June 1: On This Day in Music

today

 

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

 

 

• 1893 ~ Allesandre Spontone, Composer

• 1653 ~ Georg Muffat, Composer

• 1755 ~ Frederico Fiorillo, Italian Violist and composer

• 1757 ~ Ignaz Playel, Austrian Composer and piano builder

• 1763 ~ Johann Caspar Vogler, Composer, died at the age of 67

• 1765 ~ Friedrich Ludwig Seidel, Composer

• 1769 ~ Joseph Antoni Frantiszek Elsner, Composer

• 1771 ~ Ferdinando Paer, Composer

• 1776 ~ John George Schetky, Composer

• 1804 ~ Mikhail Glinka, Russian composer; “The Father of Russian Music”
More information about Glinka

• 1810 ~ Johann Paul Wessely, Composer, died at the age of 47

• 1826 ~ Carl Bechstein, German piano inventor

• 1826 ~ Hermann Zopff, Composer

• 1848 ~ Otto Valdemar Malling, Composer

• 1886 ~ Ernst Kurth, Austrian/Swiss musicologist

• 1892 ~ Samuel L M Barlow, Composer

• 1893 ~ Opera “Falstaff” was produced in Berlin

• 1898 ~ Edgar “Cookie” Fairchild, Bandleader for the Jerry Colonna Show

• 1898 ~ Lieb Glantz, Composer

• 1903 ~ Percy William Whitlock, Composer

• 1905 ~ Dinora de Carvalho, Composer

• 1909 ~ Szymon Goldberg, Polish/American violinist and conductor

• 1909 ~ Giuseppe Martucci, Composer, died at the age of 53

• 1918 ~ Friedrich Richard Faltin, Composer, died at the age of 83

• 1918 ~ Jaroslav Novotny, Composer, died at the age of 32

• 1919 ~ Boris Lazarevich Klyuzner, Composer

• 1921 ~ Nelson Riddle, Grammy Award-winning orchestra leader and arranger of popular music for Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole

• 1926 ~ Vasily Mikhaylovich Metallov, Composer, died at the age of 64

• 1929 ~ Yehudi Wyner, Composer

• 1934 ~ Pat (Charles Eugene) Boone, Singer, married to Red Foley’s daughter, Shirley

• 1935 ~ Alberto Cametti, Composer, died at the age of 64

• 1941 ~ Edo de Waart, Dutch conductor

• 1942 ~ Ernest Pingoud, Composer, died at the age of 53

• 1943 ~ Ely van Tongeren, Dutch guitarist and singer

• 1943 ~ Richard Goode, concert pianist. In 1980 he won the Avery Fisher Award

• 1945 ~ Frederica Von Stade, American mezzo-soprano

• 1945 ~ Linda Scott, Singer

• 1946 ~ Carol Neblett, American soprano with the NYC Opera

• 1947 ~ Ron Wood, Guitar with Rolling Stones after 1975

• 1949 ~ Mike Levine, Rock keyboardist/bassist

• 1950 ~ Graham Russell, Singer with Air Supply

• 1955 ~ F Melius Christiansen, Composer, died at the age of 84

• 1959 ~ Celebrating a solid year at the top of the album charts was “Johnny’s Greatest Hits” on Columbia Records. The LP stayed for several more years at or near the top of the album charts. It became the all-time album leader at 490 weeks.

• 1960 ~ “Finian’s Rainbow” closed at 46th St Theater NYC after 12 performances

• 1961 ~ There was a new sound in the air this day. FM multiplex stereo broadcasting was enjoyed for the first time by listeners to FM radio in Schenectady, NY, Los Angeles and Chicago. The FCC adopted the standard a year later.

• 1964 ~ Rutkowski Bronislaw, Composer, died at the age of 66

• 1966 ~ George Harrison was impressed by Ravi Shankar’s concert in London

• 1967 ~ The Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” was released. One of the first critically-acclaimed rock albums, “Sgt. Pepper’s” became the number one album in the world and was at the top of the U.S. album list for 15 weeks.

• 1968 ~ Simon and Garfunkel’s Mrs Robinson hit #1

• 1970 ~ Everything was Beautiful by Ray Stevens hit #1

• 1971 ~ “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown” opened at Golden NYC for 31 performances

• 1972 ~ Dmitri Shostakovitch’s 15th Symphony premiered in West Berlin

• 1973 ~ George Harrison’s Living in the Material World went gold

• 1973 ~ Paul McCartney and Wings released Live and Let Die

• 1974 ~ Alanis Nadine Morisette, Singer

• 1974 ~ “My Girl Bill” by Jim Stafford hit #12

• 1975 ~ “Chicago” opened at 46th St Theater NYC for 947 performances

• 1980 ~ Barbra Streisand appeared at an ACLU Benefit in California

• 1988 ~ “Les Miserables” opened at Shubert Theatre, LA

• 1996 ~ Don Grolnick, Jazz musician, died at the age of 48

May 31: On This Day in Music

today

• 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 died at the age of 77

• 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

• 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

• 1967 ~ Billy Strayhorn, American composer, pianist and arranger died at the age of 51 of esophageal cancer

• 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 Mattress,” 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: On This Day in Music

 

• 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

• 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

• 1917 ~ The jazz standard “Dark Town Strutters Ball” by Original Dixieland Jass Band was first recorded

• 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 Shostakovich, daughter of Russian Composer Shostakovich

• 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

• 2019 ~ Leon Redbone [Dickran Gobalian], American blues and jazz musician (Seduced, Theme to Mr. Belvedere), died at the age of 69

May 28: On This Day in Music

• 1608 ~ Claudio Monteverdi’s “Arianna,” premiered in 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

• 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 Shostakovich 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 Shostakovich 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 a Fool 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

• 2014 ~ James K. Randall, American composer, died at the age of 84

May 27: On This Day in Music

 

• 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 patented 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
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 co-developer 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

• 2017 ~ Gregg Allman, the soulful singer-songwriter and rock n’ blues pioneer who founded The Allman Brothers Band with his late brother, Duane, and composed such classics as “Midnight Rider,” “Melissa” and the epic concert jam “Whipping Post,” died at age 69

 

May 26: On This Day in Music

today

• 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

• 1898 ~ Ernst Bacon, American 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

• 1924 ~ Johann Heinrich Beck, Composer, died at the age of 67

• 1924 ~ Victor Herbert, Irish/US cellist/composer/conductor, died at the age of 65

• 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) were married.

• 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 songbooks. 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 textbooks 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 22: On This Day in Music

today

• 1722 ~ Johannes Schmidlin, Composer

• 1759 ~ Gervais-François Couperin, Composer

• 1780 ~ Jan Emmanuel Dulezalek, Composer

• 1783 ~ Thomas Forbes Walmisley, Composer

• 1813 ~ (Wilhelm) Richard Wagner, German composer
Read quotes by and about Wagner
More information about Wagner

Happy Birthday Wagner-Style

• 1820 ~ Alexander Ernst Fesca, Composer

• 1850 ~ Johann Schrammel, Composer

• 1852 ~ Emile Sauret, Composer

• 1865 ~ Enrique Morera, Composer

• 1879 ~ Eastwood Lane, Composer

• 1879 ~ Jean Emile Paul Cras, Composer

• 1884 ~ Alceo Toni, Composer

• 1885 ~ Julio Fonseca, Composer

• 1900 ~ Edwin S. Votey of Detroit, MI patented his pianola, a pneumatic piano player. The device could be attached to any piano. Batteries not included.

• 1914 ~ Sun Ra (Herman Blount), American jazz composer and keyboard player who led a free jazz big band known for its innovative instrumentation and the theatricality of its performances. He passed away in 1993.

• 1916 ~ Gordon Binkerd, Composer

• 1924 ~ Charles Aznavour, French chanteur and composer

• 1924 ~ Claude Andre Francois Ballif, French composer

• 1926 ~ Elaine Leighton, Drummer, played with Billie Holiday

• 1928 ~ Jackie (Jacqueline) Cain, Singer

• 1930 ~ Kenny Ball, Musician, trumpeter, bandleader

• 1933 ~ John Browning, American pianist

• 1934 ~ Peter Nero (Nierow), Pianist

• 1950 ~ Bernie Taupin, Elton John’s lyricist

• 1966 ~ Iva Davies (1955) Guitarist, singer with Icehouse

• 1958 ~ Wedding vows were taken by rock ’n’ roll star, Jerry Lee Lewis and his thirteen-year-old cousin, Myra.

• 1965 ~ The Beatles got their eighth consecutive number one hit as Ticket to Ride rode to the top of the singles list. The song topped the charts for one week and became their eighth consecutive number one hit.

• 1966 ~ Bruce Springsteen recorded his very first song at the age of 16, along with his band, The Castilles. It was titled, That’s What You’ll Get. The song was never released.

• 2003 ~ The final manuscript of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, which was annotated by the composer, sold at auction for $3.47 million.

May 21: On This Day in Music

today

• 1633 ~ Joseph de La Barre, Composer

• 1671 ~ Azzolino Bernardino Della Ciaia, Composer

• 1680 ~ Frederich Karl Erbach, Composer

• 1720 ~ Antonio Corbisiero, Composer

• 1722 ~ Wilhelm Gottfried Enderle, Composer

• 1841 ~ Joseph Parry, Composer

• 1867 ~ Marie Joseph Leon Desire Paque, Composer

• 1888 ~ May Aufderheide, Ragtime composer

• 1892 ~ The opera “I Pagliacci,” by Ruggiero Leoncavallo, was performed for the first time in Milan, Italy.

• 1895 ~ Franz von Suppe, Austrian composer of light operas, notably “Poet and Peasant,” died.
More information about von Suppe

• 1898 ~ Karel Haba, Composer

• 1901 ~ Horace Heidt, Bandleader: Horace Heidt and His Musical Knights

• 1904 ~ “Fats” Waller, American jazz pianist, organist, singer, bandleader and composer
Listen to Waller’s music
More information about Waller

• 1905 ~ Edward Lockspeiser, Composer

• 1917 ~ Dennis Day (Eugene Denis McNulty), Singer

• 1924 ~ Robert Parris, Composer

• 1926 ~ Joseph Horovitz, Composer

• 1929 ~ Charles Wadsworth, Pianist

• 1930 ~ Tommy Bryant, Jazz/studio musician: bassist

• 1932 ~ Robert Sherlaw Johnson, Composer

• 1933 ~ Maurice André, French trumpeter

• 1935 ~ Terry Lightfoot, Clarinetist, bandleader with the New Orleans Jazzmen

• 1939 ~ Heinz Holliger, Swiss oboist, composer and conductor

• 1940 ~ Will Bradley and his orchestra recorded one of the best of the Big Band era. Ray McKinley played drums and did the vocal for the boogie-woogie tune, Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar. The song, on Columbia Records, was so long it took up both sides of the 78 rpm record.

• 1941 ~ Ronald Isley, Singer with The Isley Brothers

• 1944 ~ Marcie Blane, Singer

• 1948 ~ Leo (Gerard) Sayer, Pop-singer and songwriter. Some of his hits were YouMake Me Feel like Dancing and When I Need You

• 1959 ~ Gypsy opened. Ethel Merman played the lead role in the musical which opened at the Broadway Theatre in New York City. The popular show ran for 702 performances. It was based on the memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee, the famous burlesque queen.

• 1973 ~ Vaughn Monroe passed away

• 1973 ~ The sensual Pillow Talk, by Sylvia (Sylvia Vanderpool), earned a gold record.

• 1985 ~ Marvin Gaye’s last album was released. Dream of a Lifetime featured songs that critics considered too offensive, such as the controversial, pop version of The Lord’s Prayer. Three of the songs from the album were completed after Gaye’s death. Marvin Gaye was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.

May 20: On This Day in Music

today

• 1547 ~ Melchior Bischoff, Composer

• 1554 ~ Paulo Bellasio, Composer

• 1650 ~ Francesco Sacrati, composer, died at the age of 44

• 1751 ~ Domingo Miguel Bernaube Terradellas, Composer, died at the age of 38

• 1754 ~ Hans Gram, Composer

• 1782 ~ Carlo Giovanni Testori, Composer, died at the age of 68

• 1782 ~ Christoph Gottlieb Schroter, Composer, died at the age of 82

• 1812 ~ Gustav Adolf Mankell, Composer

• 1850 ~ Eaton Faning, Composer

• 1876 ~ John Owen Jones, Composer

• 1889 ~ Felix Arndt, Composer

• 1890 ~ Beniamino Gigli, Italian tenor

• 1896 ~ Clara Josephine Wieck Schumann, Composer and pianist, died at the age of 76

• 1896 ~ The six-ton chandelier of the Palais Garnier opera house in Paris falls on the crowd resulting in the death of one and the injury of many others. This incident inspired one of the more famous scenes in Gaston Leroux’s classic 1910 novel The Phantom of the Opera.

 

• 1900 ~ Gustav Heinrich Graben-Hoffman, Composer, died at the age of 80

• 1903 ~ Jerzy Fitelberg, Polish composer

• 1910 ~ Jean-Baptiste Theodore Weckerlin, Composer, died at the age of 88

• 1913 ~ Ion Dumitrescu, Composer

• 1917 ~ Enyss Djemil, Composer

• 1920 ~ Hephzibah Menuhin, American pianist

• 1926 ~ Vic Ames (Urick), Singer with The Ames Brothers

• 1927 ~ David Frederick Barlow, Composer

• 1927 ~ Walter Aschaffenburg, Composer

• 1937 ~ Teddy Randazzo, Singer

• 1939 ~ Three Little Fishies, by Kay Kyser hits #1

• 1941 ~ Harry James and his orchestra recorded the classic You Made Me Love You for Columbia Records.

• 1943 ~ Tison Street, Composer

• 1944 ~ Cipa Dichter, Brazilian pianist, wife of Misha Dichter

• 1944 ~ Joe (John Robert) Cocker, British rock-blues singer and songwriter

• 1946 ~ Cher (Cherilyn Sarkisian LaPierre), Entertainer

• 1952 ~ Warren Cann, Drummer

• 1960 ~ Sue Cowsill, Singer with The Cowsills

• 1961 ~ Hans Werner Henze’s opera “Elegy for Young Lovers,” premiered in Schwetzingen

• 1967 ~ The BBC banned The Beatles’ “A Day in the Life” because of drug references

• 1970 ~ The Beatles’ “Let it Be” movie premiered in the United Kingdom

• 1975 ~ Jacques Stehman, Composer, died at the age of 62

• 1979 ~ The first western pop star to tour USSR was Elton John

• 1984 ~ “On Your Toes” closed at Virginia Theater NYC after 505 performances

• 1986 ~ Bernard Naylor, Composer, died at the age of 78

• 1991 ~ Julian Orbon De Soto, Composer, died at the age of 65

• 2000 ~ Jean-Pierre Rampal, who popularized the flute as a solo instrument and became one of classical music’s brightest stars, died in Paris. He was 78. The cause was a heart attack.
More information about Rampal

• 2002 ~ Sandor Konya, a tenor who spent much of his career at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, died. He was 78. Born in Sarkad, Hungary, in 1923, Konya studied in Hungary, Italy and Germany before making a name for himself as a Wagnerian tenor and giving hundreds of performances at the Met in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He moved to Ibiza in the 1980s and started Pro Arte, a local foundation to promote the operatic arts with productions throughout the season, said Echarte, who is vice president.

• 2013 ~ Ray Manzarek, American musician and keyboardist (The Doors-Light My Fire, Unknown Soldier), died of cancer at the age of 74

May 19: On This Day in Music

today

• 1616 ~Johann Jakob Froberger, composer

• 1861 ~ Dame Nellie Melba (Helen Porter Mitchell), Australian coloratura soprano. She gave her name to Melba Toast, Peach Melba and Melba Sauce.
More information about Melba

• 1895 ~ Albert Hay Malotte, composer

• 1919 ~ Georgie Auld (John Altwerger), Musician: saxophones: bandleader; passed away in 1990

• 1921 ~ The first opera presented in its entirety over the radio was broadcast by 9ZAF in Denver, CO. The opera, “Martha”, aired from the Denver Auditorium.

• 1941 ~ The Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra backed the popular singing duo of Bob Eberly and Helen O’Connell as Decca record number 3859 turned out to be Time Was – a classic.

• 1945 ~ Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend, British rock guitarist
More information about Townshend
News Items about Townshend

• 1949 ~ Dusty Hill, Musician, bass, singer

• 1952 ~ Grace Jones, Jamaican new-wave singer and songwriter

• 1954 ~ Charles Edward Ives, US composer (Unanswered Question), died at the age of 79

• 1958 ~ Bobby Darin’s single, Splish Splash, was released as the first eight-track master recording pressed to a plastic 45 RPM disc.

• 1965 ~ Roger Miller received a gold record for the hit, King of the Road. The song was Miller’s biggest hit record. It got to number four (3/20/65) on the pop charts and stayed on for 12 weeks.

• 1966 ~ Country music came to New York’s Carnegie Hall this night. Eddy Arnold debuted with an array of popular country artists in the Big Apple.

• 1968 ~ Piano stylist and vocalist Bobby Short gained national attention as he presented a concert with Mabel Mercer at New York’s Town Hall. He had been the featured artist at the intimate Hotel Carlisle for years.

• 1973 ~ Stevie Wonder moved to the number one position on the Billboard pop music chart with You are the Sunshine of My Life.

• 2001 ~ Joe Graydon, who left the FBI for show business and became a popular big band singer, TV talk show host and concert promoter, died at the age of 82. Graydon joined the FBI in 1940, spending the next six years investigating spy cases and tracking down World War II military deserters. But Graydon, who had worked his way through college singing in nightclubs and on college campuses, decided to return to music after the war. He accepted a four-month gig as a singer on the highly popular radio show, “Your Hit Parade.” A successful singing career followed, and in 1950 he was offered a job in television as well. “The Joe Graydon Show” was broadcast on Los Angeles and San Diego television stations for much of the first half of the 1950s. He later switched to managing the careers of others, including Helen Forrest, Dick Haymes, Ray Eberle and the Pied Pipers. When swing music saw a resurgence in popularity in the 1970s, he began producing Big Band concerts and shows.