All Saints Adult Choir

Musical Birthdays, April 25-May 1

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April 25 - Italo Tajo (1915) Italian bass; Ella Fitzgerald (1918) American singer of jazz and popular music; Albert King (1923) American blues singer and guitarist.
April 26 -Gertrude "Ma" Rainey (1886) American blues, jazz and vaudeville singer; Joseph Fuchs (1900) American violinist; Bobby Rydell (1942) American rock-and-roll singer and drummer.
April 27 -Friedrich von Flotow (1813) German composer; Nicolas Slonimsky (1894) Russian-born American musicologist, musical lexicographer and composer; Judith Blegen (1941) American soprano.
April 28 - Hermann Suter (1870) Swiss composer and conductor; Louise Homer (1871) American contralto; Nan Merriman (1920) American mezzo-soprano.
April 29 - Sir Thomas Beecham (1879) British conductor; Duke Ellington (1899) American jazz pianist, bandleader and composer; Zubin Mehta (1936) Indian conductor.
April 30 - Franz Lehar (1870) Austrian composer of operettas; Robert Shaw (1916) American conductor; Willie Nelson (1933) American country-music singer, songwriter and guitarist.
May 1 - Kate Smith (1909) American singer of popular music; Judy Collins (1939) American guitarist, songwriter and singer of folk and popular music; Rita Coolidge (1945) American rhythm-and-blues and country-music singer.

Musical Birthdays, April 18-25

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April 18 - Franz von Suppé (1819), Austrian composer and conductor; Leopold Stokowski (1882), British-born American conductor; Catherine Malfitano (1948), American soprano.
April 19 - Augustus D. Juilliard (1836), American music patron, founder of the Juilliard School of Music; Germaine Tailleferre (1892), French composer; Murray Perahia (1947), American pianist and conductor.
April 20 - Nicolai Miaskovsky (1881), Russian composer; John Eliot Gardiner (1943), British conductor; Perter Frampton (1950), British rock singer and guitarist.
April 21 - Estelle Liebling (1880), American soprano; Randall Thompson (1899), American composer; Bruno Maderna (1920), Italian-born German conductor and composer.
April 22 - Dame Ethel Smyth (1858), British composer; Yehudi Menuhin (1916), American violinist; Charles Mingus (1922), American jazz double-bass player, pianist, composer and bandleader.
April 23 - Albert Coates (1882), British conductor and composer; Sergei Prokofiev (1891), Russian composer and pianist; Roy Orbison (1926), American rock-and-roll singer, songwriter and guitarist.
April 24 - Giovanni Battista Martini (1706), Italian music scholar and composer; Violet Archer (1913), Canadian pianist and composer; Barbara Streisand (1942), American actress and singer of popular music.
April 25 - Italo Tajo (1915), Italian bass; Ella Fitzgerald (1918), American singer of jazz and popular music; Albert King (1923), American blues singer and guitarist.

Musical Birthdays April 11-17

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April 11 - Sir Charles Halle (1819) German-born British pianist and conductor; Alberto Ginastera (1916) Argentinian composer; Kurt Moll (1938) German bass.
April 12 - Lionel Hampton (1913) American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, drummer, and bandleader; Montserrat Caballé (1933) Spanish soprano; Herbie Hancock (1940) American jazz pianist and composer.
April 13 - Félicien David (1810) French composer; Sir William Sterndale Bennett (1816) British pianist, conductor, and composer; Margaret Price (1941) British soprano.
April 14 - Loretta Lynn (1932) American country-music singer, songwriter, and guitarist; Morton Subotnick (1933) American composer of experimental music; Julian Lloyd Webber (1951) British cellist.
April 15 - Domenico Gabrieli (1651) Italian composer and cellist; Bessie Smith (1894) American blues, jazz and vaudeville singer; Neville Marriner (1924) British violinist and conductor.
April 16 - Henry Mancini (1924) American arranger, composer, conductor, and pianist; Herbie Mann (1930) American jazz flutist; Dennis Russell Davies (1944) American conductor.
April 17 - Artur Schnaber (1882) Austrian-born American pianist; Gregor Piatigorsky (1903) Russian-born American cellist and composer; Don Kirshner (1934) American pop-music entrepreneur.

Musical Birthdays April 4-10

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April 4 - Hans Richter (1843) German conductor; Pierre Monteux (1875) French conductor; "Muddy" Waters (1915) American blues singer and guitarist.
April 5 -Ludwig Spohr (1784) German violinist, composer and conductor; Albert Roussel (1869) French composer; Herbert von Karajan (1908) Austrian conductor.
April 6 - Edison Denisov (1929) Soviet composer; André Previn (1929) German-born American pianist, composer and conductor; Merle Haggard (1937) American country-music singer, fiddler and guitarist
April 7 - Robert Cassadesus (1899) French pianist and composer; Billie Holiday (1915) American jazz singer; Ravi Shankar (1920) Indian sitarist and composer.
April 8 -Sir Adrian Boult (1889) British conductor; Franco Corelli (1921) Italian tenor; Jacques Brel (1929) Belgian-born French singer and songwriter.
April 9 - Efrem Zimbalist (1890) Russian-born American violinist and composer; Paul Robeson (1898) American bass; Antal Dorati (1906) Hungarian-born American conductor and composer.
April 10 - Eugène d'Albert (1864) British-born German pianist and composer; Sigmund Spaeth (1885) American music scholar; Claude Bolling (1930) French jazz pianist and composer.

Birthdays, March 28-April 3

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March 28 - Rudolf Serkin, 1903 (Austrian pianist); Robert Ashley, 1930 (American composer); Samuel Ramey, 1942 (American bass)
March 29 - Sir William Walton, 1902 (British composer); Pearl Bailey, 1918 (American jazz singer); Richard Rodney Bennett, 1938 (British composer)
March 30 - Sergei Vasilenko, 1872 (Russian composer); Gordon Mumma, 1935 (American composer of experimental music); Eric Clapton, 1945 (British rock guitarist and singer)
March 31 - Franz Josef Haydn, 1732 (Austrian composer); Sergei Diaghilev, 1872 (Russian impressario; founder of the Ballets Russe); Herb Alpert, 1935 (American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer)
April 1 - Ferruccio Busoni, 1866 (Italian pianist and composer); Sergei Rachmaninoff, 1873 (Russian-born American composer and pianist); Alberta Hunter, 1895 (American blues singer)
April 2 - Kurt Herbert Adler, 1905 (Austrian-born American conductor and opera director); Marvin Gaye, 1939 (American soul singer and songwriter); Leon Russell, 1941 (American rock singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist)
April 3 - Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, 1895 (Italian-born American composer); Wayne Newton, 1942 (American singer of popular music); Garrick Ohlsson, 1948 (American pianist)

Birthdays March 21-27

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I have failed to list musician's birthdays for several weeks. This week, however, we celebrate several outstanding musicians' births which I wish to acknowledge.

March 21 - Johann Sebastian Bach (1685), Modest Mussorgsky (1839)
March 22 - Stephen Sondheim (1930), Andrew Lloyd Webber (1948)
March 23 - Régine Crespin (1927)
March 24 - Byron Janis (1928)
March 25 - Arturo Toscanini (1867), Béla Bartók (1881), Aretha Franklin (1942)
March 26 - Pierre Boulez (1925), Dianna Ross (1944), Teddy Pendergrass (1950)
March 27 - Vincent d'Indy (1851), Sarah Vaughan (1924), Mstislav Rostropovich (1927)

Birthdays

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Happy Birthday today (January 27) to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756), Edouard Lalo (1823), and Jerome Kern (1885)

O Mozart, immortal Mozart, how many, how infinitely many inspiring suggestions of a finer, better life have you left in our souls!

- Franz Schubert

Musician's Birthdays December 13-19

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December 13 - Johann Andreas Streicher (1761) German piano maker; Josef Lhévinne (1874) Russian pianist; Carlos Montoya (1903) Spanish flemenco guitarist;

December 14 - "Spike" Jones (1911) American bandleader of satiric music; Rosalyn Tureck (1914) American pianist and harpsichordist; Christopher Parkening (1942) American guitarist

December 15 - John Hammond (1910) American jazz critic; Alan Freed (1922) American disc jockey; Dave Clark (1942) British rock drummer and singer

December 16 - Ludwig van Beethoven (1770) German composer; Zoltán Kodaly (1882) Hungarian composer and collector of folk songs; Sir Noel Coward (1899) British composer of musical comedies, actor and producer

December 17 - Dominico Cimarosa (1749) Italian composer; Arthur Fiedler (1894) American violinist and conductor; Paul Butterfield (1942) American Blues singer and harmonica player

December 18 - Edward MacDowell (1860) American composer and pianist; Anita O'Day (1919) American jazz singer; Keith Richards (1943) British rock singer and guitarist

December 19 - Fritz Reiner (1888) Hungarian-born American conductor; Edith Piaf (1915) French chanteuse and songwriter; Phil Ochs (1940) American fold singer, songwriter and guitarist

On his deathbed Beethoven stated,
Strange, I feel as if up to now I had written no more than a few notes.

Musician's Birthdays - December 6-12

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December 6 - Ira Gershwin (1896) American librettist and lyricist; Dave Brubeck (1920) American jazz pianist and composer; Nikolaus Harnoncourt (1929) German conductor, cellist and musicologist

December 7 - Pietro Mascagni (1863) Italian composer and conductor; Ernst Toch (1887) Austrian-born American composer; Harry Chapin (1942) American folk-rock singer and songwriter

December 8 - Jean Sibelius (1865) Finnish composer; Sammy Davis Jr. (1925) American singer of popular music; James Galway (1939) Irish flutist

December 9 - Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (1915) German soprano; Tatiana Troyanos (1938) American mezzo-soprano; Joan Armatrading (1950) British rock singer and song writer

December 10 - Cesar Frank (1822) Belgian composer and organist; Olivier Messiaen (1908) French composer; Morton Gould (1913) American composer, conductor and pianist

December 11 - Hector Berlioz (1803) French composer, conductor and music critic; Elliot Cook Carter, Jr. (1908) American composer; Brenda Lee (1944) American singer of popular music

December 12 - Frank Sinatra (1915) American actor and singer of popular music; Dionne Warwick (1941) American singer of popular music; Grover Washington, Jr. (1943) American saxophonist

Musician's Birthdays November 29-December 5

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November 29 - Gaetano Donizetti (1797) Italian composer; Billy Strayhorn (1915) American jazz composer, lyricist and pianist; Chuck Mangione (1940) American jazz musician and composer

November 30 - Brownie McGhee (1915) American jazz singer and guitarist; Paul Stookey (1937) American folk singer, songwriter and guitarist; Radu Lupu (1945) Rumanian pianist

December 1 - Mary Martin (1913) American singer and actress, primarily for the musical theater; Lou Rawls (1936) American singer of popular music; Bette Midler (1945) American pop-rock singer and actress

December 2 - Robert Kajanus (1856) Finnish conductor and composer; Sir John Barbirolli (1899) British conductor and cellist; Jörg Demus (1928) Austrian pianist

December 3 - Nicola Amati (1596) Italian violin maker, teacher of Guarneri and Stradivari; Anton Webern (1883) Austrian composer and conductor; Maria Callas (1923) American soprano

December 4 - André Campra (1660) French composer; Yvonne Minton (1938) Australian mezzo-soprano; Dennis Wilson (1944) American rock-and-roll singer and drummer

December 5 - Francesco Geminiani (1687) Italian violinist, writer and composer; José Carreras (1946) Spanish tenor; Jim Messina (1947) American rock guitarist and singer

Musician's Birthdays November 22-28

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November 22 - Hoagy Carmichael (1899) American jazz pianist and songwriter; Benjamin Britten (1913) British composer; Gunther Schuller (1925) American composer, conductor, French-horn player and educator.

November 23 - Manuel de Falla (1876) Spanish composer and conductor; Jerry Bock (1928) American songwriter for the musical theater; Krzysztof Penderecki (1933) Polish comoser.

November 24 - Lilli Lehmann (1848) German soprano; Scott Joplin (1868) American ragtime composer and pianist; Alfred Schnittke (1934) Soviet composer.

November 25 - Giuseppe Guarneri (1666) Italian violin maker; Virgil Thomson (1896) American composer, conductor and music critic; Paul Desmond (1924) American jazz alto saxophonist and composer.

November 26 - Eugene Istomin (1925) American pianist; Alan Stout (1932) American composer; Tina Turner (1938) American soul-rock singer.

November 27 - Sir Julius Benedict (1804) German-born English conductor and composer; Charles Koechlin (1867) French composer; Jimi Hendrix (1942) American rock guitarist, singer, and songwriter.

November 28 - Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632) Italian-born French composer and conductor; Anton Rubinstein (1829) Russian composer and pianist; Randy Newman (1943) American pop-rock songwriter, singer and pianist.

Birthdays November 15-21

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A few of the Musical Birthdays the week of November 15-21.

Petula Clark (1932) British pop singer; Daniel Barenboim (1942) Argentine-born pianist and conductor; W. C. Handy (1873) American Blues composer and band leader; Paul Hindemith (1895) German-born American composer and conductor; Lawrence Tibbett (1896) American baritone; Gorden Lightfoot (1938) Canadian folk singer, guitarist and songwriter; Carl Maria von Weber (1786) German composer, conductor and pianist; Sir William Gilbert (1836) British author and librettist, best known for his comic operettas written with Sullivan; Eugene Ormandy (1899) Hungarian-born American conductor; Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov (1859) Russian composer and conductor; Tommy Dorsey (1905) American trombonist and band leader

This Week's Birthdays

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Today, November 10 we celebrate the birthday of Martin Luther (1483) and François Couperin (1668) French composer and organist. Also this week includes the birthdays of Ernest Ansermet (1883) Swiss conductor, Alexander Borodin (1833) Russian composer, Lucia Popp (1939) Czech soprano, Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778) German pianist and composer, and Aaron Copland (1900) American composer and conductor.

Happy Birthday, Ralph Vaughan Williams

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Today we celebrate the birth of Ralph Vaughan Williams, October 12, 1872. He was one of the most influential English composers of the 20th century and has often been called the finest British composer since Purcell (1659-1695.) This week we will sing his beloved O How Amiable. Yesterday's Collect of the Day contained the following: "Prosper now the work of our hands..." from Psalm 90, which is also included in O How Amiable.