Tag Archives: conductor

July 24 ~ in Music History

Posted by MaryO on

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OCMS1803 ~ Adolphe Adam, Opera Composer, composer of Oh, Holy Night
More information about Adam

• 1849 ~ Georgetown University in Washington, DC, became the first college to offer a doctor of music degree. It was presented to Professor Henry Dielman.

• 1880 ~ Ernest Bloch, Swiss-born American composer, and conductor
More information about Bloch

• 1908 ~ Cootie (Charles) Williams, Trumpeter with Echoes of Harlem born. He performed with Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman; band leader for Cootie Williams Sextet and Orchestra

• 1915 ~ Bob Eberly (Robert Eberle), Singer born. He performed with Kitty Kallen, sang with the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra & on TV’s Top Tunes; brother of singer Ray Eberle

• 1921 ~ Billy Taylor, Jazz Piano. He was also the leader of the Billy Taylor Trio, Orchestra; co-founder of Jazzmobile ’65; the music director of The David Frost Show; and performed jazz segments on Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt

• 1934 ~ Rudy Collins, Drummer with Dizzy Gillespie Quintet

• 1938 ~ Clarinet virtuoso and big band leader Artie Shaw recorded his now-classic, Begin the Beguine, for Bluebird Records in New York City. Shaw was married to Ava Gardner at the time.

• 1941 ~ Barbara Jean Love, Singer with Friends of Distinction

• 1942 ~ Heinz Burt, Musician, bass with The Tornados

• 1947 ~ Mick Fleetwood, British rock drummer

• 1947 ~ Peter Serkin, American pianist

• 1951 ~ Lynval Golding, Musician, guitarist with The Specials

• 1956 – After a decade together as the country’s most popular comedy team, Dean Martin, and Jerry Lewis called it quits this night. They did their last show at the Copacabana nightclub in New York City. The duo ended their relationship exactly 10 years after they had started it.

• 1958 ~ Pam Tillis, Country Singer

• 2000 ~ Violinist Oscar Shumsky, a brilliant performer who trained generations of successful younger artists, died at the age of 83 from heart disease. Shumsky displayed his musical talent at an early age, first picking up a violin when he was 3 years old. His father, an amateur player who recognized his son’s brilliance, took him to the Curtis Institute of Music, where he was accepted as a student by violinist Leopold Auer and was later taught by Efrem Zimbalist. At the age of 9, Shumsky performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and after graduating from Curtis in 1936, he began playing around the world to widespread critical acclaim. He later branched into conducting. Shumsky was featured at Lincoln Center’s “Great Performer Series.” He trained generations of violinists at some of the nation’s most prestigious music schools, including the Curtis Institute, the Peabody Conservatory, Yale University and, for 25 years, at the Juilliard School.

• 2001 ~ Charles Henderson, editor of The American Organist, died at the age of 84. Henderson, who edited the journal for more than a decade, starting in 1973, conducted a production of Britten’s “Noye’s Fludde” broadcast nationally on CBS television in 1964. He was on the faculty of the Union Theological Seminary’s School of Sacred Music, and from 1976 to 1983 was the organist at the First Presbyterian Church in Milford, N.J. Born in West Chester, Pa., Henderson studied music at Bucknell University, the Juilliard School, Syracuse University and the Fontainebleau School in France.

• 2008 ~ Norman Dello Joio, American composer died

• 2016 ~ Marni Nixon, American singer (for Audrey Hepburn, Natalie Wood & Deborah Kerr), died at the age of 86. She is now well-known as the real singing voices of the leading actresses in films, including The King and I, West Side Story, and My Fair Lady, although this was concealed at the time from audiences.

July 23 ~ in Music History

Posted by MaryO on

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• 1757 ~ Domenico Scarlatti, Italian composer and harpsichordist, died. He composed over 500 keyboard sonatas, using new techniques and achieving brilliant effects.

• 1796 ~ Franz Adolf Berwald, Swedish composer and violinst

• 1916 ~ Ben Weber, American composer and winner of the Thorne Music Award in 1965

• 1925 ~ Gloria DeHaven, Singer

• 1928 ~ Leon Fleisher, American pianist and conductor

• 1934 ~ Steve Lacy (Lackritz), Jazz musician, soprano sax

• 1941 ~ Sonny Dunham and his orchestra recorded the tune that was to become Mr. Dunham’s theme song. Memories of You was Bluebird record #11239.

• 1940 ~ Gary Stites, Singer

• 1943 ~ Tony Joe White, Country Singer

• 1945 ~ Dino Danelli, Musician, drummer with The (Young) Rascals

• 1946 ~ Andy Mackay, Musician, saxophone, woodwinds with Roxy Music

• 1947 ~ David Essex (Cook), Rock Singer

• 1940 ~ (John Donald) Don Imus, Radio DJ & talk-show host

• 1950 ~ Blair Thornton, Musician, guitar with Bachman-Turner Overdrive

• 1961 ~ Martin Gore, Musician with DePeche Mode

• 1966 ~ Frank Sinatra hit the top of the pop album chart with his Strangers in the Night. It was the first #1 Sinatra LP since 1960. The album’s title song had made it to number one on the pop singles chart on July 2nd.

• 1969 ~ Three Dog Night received a gold record for the single, One. It was the first of seven million-sellers for the pop-rock group.

• 1985 ~ Kaye Kyser, Bandleader, passed away
More information about Kyser

• 2000 ~ Yoshimi Takeda, a former director of the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, died at the age of 67 of complications from cancer. He had been music director and resident conductor of the NMSO from 1974 to 1984, holding the post concurrently with that of the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra. Takeda made his debut with the Tokyo Symphony in 1958. He began his U.S. career in 1962 as a Kulas Fellow with the Cleveland Orchestra in a conductor advanced training program. He came to the NMSO in 1970 after six years as the Honolulu Symphony’s associate director.

• 2002 ~ Clark Gesner, who created the musical “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown,” died of a heart attack while visiting the Princeton Club in Manhattan. He was 64. Gesner’s well-known musical, based on Charles Schulz’s Peanuts comic strip, opened in March 1967 in a New York theater and went on to tour nationally. The 14-song show featured Gary Burghoff as Charlie Brown and Bob Balaban as Linus. It made a month-long leap to Broadway in the early 1970s, and was revived on Broadway in 1999. Gesner, who was born in Maine, attended Princeton and was active in the Triangle Club, the university’s theater troupe.

July 21 ~ in Music History

Posted by MaryO on

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• 1748 ~ Louis-Henry Paisible, Composer

• 1779 ~ Gottlob Wiedebein, Composer

• 1782 ~ Placidus Cajetan von Camerloher, Composer, died at the age of 63

• 1797 ~ Franz Schoberlechner, Composer

• 1865 ~ Robert Kahn, Composer

• 1870 ~ Josef Strauss, Austrian composer, died at the age of 42

• 1896 ~ Jean Rivier-Villemomble France, Composer

• 1898 ~ Ernest Willem Mulder, Composer

• 1898 ~ Sara Carter, Vocalist/guitarist with the Carter Family

• 1903 ~ Theodore Karyotakis, Composer

• 1906 ~ Daniel Ayala Perez, Composer

• 1915 ~ Floyd McDaniel ~ blues singer/guitarist

• 1920 ~ Isaac Stern, American concert violinist
Read quotes by and about Stern
More information about Stern

• 1920 ~ Manuel Valls Gorina, Composer

• 1921 ~ Billy Taylor, Orchestra leader on the David Frost Show

• 1922 ~ Kay Starr (Katherine Starks), Pop Singer

• 1925 ~ Lovro Zupanovic, Composer

• 1926 ~ Albert Fuller, American harpsichordist

• 1926 ~ Norman Jewison, Director of Jesus Christ, Superstar, Fiddler on the Roof

• 1927 ~ Stefan Niculescu, Composer

• 1931 ~ Leon Schidlowsky, Composer

• 1931 ~ Ted Husing was master of ceremonies for the very first CBS-TV program. The gala show featured singer Kate Smith, composer George Gershwin and New York City Mayor Jimmy Walker.

• 1935 ~ Kaye Stevens, Singer and comedienne on the Jerry Lewis Show

• 1938 ~ Anton Emil Kuerti, Composer

• 1938 ~ Paul Hindemith and Leonide Massines ballet premiered in London

• 1947 ~ Cat Stevens (Steven Demitri Georgiou) (Muslim name: Yusuf Islam), British folk-rock singer and songwriter

• 1948 ~ Donald Nichols Tweedy, Composer, died at the age of 58

• 1950 ~ Albert Riemenschneider, Composer, died at the age of 71

• 1958 ~ The last of Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts programs aired on CBS-TV. Many artists got their start on Talent Scouts, including Tony Bennett, Pat Boone, The McGuire Sisters and a singer named Connie Francis, who not only sang but played the accordion, as well.

• 1962 ~ Dmitri Shostakovitch completed his 13th Symphony

• 1964 ~ Dmitri Shostakovitch completed his 10th String quartet

• 1969 ~ Just one day after Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon, Duke Ellington and a portion of his band performed a 10-minute composition on ABC-TV titled Moon Maiden. The work featured piano, drums, bass and vocals.

• 1973 ~ Bad, Bad Leroy Brown reached the top spot on the Billboard pop singles chart, becoming Jim Croce’s first big hit. Croce died in a plane crash two months later (September 20, 1973).

• 1976 ~ “Guys & Dolls” opened at Broadway Theater New York City for 239 performances

• 1994 ~ Dorothy Collins, Singer on Your Hit Parade, died at the age of 67

• 1995 ~ Edwin “Russell” House, Saxophonist, died at the age of 65

• 2000 ~ Iain Hamilton, the Scottish composer who turned Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina” into an opera at the age of 78. Hamilton wrote four symphonies and dozens of orchestral and chamber works but is known best for his vocal music, which includes a cantata based on the poems of Robert Burns. “Anna Karenina” premiered at the English National Opera in 1981 to critical acclaim. His other operas include “Agamemnon”, “The Catiline Conspiracy”, based on a Ben Jonson play, and an adaptation of Peter Shaffer’s play “The Royal Hunt of the Sun”. From 1961 to 1978 he was a professor of music at Duke University in North Carolina.

• 2000 ~ Barbra Streisand announced final concerts

• 2001 ~ Norman Hall Wright, the last surviving writer who worked on the Disney film Fantasia 2000, died at the age of 91. Wright studied at the University of Southern California before being hired by Walt Disney Productions. He started as an animator but later became a writer, producer and director. Wright developed the story of The Nutcracker Suite sequence for Fantasia 2000. He also was responsible for a sequence in Bambi. He wrote several cartoon shorts for Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy and also produced several Wonderful World of Disney television programs.

• 2002 ~ Gus Dudgeon, a respected music producer who worked on many of Elton John’s hit recordings, died in a car crash in western England. He was 59. Dudgeon produced Rocket Man, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Your Song, Daniel and Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me. Dudgeon also produced David Bowie’s Space Oddity and worked with other stars, including Chris Rea and Joan Armatrading. But it was his partnership with Sir Elton in the 1970s for which he will be best remembered. Dudgeon began his career in the early 1960s as a tea boy, running errands at Olympic Studios in London before joining Decca Records. He engineered the Zombies’ classic She’s Not There and the groundbreaking Blues Breakers album by John Mayall with Eric Clapton, before moving into producing.

• 2015 ~ Theodore Meir Bikel,  Austrian-American actor, folk singer, musician, composer, and activist, died at the age of 91.

July 19 ~ in Music History

Posted by MaryO on

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• 1592 ~ Erhard Buttner, Composer

• 1735 ~ Garret Wesley Mornington, Composer

• 1742 ~ Jean-Baptiste Davaux, Composer

• 1750 ~ Alessio Prati, Composer

• 1782 ~ Jonathan Blewitt, Composer

• 1789 ~ John Martin, English painter

• 1797 ~ Johann Gottlieb Schneider, Composer

• 1811 ~ Vincenz Lachner, German organist, conductor and composer

• 1906 ~ Klauss Egge, Norwegian composer

• 1913 ~ Charles Teagarden, trumpeter, bandleader, brother of Jack

• 1926 ~ Sue Thompson (Eva McKee), singer of Norman and Sad Movies (Make Me Cry)

• 1937 ~ George Hamilton IV, Singer

• 1939 ~ Jack Teagarden and his orchestra recorded Aunt Hagar’s Blues for Columbia Records. Teagarden provided the vocal on the session recorded in Chicago, IL.

• 1941 ~ Natalya Besamertnova, Ballet Dancer with the Bolshoi ballet

• 1942 ~ The Seventh Symphony, by Dmitri Shostakovitch, was performed for the first time in the United States by Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony Orchestra.

• 1942 ~ Vikki Carr (Florencia Bisenta deCasilla Martinez Cardona), Pop Singer

• 1946 ~ Alan Gorrie, Rock Singer with the Average White Band

• 1947 ~ Bernie Leadon, Musician, guitar with The Eagles

• 1947 ~ Brian Harold May, Musician, guitarist, singer and songwriter with Queen, who had the 1975 UK No.1 single Bohemian Rhapsody, which returned to No.1 in 1991. Queen scored over 40 other UK Top 40 singles, and also scored the 1980 US No.1 single Crazy Little Thing Called Love. May had the solo 1992 UK No.5 single Too Much Love Will Kill You. May was made Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2005 for ‘services to the music industry and his charity work’. May earned a PhD in astrophysics from Imperial College, London, in 2007.

• 1949 ~ Singer Harry Belafonte began recording for Capitol Records on this day. The first sessions included They Didn’t Believe Me and Close Your Eyes. A short time later, Capitol said Belafonte wasn’t “commercial enough,” so he signed with RCA Victor (for a very productive and commercial career).

• 1952 ~ Allen Collins, Musician, guitar with Lynyrd Skynyrd

• 1952 ~ “Paint Your Wagon” closed at Shubert Theater New York City after 289 performances

• 1966 ~ Frank Sinatra married actress Mia Farrow this day.

• 1963 ~ Kelly Shiver, Country Singer

• 1980 ~ Billy Joel, pianist, singer-songwriter, and composer, earned his first gold record with It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me, which reached the top of the Billboard pop music chart. He would score additional million-sellers with Just the Way You Are, My Life, Uptown Girl (for girlfriend and later, wife and supermodel Christie Brinkley) and We Didn’t Start the Fire. Joel reached the top only one other time, with Tell Her About It in 1983.

• 2000 ~ H. LeBaron Taylor, a Sony executive who pioneered the mass marketing of music rooted in black culture and fostered minority development in the corporate world, died at the age of 65 of a heart attack. He was recognized by Ebony magazine as one of the top 50 black executives in corporate America. In the 1970s, Taylor was at CBS Records, leading its Black Music Marketing department, which sold music originating in black culture and styles that sprang from it, such as blues, soul, rap and hip-hop.

July 9 in Music History

Posted by MaryO on

today

 

Be sure your student reads and listens to Today’s Daily Listening Assignment

• 1607 ~ God Save the King was first sung

• 1656 ~ Michelangelo Rossi, Italian opera Composer, buried. He was about 55

• 1713 ~ First performance of George Frederic Handel’s “To Deum” & “Jubilate”
More information about Handel

• 1747 ~ Giovanni Battista Bononcini, Italian opera composer, died at the age of 76

• 1755 ~ Gottlob Harrer, Composer, died at the age of 52

• 1774 ~ Giuseppi Maria Carretti, Composer, died at the age of 83

• 1791 ~ Nicolas Ledesma, Composer

• 1794 ~ Pascal Boyer, Composer, died at the age of 51

• 1805 ~ Henry John Gauntlett, Composer

• 1821 ~ Tommaso Sogner, Composer, died at the age of 58

• 1826 ~ Friedrich Ludwig Dulon, Flautist and composer, died at the age of 56

• 1839 ~ Carl Baermann, Composer

• 1841 ~ Carl Christian Lumbye, Composer

• 1855 ~ Johann P Zilcher, German composer

• 1879 ~ Ottorino Respighi, Italian composer, viola-player, pianist and conductor. Respighi’s Pines of Rome is featured in Fantasia 2000.
More information about Respighi

• 1882 ~ Richard Hageman, Dutch and American pianist, composer and conductor

• 1883 ~ Adrien Louis Victor Boieldieu, Composer, died at the age of 67

• 1898 ~ Marcel Delannoy, Composer

• 1900 ~ Robert Oboussier, Composer

• 1910 ~ Harold C Fox, Fashion designer and musician

• 1915 ~ David Diamond, American composer, winner of the Paderewski Prize in 1943

• 1916 ~ Joe Liggins, American Composer

• 1918 ~ Herbert Brun, Composer

• 1924 ~ Leonard Pennario, Concert pianist and composer

• 1924 ~ Pierre Cochereau, Composer

• 1925 ~ Alan Dale, American singer

• 1927 ~ Ed Ames, Singer with The Ames Brothers

• 1927 ~ Jim McReynolds, Folk singer with his brother Jesse

• 1929 ~ Lee Hazlewood, Songwriter of The Fool, These Boots are Made for Walkin’; singer with Nancy Sinatra

• 1930 ~ Buddy Bregman, American orchestra leader of the Eddie Fisher Show

• 1933 ~ Nodar Kalistratovich Gabuniya, Composer

• 1934 ~ Otakar Zich, Composer, died at the age of 55

• 1935 ~ Mercedes Sosa, Argentinian singer

• 1936 ~ David Joel Zinman, American composer and conductor

• 1946 ~ Bon (Ronald) Scott, Singer with AC/DC

• 1947 ~ Jerney Kaagman, Dutch singer

• 1949 ~ Fritz Bennicke Hart, Composer, died at the age of 75

• 1949 ~ Benjamin Britten’s Jump Symphony premiered

• 1949 ~ “Cabatgata (A Night Spain)” opened at Broadway New York City for 76 performances

• 1951 ~ Jorgen Bentzon, Composer, died at the age of 54

• 1952 ~ John Tesh, Emmy Award-winning composer and pianist

• 1954 ~ Debbie Sledge, Rhythm and Blues Singer with Sister Sledge

• 1955 ~ Bill Haley & Comets’ Rock Around the Clock hit #1 on Top 100 chart

• 1956 ~ Douglas Moore and John Latouche opera “Ballad of Baby Doe” premiered

• 1956 ~ Dick Clark’s first appearance as host of American Bandstand

• 1957 ~ Alexander Fyodorovich Gedike, Composer, died at the age of 80

• 1959 ~ Marc (Peter) Almond, Singer

• 1959 ~ Jim Kerr, Singer with Simple Minds

• 1960 ~ Edward Burlingame Hill, Composer, died at the age of 86

• 1964 ~ Courtney Love, Rock Singer

• 1965 ~ Frank Bello, Musician, bass with Anthrax

• 1965 ~ Otis Redding recorded Respect

• 1967 ~ The Beatles’ All You Need is Love was released

• 1967 ~ Doors’ Light My Fire hit #1

• 1968 ~ Rock group “Yardbirds” disbanded

• 1972 ~ Paul McCartney appeared on stage for the first time since 1966 as his group, Wings, opened at Chateauvillon in the south of France.

• 1977 ~ Undercover Angel, by songwriter (turned pop singer) Alan O’Day, reached the top spot on the Billboard chart. It was not the first visit to the top of the pop music world for O’Day, though the million-seller would be his last as a singer. He wrote Angie Baby, a number one hit for Helen Reddy and the #3 hit, Rock And Roll Heaven, for The Righteous Brothers.

• 1978 ~ Aladar Zoltan, Composer, died at the age of 49

• 1978 ~ “Hello, Dolly!” closed at Lunt-Fontanne Theater New York City after 152 performances

• 1981 ~ Oscar van Hemel, Composer, died at the age of 88

• 1984 ~ Randall Thompson, American composer, died at the age of 85

• 1986 ~ A new Broadway showplace opened. It was the first new theater on Broadway in 13 years. The Marquis Theatre, located at the corner of 46th Street and Broadway, seated 1,600 theatergoers.

• 1994 ~ Cornelius Boyson, Bassist, died at the age of 57

• 1994 ~ William “Sabby” Lewis, Jazz Pianist and Arranger, died at the age of 79

• 1994 ~ “Les Miserables” opened at Imperial Theatre, Tokyo

July 8 in Music History

Posted by MaryO on

today

 

Be sure your student reads and listens to Today’s Daily Listening Assignment

 

• 1574 ~ Giovanni Battista Stefanini, Composer

• 1637 ~ Johann Georg Ebeling, Composer

• 1638 ~ Matteo Coferati, Composer

• 1681 ~ Georg Neumark, Composer, died at the age of 60

• 1757 ~ Richard Wainwright, Composer

• 1819 ~ Vatroslav Lisinski, Composer

• 1857 ~ Rudolf Dellinger, Composer

• 1871 ~ Clement Harris, Composer

• 1878 ~ Harry Von Tilzer, Composer
More information about Von Tilzer

• 1876 ~ Josef Dessauer, Composer, died at the age of 78

• 1882 ~ Percy Aldridge Grainger, Australian-born American pianist and composer. He is famed for his use of folk-song melodies and is best remembered for his Country Gardens and Molly on the Shore.

 

 

• 1885 ~ Hendrick Waelput, Flemish Composer and conductor (Blessing of Arms), died at the age of 39

• 1894 ~ Vladimir Nikitich Kashperov, Composer, died

• 1900 ~ George Antheil, American composer

• 1904 ~ Bill Challis, Arranger and pianist

• 1907 ~ Kishio Hirao, Composer

• 1907 ~ Florenz Ziegfeld staged the first Ziegfeld Follies at the roof garden of the New York Theatre.

• 1908 ~ Louis (Thomas) Jordan, Musician, alto sax, singer

• 1912 ~ Jacques Stehman, Composer

• 1907 ~ Billy Eckstine (William Clarence Eckstein), Pop Singer, band leader, bass-baritone singer

• 1927 ~ Carlo Franci, Composer

• 1928 ~ Norma Donaldson, Singer and actress

• 1931 ~ Louis W. Ballard, American composer

• 1931 ~ Jerry Vale (Genaro Vitaliano), Pop Singer

• 1935 ~ Steve Lawrence (Sidney Leibowitz), Pop Singer, married to singer Eydie Gorme

• 1941 ~ Philippe Gaubert, Composer, died at the age of 62

• 1942 ~ Catherinus Elling, Composer, died at the age of 83

• 1946 ~ Aleksander V Aleksandrov, Russian composer and conductor, died at the age of 63

• 1948 ~ Raffi Cavoukian, Singer, songwriter: children’s songs

• 1949 ~ Riccadro Pick-Mangiagalli, Composer, died at the age of 66

• 1951 ~ Pleas Ned Sublette, Composer

• 1957 ~ Henry Fevrier, Composer, died at the age of 81

• 1958 ~ The first gold record album presented by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) was awarded. It went to the soundtrack LP, Oklahoma!. The honor signified that the album had reached one million dollars in sales. The first gold single issued by the RIAA was Catch a Falling Star, by Perry Como, in March of 1958. A gold single also represents sales of one million records.

• 1961 ~ Andy Fletcher, Musician with Depeche Mode

• 1961 ~ Graham Jones, Musician, guitarist with Haircut 100

• 1961 ~ Julian Bautista, Composer, died at the age of 60

• 1969 ~ Gladys Swarthout, Opera singer and actress (Ambush), died at the age of 64

• 1994 ~ Dominic Lucero, Dancer and singer, died

• 1996 ~ James Woodie Alexander, Songwriter and vocalist, died at the age of 80

• 2002 ~ Lore Noto, producer of “The Fantasticks,” the world’s longest-running musical, died after a long battle with cancer. He was 79. It was Noto, a former actor and artists’ agent, who saw the possibilities in a small one-act musical written by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt when it was first produced in 1959 at Barnard College in New York. He commissioned the authors to expand the show, which eventually opened at the tiny Sullivan Street Playhouse in Greenwich Village on May 3, 1960. It ran for 17,162 performances, closing Jan. 13 after a more than 40-year run. The musical, with book and lyrics by Jones and music by Schmidt, told an affecting tale of first love. A girl and boy are secretly brought together by their fathers and an assortment of odd characters including a rakish narrator, an old actor, an Indian named Mortimer and a Mute. Over the years, scores of performers appeared in the New York production. Among the musical’s better-known alums are its original El Gallo, Jerry Orbach, and such soap-opera stars as Eileen Fulton and David Canary. F. Murray Abraham, long before his Academy Award for “Amadeus”, played the Old Actor in the ’60s. Early in the show’s run, Noto went on in the role of the boy’s father and played the part, off and on, for 17 years.

July 7 in Music History

Posted by MaryO on

today

 

Be sure your student reads and listens to Today’s Daily Listening Assignment

 

• 1860 ~ Gustav Mahler, Austrian composer and conductor
More information about Mahler
Grammy winner

• 1911 ~ Gian Carlo Menotti, Italian composer and conductor
More information about Menotti

• 1962 ~ Mary Ford (Iris Colleen Summers), Singer with Les Paul

• 1927 ~ Doc (Carl) Severinsen, Bandleader, trumpeter, The Tonight Show Band, The Doc Severinsen Band, played with Charlie Barnet and Tommy Dorsey Orchestras, owner of a trumpet factory

• 1927 ~ Charlie Louvin (Loudermilk), Country singer, joined Grand Ole Opry in 1955

• 1940 ~ Ringo Starr, British rock drummer and singer with The Beatles

• 1944 ~ Warren Entner, Musician, guitarist and singer with The Grass Roots

• 1950 ~ David Hodo, Singer with The Village People

• 1954 ~ Cherry Boone, Singer; daughter of singer Pat Boone, sister of singer Debby Boone

• 1962 ~ Mark White, Rock Musician

• 1962 ~ Orchestra leader David Rose reached the top spot on the popular music charts. The Stripper stayed at the pinnacle of musicdom for one week. Rose’s previous musical success on the charts was in 1944 with Holiday for Strings.

• 2001 ~ Folk singer Fred Neil, who had such hits as Everybody’s Talking, and Candyman, died at the age of 64. Neil started his music career in 1955 when he moved from St. Petersburg to Memphis, Tenn. He released his first single, You Ain’t Treatin’ Me Right/Don’t Put the Blame On Me, two years later. The singer became a cult favorite in New York City’s Greenwich Village folk scene after Roy Orbison released a blues recording of Neil’s Candyman in 1960. Neil released his first solo album, Bleecker & MacDougal, in 1965. After moving back to Florida, Neil took an interest in protecting dolphins. He frequently visited Kathy, the star of the television show Flipper, and wrote a song called The Dolphins, which was released on his 1967 album Fred Neil. In 1970, Neil co-founded the Dolphin Research Project to help curb the capture and exploitation of dolphins worldwide. His last big hit came in 1969 when the film Midnight Cowboy featured singer Harry Nilsson’s version of Neil’s Everybody’s Talking.

• 2002 ~ Dorle Jarmel Soria, a writer and co-founder of the music label Angel Records, died. She was 101. Soria and her husband, Dario Soria, together founded Angel Records, which distributed some of the labels of EMI, a British company. The label released some 500 recordings, including the work of singer Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, pianist Walter Gieseking and conductor Herbert von Karajan. The company was eventually sold by EMI, and the Sorias went on to help found Gian Carlo Menotti’s Festival of Two Worlds in Italy. Before founding Angel, Soria had a career in journalism and worked for Arthur Judson, who was a concert manager for the New York Philharmonic. Soria wrote regularly for several music magazines, and had a weekly column for the Carnegie Hall program in the 1960s. She also published a book about the history of the Metropolitan Opera.

July 6 in Music History

Posted by MaryO on

today

 

Be sure your student reads and listens to Today’s Daily Listening Assignment

 

 

• 1865 ~ Emile Jacques-Dalcroze, Composer

• 1906 ~ Elisabeth Lutyens, British composer

• 1915 ~ Laverne Andrews, Pop Singer
More information about The Andrews Sisters

• 1915 ~ Dorothy Kirsten, Opera Singer

• 1925 ~ Merv Griffin, Entertainer

• 1925 ~ Bill Haley, American rock-and-roll singer, songwriter and guitarist with Bill Haley and His Comets

• 1932 ~ Della Reese (Delloreese Patricia Early), Pop Singer

• 1937 ~ Vladimir Ashkenazy, Russian-born Icelandic pianist and conductor
More information about Ashkenazy
Grammy winner

• 1937 ~ Gene Chandler (Eugene Dixon), Singer

• 1937 ~ The big band classic, Sing, Sing, Sing was recorded by Benny Goodman and his band. Sitting in on this famous Victor Records session was Gene Krupa, Ziggy Elman and Harry James.

 

• 1945 ~ Rik Elswit, Musician, guitarist and singer with Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show

• 1954 ~ Nanci Griffith, Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter

• 1957 ~ John Lennon and Paul McCartney met for the first time at The Woolton Church Parish Fete where The Quarry Men were appearing. As The Quarry Men were setting up for their evening performance, McCartney eager to impress Lennon picked up a guitar and played ‘Twenty Flight Rock’ (Eddie Cochran) and ‘Be-Bop-A-Lula’ (Gene Vincent). Lennon was impressed, and even more so when McCartney showed Lennon and Eric Griffiths how to tune their guitars, something they’d been paying someone else to do for them.

• 1959 ~ Jon Keeble, Musician, drummer with Spandau Balle

• 1971 ~ Louis Armstrong, Jazz musician, died. His groups, the Hot Five and Hot Seven, from 1925 to 1927, had a revolutionary impact on jazz.

• 1971 ~ Karen and Richard Carpenter hosted the summer series, Make Your Own Kind of Music, on NBC-TV.

• 1973 ~ Otto Klemperer, German conductor particularly known for his interpretations of Beethoven, died.

• 1984 ~ Michael Jackson and his brothers started their Victory Tour in Kansas City, Missouri’s Arrowhead Stadium. The tour turned out to be a victory for the Jacksons when the nationwide concert tour concluded months later.

• 1998 ~ Roy Rogers, U.S. film actor known as “the singing cowboy”, died.

July 5 in Music History

Posted by MaryO on

today

 

Be sure your student reads and listens to Today’s Daily Listening Assignment

 

• 1546 ~ Johann Steuerlein, Composer

• 1654 ~ Antonio Maria Pacchioni, Composer

• 1764 ~ Janos Lavotta, Composer

• 1847 ~ Agnes Marie Jacobina Zimmermann, Composer

• 1852 ~ Stefano Gobatti, Composer

• 1874 ~ Gerhard von Keussler, Composer

• 1877 ~ Wanda Landowska, Harpsichordist

• 1878 ~ Joseph Holbrooke, English pianist, conductor and composer

• 1897 ~ Paul Ben-Haim, Israeli composer and student of Middle Eastern folk music

• 1918 ~ George Rochberg, American composer and music editor

• 1924 ~ Janos Starker, Hungarian-born Grammy Award-winning American cellist.

• 1934 ~ Love in Bloom, sung by Bing Crosby with Irving Aaronson’s orchestra, was recorded for Brunswick Records in Los Angeles. The song was fairly popular, but became a much bigger success when comedian Jack Benny made it a popular standard.

• 1944 ~ Robbie Robertson, Musician, composer, guitarist with The Band

• 1950 ~ Michael Monarch, Musician, guitarist with Steppenwolf

• 1951 ~ Huey Lewis (Cregg), Rock Singer

• 1954 ~ Elvis Presley recorded That’s All Right (Mama) and Blue Moon of Kentucky. It was his first session for Sam Phillips and Sun Records in Memphis, TN.

• 1965 ~ Maria Callas gave her last stage performance, singing Puccini’s opera “Tosca” at London’s Covent Garden.

• 1969 ~ The Rolling Stones gave a free concert in Hyde Park, London, in memory of Brian Jones, who had died two days before.

• 1973 ~ Bengt Lagerberg, Rock Musician

• 1992 ~ Astor Piazzolla, Argentinian composer, died
More information about Piazzolla

• 1983 ~ Placido Domingo’s performance of Puccini’s opera La Bohème had one and one-half hours of applause and 83 curtain calls at the State Opera house in Vienna, Austria.

• 2001 ~ Ernie K-Doe, a flamboyant rhythm and blues singer who had a No. 1 hit with Mother-In-Law in 1961, died Thursday. He was 65. K-Doe, born Ernest Kador Jr., was one of many New Orleans musicians, including Fats Domino, Aaron Neville and The Dixie Cups, who landed singles at or near the top of the national charts in the 1950s and ’60s. He had a handful of minor hits, such as T’aint it the Truth, Come on Home and Te-Ta-Te-Ta-Ta. But he was forever associated with his only No. 1 single. Mother-In-Law was produced by legendary New Orleans producer and songwriter Allen Toussaint, who also played piano for the recording. In 1995, K-Doe opened Ernie K-Doe’s Mother-In-Law Lounge near the French Quarter, where he performed on Sundays.

• 2003 ~ Johnny Cash made his last ever live performance when he appeared at the Carter Ranch. Before singing “Ring of Fire”, Cash read a statement about his late wife that he had written shortly before taking the stage: “The spirit of June Carter overshadows me tonight with the love she had for me and the love I have for her. We connect somewhere between here and heaven. She came down for a short visit, I guess, from heaven to visit with me tonight to give me courage and inspiration like she always has.” Cash died on Sept 12th of that same year.

July 3 in Music History

Posted by MaryO on

today

 

Be sure your student reads and listens to Today’s Daily Listening Assignment

 

• 1801 ~ Johann Nepomuk Went, Composer, died at the age of 56

• 1892 ~ Joseph Labitzky, Composer

• 1809 ~ Joseph Quesne, Composer, died at the age of 62

• 1814 ~ Janis Cimze, Composer

• 1819 ~ Louis Theodore Gouvy, Composer

• 1846 ~ Achilles Alferaki, Composer

• 1850 ~ Alfredo Kiel, Composer

• 1854 ~ Leos Janácek, Czech composer, conductor and collector of Moravian folk songs. He is best known for his operas including “Jenufa” and “The Cunning Little Vixen” as well as for his orchestral piece “Taras Bulba.”
More information about Janácek

• 1855 ~ Piotr Maszynski, Composer

• 1860 ~ William Wallace, Composer

• 1862 ~ Friedrich Ernst Koch, Composer

• 1871 ~ Vicente Arregui Garay, Composer

• 1873 ~ Josef Michal Ksawery Jan Poniatowski, Composer, died at the age of 57

• 1878 ~ George M. Cohan, American songwriter, vaudeville performer, playwright and producer
Listen to Cohan’s music
More information about Cohan

• 1879 ~ Philippe Gaubert, Composer

• 1880 ~ Carl Schuricht, Composer

• 1891 ~ Stefano Golinelli, Composer, died at the age of 72

• 1930 ~ Carlos Kleiber, German conductor

• 1930 ~ Pete Fountain, Jazz clarinetist

• 1940 ~ Fontella Bass, Singer

• 1941 ~ Cab Calloway and his orchestra recorded the standard, St. James Infirmary, for Okeh Records.

• 1945 ~ Johnny Lee, Country singer

• 1945 ~ Victor Borge was first heard on NBC radio. The network gave the comedian/pianist the summer replacement slot for Fibber McGee and Molly.
More information about Borge

• 1948 ~ Paul Barrere, Musician, guitarist with Little Feat

• 1952 ~ Daniel Zamudio, Composer, died at the age of 64

• 1952 ~ Laura Branigan, Singer

• 1953 ~ Harry Belafonte was shown with actress Janet Leigh and film star Tony Curtis on the cover of Ebony magazine. It was the first time a black person and two Caucasians were seen together on a U.S. magazine cover.

• 1954 ~ “Wonderful Town” closed at Winter Garden Theater New York City after 559 performances

• 1955 ~ Neil Clark, Musician, guitarist with Lloyd Cole & The Commotions

• 1957 ~ Richard Mohaupt, German Composer (Bucolica), died at the age of 52

• 1958 ~ “Andy Williams Show” premiered on ABC (later on CBS & NBC)

• 1960 ~ Alfred Henry Ackley, Composer, died at the age of 73

• 1961 ~ Vince Clarke, Songwriter, keyboards

• 1965 ~ Clarence Loomis, Composer, died at the age of 75

• 1966 ~ Andre Gailhard, Composer, died at the age of 81

• 1966 ~ Joseph Deems Taylor, Composer, died at the age of 80

• 1969 ~ Brian Jones, guitarist (Rolling Stones), drowns to death at 25

• 1969 ~ Hermann Grabner, Composer, died at the age of 83

• 1971 ~ Jim Morrison, rock singer (Doors), died of heart failure at 27.  He co-wrote some of the group’s biggest hits, including ‘Light My Fire’, ‘Love Me Two Times’, and ‘Love Her Madly.’ On the 25th anniversary of his death, an estimated 15,000 fans gathered at Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, France to pay their respects.

• 1971 ~ The Newport Jazz Festival’s reputation was tarnished as gate crashers stormed the stage. The unruly mob forced the show to leave Newport, Rhode Island and move to New York City. Oh, and the artist the crowd got unruly over? Not Bob Dylan, not Miles Davis, but Dionne Warwick’s! She was singing What the World Needs Now is Love at the time of the incident.

• 1972 ~ Mississippi Fred McDowell, jazz artist, died at the age of 68

• 1973 ~ Charles Ancerl, Czech conductor (Prague/Toronto), died at the age of 63

• 1973 ~ Clint Holmes received a gold record for his hit single, Playground in My Mind.

• 1976 ~ Brian Wilson rejoined The Beach Boys, who were appearing at Angels Stadium in Anaheim, CA (before 74,000 fans). Wilson had been out of the group’s road tour schedule for 12 years.

• 1977 ~ Hugh Le Caine, Composer, died at the age of 63

• 1986 ~ Rudy Vallee, singer (Vagabond Dreams), died at the age of 84

• 1986 ~ Mikhail Baryshnikov, considered by many to be the world’s greatest ballet dancer, became a U.S. citizen in ceremonies at Ellis Island, New York Harbor.

• 1991 ~ Irina Nijinska, Russian/US dancer, died at the age of 77

• 1995 ~ Brad Lee Sexton, bass guitarist, died at the age of 47

• 2000 ~ Harold Nicholas, American dancer known as one of the world’s greatest dancers (Nicholas Brothers), died of heart failure at the age of 79.  Children: don’t try this at home – never, ever dance on a piano!

• 2001 ~ Country guitar player Roy Nichols, who played in Merle Haggard’s band for 22 years and helped create the Bakersfield Sound, died after being hospitalized with kidney inflammation and a bacterial infection. He was 68. Nichols began recording with Haggard’s band The Strangers in 1963 and played with some of country music’s biggest names from the time he was 16 years old. “A lot of people may or may not know that he played for Johnny Cash on Tennessee Flat Top Box, the original version, and also on The Ballad of Ira Hayes,” Haggard told the Associated Press in a telephone interview. Haggard credits Nichols with jump-starting his own career and playing a key role in developing The Stranger’s distinctive sound.

• 2001 ~ Grand Ole Opry star Johnny Russell, whose song Act Naturally was recorded by Buck Owens and The Beatles, died of leukemia, diabetes and other ailments at the age of 61. Russell once said that it took him two years to get someone to record Act Naturally, co-written with Voni Morrison. When Owens recorded a version in 1963, it went to No. 1 on the country charts. Two years later, it was recorded by the Beatles, with Ringo Starr singing the vocal. In 1989, Starr and Owens recorded a duet of the song that was nominated for Grammy and Country Music Association awards. Russell’s own recording career took off in the 1970s. His biggest hit was the working class anthem Rednecks, White Socks and Blue Ribbon Beer, which went to No. 4 in 1973 and was nominated for a Grammy. Russell joined the cast of the Grand Ole Opry in 1985, and over the years became its regular closing act. A jolly, 275-pound man, he would joke to audiences in his opening line: “Can everybody see me all right?” Russell also wrote the No. 1 hit Let’s Fall to Pieces Together, recorded in 1984 by George Strait, and Making Plans, which was recorded by Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt on their Trio album in 1987.