APRIL 15

Domenico_Gabrielli

1521(?) Birth of Flemish singer and teacher Philippe de MONTE. d-Prague, 4 JUL 1602.

1637 Birth of composer Valentin Molitor

1651 Birth of composer Domenico Gabrielli. d-10 July 1690. He was an Italian Baroque composer and virtuoso cello player. He was apparently not related to the Venetian Gabrieli family. BIO.

1688 Birth of German composer Johann Friedrich FASCH in Weimar. d- 5 DEC 1758.

1689 Birth of composer Ferdinand Zellbell

1721 Opening of the King's Theater in London with Muzio Scevola. Resident composers Amadie, Bonocini and Handel each do an act of the opera.

1728 On the day, a Good Friday, FP of Bach's St. Matthew Passion in the Thomaskirche, Leipzig.

1738 FP of Handel's opera Xerxes featuring the popular 'largo' at King's Theater in London and runs for five performances. [Julian calendar, Gregorian calendar, 26 APR].

1739 FP of Handel's oratorio Israel in Egypt.

1745 FP of T. ARNE's "King Pepin's Campaign " in London.

1757 Birth of composer George Knowil JACKSON. d-1822.

1827 Birth of composer Julius Tausch 

1843 Birth of composer Carl Eilhardt

1847 FP in USAmerica of Verdi's opera Ernani. Park Theatre in NYC.

1845 Birth of Italian soprano Teresina Brambilla-PONCHIELLI in Cassano D'Adda. d-1 JULY 1921. Debut 1863. Teachers were Marietta Brambilla (aunt), Teresa Brambilla (aunt). Pupil was Giuseppina Baldassare-Tedeschi.

1862 Birth of mezzo-soprano Ida von Scheele-Müller. d. Mar. 15, 1933.

1880 Birth of Russian composer Gregory KREIN, brother of Alexander and father of Julian, also composers. d-6 JAN 1955.

1883 Birth of Italian baritone Cesare FORMICHI  in Rome. d-21 JUL 1949. Debut 1909. Teachers were Di Pietro, Vincenzo Lombardi, Luigi Rasi. Sang in the premiere of Fedra(Romani).

1885 Birth of German contralto, mezzo-soprano Margarethe Arndt-Ober aka Margarete OBER  in Berlin. d-17 MAR 1971. Debut as Azucena in Trovatore (Verdi) 1906. Teachers were Arthur Arndt (later Husband), Benno Stolzenberg. Created Asa in Peer Gynt (Egk). Sang in premiere of Singing Devil (Schreker).

1885 Birth of tenor Lambert MURPHY. d. July 24, 1954. MET: Début: Nov. 16, 1911 [Joe] La Fanciulla del West, 3 seasons (1911-14) 137 perf., 18 roles, 14 works.

1891 Birth of German conductor Karl ALWIN (Alwin Oscar Pinkus). d-Mexico City, 15 OCT 1945.

1891 Birth of Finnish composer Vaino RAITIO. d-Helsinki, 10 SEP 1945.

1898 Birth of German soprano Ria GINSTER in Frankfurt. Teacher was Louis Bachner. Pupils were Hilde Zadek, Guillermo Sarabia, Uta Graf. d-Zurich, May, 11, 1985.

1898 Birth of Danish composer Flemming WEIS in Copenhagen. d-30 SEP 1981.

1898 Birth of Flemish operette singer Nini de Boel.

1902 FP of Ravel's Pavanne for a Dead Princess. Ricardo Viñes, pianist, in Paris.

1904 New Zealand soprano Francis Alda makes her debut in Massenet's Manon in Paris.

1911 Birth of Italian conductor Nino SANZOGNO in Venice. d-Milan, May 4, 1983.

1912 Eight British musicians perish, playing Nearer My God to Thee as the S.S. Titanic sinks after striking an iceburg in the Atlantic near Newfoundland.

1915 FP of Falla's El Amour Brujo, 'Love the Magician' in Madrid.

1917 Birth of composer Pietro Grossi.

1918 FP of S. Prokofiev's Piano Sonata No. 3 and Visions fugitives Op. 22, composer performing in Petrograd.

1924 Birth of English violinist and conductor Sir Neville MARRINER in London. Founder of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields in London, 1959. Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.

1925 Birth of Spanish tenor Juan ONCINA in Barcelona. Debut as Des Grieux in Manon (Massenet) 1946. Teachers were Jeanne Campredon, Mercedes Capsir, Augusta Oltrabella. Sang in premiere of Pour un Don Quichotte (Riviere). Vivi (Mannino).

1926 FP of Douglas Moore's opera The Pageant of P.T. Barnum (1924) Cleveland Orchestra, Nikolai Sokoloff conducting.

1927 Birth of Argentinian soprano Helena ARIZMENDI in Buenos Aires. Debut 1945. Teachers were Maria Barrientos, Luigi Ricci, Felipe Romito.

1927 FP of Frederich Converse's orchestral fantasy Flivver Ten Million. Composed for the ten millionth Ford automobile. Boston Symphony, Serge Koussevitzky conducting.

1928 Death of Italian bass Vittorio Arimondi. b- Saluzzo, 3 JUN 1861. Debut in Guarany (Gomes) 1883. Created Pistol in Falstaff (Verdi).

1929 Birth of Italian tenor Renato CIONI in Portoferraio. Debut in 1956 at Spoleto as Edgardo in Lucia Lammermoor (Donizetti) 1953. MET Début: Apr. 18, 1970 [Pollione] Norma, 1 season (1969-70) 6 perf. 1 role.

1929 Awarding of the Victor Talking Machine Company Competition Prize. However, judges of the competition decide that none of the submitted works deserved the full $25,000 prize, awarding $5000 each, to composers Aaron Copland, Ernest Bloch, and Louis Gruenberg, with $10,000 to Robert Russell Bennett submitting two works.

1931 (Aug?)Birth of American 'Hot Canary' pop violinist and composer Florian ZABACH in Chicago.

1931 FP of Aaron Copland's A Dance Symphony. Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Leopold Stokowski.

1936 Birth of American composer and teacher Jerry NOVAK.

1944 Birth of English trumpeter John WILBRAHAM. d- 5 APR 1998.

1945 Death of Welsh bass Malcolm McEachern. b-Albany N S W, 1883. Teacher was David Dick Slater.

1951 Death of American mezzo-soprano Sarah Jane Walker aka Mme. Charles Cahier. b-Nashville, 8 JAN 1870. Debut as Orfeo in Orfeo ed Euridice (Gluck) 1904. Teachers were Jean De Reszke, Ernestinoff, Amalie Joachim, Gustav Walter. Pupils were Rosette Anday, Gota Ljunberg, Else Brems.

1953 Birth of Italian composer Carlo CRIVELLI.

1959 FP of Olivier Messiaen's Catalogue d'oiseaux, a piano work based on birdsongs.

1964 Birth of Argentinian composer Alejandro SIMONOVICH in Buenos Aires.

1968 Death of Russian composer Boris Nikolayevich Lyatoshynsky. b-22 DEC 1894.

1971 Funeral mass of composer Igor Stravinsky at Santi Giovanni e Paolo in Venice. He died on 6 APR. There was a private funeral service on 9 APR. His body was flown to Venice, Italy, for a public funeral on 12 APR. The funeral Mass included his own Requiem Canticles. The coffin was taken by gondola to the island of San Michele. On 15 APR he was buried near his old friend Serge Diaghilev.

1975 Death of Italian tenor Mariano Caruso. b-Naples. Debut as Cassio in Otello (Verdi) 1945. Created 1st Priest in Prigoniero (Dallapiccola).

1975 Death of American baritone Arthur Endreze. b-Chicago, 28 NOV 1893. Debut as Escamillo in Carmen (Bizet) 28 Dec 1925. Teacher was Jean De Reszke. Created Guercoeur in Guercoeur (Magnard). Metternich in Aiglon (Honnegar-Ibert). Comte Mosca in Chartreuse de Parme (Sauguet). Creon in Medee (Milhaud).

1976 FP of William Schuman's Concerto on Old English Rounds for viola, women's chorus and orchestra, in NYC.

1979 FP of John Harbison's Quintet for Winds. Aulos Quintet, Jordan Hall in Boston.

1981 FP of Stanislaw Skrowaczewski's Clarinet Concerto. Joseph Longo and the Minnesota Orchestra, composer conducting in Minneapolis.

1981 FP of John Adams Harmonium with text of Emily Dickinson.

1993 Death of English soprano Winifred Radford. b-London, 2 OCT 1901. Debut as Barbarina in Nozze di Figaro (Mozart) 1934. Teacher was bass Robert Radford (father). Pupils were Elizabeth Gale, Penelope Mackay. Portrait

1994 FP of Michael Torke's Bone for mixed ensemble, at the Rensselaer Polytechnical Institute. Dog of Desire ensemble, David Alan Miller conducting in New York.

1998 FP of Philip Glass' opera Monsters of Grace at UCLA. Philip Glass Ensemble, Michael Riesman conducting, with computer animated images created by Robert Wilson.

2000 FP of Steve Mackey's Tuck and Roll Concerto for Electric Guitar and Orchestra. Composer was soloist with the New World Symphony conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas in Miami, FL.