December 6 ~ Today in Music History

today

 

Christmas Music, Part 6 – Just In Time For Christmas

• 1877 ~ Thomas Alva Edison made the first sound recording ever by reciting and recording the nursery rhyme, “Mary had a Little Lamb”. Edison recorded sound on a cylinder, which was then rotated against a needle. The needle moved up and down in the grooves of the cylinder, producing vibrations that were amplified by a conical horn. Edison assuumed that this would be useful only for office dictation purposes and not much for recording music.

• 1896 ~ Ira Gershwin (Israel Gershvin), American librettist and lyricist

OCMS 1920 ~ Dave Brubeck, American jazz pianist and composer
More information about Brubeck

• 1929 ~ Nikolaus Harnoncourt, German conductor, cellist and musicologist

• 1930 ~ Bobby Van (Bobby King Robert Stein), Actor, dancer

• 1939 ~ Steve Alaimo, Singer, actor

• 1941 ~ Helen Cornelius, Singer

• 1942 ~ Len Barry (Borrisoff), Singer, with The Dovells

• 1944 ~ Jonathan (Kenneth) King, Singer, songwriter, producer

• 1944 ~ Red Bank Boogie, Count Basie’s salute to his hometown, was recorded on Columbia Records. The tune is a tribute to Red Bank, New Jersey.

• 1948 ~ Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts debuted on CBS-TV. The show ran for almost

• 10 years and the redhead introduced such talent as Pat Boone, The Chordettes, Carmel Quinn, The McGuire Sisters, Rosemary Clooney, Tony Bennett, Connie Francis, Steve Lawrence and Al Martino.

• 1956 ~ Peter Buck, Guitarist with R.E.M.

• 1956 ~ Rick (Paul) Buckler, Drummer, singer with The Jam

• 1960 ~ Eileen Farrell debuted at the Metropolitan Opera House in NYC in the title role of Gluck’s Alcestis.

• 1962 ~ Ben Watt, Guitarist, keyboard, singer with Everything but the Girl

• 1969 ~ Musician Cab Calloway turned actor as he was seen in the Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation of The Littlest Angel on NBC. The big band singer, known for such classics as Minnie the Moocher, became a movie star in The Blues Brothers (1980) with John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd.

• 1969 ~ Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye, by Steam, reached the #1 spot on the top 40. It stayed at the top for two weeks and was the only major hit for the group.

• 1984 ~ Two former Beatles debuted in two film releases this day. Paul McCartney’s Give My Regards to Broad Street and George Harrison’s A Private Function were finalized for theatre audiences.

• 1988 ~ Roy Orbison, Singer, passed away

• 1989 ~ Sammy Fain passed away
More information about Fain

• 2000 ~ Werner Klemperer, a Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany who went on to play the inept German prison-camp commandant Col. Klink on TV’s “Hogan’s Heroes,” died of cancer at the age of 80. Klemperer fled Germany in 1935 with his father, Otto, a distinguished conductor and composer. He won two Emmy Awards for his portrayal of the monocled Col. Wilhelm Klink on the 1960s sitcom about World War II Allied prisoners of war. He was a gifted actor on both film and stage, receiving a Tony nomination in

• 1988 as a feature actor in a musical for his role in Hal Prince’s revival of “Cabaret.” Other Broadway roles included starring opposite Jose Ferrer in “The Insect Comedy,” and with Tallulah Bankhead in the 1955 production of “Dear Charles.” Most recently, he co-starred in Circle in the Square’s production of Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya.” Klemperer also appeared as a narrator with nearly every major symphony orchestra in the United States. His repertoire included such works as Beethoven’s “Egmont” and “Fidelio,” Stravinsky’s “L’Histoire du Soldat” and “Oedipus Rex.” His narration of Mozart’s “The Impresario,” with the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, aired on PBS’s “Live from Lincoln Center.” He also performed in various operas, including “The Sound of Music,” with the New York City Opera. He played Prince Orlofsky in “Die Fledermaus” with companies in Seattle and Cleveland.

• 2003 ~ Hans Hotter, the world’s leading Wagnerian bass-baritone of his time, died at the age of 94. The 6-foot-4 Hotter, whose career spanned half a century, was known for his booming, noble voice. He mastered such roles as Wotan in Wagner’s Ring Cycle, Gurnemanz in “Parsifal”, the title role in “The Flying Dutchman” and Hans Sachs in Die Meistersinger. He also won praise for Schubert lieder. Hotter started his operatic career in 1930, and sang in Prague and Hamburg and at the Munich Opera, where he became a leading singer in 1937. He remained with the company until 1972. He also was a member of the Vienna Opera from 1939 until

• 1970. Hotter created the role of Olivier in the world premiere of Richard Strauss“Capriccio” in 1942. According to the British newspaper The Guardian, the role of Jupiter in Strauss’s “Die Liebe der Danae” had been written for him but its premiere was disrupted when all theaters were closed after the assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler in August 1944. After the war, Hotter began a 12-year association with the Wagner family’s opera house at the Bayreuth festival in 1952. The same year, he made his Metropolitan Opera debut as the Dutchman. He also became a producer. His final production was in 1981 in Chicago of Beethoven’s “Fidelio”.

December 4 ~ Today in Music History

today

Christmas Music, Part 4 – I Heard The Bells on Christmas Day

• 1660 ~ André Campra, French composer

• 1667 ~ Michel Pignolet De Monteclair, French composer

• 1861 ~ Lillian Russell (Helen Louise Leonard), Singer, actress, burlesque

• 1879 ~ Sir Herbert Hamilton Harty, Irish composer, conductor, pianist and organist

• 1915 ~ Eddie Heywood, Jr., Pianist, composer

• 1927 ~ Duke Ellington’s big band opened the famed Cotton Club in Harlem. It was the first appearance of the Duke’s new and larger group. He played the club until 1932.

For part 2:

• 1934 ~ Ethel Merman recorded I Get a Kick Out of You, from Cole Porter’s musical, Anything Goes. She was backed by the Johnny Green Orchestra. The tune was recorded for Brunswick Records.

• 1934 ~ Wink (Winston Conrad) Martindale, TV host, singer

• 1938 ~ Yvonne Minton, Australian mezzo-soprano

• 1940 ~ John Cale, Bass, keyboard, viola, singer with The Velvet Underground

• 1942 ~ Bob Mosley, Bass with Moby Grape

• 1942 ~ Chris Hillman, Guitar, bass, mandolin with The Byrds

• 1944 ~ Dennis Wilson, American rock-and-roll singer and drummer

• 1948 ~ Southside Johnny (Lyon), Singer with Southside Johnny and The Asbury Dukes

• 1965 ~ Composer, lyricist, and singer, Jacques Brel made his American debut in concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Brel composed Jackie, You’re Not Alone, If You Go Away and more.

• 1972 ~ Billy Paul from Philadelphia received a gold record for his smash hit, Meand Mrs. Jones.

• 1976 ~ Baron (Edward) Benjamin Britten (of Aldeburgh) died in Aldeburgh. He was a British composer, conductor, and pianist.
More information about Britten

• 2002 ~ Emmy-nominated pianist George Gaffney, who accompanied such musicians as Peggy Lee, Engelbert Humperdink and Sarah Vaughan, died. He was 62. Born in New York City, Gaffney began studying the piano at age 10 but switched to the trombone. After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1958 to 1961, Gaffney returned to New York, where he played piano and began arranging and accompanying singers. Gaffney moved to the Chicago area in the mid-1960s and was musical director of the Playboy Club in Lake Geneva, Wis., where he first met Vaughan. Gaffney came to California in the early 1970s and found work as a studio musician and accompanist. He worked on a number of television programs, including the TV series “Moonlighting,” and was nominated for an Emmy. From 1980 to 1990, he was Vaughan’s accompanist and musical director. He moved to Las Vegas in 1994 and worked as Humperdink’s musical director. In recent years, he also orchestrated tunes for Rita Moreno.

• 2002 ~ Mary Hansen, guitarist and vocalist with the ’90s alternative band Stereolab died. She was 36. Hansen, from Maryborough in Queensland, Australia, died in a cycling accident in London, The Independent newspaper reported Friday. Details of the accident were not available. Band spokesman Mick Houghton was quoted by The Independent as saying a truck might have backed into her, “but I really don’t know much more than that.” Hansen joined the band in 1992, two years after it was formed by Tim Gane, formerly of the band McCarthy, and his girlfriend Laetitia Sadier. Among hundreds of messages posted on the band Web site, one from a fan who identified himself as Louis called Hansen “the soul” of the band. Hansen, who played several instruments, first appeared on 1992’s LoFi single and all subsequent releases, including 1994’s Mars Audiac Quintet and 1996’s Emperor Tomato Ketchup. Stereolab had been working on a new album, expected to be released next year.

• 2003 ~ Barry Morell, a tenor who played leading roles at the Metropolitan Opera and internationally for more than two decades, died of esophageal cancer. He was 75. Morell began his career as a baritone, until he sought the guidance of former Metropolitan Opera baritone Giuseppe Danise, who told him he should be a tenor. He was best known for performing the operas of Puccini. He made his debut as Pinkerton in “Madame Butterfly” in 1955 with the New York City Center Opera Company. In 1958, he made his Met debut in the same role. He appeared in Berlin, Barcelona, Vienna and other opera houses in Europe, South America and across the United States. Among his more than 20 roles during 257 performances at the Met were Rodolfo in “La Boheme,” Enzo in “La Gioconda” and the title roles of “Don Carlo”and “Faust”.

December 2 ~ Today in Music History

today

 

Christmas Music, Part 2 – Joy To The World

• 1774 ~ Johann Friedrich Agricola, German composer, organist, singer, pedagogue, and writer on music.

• 1856 ~ Robert Kajanus, Finnish conductor and composer

• 1899 ~ Sir John Barbirolli, British conductor and cellist

• 1914 ~ Eddie Sauter, Drummer, trumpeter, composer, orchestra leader of the Sauter- Finegan Orchestra, arranger for Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw

• 1916 ~ Charlie Ventura, Tenor sax, played with Gene Krupa, Stan Kenton,Charlie Parker, Count Basie, band leader

• 1917 ~ Sylvia Syms, Singer, ‘world’s greatest saloon singer’

• 1918 ~ Milton DeLugg, Bandleader on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson; Milton DeLugg and His Orchestra: Abe Burrows’ Almanac, The Chuck Barris Rah Rah Show, Dagmar’s Canteen, Doodles Weaver, The Gong Show, Judge for Yourself, Your Hit Parade; played accordion in The Milton DeLugg Quartet and songwriter

• 1928 ~ Jörg Demus, Austrian pianist

• 1934 ~ Billy Paul (Paul Williams), Singer

• 1941 ~ Tom McGuinness, Bass, guitar with Manfred Mann; McGuinness Flint; and Blues Band

• 1942 ~ Ted Bluechel, Jr., Singer, drummer with The Association

• 1944 ~ Eric Bloom, Singer, guitarist

• 1945 ~ John Densmore, Musician with The Doors

• 1952 ~ Michael McDonald, Singer, songwriter, keyboard with The Doobie Brothers

• 1960 ~ Rick Savage, Bass with Def Leppard

• 1972 ~ Motown’s Temptations reached the #1 spot on the top 40 charts with Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone. It was the fourth #1 hit for the Temptations, joining My Girl, I Can’t Get Next to You and Just My Imagination.

December 1 ~ Today in Music History

today

 

Christmas Music, Part 1 – Sleigh Ride

• 1709 ~ Franz Xaver Richter, Austro-Moravian singer, violinist, composer, conductor and music theoretician

• 1879 ~ Gilbert and Sullivan’s operetta, H.M.S. Pinafore, opened. Arthur Sullivan conducted the orchestra while William Gilbert played the role of a sailor in the chorus and in the Queen’s Nay-vee.

• 1913 ~ Mary Martin, American singer and actress, primarily for the musical theater, Tony and Emmy Award-winning actress, mother of actor Larry Hagman
More about Mary Martin

• 1924 ~ Lady Be Good opened in New York City. George Gershwin wrote the music while Fred and Adele Astaire were well-received by the show’s audience for their dancing talents.

• 1936 ~ Lou Rawls (Louis Allen), American Grammy Award-winning singer of popular music, TV regular on Dean Martin Presents

• 1938 ~ Sandy Nelson, Drummer

• 1939 ~ Diane Lennon, Singer with The Lennon Sisters on Lawrence Welk Show,Jimmy Durante Presents the Lennon Sisters

• 1940 ~ Glenn Miller got a call from ASCAP (American Society of Composers and Publishers). He was informed that he couldn’t use his Moonlight Serenade as his band’s theme song. He had to use Slumber Song instead because of an ASCAP ban.

• 1945 ~ Bette Midler, American Grammy Award-winning pop-rock singer and actress

• 1945 ~ Burl Ives made his concert debut. He appeared at New York’s Town Hall. We lovingly listen every year for the voice of this old-time radio personality as the narrator and banjo-pickin’ snowman in TV’s Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

• 1946 ~ Gilbert (Raymond) O’Sullivan, Singer

• 1950 ~ John Wesley Ryles, Singer

• 1950 ~ Ernest John Moeran passed away

• 1968 ~ Promises, Promises opened on Broadway. The play ran for 1,281 performances, earning $35,000 in profits each week of 1969. Dionne Warwick had a hit version of the title song.

• 1986 ~ Horace Heidt passed away

• 1989 ~ Alvin Ailey passed away

• 1990 ~ Russell Markert passed away

November 28 ~ Today in Music

today

 

OCMS 1632 ~ Jean-Baptiste Lully, Italian-born French composer
More information about Lully

OCMS 1829 ~ Anton Rubinstein, Russian composer and pianist.  He founded  the Saint Petersburg Conservatory.
More information about Rubinstein

. 1895 ~ Joseé Iturbi, Musician, pianist, conductor of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra

. 1915 ~ Dick Vance, Trumpeter

. 1929 ~ Berry Gordy, Jr., Founder of Motown Records

. 1934 ~ Ethel Ennis, Singer with Benny Goodman Orchestra

. 1939 ~ Gary Troxel, Singer with The Fleetwoods

. 1940 ~ Bruce Channel, Singer

OCMS 1943 ~ Randy (Randall Stuart) Newman, American pop-rock songwriter, singer and pianist
More information about Newman
Grammy winner

. 1945 ~ R.B. Greaves, Singer

. 1948 ~ Beeb Birtles, Guitarist with The Little River Band

. 1949 ~ Alexander Godunov, Ballet dancer, actor

. 1949 ~ Paul Shaffer, Band leader on Late Show with David Letterman, comedian

. 1956 ~ Holding the #1 spot on the music charts: Guy Mitchell singing Singing theBlues. The song remained at the top of the Hit Parade for 10 weeks. Here’s a bit of trivia:Ray Conniff whistled the intro to Singing the Blues.

. 1966 ~ The New Vaudeville Band received a gold record for Winchester Cathedral this day.

. 1974 ~ John Lennon appeared in concert for the last time, at NYC’s Madison Square Garden. Lennon joined Elton John to sing Whatever Gets You Through the Night as well as I Saw Her Standing There.

November 27 ~ Today in Music

today

OCMS 1471 ~ Guillaume Du Fay, French composer, died. Considered the leading composer of the early Renaissance.
More information about Du Fay

. 1750 ~ Anton Thadaus Johann Nepomuk Stamitz

. 1804 ~ Sir Julius Benedict, Musician, composer

. 1813 ~ Michele Puccini, Composer

. 1867 ~ Charles (Louis Eug’ne) Koechlin, French composer. He studied under Massenet and Fauré at the Paris Conservatoire. He excelled in colourful and inventive orchestration in his symphonies, symphonic poems, choral- orchestral works (including seven based on Kipling’s Jungle Book), film music, and works inspired by Hollywood, such as the Seven Stars Symphony. He also wrote prolifically for a wide range of vocal and chamber combinations. His writings included studies of recent French music and treatises on music theory.

. 1900 ~ Leon Barzin, Belgian conductor (NY City Ballet 1948-58)

. 1904 ~ Sir Julius Benedict, German-born English conductor and composer

. 1912 ~ David Merrick (Margulois), Broadway producer of Gypsy, Hello, Dolly!,Beckett, Oliver, Fanny, Stop the World: I Want to Get Off, 42nd Street

. 1926 ~ Louis ‘Satchmo’ Armstrong recorded You Made Me Love You on Okeh Records.

. 1935 ~ Al Jackson, Jr., Dummer with Booker T. and the M.G.’s; Roy Milton Band

. 1935 ~ Eeny Meeny Miney Mo was recorded by Ginger Rogers and Johnny Mercer. The tune was recorded at Decca Records in Los Angeles.

. 1942 ~ Jimi (James Marshall) Hendrix, American rock guitarist, singer and songwriter

. 1944 ~ Dozy (Trevor Davies), Bass with Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich

. 1944 ~ Eddie Rabbitt, Songwriter, Kentucky Rain for Elvis Presley; singer, his 17 albums garnered 26 #1 country hits and 8 pop hits

. 1953 ~ Boris Grebenshikov, Russian rock musician

. 1959 ~ Charlie Burchill, Guitarist with Simple Minds

. 1967 ~ The Association, a California group, earned a gold record for the hit Never My Love, on Warner Bros. Records. The group also earned worldwide fame for other hits including Windy, Cherish and Along Comes Mary.

. 1982 ~ The #1 song in the U.S. was former Commodore Lionel Richie’s Truly. The love song stayed at the top of the charts for two weeks. The song was his first solo hit and followed Endless Love, a duet with Diana Ross in 1981.

. 2000 ~ Walter Bailes, a member of the popular 1940s-era Grand Ole Opry duo The Bailes Brothers, died at the age of 80. Walter Bailes, a West Virginia native, and his brother Johnny were the classic Bailes Brothers duo. Brothers Kyle and Homer also performed with the group over the years in varying combinations. Walter wrote much of the group’s material, including popular songs like Dust on the Bible and I Want to be Loved. During their run on the Grand Ole Opry from 1944 to 46, they were among the show’s most popular acts. Kitty Wells, Flatt & Scruggs, and The Everly Brothers all recorded songs written by Walter Bailes. The Bailes Brothers left the Opry in 1946 and moved to Shreveport, La., where they helped launch the Louisiana Hayride radio show. They continued to occasionally perform throughout the 1950s.

November 25 ~ Today in Music

today

 

. 1787 ~ Franz Gruber, composer of Silent Night

1896 ~ Virgil Thomson, American composer, conductor and music critic Read quotes by and about Thomson
More information about Thomson

. 1924 ~ Paul Desmond, American jazz also saxophonist and composer

. 1925 ~ Derroll Adams, Country singer, played with Jack Elliott

. 1931 ~ Nat Adderley, Musician, cornet, mellophone, French horn, trumpet, brother of Cannonball Adderley

. 1941 ~ Percy Sledge, Singer

. 1949 ~ Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer, by Johnnie Marks, appeared on the music charts and became THE musical hit of the Christmas season. Although Gene Autry’s rendition is the most popular, 80 different versions of the song have been recorded, with nearly 20,000,000 copies sold.

. 1955 ~ Following a summer at the top of the American pop charts, Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley and His Comets became the #1 song in Great Britain.

. 1959 ~ Steve Rothery, Guitarist with Marillion

. 1960 ~ Amy Grant, Singer

. 1966 ~ Stacey Lattisaw, Singer

November 23 ~ Today in Music

today

 

. 1666 ~ Giuseppe Guarneri, Italian violin maker

OCMS 1876 ~ Manuel de Falla, Spanish composer and conductor
More information about de Falla

. 1889 ~ The first ‘Nickel-in-the-Slot’ (jukebox) was placed in service in the Palais Royal Saloon in San Francisco, California. Juke, at the time, was a slang word for a a disorderly house, or house of ill repute. The unit, developed by Louis T. Glass, contained an Edison tinfoil phonograph with four listening tubes. There was a coin slot for each tube. 5 cents bought a few minutes of music. The contraption took in $1,000 in six months!

OCMS 1903 ~ Enrico Caruso, famed Italian tenor, made his debut in the United States at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. He sang in the role of the Duke in Rigoletto.
More information about Caruso

. 1924 ~ Vincent Lopez and some 40 jazz musicians presented a concert of upbeat music at the Metropolitan Opera House in NYC.

. 1928 ~ Jerry Bock, American songwriter for the musical theater

OCMS 1933 ~ Krzysztof Penderecki, Polish composer and conductor
More information about Penderecki

. 1935 ~ Ethel Leginska became the first woman to write an opera and conduct it. Her original work, titled Gale, opened at the Chicago City Opera Company.

. 1938 ~ Bob Hope and Shirley Ross recorded a song for the film, The Big Broadcast of 1938. Thanks for the Memory became Decca record number 2219. It also became Hope’s theme song.

. 1974 ~ Billy Swan reached the #1 spot on the singles charts for the first and only time. I Can Help was the most popular song in the U.S. for two weeks.

November 22 ~ Today in Music

today

 

. 1880 ~ Lillian Russell made her vaudeville debut, in New York City.

. 1899 ~ Hoagy (Hoagland Howard) Carmichael, American jazz pianist and songwriter, singer, band leader, attorney

. 1909 ~ Helen Hayes appeared for the first time on the New York stage. She was a member of the cast of In Old Dutch, which opened at the Herald Square Theatre.

OCMS 1913 ~ Lord Benjamin Britten, British composer
Read quotes by and about Britten
More information about Britten
Grammy winner

. 1925 ~ Gunther Schuller, American composer, conductor, French-horn player and educator

. 1938 ~ Bunny Berigan and his orchestra recorded Jelly Roll Blues on Victor Records. The tune became a standard for the band.

. 1943 ~ Floyd Sneed, Drummer with Three Dog Night

. 1946 ~ Aston Barrett, Musician with ‘Family Man’, bass with Bob Marley & The Wailers

. 1949 ~ Steve ‘Miami’ Van Zandt, Singer, songwriter, guitar

. 1950 ~ Tina (Martina) Weymouth, Bass with Talking Heads

. 1953 ~ Craig Hundley, Pianist with the Craig Hundley Trio

. 1955 ~ RCA paid the unheard of sum of $25,000 to Sam Phillips of Memphis, TN for the rights to the music of a truck driver from Tupelo, Mississippi: Elvis Presley. Thanks to negotiations with Elvis’ manager, Colonel Tom Parker, RCA tossed in a $5,000 bonus as well,for a pink Cadillac for Elvis’ mother.

. 1957 ~ The Miles Davis Quintet debuted with a jazz concert at Carnegie Hall in New York.

. 1965 ~ The production of Man of LaMancha, including the classic The Impossible Dream, opened in New York City for the first of 2,328 performances.

. 1975 ~ Dr. Zhivago appeared on TV for the first time. The production, including Somewhere My Love, had earned $93 million from theatre tickets over ten years. NBC paid $4 million for the broadcast rights.

. 1977 ~ Tony Orlando returned to the concert stage after a self-imposed, three-month retirement following the suicide death of his good friend, Freddie Prinze. Orlando appeared in concert in San Carlos, California.

. 2001 ~ Norman Granz, the impresario who helped make jazz more accessible to the public while making the music business fairer to black performers, died in Geneva, Switzerland, of complications from cancer. He was 83. Granz owned four labels – Clef, Norgran, Verve and Pablo – and at one time or another recorded most of the major names in jazz, including Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Ella FitzgeraldDizzy Gillespie, Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker and Oscar Peterson. Many historians credit him with bringing top jazz performers in integrated bands into venues across the country through a series called Jazz at the Philharmonic. Granz’s efforts also helped end a system in which white performers generally earned far more than blacks. He insisted on equality in pay, dining and accommodations for his musicians. In 1947, he told Down Beat magazine that he lost $100,000, then a sizable sum, by turning down bookings in segregated concert halls.

November 19 ~ Today in Music History

today

• 1724 ~ First Performance of J. S. Bach’s Sacred Cantata No. 26 Ach wie flüchtig, ach wie nichtig performed on the 24th Sunday following Trinity. A portion of Bach’s second annual Sacred Cantata cycle in Leipzig, 1724-25.

• 1736 ~ J. S. Bach named court composer by Poland’s King Agustus III.

• 1739 ~ First Performance of Jean-Philippe Rameau‘s opera Dardanus in Paris.

• 1826 ~ Composer Felix Mendelssohn and his sister Fanny performed his overture to “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” for the first time.

• 1828 ~ Death of Austrian composer Franz Schubert in Vienna, at the age of 31 from typhus.   He is buried near Beethoven.

• 1859 ~ Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov, Russian composer and conductor
More information about Ippolitov-Ivanov

• 1874 ~ Birth of composer Karl Adrian Wohlfahrt.

• 1875 ~ First Performance of Tchaikovsky‘s Third Symphony, in Moscow.

• 1888 ~ Piano Debut in Boston of composer Edward MacDowell with the Kneisel Quartet.

• 1905 ~ Tommy Dorsey, American trombonist and bandleader

• 1923 ~ First Performances of Béla Bartók‘s Five Dances and Zoltán Kodály‘s Psalums Hungaricus in Budapest, marking the 50th anniversary of the union of cities Buda and Pest.

• 1936 ~ Birth of classical music commentator (Detroit Symphony broadcasts) Dick Cavett, in Kearney, Nebraska. ABC-TV talk show host (Dick Cavett Show).

• 1936 ~ First concert recorded on magnetic tape with the London Philharmonic orchestra conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham at BASF’s own concert hall in Ludwigshaven, Germany.

• 1937 ~ Ray Collins, Songwriter

• 1938 ~ Hank Medress, Singer with The Tokens, record producer

• 1943 ~ Fred Lipsius, Piano, sax with Blood Sweat & Tears

• 1943 ~ Stan Kenton and his orchestra recorded Artistry in Rhythm, the song that later become the Kenton theme. It was Capitol record number 159. The other side of the disk was titled, Eager Beaver.

• 1944 ~ Agnes Baltsa, Greek mezzo-soprano

• 1954 ~ Sammy Davis, Jr. was involved in a serious auto accident in San Bernardino, CA. Three days later, Davis lost the sight in his left eye. He later referred to the accident as the turning point of his career.

• 1957 ~ American conductor Leonard Bernstein named Music Director of the New York Philharmonic. First American-born and educated conductor named to head an important American Orchestra.

• 1961 ~ A year after Chubby Checker reached the #1 spot with The Twist, the singer appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show to sing the song again. The Twist became the first record to reach #1 a second time around, on January 13, 1962.

• 1962 ~ For the first time, a jazz concert was presented at the White House. Jazz had previously been served as background music only.

• 2000 ~ First Performance of Philip Glass‘ Double Concerto for Timpani and Orchestra, by the American Composers Orchestra. Lincoln Center in New York.

2004 ~ Composer Cy Coleman, who wrote the musical “Sweet Charity” and whose songs included such Frank Sinatra classics as WitchcraftBig Spender and The Best is Yet to Come, died at the age 75
More information about Cy Coleman

Adapted from http://www.oconnormusic.org/month-nov.htm