APRIL 23

Giovanni Legrenzi 

1464 Birth of English composer Robert FAYRFAX, in Deeping Gate, Lincolnshire. d-St. Albans, Hertfordshire 24 OCT 1521.

1547 Birth of Spanish writer Miguel de CERVANTES Saavedra. Don Quioxite.

1564 Birth of English writer William SHAKESPEARE. d-Stratford, 1616. Inspiring many classical music works.

1605 Birth of Tsar of Muscovy, Boris GUDUNOV.

1623 Birth of German organist and composer Jan Adams REINCKEN. d-24 NOV 1722.

1627 FP of Heinrich Schütz's opera Dafne at Hartenfels Castle. Wedding of Princess Sophia of Saxony. Perhaps the first German opera.

1649 Birth of composer Andreas Kneller.

1685 Italian composer Giovanni Legrenzi becomes director of music at St. Mark's in Venice.

1691 Death of French composer, harpsichordist and organist Jean Henri d'Angelbert at age 62, in Paris. b-1828.

1715 Birth of composer Johann Friedrich Doles

1735 Birth of composer Ildephons Haas.

1747 Birth of composer Alexandre-Auguste Robineau.

1756 Birth of Philadelphia composer Alexander REINAGLE. d-1809.

1757 Birth of Italian composer Alessandro ROLLA in Pavia. d-Milan, 15 SEP 1841.

1764 Austrian composer Leopold Mozart and his two children arrive in London from Paris.

1775 FP of Mozart's opera Il Re pastore, Salzburg.

1776 FP of revised version of W. Von Gluck's Alceste at the Académie Royale in Paris.

1787 Death of Italian castrato Giovanni Battista Andreoni. b-Lucca, 1720. Created Odysseus in Deidamia (Handel). Tirinto in Imeneo (Handel).

1807 FP of Catel's "L'Auberge de Bagnères", Paris.

1809 Birth of composer and singing teacher Eugène (Prosper) PRéVOST. d-1872.

1812 Birth of French composer Louis JULLIEN. An excentric he was aka by the unusually long name of George Maurice Adolph Roch Albert Abel Anonio Alexandre Noé Jean Lucien Daniel Eugène Joseph-le-brun Joseph-Barême Thomas Thomas Thomas-Thomas Pierre Arbon Rierre-Maurel Barthélemi Artus Alphonse Bertrand Dieudonné Emanuel Josué Vincent Luc Michel Jules-de-la-plane Jules-Bazin Julio César. d-14 MAR 1860 in an insane asylum. Opera, "Pietro il Grande", London, 1852.

1830 FP of Adam's "Danilowa".

1835 FP of Hartmann's "The Corsairs", Copenhagen.

1852 FP of Halévy's "La Juif errant", Paris.

1856 FP of Offenbach's "Les Dragées du baptême", Paris.

1864 FP of Benvenuti's "La Stella di Toledo", Milan.

1872 Birth of American composer George Arthur FARWELL in St. Paul, MN. d-NYC, 20 JAN 1952.

1876 Birth of Finnish sopranop Aïno ACKTE in Helsingfors. d-Nummela, 8 AUG 1944. MET Opera Début 8 FEB 1904, [Marguerite] Faust 2 seasons (1903-1905) 40 perf., 8 roles. Teachers were Emmy Ackte, Edmond Duvernoy, Paul Vidal, Alfred Auguste Giraudet.

1877 Birth of Polish soprano Ruszkowska, Elena RUSZKOWSKA in Lemberg d-Krakau, 3 NOV 1948. 

1881 Birth of composer Otakar Sini.

1881 FP of Gilbert & Sullivan's operetta Patience at the Opéra-Comique in London.

1882 Birth of composer and conductor Albert Coates, in St Petersburg, Russia. BIO.

1882 FP of Gilbert & Sullivan's "Patience" in NYC.

1884 (1883?)Birth of Belgian baritone and composer of songs Armond Crabbé in Brussels. d-Brussels, 4 JUL 1947. He studied at the Brussels Conservatory. Début Monnaie [Night watchman] Les Maitres Chanteurs, and sang at CG, Manhattan, Chicago (1910/14). Teachers were Desire Demest, Raymond Gilles. Created Pice in Natoma (Herbert). Ramon in Ardid de Amor (Pedrell). King in Re (Giordano).

1884 FP of Standford's "The Canterbury Pilgrims", London.

1890 Birth of American conductor and composer Donald TWEEDY. He founded the Danbury Music Centre and became the conductor of the Danbury Community Chorus and the first conductor of the Young People's Chorus. d-1948.

1891 Birth of Russian composer Sergei PROKOFIEV in Sontzovka, Ekaterinoslav, Ukraine. aka Sergeievich Prokofieff. d-Moscow, 5 MAR 1953.Bio. / Bio. Operas, "Velikan" (Not produced, 1900); "Pir vo vremya chumi" (np, 1903, [rev] 1909, np); "Undina" (np, 1907); "Maddalena" (1913, Graz, 1981, w/com. Downs); "The Gamble" (Brussels, 1929); "Love for 3 Oranges" (Chicago, 1921); "The Fiery Angel" (Paris, 1928); "Igrok" (Bruselles, 1929); "Semyon Kotko" (Moscow, 1940); "Betrothal in a Convent" (Leningrad, 1946); "War and Peace" (13 scenes with a choral epigraph, Moscow 1959); "A Tale about a Real Man" (private perf., Lenningrad, 1948).

1900 Birth of French composer [Not Henri] Henry (sic) BARRAUD in Bordeaux. Opera, "La Farce de Maître Pathelin" (1948); "Cervantes" (1950); "Numance" (Paris, 1955); "Lavinia" (1961); "La Fée aux Miettes" (composed for radio) (1968).

1900 Birth of composer Ary Verhaar.

1904 FP of George Whitefield Chadwick's concert overture Euterpe. Boston Symphony.

1908 - Frederick Hawkins, dancer

1910 FP of Nevin's "Poia", Berlin. Florence Easton, soprano; Putmam Griswold, bass and Emma Lucy Gates Bowen, soprano.

1911 FP of Alban Berg's String Quartet, Op.3. Brunner-Holzer-Buchbinder-Hasa Quartet in Vienna.

1912 Birth of American composer Bernard BRINDEL Chicago, IL. d-San Francisco, CA 13 MAY 1997.

1913 Birth of German-American composer Jan MEYEROWITZ. d-1998.

1913 FP of Schubert's "Claudine von Villa Bella" singspiel, only the Overture and Act I completed, Vienna.

1919 Birth of Latvian composer composer Talivaldis KENINS.

1919 FP of Boughton's "The Moon Maiden", Glastonbury.

1920 Birth of composer Louis Barron

1920 FP of Leos Janácek's opera The Excursions of Mr. Broucek at the National Theater in Prague. Aka, "Výlet pana Broucka do mesíce", Mr. Broucek's Excursion to the Moon.

1922 FP of Edgard Varèse's Offrandes for voice and small orchestra, Carlos Salzedo conducting in NYC.

1923 Birth of Ukrainian bass-baritone Vladimir VALAITIS in Selo. Teacher was P. V. Golubev.

1924 Birth of American composer Arthur FRACKENPOHL in Irving, NJ.

1927 Birth of American composer Russell SMITH in Tuscalousa AL. d-Munich, 1998. He studied Columbia University and with Aaron Copland, Bernard Rogers and Edgard Varese. Assistant professor at Queens College and Hunter College for Musik Literatur and Theory. Editor for G. Ricordi & Co. and H.W. Gray & Co. A composer in residence for the Cleveland Orchestra and the New Orleans Philharmonic Orchestra. An assistant professor for Composition, Theory and Piano at the University of New Orleans. Retired in Munich, Germany was a free-lance composer.

1934 Birth of Italian tenor Sergio TEDESCO in La Spezia.

1941 Birth of American composer Elizabeth VERCOE.

1943 Birth of composer Hugh Davies

1946 Death of Guatimalan composer Jesús Castillo in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. b-San Juan Ostuncalco, Guatemala 9 OCT 1877.

1948 Birth of American composer Jarrad POWELL.

1948 FP of Andre Caplet's concerto for Ondes Martenot and Orchestra, in Vienna.

1950 Death of Italian soprano Gemma Bellincioni. b-Monza, 18 AUG 1864. Debut in Segreto della Duchessa (Orefice) MAY 1879. Teachers were Cesare Bellincioni (father) Giovanni Corsi, Luigia Ponti Dell'Armi, Carlotta Soroldoni (mother), Roberto Stagno (husband). Pupils were Bianca Bellincioni, Desma De Cecco Created Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana. Fedora in Fedora. Marcella in Marcella (Giordano). Cristine in Mala Vita (Giordano). Moina in Moina (De Lara). Sang in premiere of Cabrera (Dupont).

1952 Death of German soprano Elizabeth Schumann at age 66. b-Marseburg, 13 JUN 1885. Debut as Shepherd in Tannhauser 1909. Teachers were Marie Dietrich, Natalie Hanisch, Alma Schadow. Pupils were Pierette Alarie, Claire Watson, Barbara Troxell, Shirlee Emmons, Muriel Smith, Lola Rodriguez Aragon, Kenneth Neate.

1953 Birth of American composer Jody DIAMOND.

1958 FP of Robert Kurka's opera The Good Soldier Schweik New York City Opera, NYC.

1960 Birth of Irish pianist Barry DOUGLAS in Dublin.

1963 FP of Martin's "Monsieur de Pourceaugnac" after Molière, Geneva.

1975 Birth of Russian pianist Olga KERN.

1975 Death of tenor Ernest Wilhelm. b-16 MAY 1912. Debut 1941. Teachers were Paul Bender, Edith Lukaschick.

1976 FP of Menotti's "The Egg" church opera, Washington Cathedral, DC.

1979 FP of George Rochberg's The Slow Fires of Autumn with flutist Carol Wincenc at Tully Hall in NYC.

1981 FP of Ezra Laderman's String Quartet No. 6 The Audubon. Audubon Quartet in NYC.

1983 Death of German composer Heinrich Konietzny. b-10 MAY 1910.

1998 FP of James MacMillan's Why is this night different?. Maggini Quartet at Wigmore Hall in London.

2004 FP of Gabriela Lena Franks´s Three Latin American Dances Keith Lockhart conducting the Utah Symphony, Salt Lake City, UT.

2004 FP of Thomas Pasatieri´s THE SEAGULL. Merola Singers of the San Francisco Opera, conducted by Robert Lyall. Re-written and re-orchestrated, now in 2 versions, for full orchestra and reduced orchestra (ca. 27 players).

2005 Death of English composer Robert Farnon in Guernsey. b-Toronto, 24 JUL 1917. Farnon Society Biography.

2005 FP of Les Marsden's Concerto Burlesco for Trombone and Orchestra with the Mariposa Symphony Orchestra and guest artist virtuoso trombonist Tom Ashworth, for whom the work was composed; Mariposa, CA.