MARCH 23

Thomas Selle

1599 Birth of composer Thomas Selle.

1687 Funeral in Paris of Italian-French conductor Jean-Baptiste LULLY. He conducted with a 6' long stick that he hit on the floor. He struck his foot and following infection, died.

1703 Antonio Vivaldi, 25 years old, is ordained as a priest in Venice.

1729 Johann Sebastian Bach visits Coethen and performs funeral music for his ex-employer, Prince Leopold.

1731 FP of Bach's St. Mark Passion performed at Vespers on Good Friday, in Leipzig.

1743 FP of Handel's Messiah. At the Hallelujah Chorus in London. King George II jumps to his feet establishing a tradition.

1749 Birth of composer Hugo Franz Karl Alexander von Kerpen.

1750 Birth of German composer Johann Matthias SPERGER in Feldberg, Valtice/Czechia, today Austria. He was trained as bass player and worked at courts of Großwardstein and Eisenstadt. He was employed at the court of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. d-13 MAY 1812.

1783 FP of W. A. Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 13 and last version of Haffner Symphony No. 35 at the Vienna Burgtheater, composer was soloist and conductor.

1792 FP Haydn's Surprise Symphony No.94 in G in London.

1795 Birth of composer Leopold Jansa.

1811 Birth of composer Camille Marie Stamaty.

1811 Birth of composer Carl Gottfried Wilhelm Taubert.

1826 Birth of Austrian ballet composer and violinist Aloysius Ludwig MINKUS in Vienna. d- 7 DEC 1917.

1828 FP of L. Von Beethoven's String Quartet in F, Op. 135, posthumously by the Schuppanzigh Quartet, in Vienna.

1834 Birth of German composer, pianist and organist Julius REUBKE, in Hausneindorf.

1835 FP of AUBER's "Le cheval de bronze" in Paris.

1837 Birth of composer Joseph Wieniawski.

1844 Birth of French organist and composer Eugene GIGOUT. (zhee goo) d-Paris, 9 DEC 1925.

1864 Birth of composer Hjalmar Borgstrom. 

1877 Birth of German baritone Ludwig HESS. d-5 FEB 1944. Opera, "Abu und Nu" (1919); "Vor Edens Pforte" and "Kranion" (Erfurt, 1933).

1878 Birth of Viennese theater music composer Franz SCHREKER. d-21 MAR 1934.

1881 Birth of German (Dutch) pianist Egon PETRI in Hamburg. Collaborated with Busoni on Bach edition. d-1962.

1881 Death of Russian pianist, conductor, composer and teacher Nicolas RUBINSTEIN in Paris. b- 14 JUN 1835.

1884 Birth of composer Glauco Velasquez.

1886 Death of Opera composer Max Wolf. b-Moravska, FEB 1840. Operetta: "Die Pilger" (Vienna, 1872); "Die Porträt-Dame" (Vienna, 1877); "Césarine" (Vienna, 1878).

1887 Birth of American soprano Felice Lyne in Slater, MO. d. Sep. 1, 1935: Début (1911).

1891 Birth of composer Catherine Murphy Urner. d-1942. 

1893 Birth of Hungarian violinist and composer Franz von VECSEY in Budapest.

1895 Birth of French-born American composer, painter and mystical philosopher Dane RUDHYAR, in Paris. d-13 SEP 1985.

1895 Birth of Austrian-American soprano Fritzi JOKL  in Vienna. d-New York, 15 OCT 1974.

1896 FP of Giordano's Andrea Chenier in Milan.

1899 Birth of American mezzo-soprano Doris DOE in Barharbor, ME. d-Chattanooga, TN, 26 DEC 1985. MET Début: Feb. 3, 1932 [Brangäne] Tristan und Isolde, 16 seasons (1931-47) 347 perf., 34 roles, 25 works.

1899 FP of Samuel Coleridge Taylor's Hiawatha's Wedding Feast at baptist Temple in Brooklyn, NY.

1900 Birth of composer Jose Antonio Calcano.

1906 Birth of composer George Posford.

1912 FP of R. Gliere: Symphony No. 3 Ilya Murometz in Moscow.

1914 Birth of composer Robert Gross.

1917 Birth of Irish tenor Josef LOCKE in Londonderry, Northern Ireland. aka Joseph McLaughlin. d-Clane, Ireland, 15 OCT 1999. His romantic tenor voice and colorful life inspired the 1992 film Hear My Song starring Ned Beatty as Locke. Was 82 years old when he passed away. DVD-Hear My Song

1917 Ernest Bloch conducts the BSO in FP of his Three Hebrew Poems in Boston.

1917 Birth of American violinist Oscar SHUMSKY in Philadelphia. d- Rye, NY, 24 JUL 2000.

1920 Birth of English organist and composer Geoffrey BUSH.

1920 Birth of composer Alexander Grigori Harut'unyan [Arutiunian].

1923 FP in concert of Manuel de Falla's opera El Retablo de maese Pedro 'Master Peter's Puppet Show' at the Teatro San Fernando, in Seville.

1923 FP of Respighi's opera Belfagor at Teatro alla Scalla in Milan.

1925 Birth of British contralto Monica SINCLAIR, in Evercreech, Somerset. m-Anthony Tunstall (six children). d-London 7 MAY 2002. Obituary. MET Début: Mar. 14, 1972 [Berkenfield] La Fille du Régiment, 2 seasons (1971-73) 20 perf., 2 works.

1927 Birth of French soprano Regine CRESPIN. 

1927 Birth of composer Osvaldo Lacerda.

1932 Birth of Italian soprano Ilva LIGABUE in Reggio Emilia, It. d-Palermo, 19 AUG 1998.

1933 Birth of English baritone Norman BAILEY IN Birmingham. MET Début: Oct. 23, 1976 [Sachs] Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, 3 seasons (1976-77, 1978-80) 24 perf., 5 roles.

1933 Birth of Swiss baritone [René] Bernard KRUYSEN [Kruijsen] in Montreux. d-2000.

1934 (5?)FP of Samuel Barber's Music for a Scene from Shelly. Performed by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.

1937 Birth of composer Heinz Martin Lonquich.

1938 Birth of American mezzo-soprano Gwynn CORNELL in Concord, NC. d-Tenafly, NJ, 31 OCT 1984. MET Début: Dec. 30, 1978 [Klytämnestra] Elektra, 6 seasons (1978-84) 75 perf., 18 roles, 16 works.

1939 Birth of Russian composer Boris TISHCHENKO. Search Boris TISHCHENKO.

1939 FP of Bela Bartók's Violin Concerto No. 2. Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra, Willem Mengelberg conducting and Zoltán Székely was the soloist.

1935 FP of Samuel Barber's Music for a Scene from Shelley. New York Philharmonic;

1944 Birth of English composer Michael NYMAN.

1944 FP of Henry Cowell's Hymn and Fuguing Tune No. 2 for strings. Henri Nosco and his Concert Orchestra, on WEAF radio, NYC. The first concert performance was at Town Hall, NYC, 8 OCT 1944, with Daniel Saidenburg's Little Symphony.

1945 FP of A. Copland's, with 9 other composers, Variations on a Theme by Eugene Goosens by the Cincinnati Symphony.

1946 FP of Marc Blitzstein's Airbourne Symphony, in NYC.

1962 FP of Irving Fine's Symphony 1962 Boston Symphony, Charles Munch conducting.

1969 FP of Gene Gutchë's Genghis Khan American Symphony Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski conducting.

1977 DÉBUT MET of tenor John Brecknock in Mozart's Magic Flute as Tamino.

1999 FP of James MacMillan's Cumnock Fair for piano and strings. Scottish Chamber Orchestra at Cumnock Academy.

2002 Death of American Opera diva Eileen FARRELL. Was known for both the opera and pop. ~ age 82. Ananova | Houston Chronical, obit. Born in Willimantic, Connecticut, in 1920. See: EILEEN FARRELL Obit, AP. | BOOK-I Can't Help Singing | CD-Verdi . Search Amazon.com for Eileen FARRELL

2005 FP of John Harbison's Darkbloom, Overture for an Imagined Opera. Boston Symphony, James Levine conducting, Boston MA.