On This Day

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On This Day
21 March: Modest Mussorgsky Was Born
The Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky, whose family name survives in an astonishingly diverse number of spellings, was largely self-taught. Yet he discovered a way of writing for the voice that was both lyrical and true to the inflections of speech.
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On This Day
20 March: Yunchan Lim Was Born
As the youngest pianist ever, South Korean pianist Yunchan Lim won the prestigious Van Cliburn International Piano Competition at the age of eighteen. His gold medal performance showcased a “magical ability” and “a natural, instinctive quality.” Jury Chair Marin Alsop
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On This Day
19 March: Gounod’s Faust Was Premiered
Charles Gounod (1818-1893) wrote 12 operas, with Faust as his most popular. Premiered at the Théâtre Lyrique on the Boulevard du Temple in Paris, on 19 March 1859, the work was an immediate success. While the original version employed spoken
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18 March: Rimsky-Korsakov Was Born
In popular perception, the Russian composer Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908) is primarily associated with the ideas of the “Mighty Handful.” This group of five prominent Russian composers attempted to create a distinct musical style that sought to capture elements of
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17 March: Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 1 Was Premiered
The Buddying Composer Sergei Rachmaninoff made his first tentative attempts at composition during the summer of 1886. The resulting piano piece is unfortunately now lost, but his piano-duet transcription of Tchaikovsky’s Manfred Symphony was later played to Rachmaninoff’s “musical hero.”
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On This Day
16 March: Giovanni Pergolesi Died
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi died from tuberculosis at age twenty-six, on 16 March 1736. He was first buried in a common pit next to the cathedral at Pozzuoli in Naples. His first biographer and friend installed a memorial tablet in the
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15 March: Montserrat Figueras Was Born
Catalan soprano Montserrat Figueras, together with partner and husband Jordi Savall, was a leading voice in the early music movement by focusing on the vast vocal repertoire from the Medieval, Renaissance, and early Baroque periods. Her approach to these immense
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On This Day
14 March: Verdi’s Macbeth Was Premiered
Throughout his career, Giuseppe Verdi considered numerous novels and plays by French, Italian, Spanish, and German writers as possible sources for operatic projects. He did contemplate setting several Shakespearean plays, including Hamlet, Cymbeline, Antony and Cleopatra, The Tempest, Romeo and
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