09-091011: Leinsdorf : Bartók | Puccini - Bruckner 5 - Peter Tosh DC 1979 - Cannonball Adderley Lugano 1963 - Couperin Les Nations Savall 1983 - Bill Monroe Worcester MA 1963 - Prof. Longhair Rock 'n' Roll Gumbo 1974

1607 – Luzzasco Luzzaschi (Italian composer, organist & teacher)
1646 – Johann Stobäus (German composer & double-bassist)
1733 – François Couperin Le Grand (French composer, organist & harpsichordist)
1789 – Luka Sorkočević (Dalmatian composer)
1867 – Simon Sechter (Austrian music theorist, organist, conductor, composer, & teacher of Bruckner & Vieuxtemps)
1868 – Franz Anton Adam Stockhausen (Alsatian harpist, teacher & composer)
1896 – Anton Bruckner (Austrian composer & organist)
1934 – Sir George Henschel (German-born British baritone, pianist, conductor & composer)
1945 – Väinö Raitio (Finnish composer)
1949 – Henri Rabaud (French conductor & composer)
1951 – Cecil Gray (Scottish music critic, composer & author)
1951 – Giuseppe Mulè (Italian composer & conductor)
1954 – Licinio Refice (Italian priest & composer)
1954 – Peter Anders (German operatic tenor)
1957 – Ettore Pozzoli (Italian pianist & namesake of international piano competition)
1957 – Petar Stojanović (Serbian violinist & composer)
1960 – Jussi Björling (Swedish tenor)
1965 – Julián Carrillo Trujillo (Mexican composer, conductor, violinist & microtonal theorist, "Sonido 13")
1975 – Hans Swarowsky (Hungarian-Austrian conductor)
1979 – Solon Michaelides (Cypriot composer, teacher, musicologist & guitarist)
1979 – Stanyslav Lyudkevych (Ukrainian composer, music theorist & teacher)
1979 – Norrie Paramor (English record producer, composer, arranger & conductor)
1984 – Hilding Hallnäs (Swedish composer)
1985 – William Alwyn (English composer, conductor & teacher)
1987 – Lorne Greene (Canadian actor & singer)
1987 – Peter Tosh (Jamaican reggae singer-songwriter & political activist)
1993 – Erich Leinsdorf (Austrian-born American conductor)
1993 – Helen O'Connell (American jazz & pop singer, actress & dancer)
1994 – Luciano Sgrizzi (Italian harpsichordist, organist, pianist & composer)
1996 – Bill Monroe (American singer, songwriter, mandolinist & bandleader, "The Father of Bluegrass")
1999 – Alfredo Kraus [Trujillo] (Spanish-Austrian operatic tenor)
2005 – Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown (American roots-music guitarist, singer, violinist & songwriter)
2007 – Joe Zawinul (Austrian-born American jazz keyboardist & composer)
2008 – Vernon "Tod" Handley (British conductor)

Padre Licinio Goffredo Clinio Elpidio REFICE was taken to God in Rio de Janeiro on September 11, 1954, during a performance of his own opera Cecilia (Roma, 1934 - a sensation at its premiere). Renata Tebaldi was singing the title role that night in Brazil. Yes, you, a musician and a man of God, suffer cardiac arrest right there in the middle of your own opera about the Patron Saint of Music. And St. Cecilia Herself, like a siren, is calling you home to the light, in a voice remarkably similar to that of Renata Tebaldi...

Licinio Refice was one of the most important composers (con Monsignors Lorenzo Perosi e Raffaele Casimiri) to heed the call by Papa Pio X (1835–1914; Papa d'agosto 1903) for reforms of the Catholic Church's repertoire of sacred music. Pius wanted to turn away from the excesses of the 18th- and 19th-century repertoire and return to the Church's real musical treasury, plainchant, and to original compositions that incorporated plainchant in a more austere, sincere manner. Pope, now Saint Pius X, in being such a reactionary, was actually very forward-looking. His reforms added fire in the early 20th century to the recently rekindled interest in Medieval and Renaissance sacred music (with its constant references to old chant), and resulted in many new editions and related publications. Musically, it inspired styles that were more accessible to average performers and listeners - that is, to the body and congregation of the Church itself, not just to trained professionals. That is, in its own way, a very modern concept, regardless of the musical product.

Santa Cecilia, Lorenzo Perosi, Papa Santo Pio X, Raffaele Casimiri e Renata Tebaldi

Refice, as it happened, lived just long enough to see Pius X canonized, departing this earthly existence just weeks later. But of the 6 persons (not counting the implied 3 of the Trinity) I've mentioned so far, only Refice died between September 9th & 11th. Renata Tebaldi, on the other hand... did sing on a very famous opera recording with two other musicians who are on our list, Jussi Björling (...yes, I know - I messed up again and had him a day early, on Sep. 8...) and Erich Leinsdorf... (Read more below) See you on the other side of... oh, I don't know... the mighty thunderclap and the curtain to the Holy of Holies being torn asunder...

08-30: Velvet Underground : VU 1985 | Live at Max's Kansas City 1972 - Juan del Enzina ( Encina ) / Hespèrion XX Jordi Savall - Sinatra Sings Gershwin 1943-1952 Columbia

Would be chronological if Mortenson were just before Morrison. Tagged image here.

1529 – Juan del Enzina (Spanish composer, poet, playwright & priest)
1745 – Jean-Baptiste-Maurice Quinault (French actor, musician & composer)
1808 – Joseph Anton Bauer (German trumpeter & composer)
1826 – Theodor Zwettler (Austrian Benedictine prior & composer)
1883 – Angela Peralta (Mexican operatic soprano)
1904 – Kate Fanny Loder [Lady Thompson] (English composer, pianist & organist)
1940 – Fritz Feinhals (German operatic baritone)
1953 – Gaetano Merola (Italian-born American opera impresario & conductor)
1953 – Dimiter Nenov (Bulgarian pianist, composer, teacher & architect)
1956 – Padre José Antonio de Donostia (Benedictine priest, organist, composer & pianist)
1958 – Alexander Albrecht (Slovak-Hungarian composer & organist)
1963 – Axel Stordahl (American arranger, composer & conductor, Frank Sinatra)
1986 – Otto Mortensen (Danish pianist, composer, conductor & organist)
1995 – Sterling Morrison (American rock guitarist, The Velvet Underground)

He's usually called "Juan del Enzina" today, because that's what he called himself. But he's often instead called "Juan del Encina" since the tiny town in Salamanca he was probably from is now called Encina de San Silvestre (population 128... Saaaaa-lute!! Sorry... guess I still have Hee-Haw on the brain after Archie Campbell yesterday...):

Actually, his real name was Juan de Fermoselle, but nobody ever calls him that, for some reason. What they do also call him is "the founder of Spanish drama." And that is really saying something, because if you've ever met a Spanish person you know they can be a rather dramatic people. And to think, it all started with this guy! Oh... but I see here that he was also one of at least 7 known children. Maybe it's Señor y Señora Fermoselle who really deserve the credit. I mean, when your one family makes up half the town, some drama's bound to happen.

There is also some disagreement about exactly when it was that Juan del Enzina died. Some sources say it was sometime late in 1529 or early in 1530. Others state it was in 1533. The source I went with states unequivocally that it was on August 29, 1529, which of course isn't consistent with either of those other approximations. I'm guessing therefore that this date has about a 0.001% chance of being the correct one. But while the date may not be accurate, there's one thing it is that those others aren't: firm. We can't remember you on Yesterday in Dead Musicians (or as I should perhaps call it now "Three or Four Days Ago in Dead Musicians") if we don't know what day yesterday was. Better that we remember you on the wrong day than not at all. And remember Juan del Enzina we shall... (Read more below)

Juan del Enzina is considered the founder of Spanish drama, and Gaetano Merola is considered the founder of San Franciscan opera. That's because Gaetano Merola founded the San Francisco Opera. That was in 1923, and he served for the next 30 years as its general director and principal conductor, until... yup, you guessed it: poopage. Hey, you know what they call me? The founder of this here blog. And they're right. Thanks to all my floundering, this blog could foundering just about any day now...

ERRATUM/ADDENDUM: Case in point. I left out one of the great drummers in jazz history, Philly Joe Jones! One of the quintessential hard bop players. Member of Miles Davis's first great quintet (also known as just "The Quintet," as in "What? You mean there's some other quintet?"), along with Coltrane, Garland, and Chambers. Played with pretty much anybody who was anybody in jazz. Used the traditional grip. Miles said of him, "Philly Joe was the fire that was making a lot of things happen. See he knew everything I was going to do, everything I was going to play; he anticipated me, felt what I was thinking ... Philly Joe was the kind of drummer I knew my music had to have." In his autobiography, Miles says that later, when working with other drummers, he would ask them to do the "Philly Joe Lick," with mixed results.

Go here for the Philly Joe update.