1813 Richard Wagner – German composer, theater director, polemicist, and conductor primarily known for his operas (d.1883); his advances in musical language greatly influenced the development of classical music; his Tristan und Isolde is often described as marking the start of modern music.
1813 premiere of Gioacchino Rossini's L'italiana in Algeri (The Italian Girl in Algiers) at the Teatro San Benedetto in Venice, the composer conducting.
1874 premiere of Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem in San Marco Cathedral in Milan; composed in memory of Alessandro Manzoni, an Italian poet and novelist much admired by Verdi.
1924 first performance of Igor Stravinsky's Concerto for Piano & Winds in Paris with the composer as soloist, conducted by Serge Koussevitzky.
1931 premiere of William Grant Still's ballet Sahdji by the Eastman Ballet and Rochester Civic Orchestra, Howard Hanson conducting.
1950 first performance of Richard Strauss's Four Last Songs at Royal Albert Hall, London, with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Wilhelm Furtwängler and soprano Kirsten Flagstad; songs are Frühling (Spring), September, Beim Schlafengehen (When Falling Asleep) and Im Abendrot (At Sunset).
1962 Bo Skovhus – Danish baritone (62 years old); his career was launched in 1988 when he sang the lead in Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the Vienna Volksoper.