APRIL 17

 Johann David Heinichen

1587 Birth of composer Marco Ivan Lukacic.

1683 Birth of composer Johann David Heinichen in Krüssuln. d- 16 JUL 1729.

1715 Birth of composer Johann Wolfgang Kleinknecht.

1719 Birth of composer Christian Gottfried Krause.

1724 Birth of Prince Ferdinand LOBKOWITZ in Prague, patron of Gluck.

1738 Birth of composer Philip Hayes.

1741 Birth of German composer Johann Gottlieb NAUMANN. d- 23 OCT 1801.

1774 Birth of Czech composer and organist Vaclav Jan Krtitel TOMASEK in Bohemia. d -3 APR 1850.

1790 Death of inventor of musical instrument known as the glass harmonica or armonica, Benjamin (Ben) Franklin. Also American scientist, publisher, writer and statesman. He helped frame the American Declaration of Independence.

1797 Birth of Belgian composer and conductor Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Tolbecque.

1811 Birth of composer Ann Sheppard Mounsey.

1820 Birth of composer Gottfried Conradi.

1833 FP in USAmerica of Mozart's opera The Magic Flute performed in English, at the Park Theatre in New York City.

1849 Debut of Louis M. Gottschalk at the Salle Pleyel in Paris.

1863 Birth of Curacao composer and conductor Johannes P Boskaljon.

1874 Birth of Czech baritone-tenor Rudolf BERGER in Brünn, Moravia. d-NYC, 27 FEB 1915. Originally a baritone he changed to tenor after studying with Oscar Saenger in New York. m-English soprano Marie Rappold (1873-1957). MET Opera Début 5 FEB 1914. [Siegmund] Die Walküre, 2 seasons (1913-15) 24 perf. of 8 roles. Debut as Telramund in Lohengrin (Wagner) 1897. Teachers were Adolf Robinson, Oscar Saenger.

1879 Birth of French soprano Agnès BORGO. d-7 JAN 1958. m-Corsican tenor César Vezzani (1886-1951).

1882 Birth of Austrian pianist Artur SCHNABEL in Lipnik. d-Switzerland, 1951. Search for Artur SCHNABEL.

1883 Birth of composer Hermann Darewsky.

1885 Birth of American violinist and composer Cecil BURLEIGH. d-1980.

1888 Birth of English soprano Dame Maggie TEYTE  in Wolverhampton. d-London, 26 MAY 1976. Debut as Zerlina in Don Giovanni (Mozart) 1907. Teacher was Jean De Reszke. Pupils were Michelle Bonhomme, Nancy Evans, Adele Leigh, Dorothy Dorow. Created Princess in Perfect Fool (Holst). Glycere in Circe (Hillemacher).

1894 Birth of American compóser Hans Ewald HILLER. Operas; "Satan" (1927); "Messalina" (1928); "Der Liebling von London" (1930).

1894 Birth of American composer and orchestrator Hans SPIALEK. d-1983.

1897 Birth of Norwegian composer Harald SAEVERUD in Bergen. d- 1992.

1900 Birth of Swiss composer Eilly BURKHARD in Évilard-sur-Bienne, Zurich. d-Zurich, 18 JUN 1955. Wrote only one opera, "Die Schwarze Spinne" (1948).

1903 Birth of Russian composer Nicolas NABOKOV near Minsk. Moved to USA in 1932. d-NYC, 6 APR 1978. aka Nikolai. Opera "The Holly Devil" (on the subject of Rasputin, Louisville KY, 1958: Rev: as "Der Tod des Grigorij Rasputin" Cologne (1959); "Love's Labour's Lost" (Brussels, 1973).

1903 Birth of Russian cellist Gregor PIATIGORSKY in Ekaterinoslav. Former principal cellist of the Berlin Philharmonic. Taught at Curtis, 1942-51. Prf. at USC-LA, 1962-76. d-L.A. 6 AUG 1976.

1906 In San Francisco Italian tenor Enrico Caruso sings in Bizet's Carmen with the Metropolitan Opera company the evening before the major earthquake.

1907 FP of Sir Edward German's Tom Jones a comic opera in London.

1912 Birth of Hungarian soprano and actress Marta EGGERTH in Budapest. m-Polish tenor Jan Kiepura (1902-1966).

1914 Birth of French soprano Janine MICHEAU in Toulouse. d-Paris, 18 OCT 1976. Debut La Plieuse in Louise (Charpentier) 1933. Teacher was Marguerite Carre.

1918 FP of S. Prokofiev's Piano Sonata No. 4 and Two Sonatinas, Op. 54. Composer was soloist, in Petrograd.

1923 (16th?) Birth of Italian tenor Gianni RAIMONDI in Bologna.

1925 Birth of German bass-baritone Wolfgang ZIMMERMANN in Stuttgart. Teachers were Richard Zimmermann (father), Inna von Grinfeldt, Anna Bahr-Mildenburg. Debut as Basilio in Barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini) 1947. Sang in premiere of Glucksfischer (Lothar).

1925 Birth of English contralto Pamela BOWDEN in Rochdale. d-8 APR 2003. A popular singer who went on to become a distinguished teacher and administrator. Teachers were Norman Allin, Roy Henderson, Leslie Langford.

1927 Birth of Italian soprano Graziella SCIUTTI in Turin. d-Geneva, 9 APR 2001 of cancer. Studied in Rome. Début: Aix- en-Provence Menotti's The Telephone (1951); Glyndebourne Festival (1954-59): CG (1956). She was a guest at the Salzburger Festspiele, Edinburgh Festival, Holland Festival, Vienna State Opera, and the Teatro alla Scala, Milan. She became opera director with Poulenc's La voix humaine, Glyndebourne (1977). At the re-opening of the Stadttheater, Koblenz, Germany, she directed Mozart's Die Zauberflöte (1985). 

1927 Birth of composer Christopher Whelen.

1931 Birth of French tenor Michel CADIOU in Paris. Debut as Vincent in Mireille (Gounod). Teachers were Roger Bourdin, Jean Claverie.

1935 (1940?)Birth of German soprano Anja SILJA in Berlin. Debut as Rosina in Barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini). Teacher was Egon van Rijn (grandfather). Created Luisa Miller in Kabale und Liebe (Von Einem). Colbert Artist bio-Anja SILJA. MET Opera Début 26 FEB 1972 [Leonora] Fidelio, 3 seasons (1971-72, 79-80, 92-93) 16 perf., 4 works.

1936 Birth of tenor Paul CROOK in Blackburn. Debut as Spoletta in Tosca (Puccini) 1969. Teachers were E. Herbert Caesari, Herbert Graf, Lotfi Mansouri.

1937 Birth of American electronic music composer Donald BUCHLA.

1940 Birth of German tenor and bassoonist Siegfried JERUSALEM in Oberhausen. MET Opera Début 10 JAN 1980 [Lohengrin] Lohengrin, 8 seasons (1979-80, 87-92, 93-94, 96-97) 51 perf., 7 works. Debut as Prisoner in Fidelio (Beethoven) 1975. Teacher was Hertha Kalcher.

1941 Birth of composer Adolphus Hailstork.

1942 Death of American mezzo-soprano, soprano, Dreda [Etheldreda Belle] Aves in Newark, NJ. b-Norwalk, OH, 1890s. MET Opera Début 8 JAN 1928 [Aida] Aida, 4 seasons (1927-30, 31-32) 18 perf., 4 works.

1944 Birth of German baritone Grit Van JUETEN in Hamburg, 17 APR 1944.

1944 Birth of pianist John Lill.

1950 Birth of Brazilian-English pianist Christina ORTIZ in Bahia, Brazil. First woman to win Van Cliburn Competition, in 1969.

1953 FP of BENJAMIN's "A Tale of Two Cities" in London.

1958 Birth in India of German pianist and conductor Christian ZACHARIAS.

1959 Death of German soprano Barbara Kemp. b-Cochem, 12 DEC 1881. Debut as Priestess in Aida (Verdi) 1903. Pupil was Miliza Korjus.

1964 FP of Miklos Rozsa's Notturno Ungherese. Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy conducting.

1965 FP of Igor Stravinsky's Variations an Aldous Huxley memoriam and Introitus a T.S. Eliot memoriam. Chicago Symphony conducted by Robert Craft.

1972 Death of Italian soprano Mercedes Fortunati. b-Parma, 1918. Debut as Alice Ford in Falstaff (Verdi) 1942. Created Chrisina in Oro (Pizzetti).

1974 Death of American composer Herbert Elwell at age 75, in Cleveland, OH. b-10 MAY 1898.

1998 FP of Libby Larsen's Songs of Light and Love with poems of May Sarton. With soprano Benita Valente and the Network for New Music, in Philadelphia.

2000 Death of mezzo-soprano Paula Lindberg. b-Frankenthal, 21 DEC 1897. Debut as Erda in Ring (Wagner). Teachers were Julius von Rattz-Brockmann, August Perron. Pupils were Rotraud Hansmann, Marjon Lambriks. Competition.

2002 Death of Canadian composer and conductor Srul Irving Glick at age 67, in Toronto. b-1934.

2003 FP of Sofia Gubaidulina's The Light of the End. Boston Symphony, Kurt Masur, conducting, in Boston, MA.