October 15 Today in classical music history

Karl RICHTER
1926-1981

1581 FP of a ballet. Commissioned by Catherine De Medici, the Ballet Comique de la Reine was staged in Paris. Considered to be the first major ballet.

1716 FP of BONONCINI's A. "L'enigma disciolto" Modena.

1739 G. F. Handel finishes his Concerto Grosso in G, Op. 6, no. 6 in London. Search Amazon.com for Handel Concerto Grosso in G, Op. 6, no. 6

1761 - Birth of composer Peter Gronland

1762 Birth of American composer Samuel HOLYOKE in Boxford, MA. d-Concord, NH, 7 FEB 1820. Search Amazon.com for Samuel HOLYOKE

1775 Birth of Finnish composer Bernhard Henrik CRUSELL in Nystad. d-Stockholm, 28 JUL 1838. Search Amazon.com for Bernhard Henrik CRUSELL

1780 FP of Franz Joseph Haydn's opera La Fedlta Premiata at Esterházy. Search Amazon.com for Franz Joseph Haydn's opera

1784 Birth of American composer Thomas HASTINGS in Washington, CT. d-NYC, 15 MAY 1872.

1787 FP of BRUNI's "Célestine" Paris.

1798 FP of DALAYRAC's "Léon, ou Le château de Monténéro" Paris.

1799 Birth of composer August Ferdinand Haeser

1818 Birth of Bohemian pianist and teacher at St. Petersburg Conservatory, Alexander DREYSCHOCK. b-Venice, 1 APR 1869. Court pianist to the Czar. Search Amazon.com for Alexander DREYSCHOCK

1818 Birth of Hungarian composer Johann GUNG'L. 

1832 FP of HÉROLD's "La Médecine sans médecin" Paris.

1839 Birth of composer Adolf MULLER, Jr.

1844 Birth of composer/writer Friedrich NIETZCHE in Röcken, near Lützen. d-Weimar, 25 AUG 1900. Search Amazon.com for Friedrich NIETZCHE

1844 At the age of 18 Johann Strauss, Jr. first conducts his own orchestra at Dommayer's Casino in Hietzing nr. Vienna. The younger Johann Strauss conducting some of his fathers pieces as well as his own. CD-Strauss Jr.: Favorite Waltzes

1852 Birth of composer Wilhelm Posse

1858 Birth of American composer and conductor Frank VAN DER STUCKEN, in Fredricksburg, TX. d-Hamburg, and buried in Ohlsdorfer Cemetery, Germany; 16 AUG 1929. 

1862 FP of Offenbach's "Jacqueline" Paris.

1868 Birth of organist, choral director, Hamilton C. MACDOUGALL and Wellesley College Music Dept. chairman 1900-25. Founder of the American Guild of Organists. Search Amazon.com for Hamilton C. MACDOUGALL

1874 Birth of composer Otallo Morales

1882 FP of GRANDJEAN's "Colomba" Copenhagen.

1886 FP of Antonin Dvorák's oratorio St. Ludmilla Op. 71, at the Leeds Festival in England. CD-Dvorak: Saint Ludmila

1889 Birth of Irish soprano Margaret Sheridan, in Castlebar Island, Oct. 15, 1889; d. Apr. 16, 1958

1890 Birth of American composer and violinist Arcady DUBENSKY. Member NY Phil-Symphony Orch. d-14 OCT 1966. Search Amazon.com for Arcady DUBENSKY

1898 Birth of German organist, composer and conductor Gunther RAMIN. d- Leipzig, 27 FEB 1956. Search Amazon.com for Gunther RAMIN

1900 Death of Czech composer Zdenek Fibich at age 49, in Prague. b-Šerborice, nr Caslav; Czech Republic, 21 DEC 1850.

1900 Opening of Boston Symphony Hall. Search Amazon.com for Boston Symphony Hall

1901 Opera debut of soprano Geraldine Ferrar as 'Marguerite' in Gounod's Faust at Berlin Opera. Search Amazon.com for Geraldine Ferrar

1902 Birth of composer Andrey Yakolevich Shtogarenko

1905 Birth of composer Alexey Kozlovsky

1905 Birth of Edna Deanne Fuelling, dancer choreographer

1905 Birth of Swedish composer Dag WIREN in Noraberg, Orebro. d-Danderyd, 19 APR 1986. Search Amazon.com for Dag WIREN

1905 (1908?)Birth of Italian mezzo-soprano and pianist Bruna CASTAGNA in Bari near Milan. d-Pinamar, Argentina 10 JUL 1983. MET Photo. She had only three months vocal instruction before she made her opera début in Mantua as Nurse in Boris Godunov, 1925. Conductor Tullio Serafin offered a contract for performances at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires where she sang for three seasons. La Scala 1925-28. In Barcelona as Carmen one of her signature roles. Verdi Requiem and Beethoven Missa Solemnis, were recorded with Toscanini. MET Opera début 2 MAR 1936 as Amneris in Aida, 10 seasons.

1905 FP of Debussy's La Mer at a Lamoureux Concert in Paris. CD-Debussy: La Mer - Jeux - Rhapsodie pour clarinette et orchestre

1912 FP of DAMROSCH's "The Dove of Peace" comic opera, Philadelphia.

1915 Birth of American bass-baritone Carlos Alexander, in Utica, N.Y. Studied in New York, Début St. Louis [Maseto] Don Giovanni (1941).

1916 FP of BITTNER's "Das höllisch Gold" Dramstadt.

1918 FP of HADLEY's "Bianca" New York, composer conducting.

1923 Birth of American composer Harold BLUMENFELD in Seattle, WA. Search Amazon.com for Harold BLUMENFELD

1926 Birth of German organist and conductor Karl RICHTER in Plauen. d- 1981. Search Amazon.com for Karl RICHTER

1927 Birth of Mexican mezzo-soprano Oralia Dominguez, in San Luiz Potosí. 

1929 Death of composer Emil Kaiser. Search Amazon.com for Emil Kaiser

1932 The War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco, CA. became the first municipally-owned opera palace. Tosca was their first opera.

1932 Birth of composer Jaan Raats

1933 FP of Shostakovich Concerto for piano, trumpet and strings with the Leningrad Philh. Orch, Shostakovich at the piano. CD-Shostakovich: Piano Concertos no 1 & 2, etc / Bronfman, et al

1936 Birth of composer Kari Rydman

1938 Birth of composer Rafael Aponte-Ledee

1938 FP of Richard Strauss' Daphne, Dresden State Opera. w/ Margarete Teschemacher (s) (1903-1959) Ger. [Daphne]; Sven Nilsson (bs). [Peneios]; Erna Berger, Maria Cebotari, and Christel Goltz. CD-Strauss - Daphne / Güden · Wunderlich · King · Little · Schöffler · Böhm

1941 Birth of Irish soprano Suzanne MURPHY.

1943 FP of Benjamin Britten's Serenade for tenor, horn, and strings, in London. CD-Benjamin Britten performs Benjamin Britten

1943 FP of Lukas Foss' The Prairie. Boston Symphony, Serge Koussevitzky conducting.

1946 FP of Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra on Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Henry Purcell, in concert, in Liverpool. Scored for an educational film The Instruments of the Orchestra first shown on 29 NOV 1946. CD-Britten: Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra Op34; Simple Symphony Op4

1950 American debut of Victoria de Los Angeles in Carnegie Hall, NYC.

1953 Birth of English conductor Peter PHILLIPS.

1955 FP of Iannis Xenakis' Metastasis for 61 instruments, in Donaueschingen, Germany. CD-Xenakis: Metastasis; Pithoprakta; Eonta

1956 Leonard Bernstein named co-conductor of the NY Philharmonic with Dimitri Mitropoulos. Bernstein chronology.

1964 Death of American composer and lyricist Cole PORTER in Santa Monica, CA. b-Peru, IN 9 JUN 1891. Composer over 20 Broadway musicals including Kiss Me Kate, and songs such as Let's Do It, Begin the Beguine, Anything Goes. Search Amazon.com for Cole PORTER

1981 FP of Robert Starer's Violin Concerto. Itzhak Perlman, Boston Symphony, Seiji Ozawa conducting. CD-Earl Kim: Violin Concerto / Robert Starer: Concerto for Violin & Orchestra

1985 FP of Christopher Rouse's Lares Hercii for violin and harpsichord. Charles Castleman, violin and Arthur Haas, harpsichord in Rochester, NY. Search Amazon.com for Rouse's Lares Hercii

1988 Death of English composer Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji aka Leon Dudley, in Winfrith Newburgh. b-Chingford, 14 AUG 1892. Search Amazon.com for Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji

1988 FP of Conlon Nancarrow's String Quartet No. 3. Arditti Quartet in Cologne, Germany. Search Amazon.com for Nancarrow's String Quartet No. 3

1997 FP of Peter Maxwell Davies' The Jacobite Rising. Composer conducting soloists and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Chorus in Glasgow. Search Amazon.com for Davies' The Jacobite Rising

2003 FP of Peter Maxwell Davies' Naxos Quartet No. 3 with Quartete No 2 by Maggini Quartet in London. Search Amazon.com for Davies' Naxos Quartet No. 3.