APRIL 7

DRAGONETTI

1694 Birth of composer Coelestin Praelisauer

1699 Birth of composer Andreas Benedikt Praelisauer, composer

1724 FP of Bach's St. John Passion at Nikolaikirche in Leipzig. (A Good Friday).

1726 Birth of English music historian, organist and composer Charles BURNEY. His four volume History of Music was published in 1776-1789. d- 1814.

1727 Birth of composer Henri Hardouin

1745 Birth of composer Georg Druschetzky

1748 Birth of composer Georg Wenzel Ritter

1763 Birth of Italian composer Domenico DRAGONETTI. d-16 APR 1846.

1768 Birth of composer Karl Theodor Toeschi.

1783 Death of German composer Ignaz Holzbauer at age 71, in Mannheim.

1792 French composer Rouget de Lisle completes La Marseillaise.

1794 Birth of Italian tenor Giovanni Battista RUBINI in Bergamo. d-3 MAR 1854. Teachers were Andrea Nozzari, Rosio. Pupils were Italo Gardoni, Eugenio Giachetti, Giovanni Mario Colombati, Count Theopihil Tolstoy, Georgina Byrne.

1805 FP of Beethoven's Symphony No 3, Eroica in Vienna.

1809 Birth of English bass Arthur SEGUIN in London. d-13 DEC 1852. Debut as Polyphemus in Acis & Galatea (Handel) 1831.

1819 Birth of composer Hubert Leonard

1826 Birth of composer Johann Hermann Berens

1828 FP of BELLINI's "Bianca e Fernando" Genoa (1828); orig. "Bianca e Gernando" Naples (1826).

1848 (8th?) Death of Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti.

1851 Birth of composer Otto Adolf Klauwell.

1855 Birth of soprano Emma BAUMANN. d-3 FEB 1925. Début: [Harriet] Martha (1878).

1863 FP in USAmerica of Mozart's Symphony No. 40. Brooklyn Philharmonic, Theodore Thomas conducting.

1870 Birth of Belgian composer Baron Joseph Ryeland.

1876 FP of Amilcare Ponchielli's La Gioconda including the popular Dance of the Hours in Milan.

1880 Birth of Polish soprano Elsa ALSEN in Obra, Poland. d-NYC, 31 JAN 1975. Debut as Azucena in Trovatore (Verdi) 1902. Teachers were Jetke Finkenstein, Louise Reuss-Belce.

1891 Death of Phineas T. Barnum, U.S. showman. Famed for his amusements and spectacular circuses, he also brought Jenny Lind, Swedish operatic soprano, to tour America in 1850.

1893 FP of a work by an American woman composer by a major symphony orchestra. Margaret Ruthven Lang's Dramatic Overture by the Boston Symphony.

1895 Birth of composer Eduardo Toldra.

1897 Birth of composer Harald Sigurd Johan Saeverud.

1899 Birth of French pianist and composer Robert CASADESUS  in Paris, to a prominant musical family. d-19 SEP 1972. Search Robert CASADESUS.

1916 Birth of Italian bass Carlo BADIOLI in Ravenna. d-17 NOV 1965. Début: in Palla de Mozzi [Marinuzzi].

1918 Internment as enemy alien of German conductor Karl Muck conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

1920 Birth of Indian sitar player and composer Pandit Ravi SHANKAR in Benares, India. Father of pop-diva Nora Jones.

1920 Birth of American tenor Wesley Lincoln SWAILS in Walthena, KS.

1923 FP of Renaldo Hahn's operetta Ciboulette at the Théâtre des Variétés, in Paris.

1924 Birth of Japanese composer Ikuma DAN.

1926 Death of Danish tenor Mischa Leon. Teachers were Jean De Reszke, Devillier, Reinhard. b-1889.

1928 FP of N. Miaskovsky's Symphony No. 10, in Moscow.

1931 Birth of American composer and teacher Donald HARRIS in St. Paul, MN.

1932 Birth of soprano Andree ESPOSITO in Algier. Debut as Nancy in Juif Polonais (Erlanger). Teachers were Jean Giraudet, Louis Noguera, Charles Panzera, Mme Fouilhe. Created Lucrecia Sarto in Andrea del Sarto (Lesur). Ophelia in Hamlet (Bentiou). Guinevere in Chevalier de Neige (Delerue).

1932 Birth of English counter-tenor Grayston BURGESS. Created Athamas in Semele (Eccles).

1935 Birth of mezzo-soprano Marie VESELA in Polesony, Apr. 7, 1935; Début: [Ulrica] Un Ballo in Maschera (1967).

1940 (Jun?)Birth of mezzo-soprano Alfreda HODGSON. d-16 APR 1992.

1948 Death of Austrian contralto Hermine Kittel. b-DEC 1879.

1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific opens on broadway, runs for 1925 performances with baritone Ezio Pinza as Emile deBeck.

1954 Birth of English soprano Claire POWELL in Dorset. Debut as 2nd Lady in Zauberflote (Mozart) 1978. Teachers were Peter Harrison, Joy Mammen. Created Marina in Servants (Mathias).

1959 Birth of American composer John KENNEDY. Works List.

1964 Death of German bass Wilhelm Hiller. b-Karlsruhe, 16 JAN 1900. Debut 1923. Created Ferdinand Bol in Rembrandt van Rijn (Von Klenau).

1965 Birth of American composer Russell PLATT.

1965 FP of H. W. Henze's opera Der junge Lord 'The Young Lord' at the Deutsche Oper in West Berlin.

1970 Birth of Norwegian pianist Leif Ove ANDSNES.  Search for Leif Ove ANDSNES

1975 MET Opera debut of American soprano Beverly Sills, ("Bubbles" Silverman) Search for Beverly Sills in Rossini's The Siege of Corinth.

1987 Death of Czech soprano Anni Frind. b-Nixdorf, 3 FEB 1900. Debut as Annchen in Freischutz (Weber) 1922. Teachers were Wilhelm Guttman, Eleanor Kahler-Reise, Louise Willer, Grete Merrem-Nikische. Sang in premiere of Himmelskleid (Wolf-Ferrari).

1994 FP of John Harbison's Cello Concerto. Yo-Yo Ma and the Boston Symphony, Seiji Ozawa conducting in Boston.

2003 FP of Yehudi Wyner's Commedia. Richard Stolzman, clarinet and Emmanuel Ax, piano, in Princeton, NJ.

Death of British tenor John SHIRLEY-QUIRK (KIRK) Born in Liverpool, 28 AUG 1931. MET: Début: Oct. 18, 1974 [Seven Villians] Death in Venice, 3 seasons (1974-75, 78-79, 90-91) 30 perf., 10 roles, 4 works. Debut as Mittenhofer in Elegy for Young Lovers (Henze) Teachers:- Austin Carnegie, Roy Henderson Pupils :- Christopher Robson Created Shadrach in Burning Fiery Furnace (Britten) Ferryman in Curlew River (Britten) Traveller in Death in Venice (Britten) Spencer Coyle in Owen Wingrave (Britten) Father in Prodigal Son (Britten) Lev in Ice Break (Tippett) Gil-Martin in Confessions of a Justified Sinner (Wilson)