1866 Erik Satie – French composer and pianist (d.1925); an eccentric, colorful figure in the Parisian avant-garde; his work was a precursor to later artistic movements such as minimalism and the Theater of the Absurd.
1890 premiere of Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana (Rustic Chivalry) at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome; often performed in a so-called ‘Cav/Pag’ double-bill with Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo.
1901 Werner Egk – German composer (d.1983); born Werner Joseph Mayer, and it is said—but denied by the composer—that the he chose the acronym E-G-K because it stood for 'ein grosser Komponist' (a great composer).
1923 Peter Mennin – American composer and teacher (d.1983); directed the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, then for many years ran the Juilliard School, succeeding William Schuman.
1939 premiere of Prokofiev's cantata Alexander Nevsky based on the score for the 1938 Sergei Eisenstein film, in Moscow with the composer conducting.
1944 Paul Crossley – English pianist (80 years old); presented a landmark television series on avant garde classical music entitled Sinfonietta on Britain’s Channel 4.
1978 Philips Electronics of The Netherlands announced a new digital sound reproduction system from flat, silver ‘Compact Discs’.