1887 first performance of Peter Tchaikovsky's Suite No. 4 ‘Mozartiana’ on an all-Tchaikovsky program in Moscow conducted by the composer.1937 first…

1640 burial date of Giles Farnaby – English composer (age c.77), in London; considered one of the great English virginal players, with William Byrd, John…

1839 premiere of Hector Berlioz's ‘symphonie dramatique’ Romeo and Juliet based on Shakespeare; this was the first of three triumphant performances…

1834 first performance of Hector Berlioz's Harold in Italy by the Paris Conservatory Orchestra; four movement work for obbligato viola and orchestra,…

St. Cecilia's Day, honoring the Patron Saint of Music; first record of a music festival in her honor was in Normandy in 1570.1709 Frantisek Benda baptized…

1852 Francisco Tárrega – Spanish composer and guitarist (d.1909); composed 78 original pieces and more than one hundred transcriptions, mostly for his own…

1518 death of Pierre de la Rue – Renaissance composer and singer (age c. 66); called ‘Piersson’; ranks with Agricola, Brumel, Isaac and Obrecht as one of…

1739 premiere of Jean-Philippe Rameau's opera Dardanus by the Académie de musique at its theater in the Palais-Royal in Paris; critics were not impressed:…

1680 Jean-Baptiste Loeillet – Flemish composer and performer on the recorder, flute, oboe and harpsichord (d.1730); called the ‘London Loeillet’ to…

1866 premiere of Ambroise Thomas' opera Mignon in Paris at the Opéra-Comique; libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré is based on Goethe's novel…

1766 Rodolphe Kreutzer – French violinist and composer (d.1831); Beethoven dedicated to him his Violin Sonata No. 9—now known as the Kreutzer Sonata—but…

1738 William Herschel – German-born English astronomer, composer & oboist (d.1822); discovered the planet Uranus, along with two of its major…