APRIL 12

 Pietro NARDINI 

1626 Birth of composer Paul Hainlein.

1684 Death of violin craftsman Nicola Amati in Cremona Italy at 87 years.

1710 Birth of Italian castrato CAFFARELLI (Gaetano Majorano) in Bari. d-31 JAN 1783. Debut in Valemaro (Sarro) 1726. Teacher was Nicola Porpora. Created Xerxes in Xerxes (Handel). Faramondo in Faramondo (Handel). Farnaspe in Adriano in Siria (Pergolesi). Alessandro Severo in Alessandro Severo (Handel). Oreste in Andromacca (Leo).

1716 Birth of Italian violinist and composer Felice de GIARDINI. d- Moscow, 8 JUN 1796.

1722 Birth of Italian composer and violinist Pietro NARDINI in Leghorn. d- 7 MAY 1793.

1727 Birth of composer Gaspare Gabellone.

1760 Birth of composer Juan Manuel Olivares.

1769 Birth of composer Giovanni Agostino Perotti.

1788 Birth of composer Johann Erik Nordblom.

1801 Birth of Austrian composer Joseph LANNER in Vienna. d- 14 APR 1843.

1814 Death of music historian and composer Charles Burney, in London.

1815 Birth of composer Henry Hugo Pierson.

1818 Birth of German baritone Anton MITTERWURZER in Sterzing, Tyrol. d-2 APR 1876. Debut 1838. Created Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde (Wagner). Wolfram in Tannhauser(Wagner). Sang in premiere of Kaiser Adolf von Nassau (Marschner).

1824 Birth of French tenor Joseph Theodor BARBOT in Toulouse. d-1 JAN 1879. Debut 1848. Teachers were Elwart, Manuel Garcia Jr. Pupils were Albert Vaguet, Meyriane Heglon. Created Faust in Faust (Gounod).

1826 FP Weber's opera Oberon, produced at Covent Garden, London.

1827 Birth of composer Edward Mollenhauer.

1839 Birth of composer Victorin de Joncieres.

1840 Birth of French composer Edmond AUDRAN in Lyons. d-Tierceville, Aug. 17, 1901.

1851 Birth of composer Emil Liebling.

1858 Birth of Russian baritone Leonid Georgiev YAKOVLEV in Cherson. d. June 12, 1919.

1867 FP of Jacques Offenbach's operetta Le Grande Duchesse de Gerolstein in Paris.

1871 Birth of Czech tenor Julius BOCHNICEK in Prague. d- June 17, 1951.

1877 FP in USAmerica of Verdi's opera Don Carlos in NYC.

1878 Birth of Italian soprano Emma TRENTINI  in Mantua. d-23 MAR 1959. Teacher was Fritz Feinhals. Poster image.

1892 Birth of Italian mezzo-soprano Irene Minghini CATTANEO in Lugo, Ravenna. d-in a bombing attack by allied forces at the end of WW-II, 24 MAR 1944. Debut as Azucena in Trovatore (Verdi) Jan 1918. Teachers were Ettore Cattaneo (later husband), Cicognani. Created Woman in Fra Gherardo (Pizzetti). Jarifa in Re Hassan (Ghedini).

1898 Birth of French soprano Lily PONS in Cannes (Her personal bios indicate 1904 as birth year). d-Dallas, 13 FEB 1976. Pons on CD. Debut as Lakme in Lakme (Delibes) 1928. Teachers were Alberto De Gorostiaga, Giovanni Zenatello. m-1938, BIO. Pons to conductor Andre Kostelanetz. Later divorced.

1907 Birth of English composer, writer and conductor Imogen HOLST. d-9 MAR 1984. Daughter of composer Gustav Holst. Biography

1910 FP of BITTNER's "Der Musikant" in Vienna.

1913 Birth of composer Gabor Jodal.

1919 Birth of composer Istvan Anhalt. 

1920 Birth of American pianist Robert FIZDALE in Chicago, IL. d-1995. Fizdale on CD. also see Gold and Fizdale on CD.

1923 Birth of German soprano Erna Maria DUSKE in Berlin. Debut 1951. Sang in premiere of Grune Kakadu (Mohaupt).

1924 Birth of composer Sergiu Natra.

1924 Birth of Austrian bass-baritone Franz MAZURA in Salzburg. Debut 1949. Teacher was Fred Husler. MET: Début Dec. 12, 1980 [Schön] Lulu, 12 seasons (1980-92) 167 perf., 17 roles, 14 works.

1927 Birth of German bass-baritone Gunther LEIB in Gotha, Thuringia, Germany. Debut as Bartolo in Barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini) 1952. Sang in premiere of Till (Wohlgemuth).

1927 Birth of English baritone Thomas HEMSLEY in Coalville. Debut as Aeneas in Dido & Aeneas (Purcell) 1951. Teacher was Lucie Manen. Pupils were Christopher Robson, William Dazeley. Created Head Reaper in Ruth (Berkeley). Caesar in Catiline Conspiracy (Hamilton). Demetrius in Midsummer Night's Dream (Britten). Mangus in Knot Garden (Tippett).

1930 FP of Leos Janácek's opera From the House of the Dead at the National Theater in Brno.

1931 Birth of composer Martin Boykan.

1932 Birth of Czech mezzo-soprano Vera SOUKUPOVA in Prague. Debut as Carmen in Carmen (Bizet) 1957. Teachers were Louis Kaderabek, A Mustanova-Linkova. Created Chajat in Musa Dzhalil (Zhiganov).

1932 Birth of Bulgarian-American composer and teacher Henri LAZAROF in Sofia.

1933 Birth of Spanish soprano Montserrat CABALLE' in Barcelona. On CD. Debut as Mimi in Boheme (Puccini) 1956. Teachers were Napoleone Annovazzi, Conchita Badia, Eugenie Kemmeny. Created Isabella in Cristobal Colon (Balada). Sang in premiere pf Marie de Montpellier (Koering).

1933 Death of French soprano Lola Artot de Padilla . b-Sevres, 5 OCT 1880. Debut as Mignon 1902. Teacher was Desiree Artot de Padilla (mother). Created Turandot in Turandot (Busoni). Grave site photo.

1933 Birth of German baritone Peter-Christoph RUNGE in Lubeck. Debut as Guglielmo in Cosi Fan Tutte (Mozart) 1958. Teachers were Edith Boroschek, Lilly Schmitt De Giorgi.

1938 Death of American soprano Marie Tiffany. b-Chicago, 3 JUL 1880. Created Female Lover in Tabarro (Puccini). Nella in Gianni Schicci (Puccini).

1938 Death of Russian bass Feodor Chaliapin, in Paris. b-Kazan, 13 FEB 1873. On CD. Debut as Steward in Halka (Moniuszko) 1890. Teacher was Dmitri Usatov. Created Don Quichotte in Don Quichotte (Massenet). Asvab in Vieil Angle (Gunsbourg).

1943 Birth of Austrian violinist Ernst KOVACIC. Also see Cds by Kovacic.

1942 Birth of composer Daniel Winslow Schmidt.

1943 Death of Italian tenor Edoardo Garbin. b-Padua, 12 MAR 1865. Debut as Alvaro in Forza Del Destino (Verdi) 1891. Teachers were Vittorio Orefice, Alberto Selva. Pupil was Kurt Baum. Created Fenton in Falstaff (Verdi). Milio Dufresne in Zaza (Leoncavallo). Giovanni Gallurese in Giovanni Gallurese (Montemezzi). Don Fernan Guevara in Cristoforo Colombe (Franchetti).

1948 Birth of Italian soprano Mariella DEVIA in Chiusavecchia.Debut 1972 as Despina in Cosi Fan Tutte (Mozart) 1972. MET: Début: Dec. 18, 1979 [Gilda] Rigoletto, 11 seasons (1979-80, 81-87, 88-90, 91-92, 93-94) 73 perf., 5 works.

1949 Death of American composer and singer Henry Thacker Burleigh.

1952 Death of English mezzo-soprano Margery Booth in NYC. b-Wigan, 1901.

1955 Death of Canadian tenor W. H. Anderson. b-21 APR 1882. Pupil was Morley Meredith.

1957 FP of Wallingford Riegger's Symphony No. 4, at the University of Illinois, Urbana.

1968 Death of English tenor Louis Graveure . b-London, 18 MAR 1888. Debut in Lilac Domino (Cuvillier) 1914.

1978 FP of György Ligeti's opera La Grand Macabre at the Royal Opera in Stockholm. Search Amazon.com for Ligeti's opera La Grand Macabre

1995 FP of John Towner Williams' Bassoon Concerto The Five Sacred Trees. Soloist Judith LeClair and the New York Philharmonic conducted by Kurt Masur.

2004 FP of Kaija Saariaho´s Je seus un deuxime cocur. Emmanuel Ax, piano; Paul Neubauer, viola; Fred Sherry, cello at Zankel Hall, NYC.