1700 Michel Blavet – French composer and flute virtuoso (d.1768); taught himself to play almost every instrument but specialized in the flute which he held to the left, instead of the right.
1797 premiere of Luigi Cherubini’s opera Médée (Medea) at the Théâtre Feydeau in Paris.
1845 first performance of Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in Leipzig, his last large orchestral work, by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra conducted by Niels Gade, with soloist Ferdinand David; celebrated violinist Joseph Joachim told the guests at his 75th birthday party: “The Germans have four violin concertos. The greatest, most uncompromising is Beethoven's. The one by Brahms vies with it in seriousness. The richest, the most seductive, was written by Max Bruch. But the most inward, the heart's jewel, is Mendelssohn's.”
1860 Hugo Wolf – Austrian composer and music critic (d.1903); particularly noted for his art songs which provided the ideal creative outlet for his musical expression.
1861 premiere of the ‘Paris version’ of Richard Wagner's Tannhäuser, at the Salle Le Peletier; the Venusberg Music was written for this performance.
1969 Susanna Mälkki – Finnish conductor (55 years old); from 1995 to 1998, principal cellist of the Gothenburg Symphony, but left to devote herself to conducting; Chief Conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra; first woman to be Music Director of Ensemble InterContemporain; in 2013.