APRIL 25

Pauline LUCCA

1567 Birth of composer Aurelio Signoretti.

1614 Birth of composer Marc'Antonio Pasqualini

1666 Birth of composer Johann Heinrich Buttstett

1690 Birth of German composer Gottlieb Theophil MUFFAT son of Georg. d-9 DEC 1770.

1723 Birth of Italian composer Marco RUTINI in Florence, musical director at the courts of Modena and Tuscany, composer of operas and church music.

1727 Birth of Italian composer Pasquale ANFOSSI in Taggia, Imperia. d-Rome, 1797.

1730 Birth of composer Fedele Fenaroli

1779 FP of Haydn's "La vera costanza", Esterházy.

1788 Birth of German bass-baritone Heinrich BLUME in Berlin. d-2 NOV 1856. Debut in Unterbrochene Opferfest (Winter). Created Caspar in Freichutz (Weber). Uldibrand in Undine (E. T. A. Hoffmann).

1818 Birth of composer Marek Konrad Sokolowski

1837 Birth of composer William Charles Levey

1841 Birth of Austrian soprano Pauline LUCCA in Vienna. d-28 FEB 1908. Debut as 2nd Boy in Zauberflote (Mozart) 1859. Teachers were Richard Lewy, Uschmann. Pupils were Ottilie Fellwock, Vera Nikolayevna Garina.

1857 Opening of First Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires with Verdi's "La Traviata" w/ Enrico Tamberlik (t) [Rodolfo].

1861 Birth of Italian organist, composer and teacher, Marco Enrico BOSSI. Director of the Academy of St. Cecilia in Rome. d-20 FEB 1925.

1865 FP of Delibes' "Le boeuf Apis" in Paris.

1865 Title of 'Abbé' confered on composer Franz Liszt by Pope Pius IX.

1868 Birth of American baritone Denis O'SULLIVAN in San Francisco, CA. d-1 FEB 1908. Debut as Ferrando in Trovatore (Verdi) 25 AUG 1895. Created Shamus in Shamus O'Brien (Stanford). Marquis of Saint Andre in Little Corporal (Englander).

1869 Birth of composer Karl Prohaska

1875 Birth of French composer Jean NOUGUÈS in Bordeaux. d-Auteuil, 28 AUG 1932. Operas, "Le Roi du Papagey" (Before age 16); "Yannha" (Bordeaux, 1897); "Thamyris" (Bordeaux, 1904); "La Mort de Tintagiles" (Paris, 1905); "Quo Vadis" (Nice, 1909); "L'auberge rouge" (Nice, 1910); "La Vendetta" (Marseilles, 1911); "L'aglon" (Rouen, 1912); "Le scarabée bleu" (1931).

1876 Birth of composer Ruben Marcos Campos

1881 FP of Gilbert & Sullivan's operetta Patience in London.

1884 Birth of German soprano Helena FORTI in Berlin. d-Vienna, 11 MAY 1942. Debut as Valentine in Huguenots (Meyerbeer) 1906. Teachers were Theodore Emmerich, Karl Scheidemantel. Created Myrtocle in Toten Augen (D'Albert).

1896 Birth of bass Fred BORDON. d-15 SEP 1966.

1897 Birth of composer Haro Levoni Step'anyan

1901 Birth of composer Ernst Gernot Klussmann

1903 Birth of composer Carl Gustav Sparre Olsen

1906 Birth of composer Zoltan Gardonyi

1906 Death of American composer John Knowles Paine at age 67, in Cambridge, MA. b-Portland, Maine, 9 JAN 1839.

1900 Birth of Italian tenor Bruno LANDI in Milan. d-Buenos Aires, 8 MAY 1968. MET Opera Début 12 JAN 1938 [Duke] Rigoletto, 7 seasons (1937-38, 40-43, 44-46, 50-51) 55 perf., 6 works.

1907 Birth of composer Vasily Pavlovich Solov'yov-Sedoy

1909 Birth of composer Jaroslav Doubrava

1911 Birth of American baritone Kenneth Spencer in Alabama. d-25 FEB 1964. Teacher was Roland Hayes.

1913 FP of Massenet's "Panurge" Théâtre-Lyrique de la Gaîté, in Paris.

1915 Birth of Italian bass Italo TAJO in Pinerolo. d-28 MAR 1993. MET Opera Début, 28 DEC 1948 [Basilio] Il Barbiere di Siviglia, 17 seasons (1948-50, 75-80, 81-91) 252 perf., 12 works. Debut as Fafner in Rheingold 1935. Teacher was Nilde Stinchi-Bertozzi. Pupils were Kathleen Battle, Sheryl Woods, Barbara Daniels. Created Samuel in David (Milhaud). Tortured man in Intolleranza 1960 (Nono). Bass-player in Contrabasso (Bucchi).

1918 Birth of Swedish soprano Astrid VARNAY  in Stockholm. MET Opera debut, 6 DEC 1941 [Sieglinde] Die Walküre, 19 seasons (1941-56, 74-77, 79-80) 200 perf., 24 roles, 18 works.

1918 FP of Franz Schreker's opera Die Gezeichneten 'The Branded' at the Opernhaus in Frankfurt.

1919 Birth of American soprano Irene JORDAN in Birmingham, AL. Début [Mallika] Lakmé (Delibes)(1946). Teachers were Ivan Rasmussen, Clytie Mundy, Marti-Folgado.

1919 Birth of composer Heinz Wunderlich

1921 Death of Swedish baritone Martin Oscar b-Vanersborg, Sweden, 28 DEC 1879. Debut as Silvio in Pagliacci (Leoncavallo) 1902. Teacher was John Forsell. Pupil was Folke Cembraeus.

1922 Birth of American composer John BAVICCHI.

1922 FP of Donaudy's "La Fiamminga" in Naples. Angelo Mercuriali (t) (1909-1999) It.

1924 Birth of composer Erzsebet Szonyi

1924 Birth of composer Franco Mannino

1925 Birth of Scottish bass Harold BLACKBURN in Hamilton, Scotland. d-NOV 1981. Début [Ferrando] Il Trovatore (1947). Teacher was Percy Hemings. Created William Humpage in Penny for a Song (Bennett). M. Corfan in Story of Vasco (Crosse). Sailor in Nelson (Berkeley).

1926 FP of Puccini's opera Turandot at La Scala with Toscanini conducting, in Milan. Completed by Franco Alfano. Rosa Raisa (s); her husband Giacomo Rimini (b), sang [Ping]; Miguel Fleta (t) (1893-1938) Sp. [Calaf]; Maria Zamboni (s) (1895-1976) It. [Liù].

1926 Birth of composer Paul Walter Furst

1927 Birth of composer Ernst Widmer

1927 Birth of German cellist Siegfried PALM.

1929 Birth of German tenor Hans-Joachim ROTZSCH in Leipzig.

1929 FP of Albert Roussel's Psalm 80 for tenor, chorus and orchestra, in Paris.

1931 FP of S. Prokofiev's String Quartet No. 1 in b, Op. 50. Brosa Quartet at Library of Congress in Washington, DC.

1933 Birth of Czech bass Fritz HUBNER in Sachsengrim. d-2000. Debut 1957. Created Priest in Nightrider (E H Mayer).

1937 Birth of Italian tenor Franco BONISOLLI in Rovereto. d-Vienna, 30 OCT 2003. MET: Feb. 24, 1971 [Almaviva] Il Barbiere di Siviglia, 5 seasons (1970-72, 86-88, 89-90) 25 perf., 7 works.

1943 Birth of baritone Richard CLARK. MET Opera Début 26 JUN 1981. [High Priest] Samson et Dalila, 10 seasons (1980-90) 191 perf., 20 roles, 19 works.

1946 Birth of American soprano Irene JORDAN. Début: [Mallika] Lakmé.

1946 Birth of Finnish tenor Seppo Juhani RUOHONEN in Turku. Debut as Alvaro in Forza del Destino (Verdi) 1973. Teachers were Anton Dermota, Kolo, Lea Piltti, Ricci. Sang in FP Last Temptation (Kokkonen).

1947 Birth of American composer Bill FONTANA in Cleveland OH.

1949 Birth of American mezzo-soprano Cynthia CLAREY in Smithfield, VA. Created Kanaxa in Under the Double Moon (Davis).

1951 Death of Polish composer Jerzy Fitelberg in NYC. b-Warsaw, 20 MAY 1903.

1961 Birth of Norwegian cellist Truls MORK.

1963 FP of Paul Hindemith's Organ Concerto, at a jubilee concert for the New York Philharmonic, Hindemith conducting with soloist Anton Heiller in NYC.

1964 Birth of American baritone Kenneth SPENCER in Alabama. d-25 FEB 1964.

1966 Death of Russian soprano and dancer Maria Kuznetsova in Paris. b-Odessa, 1880.

1974 FP of William Walton's Cantico del sole by BBC Northern Singers, conductor Stephen Wilkinson. University College, Cork, Ireland.

1979 MET Opera debut of Philip Creech (t) U.S. From, Hempstead, Long Island. [Renard] Dance Works, 19 seasons (1978-82, 83- 98) 275 perf., 28 roles, 25 works.

1980 FP of George Rochberg's octet A Grand Fantasia at Alice Tully Hall, by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in NYC.

1981 MET Opera debut of soprano Johanna Meier, Mozart: [Anna] Don Giovanni.

1983 Death of Dutch baritone Caspar Broecheler. b-Vaals Holland, 7 OCT 1911. Sang in FP of Martin Korda D P (Badings). Alexander (Holterdorf). Grune Kakadu (Mohaupt).

1984 Death of French bass Jean Borthayre, in Montmorency. b-Mauléon, 1902.

1999 FP of André Previn's Bassoon Sonata. Nancy Goeres and Previn at the piano in NYC.

2003 FP of Robert X. Rodriguez's Flight, The Story of Wilbur and Orville Wright for female narrator and recorded airplane sounds. Dayton Philharmonic, Gittleman, in Dayton, OH.

2004 FP of Bright Sheng´s The Boatman´s Song for children´s treble choir. Young People´s Chorus of New York City/Nuñez at 92nd Street Y, NYC.