Have you ever wondered when your favorite composer was born? Or which famous composer shares a zodiac sign with you? Read on to discover the Frederick Symphony Orchestra’s calendar of composer birthdays:
January 27: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart celebrated his birthday in 1756 in Salzburg, Austria. Some believe he died of rheumatic fever, while others believe Italian composer Antonio Salieri poisoned him.
January 31: In Vienna, Franz Peter Schubert was born in 1797. The Early Romantic composer was best known for Ave Maria, The Unfinished Symphony, and The Trout Quintet.
February 3: Hamburg, Germany, native Felix Mendelssohn was born in 1809. The son of a rabbi and Jewish philosopher had a violin concerto, two piano concertos, five operas, 11 symphonies, and more.
February 23: In 1685, George Frideric Handel was born in Halle, Germany. The English Baroque composer is most famous for The Messiah and numerous other chamber music pieces.
Listen to the FSO perform Handel’s Organ Concerto in G Minor, HWV 289 at Symphonic Pipes at Hood College next month.
February 29: Gioacchino Rossini was born in a Leap Year (1792). The Pesaro, Italy, native made his full debut as a composer at age 18.
March 1: Pianist and composer Frederic Chopin was born in 1810 in Żelazowa Wola, Poland. After he died, his heart was taken to a church in Warsaw, Poland, while his body was buried in Paris.
March 4: The son of a professional violinist, Antonio Vivaldi was born in 1678 in Venice, Italy. He was a composer, violinist, teacher, priest, and opera impresario.
March 7: Near Ciboure, France, Maurice Ravel was born in 1875. He died following exploratory brain surgery in 1937, leaving his legacy of “my only mistress is music” behind.
March 31: Johann Sebastian Bach became the youngest of 13 siblings in 1685. The Eisenach, Germany, native became one of the world’s greatest composers.
Franz Joseph Haydn was also born in 1732 in Rohrau, Austria. He was the son of a wheelwright and cook.
April 1: In 1873, Sergei Rachmaninoff was born near Novgorod, Russia. His mother, Lyou Boutakovia, gave him his first piano lessons.
May 7: Johannes Brahms was one of the best all-around composers in history. The Hamburg native was born on this day in 1833.
Brahms shared a birthday with Pyotr Tchaikovsky, who was born on this day in 1840. The native of Votkinsk, Russia, was best known for his ballet music and symphonies as well as Serenade for Strings, which the FSO will perform at Symphonic Pipes next month.
May 22: Richard Wagner was born in 1813 near Leipzig in Germany. He married Franz Liszt’s daughter, Cosima, and had three children before his death from a heart attack in 1883.
June 8: In 1810, Robert Schumann was born in Zwickau, Germany. His wife, Clara, was one of the most outstanding pianists of all-time.
June 15: Edvard Grieg was born in 1843 in Bergen, Norway. He died of a heart attack in 1907, and his ashes (along with his wife’s) were released over a fjord cliffside at his home.
July 7: Gustav Mahler was born in Kaliště, Bohemia, which is now the Czech Republic, in 1860. He had one unfinished symphony due to his untimely death from heart disease in 1911.
August: Johann Pachelbel was born in August 1653, but no one knows the exact day. The Nuremberg, Germany, native was labeled a one-hit wonder for Canon In D.
August 22: In 1862, Claude Debussy was born to a china shop owner and seamstress in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France.
September 26: Brooklyn, N.Y., native George Gershwin was born in 1898. He died in Hollywood, Calif., from a brain tumor at the ripe age of 38.
October 9: Giuseppe Verdi was born in 1813 in Le Roncole, France (which is now in Italy). He was the son of an innkeeper and a spinner.
In 1835, Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns was born in Paris. He composed more than 300 works, including Organ Symphony No. 3, which you can hear Brian Bartoldus perform at Symphonic Pipes, and Samson Delilah.
October 22: Liszt was born in 1811 in Doborjan, Hungary, which is now Raiding, Austria. The virtuoso pianist was the son of a talented amaetuer musician.
November 3: Opera composer Vincenzo Bellini was born in 1801 in Catania, Italy. While his father was a famed organist, it was his grandfather who taught him how to compose.
December 17: Ludwig van Beethoven was born in 1770 in Bonn, Germany. The eldest of the three boys, he wrote a violin concerto, an opera, five piano concerts, nine symphonies, 16 string quartets, and 32 piano sonatas.
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