Events in Music
- 1752 Premiere of Rousseau's opera "Le Devin du Village"
Music Premiere
1855 Franz Liszt's symphonic poem "Prometheus" premieres
Franz Liszt
Music Premiere
1946 Aaron Copland's 3rd Symphony premieres
Aaron Copland
Music Recording
1962 Tony Sheridan & Beat Brothers record "Let's Dance"
Tony Sheridan
- 1966 "Apple Tree" opens at Shubert Theater NYC for 463 performances
Event of Interest
1968 Police find 219 grains of cannabis resin in John Lennon and Yoko Ono's apartment, they are fined £150 for marijuana possession
John Lennon
Yoko Ono
Event of Interest
1969 Rod Stewart joins Small Faces
Rod Stewart
- 1973 "Raisin" opens at 46th St Theater NYC for 847 performances
- 1973 Judd Woldon & Robert Brittens musical "Raisin," premieres in NYC
- 1974 Wings (Country Hams) release "Walking in the Park with Eloise"
- 1979 "Beatlemania" opens in London
- 1990 "Once on this Island" opens at Booth Theater NYC for 469 performances
- 1991 "Most Happy Fella" closes at NY State Theater NYC
Film Release
1991 "My Own Private Idaho" directed and written by Gus van Sant starring River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves is released
River Phoenix
Keanu Reeves
- 1992 "Oba Oba '93" closes at Marquis Theater NYC after 22 performances
Event of Interest
2000 Zack de la Rocha announces he is leaving rock band Rage Against the Machine
Tom Morello
Birthdays in Music
- 1611 Valentin Strobel, composer
- 1706 Baldassare Galuppi, Italian composer (opera's buffa)
- 1789 Giovanni Tadolini, composer
- 1794 Ferdinand Lukas Schubert, composer
- 1833 Johannes Habert, composer
- 1844 Emille-Louis-Victor Mathieu, composer
- 1850 Francis Thome, composer
- 1879 Grzegorz Fitelberg, Polish violinist/conductor/composer, born in Daugavpils, Russian Empire (now Latvia); (d. 1953)
- 1891 1891 Václav Kálik, Czech composer, born in Opava; (d. 1951)
- 1898 Lotte Lenya [Karoline Wilhelmine Charlotte Blamauer], Austrian singer and actress (The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone, From Russia with Love), born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary (d. 1981)
- 1901 Vladimir Grigor'yevich Zakharov, Russian composer born in Bogodukhov; (d. 1956)
- 1903 Emile Enthoven, composer
- 1910 Vojislav Vuckovic, composer
- 1918 Robert "Bobby" Troup, American jazz pianist and actor (Emergency, Acapulco), born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (d. 1999)
- 1919 Anita O'Day (born Anita Belle Colton), jazz singer , born in Chicago, Illinois
- 1919 Camilla Williams, Danville, Virginia, operatic soprano, (d. 2012)
- 1922 Camillo Togni, composer
- 1924 Allyn Ferguson, orchestra leader (Andy Williams Show), born in San Jose, California
- 1924 Egil Hovland, composer
- 1924 Hugh Allan "Buddy" MacMaster, Canadian musician
- 1925 Wim van Gennep, Dutch singer/keyboardist (Heikrekels)
- 1926 Chuck Berry [Charles Andersen], guitarist and singer-songwriter (Roll over Beethoven), born in St Louis, Missouri (d. 2017)
- 1926 John Morris, American film and Broadway composer who commonly worked alongside Mel Gibson and Gene Wilder, born in Elizabeth, New Jersey (d. 2018)
- 1935 Jorge Cervello, composer
- 1938 Ronnie Bright, rocker (Coasters)
- 1940 Cynthia Weil, American songwriter, born in New York City
- 1941 William "Billy" Cox, Guitarist (performed with Jimi Hendrix), born in Wheeling, West Virginia
- 1943 Russ Giguere, rock guitarist/vocalist (Association), born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire
- 1946 Howard Shore, Canadian film composer
- 1947 Laura Nyro, singer/songwriter (Eli's Coming, Stoney End), born in The Bronx, New York
- 1949 Gary Richrath, guitarist and songwriter (REO Speedwagon), born in Peoria Illinois, (d. 2015)
- 1949 Joe Egan, British musician (Stealers Wheel)
- 1961 Wynton Marsalis, jazz trumpeter (Grammy 1983), born in New Orleans, Louisiana
- 1965 Curtis Stigers, American jazz vocalist and saxophonist
- 1974 Peter Svensson, Swedish musician (The Cardigans)
- 1974 Zhou Xun, Quzhou, Zhejiang, Chinese actress and singer (Suzhou River, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress)
- 1979 Ne-Yo [Shaffer Chimere Smith, Jr], American pop and R&B singer and songwriter, born in Camden, Arkansas
- 1984 Esperanza Spalding, American jazz bassist and singer (Chamber Music Society), born in Portland, Oregon
- 1987 Zac Efron, American actor (High School Musical, 17 Again), born in San Luis Obispo, California,
Weddings in Music
- 1952 Latin actress Maria Felix (38) weds actor and singer Jorge Negreta (40) in Mexico
Wedding of Interest
1986 "Fleetwood Mac" member Christine McVie (43) weds keyboardist Eduardo Quintela
Christine McVie
Deaths in Music
- 1545 John Taverner, English composer (Western Wynde), dies at about 55
- 1634 Pierre De La Barre, composer, dies at 42
- 1767 Joseph Paul Ziegler, Austrian composer, dies at 45
- 1771 Robert Praelisauer, composer, dies at 62
- 1788 Jean-Guillain Cardon, composer, dies at 56
- 1817 Etienne-Nicolas Méhul, French composer (b. 1763)
- 1832 Othon Joseph Vandenbroek, composer, dies at 73
- 1864 Jacques Francois Gallay, composer, dies at 68
- 1893 Charles Gounod, French composer (La reine the Saba), dies at 75
- 1943 Benedictus H Dancer, botanist, dies at 52
- 1953 Federico Gerdes, composer, dies at 80
- 1963 Claudio Carneyro, composer, dies at 68
- 1965 Frank Hutchens, composer, dies at 73
- 1994 Lee Allen, saxophonist, dies at 68
- 1999 Tony Crombie, English jazz drummer and bandleader, dies at 74
- 2000 Julie London, American singer and actress (Nurse McCall-Emergency), dies at 74
- 2000 Gwyneth “Gwen” Verdon, American actress, singe and dancer (Cotton Club, Sweet Charity), dies at 75
- 2001 Micheline Ostermeyer, French athlete and musician (b. 1922)
- 2002 Roman Tam, Hong Kong singer (b. 1950)
- 2006 Anna Russell, English music satirist and composer, dies at 94
- 2007 Lucky Dube, South African reggae musician, dies at 43
- 2008 Dee Dee Warwick, American soul singer (b. 1945)
- 2010 Marion Brown, American jazz musician (b. 1931)
- 2012 David Spencer Ware, American free jazz saxophonist, dies at 62
October in History
![Grim History of London's Speakers' Corner]()
Grim History of London's Speakers' Corner
Nowhere in England is the principal of free speech embodied more than at Speakers’ Corner in London’s Hyde Park. But this right was won through death and protest.
October 14, 1855![Hurricane on the Way? Don't Worry]()
Hurricane on the Way? Don't Worry
A cosy assurance from a BBC weather forecaster for viewers not to worry about an impending storm has gone down as the most spectacular mis-forecast in history.
October 15, 1987![The Tragedy of Aberfan]()
The Tragedy of Aberfan
One hundred and sixteen young children died on this day when an avalanche of coal tip waste and debris thundered down a hillside and engulfed their school.
October 21, 1966![Jumping Jacques Makes First Parachute Descent]()
Jumping Jacques Makes First Parachute Descent
Daredevil André-Jacques Garnerin took to the sky in a hydrogen balloon on this day and after cutting himself adrift performed the first ‘parachute’ descent.
October 22, 1797
