1813 Giuseppe Verdi – Italian composer (d.1901); dominated the Italian opera scene after the eras of Bellini, Donizetti and Rossini; one of the first composers who actively sought plots to suit his particular talents, and strove to make certain that the libretto was stripped of all unnecessary detail and superfluous participants, so that only characters brimming with passion and scenes rich in drama remained; October 10th is the probable date of his birth (according to parish records), but Verdi celebrated it on the 9th.
1854 Gerónimo Giménez – Spanish composer and conductor (d.1923); dedicated his career to writing zarzuelas such as La tempranica and La boda de Luis Alonso; preferred to spell his first name with a "G", even though it began officially with a "J".
1903 Vernon Duke (born Vladimir Dukelsky) – Russian-born American composer/songwriter (d.1969); best known for Taking a Chance on Love, I Can't Get Started (lyrics by Ira Gershwin), April in Paris (lyrics by Yip Harburg); wrote the words and music for Autumn in New York (1934).
1906 Paul Creston (born Giuseppe Guttoveggio) – Italian-American composer (d.1985); one of the most performed American composers of the 1940s and 50s; many of his works have become staples of the wind band repertoire.
1931 premiere of Sir William Walton's cantata Belshazzar's Feast in London at the Leeds Festival with Sir Malcolm Sargent conducting; though it's one of his most celebrated works, the composer himself didn't always take it seriously: at a Hoffnung festival concert, conducting a large choir and orchestra in "an excerpt from Belshazzar's Feast", Walton raised his baton, and the chorus bellowed the single word "Slain!", he put down his baton, shook hands with the baritone soloist, who had not sung a note, and they both bowed and left the platform to gales of applause.
1946 Willard White – Jamaican-born English bass-baritone (77 years old); among his most memorable roles are Mephistopheles in Berlioz's The Damnation of Faust and Porgy in Porgy and Bess; a talented actor in non-singing roles, he starred in a Royal Shakespeare Company production of the play Othello (1989), with Ian McKellen as Iago.
1967 Michael Giacchino – American composer (56 years old); wrote the scores for the TV show Lost, the video games Medal of Honor and Call of Duty and many films such as The Incredibles (2004), Star Trek (2009), Up (2009), Jurassic World (2015), Inside Out (2015) and Coco (2017).
1971 Evgeny Kissin – Russian pianist (52 years old); first came to international fame as a child prodigy; British citizen since 2002; especially known for his interpretations of the Romantic repertoire, particularly Frédéric Chopin, Sergei Rachmaninoff and Franz Liszt.