December 15
Births:
1657 – Michel Richard Delalande, French organist and composer (d. 1726)
1686 – Jean-Joseph Fiocco, Flemish composer (d. 1746)
1928 – Ida Haendel, Polish-English violinist. This woman is something… you should watch some of her master classes, like the one here. She seems like a riot.
Deaths:
1792 – Joseph Martin Kraus, Swedish pianist, violinist, and composer (b. 1756)
December 16
Births:
1775 – François-Adrien Boieldieu, French composer (d. 1834)
1882 – Zoltán Kodály, Hungarian composer, conductor, and musicologist (d. 1967)
1932 – Rodion Shchedrin, Russian pianist and composer
1946 – Trevor Pinnock, English harpsichord player and conductor
Deaths:
1783 – Johann Adolph Hasse, German composer and educator (b. 1699)
1921 – Camille Saint-Saëns, French pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1835)
2006 – Pnina Salzman, Israeli pianist (b. 1922)
December 17
1865 – First performance of the Unfinished Symphony by Franz Schubert.
Births:
1699 – Charles-Louis Mion, French composer (d. 1775)
1749 – Domenico Cimarosa, Italian composer and educator (d. 1801)
1894 – Arthur Fiedler, American conductor (d. 1979)
1906 – Fernando Lopes-Graça, Portuguese composer and conductor (d. 1994)
Deaths:
1930 – Peter Warlock, Welsh composer and critic (b. 1894)
1981 – Antiochos Evangelatos, Greek composer and conductor (b. 1903)
December 18
1892 – Premiere performance of The Nutcracker by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Births:
1707 – Charles Wesley, English missionary and composer (d. 1788)
1734 – Jean-Baptiste Rey, French conductor and composer (d. 1810)
1847 – Augusta Holmès, French composer (d. 1903)
1860 – Edward MacDowell, American pianist and composer (d. 1908)
1861 – Lionel Monckton, English composer and critic (d. 1924)
1971 – Noriko Matsueda, Japanese pianist and composer- female video game composer; It’s not classical, but still interesting (maybe)
Deaths:
1869 – Louis Moreau Gottschalk, American pianist and composer (b. 1829)
1990 – Paul Tortelier, French cellist and composer (b. 1914) This guy is important.
2001 – Dimitris Dragatakis, Greek violinist and composer (b. 1914)
December 19
Births:
1825 – George Frederick Bristow, American violinist and composer (d. 1898)
1888 – Fritz Reiner, Hungarian-American conductor (d. 1963)
Deaths:
2013 – Winton Dean, English musicologist and author (b. 1916)
December 20
Births:
1786 – Pietro Raimondi, Italian composer (d. 1853)
1932 – Leslie Adams, American composer and educator
1938 – John Harbison, American composer and academic
1950 – Arturo Márquez, Mexican-American composer
Deaths:
1783 – Antonio Soler, Spanish priest and composer (b. 1729)
1915 – Upendrakishore Ray, Indian painter and composer (b. 1863)
1959 – Juhan Simm, Estonian composer and conductor (b. 1885)
1974 – André Jolivet, French composer (b. 1905)
1982 – Arthur Rubinstein, Polish-American pianist and composer (b. 1887)
2012 – Victor Merzhanov, Russian pianist and educator (b. 1919) Student of Samuil Feiberg. Lots of big names in the article about this guy.
December 21
Births:
1672 – Benjamin Schmolck, German deacon and composer (d. 1737)
1728 – Hermann Raupach, German composer (d. 1778)
1934 – Claudio Scimone, Italian conductor
1944 – Michael Tilson Thomas, American pianist, composer, and conductor. At the time of this writing, he’s in Vienna…. they recently performed Mahler’s fifth in the Musikverein. How amazing would that be?!
1946 – Christopher Keene, American conductor (d. 1995)
1953 – András Schiff, Hungarian-English pianist and conductor
Deaths:
1957 – Eric Coates, English-American viola player and composer (b. 1886)
1965 – Claude Champagne, Canadian violinist, pianist, and composer (b. 1891) What a classy name
1992 – Nathan Milstein, Russian-American violinist (b. 1903)
Fugue for Thought 