1741 – Henri Desmarets (French composer)
1775 – Johann Georg Holzbogen (German composer to Prince Clemens Franz de Paula of Bavaria)
1819 – Jean-Louis Duport (French composer & cellist)
1838 – Joseph Panny (Austrian composer & violinist)
1845 – Isabella Colbran (Spanish dramatic coloratura soprano sfogato & song composer, wife of Rossini)
1872 – Antoni Stolpe (Polish composer & pianist)
1881 – Sidney Lanier (American poet, composer & flutist)
1902 – Franz Wüllner (German composer & conductor)
1916 – Junius W. Hill (American organist, teacher & music editor)
1925 – John Wesley Work, Jr. (American collector of African-American folk songs, songwriter & director of Fisk Jubilee Singers)
1944 – Eduardo Sánchez de Fuentes (Cuban composer, music folklorist & author)
1971 – Ludwig Suthaus (German operatic Heldentenor)
1977 – Gustave Reese (American musicologist & teacher, medieval & Renaissance specialist)
1978 – Cecil Aronowitz (South African-born British violist, founding member of Melos ensemble)
1978 – Keith Moon (English rock drummer, The Who)
1978 – Charles Williams (English composer & conductor of soundtracks & light music)
1983 – Hans Münch (Alsatian conductor, composer, cellist, pianist, organist & teacher)
1986 – Vladimir Vlasov (Russian composer & conductor)
1989 – Mikhail Goldstein (Ukrainian composer & violinist)
1991 – Archie N. Menzies (American playwright & composer, Under Your Hat)
1992 – Indra Kamadjojo (Javanese-born Dutch dancer & actor)
1994 – Eric Crozier (English librettist & stage director, associate of Britten)
1996 – Niccolò Castiglioni (Italian composer, pianist & writer on music)
2001 – Igor Buketoff (American conductor, arranger & teacher)
2002 – Erma Franklin (American gospel & R&B singer, older sister of Aretha)
2003 – Warren Zevon (American rock & folk singer-songwriter, guitarist & pianist)
2005 – Sergio Endrigo (Italian singer-songwriter)
2008 – Dino Dvornik (Croatian singer, songwriter, record producer & actor)
2008 – Peter Glossop (English operatic dramatic baritone)
2008 – Nagi Noda (Japanese pop artist & video director)
A lot of Brits here, in particular three who interestingly had connections to composer Benjamin Britten: Eric Crozier, who wrote libretti for and worked closely with Britten in the production of a number of his operas; violist Cecil Aronowitz of the Melos Ensemble, who comprised the chamber group in the premiere performance and recording of Britten's War Requiem in 1962–63 (and it was also for Aronowitz that Britten arranged a string-orchestra accompaniment in 1976 of his Lachrymae (1950), originally written with piano accompaniment for William Primrose); and baritone Peter Glossop, seen above in one of his signature roles, Verdi's hunchbacked jester Rigoletto, whose other roles included Balstrode in Britten's Peter Grimes, and the title role and Mr. Redburn in his Billy Budd - Glossop also sang Billy Budd on two recordings of the opera, the first a television film transmitted by BBC-2 on December 11th, 1966 (conducted by Charles Mackerras, with Peter Pears as Vere, Robert Langdon as Claggart, and John Shirley-Quirk as Redburn), and the second a studio audio recording for Decca from the following year, with the same cast conducted by the composer... (Read more below)
Also from the world of opera, Isabella Colbran, spouse of Gioachino Rossini between 1822 and 1837, and the soprano sfogato (basically, an alto or mezzo with a very extended upper range) for whom he wrote leading roles in about a dozen of his operas between 1815 and 1823, including Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra, Otello, Armida, Ricciardo e Zoraide, La donna del lago, Maometto II, Zelmira, and Semiramide. Unfortunately, Colbran's voice already began changing and showing signs of strain by 1817 (perhaps the wear and tear caused by a mezzo or alto singing in a high soprano range!), and by 1824 she had decided to retire completely from the opera stage. Rossini himself retired from the opera business after William Tell in 1829, apparently deciding that after 20 years he'd had quite enough of the exhausting work of putting on operas. Colbran and Rossini would live on another 20 years and 40 years after their respective retirements... (Read more below) ...see you on the other side of the injured vocal cords...
Also from the world of opera, Isabella Colbran, spouse of Gioachino Rossini between 1822 and 1837, and the soprano sfogato (basically, an alto or mezzo with a very extended upper range) for whom he wrote leading roles in about a dozen of his operas between 1815 and 1823, including Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra, Otello, Armida, Ricciardo e Zoraide, La donna del lago, Maometto II, Zelmira, and Semiramide. Unfortunately, Colbran's voice already began changing and showing signs of strain by 1817 (perhaps the wear and tear caused by a mezzo or alto singing in a high soprano range!), and by 1824 she had decided to retire completely from the opera stage. Rossini himself retired from the opera business after William Tell in 1829, apparently deciding that after 20 years he'd had quite enough of the exhausting work of putting on operas. Colbran and Rossini would live on another 20 years and 40 years after their respective retirements... (Read more below) ...see you on the other side of the injured vocal cords...
Of course, the central figure for September 7th has to be Keith Moon, perhaps the single most unique and influential musician in the history of rock drumming. A cut-up, a notorious prankster, a man who went to excesses of the sort that ultimately cut his life cruelly short at the age of 32... but above all, one motherfucking wicked, riotous, balls-out badass motherfucker when you plopped his pink hairy ass behind a drum kit... (Read more below)
Well... sure wish I had time to say a lot more about cellist-composer Jean-Louis Duport... and Antoni Stolpe, who would likely have been Poland's next great genius after Chopin, had he not tragically died of pneumonia at the tender age of 21... and Sidney Lanier, the American who showed brilliance in both poetry and music... and Erma Franklin, who may not have been the Queen of Soul like her sister, but at the very least was a good solid Archduchess... and of course the Excitable Boy himself, Warren Zevon... but maybe you'll be able to read a little more about one or more of them... I think you know where...
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