APRIL 11

Pietro Della Valle

1586 Birth of composer Pietro Della Valle.

1602 Birth of composer Johann Neukrantz.

1638 Birth of composer Diogo Diaz Melgaz.

1668 Organist and Werkmeister Dietrich Buxtehude becomes organist at the Marienkirche in Lubeck.

1681 Birth of composer Anne Danican Philidor.

1682 Birth of French composer Jean-Joseph MOURET. d- 20 DEC 1738.

1689 FP of Henry Purcell's opera Dido and Aeneas at Josias Priest's School for Young Ladies in Chelsea, London.

1715 Birth of composer John Alcock.

1727 FP of Bach's St. Matthew Passion, at the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig. Over 100 years later Mendelssohn brought the piece back to life on the concert stage, starting a Bach revival that continues to this day.

1735 Birth of composer Pierre Nicolas La Houssaye.

1769 Birth of composer Johann Georg Lickl.

1770 At a Holy Week service, Leopold and Wolgang Mozart hear Allegri's Miserere performed by the Chapel Choir at St. Peter's in Rome.

1775 Birth of composer Charles-François Dumonchau.

1779 Birth of composer Louise Reichardt.

1791 Birth of French composer Marie-Désiré BEAULIEU aka Martin, Martin-Beaulieu, in Paris. d-Niort, Dec. 21, 1863.

1814 FP of Beethoven's Archduke trio, in Vienna. Beethoven at the piano. His contemporary Louis Spohr was there, and wrote that the piano was badly out of tune but Beethoven was too deaf to notice.

1816 Birth of German composer Theodore EISFELD in Wolfenbiittel, Brunswick. d-Wiesbaden, 16 SEP 1882.

1819 Birth of German born, English conductor and pianist Sir Charles HALLE, who settled in Manchester after being driven to England by the 1848 Revolution. In 1858 he founded the famous Halle Orchestra. d-Manchester, 25 OCT 1895.

1838 Birth of composer Joseph Leopold Rockel.

1840 Birth of composer John Conrad Nordqvist.

1852 FP of ADAM's "Le Roi des Halles" in Paris.

1859 Birth of composer Basil Harwood.

1865 Death of Italian soprano Giuditta Pasta. b-Saronno, 26 OCT 1797. Debut in Tre Eleonore (Scappa). Teachers were E. Asioli, Davide Banderali, Filippo Ferranti, Giuseppe Scappa, Giuseppina Grassini, Bartolemeo Lotti, Francesco Lamperti Paer, Girolamo Crescentini. Pupils were Marianna Barbiere-Nini, Giulia Grisi, Adelaide Kemble, Teresa Parodi. Created Beatrice in Beatrice di Tenda (Bellini). Norma in Norma (Bellini). Amina in Sonnambula (Bellini). Anna Boleyn in Anna Bolena (Donizetti). Bianca of Aquitaine in Ugo Conte di Parigi (Donizetti). Corinna in Viaggio a Reims (Rossini). Zora in Schiava in Bagdad (Pacini). Niobe in Niobe (Pacini). Emma d'Antiochia in Emma D'Antioche (Mercadante).

1866 Birth of Italian opera composer Ferruccio BUSONI [Dante Michelangiolo Benvenuto] in Empoli, nr Florence. d-Berlin, 27 JUL 1924. Operas were "Sigune, oder Das vergessene Dorf" (1889), "Die Brautwahl" (1912), "Turandot" (1917), "Arlecchino" (1917), "Doktor Faust" (1925).

1874 FP of Brahms' Haydn Variations in USAmerica by the Brooklyn Philharmonic, conducted by Theodore Thomas.

1881 Birth of American composer Harvey Bartlett GAUL. d-Pittsburgh, 1945. Studied in Paris; was pupil of Vincent d'Indy. Pittsburgh, PA, conductor and teacher at the Carnegie Institute of Technology. Was organist in NYC and Cleveland. Was the first music director of radio station KDKA and a music critic for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Most of his more than 500 compositions were published under pseudonyms. Works list. Friends established award through The Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble known as The Harvey Gaul Biennial Composition Competition.

1884 FP of Vincent d'Indy'a symphonic poem La Mort de Wallenstein 'Wallenstein's Death' in Paris.

1888 Opening of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. A concert with a 700-piece ensemble. The Concertgebouw Orchestra was founded later in the year.

1889 Birth of German tenor Eduard LICHTENSTEIN in Karlsbad. d-9 JAN 1953. Debut as Georg in Waffenschmied (Lortzing) 1908. Teacher was Nikolaus Rothmuhl Pupils were Claire Watson, Alfons von Goethem.

1891 FP of Antonin Dvorák's Dumky Piano Trio, Op. 90, composer at the piano in Prague.

1892 (10th?) Birth of Italian conductor Victor de SABATA in Trieste. d-Santa Margerita Ligure, Dec. 11, 1967.

1896 Birth of tenor Willi STORRING. d-Oct. 29, 1978.

1901 Birth of composer Theodor Rogalski.

1902 Birth of Italian tenor Enzo de Muro LOMANTO in Canosa di Puglia, in the province of Bari. d-Milan, 15 MAR 1952 of lung absces and asthma.

1902 Italian tenor Enrico Caruso records his first phonograph records for the Gramophone Typewriter Company at the Grand Hotel in Milan. He made 498 recordings in his lifetime, his last made in 1920 at the Victor Studios in Camden, NJ. Search for Enrico Caruso records

1903 Birth of Australian baritone Arnold MATTERS in Adelaide. d. Sep. 21, 1990.

1907 Birth of German-American conductor and composer Walter KAUFMANN in Karlsbad. d-Bloomington, IN, 9 SEP 1984. Opera: "Der grosse Dorin" (1932); "Der Hammel bringt es an den Tag" (1932); "Esther" (1931-32); "Die weisse Göttin" (1933); "Asasuya" (radio opera, Bombay, 1938); "The Cloak" (after Gogel, 1933-55); "A Parfait for Irene" (Bloomington, 1952); "The Tesearch (1951); "The Golden Touch" (short children's opera, 1953); "Christmas Slippers" (television opera, 1955); "Sganarelle" (1955); "George from Paradise" (1958); "Paracelsus" (1958); "The Scarlet Letter" (after Hawthorne, Bloomington, 1961); "A Hoosier Tale" (Bloomington, 1966); "Rip van Winkle" (short children's opera, 1966).

1908 Birth of Czech conductor Karel ANCERL in Tucapy. d-Toronto, 3 JUL 1973.

1916 Birth of Argentinian composer Alberto GINASTERA in Buenos Aires. d- Geneva, 25 JUN 1983.

1919 First concert performance by The New Symphony Orchestra in NYC. Founded by composer Edgard Varèse to perform new music.

1920 FP of O. Respighi's Ballata delle gnomidi 'Dance of the Gnomes' orchestral, Bernardino Molinari conducting in Rome.

1922 Birth of composer Alexander Raichev.

1922 Death of Belgian baritone Jean Note. b-Tournai, 6 MAY 1859. Debut 1885. Created Sciarra in Tasse (D'Harcourt). Vestapor in Roma (Massenet).

1926 Birth of English clarinetist Gervase De PEYER, in London. Personal biography.

1926 Birth of composer Robert Hall Lewis.

1927 Birth of composer Domenico Guaccero. 

1930 FP in USAmerica of staged version of Stravinsky's ballet The Rite of Spring. Was choreographed by Massine and conducted by Stokowski in Philadelphia.

1932 Birth of American composer and record producer (Opus One Records) Max SCHUBEL.

1934 Birth in Vienna of Opera conductor Henry HOLT who conducted many performances of Seattle and Arizona Opera Companies and others. d-Sunday, 5 OCT 1997 at the age of 63.

1934 FP of Ernest Bloch's Sacred Service. Schola Cantorum, conducted by the composer in NYC.

1938 Birth of German bass Kurt MOLL in Cologne. MET Début Sept. 18, 1978 [Hermann] Tannhäuser, 9 seasons (1978-80, 82-83, 84-85, 88-92, 97-98) 94 perf., 11-roles.

1941 Birth of Welsh tenor Arthur DAVIES in Cadenet.

1941 American naturalization of Austrian-born composer Arnold Schönberg and changes the spelling of his name to Schoenberg. American Works.

1953 Birth of Greek-American composer Dana Dimitri Richardson. Ph.D. in Theory and Composition from New York University, he taught at Fredonia College and NYU. He is the recipient of six Meet The Composer Awards, and taught at Kingsborough Community College. 1990-1991 he produced a monthly series of two-hour programs on WBAI-FM that explored the relation between music and society.

1965 FP of David Amram's Passover opera The Final Ingredient for television in NYC.

1967 FP of Alan Hovhaness' The Holy City in Portland, ME.

1969 Death of Norwegian composer Paul Ludvig Irgens Jensen. b-13 APR 1894.

1986 Death of Canadian tenor Donald Grobe. b-Ottawa, 16 DEC 1929. Debut as Borsa in Rigoletto (Verdi) 1952. Teachers were Robert Long, Martial Singher, Margarethe von Winterfeldt, Robert Weede. Created Claude Vallee in Play of Love and Death (Cikker). Astor in Untergang der Titanic (Siebert). Wilhelm in Junge Lord (Henze). Arundel in Elisabeth Tudor (Fortner). Sang in premiere of Ophelia (Kelterborn). Gespenstersonate (Reimann).

1999 FP of Augusta Read Thomas' Passion Prayers for solo cello and six instruments. Network for New Music, with cellist Scott Kluksdahl in Philadelphia.