Listening to music can help you while you’re studying for your exams.
This is 3.5 Hours of the Best Classical Music – Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, Chopin – Beautiful Piano, Violin & Orchestral Masterpieces by the greatest composers of all time.
Monthly Archives: May 2016
May 31 in Music History
• 1656 ~ Marin Marias, Composer
• 1674 ~ Friedrich Erhard Niedt, Composer
• 1696 ~ Heinrich Schwemmer, Composer, died at the age of 75
• 1802 ~ Cesare Pugni, Composer
• 1804 ~ Jeanne-Louise Farrenc, Composer
• 1809 ~ Franz Joseph Haydn passed away
• 1817 ~ Edouard Deldevez, Composer
• 1854 ~ Vatroslav Lisinski, Composer, died at the age of 34
• 1866 ~ Vladimir Ivanovich Rebikov, Composer
• 1875 ~ Italo Montemezzi, Composer
• 1879 ~ Mark Hambourg, Composer
• 1892 ~ Louis Fourestier, Composer
• 1892 ~ Willem Ravelli, baritone singer
• 1898 ~ Johan Brouwer, Dutch pianist, writer and resistance fighter
• 1902 ~ Billy Mayerl, Composer
• 1902 ~ Ralph Walter Wood, Composer
• 1912 ~ Alfred Deller, British countertenor
• 1914 ~ Akira Ifukube, Composer
• 1917 ~ First jazz record released (Dark Town Strutters Ball)
• 1919 ~ Chet Gierlach, Music publisher and composer
• 1919 ~ Emmanual Tettey Mensah, Musician
• 1923 ~ Wolfgang Lesser, Composer
• 1928 ~ Jacob Lateiner, Cuban pianist and professor at Juilliard
• 1929 ~ Aladar Zoltan, Composer
• 1933 ~ Shirley Verrett, American mezzo-soprano, New York Met
• 1934 ~ Karl-Erik Welin, Composer
• 1938 ~ Peter Yarrow, American folk singer and guitarist
More information on Yarrow
• 1939 ~ Charles Drain, singer
• 1940 ~ Augie Meyers, Keyboardist with Texas Tornados
• 1941 ~ Johnny Paycheck (Don Lytle), Country singer
More information about Paycheck
• 1944 ~ Mick Ralphs, Guitarist with Mott the Hoople
• 1947 ~ Henri G Casadesus, French alto violist (viola d’amour) and composer, died at the age of 66
• 1948 ~ Jose Vianna da Motta, Composer, died at the age of 80
• 1955 ~ Raoul Gunsbourg, Composer, died at the age of 95
• 1961 ~ Rock ’n’ roll fans were ready for a good old-fashioned summertime as Chuck Berry’s amusement park, Berryland, opened near St. Louis, MO.
• 1962 ~ Eduardo Toldra, Composer, died at the age of 67
• 1969 ~ Stevie Wonder’s My Cherie Amour was released by Tamla Records. The song made it to number four on the pop music charts on July 26 and stayed on the nation’s radios for eleven weeks.
• 1969 ~ John Lennon, Yoko Ono recorded Give Peace a Chance
• 1974 ~ William DeVaughn, a soul singer, songwriter and guitarist from Washington, DC, received a gold record for his only hit, Be Thankful for What You Got.
• 1976 ~ Ear doctors didn’t have to drum up business this day. There were plenty of walk-ins as The Who put out a total of 76,000 watts of power at 120 decibels. They played the loudest concert anyone had ever heard, making it into “The Guinness Book of World Records”.
• 1977 ~ “Beatlemania” opened at Winter Garden Theater NYC for 920 performances
• 1979 ~ Radio City Music Hall (NYC) reopened
• 1989 ~ First presentation of rock n roll Elvis awards
• 1994 ~ Herva Nelli, Soprano, died at the age of 85
• 1997 ~ “Once Upon a Matress,” closed at Broadhurst Theater NYC after 187 performances.
• 2002 ~ Mario Lago, an influential composer, actor and political dissident, died of lung failure. He was 90. Throughout a multifaceted career, Lago wrote more than 200 popular songs and appeared in 20 films and more than 30 telenovelas, Brazil’s version of television soap operas. He was also an active member of Brazil’s Communist Party, and was imprisoned six times during Brazil’s 1964-86 military regime. One of Lago’s most successful songs, Amelia, sang the praises of a woman happy with very little from her husband. The name came to signify a submissive woman in Brazilian slang. Lago continued acting until January, 2002 when he was hospitalized for a month with emphysema.
May 30 in Music History
• 1578 ~ Valentin Dretzel, Composer
• 1746 ~ Giovanni Antonio Pollarolo, Composer, died at the age of 69
• 1778 ~ Voltaire, (François-Marie Arouet), French writer of Candide, died at the age of 42 Candide was later set to music by Leonard Bernstein
• 1791 ~ Ildephons Haas, Composer, died at the age of 56
• 1797 ~ Johann Christian Lobe, Composer
• 1797 ~ Carl Ludwig Junker, Composer, died at the age of 48
• 1794 ~ Ignaz Moschelles, Composer
• 1808 ~ Joaquim Casimiro Jr, Composer
• 1833 ~ Josef Slavik, Composer, died at the age of 27
• 1844 ~ Louis Varney, Composer
• 1853 ~ Karl Fritjof Valentin, Composer
• 1866 ~ Opera “Die Verkaufte Braut” premiered in Prague
• 1870 ~ Gustave Vogt, Composer, died at the age of 89
• 1883 ~ Riccardo Zandonai, Composer
• 1887 ~ Gino Tagliapietra, Composer
• 1906 ~ William Yeates Hurlstone, Composer, died at the age of 30
• 1909 ~ Benny Goodman, American jazz clarinetist, composer and bandleader. He became a leading player with his own bands during the 1930’s and also commissioned works from classical composers including Bartok and Copland.
More information on Goodman
• 1913 ~ Pee Wee (George) Erwin, Trumpet with Tommy Dorsey Band and Isham Jones Band
• 1913 ~ Cedric Thorpe Davie, Composer
• 1920 ~ George London, Baritone singer with Bel canto Trio (with Frances Yeend and Mario Lanza); member: Vienna State Opera, Metropolitan Opera; Artistic Director of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; Director: National Opera Institute; head of the Washington Opera and established the George London Foundation for Singers in 1971.
• 1922 ~ ‘Smilin’ Ed McConnell debuted on radio, smiling and playing his banjo. McConnell quickly became a legend in the medium.
• 1923 ~ Howard Hanson’s 1st Symphony “Nordic,” premiered
• 1923 ~ Camille Chevillard, Composer, died at the age of 63
• 1925 ~ Claude Prey, Composer
• 1928 ~ Gustav Leonhardt, Dutch organist and harpsichordist
• 1935 ~ Lothar Windsperger, Composer, died at the age of 49
• 1936 ~ Galina Shostakovitch, daughter of Russian Composer Shostakovitch
• 1940 ~ Olivia Stapp, American soprano
• 1944 ~ Lenny Davidson, Musician with The Dave Clark Five
• 1947 ~ Sidney Hugo Nicholson, Composer, died at the age of 72
• 1952 ~ Zoltan Kocsis, Composer
• 1952 ~ Darius Milhaud’s “West Point Suite,” premiered
• 1954 ~ Heitor Villa-Lobos’ “Odisseia de Uma Raca,” premiered
• 1959 ~ Thomas Carl Whitmer, Composer, died at the age of 85
• 1962 ~ Benjamin Britten’s “War Requiem,” premiered
• 1962 ~ The King of Swing, Benny Goodman, turned 53 and led the first American jazz band to play in the Soviet Union. Goodman and his band played six concerts in the U.S.S.R.
• 1964 ~ The Beatles 1961 record of Cry for a Shadow was #1 in Australia
• 1964 ~ The Beatles’ Love Me Do, single was #1
• 1968 ~ The Beatles begin work on their only double album “Beatles”
• 1969 ~ Gaston Brenta, Composer, died at the age of 66
• 1971 ~ Marcel Dupré, French organist and composer, died at the age of 85. He was organist of St. Sulpice from 1934 until 1971.
• 1972 ~ Margaret Ruthven Lang, Composer, died at the age of 104
• 1973 ~ Hal Hastings, Orchestra leader for Chevrolet on Broadway, died at the age of 66
• 1975 ~ Wings released “Venus and Mars” album
• 1977 ~ Paul Desmond, American jazz saxophonist, died at the age of 52
• 1980 ~ Carl Radle, bassist with Derek and the Dominoes, died of a kidney ailment
• 1986 ~ Hank Mobley, American jazz saxophonist, died at the age of 55
• 1987 ~ Turk Murphy, Jazz trombonist, died at the age of 71
• 1989 ~ Zinka Milanov, Metropolitan Opera Diva, died at the age of a stroke at 83
• 1992 ~ Paul Simon married Edie Brickell
• 1993 ~ Sun Ra, Blues pianist/orchestra leader, died of a stroke at the age of 79
• 1996 ~ Bob Stroup, trombonist, died at the age of 57
• 1996 ~ John Kahn, bassist, died at the age of 47
May 29 in Music History
• 1680 ~ Abraham Megerle, Composer, died at the age of 73
• 1680 ~ Luca Fumagalli (1837) Composer
• 1730 ~ William Jackson, Composer
• 1731 ~ Orazio Mei, Composer
• 1741 ~ Johann Gottfried Krebs, Composer
• 1750 ~ Giuseppe Porsile, Composer, died at the age of 70
• 1753 ~ Joseph Haydn’s “Krumme Teufel,” premiered
• 1791 ~ Pietro Romani, Composer
• 1833 ~ William Marshall, Composer, died at the age of 84
• 1860 ~ Isaac Albéniz, Spanish composer
More information about Albéniz
• 1843 ~ Emile Pessard, Composer
• 1862 ~ Franciszek Wincenty Mirecki, Composer, died at the age of 71
• 1881 ~ Frederik Septimus Kelly, Composer
• 1883 ~ William Beatton Moonie, Composer
• 1889 ~ August Strindberg’s “Hemsoborna,” premiered in Copenhagen
• 1890 ~ Francis de Bourguignon, Composer
• 1897 ~ Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Austrian-born American composer
More information about Korngold
• 1897 ~ Ignace Lilien, Composer
• 1899 ~ Frantz Jehin-Prume, Composer, died at the age of 60
• 1903 ~ Bob Hope, Entertainer
• 1905 ~ Fela Sowande, Composer
• 1905 ~ Leon Francis Victor Caron, Composer, died at the age of 55
• 1906 ~ Hans Joachim Schaeuble, Composer
• 1910 ~ Mily Alexeyevich Balakirev, Russian Composer, died at the age of 73
• 1911 ~ Sir William Gilbert, English librettist who together with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan collaborated on many operettas, died of a heart attack after rescuing a woman from drowning. He was 74.
• 1911 ~ Carl M Story (1916) Fiddler
• 1912 ~ Fifteen women were dismissed from their jobs at the Curtis Publishing Company in Philadelphia, PA — for dancing the Turkey Trot while on the job!
• 1919 ~ (Walter) (Wladziu Valentino) Liberace, American concert pianist and showman. His trade mark was a candelabra on his piano.
More information about Liberace
• 1922 ~ Iannis Xenakis, Rumanian-born French theorist and composer
More information on Xenakis
• 1923 ~ Eugene Wright, Jazz musician, bass with Dukes of Swing, played with Brubeck
• 1935 ~ Josef Suk, Czech violinist and composer, died at the age of 61
• 1930 ~ Eleanor Fazan, Opera and show choreographer
• 1937 ~ Peter Kolman, Composer
• 1941 ~ Roy Crewsdon, Guitarist with Freddie and The Dreamers
• 1942 ~ The biggest selling record of all time was recorded. A little out of season, perhaps, but White Christmas, the Irving Berlin classic, was recorded by BingCrosby for Decca Records. The song was written for the film “Holiday Inn”. More than 30-million copies of Crosby’s most famous hit song have been sold and a total of nearly 70-million copies, including all versions of the standard, have been sold.
• 1943 ~ Hermann Hans Wetzler, Composer, died at the age of 72
• 1943 ~ “The Million Dollar Band” was heard for the first time on NBC radio. Charlie Spivak was the first leader of the band that featured Barry Wood as vocalist. The unusual feature of the show was the awarding each week of five diamond rings!
• 1945 ~ Gary Brooker, Keyboard player, singer
• 1948 ~ Linda Esther Gray, opera singer
• 1948 ~ Michael Berkley, Composer and broadcaster
• 1949 ~ Francis Rossi, Guitarist
• 1949 ~ Gary Brooker, Rock keyboardist with Procol Harum
• 1950 ~ Rebbie (Maureen) Jackson, Singer, oldest member of the Jackson family
• 1951 ~ Dimitrios Levidis, Composer, died at the age of 66
• 1951 ~ Fanny Brice, Ziegfeld Girl (Baby Snooks Show), died at the age of 59
• 1951 ~ Josef Bohuslav Foerster, Composer, died at the age of 91
• 1951 ~ Robert Kahn, Composer, died at the age of 85
• 1951 ~ Danny Elfman (1953) Singer with Oingo Boingo;, composer of soundtracks to Batman, Beetlejuice and The Simpsons
• 1956 ~ LaToya Jackson, Singer
• 1956 ~ Hermann Abendroth, German conductor (Gewandhausorkest), died at the age of 73
• 1956 ~ Arnold Schoenberg’s “Modern Psalm,” premiered
• 1960 ~ Everly Brothers Cathy’s Clown hit #1
• 1961 ~ Melissa Etheridge, Singer
• 1961 ~ Uuno Kalervo Klami, Composer, died at the age of 60
• 1961 ~ Ricky Nelson reached the top spot on the “Billboard” singles chart withTravelin’ Man. It was was Nelson’s second chart-topping hit. Poor Little Fool made it to the top in August of 1958.
• 1962 ~ Barbra Streisand appeared on “Garry Moore Show”
• 1967 ~ Geronimo Baqueiro Foster, Composer, died at the age of 69
• 1971 ~ Max Trapp, Composer, died at the age of 83
• 1972 ~ The Osmonds received a gold record for the album, “Phase III”.
• 1975 ~ Melanie “Scary Spice” Brown, Singer
• 1976 ~ One Piece At A Time by Johnny Cash hit #29
• 1977 ~ Goddard Lieberson, Composer, died at the age of 66
• 1989 ~ Danielle Riley Keough, grand daughter of Elvis Presley
• 1991 ~ “Les Miserables” opened at ACTEA Theatre, Auckland NZ
• 1992 ~ Peter John “Ollie” Halsall, Guitarist, died of a heart attack at 43
• 1994 ~ Oliver “Bops Junior” Jackson, drummer, died at the age of 61
• 1994 ~ “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” closed at Minskoff Theater NYC after 223 performances
• 1996 ~ James George “Jimmy” Rowles, Jazz pianist, died at the age of 77
• 1997 ~ Jeff Buckley, Musician, drowned at age 30
• 2003 ~ Janet Collins, the first black prima ballerina to appear at the Metropolitan Opera and one of a few black women to become prominent in American classical ballet, died. She was 86. In 1951, Collins performed lead roles in “Aida” and Bizet’s Carmen and danced in “La Gioconda” and “Samson and Delilah” at the Met in New York City. That was four years before Marian Anderson made her historic debut as the first black to sing a principal role at the Met. Collins left the Met in 1954. During the 1950s, she toured with her own dance group throughout the United States and Canada and taught. Collins also danced in films, including the 1943 musical “Stormy Weather” and 1946’s “The Thrill of Brazil.” The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1974 paid homage to Collins and Pearl Primus as pioneering black women in dance.
Beethoven as Played by Dudley Moore
This video was also posted on Dudley Moore’s birthday.
In this clip from the 1950’s-60s British comedy group “Beyond the Fringe,” Dudley Moore plays a very funny but also very musically well-done parody of a Beethoven Piano Sonata, using the famous whistling tune from “Bridge Over the River Kwai” as a thematic subject.
The ‘ending’ here is dragged out for a good minute and a half with Dudley showing every sign of wanting to escape from 3’42 onwards.
Classical Music and Children
All children should be compelled to learn about classical music in the same way they must do maths and science, Nicola Benedetti has argued.
Benedetti, the award-winning violinist, said all youngsters should be exposed to classical music, whether they like it or not.
Saying the concept of letting children do exactly what they want in other areas of education is “alien”, she admitted she is “bemused” by the current approach to teaching art and culture.
“It actually really upsets me when people say: ‘Kids hate listening to a symphony, why would we do that to them?’” she said, in an interview with Scotland on Sunday.
“I think, hang on a minute, if you were to turn round and say to a kids: ‘Would you like to play video games or would you like to have a maths lesson?’ Of course, they’re going to go for the video games.”
Benedetti is involved with the Sistema Scotland music education and its Big Noise Orchestra.
She added: “Needing the child’s approval for what they do in school is just such an alien concept when you’re talking about maths, science, history or English.
“But, suddenly, when you bring music into the mix, it’s: ‘Oh no, we can’t show them anything that they don’t instantly love because that would be like forcing children into something that they don’t want to do.’
“It just bemuses me.”
Read more at Expose children to classical music whether they like it or not, says Nicola Benedetti – Telegraph.
May 28 in Music History
• 1608 ~ Claudio Monteverdi’s “Arianna,” premiered Mantua
• 1650 ~ Gilles Hayne, Composer, died at the age of 59
• 1765 ~ Jean Baptiste Cartier, Composer
• 1777 ~ Joseph-Henri-Ignace Mees, Composer
• 1778 ~ Friedrich Westenholz, Composer
• 1780 ~ Joseph Frohlich, Composer
• 1787 ~ (Johann Georg) Leopold Mozart, Austrian Composer, Wolfgang’s father, died at the age of 67, in Salzburg.
• 1791 ~ Joseph Schmitt, Composer, died at the age of 57
• 1798 ~ Josef Dessauer, Composer
• 1805 ~ (Ridolfo) Luigi Boccherini, Italian composer and cellist, died at the age of 62
• 1830 ~ Karoly Filtsch, Composer
• 1833 ~ Johann Christian Friedrich Haeffner, Composer, died at the age of 74
• 1836 ~ Anton Reicha, Composer, died at the age of 66
• 1838 ~ Thomas Busby, Composer, died
• 1841 ~ Giovanni Sgambati, Composer
• 1844 ~ Leon Felix August Joseph Vasseur, Composer
• 1883 ~ George Dyson, Composer
• 1883 ~ August Freyer, Composer, died at the age of 79
• 1883 ~ Luigi Perrachio, Composer
• 1889 ~ Jose Padilla, Composer
• 1890 ~ Viktor Ernst Nessler, Composer, died at the age of 49
• 1892 ~ Comedienne Marie Dressler made her New York City singing debut in the comic opera, “The Robber of the Rhine”.
• 1896 ~ Marius Monnikendam, Dutch choir composer
• 1898 ~ Andy Kirk, Jazz musician
• 1906 ~ Phil Regan, Singer, My Wild Irish Rose
• 1906 ~ Shields/Cobbs musical “His honor, the Mayor,” premiered in New York City
• 1910 ~ T-Bone Walker, Legendary blues guitarist
• 1914 ~ Adolf Gustaw Sonnenfeld, Composer, died at the age of 76
• 1915 ~ Wolfgang Schneiderhan, Violinist
More information about Schneiderhan
• 1923 ~ György Ligeti, Hungarian-born Austrian composer
More information about Ligeti
• 1922 ~ Carl Tieke, Composer, died at the age of 58
• 1922 ~ Otto Krueger conducted the Detroit News Orchestra, the first known radio orchestra, which was heard on WWJ Radio in Detroit, MI. The “Detroit News” owned the radio station at the time.
• 1925 ~ Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, German baritone. Known for his performance of opera, notably Mozart, Strauss and Wagner, he is also famed for his interpretation of German lieder.
• 1927 ~ Bernhard Lewkovitch, Composer
• 1930 ~ Julian Penkivil Slade, Composer
• 1931 ~ Peter Talbot Westergaard, Composer
• 1932 ~ Henning Christiansen, Composer
• 1934 ~ Julian Slade, Composer
• 1934 ~ Rob du Bois, Composer
• 1936 ~ Maki Ishii, Composer
• 1940 ~ Hans Dulfer, Tenor saxophonist and director of Paradiso
• 1940 ~ Theodor Streicher, Composer, died at the age of 65
• 1940 ~ Irving Berlin’s musical “Louisiana Purchase,” premiered in New York City
• 1941 ~ Frank Sinatra joined Tommy Dorsey’s orchestra in recording “This Love of Mine” for Victor Records.
• 1943 ~ Dennis Riley, Composer
• 1944 ~ Gladys Knight, American rhythm-and-blues singer
• 1945 ~ John Fogerty, Songwriter, singer with Creedence Clearwater
• 1945 ~ Gary Stewart, Country singer
• 1954 ~ Achille Longo, Composer, died at the age of 54
• 1957 ~ The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) was established. This is the organization that brings us the Grammy Awards for all forms of musical entertainment each year.
• 1958 ~ Mikulas Schneider-Trvavsky, Composer, died at the age of 77
• 1959 ~ Johnson and Bart’s musical “Lock up your daughters,” premiered in London
• 1963 ~ Vissarion Yakovlevich Shebalin, Composer, died at the age of 60
• 1964 ~ John Finley Williamson, conductor of the Westminster Choir, died at the age of 76
• 1964 ~ Dmitri Shostakovitch completed his Ninth String quartet
• 1966 ~ Percy Sledge hit number one with his first, and what turned out to be his biggest, hit. When a Man Loves a Woman would stay at the top of the pop music charts for two weeks. It was the singer’s only hit to make the top ten and was a million seller.
• 1966 ~ Dmitri Shostakovitch’s Eleventh String quartet, premiered in Leningrad
• 1967 ~ Dmitri Shostakovitch completed his Second Violin Concerto
• 1973 ~ Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt, German composer and conductor, died at the age of 73
• 1975 ~ The Doobie Brothers went gold with the album, “Stampede”. The group, formed in San Jose, CA, recorded 16 charted hits. Two made it to number one, becoming million-selling, gold record winners: Black Water in March, 1975 and What aFool Believes in April, 1979.
• 1977 ~ Jiri Reinberger, Composer, died at the age of 63
• 1981 ~ Mary Lou Williams, Musician, died at the age of 71
May 27 in Music History
• 1638 ~ Nicolas Forme, Composer, died at the age of 71
• 1652 ~ Jacques Huyn, Composer, died at the age of 39
• 1690 ~ Giovanni Legrenzi, Italian Composer, died at the age of 63
• 1708 ~ Jacques Danican Philidor, Composer, died at the age of 51
• 1738 ~ Bonaventura Furlanetto, Composer
• 1796 ~ James S McLean patents his piano
• 1799 ~ Jacques-François-Fromental-Elie Halévy, French composer whose five-act grand opera La Juive (1835) was, with Giacomo Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots, the prototype of early French grand opera.
• 1806 ~ Charles-Joseph Tolbecque, Composer
• 1819 ~ Julia Ward Howe, Battle Hymn of the Republic
Read about Julia Ward Howe
Read about the Battle Hymn of the Republic
More information about Howe
• 1822 ~ Joseph Joachim Raff, German composer and teacher, greatly celebrated in his lifetime but nearly forgotten in the late 20th century.
• 1822 ~ Henry Wylde, Composer
• 1840 ~ Niccolò Paganini Composer and violinist died at the age of 57. He wrote six concertos for violin.
Read quotes by and about Paganini
More information about Paganini
• 1849 ~ “Blind” Tom Bethune, Pianist and composer
• 1878 ~ Isadora Duncan, Dancer
• 1878 ~ Carlo Marsili, Composer, died at the age of 49
• 1884 ~ Bax Brod, Composer
• 1888 ~ Louis Durey, Composer
• 1891 ~ Claude Adonai Champagne, Composer
• 1900 ~ Leopold Godowsky, Jr., American musician and photographic technician primarily known as a codeveloper of Kodachrome film (1935).
• 1902 ~ Celius Dougherty, Composer
• 1906 ~ First outlining of Gustav Mahler’s 6th symphony
• 1907 ~ Felix de Nobel, Dutch orchestra leader
• 1908 ~ Harold Rome, Composer
• 1909 ~ Isador Goodman, Composer
• 1914 ~ Hugh Le Caine, Composer
• 1915 ~ Mario del Monaco, Italian opera singer famed for Verdi and Puccini
• 1928 ~ Thea Musgrave, Scottish composer, best known for her concertos operas and choral and other vocal works.
• 1929 ~ Donald Howard Keats, Composer
• 1930 ~ Eino Tamberg, Composer
• 1931 ~ Veroslav Neumann, Composer
• 1932 ~ Jeffrey Bernard, Singer
• 1935 ~ Ramsey Lewis, American jazz pianist, composer and bandleader
• 1935 ~ Elias Gistelinck, Flemish Composer
• 1939 ~ Don Williams, Country singer
• 1940 ~ Rene Koering, Composer
• 1942 ~ Priscilla Anne McLean, Composer
• 1947 ~ Liana Alexandra, Composer
• 1950 ~ Frank Sinatra made his TV debut as he appeared on NBC’s “Star-Spangled Review” with show biz legend, Bob Hope.
• 1957 ~ Siouxsie Sioux (Susan Dallion), Singer with Siouxsie and the Banshees
• 1957 ~ That’ll be the Day, by The Crickets and featuring Buddy Holly, was released by Brunswick Records. On September 14th, the tune became the most popular record in the U.S. It was the first hit for Holly and his group after two previous releases went nowhere on Decca Records in 1956.
• 1961 ~ Singer Johnny Cash turned TV actor. He appeared on the NBC drama, “The Deputy”.
• 1972 ~ “Applause” closed at the Palace Theater in New York City after 900 performances
• 1975 ~ Paul McCartney released Venus & Mars
• 1983 ~ Arnoldus Christian Vlok van Wyk, Composer, died at the age of 67
• 1988 ~ Melvin J “Cy” Oliver, American jazz composer and orchestra leader died at the age of 77
• 1994 ~ Red Rodney, Bebop-trumpeter died at the age of 66
• 1995 ~ C W Stubblefield, Music Promoter died at the age of 64
• 1995 ~ Ulysses Simpson Kay, Composer, died at the age of 78
• 1996 ~ Albert “Pud” Brown, Clarinetist and saxophonist died at the age of 79
• 1996 ~ Ivan Sutton, Concert Promoter died at the age of 82
May 26 in Music History
• 1591 ~ Dirk Janszoon Sweelinck, Composer
• 1773 ~ Hans Georg Nageli, Composer
• 1782 ~ Joseph Drechsler, Composer
• 1832 ~ François-Louis Perne, Composer, died at the age of 59
• 1846 ~ Arthur Coquard, Composer
• 1853 ~ Monroe A Althouse, Composer
• 1856 ~ George Templeton Strong, Composer
• 1866 ~ Al Jolson, The first performer to sing in a sound movie ( The Jazz Singer)
• 1871 ~ Aime Maillart, Composer, died at the age of 54
• 1873 ~ August Conradi, Composer, died at the age of 51
• 1880 ~ John Curwen, Composer, died at the age of 63
• 1891 ~ Frederick Bowen Jewson, Composer, died at the age of 67.
• 1898 ~ Ernst Bacon, Composer
• 1898 ~ Gerard Bertouille, Composer
• 1905 ~ Hans Holewa, Composer
• 1912 ~ Jan Blockx, Belgian opera composer, died at the age of 61
• 1920 ~ Peggy Lee, American singer of popular music
More about Peggy Lee
• 1924 ~ Johann Heinrich Beck, Composer, died at the age of 67
• 1926 ~ Maria de Lourdes Martins, Composer
• 1933 ~ Jimmie (James Charles) Rodgers passed away
• 1937 ~ Yehuda Yannay, Composer
• 1937 ~ Lionel Hampton and his band recorded the classic, Flying Home, for Decca Records.
• 1938 ~ William Bolcom, American pianist, composer and writer
More information about Bolcom
• 1941 ~ Imants Kalnins, Composer
• 1942 ~ Lenny Kravitz, Musician
• 1942 ~ Ray Ennis, Musician, guitar, singer with The Swinging Blue Jeans
• 1943 ~ Levon Helm, Drummer
• 1944 ~ Verden Allen, Keyboards
• 1948 ~ Stevie Nicks, Singer and songwriter
• 1949 ~ Hank Williams, Jr, Singer
• 1949 ~ Teresa Stratas, Canadian soprano
• 1950 ~ Antonina Neshdanova, Russian soprano (Bolshoi Theater), died
• 1954 ~ Liberace presented a three-hour, one-man concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City. 13,000 women and 3,000 men attended. The performance nearly broke the box office mark of 18,000 set by pianist Ignace Jan Paderewski.
• 1967 ~ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”, by The Beatles, was released. It took the Fab Four only 12 hours to record their first album, “Please, Please Me”. It took them 700 hours to complete “Sgt. Pepper’s”.
• 1973 ~ Tippett’s 3rd Piano sonata, premiered
• 1993 ~ Cor de Great, Pianist, conductor and composer, died at the age of 78
• 1994 ~ Michael Jackson (35) and Elvis and Pricilla Presley’s daughter Lisa Marie (26)
• 1995 ~ Ron Weatherburn, Jazz pianist, died at the age of 61
• 1996 ~ Matima Kinuani Mpiosso, Musician, died at the age of 45
• 2002 ~ Oscar Florentino Tellez, one of San Antonio’s best known bajo sexto players who was a regular with the Grammy-winning Texas Tornados, died in a one-vehicle traffic accident near Cotulla. He was 56. Tellez, a native of Laredo, taught himself to play music as a small boy. By his teens, he had learned to play the bass, drums, accordion, the keyboard and the bajo sexto, a Mexican bass guitar that resembles a 12-string guitar. In Europe, Tellez was affectionately called the ‘Frito Bandito.’
• 2003 ~ Almir Chediak, a music producer who dedicated his life to preserving the memory of Brazilian popular music, was shot to death. He was 52. Chediak was best known for transcribing the music of Brazil’s top musicians such as Caetano Veloso and Antonio Carlos Jobim and publishing them in the form of song books. He was also a music professor who taught some of Brazil’s top stars, including Gal Costa, Tim Maia, Cazuza and Morares Moreira, and in recent years he had gone on teach a new generation of Brazilian musicians. He also wrote two music text books that took harmonic theory out of the conservatory and made it more accessible for popular musicians. His publishing company, Lumiar, also produced CDs of important Brazilian musicians.
May 25 in Music History
• 1688 ~ Christian August Jacobi, Composer
• 1726 ~ Giuseppi Paolucci, Composer
• 1765 ~ Pierre-Joseph Le Blan, Composer, died at the age of 53
• 1767 ~ Ferdinand Franzl, Composer
• 1767 ~ Friedrich Johann Eck, Composer
• 1821 ~ Diederich Krug, Composer
• 1826 ~ Christian Friedrich Ruppe, Composer, died at the age of 72
• 1847 ~ Alphonse Goovaerts, Composer
• 1878 ~ Bill “Bojangles” (Luther) Robinson, Vaudeville dancer, tap-dancing coach for Sammy Davis, Jr. and Shirley Temple
More information about Robinson
• 1878 ~ Gilbert and Sullivan’s opera “HMS Pinafore” premiered in London
• 1887 ~ Gas lamp at Paris Opera caught fire, 200 died
• 1889 ~ Hans Joachim Moser, German musicologist
• 1889 ~ Gilardo Gilardi, Composer
• 1889 ~ Sverre Jordan, Composer
• 1898 ~ Mischa Levitzki, Composer
• 1901 ~ Milenko Zivkovic, Composer
• 1902 ~ Helvi Lemmikke Leiviska, Composer
• 1904 ~ Kurt George Hugo Thomas, Composer
• 1912 ~ Eddie Maxwell, Singer
• 1914 ~ Paolo Giorza, Composer, died at the age of 81
• 1915 ~ Ginny Simms, Singer with Kay Kyser Band
• 1917 ~ Jimmy Hamilton, Saxophonist
• 1917 ~ Leon Felix Augustin Joseph Vasseur, Composer, died at the age of 72
• 1919 ~ Gino Negri, Composer
• 1921 ~ Hal David, Oscar-winning songwriter with Burt Bacharach
• 1924 ~ Theodore Morse, Composer, died at the age of 51
• 1925 ~ Aldo Clementi, Composer
• 1926 ~ Miles Davis III, American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He combined be-bop, modal chord progressions and rock rhythms to create ‘cool jazz’. He was one of the major influences on the art from the late 1940s. Read quotes by and about Davis
• 1926 ~ Kitty Kallen, Singer
• 1928 ~ Frigyes Hidas, Composer
• 1929 ~ Beverly Sills, American soprano and opera administrator, chairperson of Lincoln Center; National Chair of March of Dimes’ Mothers’ March on Birth Defects
• 1934 ~ Gustav Theodore Holst, English Composer, died at the age of 59
More information about Holst
• 1936 ~ Tom T. Hall, Singer
• 1936 ~ Jan Levoslav Bella, Composer, died at the age of 92
• 1943 ~ Leslie Uggams, Singer
• 1943 ~ John ‘Poli’ Palmer, Musician, sax, flute, keyboard with Family
• 1946 ~ Patty Smith Hill, Songwriter (“Happy Birthday To You”) died at the age of 78
• 1947 ~ Jessi Colter (Mirian Johnson), Country singer
• 1947 ~ Mitch Margo, Singer with Cross Country and also The Tokens
• 1964 ~ Vasily Andreyevich Zolotaryov, Composer, died at the age of 92
• 1965 ~ Sonny Boy Williamson (Aleck Miller), Blues player, died at the age of 65
• 1971 ~ Mark Brunswick, Composer, died at the age of 69
• 1981 ~ Rosa Ponselle, US singer at the Metropolitan Opera, died at the age of 84
• 1984 ~ Piet Ketting, Dutch pianist, conductor and Composer, died at the age of 79
• 1986 ~ 30 million people worldwide joined in pop singer Bob Geldof’s “Race Against Time” to raise money for the starving in Africa.
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