December 1
1948 – Taman Shud Case: The body of an unidentified man is found in Adelaide, Australia, involving an undetectable poison and a secret code in a very rare book; the case remains unsolved and is “one of Australia’s most profound mysteries.” Completely nonrelated, but I’d been reading about it recently and it’s fascinating, and I didn’t realize it was on December 1, so here you are. Back to our regularly scheduled programming.
Births:
1709 – Franz Xaver Richter, Czech singer-songwriter, violinist, and conductor (d. 1789)
1901 – Ilona Fehér, Hungarian-Israeli violinist and educator (d. 1988)
1937 – Gordon Crosse, English composer and academic
Deaths:
1755 – Maurice Greene, English organist and composer (b. 1696)
1950 – Ernest John Moeran, English pianist and composer (b. 1894)
1968 – Nicolae Bretan, Romanian opera singer, composer, and conductor (b. 1887)
1997 – Stéphane Grappelli, French violinist (Quintette du Hot Club de France) (b. 1908)
December 2
Births:
1893 – Leo Ornstein, Russian-American pianist and composer (d. 2002) Yeah, you saw that right… the man was 108 years old… His piano sonata no. 4 covered here.
1895 – Harriet Cohen, English pianist (d. 1967)
1899 – John Barbirolli, English cellist and conductor (d. 1970) From interviews, this guy
seems like one of the most pleasant and interesting and humble people ever
Deaths:
1774 – Johann Friedrich Agricola, German organist and composer (b. 1720)
1931 – Vincent d’Indy, French composer and educator (b. 1851)
1944 – Josef Lhévinne, Russian pianist and educator (b. 1874)
1950 – Dinu Lipatti, Romanian pianist and composer (b. 1917)
December 3
Births:
1596 – Nicola Amati, Italian violin maker (d. 1684) If you know Stradivarius, this is the other name you should know, not only as a maker, but maybe even more as a teacher
1857 – Mathilde Kralik, Austrian composer (d. 1944)
1883 – Anton Webern, Austrian composer and conductor (d. 1945) Can’t wait to get around to this guy’s symphony.
1889 – Cyrillus Kreek, Estonian trombonist and composer (d. 1962)]
1911 – Nino Rota, Italian pianist, composer, conductor, and academic (d. 1979) Movie music, but it was the godfather…
1914 – Irving Fine, American composer and academic (d. 1962)
Deaths:
1998 – Pierre Hétu, Canadian pianist and conductor (b. 1936)
December 4
1872 – The crewless American ship Mary Celeste is found by the British brig Dei Gratia. The ship had been abandoned for nine days but was only slightly damaged. Another unsolved mystery post!
Births:
1647 – Daniel Eberlin, German composer and conductor (d. ca. 1715)
1660 – André Campra, French composer and conductor (d. 1744)
1667 – Michel Pignolet de Montéclair, French composer (d. 1737)
Deaths:
1897 – Griffith Rhys Jones, Welsh conductor (b. 1834)
1935 – Johan Halvorsen, Norwegian violinist, composer, and conductor (b. 1864)
1976 – Benjamin Britten, English pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1913)
December 5
Births:
1595 – Henry Lawes, English pianist and composer (d. 1662)
1666 – Francesco Scarlatti, Italian composer (d. 1741)
1687 – Francesco Geminiani, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1762)
1697 – Giuseppe de Majo, Italian organist and composer (d. 1771)
1870 – Vítězslav Novák, Czech composer and educator (d. 1949)
1911 – Władysław Szpilman, Polish pianist and composer (d. 2000)
1950 – Osvaldo Golijov, Argentinian composer
Deaths:
1663 – Severo Bonini, Italian organist and composer (b. 1582)
1758 – Johann Friedrich Fasch, German violinist and composer (b. 1688)
1791 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austrian pianist and composer (b. 1756) That’s still not a big enough font.
1940 – Jan Kubelík, Czech violinist and composer (b. 1880) Father of conductor Rafael Kubelík
1963 – Karl Amadeus Hartmann, German composer (b. 1905)
1989 – John Pritchard, English conductor (b. 1921)
2007 – Andrew Imbrie, American composer (b. 1921) Yet another student of Nadia Boulanger
2007 – Karlheinz Stockhausen, German composer and academic (b. 1928)
December 6
Births:
1550 – Orazio Vecchi, Italian composer (d. 1605)
1642 – Johann Christoph Bach, German organist and composer (d. 1703)
1805 – Adolf Reubke, German organ builder (d. 1875) Father of Julius Reubke, an amazing student of Brahms, whose piano sonata we covered here. Adolf Reubke sadly outlived two of his sons (Julius and Emil), and the third, Otto, was also a composer, pianist and organist.
1921 – Piero Piccioni, Italian lawyer, pianist, and composer (d. 2004) Mostly film music (and tons of it), but made a huge career change, leaving law for music.
1933 – Henryk Górecki, Polish composer (d. 2010)
Deaths:
1716 – Benedictus Buns, Dutch priest and composer (b. 1642) That name though…
December 7
1732 – The Royal Opera House opens at Covent Garden, London, England.
Births:
1637 – Bernardo Pasquini, Italian organist and composer (d. 1710)
1863 – Pietro Mascagni, Italian composer (d. 1945)
1887 – Ernst Toch, Austrian-American composer and songwriter (d. 1964)
1912 – Daniel Jones, Welsh composer (d. 1993)
1944 – Daniel Chorzempa, American organist and composer AND architect, also known especially for his performances of the works of Julius Reubke, son of the above mentioned Adolf Reubke
Deaths:
1562 – Adrian Willaert, Dutch-Italian composer and educator (b. 1490)
1917 – Ludwig Minkus, Austrian violinist and composer (b. 1826)
1960 – Clara Haskil, Swiss pianist (b. 1895)
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