Joseph Jr., is born fourth of four children

Chicago, IL

1931

Dec 3-4

Piano Concerto No. 2, in A minor (original title: Concert Piece; world premiere)

Collins, pf/Frederick Stock, cond/Chicago SO

Chicago, IL

1933

Moves piano studio to American Conservatory of Music; remains a member of the faculty there until his death in 1951

Chicago, IL

1938

With wife Frieda, purchases log house in half way between Fish Creek and Egg Harbor on the Lake Michigan peninsula, in Door County, Wisconsin; a composer’s studio designed by Frieda is later constructed with rocks from a stone fence that went along the adjoining highway

1939

Nov 1

Passcaglia (version for two pianos; Carnegie Hall; NYC premiere)

Sylvio and Isobel Scionti, pfs

New York, NY

1939

Completes one-act opera Daughter of the South, which is awarded the David Bispham Prize; previous winners included Cadman, Herbert, Hanson, Thomson, and Gershwin among others; subsequent winners included Menotti, Tippett, and Weill

1941

Apr 17-18

Lament and Jig (world premiere)

Included as Variation No. VI in Variations on an American Folk-song; the variations were based on an Illinois pioneer recruiting song titled “El-A-Noy” that was included in Carl Sandburg’s collection of songs and verses titled The American Songbag; Frederick Stock, in celebration of the symphony’s Golden Jubilee (50th) season, commissioned a variation from each of twelve Chicago-affiliated composers (Collins, David Van Vactor, Arne Oldberg, Rossetter Cole, Samuel Liberson, Leo Sowerby, Florian Mueller, Albert Nolte, John Alden Carpenter, Felix Borowski, Rudolph Ganz, Thorvald Otterstrom); materials in the symphony’s archives indicate that Collins’s contribution was actually performed as Var. VII during the concert

Stock, cond/Chicago SO

Chicago, IL

1940

Late Spring

Suffers first of three heart attacks

Chicago, IL

1942

Mar 5-6

Tragic Overture (revision; world premiere)

Collins, cond/Chicago SO

Chicago, IL

1943

Mar 25-26

Concerto No. 3, in B Minor (world premiere)

Collins, pf/Hans Lange, cond/Chicago SO

Chicago, IL

1943

Jan 17

Mardi Gras

Herman Felber, cond/Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra

Kalamazoo, MI

1949

Valse Eccentrique, likely final composition

Door County, WI

1951

Dec 1

Dies of congestive heart failure, Passavant Hospital

Chicago, IL