NOVEMBER 17 Today in classical music history

Alessandro Grandi

1620 Italian composer and singer Alessandro Grandi becomes assistant to director of St. Mark's in Venice.

1648 Death of English composer Thomas Ford.

1726 FP of J. S. Bach's Sacred Cantata No. 55 Ich armer Mensch, ich Sündenknecht on the 22nd Sunday following Trinity. Was part of Bach's third annual Sacred Cantata cycle in Leipzig 1725-27.

1770 Death of composer Gian Francesco de Majo, at 38. Search Amazon.com for Gian Francesco de Majo

1771 Birth of composer Jonathan HUNTINGTON.

1787 Birth of composer Michele CARAFA. Search Amazon.com for Michele CARAFA

1808 Birth of composer Alberich ZWYSSIG. Search Amazon.com for Alberich ZWYSSIG

1816 Birth of Austrian musicologist August W. AMBROS. Wrote 'History of Music'. Search Amazon.com for August W. AMBROS

1826 Death of composer Louise Reichardt, at 47.

1828 FP of Ferdinand Herold's La Fille Mal Garde ballet in Paris. Search Amazon.com for Herold's La Fille Mal Garde

1837 Birth of composer Willem COENEN.

1839 FP of Giuseppe Verdi's opera Oberte Conti Di, in Milan.

1855 Birth of Italian baritone Giuseppe CAMPANARI in Venice. d-Milan, 31 MAY 1927. Studied the piano at the early age of six, then he studied the cello and became the first cellist in the La Scala orchestra. Singing début at La Scala at the age of nineteen. He began too soon and lost his voice, however, he joined the Boston Sym. Orchestra as a cellist for about three years. MET Opera début 30 NOV 1894 as Di Luna in Il Trovatore 14 seasons, 1894-97, 1898-1904, 1905-06, 07-10, 11-12. Search Amazon.com for Giuseppe CAMPANARI

1856 Death of English singer and composer William Knyvett, at 77. b-1779.

1859 Birth of composer Gerhard Rusenkrone SCHJELDERUP.

1862 Death of composer Alexey Nikolayevich Verstovsky, at 63.

1863 Lincoln begins 1st draft of his Gettysburg Address. (See 1963 below). Search Amazon.com for Gettysburg Address

1864 Birth of Cuban soprano Rosalia Chalia, in Havana. d. Havana, Nov. 16. 1948. She made about 25 recordings between (1898-1912). Search Amazon.com for Rosalia Chalia

1865 Death of Italian bass Cesare Badiali.

1866 FP of Ambroise Thomas' opera Mignon in Paris. CD-Mignon-Complete Opera

1876 FP of P. Tchaikovsky's March Slav in Moscow. CD-Tchaikovsky: Marche Slav; Rimsky-Korsakov: Russian Easter Overture

1877 Gilbert and Sullivan's first collaboration with D'Oyly Carte. Premiere of The Sorcerer. CD-Mikado/The Sorcerer

1881 Birth of Italian bass Nazzareno Angelis, in Aquila. d. Rome, Dec. 14, 1962. Search Amazon.com for Nazzareno Angelis

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1888 FP of Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony in St. Petersburg. CD-Tchaikovsky: Symphonies Nos. 4, 5 & 6

1891 Paderewski's debut in USA at Carnegie Hall. Plays Saint-Saens Fourth Piano Concerto with NY Symphony Society Orchestra. CD-Saint-Saëns: Piano Concertos 1-5. Search Amazon.com for Paderewski

1891 Birth of Italian composer Guido PANNAIN. d-1977. Search Amazon.com for Guido PANNAIN

1892 Birth of Argentinian composer and conductor Jose Maria CASTRO. Brother of Juan. Search Amazon.com for Jose Maria CASTRO

1892 Birth of composer Max DEUTSCH.

1898 Birth of French composer Maurice JOURNEAU in Biarritz. d-Versailles, 9 JUN 1999. Search Amazon.com for Maurice JOURNEAU

1898 FP of Giordano's Fedora. CD-Fedora-Complete Opera

1901 Birth of composer Max ZEHNDER.

1901 Birth of Belgian composer Raymond CHEVREUILLE. Search Amazon.com for Raymond CHEVREUILLE

1902 Birth of Italian soprano Maria Gentile, in Catania. d. May 18, 1993.  Debut [Gilda] Rigoletto (1924) Search Amazon.com for Maria Gentile

1903 Birth of composer Joseph KAMINSKI.

1911 Birth of English treble and baritone Ernest LOUGH. d-2000. Obit. Search Amazon.com for Ernest LOUGH

1916 Birth of American soprano Helen Boatwright. Search Amazon.com for Helen Boatwright d-2 DEC 2010. Obit.

1919 Birth of Italian tenor Agostino Lazzari, in Genoa. d. Jan. 1, 1981. Search Amazon.com for Agostino Lazzari

1919 Birth of American composer-arranger (Hershey) Hershy KAY in Philadelphia, Pa. d-2 DEC 1981. Search Amazon.com for Hershy KAY

1924 FP of Ernst von Dohnányi's Ruralia Hungarica with composer conducting in Budapest. CD-Dohnanyi: Piano Concerto No. 1, Ruralia Hungarica

1925 Birth of Australian conductor Charles MACKERRAS in Schenectady NY. Search Amazon.com for Charles MACKERRAS

1928 Birth of Swedish mezzo-soprano Margarete Sjostedt,  [aka. Margareta Sjöstedt-Kraus] in Stockholm. Search Amazon.com for Margarete Sjostedt

1930 Birth of American composer and french horn player David AMRAM in Philadelphia. Search Amazon.com for David AMRAM

1930 Birth of English tenor John DOBSON.

1931 Death of composer Georgi Atanasov, at 50. Search Amazon.com for Georgi Atanasov

1934 Birth of American composer Lanette LIND.

1934 NYC Debut of left-handed Austrian pianist Paul Wittgenstein. Playing Ravel's Concerto for Left Hand with Boston Sym. Orch. Search Amazon.com for Paul Wittgenstein

1937 FP of Daniel Gregory Mason's Lincoln Symphony. NY Philharmonic Society Orchestra.

1938 Birth of Portugese conductor and composer Alvaro Leon CASSUTO. Portuguese Symphony Orchestra, Artistic and Musical Director, Lisbonne, Portugal.

1941 FP of Virgil Thomson's 2nd Symphony. Search Amazon.com for Virgil Thomson Symphony No. 2

1943 Death of composer Paul Charles Rene Landormy, at 74. Search Amazon.com for Paul Charles Rene Landormy

1948 Birth of English composer David Frederick GOLIGHTLY in Durham.

1950 (19th?)Birth of English wind player and conductor Philip PICKETT. Search Amazon.com for Philip PICKETT

1950 Debut at The MET Opera of Roberta Peters filling in the lead soprano role in Mozart's Don Giovanni. Search Amazon.com for Roberta Peters.

1952 Birth of German composer Gerhard FISCHER-MüNSTER in Münster-Sarmsheim, Germany.

1959 Death of Brazilian composer, pianist and conductor Heitor Villa-Lobos, at 72 in Rio de Janeiro. b-Rio de Janeiro, 5 MAR 1887. Search Amazon.com for Heitor Villa-Lobos

1963 David Diamond composed his This Sacred Ground for the centennial of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address of 19 NOV 1863. "Four score and...." Diamond: Symphony No.8/This Sacred Ground

1976 Death of composer and conductor Victor Alessandro, at 60.

1977 FP of Vincent Persichetti's Concerto for English Horn & Strings soloist Thomas Stacy, Erich Leinsdorf conducting New York Philharmonic.

1982 Death of Estonian composer Eduard Tubin, at 77 in Stockholm, Sweden. b-Kallaste, 18 JUN 1905. Search Amazon.com for Eduard Tubin

1984 (11th?) Death of composer Jan Novak, at 63. Search Amazon.com for Jan Novak

1989 Death of English conductor and composer Emerson Buckley, at 73. b-14 APR 1916. Search Amazon.com for Emerson Buckley

1991 FP of Katherine Hoover's Canyon Echoes. Susan Morris De Jong, flute and Jeffrey Van, guitar; at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, MN. CD-Chronicles of Discover: American Music for Flute and Guitar

1996 FP of Michael Torke's Crome for flute and piano. Marina Piccinini, flute and Andreas Haefliger, piano at Colden Center in Queens, NYC.

1998 Death of Swiss composer Norbert Moret in Fribourg. b- Ménières, 20 NOV 1921. Search Amazon.com for Norbert Moret