OCTOBER 22 Today in classical music history

Alessandro Scarlatti

1651 Death, in early morning hours, of German composer Jacob Praetorius, at 65. b-1586. Funeral service 24th. Search Amazon.com for Jacob Praetorius

1686 Birth of German composer and organist Georg Balthasar SCHOTT in Schonau. d-1736.

1698 Birth of Italian composer Nicola Bonifacio LOGROSCINO. Search Amazon.com for Nicola Bonifacio LOGROSCINO

1725 Death of Italian composer Alessandro Scarlatti, at 65, in Naples. Search Amazon.com for Alessandro Scarlatti Father of Domenico. b-Palermo, 2 MAY 1660.

1737 Birth of Italian composer Vincenzo MANFREDINI. d-1799. Search Amazon.com for Vincenzo MANFREDINI

1739 Handel finishes his Concerto Grosso in G, Op. 6, no. 10 in London. CD-Handel - Concerti grossi, op. 6 / AAM · Manze

1752 Birth of Italian composer Ambrogio MINOJA. d-1825. Search Amazon.com for Ambrogio MINOJA

1752 Birth of Prince Andre RASUMOVSKY, Russian Ambassador to Vienna and musician. Beethoven dedicated his Op 59 quartets and 5th and 6th symphonies to him. d-1836. Search Amazon.com for Andre RASUMOVSKY [Editor's note: Julian Calendar date. Great Britain (and colonies) appear to be the last western European country to adopt the Gregorian calendar, on 2 Sep 1752, which actually dawned as 14 Sep 1752, which would make the Count’s birthdate 2 November on the Gregorian Calendar. Though different countries adopted the Gregorian Calendar at different times, most Catholic countries adopted it in 1582, when promulgated by Pope Gregory XIII. Russia, however, didn’t adopt the Gregorian Calendar until 1918, it’s precise to note his birthdate as 22 Oct 1752.]

1761 Birth of German composer Johann Christian Gottlob EIDENBENZ. d-20 AUG 1802.

1764 Death of French baroque composer and violinist Jean-Marie Leclair in Paris. He was murdered as he entered his apartment allegedly by his nephew, also a violinist, who was never tried for the crime. Apparently jealous over the successful career of his uncle. b-Lyons, 10 MAY 1697. Search Amazon.com for Jean-Marie Leclair

1765 Birth of German composer, pianist and conductor Daniel STEIBELT in Berlin. d-St. Petersburg, 2 OCT 1823. Search Amazon.com for Daniel STEIBELT

1802 Death of English composer Samuel Arnold, at 62.

1809 Birth of Italian composer Federico RICCI. d-1877. Search Amazon.com for Federico RICCI

1811 Birth of Hungarian composer and piano virtuoso Franz LISZT in Raiding. d-Bayreuth, 31 JUL 1886. Search Amazon.com for Franz LISZT

1813 Death of German composer August Harder, at 38. b-1775. Search Amazon.com for August Harder

1826 Birth of Italian composer Guglielmo QUARENGHI. d-Milan, 1882.

1832 Birth of Czech composer August LABITZKY in Petschau, Bohemia. d-Bavaria, 1903. Son of composer Josef Labitzky, 1802-1881. Search Amazon.com for August LABITZKY

1832 Birth in Prussia of American conductor, violinist Leopold DAMROSCH in Poznan. d-NYC, 15 FEB 1885. Was founder of the NY Oratorio Society in 1874 and the NY Symphony Society in 1878. Search Amazon.com for Leopold DAMROSCH

1835 Death of German organist and politician Willem G. F. Bentinck, at 73.

1838 Birth of German composer Carl FUCHS. d-1922.

1842 Birth of American soprano Annie Louise CARY. First to sing a Wagnerian role in the US. Ortrud in 'Lohengrin' in 1877.

1856 Birth of Russian-Austrian composer and pianist Eduard SCHUTT in St. Petersburg. d-Obermias, Italy 26 JUL 1933.

1859 Birth of German conductor Karl MUCK in Darmstadt. d-1940. Search Amazon.com for Karl MUCK

1859 Death of composer Louis (Ludwig) Spohr in Kassel, at age 75. b-Braunschweig, 5 APR 1784.

1868 First American performance of Jacques Offenbach's opera Genevive de Brabant, premieres in NYC. Search Amazon.com for Louis (Ludwig) Spohr  CD-Offenbach Anthologie, Vol. 1

1879 Birth of American composer and accompanist Frank La FORGE. d-5 MAY 1953. Search Amazon.com for Frank La FORGE

1881 First concert by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Sir George Henschel conducting at the old Boston Music Hall. Search Amazon.com for Boston Symphony Orchestra

1881 Death of Latvian composer, pedagogue, founder of choir culture, Janis Cimze, at 67. b-1814. Latvian music.

1883 Birth of composer Victor JACOBI.

1883 Grand Opening of the original Metropolitan Opera House in NYC with performance of Gounod's Faust with Nilsson, Scalchi, Campanini and del Puente, Auguste Vianesi, conducting. Search Amazon.com for Metropolitan Opera House

1885 Birth of MET Opera tenor Giovanni MARTINELLI in Montagnana Italy. d-NYC, 2 FEB 1969. Giovanni Martinelli / Repertory / Search Amazon.com for Giovanni MARTINELLI.

1885 Birth of composer Lothar WINDSPERGER.

1889 Death of composer Olivier Metra at 59. Search Amazon.com for Olivier Metra

1891 Birth of composer Fidelio Friedrich FINKE.

1895 FP of David Belasco's Heart of Maryland in NYC. Search Amazon.com for Belasco's Heart of Maryland

1898 Birth of Rumanian composer and violinist Marcel MIHALOVICI in Bucharest. d-Paris, 12 AUG 1985. Search Amazon.com for Marcel MIHALOVICI

1904 Birth of Hungarian composer and theorist Paul ARMA. d-28 NOV 1987. Search Amazon.com for Paul ARMA

1905 Birth of Hungarian composer Joseph KOSMA in Budapest. d-Paris, 1969. Search Amazon.com for Joseph KOSMA

1906 Birth of Dutch composer Cornelis L "Kees" van BAAREN in Enschede. d-Oegstgeest, 2 SEP 1970.

1917 Leopold Stokowski conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra in its first recording session for Victor Records in Camden, NJ. Search Amazon.com for Philadelphia Orchestra / Search Amazon.com for Leopold Stokowski

1920 FP in USAmerica of Ravel's Le Tombeau de Couperin by the Boston Symphony, Pierre Monteux conducting. CD-Ravel: Boléro

1922 FP of Jaques Ibert's Ballade de la de Reading in Paris. Search Amazon.com for Ibert's Ballade de la de Reading

1922 In NYC, Parsifal Place laid out in Bronx, named for knight in Wagner's Opera.

1927 Birth of English composer and saxophonist Louis CARUS. Principal of the Birmingham School of Music, England, 1975-87.

1928 Birth of American composer and pianist Clare FISCHER in Durand, MI. Student of composer and educator H. Owen Reed. Search Amazon.com for Clare FISCHER / Search Amazon.com for H. Owen Reed

1929 Birth of composer Giorgio GASLINI. Search Amazon.com for Giorgio GASLINI

1929 Birth of English educator, Lord BIRKETT, President of the School for Performing Arts and Technology, British Record Industry Trust. Search Amazon.com for Lord BIRKETT

1931 Birth of Japanese composer Hikaru HAYASHI in Tokyo.

1934 Birth of New Zealand of baritone Sir Donald McINTYRE in Aukland. Search Amazon.com for Sir Donald McINTYRE

1935 Death of Armenian musicologist Komitas aka Sogomonyan Sogoman, in Paris. b-Kyotaya, Turkey 8 OCT 1869. Search Amazon.com for Komitas 

1937 Birth of composer Tadeas SALVA. Search Amazon.com for Tadeas SALVA

1942 Birth of composer Robin John MACONIE. Search Amazon.com for Robin John MACONIE

1942 FP of the orginal version of John Alden Carpenter's Symphony No. 2. New York Philharmonic, Bruno Walter conducting. CD-Carpenter: Adventures in a Perambulator / Symphonies 1 & 2

1943 Birth of American violinist Paul ZUKOFSKY in Brooklyn NY .

1943 Death of Austrian composer Josef Venantius von Woss, at 80 in Cattaro, Yugoslavia. b-Vienna, Austria 1863. Search Amazon.com for Josef Venantius von Woss

1946 Birth of South African soprano Elizabeth CONNELL. Search Amazon.com for Elizabeth CONNELL

1947 Birth of American electronic music composer Neil Burton ROLNICK.

1962 FP of Otto Luening's Trio for piano, cello and flute, at the inaugural concert of the Group for Contemporary Music at the McMillin Theater of Columbia University in NYC. CD-Luening: Trio; Sonata for piano

1965 Birth of Australian composer Georges LENTZ in Echternach, Luxembourg. Search Amazon.com for Georges LENTZ

1967 FP of Krystoff Penderecki's Capriccio for violin and orchestra. Wanda Wilkomriska soloist at the Donaueschingen Festival in West Germany. CD-Matrix 5 - Krzysztov Penderecki: Anaklasis / Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima / Fonogrammi / De Natura Sonoris 1 & 2 / Capriccio / Canticum Canticorum Salomonis / The Dream of Jacob

1969 Michael Tilson Thomas, the 25-year-old assistant conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, took over for ailing conductor William Steinberg, in NYC.  Search Amazon.com for Michael Tilson Thomas

1970 Birth of American composer David RODWIN.

1973 Death of Spanish cellist and conductor Pablo Casals, in San Juan, Puerto Rico at age of 96. b-Vendrell, Catalonia, 29 DEC 1876. Search Amazon.com for Pablo Casals

1979 Death of teacher of many contemporary composers, Nadia Boulanger, in Paris at the age of 92. b-Paris, 16 SEP 1887. Search Amazon.com for Nadia Boulanger

1983 Celebrating its 100th anniversary, New York’s Metropolitan Opera featured a daylong concert with some of the world’s greatest opera stars. On stage at the Met were Joan Sutherland, Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti and other "NOTE-ables".

1984 Death of American composer Harold Laurence Walters, at 66 in Los Angeles, CA. b-Gurden, AR, 29 SEP 1918.

1987 FP of John Adam's opera Nixon in China at Houston Grand Opera. CD-Adams:Nixon in China

1990 FP of Michael Colgrass' Snow Walker for organ and orchestra, with the competition winner, Jonathan Biggers, as soloist, on a CBC radio broadcast during the Calgary Organ Festival Competition. CD-American Works for Organ and Orchestra

1993 FP of John Harbison's The Most Often Used Chords 'Gli Accordi Piu Usati'. Los Angeles Philharmonic, Christopf Perick conducting. CD-Harbison: Symphony No3; Flute Concerto

1994 Death of Canadian ethno-Musicologist, David Buchan, at 55. b-1950.