October 2 Today in classical music history

Michel Plasson (b-1933)

1646 Birth of composer Guillaume Poitevin

1704 Birth of Bohemian composer and violist Frantisek TUMA in Kostelecz. d-Vienna, 30 JAN 1774.Search Amazon.com for Frantisek TUMA 

1725 Birth of American composer Jeremias DENCKE. d-1795.

1737 Birth of composer Franz Schneider

1756 Birth of composer Josef Jawurek

1792 Birth of English pianist and composer Philip Cipriani Hambly POTTER in London. d-London, 26 SEP 1871.

1802 FP of FIORAVANTI: "La capriicciosa pentita" Milan (1802).

1809 Birth of composer Anton Emil Titl

1817 Birth of composer Gunnar Wennerberg

1823 Death of German pianist Daniel Steibelt in St. Petersburg. Contemporary of Beethoven. b-Berlin, 22 OCT 1765.

1849 Vienna Strauss Orchestra gets new leader following the death of Johann Strauss, Sr. Johann Strauss, Jr. takes over after his father's death.

1854 Opening of NYC's Academy of Music at 14th Street and Irving Place. Operatic center until the opening of the MET Opera House. They presented Bellini's Norma with Grisi and Mario.

1875 Birth of French composer Henri FEVIER in Paris. d-Paris, 6 JUL 1957.

1877 Birth of London based Greek born music critic and writer Michel Dimitri CALVOCORESSI. d-London, 1 FEB 1944.

1880 Birth of composer George Alexander Russell

1881 Birth of composer Fred Barlow

1881 FP of DVORÁK: "Tvrdé palice" Prague (1881).

1890 FP of MOZART: "Bastien und Bastienne" (First proven performance) Berlin (1890).

1892 Birth of Italian soprano Gilda Dalla RIZZA in Verona. d- Milan, 4 JUL 1975. Studied at Bologna, and made her début there in Massenet's Werther in 1912. La Scala, 1915 and 1923-39. Rome, 1919. Covent Garden, 1920. She then taught voice at the Venice Conservatoire Benedetto Marcello, 1939-55. She was Toscanini's favorite Violetta, and Puccini wrote the role of Magda in La Rondine for her. m-tenor, Agostino Capuzzo. She retired in 1939.

1899 FP of HERBERT: "The Singing Girl" Operetta, Montreal (1899).

1901 Birth of English soprano Winifred Radford. d. Apr. 15, 1993.

1905 FP of DE KOVAN: "Happyland" New York (1905).

1913 FP of Delius' On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring, at the Leipzig Gewandhaus.

1913 FP of Butterworth's A Shropshire Lad at Leeds Festival.

1913 FP of Elgar's symphonic poem Falstaff at Leeds Festival.

1914 Birth of composer Albe Vidakovic

1914 Birth of composer Bengt Viktor Johansson

1915 FP of FALL: "Der künstliche Mensch" Berlin (1915).

1917 Birth of English organist, composer and conductor Francis JACKSON in Malton, Yorkshire.

1920 Death of composer Max Bruch nr. Berlin. b-Cologne, 6 JAN 1838.

1922 Birth of composer Otmar Macha

1923 Death of French baritone Victor Maurel in NYC, age 75. b-Marseilles, 17 JUN 1848. Verdi roles.

1925 Birth of composer Alois Pinos

1929 Birth of English composer Kenneth LEIGHTON in Wakefield, Yorkshire. d-Edinburgh, 24 AUG 1988.

1929 Birth of Italian bass Giorgio Tadeo in Verona.

1930 Birth of composer Gunter Kochan

1933 Birth of American minimalist composer Phil NIBLOCK.

1933 Birth of French conductor Michel PLASSON in Paris. BIO

1933 Birth of composer Dimiter Khristov

1935 Birth of Hungarian born British pianist Peter FRANKL in Budapest.

1933 Birth of French baritone Guy Chauvet, in Montluçon. MET: Début Apr. 2, 1977 [Samson] Samson et Dalila, 4 seasons (1976-77, 78-81) 47 perf., 4 works.

1943 Death of Canadian born American composer Nathaniel Dett in Battle Creek MI. b-Drummondville, Quebec, 11 OCT 1882.

1946 Birth of Australian baritone Jonathan SUMMERS. MET: Début Jan. 22, 1988 [Marcello] La Bohème, 1 season (1987-88) 5 perf., 1 role.

1948 Leonard Bernstein begins month long concert series conducting the newly renamed Israel Philharmonic.

1953 FP of ARRIEU: "Cadet-Roussel" Marseilles (1953).

1954 FP of MALIPIERO: "Donna Urraca" Bergamo (1954).

1960 FP of Dimiti Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 8. Beethoven Quartet in Leningrad.

1979 Birth of American composer Liam MOONEY in Covington, VA.

1996 Death of Finnish composer Joonas Kokkonen in Järvenpää. b-Iisalmi, 13 NOV 1921.

2001 FP of Steven Heitzeg's Nobel Symphony. Gustavus Orchestra, soloists and choirs, conducted by Warren Friesen at Gustavus Adolpus College in St. Peter, MN.

2003 FP of Stanislaw Skrowaczewski's Symphony. A meditation on the decline of culture and a poetic evocation of things lost, refecting on the troubled early years of the 21st century. Minnesota Orchestra at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis, MN.

2003 FP of Thea Musgrave's Pontalba. Two Act Opera. Celebrating the 60th season of The New Orleans Opera, Robert Lyall, conducting in New Orleans, LA.