Synopsis
Music Played in Today's Program
Hildegard von Bingen (1098 – 1179) Instrumental Piece Sequentia BMG/Deutsche Harmonia Mundi 77353
Hildegard von Bingen (1098 – 1179) Benedicamus Domino Anonymous 4 Harmonia Mundi 907200
On This Day
Births
1795 - Baptismal date of Italian opera composer Saverio Mercadante, in Altamura, near Bari;
1884 - American composer Charles Tomlinson Griffes, in Elmira, New York;
1917 - Korean-born German composer Isang Yun, in Tong Young (now Chung Mu);
Deaths
1179 - German mystic, writer and composer Hildegard von Bingen, age c. 81, in Rupertsburg (near Bingen);
1762 - Italian violinist and composer Francesco Geminiani, age 74, in Dublin;
1803 - Austrian composer Franz Xaver Sussmayr, who studied with Salieri and Mozart; Sussmayr completed Mozart's unfinished "Requiem";
Premieres
1872 - American premiere of Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" at a Central Park concert given by the Theodore Thomas orchestra;
1931 - Delius: "A Song of Summer," in London;
1957 - Cowell: "Persian Set," at the Gulestan Palace in Tehran, Iran, by the Minneapolis Symphony, Antal Dorati conducting;
1982 - Steve Reich: "Tehillim" (orchestral version), by New York Philharmonic conducted by Zubin Mehta;
Others
1966 - German tenor Fritz Wunderlich dies, age 35, from a fall in his home in Heidelberg.
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About Composers Datebook®
Host John Birge presents a daily snapshot of composers past and present, with timely information, intriguing musical events and appropriate, accessible music related to each.
He has been hosting, producing and performing classical music for more than 25 years. Since 1997, he has been hosting on Minnesota Public Radio's Classical Music Service. He played French horn for the Cincinnati Symphony and Pops Orchestra and performed with them on their centennial tour of Europe in 1995. He was trained at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Eastman School of Music and Interlochen Arts Academy.