1897 The Music Division of the Library of Congress was founded in Washington, D.C.; its collections began with the 13 books on music literature and theory…

11865 first performance of Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov's Symphony No. 1 in St. Petersburg; because Rimsky-Korsakov used Russian folk and oriental melodies in…

1752 Antonín Kraft – Czech cellist and composer (d.1820); considered one of the greatest cellists of his time; close friend of Haydn, Mozart, and…

1903 first concert by the Seattle Symphony at Christensen's Hall under the baton of violinist Harry F. West; concerts are now in Benaroya Hall, and the…

1812 Julius Rietz – German composer, conductor and cellist (d.1877); one of his students was Sir Arthur Sullivan.1896 Roger Sessions – American composer,…

1841 Franz Liszt performs at the Singakademie in Berlin; women swooned and the general audience reacted with such uncontrolled enthusiasm that Heinrich…

1831 premiere of Vincenzo Bellini's Norma at Milan’s La Scala Opera House; annotator David Kimbell says, “...Bellini's most astonishing achievement in…

Merry Christmas!1734 beginning of the premiere of Johann Sebastian Bach's Christmas Oratorio in Leipzig; the work is in six parts, each part being…

1824 Peter Cornelius – German composer, writer on music (d.1874); an arrangement of his The Three Kings for solo voice and choir is included in the first…

1689 Joseph Bodin de Boismortier – French composer (d.1755); one of the first composers to have no patrons: he obtained a royal license for engraving…

1723 Carl Friedrich Abel – German composer (d.1787); renowned player of the viola da gamba and composed music for that instrument; one of his works became…

Winter Solstice officially occurs at 4:19AM Eastern Time1850 Zdenek Fibich – Czech composer and music critic (d.1900); much less well-known contemporary…