December 8
1813 – Premier of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony.
Births:
1724 – Claude Balbastre, French organist and composer (d. 1799)
1731 – František Xaver Dušek, Czech pianist and composer (d. 1799)
1865 – Jean Sibelius, Finnish pianist and composer (d. 1957)
1877 – Paul Ladmirault, French composer (d. 1944)
1890 – Bohuslav Martinů, Czech-American composer (d. 1959)
1939 – James Galway, Irish flute player; apparently spent considerable time with the Berlin Philharmonic
Deaths:
2013 – Sándor Szokolay, Hungarian composer and academic (b. 1931)
December 9
Births:
1721 – Peter Pelham, English-American organist and composer (d. 1805)
1728 – Pietro Alessandro Guglielmi, Italian composer (d. 1804)
1745 – Maddalena Laura Sirmen, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1818)
1837 – Émile Waldteufel, French pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1915)
1882 – Joaquín Turina, Spanish-French composer, educator, and critic (d. 1949)
1927 – Pierre Henry, French composer (Classical?)
1953 – Cornelis de Bondt, Dutch composer and educator
Deaths:
2005 – György Sándor, Hungarian-American pianist and educator (b. 1912)
2013 – Barbara Hesse-Bukowska, Polish pianist and educator (b. 1930)
December 10
Births:
1713 – Johann Nicolaus Mempel, German cantor and organist (d. 1747)
1822 – César Franck, Belgian organist and composer (d. 1890)
1885 – Marios Varvoglis, Greek composer and conductor (d. 1967)
1908 – Olivier Messiaen, French composer and ornithologist (d. 1992)
1913 – Morton Gould, American pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1996)
1919 – Alexander Courage, American composer and conductor (d. 2008) The Star Trek composer
1938 – Yuri Temirkanov, Russian viola player and conductor; one of the greatest violists, I am to understand.
1958 – Kathryn Stott, English pianist and academic
1980 – Sarah Chang, American violinist
Deaths:
1665 – Tarquinio Merula, Italian organist, violinist, and composer (b. 1594)
1987 – Jascha Heifetz, Lithuanian-American violinist and educator (b. 1901) How did I not know until just now that he was Lithuanian?
December 11
Births:
1566 – Manuel Cardoso, Portuguese organist and composer (d. 1650)
1680 – Emanuele d’Astorga, Italian composer (d. 1736)
1758 – Carl Friedrich Zelter, German composer, conductor, and educator (d. 1832)
1803 – Hector Berlioz, French composer, conductor, and critic (d. 1869)
1908 – Elliott Carter, American composer and academic (d. 2012)
1948 – Stamatis Spanoudakis, Greek guitarist and composer
1960 – Rachel Portman, English composer (of filmscores)
Deaths:
2012 – Ravi Shankar, Indian-American sitar player and composer (b. 1920) Maybe not classical, but still….
December 12
Births:
1685 – Lodovico Giustini, Italian pianist and composer (d. 1743)
1715 – Gennaro Manna, Italian composer (d. 1779)
1887 – Kurt Atterberg, Swedish composer and engineer (d. 1974)
1907 – Roy Douglas, English pianist and composer This. Guy. Is. Still. Alive?
1925 – Vladimir Shainsky, Ukrainian-Russian composer
1937 – Philip Ledger, English organist and composer (d. 2012)
Deaths:
1976 – Vinko Žganec, Croatian musicologist (b. 1890)
December 13
1874 – Josef Lhévinne, Russian pianist and educator (d. 1944)
1900 – Jonel Perlea, Romanian conductor (d. 1970)
Deaths:
—
December 14
Births:
1730 – Capel Bond, English organist and composer (d. 1790)
1738 – Jan Antonín Koželuh, Czech composer and educator (d. 1814)
Deaths:
1788 – Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, German pianist and composer (b. 1714) One of the more famous Bachs
Fugue for Thought 