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February 15

11571 Michael Praetorius – German composer, organist, and music theorist (d.1621, on his birthday); Praetorius was the conventional Latinized form of his family name, Schultze; he was the greatest musical academic of his day and compiled an encyclopedic record of contemporary musical practices; his Bourrée from the dance compilation Terpsichore (1612) was for many years the theme of WCLV’s First Program.

1847 Robert Fuchs – Austrian composer and music teacher (d.1927); he is not better known because he was not a self-promoter, preferring to live a quiet life in Vienna; Brahms said of him, “Fuchs is a splendid musician, everything is so fine and so skillful, so charmingly invented, that one is always pleased.”

1899 Georges Auric – French composer (d.1983); one of Les Six, the group of artists informally associated with Jean Cocteau and Erik Satie; before turning 20 he had orchestrated and written incidental music for several ballets and stage productions; also had a distinguished career as a film composer, including scores for Moulin Rouge (1952) and Roman Holiday (1953).

1905 first performance of Alexander Glazunov's Violin Concerto at a Russian Musical Society concert in St. Petersburg, with violinist Leopold Auer, to whom it was dedicated.

1907 Jean Langlais – French composer, organist and improviser (d.1991); became blind due to glaucoma when he was only two years old; organiste titulaire at the Basilica of Sainte-Clotilde, 1945-1988, and was much in demand as a concert organist, touring widely across Europe and the US; prolific composer, best known for his organ music and sacred choral pieces.

1947 John Adams – American composer and conductor (76 years old); his music is usually categorized as minimalist or post-minimalist but he has categorized himself as a 'post-style' composer; won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Music for his 9/11 memorial piece, On the Transmigration of Souls.

1947 first performance of Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Violin Concerto Op 35, by the St. Louis Symphony conducted by Vladimir Golschmann, with soloist Jascha Heifetz; the work received the most enthusiastic ovation in St. Louis concert history.

1949 Christopher Rouse – American composer and teacher (d.2019); his Trombone Concerto was awarded the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for Music; notable students include Michael Torke, Nico Muhly, Kamran Ince and Kevin Puts.