On This Day

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On This Day
15 April: Neville Marriner Was Born
Neville Marriner is perhaps the most recorded of all classical conductors. In fact, his legacy includes more than 600 recording of 2,000+ works, including the soundtrack to the 1984 hit film “Amadeus” that sold more than 6.5 million copies and
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On This Day
14 April: Léo Delibes’ Lakmé Was Premiered
Brooklyn-born soprano Marie van Zandt (1858-1919) “outshone her competitors with her extraordinary ability to learn parts quickly and to sing them perfectly.” Her mother was a well-known singer who traveled extensively across Europe, and she had professional connections with Paris
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On This Day
13 April: Handel’s Messiah Was Premiered
The Fishamble Street Musick Hall in Dublin was abuzz with jittery electricity on 13 April 1742. The musical superstar George Frideric Handel was ready to present his oratorio Messiah to the public, and the audience reached a record 700 listeners.
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10 April: Yefim Bronfman Was Born
The American novelist and short story writer Philip Milton Roth is known for fiction that “features intensely autobiographical characters, for philosophically and formally blurring the distinction between reality and fiction, for its sensual, ingenious style and for its provocative explorations
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On This Day
7 April: Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 “Eroica” Was Premiered
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 “Eroica” premiered on 7 April 1805 at the Theater an der Wien, Vienna. It was immediately recognized as an important work of unprecedented length and complexity. All the movements depart in unexpected ways from his previous
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6 April: Igor Stravinsky Died
At the age of 88, Igor Stravinsky died on 6 April 1971 at his apartment in New York City. The composer had been in frail health for years but returned much refreshed from a two and a half month holiday
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5 April: Louis Spohr Was Born
Louis Spohr (1784-1859), actually born Ludewig Spohr in Braunschweig on 5 April 1784, was the greatest violinist of his generation and a prolific composer. He wrote roughly 300 much admired compositions in a variety of genres, but is probably most
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On This Day
4 April: Bedřich Smetana’s Vltava (The Moldau) Was Premiered
The conductor Adolf Čech (1841-1903) premiered a number of significant works by Antonín Dvořák, Zdeněk Fibich, and Bedřich Smetana. Such was the case on 4 April 1875, when he took the podium with the Orchestra of the Prague Provisional Theatre
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