MARCH 5

 Christoph Ernst Friedrich WEYSE


  • 1735 FP of G. F. Handel's Organ Concertos Op. 4, nos. 2-3. Was intermission feature during a revival performance of Handel's oratorio Esther at the Covent Garden Theater in London.
  • 1748 Birth of English composer William SHIELD in Whickham. d-Brightling, Sussex, 25 JAN 1829.
  • 1774 Birth of German composer Christoph Ernst Friedrich WEYSE in Altona. d-Copenhagen, 8 OCT 1842.
  • 1778 Death of English composer Thomas Arne in London. b-London, 12 MAR 1710.
  • 1782 Birth of tenor Raffaele Monelli in Fermo.  Died 14 Sep 1859 Teacher, Giordaniello Created Bertrando in Inganno Felice (Rossini) Dorvil in Scala di Seta (Rossini) Sang in premiere of Vestale (Mercadante).
  • 1805 Birth of French composer and harpsichordist Theodore LaBarre Berry in Paris. d-Paris, 9 MAR 1870.
  • 1818 FP of G. Rossini's opera Mosè in Egitto 'Moses in Egypt' at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples.
  • 1824 Birth of soprano Anne-Arsene Charton-Demeur in Saujon.  Died 30 Nov 1892 Debut as Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti) 1842 Teacher, Bizot Created Beatrice in Beatrice et Benedict (Berlioz) Dido in Trojans (Berlioz).
  • 1835 Birth of William STEINWAY son of piano manufacturer.
  • 1850 Birth of American composer Daniel Brink TOWNER. d-1919.
  • 1853 Birth of American composer Arthur FOOTE, in Salem, MA. For 32 years organist at First Unitarian Church in Boston. d-Boston, 8 APR 1937.
  • 1853 Founding of piano company by H. E. Steinway and his sons in NYC.
  • 1856 Birth of bass-baritone Robert Watkin-Mills. Painswick Gloucester 10 Dec 1930 Debut 1885 Teacher, Edwin Holland, Federico Blasco.
  • 1856 Covent Garden Opera House in London was destroyed by fire.
  • 1868 FP of Boito's opera Mefistofele at the Teatro della Scala in Milan.
  • 1873 Death of French composer Alexis De Castillon in Paris. b-Chartres, 13 DEC 1838.
  • 1877 Death of German conductor and composer Ernst Julius Otto in Dresden. b-Konigstein, 1 SEP 1804.
  • 1878 Birth of American ragtime composer Egbert Van ALSTYNE. d-1951.
  • 1882 Birth of soprano Pauline Donalda in Montreal.  Died 22 Oct 1970 Debut as Manon in Manon (Massenet) 1904 Teachers, Edmond Duvernoy, Clara Lichtenstein, Babette Rosen Paul Lherie Pupils, Michelle Bonhomme, Joseph Rouleau, Clarice Carson Created Ah-Joe in Oracolo (Leoni) Sang in premiere of Chatterton (Leoncavallo).
  • 1887 Birth of Brazilian composer Heitor VILLA-LOBOS in Rio de Janiero. d- Rio, 17 NOV 1959.
  • 1888 Death of Austrian composer and pianist Leopold Von Meyer in Dreden. b-Baden, 20 DEC 1816.
  • 1889 FP of Edward MacDowell's Piano Concerto No. 2 composer as soloist in NYC.
  • 1891 (4th?) Birth of Spanish composer Frederico Moreno TORROBA aka Federico. d-1982.
  • 1892 FP of S. Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 1.
  • 1893 Birth of tenor Alessio de Paolis in Rome. Died 9 Mar 1964 Debut as Duke in Rigoletto (Verdi) 1919 Teacher, Di Pietro Sang in premiere of La Favola d'Orfeo (Casella) Basi e Bote (Pick-Magiagelli) Bisbetica domata (Persico) Vedova Scaltra (Wolf-Ferrari) Donna Serpente (Casella) Farsa amorosa (Zandonai).
  • 1899 Birth of English composer Patrick HADLEY in Cambridge. d-King's Lynn, 17 DEC 1973.
  • 1900 Birth of tenor Josef Gostic in Stara Loka, Slovenia. Died 25 Dec 1963 Debut 1929 Created Midas in Liebe der Danae (Strauss).
  • 1903 Birth of soprano Gitta Alpar Lebendige Vergangenheit - Gitta Alpar  in Hungary. Died 17 Feb 1991 Debut as Gilda in Rigoletto (Verdi) 1923 Teacher, Laura Hilgermann.
  • 1904 FP of Anatole Liadov's symphonic poem Baba Yaga.
  • 1904 FP of Maurice Ravel's String Quartet, by the Heymann Quartet, in Paris.
  • 1905 FP of Frederick S. Converse's The Mystic Trumpeter. Philadelphia Orchestra, Fritz Scheel conducting.
  • 1907 Dr. Lee De Forest becomes first DeeJay playing Rossini's William Tell Overture on a radio signal sent from Telharmonic Hall at Broadway and 40th Street in NYC, to the receiver at the US Naval Yard.
  • 1915 Birth of baritone Gregorio Fiasconaro in Palermo. Debut as Germont in Traviata (Verdi) 1937 Teachers, Xenia Belmas, Riccardo Stracciari, Mario Sammarco.
  • 1929 Birth of soprano Sylvia Stahlman in Nashville. Died 19 Aug 1998 Debut as Elvira in Puritani (Bellini) 1951 Teacher, Toti Dal Monte, Palestrina, Malona Created Dame Kobold in Dame Kobold (Wimberger) Dany in Photo of the Colonel (Searle) Sang in premiere of Panfilo & Lauretta (Chavez).
  • 1931 Birth of English composer Anthony HEDGES in Bicester.
  • 1931 Birth of Australian Conductor and horn player Barry TUCKWELL in Melbourne, Australia.
  • 1932 Birth of baritone John Lawrenson in Fleetwood.  Died 5 Jul 1993 Debut 1958 Teacher, Frederick Cox.
  • 1933 FP of Samuel Barber's Dover Beach for medium voice and string quartet, with mezzo-soprano Rose Bampton and the New York Art Quartet at the French Institute in NYC.
  • 1933 FP of Malipiero's Violin Concerto No. 1, in Amsterdam.
  • 1938 Birth of bass Dimiter Petkov in Sofia, Bulgaria. Debut as Re in Aida (Verdi) 1964 Teacher, Christo Brambarov Created High Priest in Salammbo (Mussorgsky).
  • 1940 FP of Aaron Copland's John Henry. CBS radio, Columbia Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra, Howard Barlow conducting.
  • 1942 FP of John Cage's The Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs with text by James Joyce, in New York.
  • 1943 (9 MAR?) Birth of English composer David MATTHEWS in London.
  • 1944 FP of Walter Piston's Symphony No. 2. National Symphony, Hans Kindler conducting, in Washington D.C.
  • 1945 Death of soprano Louise Reuss-Belce. Born 24 Oct 1860 in Vienna. Died 5 Mar 1945 Debut as Elsa in Lohengrin (Wagner) 1881 Teachers, Joseph Gansbacher, Fritz Planck Pupils, Paul Bender, Paul Harrison, Wilhelm Strienz, Elsa Alsen Created Ingewelde in Ingewelde (Schilling) Sang in premiere of Rubin (D'Albert).
  • 1947 Death of Italian composer Alfredo Casella, in Rome. b-Turin, 25 JUL 1883.
  • 1948 Birth of English conductor Richard HICKOX in Stokenchurch, Bucks, England.
  • 1950 Birth of American-Australian composer Becky LLEWELLYN in St. Paul, MN.
  • 1950 (4 MAR?)Birth of American violinist Eugene FODOR in Turkey Creek, CO.
  • 1952 Death of bass-baritone Nikolai Speransky. b-30 Jul 1877 in Saratov.  Died 5 Mar 1952 Debut 1901 Teachers, Mattia Battistini, Camille Everadi Pupil, Hussein Aga Hadjibekov Created Dodon in Coq D'Or (Rimsky-Korsakov) Suleyman in Izema (Ippolitov-Ivanov).
  • 1953 Death of Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev in Moscow. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin also died in Moscow on this day which somewhat overshadowed Prokofiev's death. b-Sontsovka, 23 APR 1891.
  • 1954 Birth of American composer Jack STAMP in College Park, MD.
  • 1961 Death of baritone Richard Bitterauf . Born 6 Apr 1900 in Nurenburg. Died 5 Mar 1961 Teacher, Felix Krueger
  • 1965 FP of Walter Piston's Symphony No. 6, Boston Symphony.
  • 1973 Death of Polish born, Swiss conductor Paul KLETZKI while rehearsing the Royal Liverpool Orchestra.
  • 1984 Death of Italian baritone Tito Gobbi. Born 24 Oct 1913 Bassano del Grappa Died 5 Mar 1984 Debut as Rodolfo in Sonnambula (Bellini) 1935 Teachers:- Giulio Crimi, Richard Morton Pupils, Janice Cairns, Luca Canonici, Jane Eaglen, Ruth Falcon Eric Garrett, Haken Haggegard, Louis Berkman, Mani Mekler, Louis Manikas, Rosalind Horsington Peter Knapp, Mario Malagnini, Marta Marquez Created Lord Inferno in Ipocrita Felice (Ghedini) Storyteller in Tesoro (Napoli) Sang in premiere of Monte Ivnor (Rosca) Ecuba (Malipiero) Locandiera (Persico) Nozze di Haura (Lualdi).
  • 1990 FP of David Ward-Steinman's Intersections II: Borobudur. Canberra Institute of the Arts with percussionist Daryl Pratt, composer at the piano in Australia.
  • 2000 Death of tenor Alexander Young. Born 18 Oct 1920 in London.  Died 5 Mar 2000 Debut as Scaramuccio in Ariadne auf Naxos (Strauss) 1948 Teachers, Stefan Pollmann, Walter Hyde Pupils, David Fieldsend, David Rendall, Nigel Robson, Anthony Roden Created Philippe in Dinner Engagement (Berkeley) Cicero in Catiline Conspiracy (Hamilton) Popristchin in Diary of a Madman (Searle) Charles Darnley in A Tale of two Cities (Benjamin).
  • 2003 FP of Bright Sheng's Tone Poem for Pipa, Sheng, Cello, Piano, and Orchestra Song and Dance of Tears with Wu Man, pipa; Wu Tong, sheng; Yo-Yo Ma, cello and Emanuel Ax, piano. New York Philharmonic, David Zinman conducting.
  • 2004 FP of Gerard Schurmann´s Trio by Richard Hawkins, clarinet; Peter Rejto (RY´toh), cello; Christiana Dahl, piano. Tucson Winter Chamber Music Festival in Tucson, AZ.
  • 2005 Death of Romanian-American conductor Sergiu Comissiona in Oklahoma City, OK. b-1929.