1706 Giovanni Battista (‘Padre’) Martini – Italian composer, author and teacher (d.1784); among his pupils: André Grétry, Josef Myslivecek, the young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Johann Christian Bach.
1742 premiere of George Frideric Handel's Messiah in Dublin; after an initially modest public reception, the oratorio gained in popularity, eventually becoming one of the best-known and most frequently performed choral works in Western music.
1801 premiere of Haydn's oratorio The Seasons in Vienna, when the composer was 69 years old; commentator Michael Steinberg wrote that the work "ensure[s] Haydn's premiere place with Titian, Michelangelo and Turner, Mann and Goethe, Verdi and Stravinsky, as one of the rare artists to whom old age brings the gift of ever bolder invention."
1941 John Williams – Australian-born English guitarist (83 years old); although best known as a classical guitarist, he has explored many different musical genres.
1950 premiere of Leonard Bernstein’s incidental music for J. M. Barrie’s play Peter Pan, at the Imperial Theater in New York City, conducted by Ben Steinberg.