On April 1, 1897, the remarkable French humorist Alphonse Allais published his Album primo-avrilesque.  It was a slim volume, containing seven monochromatic paintings (such as “Apoplectic cardinals picking tomatoes by the Red Sea”) and a silent funeral march (because the greatest sorrows are mute).  The march was the first silent piece, preceding similar works by Schulhoff, Cage, and others.  You can admire the Album here.

(Posted by Doug Skinner; portrait of Allais by Leonetto Cappiello.)