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classical, classical music, composers, Liszt, New York Philharmonic, opera, orchestra, philharmonic
11 Monday Apr 2016
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classical, classical music, composers, Liszt, New York Philharmonic, opera, orchestra, philharmonic
02 Saturday Apr 2016
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Bach, Beethoven, classical, classical music, composers, German composers, New York Philharmonic, opera, orchestra, philharmonic
In 1851 Adolph Brodsky was born. He was a Russian Empire violinist. He enjoyed a long and illustrious career as a performer and teacher, starting early in Vienna, going on to Moscow, Leipzig, and New York City and finally Manchester. During its course he met and worked with composers such as Tchaikovsky and Elgar. 1
Happy birthday Raymond Gubbay! He is a classical music promoter and impresario based in London. The programme to celebrate the 40th anniversary of his starting out as a promoter says that, after arranging small scale concerts around the UK, he began gradually to promote in London. He now presents more than seventy performances each year at London’s Royal Albert Hall and hundreds more around the UK and in Europe and Australia. 2
In 1798 Joseph Haydn’s oratorio The Creation was premiered in Vienna.
In 1800 Beethoven conducted the premiere of his Symphony No. 1 at the Burgtheater in Vienna. The symphony is clearly indebted to Beethoven’s predecessors, particularly his teacher Joseph Haydn as well as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, but nonetheless has characteristics that mark it uniquely as Beethoven’s work. Also on the concert program were his Septet and Piano Concerto No. 2, as well as a symphony by Mozart, and an aria and a duet from Haydn’s oratorio The Creation. This concert effectively served to announce Beethoven’s talents to Vienna. 3
In 1911 the first suite from Maurice Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloe was premiered in Paris.
In 1938 Quincy Porter conducted the New York Philharmonic in the premiered of his Symphony No. 1.
In 1958 Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Symphony No. 9 was premiered by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Malcolm Sargent at the Royal Festival Hall in London. This would be the last symphony he would compose and he died the day it was due to be recorded for the first time, by the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir Adrian Boult.
In 2005 Per Norgard’s “The Will-o’-the-Wisps Go to Town” (to texts by Hans Christian Andersen and Susanne Broegge), for soloists, chorus and orchestra was premiered in Birmingham, England, by the Birmingham Symphony.
In 1768 Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach was appointed Kapellmeister in Hamburg succeeding Georg Philipp Telemann, his godfather, who died the previous year.
In 1785 Christoph Willibald von Gluck signed his last will and testament, leaving his estate to his wife, Maria Anna Bergin.
In 1833 Frederic Chopin and Franz Liszt perform Liszt’s Sonata for Four Hands for a fundraiser for the actress (and later wife of Hector Berlioz) Harriet Smithson, who was raising money for an English Theater in Paris.
In 1842 the New York Philharmonic was founded by the American conductor Ureli Corelli Hill, with the aid of the Irish composer William Vincent Wallace. The orchestra was then called the Philharmonic Society of New York, and its first performance would be in December of that year, a three hour epic which included Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5.
In 1915 Alexander Scriabin made his final public appearance in St. Petersburg. He would die two weeks later.
31 Thursday Mar 2016
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Clara Wieck, classical, classical music, composers, German composers, Liszt, Mozart, New York Philharmonic, opera, orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, philharmonic
In 1732 Joseph Haydn was born. He was a prominent and prolific Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the piano trio and his contributions to musical form have earned him the epithets “Father of the Symphony” and “Father of the String Quartet”. Haydn spent much of his career as a court musician for the wealthy Esterházy family at their remote estate. Until the later part of his life, this isolated him from other composers and trends in music so that he was, as he put it, “forced to become original”. Yet his music circulated widely and for much of his career he was the most celebrated composer in Europe. Joseph Haydn was the older brother of composer Michael Haydn, a friend and mentor of Mozart, and a teacher of Beethoven. 1
In 1784 Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 16 was premiered in Vienna, with Mozart himself at the keyboard.
In 1794 Haydn’s Symphony No. 100 (“Military”) was premiered at the Hanover Square Rooms in London.
In 1901 Antonín Dvořák’s Rusalka was premiered at the National Theater in Prague.
In 1961 Jean Francaix’s The Flower Clock was premiered by the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Eugene Ormandy.
In 1780 King Louis XVI of France banned Théâtre-Italien in France. He ruled that only French-composed opera can be staged in French theaters.
In 1795 Beethoven performed at a benefit concert for Mozart’s widow, Constanze.
In 1837 Countess Cristina Belgiojoso staged a charity event in her home for refugees of the Italian war of independence. The event was a piano duel between Sigismond Thalberg and Franz Liszt. Both were declared winners with no one vanquished.
In 1841 the newly married Clara Schumann made her first public performance debut under her new name.
In 1905 Enrique Granados made his concert debut in Paris at age 37.
In 1909 Gustav Mahler made his debut as conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, in spite of having a nasty case of the flu.
23 Wednesday Mar 2016
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Boston Symphony Orchestra, classical, classical music, composers, New York Philharmonic, opera, orchestra, philharmonic
Happy birthday Michael Nyman! He is an English composer of minimalist music, pianist, librettist and musicologist, known for numerous film scores (many written during his lengthy collaboration with the filmmaker Peter Greenaway), and his multi-platinum soundtrack album to Jane Campion’s The Piano. He has additionally written a number of operas, including The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Letters, Riddles and Writs, Noises, Sounds & Sweet Airs, Facing Goya, Man and Boy: Dada, Love Counts, and Sparkie: Cage and Beyond, and he has written six concerti, four string quartets, and many other chamber works, many for his Michael Nyman Band, with and without whom he tours as a performing pianist. Nyman stated that he prefers to write opera rather than other sorts of music. 1
In 1731 Bach’s St. Mark’s Passion was premiered as a Good Friday worship service in Leipzig.
In 1784 four of the seven movements of Mozart’s Serenade for 13 wind instruments was premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna. It is this piece that Salieri first hears of Mozart in the movie Amadeus.
In 1792 Haydn’s Symphony No. 94 (“Surprise”) was premiered in London.
In 1828 Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 16 in F, Opus 135 was premiered. This would be the last substantial composition of Beethoven.
In 1886 Tchaikovsky’s Manfred Symphony was premiered in Moscow. It is noted that 12 year-old Sergei Rachmaninoff was in the audience.
In 1899 Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast was premiered in Brooklyn, New York.
In 1935 Samuel Barber’s Music for a Scene from Shelley was premiered by the New York Philharmonic.
In 1962 Irving Fine’s Symphony 1962 was premiered by the Boston Symphony with Charles Munch conducting.
In 1687 Jean-Baptiste Lully was laid to rest in Paris.
In 1703 Antonio Vivaldi was ordained a priest in Venice.
In 1729 Johann Sebastian Bach performed at the funeral of his former employer Prince Leopold.
In 1743, at a London performance of Handel’s oratorio The Messiah, King George II stands during the singing of the Hallelujah Chorus, beginning a tradition still in place today.
In 1784, at the same concert that he premiered 4 movements of his Serenade for 13 wind instruments, Mozart also conducted his Symphony No. 35 (“Haffner”) and his Piano Concerto No. 13. He also improvised Variations on a Theme of Gluck, who was in the audience.
In 1827 Beethoven signed his last will and testament leaving his entire estate to his nephew Karl.
In 1841 an eleven-year-old Anton Rubinstein gave his first major piano performance in Paris.
In 1940 Aaron Copland won the Academy Award for his score to the movie The Heiress.
In 1965 Benjamin Britten was awarded the Order of Merit.
13 Sunday Mar 2016
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Chicago Symphony Orchestra, classical, classical music, composers, New York Philharmonic, opera, orchestra, philharmonic
In 1845 Felix Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto was premiered in Leipzig by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra conducted by Niels Gade, with Ferdinand David the soloist.
In 1861 Richard Wagner’s opera Tannhäuser (“Paris Version”) was premiered in Paris. The “Dresden Version” had been premiered in 1845. Wagner dramatically altered the score – including added a ballet in the first act – based on Paris Opera house tradition and at the behest of Emperor Napoleon III, as suggested by Princess Pauline von Metternich, the wife of the Austrian ambassador to France.
In 1944 Heitor Villa-Lobos conducted the premier of his Bachianas Brasileiras No. 7 (Orchestral version) in Rio de Janeiro.
In 1947 Messiaen’s Hymne for orchestra was premiered by the New York Philharmonic with Leopold Stokowski conducted.
In 1986 George Rochberg’s Symphony No. 5 was premiered by the Chicago Symphony with Sir Georg Solti conducting. This piece was commissioned for the sesquicentennial celebration of the city of Chicago.
In 1833 Felix Mendelssohn noted that he completed his work on his Symphony No. 4 (“Italian”).
In 1869 Arthur Sullivan was formally presented to Queen Victoria at Buckingham Palace.
In 1884 Antonín Dvořák conducted his Stabat Mater at Royal Albert Hall in London during his first visit to England.
In 1915 Percy Grainger made his debut as pianist with the New York Philharmonic, performing Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto.
In 1918 Erik Satie was spared – just barely – in a German air raid at the Place de la Concorde in Paris.
29 Monday Feb 2016
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inIn 1792 Gioachino Rossini was born in Pesaro.
In 1968 Howard Hanson conducted the New York Philharmonic in the premiere of his Symphony No. 6.
In 1764 Johann Christian Bach (the “London Bach”) and Karl Friedrich Abel performed for the first time together, beginning what would become very popular and a major part of London’s cultural activities.
28 Sunday Feb 2016
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Boston Symphony Orchestra, classical, classical music, composers, New York Philharmonic, opera, orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, philharmonic
In 1929 Pizzetti’s Concerto dell’estate (Summer Concerto) was premiered by the New York Philharmonic with Arturo Toscanini conducting.
In 1936 Roy Harris’ Symphony No. 2 was premiered by the Boston Symphony & Prelude and Fugue for strings was premiered by the Philadelphia Orchestra.
In 1940 Cowell’s Old American Country Set was premiered by the Indianapolis Symphony with Fabien Sevitzky conducting.
In 1976 Ralph Shapey’s oratorio Praise was premiered in Chicago.
In 1991 John Harbison’s Symphony No. 3 was premiered by the Baltimore Symphony with David Zinman conducting.
In 1994 George Tsontakis’ Winter Lightning (No. 4 of Four Symphonic Quartets after poems by T.S. Eliot) was premiered by the Seattle Symphony with Gerard Schwarz conducting.
In 1581 Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina married his second wife. His first wife had died 8 months earlier. He definitely married up and was able to live a lavishly lifestyle he had not be able to enjoy previously.
In 1763 Leopold Mozart was promoted to deputy Kapellmeister by the Archbishop of Salzburg.
In 1840 Robert Schumann was awarded a doctorate by the University of Jena.
In 1882 the Prince of Wales (the future Edward VII) convened a meeting of artistic and political leaders at St. James Palace to found a new Royal College of Music in London.
In 1896 the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra gave its inaugural concert.
25 Thursday Feb 2016
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classical, classical music, composers, English composers, New York Philharmonic, opera, orchestra, philharmonic
In 1845 Eugene Goossens was born in Bruges, Belgium. Among his works as a composer are two symphonies (1940, 1945), two string quartets, two violin sonatas and a concertino for octet among other chamber music. He wrote two operas. Don Juan de Manara was broadcast by the BBC on 11 April 1959 with Monica Sinclair, Marie Collier, Helen Watts, Marion Lowe, Bruce Boyce, Robert Thomas and Andrei McPherson. The performance was conducted by Goossens himself. He wrote an oratorio, The Apocalypse, after the Revelation of St. John, and a concerto for oboe (1927), written for his brother, Léon Goossens. The concertino, from 1928, also exists in a later arrangement for string orchestra which is sometimes played. In 1942 Goossens wrote to several composers, including Aaron Copland, to request patriotic fanfares as “stirring and significant contributions to the war effort…” Copland responded to the request with his famous Fanfare for the Common Man. Eighteen fanfares were written by the different composers and performed during the 1942/43 season of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. In 1941 he made the first recording of the Symphony No. 2 by Tchaikovsky, with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Goossens’ recording ignored the cuts that were popular with conductors at that time. For Kapp Records, he recorded a bilingual version of Peter and the Wolf in 1959, featuring the actor José Ferrer narrating the story in both English and Spanish. The music was played by the Vienna State Opera Orchestra. The performance was later released on CD by MCA Records. Goossens is credited for much of the lobbying to the NSW Government to build a music performance venue, a process that led to the construction of the Sydney Opera House. Having agreed to go ahead with the project, theNew South Wales Premier Joseph Cahill had wanted it to be on or near Wynyard Railway Station in the north-west of the CBD, but Goossens insisted that it be built at Bennelong Point overlooking Sydney Harbour. The site of Bennelong Point was confirmed in 1957, after he had left Australia. He is commemorated in the Eugene Goossens Hall, a small concert and recording facility that is part of the broadcasting complex of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in Harris Street, Ultimo, in Sydney. 1
In 1873 Enrico Caruso was born in Naples, Italy. He was an Italian operatic tenor. He sang to great acclaim at the major opera houses of Europe and the Americas, appearing in a wide variety of roles from the Italian and French repertoires that ranged from the lyric to the dramatic. Caruso also made approximately 260 commercially released recordings from 1902 to 1920. All of these recordings, which span most of his stage career, are available today on CDs and as digital downloads. 2
In 1890 Myra Hess was born in London, England. At the age of five began to study the piano. Two years later, she entered the Guildhall School of Music, where she graduated as winner of the Gold Medal. She studied at the Royal Academy of Music under Tobias Matthay. Her debut came in 1907 when she played Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 with Sir Thomas Beecham conducting. She went on to tour through Britain, the Netherlands and France. Upon her American debut (New York City, 24 January 1922) she became a prime favourite in the United States, not only as a soloist, but also as a fine ensemble player. She also has a link to jazz, having given lessons in the 1920s to Elizabeth Ivy Brubeck, mother of Dave Brubeck. Hess garnered greater fame during World War II when, with all concert halls blacked out at night to avoid being targets of German bombers, she organised what would turn out to be some 1700 lunchtime concerts spanning a period of six years, starting during the London Blitz. The concerts were held at the National Gallery, in Trafalgar Square; Hess herself played in 150 of them. For this contribution to maintaining the morale of the populace of London, King George VI awarded her with the Dame Commander of the British Empire (DBE) in 1941. (She had previously been created a CBE in 1936.) Hess makes a brief appearance performing at one of her lunchtime concerts in the 1942 wartime documentary Listen to Britain (directed by Humphrey Jennings and Stuart McAllister). In 1946, Arturo Toscanini invited Hess to perform with the NBC Symphony Orchestra in New York City. According to Toscanini’s biographer, Mortimer Frank, after Hess and the conductor had failed to agree on tempos for Beethoven’s Fifth Piano Concerto, they decided instead to perform Beethoven’s Third. The 24 November 1946 broadcast concert was preserved on transcription discs and later issued on CD by Naxos Records. Hess was most renowned for her interpretations of the works of Mozart, Beethoven and Schumann, but had a wide repertoire, ranging from Domenico Scarlatti to contemporary works. She gave the premiere of Howard Ferguson’s Piano Sonata and his Piano Concerto. She also played a good amount of chamber music, and performed in a piano duo with Irene Scharrer. She promoted public awareness of the piano duo and two-piano works of Schubert. She arranged the chorale prelude of “Jesus bleibet meine Freude” (known in English as “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring”) from Johann Sebastian Bach’s Cantata Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147 for piano.[3] Her protégés included Clive Lythgoe and Richard and John Contiguglia. She was a teacher of Stephen Kovacevich (then known as Stephen Bishop). Hess began her lunchtime concerts a few weeks after the commencement of the Second World War. They were presented weekdays, Monday through Friday, for six-and-a-half years without fail. If London was being bombed, the concert was moved to a smaller, safer room. Every artist was paid five-guineas no matter who they were. In all, Hess presented 1,968 concerts seen by 824,152 people. Hess’s lunchtime concerts influenced the formation of the City Music Society. 3
Happy birthday Jesús López-Cobos! He studied at Complutense University of Madrid and graduated with a degree in philosophy. Later he studied conducting with Franco Ferrara and with Hans Swarowsky at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. From 1981 to 1990 he was general music director of the Deutsche Oper Berlin and from 1984 to 1988 he was music director of the Orquesta Nacional de España. From 1986 to 2000 he served as music director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and from 1990 to 2000 he was principal conductor of the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne. From 2003 to 2010 he has been music director of the Teatro Real in Madrid. He is a National Patron of Delta Omicron, an international professional music fraternity. 3
Happy birthday Dennis O’Neill! Born of Welsh and Irish parents, he studied privately with Professor Frederic Cox (Principal of the Royal Northern College of Music) in Manchester and then in London. At the age of 19 he spent the summer as an apprentice singer at the Opera Barga Festival in Tuscany, which confirmed his ambition to become an opera singer. Later, after a Royal Society of Arts award, he returned to Italy to study with Ettore Campogalliani in Mantua and Luigi Ricci in Rome. In his time, Dennis O’Neill has been connected with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London and the Welsh National Opera, Cardiff, Wales. He has given regular guest performances at the Metropolitan Opera New York, in Chicago, San Francisco, Zurich, Paris, Brussels, Vienna, Verona, Munich and Australia. In the opera world, O’Neill is perhaps best known as a Verdi exponent. He performs song recitals and oratorios, especially the tenor part of the Verdi Requiem. In 2005 he was awarded the Verdi Medal by the Amici di Verdi. O’Neill is committed to the education of younger opera singers, and in Spring 2007 he became the director of the Cardiff International Academy of Voice. O’Neill’s recording career includes many solo albums and operas. He has performed on video film with Kiri te Kanawa and the conductor Georg Solti. A generation before his fellow-Welshman Bryn Terfel, O’Neill was a regular face on British TV. He has presented two TV shows, Dennis O’Neill (1987) and Dennis O’Neill and Friends (1989), amongst other TV performances, such as the title role in Faust and Alfred in Die Fledermaus. In 2006 O’Neill performed as Eleazar in La Juive (The Jewess) in a Royal Opera concert in the Barbican concert hall, London. It was his 43rd visit to the ROH. In 2000 he was awarded the CBE. 4
In 1877 Tchaikovsky’s symphonic fantasy Francesca da Rimini was premiered in Moscow.
In 1905 Serge Koussevitzky conducted, and soloed on, his Doublebass Concerto as it was premiered in Moscow.
In 1922 Camille Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals was premiered in Paris, about two months after his death just as it was stipulated in his will.
In 1953 Leonard Bernstein’s musical Wonderful Town opened in New York.
In 1973 Stephen Sondheim’s musical A Little Night Music opened in New York.
In 1993 Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s Symphony No. 3 was premiered by the New York Philharmonic, Jahja Ling conducting.
In 1723 George Frideric Handel was appointed Composer of Music for His Majesty’s Chapel Royal.
In 1776 the Regio Ducal Teatro in Milan was destroyed by fire. Such was this theater that two theaters would have be to be built to replace it – what became La Scala and Teatro Lirico.
In 1828 Muzio Clementi gave his last public performance at a concert hosted by London’s Philharmonic Society.
In 1871 the Société Nationale de Musique was founded to promote the music of living (at the time) French Composers.
22 Monday Feb 2016
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inHappy birthday Rolando Villazón! Born in Mexico City, he began his musical studies at the National Conservatory of Music before entering young artist programmes in Pittsburgh and at San Francisco Opera. A recipient of many prestigious awards, Rolando Villazón has been named a Chévalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, one of the highest awards in the fields of arts and literature in France. Rolando Villazón acts as ambassador for the Red Noses Clown Doctors International charity. He is a member of the Collège de Pataphysique Paris. 1
In 1874 Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 was premiered in Moscow.
In 1881 Max Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy was premiered by the Liverpool Philharmonic orchestra and soloist Joseph Joachim.
In 1910 Frederick Delius’ A Village Romeo and Juliet was premiered in London on the 3rd anniversary of its world premier.
In 1810 Carl Maria von Weber was released from debtors prison after agreeing to a repayment plan of a debt three times the size of his current assess.
In 1835 Cesar Franck won first prize at a piano competition at the Royal Conservatory in Liege. He was twelve years old!
In 1871 Modest Mussorgsky’s opera Boris Godunov was banned in St. Petersburg by the Imperial censors because it didn’t have a prominent female role. He would revise the entire opera. This original version would not be performed until 1928.
21 Sunday Feb 2016
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inIn 1836 Léo Delibes was born in St. Germain du Val. He was a French composer of the Romantic era (1815–1910), specialised in ballets, operas, and other works for the stage. His most notable works include ballets Coppélia (1870) and Sylvia (1876) as well as the operas Le roi l’a dit (1873) and Lakmé (1883). In 1844 Charles-Marie Widor was born in Lyons. Widor was born in Lyon, to a family of organ builders, and initially studied music there with his father, François-Charles Widor, titular organist of Saint-François-de-Sales from 1838 to 1889. The French organ builder Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, reviver of the art of organ building, was a friend of the Widor family; he arranged for the talented young organist to study in Brussels in 1863 with Jacques-Nicolas Lemmens for organ technique and with the elderly François-Joseph Fétis, director of the Brussels Conservatoire, for composition. After this term of study Widor moved to Paris, where he would make his home for the rest of his life. At the age of 24 he was appointed assistant to Camille Saint-Saëns at Église de la Madeleine. He would serve as organist at Saint-Sulpuice in Paris, succeed Cesar Franck as organist professor at the Paris Conservatory and eventually founded the American Conservatory at Fontainebleau with Francis-Louis Casadesus. 2
In 1881 Frederick Joseph Ricketts was born. Under the pen name Kenneth J. Alford, he composed marches which are considered to be great examples of the art. He was a Bandmaster in the British Army, and Royal Marines Director of Music. Conductor Sir Vivian Dunn called Ricketts “The British March King.” Ricketts’ frequent use of the saxophone contributed to its permanent inclusion in military bands. 3
In 1893 Andres Segovia was born in Linares, Spain. He was a virtuoso Spanish classical guitarist. Regarded as one of the greatest guitarists of all time, he is seen as the grandfather of the classical guitar. Many professional classical guitarists today are students of Segovia, or students of his students. Segovia’s contribution to the modern-romantic repertoire not only included commissions but also his own transcriptions of classical or baroque works. He is remembered for his expressive performances: his wide palette of tone, and his distinctive musical personality, phrasing and style. 4
In 1891 Tchaikovsky’s incidental music to Hamlet was premiered in St. Petersburg.
In 1907 Frederick Delius’ A Village Romeo and Juliet was premiered in Berlin.
In 1929 Ottorino Respighi’s orchestral suite Roman Festivals was premiered by the New York Philharmonic with Arturo Toscanini conducting.
In 1946 Roy Harris conducted the New York Philharmonic in the premier of his Memories of a Child’s Sunday.
In 1772 at the age of 16 Mozart completed work on his Symphony No. 15.
In 1816 Beethoven won a court order stopping his sister-in-law from visiting her son Karl at boarding school. This was another victory in Beethoven’s bitter struggle to gain control of the raising of his nephew after his brother had died.
In 1818 it is believed that Franz Schubert composed the song Die Forelle. This is merely one of five versions that Schubert wrote, not including his Trout Quintet based on this song. According to ClassicaFM’s Big Book of Classical Music, copious amounts of red wine aided Schubert in the composition process.
In 1874 Charles Villiers Stanford took up the duties of organist at Trinity College, Cambridge, with time off to study in Leipzig.
In 1890 Pietro Mascagni received a telegram informing him that his opera Cavalleria Rusticana was a finalist in a Milan composition competition.
In 1911 Gustav Mahler conducted the New York Philharmonic Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. This, despite his doctor’s orders not to. He probably should have listened to his doctor. It would be Mahler’s last performance and he would die three months later.
In 1944 the New York City Opera opened with a performance of Puccini’s Tosca.